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Fox Producing New Flintstones Series Titled Bedrock; Sarah Silverman Joins Damon Wayans Jr. TBS Pilot

Fox Entertainment, Warner Bros. Animation and multi-hyphenate Elizabeth Banks have joined forces to develop Bedrock, a primetime animated adult comedy series continuing the story of everyone's favorite modern Stone Age family, the Flintstones. The pilot script will be written by Lindsay Kerns (Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous, DC Super Hero Girls, Trolls: The Beat Goes On!), with Banks voicing the character of Pebbles Flintstone, in addition to her role as a producer. Bedrock catches up with the Flintstone family two decades after the original, with Fred on the brink of retirement and 20-something Pebbles embarking on her own career. As the Stone Age gives way to a shiny and enlightened new Bronze Age, the residents of Bedrock will find this evolution harder than a swing from Bamm-Bamm's club.

In addition, Fox Entertainment's free streaming platform Tubi has acquired the AVOD rights to all six seasons of the iconic series The Flintstones, including all 166 episodes, which will begin streaming on Tubi on May 1. Produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, The Flintstones was television's first primetime animated series -- airing for six seasons, spanning 166 episodes on ABC - and was also the first animated program nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series. This past fall, the franchise celebrated its 60th anniversary. If picked up to series, Bedrock will be co-produced by Warner Bros. Animation and Fox Entertainment. Elizabeth Banks and Max Handelman will executive-produce through Brownstone Productions (Pitch Perfect franchise, Charlie's Angels, Shrill). Brownstone's Dannah Shinder, and Lindsay Kerns will serve as co-executive producers.

TBS announced that it has voice cast Sarah Silverman (I Love You America, The Sarah Silverman Podcast), Nicole Byer (Wipeout, Grand Crew) and Sam Richardson (Veep, Tomorrow War) in its upcoming scripted comedy pilot Kill The Orange-Faced Bear. They join the previously announced live action cast Damon Wayans Jr. (Happy Endings, Let's Be Cops), Jessy Hodges (Indebted, Barry), Alex Karpovsky (Homecoming, Girls), and Nate Torrence (Hello Ladies, Weird Loners). The pilot is scheduled to begin shooting in Portland in May. Kill the Orange-Faced Bear is a comedy pilot about one man's epic revenge journey after a bear eats his girlfriend. Silverman voices Brenda, the sarcastic badass grizzly bear who attacked and ate Hank's fiancée Stacy—for personal reasons. When Stacy's friends panicked and mistook a can of spray paint for bear mace, they turned Brenda's face orange—but she won’t let being marked make her an easy target for Hank's revenge plan. Byer voices Pauline, a bear with perfect fur and perfect nails who uses her feminine wiles to seduce Brenda's husband. Richardson voices Steve, the charmingly idiotic grizzly bear with a dangerous habit of breaking into cars to steal snacks and beer.

Previously announced live action cast include Damon Wayans Jr. as Hank, the charming, funny and grieving man who’s hell-bent on tracking down Brenda the bear. Jessy Hodges has been cast as Stacy, Hank’s late girlfriend, as well as Jamie, her twin sister with a confusing secret. Alex Karpovsky plays Ronnie, an oddball park ranger who has a score to settle with Hank. Nate Torrance is Murray, Hank's best friend and boyfriend to Jamie, who is just trying to keep everyone together. The series is written, created and executive produced by Romanski (Blue Mountain State). Trevor Engelson and Steven Fisher of Underground (Snowfall), Alex Karpovsky, Jake Szymanski, and Damon Wayans Jr. also serve as executive producers. Jake Szymanski is set to direct.

Posted by Pavan -- SitcomsOnline.com at 12:00 PM

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Labels: Bedrock, Fox, Kill the Orange-Faced Bear, TBS, The Flintstones

Fri-Yay: Evaluating the 2020-2021 Freshman Sitcom Class; Damon Wayans Jr. to Star in TBS Pilot Kill the Orange-Faced Bear

It's time for another edition of Fri-Yay! That means we will take a look back on some sitcom happenings in recent days or weeks or other fun sitcomy stuff. It's a sitcom lover's paradise! Happy Fri-Yay!

by Vincent

Believe it or not, in just a few short months we will be at the end of the 2020-2021 TV season. It's certainly been a non-traditional season, and while the TV season has long been a window of time that's evaportated someone in the advent of cable and streaming services, it feels even less relevant in the time of COVID, where most shows were delayed and some shows, indeed, still haven't returned. Still, it seems like a good time to evaluate the freshman class of sitcoms. And, frankly, it's a fairly uninspiring class. Some of it could be blamed on COVID causing less pilots to be finished in time to be picked up to series. Still, the new sitcoms on broadcast TV this fall don't inspire a lot of long-term confidence.

The buzziest new shows belong to NBC, as Young Rock and Kenan both come from established names. Unsurprisingly, Young Rock in particular has drummed up the most interest of any new sitcom - and yet still, the show's ratings and buzz have fallen quite a bit from where they premiered several weeks ago. Other freshman series include Call Your Mother on ABC and Call Me Kat on FOX. Call Me Kat attracted some eyeballs early on, but like Young Rock, those ratings have largely faded. And Call Your Mother has not done particularly well, either, and has attracted very little critical acclaim or buzz.

Overall, it's yet another disappointing year for broadcast TV sitcoms. With broadcast television increasingly relying more and more on unscripted hits to weather the tide of falling TV ratings, we are desperately in need for a well-made sitcom to steer the changing tides.

TBS announced that it has cast Damon Wayans Jr. (Happy Endings, Let's Be Cops), Jessy Hodges (Indebted, Barry), Alex Karpovsky (Homecoming, Girls), and Nate Torrence (Hello Ladies, Weird Loners) in its upcoming scripted comedy pilot, Kill the Orange-Faced Bear. The pilot is scheduled to begin shooting in Portland in May. Kill the Orange-Faced Bear is a comedy pilot about one man's epic revenge journey after a bear eats his girlfriend. Damon Wayans Jr. will play Hank, the charming, funny and grieving man who's hell-bent on tracking down the bear who attacked his girlfriend on a camping trip. We'll follow his side of the story as well as the bear's, who is just trying to move on from the incident and navigate the other idiot bears in her life. Jessy Hodges will play Stacy, Hank's late girlfriend, as well Jamie, her twin sister with a confusing secret. Alex Karpovsky is Ronnie, an oddball park ranger who has a score to settle with Hank. Nate Torrance is Murray, Hank's best friend and boyfriend to Jamie, who is just trying to keep everyone together.

Posted by Pavan -- SitcomsOnline.com at 12:00 PM

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Labels: Call Me Kat, Call Your Mother, Fri-Yay, Kenan, Kill the Orange-Faced Bear, TBS, Young Rock