EXCLUSIVE: In one of the biggest half-hour sales so far this season, ABC has landed a family comedy from Black-ish creator/executive producer Kenya Barris and co-executive producer Vijal Patel, which has Emmy winner Felicity Huffman attached to star and executive produce. The single-camera project, about a politically divided family, hails from ABC Studios, where Barris and Patel are under overall deals. The big commitment, a rarity for a deal between a studio and its sister network, underscores the competitiveness of the sale.
Written by Barris and Patel, the Untitled Political Project (fka Libby & Malcolm) is a family comedy that takes a very real look at how today’s “politics of division” play out between two opposing pundits who also happen to be married. One’s black, one’s white; one’s left, one’s right. Bitter rivals at work on their pundit show “Black & Wright,” they have to turn conflict into compromise at home when it comes to raising their kids. Huffman will play the wife.
Barris executive produces through his Khalabo Ink Society alongside Patel, Huffman and Principato Young Entertainment’s E. Brian Dobbins.
Barris does not shy away from searing political commentary on ABC’s Black-ish, which has tackled topics like race and police brutality. While that is rarely seen on TV, there is a tradition about blending family comedy and politics that goes all the way back to All In the Family.
Huffman’s involvement in the Kenya/Patel comedy means that she will no longer be attached to the ABC/ABCS fashion biz dramedy House Of Moore. The project, from Kapital Entertainment, Daniel and Ben Barnz, and new executive producers/showrunners Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain, remains in development at ABC, which had been high on the concept, taking a second stab at it this season after originally commissioning a script last season. A starring role on the Kenya/Patel comedy would not interfere with Huffman’s commitment to John Ridley’s ABC/ABCS anthology series American Crime.
Written by Barris and Patel, the Untitled Political Project (fka Libby & Malcolm) is a family comedy that takes a very real look at how today’s “politics of division” play out between two opposing pundits who also happen to be married. One’s black, one’s white; one’s left, one’s right. Bitter rivals at work on their pundit show “Black & Wright,” they have to turn conflict into compromise at home when it comes to raising their kids. Huffman will play the wife.
Barris executive produces through his Khalabo Ink Society alongside Patel, Huffman and Principato Young Entertainment’s E. Brian Dobbins.
Barris does not shy away from searing political commentary on ABC’s Black-ish, which has tackled topics like race and police brutality. While that is rarely seen on TV, there is a tradition about blending family comedy and politics that goes all the way back to All In the Family.
Huffman’s involvement in the Kenya/Patel comedy means that she will no longer be attached to the ABC/ABCS fashion biz dramedy House Of Moore. The project, from Kapital Entertainment, Daniel and Ben Barnz, and new executive producers/showrunners Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain, remains in development at ABC, which had been high on the concept, taking a second stab at it this season after originally commissioning a script last season. A starring role on the Kenya/Patel comedy would not interfere with Huffman’s commitment to John Ridley’s ABC/ABCS anthology series American Crime.
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