Ahead of next week’s upfront presentation to Madison Avenue ad buyers, NBC has solidified its comedy lineup for the 2024-25 broadcast season.
The network has handed out a series order to the multicamera comedy Happy’s Place, starring Reba McEntire, and renewed George Lopez’s half-hour Lopez vs.
Lopez for a third season. Additionally, NBC has canceled rookie comedy Extended Family, starring Jon Cryer.
Happy’s Place, which was picked up to pilot in late January, revolves around Bobbie (McEntire).
Who inherits her father’s restaurant and is less than thrilled to discover that she has a new business partner in the half-sister she never knew she had.
The series reunites McEntire with the team behind her eponymous 2001 sitcom.
Including showrunner Kevin Abbott and co-star Melissa Peterman. Belissa Escobedo, Pablo Castelblanco, Tokala Black Elk and Rex Linn round out the cast of the series, which is produced in-house at Universal Television. Exec producers include Kevin Abbott, Michael Hanel, Mindy Schultheis, Julie Abbott and McEntire.
Lopez vs. Lopez, also produced in-house at Universal TV, recently wrapped its second season and stars Lopez alongside his real-life daughter, Mayan Lopez. The series reached nearly 10 million total viewers across all platforms, with NBC noting it’s the highest-indexing broadcast program among English-dominant Hispanic households. The series is exec produced by co-creator and showrunner Debby Wolfe alongside The Connors’ Bruce Helford, 3 Arts’ Michael Rotenberg and Katie Newman.
Extended Family, for its part, was ordered to series in September 2022. The multicamera comedy, from producers Lionsgate Television and Universal TV, was created by Mike O’Malley and starred broadcast favorite Cryer alongside Donald Faison and Abigail Spencer.
With the order for Happy’s Place, NBC now has four new series on tap for the 2024-25 broadcast season as the McEntire vehicle joins the Zachary Quinto-led medical drama Brilliant Minds (formerly Dr. Wolf), Wendi McClendon-Covey mockumentary St. Denis Medical and procedural The Hunting Party. Those will help fill the voids created by the cancellation of Extended Family and the conclusions of La Brea and Magnum P.I. (Law & Order: Organized Crime will move to Peacock as an original.)
Drama pilots Suits L.A. and Grosse Point Garden Society have yet to film, with decisions on the fates of both made after next week’s presentations.
For her part, McEntire is a proven star and TV draw, an important element as broadcast networks and streamers alike look for broad programming that can not only break through a crowded landscape but also travel globally.
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Source: CNN
