Netflix Lands Chuck Lorre Pot Comedy ‘Disjointed’ With Kathy Bates Set to Star

Chuck Lorre’s pot comedy has found a home and a star.

After being shopped to broadcast networks and streaming services, Netflix has landed Disjointed with a 20-episode order and tapped Kathy Bates to star, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

Co-written by Lorre and David Javerbaum (The Daily Show), the spec script went out into the marketplace in mid-January. The workplace comedy stars the Oscar and two-time Emmy winner Bates as a lifelong advocate for marijuana legalization who’s finally living her dream as the owner of a Los Angeles-area cannabis dispensary. Joining her are three “budtenders,” her twentysomething son and a deeply troubled security guard. All of them are more or less constantly high.

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The multicamera comedy hails from Warner Bros. Television, where the prolific producer behind CBS’ The Big Bang Theory and Mom is under a rich overall deal. The news comes as Lorre’s CBS comedy Mike & Molly wrapped its its sixth and final season and with his Big Bang Theory and Mom both set to return next season. Mom, coincidentally, also was taken out late in the season as a pitch and scored a hefty pilot production commitment.

Pot comedies have been in high demand across broadcast, cable, premium and streaming outlets of late. Amazon recently tapped Margaret Cho to star in Highland, HBO picked up six episodes of High Maintenance and NBC is teaming with Adam and Naomi Scott to develop Buds.

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Javerbaum’s credits include producing CBS’ The Late Late Show With James Corden. His Twitter account, @TheTweetOfGod, was adapted into a book that subsequently became the play An Act of God, which starred Big Bang Theory‘s Jim Parsons.

The casting reunites Lorre with Bates, who earned an Emmy for her guest role on Lorre’s Two and a Half Men. and a best supporting actress in a mini nod for American Horror Story: Coven. All told, the actress has 13 Emmy nominations. The casting brings her back into the WBTV fold following work including Men and the studio’s NBC drama Harry’s Law. She is repped by ICM Partners.

For Netflix, Disjointed comes as the streaming giant has been making an aggressive push for scripted — and comedy. Disjointed joins recently picked up comedy series Maniac, starring Emma Stone and Jonah Hill; Santa Clarita Diet; starring Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant; and several more as the streamer is investing $5 billion into original programming in 2016. Netflix’s comedy push also includes Easy, a comedic anthology from mumblecore guru Joe Swanberg; Aziz Ansari’s Master of None; Judd Apatow’s Love; Sophia Amoruso’s #Girlboss; and sketch comedy The Characters, in addition to more broad-skewing fare like Fuller House. With the Disjointed deal, Lorre and Bates join Ashton Kutcher at Netflix after the Two and a Half Men star’s comedy The Ranch was renewed for a second season. 

Disjointed also expands Netflix’s relationship with Warner Bros. Television, which produces Longmire, Fuller House and the upcoming Gilmore Girls revival.