Bravo is officially entering the scripted marketplace.
After years of attempting to get a scripted series through development and off the ground, the NBCUniversal owned and operated cable network has officially entered the market with a 13 episode order to Marti Noxon’s hour-long drama project Girlfriend’s Guide To Divorce.
The series order for Girlfriend’s Guide to Divorce, which is being toplined by House alum Lisa Edelstein, comes after the project was picked up with a pilot order at Bravo late last year. That pilot order saw a re-tooling of the format as the project had initially been set up as a half-hour at premium cable network Showtime.
Based on “Girlfriends’ Guide” book series by Vicki Iovine, the series follows Abby (Lisa Edelstein), a self-help book author who hides the fact that she’s separated from her husband, as she starts to navigate her life as a single woman in her early 40s in Los Angeles. She finds herself seeking advice from her divorced friends, instead of her married ones which leads to some unexpected and life-changing experiences. The drama series also stars Janeane Garofalo (24), Beau Garrett (Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior) and Paul Adelstein (Private Practice), while Carrie Fisher also makes a cameo in the pilot. The Universal Cable Productions drama was written by Marti Noxon and is executive produced by Noxon, Dawn Olmstead, Vicki Iovine, Meryl Poster and Adam Brooks.
“’Girlfriends’ Guide To Divorce’ offers a fresh take on women tackling life after divorce with the help of their girlfriends,” says Andrew Wang, Vice President of Scripted Development and Production for Bravo. “For our first scripted show, we wanted something that was sophisticated, funny and honest. We’re thrilled to have the talented Marti Noxon breaking this new ground with Bravo.”
While Marti Noxon added: “Everybody knows this was all an elaborate scheme to get myself on ‘Watch What Happens Live! Seriously, I can’t thank everyone enough at Bravo and Universal Cable Productions for making Girlfriends’ something special. I am confident that Lisa is going to be TV’s next girl crush; she’s certainly mine.”
