Comedy Central Greenlights Debmar-Mercury Sitcom

NEW YORK: Comedy Central has given the go-ahead to a sitcom from Gary Sanchez Productions and Debmar-Mercury starring Jon Heder, with Will Ferrell, Adam McKay and Chris Henchy writing and producing the show.

Distributed by Debmar-Mercury, the untitled, multi-camera sitcom, premiering next year, will star Heder, of Napolean Dynamite and Blades of Glory fame, as an out of work computer IT specialist who leaves the big city and returns to his small home town, where he moves back in with his parents and younger brother. Ferrell, McKay and Henchy will write and produce the series.

The cable network has initially ordered ten episodes, with the option to order an additional 90 episodes upon a successful first-season run. Debmar-Mercury would retain the rights to take the series into syndication after its run on Comedy Central. "Combining the creative genius of the Gary Sanchez gang with the brilliant business model established by Mort Marcus and Ira Bernstein at Debmar-Mercury should ensure many, many great laughs in the years to come on Comedy Central," said Michele Ganeless, the network’s president.  

"We immediately jumped at the opportunity to be in business with this elite team of A-list comedy talents, who are among a handful of people in Hollywood capable of pulling off a project of this magnitude," notes Marcus. Adds Bernstein, "As we expand on a proven business model, we could not be more pleased that Comedy Central chose this concept to serve as its first full-fledged, live-action original sitcom."