An animated version of Jesus, spoofs on superheroes and prison life, and the return of old favorite Futurama are part of Comedy Central’s just announced development slate.
Announced by Kent Alterman, the network’s head of original programming and production, new episodes of Futurama are set to begin airing on June 24. Created by Matt Groening and David X. Cohen, the former Fox series gets a new lease on life with 12 new episodes featuring the original voice cast and animation from Rough Draft Studios.
The network also announced several other animated series in the script/paper development stage. The network described in a release those series as follows:
‘ JC: A half-hour animated show about JC (Jesus Christ) wanting to escape his father’s enormous shadow and live life in NYC as a regular guy. A lot has changed in 2000 years and he is the ultimate fish out of water. Meanwhile his all-powerful yet apathetic father would rather be playing video games than listening to JC recount his life in the city. JC is a playful take on religion and society with a sprinkle of dumb. Executive produced by Reveille (The Office), Henrik Basin, Brian Boyle (American Dad), Jonathan Sjoberg and Andreas Ohman.
‘ Joe Squad: In the vein of classic Saturday morning superhero cartoons like G.I. Joe and Jonny Quest, the Joe Squad is the most elite fighting squad hell-bent on saving the world. Led by sex-obsessed Captain Falcon, the team consists of Auburn, the stunning, red-headed sexy-librarian-type; Berserker, the heavyset mustached goof; Big Jersey, the chiseled overly-tanned douchebag; Butchley, the freakishly Schwarzeneggerian female; Brick House, the insanely jacked African-American Muslim; Dutch, the clean-cut All-American good guy; and Lone Wolf, the masked and mysterious mute ninja. When these guys are not trying to save the world, they’re getting in each other’s way and on each other’s nerves. Fortunately for Joe Squad, their nemesis Master Snake and his team of Rattlers are just as inept. This animated action-comedy comes from writer Blake McCormick (King of the Hill) and executive producer Marty Adelstein (Made of Honor).
‘ Supermax: Supermax is an animated series where the well-known inmates (Robert Hanssen, Sammy “The Bull” Gravano, Ted Kaczinski, Omar Abdel-Rahman, Richard Reid, John Walker-Lindh) of a real super maximum security prison in Colorado learn to live and love. From Emmy Award-winning comedy writer Lew Morton (Undeclared, Newsradio, Futurama), comedy gets a life sentence in this “arresting” show, where the only crime is not to laugh.
‘ The Fuzz: A police procedural cop series set in a corrupt city where humans and puppets co-exist. Viewers follow Herbie, the police force’s first puppet detective, valiantly trying to improve his detective skills without becoming disillusioned and hardened, and his human man-child partner Sanchez as they unravel high-profile cases that touch upon such hot-button issues as jellybean smuggling, the anti-human movement, and puppet sex-crimes. Dead bodies, compromised forensics and shoot-outs are par for the course in the visually exciting, seam-splittingly hilarious and gritty puppet world of The Fuzz. Created and written by Waverly Films (Chris Ford, Duncan Skiles and Jon Watts) and executive produced by Dave Becky, Tom Lassally, Greg Walter and 3Arts Entertainment, the series has also been greenlit for five Webisodes to air on Comedy Central’s sister network, Atom.com, later this year.
