Comedy Central in the UK has a second season of its first original sitcom in development, as the network plans further investment in original British comedy.
Threesome, about three friends who raise a baby together, is produced by Big Talk Productions and became the network’s second highest-rated show this autumn after Two and a Half Men.
“We don’t get to take a lot of bets but the bets we take are very big. We have taken Friends from Channel 4, which was a sizeable investment and we’ve done our first scripted commission,” said Jill Offman, Comedy Central UK MD, speaking at C21’s Schedule Watch conference at Bafta in London this week.
A decision on a second season of Threesome has yet to be made, but early stage development is underway. Its success has whetted the network’s appetite for more original programming.
The channel, which was rebranded from Paramount Comedy in April 2009, is looking for new sitcoms that can sit in the schedules between US heavyweights such as South Park and Two and a Half Men.
Offman said: “When we started at Paramount Comedy, there were 131 programmes. There are 12 now. They’re all returning series so there’s definitely room in the schedule for more.
“We thought fewer, bigger, better, British. We wanted to be a lot more British. There was no way the channel was going to be taken seriously and live up to the name Comedy Central unless it was the central clearing house of great comedy.”
Offman said the channel was after “big laughs” that appeal to 18-34s. “Everything goes but it has to be gag-driven. It needs to be warm and upbeat. We would basically make every good script we saw. We’re just not seeing as many as we would like.”
Offman, who also oversees content on international Comedy Central networks, added: “Comedy Central is in 15 or 16 territories but we don’t have any of the same shows. We’ll do some deals from the US but it’s harder for us because cablenet comedy in the US is very edgy. We don’t want that. We’re not cool. Larry David is not coming on our channel. What we need is big, broad, happy, upbeat, mainstream, studio sitcoms.”
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