ABC has officially kicked off its pilot season with an order for Courtney B. Vance (People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story) and Felicity Huffman (American Crime) starrer Libby & Malcolm, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
Should Libby & Malcolm go to series, it would film around Vance’s schedule for American Crime Story: Katrina, the second season of FX’s anthology from Ryan Murphy. Katrina is scheduled to shoot in the summer.The single-camera comedy is being co-written by Black-ish creator-showrunner Kenya Barris and co-executive producer Vijal Patel. Vance also will executive produce alongside Barris, Patel, Huffman and Brian Dobbins. The comedy is produced in-house at ABC Studios, where Barris is under an overall deal.Libby & Malcolm stars Vance as Malcolm, a smooth, confident liberal pundit and father of three who arms himself with cold, hard facts and an irresistible easy charm that wins over everyone he meets. Malcolm recently married Libby (Huffman), a strong, brilliant Republican who won his heart by knocking him off his feet. Now they’ll forge a new life together at home against all odds while going head-to-head at work on their fiery new political talk show.
The project, first announced in September, comes at a perfect time given the recent presidential election and the country’s heightened political divisiveness. Libby & Malcolm also arrives as ABC has found tremendous success with its inclusive brand of family comedies that include Black-ish, Fresh off the Boat, Speechless, The Real O’Neals and The Goldbergs.
Libby & Malcolm marks ABC’s first official pilot order for the 2017-18 television season. The Disney-owned network previously handed out two straight-to-series drama orders for next season: Kyra Sedgwick vehicle Ten Days in the Valley and Marvel’s Imax entry The Inhumans.
