Showtime’s “The Comeback Girl” series starring Kathryn Hahn as Joan Rivers will not be moving forward after the Greg Berlanti-produced project failed to secure legendary comedian Rivers’ life rights from her daughter, Melissa Rivers, TheWrap has learned.
A spokesperson for Melissa Rivers confirmed to TheWrap Tuesday that the life rights were never purchased for the project, which was still in the development stage.
“The Comeback Girl” could have moved forward as an unauthorized project, but it would have lacked the ability to use Rivers’ material, or the late comedian’s well-known phrases, Variety reported on Tuesday.
“The Comeback Girl,” which was first announced last month, and hailed from Warner Bros. TV, where Berlanti’s Berlanti Productions has an overall deal, would have charted Rivers’ rise following the cancellation of her short-lived late-night talk show on Fox, “The Late Show.” That show’s cancelation coincided with Rivers’ husband Edgar Rosenberg’s death by suicide. Rosenberg was a producer on “The Late Show.”
Here is the logline from Showtime for the now-scrapped project:
“Trailblazer. Adored. Cruel. Diva. Joan Rivers had a life like no other. At age 54, she was a superstar comedienne…and then it all fell apart. ‘The Comeback Girl’ is the awe-inspiring untold story of how Joan Rivers persevered through near suicide and professional abyss to rebuild herself and her career to become a global icon.”
“The Comeback Girl” was to be written by Cosmo Carlson who would have executive produced alongside Richard Suckle and Charles Roven for Atlas Entertainment, Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, and David Madden for Berlanti Productions, and Hahn. Robert Amidon from Atlas Entertainment was a co-executive producer. Leslie Bennetts was a consultant.
Showtime and “The Comeback Girl” studio Warner Bros. TV declined TheWrap’s request for comment on the news the project had been scrapped, and a representative for Hahn did not immediately respond to the request.
Hahn is coming off an Emmy nomination for her role as Agatha Harkness in Disney+’s “WandaVision” (“Mare of Easttown’s” Julianne Nicholson ended up winning). She can next be seen in Apple TV+’s “The Shrink Next Door.”