Today, SHOWTIME has unveiled that the rubber-faced actor, Jim Carrey, has joined the cast of a newly-announced half-hour comedy series entitled KIDDING from director Michel Gondry. As his first series regular role in well over two decades, Carrey will serve as the program's star for its 10-episode run. KIDDING, created and written by Dave Holstein (WEEDS) will also find Carrey, Gondry, Emmy nominee Jason Bateman, Jim Garavente, Raffi Adlan and Michael Aguilar serving as executive producers for the upcoming series.
In KIDDING, Carrey plays Jeff, aka Mr. Pickles, an icon of children’s television, a beacon of kindness and wisdom to America’s impressionable young minds and the parents who grew up with him – who also anchors a multimillion dollar branding empire. But when this beloved personality’s family – wife, two sons, sister and father – begins to implode, Jeff finds no fairy tale or fable or puppet will guide him through this crisis, which advances faster than his means to cope. The result: a kind man in a cruel world faces a slow leak of sanity as hilarious as it is heartbreaking.
Oh wow! This sounds to me like it should have been called MR. ROGERS HAS A MELTDOWN or RAINBOW RANDOLPH: THE UNTOLD STORY. Obviously, this is not the first time that Carrey and Gondry have worked together. The pair had created a beautifully cerebral drama with Gondry's SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND back in 2004. For a time, that film was one of my favorites of all-time, as I'd found the feature's mind-bending visual landscapes and knockout performances by both Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet to be truly mesmerizing.
In talking up the film, David Nevins, President and CEO, Showtime Networks Inc. had said “No one inhabits a character like Jim Carrey, and this role – which is like watching Humpty Dumpty after the fall – is going to leave television audiences wondering how they went so long without him,” Nevins exclaimed. “With his Eternal Sunshinepartner Michel Gondry on board to direct, we are on our way to a magnetic, volcanic and emotional viewing experience.”
With Gondry at the director's helm, Carrey to lead the series, and an entertaining premise cooked up and ready to be served, KIDDING sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun. Here's hoping that Carrey, Gondry and Holstein can work together to create a unique and entertaining new series.
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