On Norman Lear‘s 100th birthday, Amazon Freevee gifted him with a series greenlight.
The streaming service ordered his latest producorial effort, Clean Slate, to series. The original comedy, which hails from Lear’s Act III Productions and Sony Pictures Television, centers on an outspoken, old-school car wash owner, played by George Wallace, who’s thrilled his estranged child is finally coming home to Alabama after 17 years. But, per the show’s official logline, he has “a lot of soul searching to do” when that child returns not as a son but rather as a determined, proud, trans woman, played by trans actress Laverne Cox.
Dan Ewan will serve as the series’ showrunner, having written the pilot and conceived the story with Cox and Wallace. In addition to acting credits, Cox will serve as an executive producer and Wallace as a producer. Lear is credited as a non-writing executive producer alongside his producing partner Brent Miller. Paul Hilepo is also a non-writing producer on the series, which was previously in development at Peacock. It was first announced as part of the NBCU slate in early 2020.
“I don’t think that’s ever been done before, a man gets a new series greenlit on his 100th birthday,” says an enthusiastic Miller. “And in addition to that, it’s the first [sitcom] that has ever had a trans character as the center point, and the fact that it’s once again Norman doing that just excites me.”
The news comes at a particularly busy time for the “newly minted centurion,” as Lear proudly describes himself. Via his Sony-based production company, he and Miller have two other projects in development at Freevee alone. There’s Loteria, based on the card game, which follows two estranged teen siblings who set off on an adventure across Mexico to collect magical Loteria cards, unearthing the power of their history and culture in the hope of reuniting their family, and a Who’s The Boss revival. Tony Danza and Alyssa Milano are set to reprise their roles in the latter, which is set 30 years after the events of the original series.
Lear, who has a long, celebrated history of making barrier-breaking comedies, also has a Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman reboot in development with Schitt’s Creek star Emily Hampshire and an animated reimagining of Good Times, with NBA star Steph Curry’s production company and Lear pal Seth MacFarlane, for Netflix. Additionally, ABC is set to air Lear’s 100th birthday tribute, aptly titled Norman Lear: 100 Years of Music and Laughter, later this month. He insists he’s blissfully unaware of what the special will entail.
Source: Hollywood
