Darren Star Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for MOCA
The Viacom-owned cable network has also signed 'Younger' creator Darren Star to an overall deal.
TV Land is continuing to invest in its new direction.
The Viacom-owned cable network used its upfront presentation Thursday to announce that it has signed Younger creator Darren Star to its first overall deal, renewed comedy Teachers for a second season and ordered pilots for a remake of The First Wives Club and a comedy inspired by the life of Real Housewives' Kyle Richards.
"Looking ahead, we’re developing shows that are funny but also embrace real dramatic moments,” TV Land exec vp Keith Cox said. “We’re fortunate to be working with such amazing collaborators as we continue to reinvent the network.”
The deal with Star ensures that the Sex and the City alum will remain in business with TV Land and will develop another project for the cable network. Younger, starring Sutton Foster, received an early vote of confidence from the cabler in January when the comedy was renewed for a third season ahead of its sophomore debut. He's repped by UTA, Kapital Entertainment and ZIffren Brittenham.
Comedy Teachers, meanwhile, has been picked up for a supersized second season consisting of 20 episodes. The comedy, based on the web series of the same name, opened in January to favorable reviews and most recently collected574,000 total viewers (with three days of DVR). TV Land notes that the comedy — exec produced by Alison Brie and starring/created by "The Katydids" Caitlin Barlow, Katy Colloton, Cate Freedman, Kate Lambert, Katie O'Brien and Katie Thomas — has been a strong performer across multiple platforms.
On the pilot side, TV Land has picked up a comedy based on The First Wives Club. The long-gestating project will be written by New Girl's Rebecca Addelman and exec produced by Jenny Bicks (Sex and the City, The Big C). Based on the book by Olivia Goldsmith, the comedy centers on a group of divorced women who seek revenge on the ex-husbands who left them for younger women. The book was adapted for the big screen in 1996, with Diane Keaton, Bette M idler and Goldie Hawn starring. Corporate sibling Paramount Pictures distributed the movie, which grossed $105 million on a budget of $30 million.
The TV Land version will take place in modern day San Francisco and center on three fiends and former classmates from the 1990s who reconnect after their close friend from college dies in a freak accident. When they all discover that they're at a romantic crossroads, they unite to tackle divorce, relationships and life's other challenges. Paramount Television (HBO's Vinyl, USA's Shooter, TNT's The Alienist) will produce the potential series.
Also picked up to pilot is the untitled comedy based on the life of Richards. First put in development in June, the half-hour single-camera scripted comedy is set in the 1970s and inspired by Richards' upbringing. The dark comedy centers on Bonnie Nolan, a 40-year-old woman's struggle to raise her family and claim her own brand of independence in a world not ready to give it. Richards will co-executive produce. The comedy revolves around 40-year-old Bonnie Nolan, who has a beautiful home and three beautiful daughters. However, she also has a cheating husband. Finding herself alone after her marriage fails, Bonnie has no means to support herself or her children. Produced by Warner Horizon Television, 30 Rock alum John Riggi will pen the script and exec produce alongside John Wells and Andrew Stearn (Shameless, Southland, The West Wing).
The news comes as TV Land has undergone a rebranding in the past year with a focus on single-camera comedy after abandoning the multicamera fare (Hot in Cleveland, The Soul Man, The Exes) that helped put the cable network on the map as a destination for original scripted programming. To that end, all of its single-camera fare that has been picked up to series has gone on to earn a second season including Younger, The Jim Gaffigan Show andImpastor. The cabler also has George Lopez comedy Lopez due March 30 and recently picked up Melissa McCarthy-Ben Falcone comedy Nobodies — based on the lives of their Groundlings friends — to pilot. The network recently passed on comedy pilot I Shudder, starring Hamish Linklater and Megan Hilty.
Pilot Season TV Land
