EXCLUSIVE: In a bidding situation, HBO has landed one of the highest profile comedy packages to hit the marketplace in awhile. Titled Kansas City Star, the half-hour project is headlined and executive produced by Kaley Cuoco (The Big Bang Theory, Based On A True Story) and created and executive produced by the Hacks trio of Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs and Jen Statsky, sources tell Deadline.
Deals are still being finalized but the comedy is expected to get a series order, I hear. Warner Bros. Television, where Cuoco and her Yes, Norman banner have a producing deal and Aniello & Downs as well as Statsky are under overall deals, is the studio.
Details about Kansas City Star are sketchy but it is described by sources as a comedy with heart starring Cuoco as a semi-famous actress who returns to her hometown to work with a regional theater troupe. Reps for HBO and WBTV declined comment.
Kansas City Star would be the fourth new comedy series ordered by HBO over the past six months as the network is replenishing its comedy ranks. It joins another big WBTV package that landed a straight-to-series order, an untitled Steve Carell comedy from Bill Lawrence, and two projects that got series pickups after filming pilots, one created by and starring Rachel Sennott, and Tim Robinson and Zach Kanin’s The Chair Company.
This is Cuoco’s latest premium/streaming series since her 12-season starring turn on WBTV’s hit CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory. Kansas City Star follows dark WBTV comedy-drama The Flight Attendant for Max, which earned her three Emmy nominations, and Peacock’s dark comedy thriller Based On A True Story, which is returning for a second season next week. In addition to The Flight Attendant, through her WBTV deal, Cuoco also produces and voices the title character in the Max animated series Harley Quinn. At HBO, Cuoco previously did a guest stint on Curb Your Enthusiasm. She is repped by SDB Partners, Brillstein Entertainment Partners and Hansen Jacobson Teller.
This marks the first series created by Aniello, Downs and Statsky since their breakout success with Max’s Hacks, the reigning Emmy winner for Outstanding Comedy Series, which is headed to its fourth season. In addition to sharing in that victory, Hacks creators Aniello, Downs and Statsky also won together two writing Emmys, with Aniello also getting one for directing on the show.
Kansas City Star comes just a couple of months after Aniello, Downs and Statsky reunited for development when Statsky moved from Universal Television, the studio behind Hacks, to Max and HBO sibling Warner Bros. TV, joining Aniello and Downs who have been under a deal there since 2021.
This also marks another female-lead comedy vehicle for Aniello, Downs and Statsky after Hacks whose star Jean Smart has won an Emmy for each of the series’ three seasons to date. (Both shows also share showbiz ties.)
The trio previously worked together on Broad City. Aniello and Downs are repped by UTA, 3 Arts and Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole. Statsky is repped by UTA and Mosaic.
