‘Big Bang’s Mayim Bialik & Jim Parsons Reteam For Fox Comedy Series ‘Carla’ Based On UK’s ‘Miranda’
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Shamy is back! The Big Bang Theory stars Jim Parsons and Mayim Bialik, who played adorably nerdy couple Sheldon and Amy on the it CBS sitcom, have partnered for Carla, a new multi-camera comedy from Big Bang studio Warner Bros. TV based on Miranda Hart’s BBC series Miranda.
In a highly competitive situation, with all broadcast networks bidding, the project, starring and executive produced by Bialik and executive produced by Parsons, just landed at Fox with a series order for fall 2020. The network’s willingness to step up in a big way erases any doubt about its commitment to live-action comedy under CEO Charlie Collier and Entertainment President Michael Thorn.
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On the show, written by Darlene Hunt, Carla (Bialik) is a 39-year-old woman who struggles every day against society and her mother to prove that you CANNOT have everything you want — and still be happy. Which is why she spent the money her parents set aside for her wedding to open a Cat Café in Louisville, KY.
Hunt executive produces with Bialik via her Sad Clown Prods. banner, Parsons and Todd Spiewak via That’s Wonderful Prods., Angie Stephenson for BBC Studios and the original series’ creator and star Miranda Hart. That’s Wonderful’s Eric Norsoph and Sad Clown’s Mackenzie Gabriel-Vaught serve as producers.
The project hails from That’s Wonderful Productions, Sad Clown Productions and BBC Studios in association with Warner Bros. Television, where That’s Wonderful and Sad Clown are under deals, and Fox Entertainment.
This marks the biggest commitment so far this broadcast development season. Fox, which does not have live-action comedies on the fall schedule for the first time in years, has big plans for Carla.
“In pursuing a hand-crafted approach to our scripted development, Charlie 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,” Fox Entertainment President Michael Thorn said. “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.”
Carla stems from exclusive two-year pod deal Bialik’s newly launched production company, Sad Clown Productions, recently made at WBTV, which includes a talent holding provision for her acting services, allowing the studio to develop a new starring vehicle for her. With Parson’s That’s Wonderful banner also based at WBTV, the duo partnered for a Big Bang reunion that is sure to delight fans of the hit comedy.
Miranda is one of the top rated British comedy series of the last ten years. In the broad comedy, Hart plays an exaggerated, bumbling version of herself, a quirky and agoraphobic woman who often lands in awkward situations, posher than most of her friends and a constant disappointment to her mother, who is desperate for her to find a husband.
Miranda ran for three seasons between 2009 and 2013 as well as a number of one-off specials. It picked up a number of BAFTA TV nominations and Hart picked up a slew of Royal Television Society awards. It also starred Tom Ellis, who went on to star in Fox’s Lucifer, Sarah Hadland, Sally Phillips and Patricia Hodge. (Watch a trailer below)
For her role as Amy Farrah Fowler on the CBS hit comedy The Big Bang Theory, Bialik earned 4 Emmy nominations and 2 Critics’ Choice Awards. She is repped by Mosaic, WME and Shep Rosenman at Katz Golden Rosenman.
Parsons executive produces through That’s Wonderful Prods. and narrates Big Bang prequel Young Sheldon, which is heading into its third season on CBS. Parsons also exec produced the Netflix comedy series Special. As an actor, he co-stars in Ryan Murphy’s new Netflix series Hollywood and movie adaptation of Broadway musical The Boys In the Band. Parsons and That’s Wonderful Productions are repped by CAA, Principal Entertainment LA, and Gang, Tyre, Ramer & Brown.
Peter White contributed to this report.
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