It seems like Dee Reynolds is once again spreading her comedic talents beyond Paddy’s Pub.
The It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia star has been vetted and selected as the lead actress in Fox’s new comedy series, The Mick‘s, pilot. The creators behind the new show announced the news through Variety today.
If The Mick surpasses its first chance in its debut, this will be Kaitlin Olson’s first individual lead role in television. While the actress is considered a main feature on It’s Always Sunny, she shares the position with actors Charlie Day, Danny Devito, Rob McElhenny (one of the creators of the show) and Glenn Howerton (another creator). In truth, Olson has never stood alone in the spotlight, until now.
Olson will play a character not terribly unlike Dee Reynolds, however. Variety describes the character as “a hard-living, foul-mouthed woman,” but very unlike Dee, this to-be-named character is moving from somewhere assumedly less-than-luxurious to the well-to-do, prosperous town of Greenwich, Connecticut. There, she will supposedly look after her nieces and nephews after her sister flees the United States to avoid indictment by the FBI (for a crime that has not been made clear yet).
The Mick will be written by brothers Dave Chernin and John Chernin, who have previously done work on, of course, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia. The latter Chernin is also credited with writing for Date Night (2010) and The Heartbreak Kid (2007).
Nick Frenkel, a producer of It’s Always Sunny, and Oly Obst will co-executive produce the pilot, and Randall Einhorn, who is recognized for his work on The Muppets, will craft The Mick‘s first script.
Like many of the great modern comedies of the day–namely The Office and Parks and Recreation–the show will be shot in true single-cam style. It will also be completely female-led, a trait that most shows on mainstream television today–excluding Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and HBO, for each are a paid-subscription streaming service–do not have. But for all that are excited that this will be another peg for feminist progress on-screen in general, hold your breath; many shows do not make it past the pilot, especially if it shares the time-slot with a ratings-magnet on another network.
Regardless of the odds, The Mick seems almost tailor-made to fit Olson’s character type. The list of characters she’s played in the past include Dee, as mentioned, as well as a foul-mouthed drug addict in The Heat (2013), Brenda Quagmire, wife of the promiscuous Quagmire, in Family Guy, a nightmarish rival to Zooey DeChanel on New Girl, and the list flows on.
Olson will not abandon her spot on It’s Always Sunny, which was renewed in 2014 by Fox to continue through its 12th season, to act on The Mick as well, even if the second makes it to series. It is unlikely the producers involved with both shows will have to choose between the two either.