What happens in a post-millennial, semi-feminist relationship when she starts bringing in more bank than he? Fox is going to explore that question in a new summer comedy called Famous, following a young couple’s relationship that is tested when one of them skyrockets to fame overnight.
Debuting on June 12, Famous will be filmed in a mockumentary style at couples therapy where Fred and Geneva, both high-school teachers, are working out their drama. Both secretly have Hollywood dreams – she as a pop singer, he as a screenwriter – and when a viral music video lands her a record deal he finds himself lost in her shadow. Can this couple survive or will they discover that being famous and in love makes for a complicated threesome?
Deadline reports that the show was turned down by Fox several years ago, when the network was under the command of Kevin Reilly. 20th Century Fox Television co-chairs Gary Newman and Dana Walden were given control of the network during a 2014 restructuring, and the title came up again this spring when the team was looking for new summer shows. It’s unusual for Fox to debut a comedy during the summer season, but since the network has struggled with the half-hour format they may be experimenting when competition with new shows is less fierce.
Fox has long been the 4th place network in the ratings but is gaining traction with well-received shows like Empire and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Still, they’re as hit-and-miss as they’ve always been. For every Simpsons there is Grandfathered and The Grinder. For every Bones there is Minority Report and Second Chance.
(Brooklyn Nine-Nine is so much more than Andy Samberg. Watch it, you won’t regret it.)
Since Parks & Recreation and The Office went off the air (and Derek and The Comeback only draw niche crowds) it’s about time for another good network mockumentary. It’s proven itself a strangely successful comedy style to explore mundane parts of life, so Famous might fill that cynical gap that broad comedies just don’t hit, especially if they choose to mock the bizarre machinery that drives American entertainment.
Famous was picked straight up to a 10-episode series order with creators Ralph Farquhar (Moesha, Real Husbands of Hollywood) and Ty Hodges (A Girl Like Grace) serving as executive and supervising producers, respectively. Much will depend on casting since the series will hinge on how invested the audience becomes, quickly, in this hapless relationship. We’ll keep you posted as we hear.