Female comedy writers’ momentum continued today with Fox’s pilot order to Ben Fox Is My Manny, a single-camera comedy from feature writer Dana Fox (Couples Retreat, What Happens in Vegas). The project, produced by Chernin Entertainment and 20th Century Fox TV, centers on a single mom whose aimless brother moves in to help her raise her baby. Like the title suggests, the male lead is an exaggerated version of Fox’s real-life brother, whose name is indeed Ben Fox. (And Fox also happens to be the name of the network buying the show.) The comedy was originally set up at Fox in October with a script commitment plus significant penalty. This is the first of a slew of pilots Fox is expected to pick up this week. It joins the network’s off-cycle comedy pilot My Little Brother starring T.J. Miller. Female comedy writers are enjoying a complete dominance this fall, with five of the six new half-hour shows given back-nine orders created or co-created by women, including Fox’s New Girl, created by Liz Meriwether and also produced by 20th TV and Chernin. In fact, both of Fox’s freshman comedy series this season were created by female writers, New Girl and I Hate My Teenage Daughter (Sherry Bilsing and Ellen Kreamer).
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