Fox Orders Therapy Dog Animated Presentation From Sharon Horgan, Clea Duvall, Jennifer Crittenden, Gabrielle Allan & Kapital

EXCLUSIVE: In a competitive situation, Fox has landed an animated therapy dog comedy with a script plus presentation commitment. It hails from writer-producer-actress Sharon Horgan (Catastrophe, Divorce), actress Clea DuVall (Veep, American Horror Story), writer-producers Jennifer Crittenden & Gabrielle Allan (Veep, Divorce) and Aaron Kappan’s Kapital Entertainment (A Million Little Things, Divorce).

Written by DuVall, Crittenden and Allan, the untitled show is about a dog named Honey who runs group therapy sessions to help neighborhood animals manage the neuroses brought on by their owners and each other.

DuVall, Crittenden and Gabrielle Allan executive produce alongside Horgan and Clelia Mountford via their Merman production company and Kaplan and Dana Honor via Kapital, which serves as the studio. It is unclear yet whether Duvall or Horgan would provide any voices for the project.

The idea for the show originated from DuVall who has been recurring on Veep since Season 5. In a conversation on the set of the HBO comedy, she shared with Crittenden and Allan, who have served as co-executive producers since Season 6, that she feels she and her cat would get along much better if they understood each other better. That led to the premise for a therapy dog animated comedy which DuVall, Crittenden and Allen — both dog owners — took to longtime collaborators Horgan and Kaplan. (You can see above photos of Horgan, Duvall, Crittenden and Allen’s pets, each under the pic of their proud owner.)

Crittenden and Allen have a relationship with Horgan and Kaplan — the two previously had served as executive producers/showrunners on Horgan and Kaplan’s ABC comedy pilot Bad Mom, starring Jenna Elfman, and also worked on the duo’s HBO series Divorce, starring Sarah Jessica Parker. Both projects were created by Horgan.

The animated comedy drew interest from multiple buyers before landing at Fox. It is part of the network’s current push in animation, which includes two new animated series ordered for next season, Bless the Harts, from Emily Spivey, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Seth Cohen, which stars Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Jillian Bell and Ike Barinholtz; and Amy Poehler’s Duncanville. The network also recently ordered presentations for animated comedies The Great North, from Bob Burgers creator/executive producer Loren Bouchard and the series’ writers/co-executive producers Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux, and Lyle & Caroline, executive produced by Friends alumna Lisa Kudrow who also will provide voiceover.

In addition to Divorce, which is heading to a third season on HBO, Horgan’s current collaborations with Kapital include a comedy with a script-to-series commitment at Amazon to star Horgan and Billy Magnussoen. It hails from Horgan, John Hamburg and Ian Helfer. Horgan is repped by WME, United Agents and Nelson Davis.

Crittenden and Allen have hourlong drama series Girl Waits With Gun, based on Amy Stewart’s bestselling book, fin development at Amazon. They are repped by UTA and attorney Ken Richman.

DuVall, recently seen in guest spots on The Handmaid’s Tale and The Romanoffs, is repped by Gersh and attorney Lev Ginsburg.

At Fox, Kapital also has in development Hood River, a multi-camera comedy from writer Travis Bowe.

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