Uh-oh…
Showrunner Change On NBC’s ‘Animal Practice’ – Marco Pennette To Take Over – by Nellie Andreeva
There is a change at the helm of NBC‘s upcoming comedy series Animal Practice(formerly Animal Kingdom). Gail Lerner, who joined the show after the pilot as executive producer/showrunner, is departing, with Marco Pennette coming in as new showrunner. I hear the gig may be tied to a development/overall deal for Pennette at Universal TV. To accommodate the change and give Pennette time to get up to speed, I hear that the series’ planned hiatus has been pushed up by a week. Animal Practice, which just wrapped Episode 3, was supposed to start Episode 4 right away and take a hiatus next week. It will take the week-long break now instead.
Pennette is a sought-after showrunner who is credited with helping get ABC’s Ugly Betty off the ground and was a key writer-producer on Desperate Housewives. This past season, he created the ABC comedy pilotThe Manzanis starring Kirstie Alley and has another comedy with the Cheersalumna in consideration at TV Land.
Making this kind of change after shooting only 3 episodes usually doesn’t bode well for a show’s future. Wonder what was bugging NBC.
Unless – you don’t suppose the monkey demanded it, do you? Hmm…