News round-up: Amazon picks up Witherspoon comedy; Fox courts ‘Farmer Wants A Wife’; HBO Max renews ‘Sex Lives of College Girls’  

Reese Witherspoon in Big Little Lies

Amazon picks up Witherspoon comedy

Amazon has handed a two-season order to half-hour comedy series All Stars from Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine.

Witherspoon will star and executive produce the series, which follows a former cheerleader from the US who travels to UK to teach at coastal school.

“I’ve been looking for a project that brought our Hello Sunshine mission to make women the heroes of their own stories to a younger generation for a long time. When I saw this story, I immediately knew this idea would do just that, said Witherspoon.

“The idea of watching an American woman coming to share the very American sport of cheerleading to a group of young women in the U.K. just made me so excited.”

Fox courts ‘Farmer Wants A Wife’

US network Fox has ordered a new local version of Fremantle dating format Farmer Wants A Wife.

Hailing from by Eureka Productions, the series will launch on Fox on 8 March and is the second US version of the format after The CW’s series in 2008.

Paul Franklin, Chris Culvenor and David Tibballs will executive producer, with David Emery as executive producer in post. Lauren Taylor Harding also serves as an executive producer and the showrunner of the series. Jennifer Nettles will host.

Farmer Wants A Wife, which originated in the UK in 2001, follows farmers from across the country as they embark on an adventure of a lifetime in the hopes of finding their future spouse.

Women will leave behind the dating apps and pursuit of love in “the big city” in favor of classic American courtship. The farmers will take their group of daters to their farm and show them what it is really like to live as ranchers do – from tending to the homestead to feeding cattle and baling hay.

HBO Max renews ‘Sex Lives of College Girls’

HBO Max has renewed comedy series The Sex Lives Of College Girls for a third season ahead of the second season finale this week.

Created by writer/producer Mindy Kaling and Justin Noble, the series follows four college roommates at New England’s prestigious Essex College.

Produced by Warner Bros. Television, the pickup comes amid a slew of cancellations and content removals at the streamer.

Breakthrough Leaders nominations open

Nominations have opened for the TV Collective and Fremantle’s Breakthrough Leaders programme for 2023.

Fifty places are available on the programme, which is now in its third year and was set up to elevate the careers of mid-to-senior levels execs from BAME backgrounds.

The initiative was designed by the TV Collective alongside Fremantle and industry coach Remy Blumenfeld, with support from Indigo Talent.

It is aimed at industry with more than eight years experience who are looking to progress imn their career. to take the next step in their career.

Babita Bahal, group head of diversity, equity and inclusion at Fremantle, said: “We look forward to welcoming a third cohort to the programme in 2023. Our collaboration with the TV Collective has been inspiring and impactful, and the amazing achievements from the 101 leaders are evident. We are excited to embark on our third year of support for the Leaders to reinforce our commitment to long-term, meaningful, and lasting change.”

Nominations will close on the 14 January 2023.