Paul Reiser Creating Scripted Series Based on Tonight Show

paul reiser

 

Seeso continues to expand its stable of original offerings with the announcement today that the platform is working on a new show called There’s Johnny!. The show is an eight-episode scripted series that will follow characters working behind the scenes of the legendary late-night show The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. The show is being written/produced by Paul Reiser (Mad About You, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air) and David Steven Simon (The Wayan’s Brothers, Mad About You) and is being produced/directed by David Gordon Green (Vice Principals, Eastbound and Down).

The series will center on two young Tonight Show employees, Andy and Joy, showing the trials and tribulations that the two of them face while working on a cultural monolith of a television show and simultaneously living in one of the most tumultuous times in American history. Taking place in 1970’s Los Angeles, shortly after the show moved from New York to Burbank, the series will hit on some of the biggest topics of the time, from President Nixon and the Vietnam War to the hippie counter-culture.

 According to Deadline, the show is being made with the blessing of the Carson estate, and has full access to the entire Carson archive, which will allow Reiser, Simon and Green to recreate the atmosphere of The Tonight Show as authentically as possible and weave actual footage of Carson and guests into the show.

Reiser had this to say of the project: “Growing up, the coolest thing imaginable was to someday get on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and make Johnny laugh. The fact that I got to do that was a dream come true, and going back now to explore that world, and pay homage to Johnny and that golden time is an absolute joy.”

The series is set to debut in 2017, 25 years since The Tonight Show ended and 55 years since Carson’s debut episode.

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Bill Tressler

Bill is a writer and comedy enthusiast from New York. An avid gamer and podcast fan, he strives to always toe the line between charming irreverence and grating honesty.
Bill Tressler
Bill Tressler
Bill is a writer and comedy enthusiast from New York. An avid gamer and podcast fan, he strives to always toe the line between charming irreverence and grating honesty.