When Christopher Guest teamed up with Bridesmaids actor Chris O’Dowd for a brand new HBO and BBC Two collaboration, I secretly kept my fingers crossed, hoping the director and actor would find a match made in heaven. Turns out the partnership has at least been close enough: HBO has determined Family Tree is going straight to series.
Back in May, when Family Tree was first announced as a potential new series, we only had a brief idea of what the project would entail. As reported prior, the show will follow a man investigating his lineage. However, Deadline has fleshed out a few more of the details concerning the series. O’Dowd is set to play Tom Chadwick, a 30-year-old dude who is a bit down on his luck, having lost his gal and his job in a very short time. When Tom’s Great Aunt leaves him a strange box, Tom will begin to uncover his heritage and learn some new insights about himself.
Family Tree was written and created by Guest with a little help from Jim Piddick, who has appeared in several of Guest’s films, including Best in Show and A Mighty Wind. The two will also executive produce the project, alongside Karen Murphy. As noted before, HBO will run episodes of the comedy series in the U.S. and BBC Two is expected to run episodes in the U.K. Around eight episodes will be produced during Family Tree’s Season 1 run.
I like Chris O’Dowd and I hope very much that Guest’s latest directorial effort will find a niche both in the U.S. and overseas. However, on HBO the show will be facing pretty stiff competition from veteran comedies like Curb Your Enthusiasm, as well as some newly considered fodder. Stephen Merchant’s comedy Hello Ladies, for example, earned a pilot order only last month. It bodes well that Christopher Guest projects are usually cheap to produce and the series has already been given a full season order, and hopefully it will prove to be a winner in the lineup in the future.
