It seems one of the trends with tv right now is the ‘pot shop’ comedy. Yesterday we brought you news of Wasted, which is a British comedy set in a bong shop, today we hear that Netflix has picked up a comedy based in an LA cannabis dispensary called Disjointed from Chuck Lorre.
The new show will star Oscar and Emmy winner Kathy Bates as a legalisation advocate and L.A. area cannabis dispensary owner. She has with her three ‘budtenders’, her twentysomething son, and a deeply troubled security guard… It’s described as ‘The Big Bang Theory, if the guys were not geniuses but selling weed’.
Chuck Lorre is of course the man behind Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men, Mike & Molly and Mom, to name but a few of his hits. Disjointed is being written by former Daily Show head writer David Javerbaum which earned the Jon Stewart era of the show 11 Emmys over the years.
There are a number of other pot shop based comedies also in the works in the US. One of these comes from director & podcaster Kevin Smith, who is well known for his intake of marijuana. They recently shot a pilot called Hollyweed, which is also set in an LA cannabis dispensary. That show stars Smith and Donnell Rawlings (Chappelle’s Show) as the dispensers, with Mr. Robot’s Frankie Shaw playing a porn star friend who is helping then manage the business, and True Blood’s Kristin Bauer van Straten, who plays the neighboring cookie magnate, with which they have an ongoing battle.
Amazon, not wishing to be left out, are developing Highland, starring comedian Margaret Cho as a woman who has to move in with her family, who run a pot dispensary, after court-ordered rehab.
The 20 episode first season of Disjointed is expected to land on Netflix sometime next year.