Taran Killam Won’t Be ‘Mating’ on Showtime After All
It was around the time that SNL favorites Taran Killam and Jay Pharoah confirmed new Showtime series, that we learned the pair hadn’t been invited back for Season 42. In Pharoah’s case, at least, the Jamie Foxx-produced White Famous was picked up to series, though Showtime now confirms Taran Killam’s dating scene comedy Mating wasn’t so fortunate.
Per TVLine, Showtime has declined to move forward with the seasonal dating anthology, the first year of which would have seen Killam as a young divorcé who finds himself unprepared for the fluid new world of dating. Executive produced by Jason Katims, the series also featured Jim Belushi as Killam’s father and business partner. So read the early synopsis:
A new half-hour comedy project entitled MATING (working title), executive produced by Jason Katims (Friday Night Lights, Parenthood), and written and executive produced by Stu Zicherman (The Affair, The Americans). Taran Killam (Saturday Night Live) has been cast in the lead role. The comedy anthology pilot will center on a recently divorced guy who married young and now finds himself completely unprepared for the brave new, frank and fluid world of dating and hooking up. The project, produced by SHOWTIME, Universal TV and True Jack Productions, is an “annual anthology” as each season will focus on a different protagonist’s journey through modern dating and relationships.
At the time, Showtime intended to work around either Killam or Pharoah’s SNL schedules, while Killam was particularly caught off-guard by SNL’s decision not to fulfill his seven-year contract:
I don’t know the other side of it. You sign for seven years, so I had one more year. I had sort of had it in my head I would make this upcoming year my last year, but then heard they weren’t going to pick up my contract. I was never given a reason why, really. I can assume until the cows come home. But I do know I’m directing this movie [Why We’re Killing Gunther with Arnold Schwarzenegger] and I’ll have two months of post-production that would have bled into the SNL production schedule, so we kind of communicated that.
Killam is currently keeping busy as King George III to Broadway’s Hamilton, but where next might TV come and claim him?
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