Jan 2017
Netflix poaches Comedians In Cars
01/18/17 10:21
By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
And the rich get richer. In this case it’s both Netflix and Jerry Seinfeld.
The king of all streaming networks and the swimming-in-money comedian have signed a deal that will take Seinfeld’s Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee away from Crackle, where it originated in July 2012.
Seinfeld also will star in two new standup specials for Netflix, which says that new episodes of Comedians In Cars -- 24 in all -- will debut in late 2017 in addition to earlier editions of the java-fueled get-togethers.
When he began developing Comedians In Cars, “the entire Netflix business model consisted of mailing out DVDs in envelopes,” Seinfeld says in a publicity release. “I love that we are now joining together, both at very different points . . . I am really quite charged up to be moving there.”
***The official Mad Men archives are being donated to the University of Texas at Austin’s Harry Ransom Center. The donor is series creator Matthew Weiner, who says, “It’s our hope that the Mad Men archive can satisfy academic curiosity and also provide creative inspiration.”
In a companion interview released with the announcement, Weiner says he first visited the Ransom Center during the Austin Film Festival and was impressed with its Gone With The Wind exhibit. The Mad Men archive will be exhaustive, he adds, with “every draft of every script and all the dailies of every episode” in addition to “a wealth of props, costumes and communication that represent not only the process but the key moments in the conception and execution of the show.”
But no, Jon Hamm will not be the official tour guide.
***On the Everything Old is New Again front, NBC says that Will & Grace will return for a limited 10-episode run sometime during the 2017-18 TV season. The four principal cast members -- Eric McCormack, Debra Messing, Megan Mullally and Sean Hayes -- all will reprise their original roles.
NBC Entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt, in a publicity release, describes Will & Grace as a “groundbreaking series for everything from gay rights to social and political commentary -- all disguised as a high-speed train of witty pop culture.”
It originally aired from 1998 to 2006 on NBC and won 16 Emmy awards during that time.
NBC also has announced a two-season pickup of its breakout hit, This Is Us, with a minimum of 18 episodes per season. And the Peacock has ordered 20 additional episodes of The Wall, a big-money game show produced by big-moneyed LeBron James.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net