The University of Wisconsin- Stevens Point student television sta­tion, SPTV, is creating a new sitcom that will premiere sometime in the spring semester of 2013.

Student Eric Zahn, a news pro­ducer for SPTV, got the idea for “Lack of Communication” from a short film some students had created for a class.

“The project followed the rela­tionship between SPTV and 90FM and their continued miscommunica­tion as student organizations,” Zahn said. “I decided I wanted to create a show that was in the same vein as that, but it would focus only on the SPTV aspect.”

The show would use the SPTV office and studio space located in the Communication Arts Center for a set, with students’ homes providing backdrops for the comedy as well.

All the characters that will be portrayed in the show are members of SPTV.

“We all play exaggerated fictional versions of ourselves. Acting comes a little easier when we’re portraying ourselves. At SPTV, we’re really all just a bunch of characters and we mesh together well as a group.”

Zahn said that he drew inspira­tion from The Office, a workplace television show with quirky charac­ters.

“It’s a great example of an ensem­ble comedy that works because of its well-rounded cast. Another show that inspires me is Community,” Zahn said. “The writing on Community is incredibly clever and quick paced; they’re able to fire joke after joke at you. The pop culture references are great as well.”

Zahn has written two episodes so far and has ideas for a few more.

“There are some great stories planned for the series in the future that include things like power moves made at the managerial end of SPTV and a support group that gets out of control. I’m really excited for that one to come to fruition,” Zahn said.

SPTV can be streamed online at www.uwsp.edu/stuorg/stv or on cable channels 98 and 983.