ABC has given a 6-episode series order to comedy pilot "Bless this Mess" starring Lake Bell and Dax Shepard , which was developed at FOX but was passed by the network. FOX also has passed two other comedy pilots that were in contention.
"Bless This Mess," a new single-camera comedy, has been picked up to series, Karey Burke, president, ABC Entertainment, announced today.
The comedy, starring Lake Bell and Dax Shepard, is a co-production from 20th Century Fox Television and ABC Studios. Elizabeth Meriwether ("Single Parents," "New Girl") and Bell are executive producers and co-creators of the series, which will air next year on The ABC Television Network.
In "Bless This Mess," a newlywed couple's (Bell, Shepard) plan to ditch big city living for a simpler life in Nebraska doesn't go as expected.
"Bell and Shepard headline a stellar cast in this hilarious take on a classic fish-out-of-water story that we found irresistible," said Burke.
Jake Kasdan and Melvin Mar ("Fresh Off the Boat," "Speechless") are non-writing executive producers, as are Shepard and Katherine Pope. Bell also directed the pilot.
Bless This Mess was one of three off-cycle comedy pilots ordered by Fox this year. The others, a revamped Dan the Weatherman, starring Thomas Lennon, and Rob McElhenney and Rob Rosell’s Mean Jean, starring Leah Remini and Kaitlin Olson, also are not going forward.
Fox has no scheduling needs this midseason, and I hear new Fox topper Charlie Collier was not ready to commit to Bless This Mess for next fall before he has seen the network’s development.