Every so often, Comedy Central realizes geniuses are in its midst and it opts to continue down that path. The network’s latest round of renewals and series pick-ups reflects that mindset, as ratings riser Inside Amy Schumer will be back for Season 3, and the off-kilter freshman series Review and TripTank have been renewed for respective second seasons. As well, series orders were granted to two new network series and six original web-only series. If laughter is the best medicine, Comedy Central is a pharmaceutical god.
It’s no big or unwelcome surprise that Inside Amy Schumer is coming back, as she and her writers have settled into the perfect groove of mining the absurd from gender and sex comedy while also throwing in random commentary on society and entertainment. Having a slew of guest stars, particularly The West Wing's Josh Charles, doesn’t hurt either. Check out this recent sketch with everyone’s favorite a-hole Colin Quinn aggravating Amy to no end.
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In Review, Andy Daly is the consummate straight man as life critic Forrest MacNeil, who reviews people doing things like being Batman and having road rage. While THR doesn’t mention if Review’s order is for the same nine episodes or not, they do report Comedy Central has upped TripTank’s Season 2 episode number from eight to 20. An anthology of animated shorts, with sketches such as Dick Genie, TripTank utilizes a lot of different animation types and subject matter, so it’s understandably sometimes good and sometimes not. Power to Comedy Central for keeping it going.
Another Period is the new series from Ben Stiller’s Red Hour, and stars the excellent comics Natasha Leggero and Riki Lindhome as two sisters in turn-of-the-century Newport, Rhode Island. As members of the town’s first family, their issues lie not with money, as they have a ton of it, but with how they look. Women! The massive supporting cast includes Tom Lennon, Michael Ian Black, Paget Brewster, Jason Ritter, Brett Gelman, Beth Dover, Rosa Salazar and Armen Weitzman.
Making the jump from digital series to primetime is Idiotsitter, from Workaholics’s Jillian Bell and Charlotte Newhouse. The latter plays a straight-laced woman who is hired by a wealthy man to babysitting his immature woman-child daughter, played by Bell, who is under house arrest in the family’s mansion. You can watch the first episode below, but don’t expect a fair hourly wage.
Now here’s a list of the six digital series, the most promising of which to me is Roustabout with Kurt Braunohler, because it’s impossible for Braunohler to not be funny.
6 Guys 1 Car: Written by and starring Dormtainment’s comedy troupe and directed by Nick Goossen, the series follows six guys from Atlanta to Los Angeles, documenting the "Broke and Famous" lifestyle of their YouTube popularity.300 Sunnyside: The comedy centers on the six roommates of 300 Sunnyside, who aren't worried about their stagnant existence; they have too many petty squabbles to occupy their attention. Written by Barry Rothbart and Danny Solomon, the series stars Rothbart, Brian Huskey, Betsy Sodaro, Nick Rutherford, Chris Reinacher and Cornell Reid and is directed by Andy Landen.New Timers: Written and directed by and starring comedy duo Good Cop Great Cop, aka Matt Porter and Charlie Hankin, New Timers follows Matt and Charlie, two friends who managed to survive the apocalypse. The world has changed, Matt and Charlie have not.Pie Guys: Written by and starring Jon Barinholtz, Pie Guys follows the lives of three very different breeds of idiot, who work as delivery drivers for a pizza shop. It stars Mort Burke and Rob Belushi and is directed by Ike Barinholtz and David Stassen.Roustabout With Kurt Braunohler: Written by Kurt Braunohler and Scotty Landes and directed by Jeff Tomsic, Roustabout features Braunohler creating sweeping feats of absurdity to make the world a better place. Each season will feature a specific act of stupidity.Team Tiger Awesome: Written by Nick Mundy, Michael Truly and Clint Gage, who will direct, the series follows a loose cannon detective, played by Chris Jericho, and his by-the-book partner (Mundy) who kill time on an endless stakeout by doing the one thing that ruins a good detective team…sharing feelings with each other.
Expect these six series to hit Comedy Central’s website and other Internet stomping grounds over the next year.
