Amazon’s push to become a serious content provider in the same vein as Netflix is really revving up. After news came in a few weeks ago that their production of theLord of the Ringsprequels would costJeff Bezossome $600 million off the bat,THRis now reporting thatAmazonis developing a half-hour series based onPenny Marshall’s belovedA League of Their Own, which told the story of the first attempt to make an all-female baseball league while many ballplayers were overseas during World War II.
The series will be spearheaded byAbbi JacobsonofBroad CityandWill Graham, the showrunner for Amazon’s eternally undervaluedMozart in the Jungle. Their involvement alone speaks well of the direction that the series is heading and suggests that, unlike the movie, the series will put comedy before everything else.Mozart in the Jungleis a drama but much of its power is derived by naturally comedic performers likeLola Kirke,Malcolm McDowell, andGael Garcia Bernal. As for Jacobson, there simply may not be another female-centric comedy series on the level ofBroad Citywith the arguable exception ofUnbreakable Kimmy Schmidt;Better Thingshas long ago transcended the barrier between comedy and drama.
As for now, it would seem that Jacobson is not going to be in front of the screen for any of this, even though re-teaming her with herBroad Cityco-star,Ilana Glazer, would make for an ideal variation onMadonnaandRosie O’Donnell’s characters in Marshall’s original movie. In fact, Jacobson and Graham, who are co-writing the pilot, are seemingly not using the same characters that were in the movie, suggesting that they will attempt to completely rethink the central relationships in the source material. For now, it’s enough to know that Amazon has picked the right people to steer this project and find the right dramatic and comedic contours of the story. Despite the difference in likely production budget, anA League of Their OwnTV series is about as promising as the plannedLord of the Ringsproject.
