Despite the brilliance of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Grace and Frankie, it’s safe to say that Netflix has found greater success with its original dramas than its comedies. Now, though, the streaming giant is recruiting a crack comic team for a multi-camera comedy called The Ranch.
Ashton Kutcher and his That ’70s Show co-star Danny Masterson are set to star in the sibling comedy, created by Two and a Half Men co-showrunners Don Reo and Jim Patterson.
According to Deadline, Netflix is taking a slightly unusual approach with The Ranch, ordering 20 episodes to be released in two batches, premiering 10 episodes at two separate points in the year. That’s different than the 13-episodes-dropping-at-once strategy applied to the service’s past comedies and the upcoming Fuller House.
The series centers on a semi-pro football player (Kutcher) whose career deflates just as it’s getting started, leading him to return home to run a Colorado ranch with his brother (Masterson). Reo and Patterson wrote the series and will executive produce, while the two stars, longtime friends, will produce.
Netflix aims most of its original programming at specific crowds, from the attention-grabbing and zeitgeisty House of Cards and Orange is the New Black to the Marvel-based Daredevil and lower-key Longmire. With The Ranch, Netflix is venturing into sitcom territory and searching for fans of The Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men and How I Met Your Mother.
Funnily enough, Kutcher and Masterson aren’t the first ’70s Show stars to wind up housed at Netflix – Laura Prepon stars in prison dramedy Orange is the New Black, which just dropped its third season to near-universal acclaim.
The Ranch is expected to premiere in 2016, becoming the next project for Kutcher, who had been searching for a new TV sitcom to call home since the conclusion of Two and a Half Men.
