HBO Max, Cartoon Network head to Home Sweet Rome in new music series

Henry Winkler’s Hank Zipzer is among HBO Max’s acquisitions

Warner Bros Discovery-owned SVoD service HBO Max and kids’ cablenet Cartoon Network have ordered a music-filled live-action comedy series based on a concept by Hannah Montana creator Michael Poryes.

Scheduled to premiere in 2023, Home Sweet Rome is a coming-of-age series about a 13-year-old girl who moves from California to start a new life in Rome with her dad and Italian pop star stepmother.

Matt Huether and Courtney Jane Walker are developing and writing the series and will also serve as showrunners. Shot entirely on location in Rome, each episode will feature original songs.

Home Sweet Rome is a coproduction by Superprod’s Red Monk Studio in Italy and Canada’s First Generation Films. Poryes, Huether and Walker exec produce with Red Monk CEO Pedro Citaristi and First Generation founder and principal Christina Piovesan.

Superprod president Clement Calvet and MD Jeremie Fajner also exec produce with Doug Schwalbe via their overall deal.

Meanwhile, HBO Max and Cartoon Network have also greenlit two original live-action specials based on toy company Mattel’s American Girl franchise.

American Girl: Corinne Tan (working title) is inspired by Mattel’s doll of the same name, which is its first doll of Chinese descent. The show follows the titular character and her sister as they adjust to life as part of a blended family after their parents’ divorce.

The one-hour special is produced by Mattel Television and MarVista Entertainment and is scheduled to premiere this December.

The second American Girl special is still to be announced and will premiere next year. Both specials aim to increase HBO Max and Cartoon Network’s female audiences.

Exec producing are Mattel Television’s senior VP and general manager, Fred Soulie, and head of live-action series, Phil Breman. Exec producing for MarVista are exec VP of development and production Hannah Pillemer, senior VP of development and production Larry Grimaldi and CEO Fernando Szew. Adam Shepard is co-exec producer.

Meanwhile, HBO Max has added to its kids’ and family live-action slate by acquiring series Hank Zipzer, My Babysitter’s a Vampire and season eight of The Next Step.

Based on book series Hank Zipzer: The World’s Greatest Underachiever by Henry Winkler (Happy Days, Barry) and Lin Oliver, Hank Zipzer is inspired by Winkler’s real-life experiences and tells the story of a 12-year-old boy with dyslexia.

The three-season British series is produced by WildBrain in association with Walker Productions and Kindle Entertainment, and originally aired on CBBC in the UK from 2014 to 2016. It will launch on HBO Max on Friday.

My Babysitter’s a Vampire is produced by Toronto-based Fresh TV and follows the supernatural battles experienced by a boy, whose babysitter is half-vampire, and his friends.

Scheduled to debut on HBO Max in October, the two-season series originally ran on Teletoon in Canada and Disney Channel in the US from 2011 to 2013.

Finally, The Next Step follows the highs and lows of a group of dancers. The Canadian series initially ran for seven seasons on Family Channel and later on CBC Gem from 2013 to 2020. CBBC in the UK commissioned an eighth season last month.

Produced by Boat Rocker, season eight will premiere on HBO Max next year, while seasons five to seven will become available this summer.