Rachel Bloom's DO YOU WANT KIDS? Not Moving Forward at ABC

As BroadwayWorld previously reported, Drama Desk nominee Rachel Bloom was set to write and star in the new comedy series, Do You Want Kids?, for ABC. Following an initial pilot order, Deadline has now confirmed that the network has ultimately passed on the project.

The half-hour show would have starred Bloom and Rory Scovel as a husband and wife who navigate between two universes: one where they have a child and another where they do not. The decision was made following mixed responses from network screenings. 

Bloom wrote the pilot alongside her husband, the TV and film writer Dan Gregor. Both also served as producers, with Steve Levitan executive-producing the project for 20th Television. 

The writer and performer responded to the decision in a post on Instagram, revealing photos from the production and sharing how she is mourning the death of the project and what could have been. In a comment, she expressed the possibility that the show could find a home on another platform, noting a rejected Showtime pilot for Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.

Bloom co-created, executive-produced, and starred in the musical dramedy as ‘Rebecca Bunch.’ She won the 2016 Golden Globe for Best Actress in a TV Series – Musical or Comedy, Critics’ Choice Award for Best Actress in a TV Comedy and TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Comedy. It ran for four seasons on The CW.

In 2019, Bloom won an Emmy Award for Original Music and Lyrics along with her songwriting partners Adam Schlesinger and Jack Dolgen for “Antidepressants Are So Not A Big Deal.” The series was also awarded a Gotham Independent Film Award for Breakthrough Series.

Bloom also wrote and created Death, Let Me Do My Show, a one-woman musical comedy that she performed off-Broadway and earned her a Drama Desk nomination. The filmed special is streaming on Netflix. She can be seen in The Devil Wears Prada 2, which arrives in theaters on May 1.