Chuck Lorre Developing a Cannabis Comedy for Television
Television super-producer, Chuck Lorre, is looking to capitalize on the cultural impact and popularity of cannabis.
Lorre, who currently produces The Big Bang Theory, Mom, and Mike & Molly for CBS is developing a new sitcom that takes place at a cannabis dispensary in Colorado.
With Mike & Molly ending its run after this season, Lorre is no doubt looking to fill the network’s open timeslot with another one of his shows. The new show is currently untitled, but is said to revolve around a group of potheads in a dispensary in Colorado, where cannabis is legal.
The show, which will be produced by Warner Bros. Television, is being co-written by Lorre and The Daily Show’s David Javerbaum. Although CBS seems the likely home for a Chuck Lorre sitcom, The Hollywood Reporter says the new cannabis-comedy is being shopped at all the major networks.
Cannabis has always been good fodder for comedy. You can track the cultural pulse of cannabis through the last 40 years in the media. Every generation had “their stoner films;” the ‘70s had Cheech and Chong, the ‘80s had films like Fast Times at Ridgemont High, the ‘90s brought us Jay and Silent Bob, and the new millennium has given us Harold and Kumar.
If the new comedy is picked up, it will join several other cannabis-base shows in 2016. Margaret Cho will star in and produce Highland for Amazon Prime subscribers. Parks and Recreation’s Adam Scott is developing Buds for NBC with his wife Naomi. Finally, HBO’s High Maintenance will make the jump from web series to television series later this year.
Lorre is arguably the most influential producer in television. Aside from the monster hits he currently has on the air, he also produced Two and a Half Men, Dharma & Greg and Roseanne.
