Ferrell, McKay to Produce New Series Starring Jon Heder for Comedy Central

[BillBrasky]

Comedy Central has ordered a multi-camera sitcom from distributor Debmar-Mercury and Gary Sanchez Productions, Will Ferrell and Adam McKay's production company.

The network has ordered a 10 episode first season, with the option to purchase an additional 90 episodes after the initial run. Debmar-Mercury, who also distribute Tyler Perry's sitcom "House of Payne", will retain the rights to take the series into syndication later on.

Jon Heder, star of "Napoleon Dynamite" and "Blades of Glory", will play the lead role of a computer IT specialist who leaves the big city to move home with his parents.

Ferrell, McKay and Chris Henchy will write and produce the series, which will premiere in 2010.

[brewcaster]

I need more details. Exactly how many cameras are we talking about here?

[BillBrasky]

Remember this?

From Variety:

Will Ferrell's Gary Sanchez Prods. has tapped two "Saturday Night
Live" alums for its new Comedy Central sitcom.

Chris Parnell and Horatio Sanz will star opposite Jon Heder in the
laffer, which comes from distributor Debmar-Mercury.

Heder stars as a man chasing big dreams -- even as he loses his job
and moves back in with his parents. Sanz will play one of his pals, an
ex-convict, with Parnell as another friend, a burned-out teacher.

Together, Heder, Sanz and Parnell attempt to save their hometown --
until they ultimately fail in each episode.

"Anyone in the comedy world knows that Horatio Sanz and Chris Parnell
are two of the funniest guys around," said Adam McKay, who runs Gary
Sanchez Prods. with Ferrell and Chris Henchy.

Parnell spent nearly a decade on "SNL," and more recently recurs as
Dr. Leo Spaceman on "30 Rock" (as well as in a series of Dr Pepper
commercials). Thesp was also in "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story" and
Ferrell's "Anchorman."

Sanz, the first Latino cast member on "SNL," appeared on ABC's "In the
Motherhood" and recently guested on "30 Rock." His feature credits
include "Step Brothers."

Ferrell, McKay and Henchy are exec producers on the comedy, while Lew
Morton ("Walk Hard") is the writer. Production begins March 31 in New
York.

Comedy Central has picked up an initial 10 episodes of the multi-cam
laffer, with an option to order 90 more (following Debmar-Mercury's
similar venture with Tyler Perry and TBS). Show is set to bow sometime
in the third quarter.

[mueXog]

With Sanz and especially Parnell on board, I'm suddenly way more excited for this than I was before. Hope this is good.

[BillBrasky]

NY Times article about Sanz and Parnell and the show

[BillBrasky]

http://weblogs.variety.com/on_the_ai...l-project.html

Jon Heder has dropped out of Comedy Central’s comedy series from Will Ferrell.

Heder’s decision to ankle the show came just two days before the show’s March 31 production start. In a briefly-worded statement, the actor said he ultimately didn’t approve of his character’s direction.

“Comedy Central, Gary Sanchez Productions and Jon Heder have mutually decided to part ways over creative differences with the character,” the statement said. “Jon wishes the show nothing but success, and is very grateful for the opportunity.”

Heder’s departure leaves what was to be an ambitious series committment up in the air. Comedy Central had ordered an initial 10 episodes of the series, with an option for 90 more. Debmar-Mercury, which set up a similar arrangement at TBS with two Tyler Perry sitcoms, is the distributor.

Heder’s exit also comes just two weeks after Chris Parnell and Horatio Sanz joined the cast.

Heder had been cast as a man chasing big dreams -- even as he loses his job and moves back in with his parents. Sanz and Parnell were to play his friends. Episodes would follow Heder, Sanz and Parnell as they attempt to save their hometown -- and ultimately fail in each episode.

Gary Sanchez’s Ferrell, Adam McKay and Chris Henchy exec produce, along with Lew Morton.

[aenemaTron]

Heder cited the director and producers' repeated requests to deliver his lines "more Napoleon Dynamitey."

[darrylduffy]

Chris Gethard (UCB NY) is now the lead in this.

Story on The Comic's Comic

[Mutant Despot]

Gethard is the man.

[aenemaTron]

He was great in the ASSSSCAT I saw him in. Bodes well.

[BillBrasky]

From The Comics Comic:

Chris Gethard and Horatio Sanz presented an exclusive preview of their upcoming Comedy Central sitcom, Big Lake, that was more than just your basic sneak peek. For one thing, the audience last night at the UCB Theatre would be providing the live laugh track for two episodes that already were taped as a multi-camera sitcom (without an audience) at Silvercup Studios in Long Island City.

Well, I guess that one thing would be enough, wouldn't it? But Gethard and Sanz themselves acknowledged it was their first time seeing any of the footage themselves, too! Gethard joked for the packed audience -- which also included fellow cast members Chris Parnell and Dylan Blue, others from Gary Sanchez Productions (Funny or Die) such as Owen Burke and Chris Henchy, and still others from UCB's L.A. branch who'd come "home" to catch a glimpse of FoD's first sitcom. We didn't get to see the pilot, but we did get to watch two of the other first 10 episodes ordered by Comedy Central (with the network holding an option to order 90 more).

In the lead role, Gethard told us that everyone in the supporting cast plays a different level of crazy, which is odd, because as he said: "My character singlehandedly brought down a bank. An institution. And I'm the straight-man."

"You say straight-man. I say Irish Woody Allen," Sanz added.

So Gethard's character, having squandered $200 million and losing all $385,000 of his parents' retirement fund, moves back in with them. I forgot to write down his TV mother's name, but Deborah Rush plays his TV mother, while his father is played by character actor James Rebhorn (whom I once saw at a comedy show at Rififi, so how's that for nerd cred), while 14-year-old Dylan Blue plays Gethard's younger brother who's operating a secret crime ring. Sanz plays Gethard's longtime friend who's also a lovable loser. And Parnell plays a burned-out high school teacher who hangs out with Sanz and Gethard. The second episode they screened for us, described as "Chris falls in love," was a stand-out. I don't want to give anything away, but I did write down one of the many laugh-out-loud lines from that episode, as Parnell's character answers a question thusly: "If I told you what was under it, that would defeat the purpose of the tarp."

Big Lake debuts Aug. 3 on Comedy Central.