Cynthia Littleton
Donnie Wahlberg and Nick Lachey have teamed with “Entourage’s” Doug Ellin to produce a comedy for CBS about members of a boy band who reunite 20 years later.
“Encore” hails from CBS Television Studios and the Tannenbaum Co. The single-camera project is in the early stage of development.
Wahlberg and Lachey are intimately familiar with the material. Wahlberg is a member of the pop group New Kids on the Block, which came to prominence in the late 1980s. Lachey was a member of 98 Degrees, which was active in the late-1990s and early 2000s. Wahlberg and Lachey have become friendly after spending time touring together in 2013. The inspiration for the show came when the two compared notes about how different their lives are today as grown men with children than in their pop star heydays.
Wahlberg is already in the CBS family as a co-star of police drama “Blue Bloods.” He also exec producers the reality series “Rock This Boat,” about obsessive NKOTB fans, for CBS’ Pop cabler. And he’s an exec producer on the A&E Network series “Wahlburgers,” about his family’s burger joint in Boston.
Family ties also helped bring Ellin into the picture for “Encore.” The showrunner created and exec produced the 2004-2011 HBO series “Entourage” that was inspired by the Hollywood experiences of his younger brother, Mark Wahlberg.
Ellin is penning the script for “Encore” and exec producing with Eric and Kim Tannenbaum (“Two and a Half Men”), Wahlberg, Lachey and Jonathan Baruch. Andrew Moncrief of Ellin’s Halyard Park banner will serve as a producer.
Ellin’s recent projects include ESPN’s “30 for 30: When the Garden Was Eden” doc and “Bad Santa 2,” which is set for release on Nov. 23. He also wrote and directed the 2015 “Entourage” feature.
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