South Park Duo Creates New Series

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<<Stone, Parker Ready to Start a 'Family'

By John Dempsey

NEW YORK (Variety) - Comedy Central has given a 10-episode commitment to "South Park" creator-producers Matt Stone and Trey Parker for "Family First," an offbeat political comedy series.

The show, to be scheduled as a weekly half-hour beginning in February, will feature live actors, not animated figures. The lead character will be the actual president of the U.S., so Stone and Parker can't cast the role until the public casts its vote Nov. 7.

A spokesman for Comedy Central says other actors will play both real-life White House staff members and fictional characters. While most sitcoms are taped before a live audience, the series will be shot on film with one camera, and the undisclosed production budget will be comparable to what the broadcast networks pay for a first-year sitcom.

"First Family" comes out of the contract renewal Stone and Parker signed last spring for the production of three more years of "South Park." In that deal, Comedy Central agreed to finance another weekly comedy series that the two would produce in 2001.

07:05 11-01-00 Copyright 2000 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. >>