Posted in: NBC, Preview, streaming, TV | Tagged: bleeding cool, Brian Sides, burt reynolds, cable, david gordon green, halloween, sally field, sally fields, seth macfarlane, Smokey and the Bandit, streaming, television, tv, UCP

Smokey and the Bandit: Seth MacFarlane, Gordon Green Team for Series

If you say nothing else about Seth MacFarlane and his production company Fuzzy Door since signing an overall deal with UCP, you have to say this: when it comes to subjects, MacFarlane is definitely thinking diverse. From a new miniseries adaptation of author Herman Wouk's The Winds of War and War and Remembrance and a series project based on Carlotta Walls, the youngest member of the "Little Rock Nine" to a series adaptation of short film Skywatch and an animated take on groundbreaking 70's sitcom Good Times for Netflix. Now, Fuzzy Door and UCP are backing David Gordon Green (Halloween) and Brian Sides on a series take on the 1977 film Smokey and the Bandit, which originally starred Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jerry Reed, and Jackie Gleason.

"Growing up in the south, Smokey and the Bandit was an iconic franchise for me. The legacy of these characters is a playground of swagger and sass that I'm excited to dig into," said Green. The series is set to focus "on a southern epic adventure of family, legend, and legacy, small-town crime, a novel quest, and unlikely heroes and is inspired by the genre of 70s and 80s drive-in dixie classics, exploring the crossroads where humble realities meet larger-than-life in a blast of tailpipe exhaust." Gordon Green and Sides will pen the script, with Gordon Green directing the pilot. Gordon Green will executive produce alongside Danny McBride, Jody Hill, and Brandon James for Rough House Pictures, with MacFarlane and Erica Huggins executive producing for Fuzzy Door and Sides co-executive producing.

"When UCP mentioned 'Smokey and the Bandit' we were immediately drawn to it. We knew we had to remain faithful to its original setting in the South and find an authentic voice. David's immediate interest and his unique perspective and love for the original made it possible. Smokey and the Bandit was a very cool and irreverent film at the time and we hope to achieve that same feeling in the show," said Huggins.

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