Fox has won the battle for a new multi-camera comedy from executive producers and Big Bang Theory alums Jim Parsons and Mayim Bialik. Carla, as the series will be called, will star Bialik as the show’s title character. In the upcoming sitcom, Carla is a 39-year-old woman who opens a “Cat Cafe” in Kentucky with the money her parents set aside for her wedding. In doing so, she hopes to prove a point to her mother about whether getting everything you want truly makes you happy.
Carla is an adaptation of the U.K. series Miranda, from creator Miranda Hart. The American version will be produced by Warner Bros. Television, where both Parsons and Bialik have overall deals. Per Deadline, every major network put in an offer for the project, with Fox ultimately winning out. The victory came at the cost of series commitment penalty for the network, meaning that should Fox not pick up the series, they must pay a significant sum to Warner Bros. Television. Fox is targeting a fall 2020 release for the show.
Michael Thorn, President of Fox Entertainment, released the following statement on the acquisition: “In pursuing a hand-crafted approach to our scripted development, [Fox Entertainment CEO] Charlie [Collier] and I knew Carla, written by Darlene Hunt, was a project with great potential that could become the centerpiece of our comedy slate — and Jim Parsons and Mayim Bialik coming to Fox Entertainment is obviously an enormous part of that equation. Carla is an unapologetically big, broad multi-cam with a strong female point-of-view, pushing the format in a way that will be distinctive. With the A+ creative team, our partners at Warner Bros., led by the inimitable Peter Roth, and BBC Studios, we think we have something truly special here.”
Carla’s pilot will be written by The Big C creator Darlene Hunt, who will also serve as an executive producer alongside Parsons and Bialik. Joining them as EP’s are Miranda Hart, Todd Spiewak, and Angie Stephenson.
Parsons and Bialik are known to audiences as lovable nerds Sheldon Cooper and Amy Farrah Fowler on CBS’s The Big Bang Theory. Cooper and Fowler would become a quirky, awkward couple and eventually marry late in the show’s run. When The Big Bang Theory ended in May of this year, it did so as ratings juggernaut, with 18 million viewers watching the series finale. In picking up Carla, Fox hopes to match this mass appeal.
Carla is planned for fall of 2020 on Fox.