‘Big Bang Theory’ Alums Jim Parsons, Mayim Bialik Set Comedy at Fox With Series Commitment
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“The Big Bang Theory” stars Jim Parsons and Mayim Bialik are re-teaming for a multi-cam comedy at Fox, Variety has learned.
In a highly competitive situation, Fox has given a series commitment to “Carla,” a new series that Bialik and Parsons will executive produce with Bialik also attached to star. The series is based on the BBC original “Miranda” created by Miranda Hart. Bialik will star as the titular Carla, a 39-year-old woman who struggles every day against society and her mother to prove that you cannot have everything you want and still be happy. That is why she spent the money her parents set aside for her wedding to open a Cat Café in Louisville, KY.
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The show is currently expected to launch in fall 2020.
Landing the series is a major win for Fox. According to sources, all of the broadcast networks made serious plays for the project. That should come as no surprise, considering Parsons and Bialik are coming off the final season of “Big Bang Theory,” which signed off after 12 seasons earlier this year as one of the most-watched shows on television. The series finale alone drew over 25 million viewers in the Nielsen Live+7 ratings.
Darlene Hunt will write and executive produce the series. Bialik will executive produce under her Sad Clown production banner, with Sad Clown’s Mackenzie Gabriel-Vaught producing. Parsons will executive produce via That’s Wonderful Productions along with Todd Spiewak. That’s Wonderful’s Eric Norsoph will produce. Angie Stephenson of BBC Studios will also executive produce along with Hart. The series will be a co-production between Warner Bros. Television and Fox Entertainment. Both Bialik and Parsons are currently set up at WBTV under overall deals, as the studio previously produced “The Big Bang Theory.”
“In pursuing a hand-crafted approach to our scripted development, Charlie and I knew ‘Carla,’ written by Darlene Hunt, was a project with great potential that could become the centerpiece of our comedy slate – and Jim Parsons and Mayim Bialik coming to Fox Entertainment is obviously an enormous part of that equation,” said Michael Thorn, president of entertainment for Fox Entertainment. “‘Carla’ is an unapologetically big, broad multi-cam with a strong female point-of-view, pushing the format in a way that will be distinctive. With the A+ creative team, our partners at Warner Bros., led by the inimitable Peter Roth, and BBC Studios, we think we have something truly special here.”
Parsons and That’s Wonderful Productions are repped by CAA, Principal Entertainment LA, and Gang, Tyre, Ramer & Brown. Bialik is repped by WME, Mosaic, and Katz Goldman Rosenman LLP.
News of the series commitment comes just days after it was announced that all 12 seasons of “Big Bang Theory” will stream exclusively on the WarnerMedia streaming service, HBO Max, when it launches next spring. As Variety previously reported, the deal is valued at $600 million and includes a four-year extension of the show’s syndication deal with TBS.
“Carla” is also the largest deal for the 2020-2021 season announced thus far. Fox, now part of the standalone Fox Corp. after the completion of the 21st Century Fox-Disney merger, is launching 10 new shows during the upcoming 2019-2020 season, double the number of shows they debuted last year. This season will also see the broadcaster say goodbye to network cornerstone “Empire,” while “9-1-1: Lone Star,” the first new entry in the budding “9-1-1” franchise, will launch on the network in January.
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