US Friday Night Dinner still cooking

The UK producer behind comedies Rev and Threesome is continuing talks in the US over the future of its remake of Channel 4 sitcom Friday Night Dinner.

Big Talk Productions and coproducer Popper Productions have made two seasons of the sitcom, about the weekly dinner attended by a Jewish family, with season two due to air on C4 this autumn.

The show also airs on BBC America in the US, where broadcast network NBC ordered a pilot adaptation during its 2011/12 development season.

The pilot, coproduced by Big Talk, 3 Arts, Greg Daniels (The Office) and NBCUniversal (NBCU), was passed over for NBC’s 2012 fall season but talks about its future are continuing.

“It’s still a live conversation,” Big Talk chief executive Kenton Allen told C21. “We shot the pilot and we’re currently trying to work out what its future is. We’re talking to NBCU about what we’re going to do with it.”

NBC previously ordered eight episodes of another Big Talk comedy, Free Agents, with four making it to air.

Allen adds: “We took Friday Night Dinner out there with writer/creator Robert Popper. After a lot of energy and effort we got Greg Daniels on it, shot a pilot and we’re waiting to see what its future might be. We’re also actively exploiting the other formats we have.”

In the UK, Big Talk last week finished shooting historical drama A Young Doctor’s Notebook (4×30′), starring Jon Hamm and Daniel Radcliffe, for Sky Arts.

It has also begun shooting its first hour-long drama, The Town (3×60′), for ITV, a project Allen said was a natural progression for the television and movie producer since its launch in 2008.

“It’s a pretty logical strategy for a company that’s driven on scripted entertainment,” he said. “But if we’re going to make drama, we’ve got to make what we do distinctive. It’s something broadcasters are asking for but is often in short supply.”