TV & Film News

HBO fast tracks Charlie Kaufman comedy series

By Derek Hill May 22, 2012

Screenwriter/director Charlie Kaufman and actress Catherine Keener are collaborating on a new half-hour comedy series for HBO. That may sound bizarre to some, especially since Kaufman's work in feature films-- Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Synecdoche, New York, among others-- has been radically daring and experimental. Although his scripts are precisely structured, his films are nevertheless the antithesis of the easily digestible, tidy half-hour sitcom format.

Nevertheless, Kaufman got his start in the early 1990s writing for television shows like Chris Elliott's short-lived Get a Life, The Dana Carvey Show, and Ned & Stacey. The man knows the American sitcom format and presumably how to subvert it as well. Color us intrigued. Keener, who has worked with Kaufman on a number of projects, doesn't do a lot of television, so her involvement in this makes it doubly interesting.

The program is untitled at the moment and little is known outside of the initial premise of it focusing on the daily life of a woman, but HBO is quickly pushing it into production. Expect on more news about this over the next few months.

TAGS: cable, comedy, sitcom, surreal, television,

Synecdoche, New York original trailer