by Nellie Andreeva, Deadline
Loudermilk has found a new home. Amazon has picked up the praised former Audience Network comedy series starring Ron Livingston. Seasons 1 and 2, which had aired on Audience, will premiere on Prime Video on March 12. A premiere date for the previously unaired third season will be announced soon.
This marks a happy ending for the series, created and executive produced by Peter Farrelly and Bobby Mort, produced by Big Branch Productions and distributed by Sony Pictures TV, which made the deal with Amazon.
“I could not be more pleased that Loudermilk is finding a second life on Prime Video,” Farrelly said. “It’s a show that I’m extremely proud of and one that deserves to be seen by all. I would argue that it has the best ensemble cast on television and deserves to be in the conversation with Schitt’s Creek and Cobra Kai, shows that started on one network but found a much wider audience on another. This show is going to give you binge-watching at its best!”
He refers to the success and wide audience Schitt’s Creek, whose primary U.S. network was Pop, and Cobra Kai have found on Netflix. Cobra Kai started on YouTube and has become a global hit since recently moving to Netflix in a deal made by Sony TV.
Loudermilk centers on Sam Loudermilk (Livingston), a former music critic, recovering alcoholic and now substance abuse counselor with an extremely bad attitude about, well, everything. He is unapologetically uncensored and manages to piss off everyone in his life. Although he has his drinking under control, Loudermilk discovers that when your life is a complete mess, getting clean is the easy part.
The series stars Livingston, Will Sasso, Laura Mennel, Anja Savcic, Brian Regan, Mat Fraser, Jackie Flynn, Eric Keenleyside, Tyler Layton-Olson, Ricky Blitt, Viv Leacock, Sam Bob, Timothy Webber, Danny Wattley, Brendan McNamara and singer-songwriter Lissie.
In an interview with Deadline last fall, Farrelly, who directs Laudermilk with his brother Bobby, said that he loves all three seasons but is particularly proud of Season 3.
“It goes places that are extremely heavy,” he said. “There is still comedy within the show but there is also some moments. It’s as good as anything I’ve done.”
One of the reasons Farrelly is so proud of Season 3 and wants people to see it is the performance of comedian Regan, whose character Mugsy comes to the forefront in the new season.
“The performance he gives this season is the best performance on television this year,” Farrelly said.
Mugsy is an alcoholic with eight kids, none of whom was speaking to him.
“He gets sober with the program for three seasons and finally, gradually, one by one the kids are starting to come back into his life. It’s a beautiful, heartwarming thing,” Farrelly said. “And then he falls off the wagon. It is one of the most realistic, heartbreaking arcs on TV.”
While the cast of the series was released awhile ago, there will be no problem to reassemble it if Amazon would be interested in a fourth season. “Everybody wants to come back and do Season 4,” Farrelly told Deadline. “We are going to get them back, we are going to do it, we just need to find the right home for it.”
He does not plan to stop at Season 4.
“We want to do Season 4, Season 5, Season 6, Season 7,” he said. “I want to keep going because I know where it is going, where I want it to be in 6-7 years.”
Big Branch Productions’ Bart Peters and Mark Burg also serve as executive producers on the series.
With the pact for Loudermilk, all three existing Audience Network original series had found new homes following AT&T’s January 2020 decision to shut down the network, transforming it into an HBO Max Preview Channel.
The three existing seasons of Mr. Mercedes were acquired by NBCUniversal’s Peacock, while Condor’s two seasons went to Epix, including one that had not aired. Additionally. Netflix picked up another Audience drama, Kingdom, which aired on the network from 2014-2017.
Season 3 Costume Designer: Michelle Hunter
