Vanessa Bayer & Molly Shannon Comedy ‘I Love This For You’ Gets Showtime Series Order
Vanessa Bayer‘s half-hour comedy series I Love This For You has been picked up by Showtime for a full series order.
But Cybill Shepherd, who was originally set to appear, has departed the series and her role will be recast.
Former Saturday Night Live star Bayer co-created and executive produced the series alongside SNL writer Jeremy Beiler; she also stars opposite fellow SNL alum, Molly Shannon. The grounded comedy, inspired by Bayer’s own story of overcoming childhood leukemia, follows Joanna Gold (Bayer), who works to shed the label of “that cancer girl” to achieve her dream as a successful home-shopping channel host.
“I’m so thrilled to be making this show with Showtime and that all of my hours of home shopping as a kid are finally paying off!” said Bayer. “It’s been an absolute dream, and my co-creator, Jeremy Beiler, and I are so grateful to the entire creative team we feel so lucky to work with.”
The series sees Joanna moving away from her parents, starting a budding romance for the first time, and forming a meaningful friendship with her idol Jackie (Shannon), the charismatic star of the network. This is all set against the backdrop of a highly competitive workplace run by an unstable billionaire, where people play dirty to succeed.
In addition to Bayer and Shannon, the series stars Paul James (Soundtrack) as Jordan, a charming but dry stage manager, Ayden Mayeri (Grace and Frankie) as Beth Ann, an ambitious but insecure host, Matthew Rogers as Darcy, the ingratiating right-hand man to the CEO, and Punam Patel (Special) as Beena, an offbeat backstage producer.
Jessi Klein (Inside Amy Schumer) will serve as showrunner and executive produce along with Michael Showalter (Wet Hot American Summer). Megan Ellison and Sue Naegle of Annapurna, Jordana Mollick of Semi-Formal and Allyce Ozarski are also on board as executive producers.
“Vanessa Bayer channels her beloved personality into an underdog part that is both close to her heart and universally relatable,” said Jana Winograde, President of Entertainment, Showtime Networks. “Combined with the immense talents of executive producers Jeremy Beiler, Jessi Klein and Michael Showalter and a tremendous cast, Vanessa’s comedic brilliance as a performer, co-creator and executive producer have yielded an offbeat, emotional and laugh-out-loud series that we can’t wait to bring to our Showtime audiences.”
