Channel 4 acquires Homeland and New Girl in Twentieth Century Fox deal

18 July 2011

Allen Gregory

Channel 4 has acquired the UK premiere broadcast rights to five brand new Twentieth Century Fox series.

They are the hotly anticipated political thriller Homeland, starring Emmy® Award winner Claire Danes (Temple Grandin), Damien Lewis (Stolen, Life) Emmy Award® winner Mandy Patinkin (Criminal Minds), and David Harewood (Blood Diamond) and the single camera comedies New Girl starring Zooey Deschanel (500 Days of Summer), and Apartment 23 starring Dreama Walker (The Good Wife).  

Channel 4's Chief Creative Officer Jay Hunt offered, "We're delighted to continue our strong relationship with Fox. Homeland is a compelling contemporary thriller which will compliment The Killing and both New Girl and Apartment 23 will add to E4's reputation as the home of the best of US comedy"

Completing the deal are two new original animated series, Allen Gregory and Napoleon Dynamite, the latter based on the feature film of the same name, and the former voiced, written and Executive Produced by Superbad star Jonah Hill.

The deal, brokered by Gill Hay, Channel 4's Head of Acquisitions, and Steve Cornish, SVP and Managing Director, 20th Century Fox Television Distribution, was announced by Channel 4's Chief Creative Officer Jay Hunt.

Homeland starring Claire Danes, Damian Lewis, Mandy Patinkin, and David Harewood will screen on Showtime in the US. The series is loosely based on Gideon Raff's Israeli television series 'Prisoners of War', and centres on an American soldier taken prisoner during the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Left for dead, the soldier (Damian Lewis) miraculously returns to the U.S. after years in captivity. Danes, in her return to series television, plays Carrie Anderson, a driven CIA officer battling her own psychological demons who becomes convinced that the intelligence that led to his rescue was a setup, and that this national hero may be connected to an Al-Qaeda plot to be carried out on American soil.

New Girl and Apartment 23 are both single-camera comedies with strong female leads. New Girl sees indie film golden-girl Zooey Deschanel take the central role of Jess Day, a quirky, adorable woman in her late 20's trying to get over her surprise breakup with her boyfriend.  Max Greenfield, Jake Johnson and Hannah Simone also star.

In Apartment 23, June, played by Dreama Walker (The Good Wife), is a simple country girl whose life gets turned upside down when she relocates to New York. Not only does June have to readjust to the bright lights and big city lifestyle, but she also has to contend with communal living and a rather crazy new roommate in the form of party-girl Krysten Ritter (Breaking Bad), along with her snarky friend, James Van Der Beek (Dawson's Creek) who hilariously plays "himself."

Napoleon Dynamite is an animated version of the smash cult film which revolves around an eccentric high school student in a small Western town, his misfit high school friends, and bizarre family life. Many of the original cast reprise their roles, including Jon Heder as Napoleon Dynamite, Efren Ramirez as Pedro, Aaron Ruell as Kip Dynamite, and Jon Gries as Uncle Rico.

Completing the line up is Allen Gregory, an animated comedy voiced, written, and Executive Produced by Superbad star Jonah Hill. The animated series follows Allen Gregory De Longpre (Hill), a precocious 7 year-old being raised by his father Richard and his father's life partner Jeremy.

Note for Editors

Homeland

Homeland is a production of FOX 21 and comes from the Emmy® Award winning Executive Producers of 24 Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa. It is written by Howard Gordon, Alex Gansa and Gideon Raff. The 13 x 60 minute series will have its UK premiere on Channel 4. Further TX details to be announced.

New Girl

The 22 x 30 minute series was written and created by Liz Meriwether, and is produced by Chernin Entertainment, Meriwether Productions, Kubro Meats, Inc., and Kicks and Digs, Inc. in association with Twentieth Century Fox . New Girl is expected to have its UK premiere on E4. Further TX details to be announced.  

Apartment 23

Written and created by Nahnatchka Khan (American Dad!), and is Executive Produced by Nahnatchka Khan, David Hemingson (Kitchen Confidential) and Jason Winer (Giants of Radio). Produced by Twentieth Century Fox, the 13 x 30 minute series is expected to receive its UK Premiere on E4. Further TX details to be announced. 

Napoleon Dynamite

Directed by Jared Hess, and written by Jared Hess and Jerusha Hess (Napoleon Dynamite, Nacho Libre), it is Executive Produced by Jared Hess, Jerusha Hess and Mick Scully (The Simpsons). Seven episodes have been commissioned and the series is a production of Twentieth Century Fox and is expected to receive its UK premiere on E4. Further TX details to be announced.

Allen Gregory

Written by Jonah Hill, Andrew Mogel (Yes Man), Jarrad Paul (Yes Man), it is Executive Produced by David A Goodman, (Futurama, Family Guy), Jonah Hill, Andrew Mogel, Jarrad Paul, Peter Chernin (Terra Nova) and Katherine Pope (Terra Nova).  Goodman, in addition to being an Executive Producer will also serve as the series showrunner.  Produced by Twentieth Century Fox, the series will receive its UK premiere on E4.

 

Twentieth Century Fox

Twentieth Century Fox is a subsidiary of News Corporation.  News Corporation's diversified global operations include the production and distribution of motion pictures and television programming; television, satellite, cable and digital media broadcasting and transmission, the publication of newspapers, magazines and books; the production and distribution of promotional and advertising products and services; the development of conditional access and subscriber management systems.