Kill The Orange-Faced Bear - What We Know So Far
Deadline has reported that TBS has picked up the pilot for the comedy "Kill the Orange-Faced Bear" along with a 10-episode order. According to Deadline, Brett Weitz — the general manager of TNT, TBS, and truTV — has had his eye on the show since he tried to buy it based on a pitch several years ago, but it landed at Comedy Central. When the network ultimately passed, the show's producers brought it back to Weitz.
Romanski (formerly known as Chris Romanski) is writing the show as well as serving as an executive producer. He was a co-creator of the Spike TV (now Paramount Network) sitcom "Blue Mountain State." Romanski's other producing credits include "How I Met Your Mother" and "The Sarah Silverman Program." Damon Wayans Jr., one of the stars of the criminally underrated comedy "Happy Endings," headlines the series' ensemble cast. He's also serving as an executive producer.
Here's everything we know about the upcoming TBS show "Kill the Orange-Faced Bear."
When will Kill the Orange-Faced Bear premiere?
Brett Weitz's excitement about "Kill the Orange-Faced Bear" hasn't waned since the initial pitch. Once Comedy Central was out of the picture and Weitz got a second chance to bring the show to fruition, he wasted no time getting the ball rolling. Weitz told Deadline, "We made a couple changes, cast it very quickly and then put out the pilot. I'm a big fan, and Sam Linsky and Adrienne O'Riain, who run all of our scripted content, were big on what's not on television and what's going to make noise and land with the consumer, but also what's going to be threaded with joy, and what's going to make people laugh, and the absurdity of 'Kill an Orange-Faced Bear' is so beautifully constructed."
In March, Variety reported the pilot for "Kill the Orange-Faced Bear" would begin filming in Portland, Oregon. TBS hasn't announced an official premiere date for the show, but with 2021 rapidly coming to a close, audiences won't see this oddly-titled series debut until sometime in 2022 at the earliest. We'll provide updates as they become available.
The cast of Kill the Orange-Faced Bear
Damon Wayans Jr., who will play Hank, has an extensive TV resume which, in addition to "Happy Endings," includes "New Girl," "Happy Together," and "My Wife and Kids." His film credits include "The Other Guys," "Let's Be Cops," "Super Troopers 2," and "How to Be Single." The Wayans name is to comedy what Barrymore is to legendary cinema. Wayans Jr. is the son of "In Living Color" co-creator and "Saturday Night Live" alumn Damon Wayans and the nephew of "White Chicks" stars Marlon and Shawn Wayans.
In April, Deadline announced Sarah Silverman, Nicole Byer, and Sam Richardson had also joined the voice cast of "Kill the Orange-Faced Bear." Silverman, who has lent her distinctive voice to the series "Bob's Burgers," "The Simpsons," and "Crank Yankers" voices the character of Brenda. Byer ("Brooklyn Nine-Nine") voices Pauline, and Richardson ("Veep") voices Steve.
The trio joined live-action cast members Wayans Jr., Jessy Hodges ("Barry"), Alex Karpovsky ("Girls"), and Nate Torrence ("She's Out of My League"). Hodges plays Hank's fianceé Stacy and her twin sister Jamie, Karpovsky plays park ranger Ronnie, and Torrence plays Hank's best friend and Jamie's boyfriend, Murray (via Deadline).
What is the plot of Kill the Orange-Faced Bear?
The plot of "Kill the Orange-Faced Bear" is just your run-of-the-mill love story: boy meets girl, they fall in love, boy proposes, and girl gets eaten by a bear while on a camping trip. That's when things get weird. The "charming," "funny," and "grieving" Hank vows to exact revenge on the bear, Silverman's Brenda, who consumes his true love (via Deadline).
The series explores the story from both Hank's and Brenda's perspectives, and the latter is "just trying to move on from the incident and navigate the other idiot bears in her life." Presumably, that's where Richardson's Steve, a "charmingly idiotic grizzly bear with a dangerous habit of breaking into cars to steal snacks and beer," and Byer's Pauline, "a bear with perfect fur and perfect nails who uses her feminine wiles to seduce Brenda's husband," enter the picture.
Karpovsky's Ronnie is "an oddball park ranger who has a score to settle with Hank," and Torrence's Murray "is just trying to keep everyone together." All we can say is it all sounds deliciously funny.