Despite earlier failures, The CW is still pursuing its dreams of adapting UK shows for US audiences. As if to prove the old saying that you should keep trying until you succeed, Deadline reports that The CW has made yet another purchase from the United Kingdom. This time, they’ve acquired Everyone Else Burns, Channel 4’s apocalyptic comedy about a religious sect starring Friday Night Dinner’s Simon Bird.
This British comedy, co-produced by Universal International Studios and coming from the same team behind Emily in Paris, will debut this fall on the network. Bird plays David, the misguided patriarch of a Manchester religious cult. Confident that the world’s end is imminent, David loses control of his family as they each choose their own path in dealing with their extreme religion. The first episode of the six-part series premiered on January 23, 2023, on the British streaming service All4.
Everyone Else Burns did pretty well in the ratings and with critics. The Daily Telegraph‘s Anita Singh reported:
“There is much to enjoy here. It’s not a comedy going for cheap laughs about Christianity. It is a show about family, and it has a lot of heart.”
The Guardian‘s Lucy Mangan offered her thoughts on the show and said:
“The jokes come thick, fast and funny… The hyper-religiosity is used to look anew at family dynamics and dysfunction; how blind you can be to abnormalities if they are all you know; and the need to break free. Mapletoft and Taylor do this without mocking faith itself… it’s simply very, very funny, all the way. I’m a convert.”
Now that The CW has the keys, making Everyone Else Burns their first Channel 4 acquisition since Taskmaster, fans are understandably worried about the show’s future. Take Taskmaster‘s fate, for example. Due to its low ratings, The CW quickly canceled The UK panel game show after just one episode, removing it from the network’s Sunday lineup.
Nobody knows what the future holds for Everyone Else Burns at The CW. Perhaps the show will be blessed beyond measure and outperform its predecessor in popularity.