We are officially in the middle of the streaming wars and every service is rounding up every IP that they can get their hands on. One of the most popular services available is HBO Max and the streamer just added another original show to their lineup. The streamer announced today that the new comedic drama The Girls on the Bus has been given a straight-to-series order. The show is inspired by a chapter of The New York Times Correspondent Amy Chozick’s book Chasing Hillary and is a comedic character-driven drama that “chronicles four female journalists who follow every move of a parade of flawed presidential candidates, while finding friendship, love, and scandal along the way.”
Julie Plec and Chozick will serve as both the writers and executive producers of the series with Plec producing through her My So-Called Company. Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, and David Madden are also serving as executive producers through Berlanti Productions and Warner Brothers Television. Berlanti is best known for his DC superhero shows over on The CW, but he is no stranger to dramedies as he has also executive produced the HBO Max murder mystery series The Flight Attendant.
The Girls on the Bus has had a long journey to television as it originally had a straight-to-series order from Netflix over two years ago before moving over to The CW where it has stayed in TV purgatory until now. It is also important to note that while the book focuses on Hillary Clinton’s two presidential campaigns, this series will focus on fictional characters and candidates.
While this series will not be the first to tackle the crazy politics of the last decade, there is so much drama and comedy to mine out of these weird times, even in a fictional depiction. The world needs a good laugh right now, especially when it comes to the ever thickening political climate we all live in, and the journalism angle is a compelling way to tell the story. Journalism has been one of the many things that have been under attack in the last several years, so it will be refreshing to see their side of the story in a comedic light.
HBO Max has had a lot of success lately with their genre bending original dramedies like the previously mentioned The Flight Attendant and the Sex and the City sequel series And Just Like That. The Girls on the Bus looks to continue that with a political twist.
via Collider