Variety is reporting that Rashida Jones, formerly of The Office and currently starring on NBC’s Parks and Recreation, has sold the rights to her upcoming Oni Press miniseries Frenemy of the State to Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment.
Based on the story of a young, wealthy heiress who works covertly for the CIA and is constantly, according to Jones, in over her head as “this girl who is so conscious of social standing and wearing the right shoes, suddenly becoming responsible for these dangerous, life-threatening missions.”
Sounds like something that might pair well with another bit of news that came across my desk last night: Entertainment Weekly’s Brian Ausiello is reporting that NBC’s fish-out-of-water spy-comedy Chuck, which had suffered from mediocre ratings and was picked up for just 13 episodes of a third season and scheduled to begin airing again in March, may be moved up substantially following a number of disappointing premieres for the Peacock, and the bizarre cancellation of Southland before the second season even started.
Chuck, which has regular nods to comics (particularly those by Brian K. Vaughn, with a Y: The Last Man poster and supercomputer blueprints hidden inside of a copy of Ex Machina last season), was also adapted into a six-issue miniseries in 2008 by WildStorm. Frenemy of the State will be published sometime in 2010 from Oni Press.
October 14th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
It’s kind of strange how these things work these days. I mean, credit to Jones if her intention was always for this to be a comic, but you do have to wonder if comics have become a back door for people to get their properties to studios. I know unknown creators are already doing this, but it’s strange to think that actors and screenwriters might be doing it now, too.
I absolutely love Chuck, I just hope NBC advertises it enough if it returns early. The season two finale scored a 2.4 in the core demographic, which is better than almost anything NBC currently has on the air, so they should think about really pushing it.
October 14th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
We’ll be doing (I’ll be doing) CHUCK postgames this year just like I do for HEROES, too!