Peacock Announces New Comedies From Tina Fey And Mike Schur, Sets Late-Night Show Block
Peacock is fluffing up its feathers and building its slate of originals with new comedies from 30 Rock's Tina Fey and The Good Place creator Mike Schur. The new comedies, alongside the new MacGruber series with Will Forte and two "late-night" shows headlined by Amber Ruffin and Larry Wilmore, are part of Peacock's slate of projects designed to boost the new platform's presence in the streaming wars.
Following the news that Peacock has officially ordered a MacGruber series starring and executive produced by Will Forte, the NBCUniversal streaming platform announced two new shows from comedy heavyweights Tina Fey and Mike Schur.
Girls5eva, which is executive produced by Tina Fey, Robert Carlock, and Meredith Scardino, is set to star Grammy winner and Broadway star Sara Bareilles as "Dawn, former member of the short-lived 90s girl group Girls5eva, who is now a bit restless in life managing her family's small Italian restaurant in Queens. When the opportunity arises, Dawn reluctantly gets the band back together for a Girls5eva reunion and it might just be exactly what she needed." The series follows the reunion of the members of a one-hit wonder girl group from the '90s as they "give their pop star dreams one more shot."
The series is written and executive produced by Meredith Scardino, and executive produced by Tina Fey (Little Stranger, Inc.), Robert Carlock (Bevel Gears), Jeff Richmond, David Miner (3 Arts Entertainment), Eric Gurian (Little Stanger).
Meanwhile, The Good Place and Parks and Recreation creator Michael Schur is co-creating and executive producing the new comedy Rutherfood Falls with Ed Helms and Sierra Teller Ornela. The comedy is set in "a small town in upstate New York and the Native American reservation it borders," both of which "are turned upside down when local legend and town namesake, Nathan Rutherford (Ed Helms) fights the moving of a historical statue." The series has set its initial cast with Jana Schmieding, Michael Greyeyes (I Know This Much Is True), Jesse Leigh (Heathers), and Dustin Milligan (Schitt's Creek). Mike Falbo, David Miner and Morgan Sackett also serve as executive producers on Rutherford Falls.
Peacock has also set a "late-night block" (if you can have a late night block on a streaming service) with new "topical" shows from Amber Ruffin and Larry Wilmore, who will be leading The Amber Ruffin Show and the Untitled Larry Wilmore Show, respectively. Peacock has ordered nine half-hour episodes of The Amber Ruffin Show which is set to launch in September, and 11 episodes of the Untitled Larry Wilmore Show, which is set to launch the same month.
These comedies will likely drum up plenty of interest for Peacock, which launched with beloved catalog titles, but garnered less buzz for its originals, which include the sci-fi series Brave New World, the animated series Cleopatra in Space, and others. Both Fey and Schur are beloved for their contributions to several all-time great network comedies, and whatever new projects they create will attract eyeballs. These new comedies and their starry casts certainly add a feather in Peacock's cap.