Yahoo News Amazon Freevee Hands Straight-To-Series Order To U.S. Remake Of British Comedy ‘Friday Night Dinner’
EXCLUSIVE: Friday Night Dinner is coming to the U.S.
Amazon Freevee has handed a straight-to-series order to Dinner with the Parents, a remake of the long-running British comedy, which comes from former Late Show with David Letterman writer Jon Beckerman, The Outlaws producer Big Talk and CBS Studios.
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It marks the fourth attempt to remake the show — which ran for nearly 10 years in the UK on Channel 4 — in the U.S. and the first to get past the development stage. It has scored a 10-episode order.
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The British series, which ran for six seasons from 2011-20, is centered around the regular dinner experience of the middle class British Jewish Goodman family every Friday night.
The U.S. version of the half-hour single-camera comedy will follow much of this. It is centered around two brothers in their 20s go to their mom and dad’s for dinner each week and somehow get through it without actually, physically, dying of embarrassment.
If your 54-year-old dad has ever “dabbed” while shirtless in front of your girlfriend, or your mom won’t stop bringing up that time when you had to be rushed to the pediatrician after an incident with a shampoo bottle, which is why your brother still calls you “Pert Plus,” you will relate to this show. If not, must be nice!, the synopsis reads.
Beckerman will exec produce and serve as showrunner with Big Talk’s Kenton Allen and Matthew Justice, creator of the UK series Robert Popper and Caroline Leddy. Tristram Shapeero will direct and exec produce.
The critically acclaimed UK series, which has among the BAFTA nominations, starred Tamsin Greig, Paul Ritter, Simon Bird, Tom Rosenthal and Mark Heap. It ended after its sixth season following the death of Ritter.
Greig played mother Jackie, Ritter starred as father Martin, Bird played eldest son and musician Adam, while Rosenthal played younger son and estate agent Jonny.
It was created and written by Popper, who has also worked on Peep Show and Stath Lets Flats.
Big Talk, which is run by CEO Allen and Chairman Justice, is behind series such as Amazon/BBC co-pro The Outlaws, starring Stephen Merchant and Christopher Walken. The producer is also making a series about infamous highwayman Dick Turpin, starring Noel Fielding, for Apple TV+.
It is the latest attempt to adapt the series in the U.S. In 2011, Greg Daniels led a remake starring Allison Janney and Tony Shalhoub. It went to pilot at NBC but didn’t move forward. CBS tried again in 2014 and 2016, with the latter coming from The King of Queens co-creator Michael Weithorn and former Modern Family exec producer Dan O’Shannon.
It is the latest high-profile project for the Amazon streamer, which was formerly known as IMDb TV. The streamer recently put a sequel series of Who’s The Boss, starring Tony Danza and Alyssa Milano and exec produced by Norman Lear, into development, and has given series orders to Beyond Black Beauty, High School from Tegan and Sara, Greg Garcia’s Sprung and Western from Lord & Miller.
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