Netflix is expanding its adult animated series slate, ordering 10 episodes of Hoops starring former New Girl star Jake Johnson, from writer-comedian Ben Hoffman (The Late Late Show with James Corden, Archer), Phil Lord and Chris Miller (The Lego Movie), Bento Box (Bob’s Burgers) and 20th Century Fox TV.
Created and written by Hoffman, Hoops centers on a hot-headed, foul-mouthed high school basketball coach who thinks turning around his godawful team will take him to the “big leagues.”
Lord, Miller, Seth Cohen and Johnson executive produce with Hoffman. 20th Century Fox, where Lord and Miller are under a pod deal, is producing with Bento Box Animation.
Hoops joins a growing slate of adult animated series at Netflix including veterans BoJack Horseman and F is for Family, the recently released cop comedy Paradise P.D. from Brickleberry creators Waco O’Guin and Roger Black, along with Big Mouth, and Tuca & Bertie, starring Tiffany Haddish.
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Hoops also marks the third high-profile animated series sale to a streaming service this year for 20th TV, producer of Fox staples The Simpsons, Family Guy and Bob’s Burgers. The studio received a two-season, straight-to-series order at Apple for animated comedy Central Park, from from Bob’s Burgers creator/executive producer Loren Bouchard and Josh Gad. Its voice cast includes Gad, Leslie Odom Jr., Titus Burgess, Kristen Bell, Stanley Tucci, Daveed Diggs and Kathryn Hahn. At Hulu, the studio received a two-season pickup for Solar Opposites, from Justin Roiland and Mike McMahan.
And just within the past week, the studio and Lord and Miller received a series order at Fox for animated comedy Bless the Harts from writer Emily Spivey, with voice cast members Kirsten Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Jillian Bell and Ike Barinholtz. Additionally, 20th TV, received a presentation order from Fox for The Great North, from Wendy Molyneux, Lizzie Molyneux, Minty Lewis and Loren Bouchard.
Lord and Miller are in development on Business as Usual, a single-camera comedy set at NBC that revolves around everyday employees at a company in crisis, trying to keep their jobs and maintain their relationships as their workplace goes insane. Up next for Lord and Miller on the film side is Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which will hit theaters in December, and The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, slated for release in February. Lord and Miller are repped at UTA and Ziffren Brittenham.
Johnson starred as Nick Miller on all seven seasons of Fox’s New Girl. He also recurred on Netflix’s toon series BoJack Horseman and most recently was cast in Sony Pictures’ upcoming animated feature Spider Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which also hails from Lord and Miller.
Hoffman has served as a writer on The Late Late Show with James Corden, Archer and Comedy Central Roast of James Franco. He is represented by 3 Arts and UTA.