FX Orders 13 Episodes Of New Series Testees

Long searching for a companion show to its hit comedy It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, FX has placed a 13 episode order for the new half-hour comedy series Testees (working title), announced Nick Grad, Executive Vice President of Original Programming for FX.

Testees, from writer/creator Kenny Hotz (Kenny vs. Spenny), stars Canadian newcomers Steve Markle as “Peter” and Jeff Kassel as “Ron,” and two best friends and roommates in their early 30s who work as test subjects for “TESTICO,” a less-than-normal product testing facility.  In each episode, Peter and Ron are given a new product, experimental medication or treatment to test. The side effects from these are usually ridiculous and almost always negative. The roommates just try to live their lives while waiting for the side effects from these untested products to wear off.

“Finding a companion piece for It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia has been challenging, but Testees manages to find its own unique way to be subversive, outrageous, and just plain hilarious,” said Grad.  “We are proud of what Kenny Hotz achieved the in the pilot, and look forward to seeing where his twisted mind will take us in the series.”

Creator Kenny Hotz is the Creator and Executive Producer of Kenny vs. Spenny – the cult hit that showcases the bizarre relationship of Kenny Hotz and Spenny Rice, two friends who battle a series of “friendly competitions” in an attempt to see who is the better man, and who will walk away humiliated –  which has had a 62 episode run on Comedy Central.  Recently, he was a writer on the Emmy® Award winning South Park.  Steve Markle wrote and directed Camp Hollywood, a Gemini Award winner for Best Documentary.  He also starred in the MTV series You’ve Got a Friend, a hidden camera show produced by Ashton Kutcher.  Jeff Kassel has appeared on television in The Path to 9/11, This is Wonderland, Earth: Final Conflict and as a series regular on CBC’s The X.

The Testees pilot was written by Hotz and Derek Harvie and directed by Samir Rehem.  Hotz is executive producing, along with John Morayniss and Michael Rosenberg of Blueprint Entertainment Inc. FX Productions and Blueprint Entertainment Inc. will produce.  The series will premiere on Thursday, October 9 at 10:30 PM ET/PT, immediately following a brand new episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.