FX (home to the consistently hilarious Louie and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) have ordered a 13 episode series of Aussie comedy Wilfred, a gruff anthropomorphic dog who smokes copious amounts of weed and cock-blocks the potential suitors of his beloved female owner. Co-creator/writer Jason Gann will reprise his role as the titular foul-mouthed pooch alongside Lord Of The Rings star Elijah Wood and Californication’s Fiona Gublemann who will play the hapless suitor and dog owner respectively.
There are some big names involved behind the scenes as well with David Zuckerman (Family Guy, American Dad) executive producing and penning the pilot and Randall Einhorn (Modern Family) directing. So yeah, whether you’re a fan of the original or not it should be interesting to see if American audiences take to this. Hopefully we’ve learned something from the failure of Kath & Kim which managed to secure big name talent (Selma Blair and Molly Shannon) but didn’t quite translate when put in an American context. It then struggled to find an audience and was subsequently canceled after one season. I don’t know, I feel like Wilfred has more of a chance. Weed and dogs are pretty universal, just look at the enduring popularity of Scooby Doo.
Also, if this Wilfred reboot is in any way successful, Jason Gann will have only halfway atoned for his involvement in The Wedge, the single worst thing to ever happen to Australian television. We will never forget.
