The news is that Amy Poehler received the go ahead for a new comedy on NBC, tentatively called Old Soul. The series will star Orange is the New Black sensation Natasha Lyonne as a young woman working as an aide to a group of old people.
According to this report in Deadline,
“This show, hopefully, will blow up some of the cliches we think about old people,” NBC chairman Bob Greenblatt said.
I don’t want this show to take Natasha Lyonne away from OITNB, because she’s wonderful there and needed there. Please let the scheduling gods be with her on this so that she can do both.
Lyonne’s droll brand of melancholy seems perfect for a story about a younger woman dealing with an opinionated bunch of wise-ass elders.
Anything Amy Poehler touches will be funny – you know that in advance. But the really important thing about this whole project to me is that I think the elders in this series will be treated with respect. I’m hoping it will be like Golden Girls or Hot in Cleveland, where elders are funny but not made fun of. For that reason alone, I’m excited about the potential of Old Soul, or whatever it ends up being called.
Amy Poehler image: Jason Merritt/WireImage