It’s pretty safe to assume that almost everyone engaging with this site is interested in celebrity gossip in some form, whether that’s about directors getting sent t0 “movie jail” or housewives getting sentenced to actual jail. If you think you’re immune, first of all maybe stop lying to yourself and second, consider this scenario: seeking treatment for your gossip addiction, you instead end up smack in the center of it all—at a rehab center for the stars. Wouldn’t you fold just a little bit?
This is the basic premise of a forthcoming HBO comedy series from Saturday Night Live alums and longtime collaborators, Molly Shannon and Steve Koren (via Deadline). Shannon is set to star as the aforementioned Hollywood gossip fiend, who falls even further into her addiction when an intervention from her friends and family sends her to a ritzy rehab clinic in Malibu. While there, she befriends her favorite young starlet and must decide whether to return to her family or go with her to Hollywood.
Shannon and Koren—who are co-writing and producing the series—first met in Studio 8H in 1995, where they collaborated on a number of sketches, including the creation of Shannon’s recurring character, Mary Katherine Gallagher. Four years later, the two turned the socially awkward high schooler into feature-length lead in the film, Superstar. Recently, Shannon has made memorable appearances on The Other Two, I Love That For You, and The White Lotus, and she’s also been cast to bring what this writer is guessing will be a previously unheard of level of anxiety to the Arconia in season four of Only Murders In The Building. In addition to SNL, Koren has also written for Veep, Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and more.
HBO is really going all in on comedy right now. Hacks will finally return for its third season early next month, and the network has also given pilots to popular funny-people Rachel Sennott and Tim Robinson. Curb may be over, but a new era seems to be right on the horizon.