During its presentation at the Television Critics Association's winter press tour, CBS All Access gave series orders to two original animated comedy series - The Harper House created by Brad Neely and Tooning Out the News from Stephen Colbert.
The Harper House will follow an overconfident female head-of-a-household as she struggles to regain a higher status for herself, and for her family of oddballs, after losing her job and moving from the rich side to the poor side of an Arkansas small town. To save money, they've moved into their inherited Victorian fixer upper, the historic Harper House.
Neely will executive produce alongside Katie Krentz. CBS Television Studios and 219 Productions will produce.
"It's the big animated family show for the 21st century with a fun fallible lady up front and a neurotic husband at home," said Neely. "Katie Krentz and I have been talking about this for years, and we know the folks at CBS Television Studios and CBS All Access get it. This will be crazy fun."
"Brad is an exceptional talent, who has translated his affection for his hometown into a rich, animated universe, with a family at the center that you instantly want to be a part of," said Julie McNamara, Executive Vice President of Original Content, CBS All Access. "We are thrilled to be bringing the Harpers to our subscribers as we continue to expand our animated original programming."
Tooning Out the News will feature short daily segments leading up to a weekly full episode that includes a cast of animated characters mocking news of the day, and interviewing real world guests and newsmakers.
The Our Cartoon President team of Colbert, Chris Licht, RJ Fried and Tim Luecke created the comedy. CBS Television Studios will produce.
"The minute the imaginators at Tooning Out the News decked their bleeding edge ideation bizmeth, I knew that the news jackers were ripe for our freemium growth hack pivot," said Colbert. "Let's go Omnichannel for UTTR! I also couldn't be prouder to be working with my old friend, James Smartwood. Go get 'em, Jimbo!"
"This brilliant creative team is truly breaking new ground, marrying daily headline events with animation, to create their own unique spin on today's news coverage," added McNamara. "Whether you come for your daily dose or the full-length episode at the end of the week, CBS All Access is the perfect destination for this innovative, comedic look at our culture of 'Breaking News' overload, and we are thrilled to be in business with these phenomenal creative minds from within the ViacomCBS family."
