VUGURU AND BERMANBRAUN TEAM UP WITH AOL TO LAUNCH FAMILY COMEDY "GREETINGS FROM HOME"
12-Episode Military-Themed Series Premieres October 1
New York, NY (October 1, 2012) Vuguru, an independent studio founded by Michael Eisner that develops and finances award winning scripted content for digital and international platforms, and AOL today announced the US premiere of "Greetings From Home," a family comedy series from BermanBraun. Debuting October 1st on 'AOL On Relationships' and 'AOL On Parenting', "Greetings From Home" is a humorous take on the chaos that ensues when a military dad has to raise two unruly teens while mom is deployed overseas. The 12-episode series is written by Bill Rosenthal, Bill Masters and Michael Davidoff, directed by Jared Drake and executive produced by BermanBraun's Gail Berman and Lloyd Braun.
When career soldier Pete Griffin loses a leg in combat oversees, he is sent home to a desk job at the army base near his family's home. Simultaneously, Pete's wife Patty, an Army nurse, gets deployed to Afghanistan, leaving him to raise daredevil son Chris (17) and moody adolescent daughter Becky (15) by himself. Fortunately, helping Pete survive single fatherhood are his slacker brother-in-law, loopy grandmother Nana and the neighborhood army wives: Sue Meyers with OCD, Emma Mountcastle, a sassy pregnant intellectual, Roberta Sommer, an airhead trying to lose weight before her husband returns, and Missy Wentworth, an overly provacative teenage bride. Pete loves his family, but he realizes that raising teenage kids is more stressful than taking on enemy fire in combat.
Meet the Cast
· Pete Griffith (Dash Mihok, I Am Legend, The Day After Tomorrow, Ray Donovan) - A father and career soldier sent back to the States after losing his leg in combat
· Sue Meyers (Missi Pyle, The Artist, "Two and a Half Men", Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) - Ms. Perfect Army wife and neighbor of the Griffith's
· Nana (Estelle Harris, "Seinfeld", "Are You There, Chelsea?", "Fanboy and Chum Chum") - Patty Griffith's serial video-dating, wisecracking mother
· Becky Griffith (Evie Thompson, Shake it Up!, "Criminal Minds", "Zoey 101") - The 15-year-old former tomboy, moody, adolescent daughter of Pete and Patty Griffith
· Chris Griffith (Hudson Thames, Fright Night) - The 17-year-old charming and mischievous daredevil son of Pete and Patty Griffith
· Emma Mountcastle (Nicole Randall Johnson, "Weeds"," MADtv", "Prime Suspect") - A sassy intellectual and a neighborhood Army wife who got pregnant after her husband went overseas
· Roberta Sommer (Kristina Sexton, "Crossing Jordan", "Cold Case") - An airhead and a neighborhood Army wife who gained 50 pounds since her husband was away and wants to remove a kidney to help lose the weight
· Missy Wentworth (Cherilyn Wilson, "True Blood", "I Heart Vampires", "90210") - A provocative young bride and neighborhood Army wife
· Archie (Skyler Stone, "Bones", "Raising Hope") Pete's slacker brother-in-law who moved into a hammock on the lawn and never left
"Greetings from Home" comes on the heels of AOL and Vuguru's recent collaborations; the runaway hit comedy "Little Women Big Cars" and the romantic comedy "Fetching", both of which had millions of views in the first few weeks of their respective launches.
http://aol.com/greetingsfromhome
About AOL
AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) is a brand company, committed to continuously innovating, growing, and investing in brands and experiences that inform, entertain, and connect the world. The home of a world-class collection of premium brands, AOL creates original content that engages audiences on a local and global scale. We help marketers connect with these audiences through effective and engaging digital advertising solutions.
About BermanBraun
BermanBraun is an independent media company with three divisions - television, feature film and digital - which create and exploit entertainment content and advertising solutions across all platforms throughout the world. The Santa Monica, CA based company, founded by principals Gail Berman and Lloyd Braun in 2007, has established strategic global alliances with a number of media companies throughout the industry, including NBC Universal Television, AOL, YouTube, Starcom Mediavest and Microsoft.
BermanBraun's digital division has created and operates some of the most popular properties online. They include the celebrity news site WONDERWALL, which BermanBraun launched in partnership with Microsoft in February 2009. The site is the primary celebrity destination on the MSN network, and currently ranks first in engagement among all competitive sites in entertainment news. The site averages more than 15 million unique users per month and generated over 1 BILLION page views three months in a row from Dec 2011 through Feb 2012. BermanBraun also created and operates the site WONDERWALL LATINO.
In April 2010, BermanBraun launched GLO -- a site created in partnership with MSN and Hearst. GLO features an innovative design that creates a unique "digital magazine" experience for women seeking style, beauty and lifestyle content. GLO averages over 5 million monthly uniques and currently ranks first in engagement among competitive sites in its fashion/beauty category.
In addition, BermanBraun recently launched the highly-successful sites MANDATORY, PAWNATION, and SKYE with AOL. Mandatory exceeded 200 million page views in August, and has the highest engagement amongst all competing male-oriented sites. Similarly, Pawnation and Skye lead their respective categories in key engagement metrics. In May 2012, BermanBraun launched mom.me, an online destination for women with advice and inspiration for all stages of motherhood. In April and July, BermanBraun and Rodale Inc. launched "3V," a YouTube channel featuring original fitness and healthy living video programming and "Tasted," a YouTube channel featuring original food and recipe content. A third channel will launch later this year in the movie category.
BermanBraun recently acquired Whiskey Media, CNET Founder Shelby Bonnie's media and technology company based in San Francisco that has created a next generation publishing, data and social tools platform. BermanBraun recently launched its first site built on the Whiskey platform - TESTED WITH JAMIE AND ADAM. Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage are the stars of the hit television show MYTHBUSTERS on Discovery Channel, and have a strategic alliance with BermanBraun to create television and digital content and brands.
In television, BermanBraun is producing the new series INFAMOUS (midseason on NBC), the series ALPHAS (currently airing on SyFy); JUNK GYPSIES (currently airing on HGTV); POLYAMORY (currently airing on Showtime) and two additional new series to be produced with MythBusters stars Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage for Discovery Channel. BermanBraun is also producing the pilot REWIND for SyFy.
For further information on BermanBraun please go to bermanbraun.com.
About Vuguru LLC
Vuguru LLC is an independent studio that develops and finances scripted, story-driven content for digital and international platforms. Founded by Michael D. Eisner's Tornante Company and backed by Canada's Rogers Media, the company develops, finances and licenses premium scripted content to a global set of distribution partners with large audiences. Vuguru programming has been distributed in over 40 countries around the world, and in 2010, the company structured a first-of-its-kind international sales & distribution commitment for 10 projects with UK-based Content Media Corporation. In the U.S., Vuguru has multi-project licensing and distribution deals with AOL and Yahoo!.
Vuguru's inaugural series Emmy(R)-nominated "Prom Queen" pioneered the online serial space with its unique format and distribution. Most recently in the U.S., Vuguru's "Little Women Big Cars" and "Fetching" launched on AOL to millions of views. The second season of the global hit, "The Booth at the End" launched on Hulu in August and debuts internationally in fall 2012. Additional Vuguru series include "Greetings From Home", "Playdate", "Don't Ask Don't Tell", "Pretty Tough", "The Millionaire Tour", "Nuclear Family", "Off Season", "Crawlspace", "Stan Lee's World of Heroes", "Deep Powder" and the Emmy(R)-nominated "Back on Topps".
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