Fox Nabs Adaptation Of Australian Comedy ‘A Moody Christmas’ From Doug Ellin & CBS Studios With Put Pilot Commitment

EXCLUSIVE: In a very competitive situation with four networks bidding, A Moody Christmas, an adaptation of the Australian series of the same name, has landed at Fox with a put pilot commitment. Entourage creator Doug Ellin is executive producing the single-camera project, which hails from CBS TV Studios and studio-based Tannenbaum Co. Jungleboys’ Trent O’Donnell and Phil Lloyd, creators of the original series, will write the Fox adaptation and executive produce with Ellin; Eric and Kim Tannenbaum; and Jason Burrows of Jungleboys, the production company behind the Australian series. A Moody Christmas tells the story of a young man who was smart enough to leave his family behind and dumb enough to come back again. The sale is part of CBS Studios’ effort this season to evolve from a supplier to siblings CBS and the CW to a studio that sells to all networks. It marks the first put pilot commitment from an outside network for the studio, which has set up several projects at ABC and Fox, including a comedy from Jennie Snyder Urman at Fox. I hear CBS TV Studios made a strategic decision to set up the Moody Christmas project at Fox, which was deemed the best creative fit for the quirky family comedy that bears some similarities to Fox’s Raising Hope, also about a grown-up son and his dysfunctional family.

A Moody Christmas, which aired on Australia’s ABC1 last December, chronicles an Australian family’s Christmas Day over six years through the eyes of the youngest son. (Watch the trailer below). A follow-up series, The Moodys, starts shooting next week in Sydney. O’Donnell, repped by Gersh and Mosiac, and Lloyd, repped by Gersh and Avalon, created another Australian series that is getting a U.S. remake: Review With Myles Barlow, developed as Review With Forrest MacNeal at Comedy Central with Andrew Daly. Ellin, who is working on the long-gestating Entourage movie, and the Tannenbaums are with CAA. This marks the latest major commitment for a comedy project at Fox this season.