Jan 11, 2017

A New Look at ABC's Hybrid Series "Imaginary Mary"

The lead cartoon character of ABC's live-action/CG hybrid series "Imaginary Mary" has a new look, as revealed in this new ABC trailer:

The mid-season successor show, with a nine-episode order, now has an official start date as well been finalized: on March 29.

As mentioned a few days ago, the animation portion is being supervised by Patrick Osborne, director of Disney's Oscar-winning "Feast" and Google's "Pearl," a film currently in Oscar contention. The animation studio has not been announced, but according to online sources, Zoic Studios in Vancouver is producing the film.

The show stars Jenna Elfman ("Dharma & Greg," "Friends with Benefits")." Alice's life as a "fiercely independent career woman" is turned upside down when her imaginary childhood friend, Mary, reappears to offer advice about her relationship with her divorced father of three children. The imaginary friend is voiced by Rachel Dratch ("Saturday Night Live").

Imaginary Mary comes from the production team behind the ABC sitcom The Goldbergs: Adam F. Goldberg (writer/executive producer), David Galassio (writer/executive producer), and Doug Robinson (executive producer).ABC Studios, Sony Pictures Television and Happy Madison are co-producing the series.

After a test pilot of the show was produced last year, ABC requested changes to the animated characters, which have since evolved into cute, round, moppet-like creatures without large teeth or lips. Here is a comparison of the first version of the test pilot (below) and the updated version that appears in the series (above):