Posted in: Fox, TV | Tagged: Animal Control, fox, joel mchale

Animal Control: "Community" Star Joel McHale Set to Lead FOX Sitcom

Joel McHale has been tapped to play one of the lead roles in a new Fox comedy called Animal Control and will also serve as an executive producer. Picked up as a straight-to-series order in July, the show "will follow a group of local Animal Control workers whose lives are complicated by the fact that animals are simple, but humans are not." McHale will play Frank, described as "an opinionated, eccentric Animal Control officer who may not have gone to college but is still the most well-read person in the room. A former cop, Frank tried to expose corruption in his department, but his efforts got him fired, which may explain why he's so cynical and curmudgeonly. He has an almost superhuman ability to understand animals. Humans…not so much."

McHale is best known for leading the NBC ensemble comedy series Community, which aired five seasons on the Network before streaming its final season on the now-defunct Yahoo Screen service. Much of the cast, which includes Danny Pudi, Alison Brie, Gillian Jacobs, Jim Rash, and Ken Jeong, will reunite for a film for the NBC Universal streamer service Peacock. The actor also hosted the E! talk series The Soup and made appearances on Spider-Man 2 (2004), Ted (2012), The Happytime Murders (2018), and Spy Kids: All the Time in the World (2011). He can be currently be seen in The CW series Stargirl.

Animal Control will be Fox's first wholly-owned live-action comedy, and it comes from writers and executive producers Bob Fisher, Rob Greenberg, and Dan Sterling, with Tad Quill also executive producing. Fox Entertainment Studios will produce. "Dan, Rob, Tad, and Bob had envisioned Joel as the lead of 'Animal Control' from the very moment we began development, and we are all ecstatic to have him on board," said Michael Thorn, president of entertainment for Fox Entertainment. "Joel's acerbic wit and ability to bring a comedic lens to everything he's involved with make him the perfect person to bring Frank to life."

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