This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

The premise of CBS' new comedy "The Great Indoors" is that a Gen X, tech-phobic man (Joel McHale of "Community") is forced to work with a group of coddled, entitled twentysomethings.

It's not a great show. The pilot is underwhelming, at best.

But the fact that it — gasp! — makes fun of millennials set off a couple of young writers in one of the more bizarre incidents at the recently completed Television Critics Association press tour. And validated the show's premise.

As is the case with most sitcom pilots, the characters are exaggerated. So, in pursuit of laughs, the millennials are spoiled, coddled and entitled.

It's like "The Big Bang Theory" mocking nerds and geeks — although it's all about them.

"The Great Indoors" is no "Big Bang Theory," but that it would provoke indignation and fury was surprising.

"As a millennial myself, I'm curious if you can talk a little bit about how we are so coddled, and what about our overly politically correct workplace bothers you," inquired one young writer, with obvious pique in her tone.

Veteran actor Stephen Fry, who co-stars as the owner of the publication where all the other characters work, attempted to answer her question and sympathize with her.

"There is an element perhaps of coddling," he said, "but there's also an element to which you have it tougher than the generation before, my generation. …"

"Yeah, no s—-," she interrupted.

(Side note: If I acted that unprofessionally, I would expect my employer to reprimand, if not discipline, me.)

Fry — who came out as gay long before it was socially acceptable; who lost family members in the Holocaust — shrugged and rolled his eyes.

I was startled and amused by the anger expressed by a couple of millennials. These were jokes in a sitcom; it wasn't a PBS documentary.

I tweeted, "Obnoxious millennial questioner could almost make me like 'The Great Outdoors' more." And followed that with "Critics' outrage/anger over lack of diversity [in CBS programming] is appropriate. Critics' outrage/anger over mocking millennials is hilarious."

To which the angry critic responded, "I don't know, Scott. I've been told every step of my career that my problems were due to being entitled/coddled."

So … you're angry that millennials are portrayed as self-absorbed, and you make it all about you.

Sorry, but that's funny.

According to executive producer Mike Gibbons, a millennial in a focus group said he didn't like the show because of "all the jokes about us being coddled and too sensitive and thin-skinned."

"And so the woman running the focus group goes, 'I just want to clarify. So you were offended that millennials were portrayed as too sensitive?' And he's like, 'Yes, yes.' "

Not every young adult is offended, of course. A number of the show's writers are themselves millennials. The pilot is full of jokes about McHale's Gen X character, a fact that the angry millennials seemed to miss.

"My older brother and his friends have never said to me, 'This is really offensive to Gen X,' which is funny," said Shaun Brown, 29, who plays millennial Mason in the show. "That millennials are saying it's offensive to millennials kind of plays into what we are talking about anyway. There is some truth to it."

Yes, there is.

"The great insult would be not to make any jokes about them because they are incapable of laughing at themselves," Fry said. "That would be really sad."

Yes, it would.

Scott D. Pierce covers TV for The Salt Lake Tribune. Email him at spierce@sltrib.com; follow him on Twitter @ScottDPierce. —

On TV

"The Great Indoors" is scheduled to premiere on Thursday, Oct. 27, at 7:30 p.m. on CBS/Ch. 2.