NBC and Netflix have BOTH decided to pull the plug on their upcoming projects with Bill Cosby as rape allegations against the comedian continue to surface.
Sources said writers and producers on the untitled NCB project were informed Wednesday morning that it would not be going forward.
NBC cut a rich deal with Cosby last summer to star in a new comedy that would feature him in his familiar family patriarch role. The project marked a reunion for Cosby and Tom Werner, the producer whose Carsey-Werner Co. banner produced the comedian’s blockbuster 1980s NBC sitcom and his CBS sitcom from the late 1990s.
NBC set the deal with Cosby and Werner directly last summer. Sony Pictures TV came in as the studio on the project to develop the script with scribes Mike O’Malley and Mike Sikowitz. The studio was not believed to have turned in a finished script to the network.
In a sign of Cosby’s clout, the deal calls for the network to pay a hefty penalty fee directly to Cosby if the project did not get ordered as a pilot.
Netflix had planned to air Bill Cosby 77, a comedy special filmed on on his 77th birthday, later this month, on November 28th — but that’s been “postponed” because of the scandal. Netflix didn’t give an exact reason…but it makes sense. The comedy special was supposed to focus on “relationships, marriage, and children.”
If you haven’t heard, Supermodel/TV Host Janice Dickinson revealed last night that she too was a victim of rape at the hands of Mr. Cosby. Bill’s lawyer says her story is a “lie.”
[via Variety]
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