After the collective success with “The Flight Attendant”, Yes, Norman Productions by Kaley Cuoco will again join forces with Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros. Television to develop the story of Doris Day as a limited series, having obtained the rights to AE Hotchner’s “Doris Day: her own story. “
Hotchner wrote the 1976 biography based on a series of interviews with Day, and is considered his autobiography. Cuoco will play Day, the iconic actor, singer and animal rights activist. No networks are currently connected to the project.
Day, who died at the age of 97 in 2019, started in show business as a singer and made her film debut in the late 1940s in musicals. In the 50s and 60s, she was a big star and box office attraction. Day showed his talent in films like “Calamity Jane” (1953); “The Man Who Knew Too Much”, by Alfred Hitchcock, in which she sang “Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)”, which became his signature song; “The Pajama Game” (1957); and “Pillow Talk” (1959) with Rock Hudson and Tony Randall, a combination of successful actors that was repeated two more times. Day was notoriously seen as the “good girl”, with conservative tastes and politics reflected in her real life, and her image fell out of step with time as the 1960s progressed.
Day married four times, and her third husband lost all money, leaving her in debt when he died in 1968. A new television career, which she hated to have, saved her from financial ruin. In the 70s, she turned to the causes of animal welfare, which also reflect Cuoco’s interests: Cuoco is a competitive rider and owner of many dogs, as she said recently Variety.
After 12 seasons of “The Big Bang Theory”, also produced by WBTV, Cuoco is in a race with the studio. She founded Yes, Norman in 2017, with an exclusive general agreement with WBTV. “The Flight Attendant”, the first live-action manifestation of this pact, was a success for HBO Max and was nominated for several awards by SAG, PGA, WGA, HFPA and more – both for the show and for Cuoco’s performance like Cassie. He will certainly be an Emmy nominee.
Executive producers for The Doris Day’s untitled projects are Cuoco and, from Berlanti Productions, Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter and David Madden. Executive co-producers are Suzanne McCormack of Yes, Norman and Bob Bashara, the manager of the Doris Day Estate, with whom the series will be working. The consulting producers are Jim Pierson, who worked with Day, and Tim Hotchner, the son of his biographer.
On a Variety cover story, Cuoco mentioned the Doris Day project as something she had in mind, but she and her partners had not yet obtained the rights. Going to Cuoco and Yes, Norman is in the 3rd season of the deliciously dirty animated series “Harley Quinn” on HBO Max, in which she is an executive producer and voices the title character, as well as the 2nd season of “The Flight Attendant” , for which the writers’ room will soon meet, and should begin production in September or October.