FX has put in a 10-episode series order for Better Things, the Pamela Adlon comedy pitched as a female-fronted Louie and written by Adlon and Louis CK. FX greenlit the pilot—which CK also directed—back in January and announced the series pickup ahead of its day of panels at the Television Critics Association Press Tour. Better Things, FX’s first comedy with a female lead, will star Adlon as Sam, a working actress juggling her career, her three daughters (Mikey Madison, Riley Watson, and Olivia Edward), and a presumably mortifying love life.
FX also ordered a third season of its vampire series The Strain, which is four episodes into its second season under the leadership of creators Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan and showrunner Carlton Cuse. The network didn’t specify how many episodes to expect from The Strain’s third season, and while it’s likely to comprise 13 episodes like the first two seasons, that order could be slashed in light of the show’s recent decline in viewership.
Meanwhile, FX’s comedy-skewing sister network FXX (not to be confused with black sheep FXXX) has ordered 10 episodes of a new animated comedy, Cassius And Clay, which was co-created by Archer’s Adam Reed and Megan Ganz of Modern Family and Community fame. It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia’s Kaitlin Olson will star alongside Lake Bell as the title characters, a pair of bandits “looking to survive in a futuristic, post-apocalyptic American South.” The voice cast will also include Susan Sarandon, Jeffrey Tambor, J.B. Smoove, Kevin Michael Richardson, Stephen Root, Katy Mixon, and Robert Patrick.
Cassius And Clay is slated for a 2016 premiere and will be paired with the seventh season of Archer, which, like Sunny, The League, and You’re The Worst, will be moved to FXX as FX continues to bifurcate its ribald, millennial-skewing comedies and its dark drama series.