Comcast’s NBCUniversal is preparing to go head-to-head with WarnerMedia, Disney, and Netflix with the launch of its Peacock streaming service, lining up several big-time showrunners for a slate of new shows. The streaming service is set to launch on July 15th, and will come with three different pricing tiers, including a free option.
There is a mix of dramas and comedies within the announcements, including projects from iconic writers like Norman Lear, Mindy Kaling, and Amy Poehler. Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels is teaming back up with former cast member and actor Will Forte for a MacGruber series based on Forte’s popular character, which also received its own standalone film. Two series, in particular, stand out: a drama about the early days of Twitter’s formation based on journalist Nick Bilton’s book, Hatching Twitter, and an animated comedy based on the McElroy Family’s extremely popular podcast-turned-graphic-novel, The Adventure Zone.
Hatching Twitter is the first installment in an anthology series, and it tells the “tale of betrayed friendships and high-stakes power struggles that accompanied the meteoric rise of the infamous tech company,” according to The Hollywood Reporter. The show “will explore the real masterminds behind it all, how it was done, and the colossal ramifications the technology will have on our future.”
None of the shows announced today have set premiere dates at this time
The Adventure Zone is described as a “side-splitting and heart-filled fantasy animated comedy series that follows an unlikely, poorly equipped trio and their beleaguered Dungeon Master as they reluctantly embark on a quest to save their world.” Adam Higgs, who worked on Canadian sci-fi series Orphan Black, is set to produce.
These mark series announced today just prior to and during the Peacock investors event. When NBCUniversal first announced Peacock as a service, the company noted that there were reboots of Battlestar Galactica, Saved by the Bell, and Punky Brewster coming to Peacock, too. This is on top of a massive catalog of beloved series (The Office and Parks and Recreation will be exclusively on Peacock), and movies like the Fast and the Furious franchise.
None of the shows announced today have set premiere dates at this time, and more shows and movies are expected to be announced as Peacock enters its first year as a service. The streaming service will compete for people’s attention from other streaming services, including Disney+, HBO Max, Netflix, Hulu, Apple TV Plus, and maybe even Quibi. (Disclosure: Comcast is an investor in Vox Media, The Verge’s parent company.)
A list of shows that will join The Adventure Zone and Hatching Twitter on Peacock, announced at today’s investors event, can be read below. The event is happening live, and we’ll be updating with more shows as they’re announced.
MacGruber: MacGruber is back, baby! After sitting in prison for more than 10 years, MacGruber is out and ready to take down a mysterious villain from his past: Brigadier Commander Enos Queeth. MacGruber, Vicki, and Piper (all characters from the original film) have to race against the clock to save the world from utter devastation.
Clean Slate: This is Norman Lear’s comedy about a car wash owner named Henry who is thrilled that his estranged child is returning home to Alabama after 17 years. Not everything is as Henry remembers, though. The car wash owner from the South will have to come to terms with the fact that his child has returned home as a proud trans woman named Desiree, played by Laverne Cox.
Expecting: Mindy Kaling is re-teaming with her Mindy Show producer to work on Expecting, a series about an independent woman named Ellie, as she embarks on a journey to become a mother with her gay best friend, Jonathan. When Ellie asks Jonathan if he’ll donate his sperm, it sets off a chain of events as they learn to navigate becoming a family together.
Division One: Division One is described as “a coming-of-age comedy about an underdog women’s collegiate soccer team that gets a new female coach — a former professional soccer player who’s fallen from grace — and must decide whether or not they’re going to take the risk of trying to be great.”
Girls5Eva: A new Tina Fey-produced show about a one-hit-wonder girl group from the 90’s that reunites to give their pop star dreams one more shot.
Dick Wolf collection: Peacock will stream nearly all of the shows from Dick Wolf’s Wolf Entertainment, including Law and Order, Law and Order: SVU, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., and Chicago Med.