Starz Orders ‘Shining Vale’ Horror Comedy With Courteney Cox, Greg Kinnear, and Mira Sorvino to Series
If you think you’ll like a mix of horror and comedy with a dollop of family dysfunction, then you’ll probably enjoy Starz’s newest series pick-up.
Starz has ordered Shining Vale, a half-hour horror comedy starring Courteney Cox, Greg Kinnear, Mira Sorvino, Merrin Dungey, Gus Birney, and Dylan Gage to series. The eight episodes come from Jeff Astrof and Sharon Horgan.
Shining Vale follows a dysfunctional family that moves from the city to a small town. But Patricia “Pat” Phelps (Cox) is the only one who notices that terrible atrocities have taken place in their new house. She’s “convinced she’s either depressed or possessed — turns out, the symptoms are exactly the same,” according to the synopsis.
Kinnear stars as Pat’s husband, Terry, described as “ever-optimistic” and “whose patience and self-control will be tested like never before,” while Birney and Gage play their kids, Gaynor and Jake. The family moves to this small town in an attempt to save the couple’s marriage after Pat’s affair with the handyman. She is a former “wild child” whose claim to fame was a raunchy, drug-and-alcohol-soaked women’s empowerment novel, and she has yet to write another book. She’s “clean and sober but totally unfulfilled,” Starz says. “She can’t remember the last time she had sex with her husband, and her teenage kids are at that stage where they want you dead.”
Sorvino plays Rosemary, an appropriate name given she’s “either Pat’s alter ego, a split personality, her id, her muse, or a demon trying to possess her.” Dungey stars as Pat’s oldest friend and book editor Kam.
Courtesy of Starz
“Shining Vale is a smart, chilling and funny series that tells the story of a family in turmoil who is suddenly living with a paranormal who helps Courteney Cox’s character get her groove back as she starts to question her own sanity,” Christina Davis, STARZ President of Original Programming, said in a statement. “This group of talented actors, executive producers and director blends comedy and horror brilliantly throughout this series which exemplifies the network’s commitment to improve female representation on and off the screen.”
Joining Astrof and Horgan as executive producers are Clelia Mountford, Aaron Kaplan, and Dana Honor. Cox is a producer. Dearbhla Walsh directed and executive produced the premiere.
Shining Vale, TBA, Starz
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