Tina Fey, formerly of Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock, has been given a once rarely seen straight-to-series order for a new comedy by the suits at NBC. The story will follow a woman who escaped from a doomsday cult and is trying to restart her life over in New York City.
Fey will be joined behind the scenes at the writer’s/producer’s desk by long-time TV partner Robert Carlock. Carlock was the executive producer of 30 Rock for its entire run and before that knew Fey when he was a writer for SNL.
The new single-camera show will star Ellie Kemper late of The Office. Kemper also had a breakout role in the hit movie Bridesmaids released in 2011.
Fey has had a banner year for series development as she has two other comedies in the works, another one at NBC and one at Fox–the latter landing at Fox as a result of a multi-network bidding war.
Bob Greenblatt, chairman of NBC Entertainment, celebrated the anticipated new show saying, “Tina and Robert.. have created a new signature comedy for us that is audacious, emotional, and clever. While tapping into very relatable themes, there isn’t anything like this anywhere else on television. NBC has been their home for many years and we’re so happy that they’ve found another way to push the comedy envelope for us.”
As Hollywood Reporter notes, once a rare thing, these direct-to-series orders are becoming more common as networks seek out proven talents in an attempt to lock them up quickly to keep them from pairing up with cable stations and going forward without bothering with pilot orders as was once the most common practice.
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