CBS Picks Up ‘Rust Belt News’ Pilot from ‘The Simpsons’ Writer Matt Warburton
The Simpsons writer Matt Warburton is working on a new comedy pilot for CBS titled Rust Belt News, based around a small Ohio town newspaper.
According to Variety, the single-camera sitcom revolves around the ambitious but angsty reporters of a high school newspaper who are the only people in town left to report the news when the local newspaper goes out of business. Together these young newshounds must dig up the scandals and corruption plaguing their rust-belt community.
Warburton, who served as a writer and producer on The Simpsons from 2001 to 2012, will write and executive produce the series. Leslie Morgenstein and Gina Girolamo of Alloy Entertainment are also on board as executive producers. Warner Bros. Television will produce.
In addition to The Simpsons, Warburton was the showrunner and exec producer for all four seasons of The Mindy Project. He continues to be a frequent collaborator with Mindy Kaling, having written and produced on her shows Champions for NBC, Never Have I Ever on Netflix, and The Sex Lives of College Girls on HBO Max. The pair also co-created the Hulu miniseries adaptation of Four Weddings and a Funeral.
Morgenstein, meanwhile, is the president and founder of Alloy Entertainment. She has previously served as exec producer on The Vampire Diaries, Pretty Little Liars, The 100, and the recent Gossip Girl revival, as well as the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants movies.
This marks the first comedy pilot picked up by CBS for the 2021-22 development season. So far, the eye network has ordered four in-cycle drama pilots, including police procedural East New York, firefighting drama Cal Fire, a reboot of Early Edition, and a mother-and-son legal drama from Scott Prendergast and Dr. Phil McGraw.
Rust Belt News, TBA, CBS
