Katims Rachel Murray/Getty Images for hulu
Dating comedy 'Mating' will revolve around a different protagonist every season.
Jason Katims is ready to take on romance.
The Friday Night Lights and Parenthood alum has scored a pilot order at Showtime for comedy anthology Mating, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
Written and created by Stu Zicherman (The Americans, Lights Out, Six Degrees), Mating explores modern mating, with each season exploring a different protagonist's journey. The comedy will center on a recently divorced guy who tries to evolve and connect, one date at a time. A search is under way for the male lead for the year-long anthology, with the lead set for a one-year deal as season two would tell a different story. The pilot order is contingent on finding a leading man.
Zicherman will pen the script and exec produce alongside Katims and his Universal Television-based True Jack Productions. Katims is on board to exec produce the comedy, which was first put in development in August 2014, alongside his True Jack topper Michelle Lee. With the pilot order, Showtime has boarded the comedy as a co-production with Universal Television.
Mating becomes True Jack's latest small screen project. Katims is also writing the pilot for romantic drama Us at HBO as well as CBS drama pilot Bunker Hill, the latter of which was redeveloped from last season. Additionally, True Jack is exec producing Hulu's straight-to-series cult drama The Path, which stars Aaron Paul and premieres March 30.
Mating marks a key off-network sale for NBCUniversal-owned Universal Television, with cable and streaming a top priority for the Bela Bajaria-run studio. This pilot season, the studio has been keen to give up a portion of ownership in a bid to sell more to outside networks, which was the case with Mating. In addition to Katims' Hulu and HBO projects, the studio has off-network sales in A&E's Bates Motel, Fox's Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Hulu's The Mindy Project and Netflix's Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, among others.
For Showtime, meanwhile, Mating serves as a reunion for Katims with Nevins, who exec produced Friday Night Lights. The comedy marks the premium cable network's second pilot in the mix and first comedy. The cabler also has an untitled drama starring Lena Waithe and Common in contention. The pilot also puts Showtime in the anthology business where should Mating move to series, it would be part of a conversation that includes True Detective, American Horror Story, American Crime and American Crime Story, among others.
Katims, an Emmy winner for Friday Night Lights, is repped by CAA and Schreck Rose. Zicherman is with WME and Mosaic.
Pilot Season Showtime
