Showtime Orders Second Season of Ullman Series
Premium Net Adds 2009 Show Starring Fellow Brit Comic Marc Wooten
By Mike Reynolds -- Multichannel News, 5/2/2008 8:55:00 AM
Showtime continued to build its base of British programming, renewing Tracey Ullman’s show for a second campaign and adding comedian Marc Wooten to its roster.
Production will begin on the second season of Tracey Ullman’s State of the Union in the fall, with the seven new installments expected to bow sometime next year.
Once again, Ullman’s trademark talent in developing characters, some familiar, some unknown, will create a comedic tapestry of American life. She will write the installments again, while continuing to serve as executive producer with her husband Allan McKeown.
The premium network is also going to put Wooten on display next year with a six-episode series of alternative comedy. Wooten's career has been highlighted by character-driven sketches, notably his role as the overly theatrical psychic who performs for an unsuspecting audience who think he’s real on the BBC series High Spirits with Shirley Ghostman.
The concept of this yet-untitled series is still being developed, according to Showtime executives.
“I won't hold it against them that both are from the U.K.," joked Robert Greenblatt, president of Entertainment for Showtime Network, in announcing the series orders, "but Tracey Ullman is the veteran genius who continues to impress us with her versatility, while Marc Wootton is the up-and-comer who will surprise our audience with his own unique voice. This is an embarrassment of riches for us in the comedy department."
Showtime has also been scoring with Brits of the royal kind with The Tudors, which stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers as a randy Henry VIII. The Tudors was recently renewed for a third season.
In addition, Showtime will premiere British import, Secret Diary of a Call Girl on June 16 at 10:30 p.m. The show, which Greenblatt has described as Sex and the City if Samantha were one step further sexually, will follow the network’s hit comedy, Weeds.
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