Netflix has ordered a series adaptation of Justin Halpern’s 2012 memoir “I Suck at Girls,” with Halpert and Patrick Schumacher, co-showrunners of “Abbott Elementary” along with Quinta Branson, set to write the script. “Shrinking” and “Scrubs” executive producer Bill Lawrence is also on board through his banners Doozer and Warner Bros. TV.
According to Variety, the order is cast-dependent, and Netflix could drop the project depending on which actors producers are able to use.
Netflix declined to comment.
The show follows three high school sophomores who stumble into teenage love while navigating adolescence and identity. “I Suck at Girls” is based on Halpern’s romantic misadventures in which she lost her virginity to a childhood crush.
Halpern and Schumacher are executive producers on the series through their Delicious Non-Sexual Productions, along with Chet Dave, Lawrence, Jeff Ingold, and Riza Katzer.
Halpern, Schumacher and Lawrence first developed “I Suck at Girls” as a pilot at Fox in 2013. At Fox, the show was developed under the working title “Surviving Jack” and was constructed as a single-camera ensemble comedy. Set in Southern California in the 1990s, Christopher Meloni was cast as a man who becomes a father as his son becomes an adult, “before ‘coming of age’ was something you could Google.”
“Surviving Jack” is produced by Doozer Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television, so Lawrence remains involved. At the time, Halpern and Schumacher were perhaps best known for adapting Halpern’s Twitter feed, “$#! My Dad Says.” The Fox version is executive produced by Halpern, Schumacher, Lawrence (Spin City, Scrubs, Clone High, Cougar Town) and Jeff Ingold. Victor Neri (“Scrubs,” “The Bernie Mac Show”) directed the pilot.
