Poehler, along with co-writer Mike Schur, is nominated for her work on "Parks and Recreation," which failed to snag a nomination for best comedy series.
Amy Poehler is heading to Swedish television.
The Parks and Recreation star and her brother, Greg Poehler, are teaming with Sweden’s TV4 network to bring its first half-hour, English-language comedy series Welcome to Sweden to the small screen through their newly-formed production company Syskon (Swedish for “sibling”).
Based on Greg Poehler’s life, Sweden centers on New York accountant Bruce, who falls in love with a Swedish girl, Emma, and follows his heart to Sweden. Greg Poehler will make his acting debut as Bruce, starring opposite Josephine Bornebusch (Solsidan) as Emma, Lena Olin as Emma’s mother Viveka and Illeana Douglas and Patrick Duffy as Bruce’s parents.
Amy Poehler will make a cameo in the series, along with Parks and Recreation co-star Aubrey Plaza and Gene Simmons.
Swedish producer FLX and Entertainment One (eOne) co-produce the series, with the latter handling worldwide rights to the show.
Production begins in New York and Sweden on May 13. EOne is currently pitching to U.S. broadcasters and cable networks.
“It was easy to fall for Greg Poehler’s self experienced story of an American that follows his heart to Sweden,” said Åsa Sjöberg, director of programs at TV4. “When Greg teamed up with Felix Herngren and his excellent team at FLX, there was no doubt that this series had a unique and huge potential to reach further than the Swedish comedy audience. We are so excited to join forces with eOne and to follow the story of Bruce and Emma, in our first English language co-production.”
“This show has been a real passion project for eOne! It’s been thrilling to work with TV4 on their first English language co-production that organically explores a cross-cultural world,” said Carrie Stein, executive vp global production at eOne. “Greg Poehler is a talent on the rise, both as an actor and writer and he has created a series rife with humor as his lead character, Bruce, tries to navigate a different culture, a foreign language, his girlfriend’s quirky family and a life-changing romance.”
Greg Poehler created Sweden, and executive produces with Amy Poehler, Frederik Arefalk, Stein and Herngren. Syskon is dedicated to developing and producing TV comedy formats and programming targeting the international community.
The news comes two months after Comedy Central gave a series order to the Amy Poehler-produced comedy Broad City to debut in 2014.
E-mail: Philiana.Ng@thr.com
Twitter: @insidethetube
