20th Century Fox TV is in development on three new animated series, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. The first is a retooled version of the 2003 live-action comedy THE PITTS, created by SIMPSONS vet Mike Scully. The second, RELATIVE INSANITY, will be exec produced by Jack Black. The third, MOTHBALLS, is from DRAWN TOGETHER creators Matt Silverstein and Dave Jeser.
The network has commissioned two scripts for THE PITTS and is casting for a table read. If that stage is a success, the project will go directly to series. Originally airing in March 2003 for only four weeks, the live-action version followed the misadventures of the world's most unlucky family. Creators Scully and his wife, Julie Thacker-Scully, described the series as a SIMPSONS Halloween Special every week.
Written by Justin Roiland, INSANITY follows a twentysomething man who can never seem to get his life in order, thanks to his crazy family. Along with Black and Roiland, Black's Electric Dynamite partner Benn Cooley will also be exec producing.
MOTHBALLS is set in a nursing home run by the dysfunctional family the Westings, as the patriarch must put his estranged father in the rules-oriented facility. Fox has given the project a script commitment plus penalty.
Fox is very determined to find animated companions for its Sunday night lineup, which features THE SIMPSONS, FAMILY GUY, AMERICAN DAD! and KING OF THE HILL. Last year, the network ordered a trio of animated presentations, but none of them made it to series.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
