ABC's Pearl & Speechless; FOX's Untitled Julius Sharpe Project; and HBO's Barry.
HBO's BARRY
- The premium cable network has given a pilot order to comedy Barry starring Bill Hader (Saturday Night Live, Documentary Now!). Hader co-wrote and executive produces the pilot with Alec Berg. Hader will also direct. The project centers on an ex-Marine (Hader) who works as a low-rent hitman in the Midwest. Lonely and dissatisfied in his life, he begrudgingly travels to Los Angeles to kill someone and ends up finding an accepting community in a group of eager hopefuls within the L.A. theater scene.
ABC's PEARL
- The network has ordered a pilot for single-camera comedy Pearl written by Andrew Reich (Friends, Work It). ABC Studios will produce. The project centers on a larger-than-life family matriarch who finds out she has cancer and becomes intent on controlling and orchestrating every aspect of her family's life before she dies.
ABC's SPEECHLESS
- The broadcast network has also given a pilot order to single-camera comedy Speechless written by Scott Silveri (Friends, Go On). Jake Kasdan and Melvin Mar will also executive produce. 20th Century Fox Television will produce. The project focuses on a family with a special needs child who is good at dealing with the challenges it faces - and excellent at creating new ones.
FOX's UNTITLED JULIUS SHARPE PROJECT
- FOX is expanding its relationship with The Last Man on Earth producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller by giving a pilot order to an untitled comedy that they are executive producing. Julius Sharpe (The Grinder) will pen the pilot and executive produce. 20th Century Fox Television will produce. The project centers on three friends who find a way to travel through time for truth, justice and riches, which complicates their lives in 2016. They visit some of the greatest moments of the past as they try to resolve their personal problems while history and pop culture comically collide.