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A+E Networks Orders Comedy Pilot Starring David Koechner & Produced By Leslie Greif

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday April 23, 2013 @ 6:41pm PDTTags: David Koechner, Leslie Greif, Whitey
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: A+E Networks is venturing into half-hour comedy with Whitey, a pilot from Leslie Greif, the producer behind the blockbuster History miniseries Hatfields & McCoys. The Office alum David Koechner is attached to star in the sitcom project, which is being produced under the A+E Networks umbrella as part of the company’s longstanding relationship Greif and his company Thinkfactory Media. I hear Whitey is being earmarked for History though a decision about which A+E Network the project will go to will be made if the pilot is picked up to series. Greif is in the process of locking in a writer/showrunner for the pilot, which eyes a mid-June start date. Whitey centers on Guy “Whitey” White (Koechner), a bright, conservative and frustrated guy in his 40s who is struggling to understand the changing values of a country in a world that has forever gone with the wind. Whitey graduated high school, married his high school sweetheart and spent his career working at the local engine factory until he got laid off. Now what?

A&E and History both have original drama series on the air (The Glades, Longmire, Bates Motel, Vikings) though neither of them has taken a stab at half-hour scripted comedy. (Sibling Lifetime has in the past with Rita Rocks among other sitcoms, but Whitey is clearly male-skewing.) However, with the line between scripted and unscripted comedy increasingly blurred, Whitey could fit with some of A&E and History’s comedic half-hour blue-collar reality series like A&E’s mega hit Duck Dynasty.

Following the success of Hatfields & McCoys, Greif also is developing a six-hour miniseries for the channel about the formation and rise of the Texas Rangers. On the unscripted side, he just received a pilot order from AMC for Geek Out, hosted by Ernest Cline, and a series order from MTV for dating show The Hook-Up hosted by Andrew Schultz. ImprovOlympic and Second City alum Koechner, repped by CAA, started off as a performer on Saturday Night Live and Late Night With Conan O’Brien before segueing into TV and film acting. He is now reprising his role as Champ Kind in the Anchorman sequel.

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David Koechner Inks NBC Talent Deal, Eyes Greg Daniels’ ‘Friday Night Dinner’ & ‘Office’

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday January 17, 2012 @ 5:42pm PSTTags: David Koechner, Friday Night Dinner, Greg Daniels, The Office
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: Actor-comedian David Koechner has signed a talent holding deal with NBC. Under the pact, he is attached to star in Greg Daniels’ comedy project Friday Night Dinner and possibly do more episodes of The Office, … Read More »

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Open Road Acquires Ensemble Comedy ‘Outrun’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday November 18, 2011 @ 10:40am PSTTags: Bradley Cooper, David Koechner, David Palmer, Dax Shepard, Kristen Bell, Michael Rosenbaum, Open Road, Outrun, Ryan Hansen, Tom Arnold
Mike Fleming

LOS ANGELES, CA, November 18, 2011 – Open Road Films has acquired all U.S. rights to the romantic action comedy Outrun — starring, written and co-directed by comic talent Dax Shepard (NBC’s “Parenthood”) with an all-star ensemble cast including

… Read More »

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Miley Cyrus Booked Into ‘Hotel Transylvania’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday November 4, 2011 @ 8:48pm PDTTags: Adam Sandler, Cee Lo Green, David Koechner, Fran Drescher, Miley Cyrus, Molly Shannon, Sony Pictures Animation, Steve Buscemi

Miley Cyrus is sinking her teeth into Sony Pictures Animation’s Hotel Transylvania as the voice of Mavis, the teenage daughter of Dracula, Deadline has confirmed. The father of all vampires, played by Adam Sandler, runs the resort of the title … Read More »

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