TBS is expanding their slate of original comedies by handing out series orders to The Guest Book, a half hour comedy from The Millers and My Name Is Earl creator Greg Garcia, and Carson Mell’s animated project Tarantula, TVWise has learned.
The Guest Book is a single-camera anthology comedy series entering on a small town vacation home and its visitors. While the house and core cast of characters living in this small mountain town remain the same, each episode will feature a different set of guests renting the house.
The half-hour series is set to premiere in 2017 and was created by Greg Garcia, who has been writing fictitious stories in the guest books of various rental cabins in an effort to freak out the next renters, whilst also hoping said stories would one day make it to screen. The Guest Book is being produced by CBS Television Studios and Turner’s in-house division Studio T, with Garcia serving as executive producer and showrunner.
From Silicon Valley’s Carson Mell, Tarantula is a half-hour animated comedy about the residents of the Tierra Chula Resident Hotel (aka “The Tarantula”). The series centers on Echo Johnson, a respected but uncertified tattoo artist who delivers absurd yet introspective monologues. Echo’s poetic ramblings spin tales of misadventures with the other residents, as they partake in party crashing, dumpster diving and other socially dubious acts of mischief.
This marks the first original animated series for TBS since their re-brand last year. Tarantula is set up as a co-production between Rough House Pictures and Turner’s Studio T, with Danny McBride (Vice Principals), Jody Hill (Vice Principals), David Gordon Green (Vice Principals) and Brandon James (Vice Principals) serving as executive producers. TBS has ordered an open-ended run for the series, which will join the network’s lineup in 2017.
“Our new projects, from some of the best creators and producers in the industry, will fit perfectly with the new direction we’ve been taking the TBS brand”, said Brett Weitz, Executive Vice-President of Programming for TBS. “Each show brings something fresh and unique to the comedy genre, from the unforgettable characters that Greg has created in The Guest Book to the wild, animated absurdities of Carson’s Tarantula“.
In addition to handing out these series order, TBS has also picked up half-hour comedy project World’s End, from Blunt Talk creator Jonathan Ames, to pilot. “We also can’t wait to see how the envelope-pushing audacity of our World’s End pilot plays out on screen” added Brad Weitz.
World’s End follows Henry Mueller, a charismatic high school English teacher who has a breakdown and is committed to a mental institution. There, under the watchful eye of Louise Baldwin, he begins to feel “sane.” Henry starts to question the system and the methods used to contain the inmates, ultimately becoming the leader of an inmate revolt. Hamish Linklater (The Big Short) and Wanda Sykes (Black-ish) will star as Henry and Louise, respectively.
World’s End is based on an original Sagafilm television format. The pilot is a co-production of Electus and Turner’s Studio T and is being executive-produced by Ames, Ben Silverman (Jane the Virgin), Stephanie Davis (Bored to Death) and Sean Canino (Jane the Virgin), along with Alan Poul (The Newsroom), who will also direct.
