Brett Ferino
05-06-2003, 01:32 PM
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - NBC won the initial bidding for the comedy pilot "The Ortegas," beating out FOX in a heated battle last summer.
In the end, though, it's FOX that is picking up the series for fall. "The Ortegas," an Americanized version of the British sitcom-talk show hybrid "The Kumars at No. 42," has received a 13-episode order from the network.
When it won rights to the show last year, NBC ponied up what amounted to a guaranteed timeslot. Lately, though, Peacock executives decided that the show should be pushed back to midseason, which gave rise to the network switch.
"That didn't correspond to the deal we had," executive producer Gavin Polone tells The Hollywood Reporter. "We had the option of going somewhere else, and ... FOX had made it clear if it ever came back around that they wanted it."
"The Ortegas" stars Cheech Marin ("Spy Kids," "Nash Bridges") as the patriarch of a middle-class Mexican-American family living in the San Fernando Valley. His son (Al Madrigal) hosts a talk show from a set in their backyard. The show blends elements of a family sitcom with those of a talk show, with guests visiting the set.
Its British predecessor, "The Kumars," won an International Emmy for best comedy series this year. That show revolves around an Indian family living in London.
In the end, though, it's FOX that is picking up the series for fall. "The Ortegas," an Americanized version of the British sitcom-talk show hybrid "The Kumars at No. 42," has received a 13-episode order from the network.
When it won rights to the show last year, NBC ponied up what amounted to a guaranteed timeslot. Lately, though, Peacock executives decided that the show should be pushed back to midseason, which gave rise to the network switch.
"That didn't correspond to the deal we had," executive producer Gavin Polone tells The Hollywood Reporter. "We had the option of going somewhere else, and ... FOX had made it clear if it ever came back around that they wanted it."
"The Ortegas" stars Cheech Marin ("Spy Kids," "Nash Bridges") as the patriarch of a middle-class Mexican-American family living in the San Fernando Valley. His son (Al Madrigal) hosts a talk show from a set in their backyard. The show blends elements of a family sitcom with those of a talk show, with guests visiting the set.
Its British predecessor, "The Kumars," won an International Emmy for best comedy series this year. That show revolves around an Indian family living in London.