Media Release

TBS Orders Misery Index Comedy Game Show to Series

The Misery Index

The Stars of truTV’s Impractical Jokers Join Series to Find Humor Ranking Life’s Misfortunes

TBS Orders Misery Index Comedy Game Show to Series

The Stars of truTV’s Impractical Jokers Join Series to Find Humor Ranking Life’s Misfortunes

 

LOS ANGELES, October 10, 2018 —Turner’s TBS has ordered the comedy game show Misery Index, a new unscripted series inspired by the outrageously entertaining card game Sh*t Happens. Critically acclaimed and in demand comedy troupe The Tenderloins — Brian “Q” QuinnJames “Murr” MurrayJoe Gatto and Sal Vulcano — creators and stars of truTV’s Impractical Jokers, cable’s #1 original comedy series, have joined the series to help infuse comic relief. 
 
The game will feature two teams — each consisting of one contestant and two Tenderloins. Teams will compete against each other by attempting to determine the ranking of hilarious and miserable real-life events — from getting fired to accidentally sexting your grandfather — on a scale of 1-100. 
 
Misery Index is developed by comedy writer Andy Breckman (Monk), along with Ben & Dan Newmark of Grandma’s House Entertainment. The series is executive produced by Breckman, the Newmarks, Adam Bold of Grandma’s House Entertainment, Howard Klein of 3 Arts Entertainment, and Rob Anderson, who will serve as showrunner.  
 
“Andy Breckman and the Newmarks have hilariously gamified embarrassment, humiliation and total misery” said Michael Bloom, senior vice president of unscripted and specials for TBS and TNT. “Adding The Tenderloins brings unpredictable fun to this game.”
 
The network is adding 10 episodes of the half-hour comedy to its successful lineup of unscripted programs including Snoop Dogg Presents The Joker’s Wild and Drop the Mic, the top two new unscripted cable comedies of 2017.
 
Impractical Jokers is the #1 original cable comedy series in prime among both Adults 18-49 and 18-34. The series consistently ranks as a top 10 cable comedy reaching over 96 million viewers in its most current season alone. The show is presently in its seventh season on truTV, a sister network of TBS within the Turner portfolio. In addition to an already-announced eighth season on truTV, the franchise recently wrapped production on its first-ever movie, which is produced by Funny Or Die and targeting a 2019 release. They are currently on their “The Cranjis McBasketball World Comedy Tour – Starring The Tenderloins” throughout 2019.


About Grandma’s House Entertainment
Grandma’s House Entertainment, founded in 2013 by the Newmark brothers and Adam Bold, writes, develops and produces scripted comedy as well as unscripted formats. The company’s credits include Let’s Get Physical for Pop, Gigi’s Bucket List for IFC, Coupled for FOX, and Catching Kelce for E!.

About TBS

TBS, a division of Turner, is one of basic cable's top entertainment networks with young adults, and home to the most popular and critically acclaimed comedies on cable — Angie TribecaCONANThe DetourFull Frontal with Samantha BeeThe Guest Book , The Last O.G.Search Party, and Wrecked — as well as animated series American Dad!Final Space and Tarantula. TBS' slate of unscripted series includes competition show Drop the Mic and Snoop Dogg Presents The Joker's Wild. Upcoming comedies include Miracle Workers and Close Enough. In addition, the TBS lineup includes popular comedy hits like Brooklyn Nine-NineFamily GuyThe Cleveland ShowBob's BurgersThe Big Bang TheoryNew Girl and 2 Broke Girls; blockbuster movies; and live coverage of Major League Baseball's regular and post-season play, the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship and ELEAGUE, Turner's eSports gaming competition.

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About Turner
Turner, a WarnerMedia company, is a global entertainment, sports and news company that creates premium content and delivers exceptional experiences to fans whenever and wherever they consume content. These efforts are fueled by data-driven insights and industry-leading technology. Turner owns and operates some of the most valuable brands in the world, including Adult Swim, Bleacher Report, Boomerang, Cartoon Network, CNN, ELEAGUE, FilmStruck, Great Big Story, HLN, iStreamPlanet, Super Deluxe, TBS, Turner Classic Movies (TCM), TNT, truTV and Turner Sports.
 
About The Tenderloins
The Tenderloins, is a New York-based comedy troupe, whose four members – Joe Gatto, James Murray, Brian Quinn and Sal Vulcano – are the creators, executive producers, and stars of truTV’s hit series, Impractical Jokers. Now in its seventh season, Impractical Jokers follows The Tenderloins as they coerce one another into doing public pranks while being filmed by hidden cameras. With each new season, the show continues to take dares to outrageous levels with new over-the-top hijinks. In addition to the top-rated television show, the Troupe has toured steadily over the last four years with its highly-successful, “Where’s Larry?” & “Santiago Sent Us,” tours playing to hundreds of thousands of fans in the US and UK, including three sold-out nights at Radio City Music Hall, a sold-out Madison Square Garden, and five sold-out shows at London’s O2 Arena. Natives of Staten Island, NY, Vulcano, Gatto, Murray and Quinn met while attending high school and later formed The Tenderloins Comedy Troupe in 1999. After years of performing live improv and sketch comedy shows, The Tenderloins crossed over to the web, garnering millions of views for their internet sketches, eventually creating the runaway success Impractical Jokers for truTV. Impractical Jokers is top 5 in its timeslot on cable in the US and is the #1 show on Comedy Central in the United Kingdom and India.


Publicity Contacts

Raina Falcon, TBS
818.559.7920
raina.falcon@turner.com
 
Ashley Mokma, TBS
818.559.7919
ashley.mokma@turner.com