“Mapleworth Murders,” Universal Television’s new comedic murder-mystery series, is in development at Quibi, the streamer announced on Tuesday morning.
Produced by Lorne Michaels’ Broadway Video and Seth Meyers’ and Mike Shoemaker’s production company Sethmaker Shoemeyer, the short-form series stars Paula Pell as Abigail Mapleworth, a murder-mystery writer who solves homicides in her quaint small town of New Woodstream. Each episode of the series will feature guest victims and suspects as they answer the bigger question of the series: “Why the hell are there so many murders in the small town of New Woodstream?”
Written by and starring Pell and John Lutz, the series is executive produced by Michaels, Andrew Singer, Meyers, and Shoemaker. Hilary Marx and Jason Carden will serve as co-executive producers of the show.
“Mapleworth Murders” joins a growing lineup of content at Quibi including a series based on the rise of Snapchat — a show that Jeffrey Katzenberg compared to its own version of “The Social Network,” and three additional new series announced earlier this month, including a sci-fi drama starring Don Cheadle, a stunt driving show from Idris Elba, and a new beauty series produced by and starring Tyra Banks.
Founded by Katzenberg and Meg Whitman, Quibi closed a $1 billion round of funding in August from investors including as 21st Century Fox, Disney, NBCUniversal, Viacom and WarnerMedia. The service, which will focus on producing and distributing short-form content made for mobile, will launch with a two-tier pricing model: a $4.99 per month ad-supported offer and a $7.99 per month ad-free deal. Whitman says the company has already sold $100 million worth of advertisements ahead of its spring 2020 launch.