The new series will center on a group of characters who have all been abducted by aliens. Cenac will play a skeptical journalist in the show, a character who eventually realizes that he himself may be a victim of alien interference.
People of Earth will be shot in a single-camera style, with the pilot written by David Jenkins and directed by comedy-world superstar Greg Daniels (The Simpsons, Saturday Night Live, The Office). The new show marks a reunion of sorts for O’Brien and Daniels, who first became friends while attending Harvard together, with both eventually both becoming TV writers before O’Brien made his leap to late-night TV.
Actors involved in the series include Oscar Nunez (The Office), Ana Gasteyer (SNL), Michael Cassidy (Men At Work), Nancy Lenehan (My Name Is Earl), Luka Jones (Up All Night), Alice Wetterlund (Silicon Valley), and Brian Huskey (Childrens Hospital).
“Having Greg Daniels executive-produce and direct a project for us at such an early stage in the network’s evolution is huge. His keen ability to assemble a brilliant ensemble cast has obviously worked well in the past,” said TBS’ executive vice president of original programming Brett Weitz in a statement. “We’ve been searching for just the right sophisticated and funny scripted comedy series to develop with our partners at Conaco. I believe we found that in this wonderfully original script by David Jenkins.”
The new show has no official released date, but, given the pilot has already been shot, and that the show is fully cast, will probably hit screens for the first time in late 2016.
