NBC Orders Comedy Pilots From Chelsea Handler, Whitney Cummings
Chelsea Handler
NBC ordered four new comedy pilots Wednesday, including projects from Chelsea Handler and Whitney Cummings.
Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea is based on Handler's best-selling book of the same name. Inspired by the life of the E! late-night host, the comedy follows a group of twentysomethings — led by an outspoken young woman — living and working together. Handler will serve as an executive producer along with Tom Werner, Mike Clements (Life and Times of Tim) and Tom Brunelle. Julie Larson (Rent) and Dottie Dartland Zicklin (Dharma & Greg) wrote the pilot.
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The untitled Cummings project will star the stand-up comic and is based on her act. The project will center on a young couple and the ups and downs of modern-day committed relationships. Cummings wrote the pilot and will co-executive-produce. Scott Stuber (Role Models), Quan Phung and Barry Katz (Employee of the Month) are also attached as executive producers.
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The network also ordered a pilot based on A.J. Jacobs' book, My Life As An Experiment. The project of the same name is a single-camera comedy focused on a magazine writer who immerses himself, as well as his family, in strange situations for his stories. Executive producers Cathy Yuspa and Josh Goldsmith ('Til Death) wrote the pilot. Actor Jack Black will be an executive producer, along with Carolyn Bernstein (Gigantic), Howard Owens (Do Not Disturb), Ben Cooley (Gulliver's Travels) and Priyanka Mattoo.
NBC's fourth pilot order was for the workplace-set Brave New World. It follows a group of characters at Pilgrim Village, a theme park that recreates 1637 New England. Peter Tolan (Rescue Me) wrote the pilot and will executive-produce with Michael Wimer (2012).