Diallo Riddle and Bashir Salahuddin, former “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” writers and performers, are getting a chance at a series of their own. Deadline reports that HBO has ordered a half-hour pilot written by and starring the comedic duo as a pair of 30-year-old reporters trying to make it big in Atlanta.
Lorne Michaels, who executive produces “Fallon,” will serve as EP on the untitled project, which if ordered to series would among other things bring some welcome non-whiteness to HBO’s generally blinding lineup (“Boardwalk Empire,” Family Tree,” “Girls,” “The Newsroom”… “Treme” is the main representative of diversity at the network currently, and that’s a matter of cast rather than creators).
Riddle and Salahuddin will executive produce the pilot alongside Michaels and Dave Flebotte, who will serve as showrunner should the series get picked up. Andrew Singer co-executive produces.
Riddle and Salahuddin got their start at HBO with web series “The Message.” Here’s a look at an installment from that series from 2007, in which “Black Issues in Space” hosts a debate as to whether Lando Calrissian’s race had anything to do with his not being allowed to become a Jedi.
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