With Eastbound & Down over and another season of Curb being questionable, HBO has recently given us hope that there are big things on the horizon for their comedy series.
They are currently developing a new 30-minute comedy series starring long-time Daily Show correspondent Rob Riggle. The team behind the movie “The Other Guys” is back with Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Adam McKay, and Chris Henchy all set to produce the show. McKay and Henchy wrote the script for Other Guys and were both executive producers for Eastbound. It was rumored that after the filming of Other Guys, a strong working relationship developed between these men and they have been looking for a project to work on together since. Other notable people attached to the show are producers Stephen Levinson (Entourage), as well as Peter Principato and Paul Young (Reno 911!).
Set during the height of Reaganomics in the 1980’s, the show centers around a successful Wall Street bond trader (Riggle) in a role that is surely going to bring laughs. Apparently, this guy is extremely dark, self-centered, and leads a very unhealthy lifestyle. Is anyone else thinking that this sounds like the perfect 80’s character? I’m guessing we should probably expect some heavy partying considering the character’s “unhealthy lifestyle” and I can totally seeing Rob Riggle nailing this role. Since McKay and Henchy were both executive producers on Eastbound & Down, I would assume that the same fresh, witty humor will be present in this series as well. I would also expect Will Ferrell to create some pretty awesome characters for himself to play (Any Ashley Schaeffer fans out there?). The show is still in the first stages of development and is currently “untitled”. However, given the people on board, it would be hard for me to imagine HBO cancelling production. Looks like the search for a project may finally be over.
Riggle has worked with Will Ferrell on a few different projects, such as Step Brothers and Talladega Nights. He recently added his voice to Dr. Suess’ The Lorax, appeared in the film 21 Jump Street, and has been chosen to host ESPN’s Espy Awards. He’s got plenty of TV experience as well, most notably as a veteran Daily Show correspondent.
Does this show seem like a hit or a miss HBO fans? Leave a comment below and let us know!!
3 comments
It is always good to see HBO keep various talents circling around their domain. Ventures don’t always take off, of course, but at least sitting down with the talent and having the dialouge shows promise HBO is good at getting some big-name involved.
My first gut reaction to this premise doesn’t thrill me but that doesn’t mean it won’t be a good show if it happens. I didn’t like the non-parisan approach to politics VEEP decided to take but, I still find myself chuckling over it.
I was almost going to make a news item post about this myself. I didn’t because it didn’t seem to have enough information for me to go on. But, Charlie, you fleshed it out pretty nicely.
Now, it looks like we are in a race with Jacob to see who reports the news first! Ha! Ha!
Thanks alot Jef! I actually drew from a few different sources because there isn’t much info about the show yet. I just noticed no one had mentioned this yet, so that’s why I did it. No race, haha.
I think the show has definite potential though. Nice to see the comedies doing to well with Eastbound and Curb off the air.