Comedy Central & The Onion Partner for Original Pilot

NEW YORK: Comedy Central is teaming up with the satirical news group The Onion on a pilot for a half-hour scripted comedy series based on the Onion Sports Network online video series. 

The series, as-yet untitled, will focus on modern sports—teams, players, leagues, fans, products, etc—with a focus towards appealing to both hardcore sports followers and casual fans, as well as followers of The Onion and The Onion News Network. The show will be executive produced by Onion News Network producer Julie Smith and director Will Graham, and Lisa Leingang is the executive in charge of production for Comedy Central. 

"We are thrilled to be in business with a cultural icon like The Onion to give our audience the sports show they deserve," said Lauren Corrao, the president of original programming and development at Comedy Central. "The short-form content on the OSN web series is outstanding, hilarious and exactly what you’d expect from the gang. We’re really excited to take this great idea and turn it into a regular, weekly series." 

"The Onion is the biggest, most fearless, most influential news organization in the free world," added Steve Hannah, the CEO of Onion, Inc. "And we see a collaboration with Comedy Central as the next logical step in the expansion of the Onion Sports Network’s hard-hitting coverage."