Sarah Gertrude Shapiro and Marti Noxon’s “UnREAL” has earned rave reviews for depicting the disturbing drama and ugliness behind the scenes of a “Bachelor”-esque reality show. But before the Lifetime series came along, E!’s “Burning Love” took a more comedic approach to riffing on the long-running Chris Harrison-hosted series. “Burning Love’s” creator, writer, and executive producer, Erica Oyama, has a new project in the works. Deadline reports that she has a half-hour single camera comedy series in development at Fox.
“Based on Oyama’s life, the family comedy centers on Olivia, a single mom who returns to Alabama where her Japanese karate-master father still lives and teaches,” the source summarizes. “She joins the family business while enlisting her father’s help in toughening up her pessimistic nine-year-old son.”
A parody of “The Bachelor” and its spinoffs, “Burning Love” originally debuted on the web on Yahoo! Screen’s Comedy Channel before being picked up by E!. The Emmy-nominated series ran for three seasons. Its rotating cast included Jennifer Aniston, Kristen Bell, Malin Akerman (“Billions”), June Diane Raphael (“Grace and Frankie”), and Natasha Leggero (“Another Period”).
“Children’s Hospital,” “NTSF:SD:SUV,” and “The Eric Andre Show” are among Oyama’s other credits.
“It’s just so funny to hear, ‘female comedies are so hot right now,’ because, of course, they’re just comedies that have females in them,” Oyama said in a 2014 interview. “I guess it’s just encouraging that everyone’s sort of like, ‘Yes, these women are hilarious, and we should be watching them as much as we’re watching these guys be ridiculous, too.’ I hope it keeps going. I want to be a part of it, of writing it. Obviously, women are just as funny — it’s such a silly discussion that people are still having,” she emphasized.
