TruTV turns to Denver comics for first scripted sitcom series

Denver comedy trio The Grawlix is gearing up for more crass times at Smoot High.

Adam Cayton-Holland, Andrew Orvedahl and Ben Roy learned last week that TruTV has ordered 10 episodes of their TV sitcom “Those Who Can’t” – in which they play teachers at a fictional high school in Denver – after the pilot received a positive response during focus testing. The network announced the deal on Tuesday.

“They kept telling us for weeks, ‘You’ll hear any day,’ so we were nervous and fearing the worst,” says Cayton-Holland, who will write, star in and executive produce alongside Orvedahl and Roy.

“I think it’ll be a big boon for all of us, it’ll elevate all of our profiles for sure.”

According to the Denver Post, Turner Broadcasting's TruTV is in the process of rebranding itself from a reality and documentary-based network to a comedy one.

TruTV bought the rights to the original Amazon Studios pilot for "Those Who Can't" last year and commissioned its own version, both featuring the Denver comedy troupe the Grawlix.

The three creators will return to Los Angeles next week to meet with TruTV before writing new scripts for the series. Shooting will begin in Los Angeles this summer and the network plans to premiere “Those Who Can’t” in early 2016.

“We’re really pumped we were able to launch our careers from here and that this scene was able to support us,” Cayton-Holland says. “The fact that we’re getting to make a TV show having never moved to LA to play the game is like a coup."

Adam and Evan Nix of Denver-based Nix Bros. Films will also return to direct a few episodes after directing and shooting the pilot episode.