If you’ve been missing the classic, laugh-out-loud feel of multi-camera sitcoms, Duane Martin and Harvest Studios have something special brewing. The veteran actor, writer, and producer is officially returning to his comedy roots to star in and executive-produce Boo’d Up, a brand-new, four-episode sitcom that brings a hilarious supernatural twist to today’s blended family dynamic.
Harvest Studios, spearheaded by veteran showrunner Bentley Kyle Evans (Martin, The Jamie Foxx Show) and co-founder Trenten Gumbs, has officially greenlit the project.
Evans, Gumbs, and Martin will all serve as executive producers, with Evans stepping up to direct all four episodes. Production will take place at Harvest Studios’ soundstages in Northridge, California.
Boo’d Up centers on Reggie, played by legendary Martin star Carl Anthony Payne (who also serves as a producer on the series). After navigating a tough divorce, Reggie believes love has completely passed him by, until he crosses paths with Zoe (Apryl Jones), a widowed mother of two precocious kids.
As Reggie and Zoe’s romance begins to blossom, they face one massive, otherworldly complication: Zoe’s late husband Jake (played by Martin), a former NBA superstar, is still very much in the picture as a ghost. Armed with supernatural hijinks, Jake is determined to maintain his hold over the family as its patriarch, leaving Reggie, Zoe, and Jake to navigate love, loss, and a wildly unconventional dynamic together.
The talented ensemble cast is rounded out by NAACP Image Award nominee Vanessa Bell Calloway (The Vince Staples Show), Varonica Mitchell, and rising star Kaden J. Quinn.
The new series marks a major return to the sitcom format for Martin. “This is a full-circle moment for me,” Martin shared in a statement regarding the new show. “Comedy is where I started, and getting to return to it in a fresh, unexpected way—with Bentley and Trenten’s Harvest Studios—feels like the right project at the right time.”
Interestingly, despite their massive footprints in Black Hollywood, this project marks the very first collaboration between Evans and Martin. Between the two of them, the comedy veterans collectively bring more than 75 years of sitcom experience to the table.
For Evans, Boo’d Up is part of a much larger mission to breathe new life into the multi-camera comedy format amid renewed momentum across buyers and streaming platforms.
“We believe there’s a major opportunity to re-establish multi-camera comedy as appointment viewing,” Evans explained. “Harvest Studios is building a home for bold, culturally resonant sitcoms. Boo’d Up is exactly the kind of show that studios and streamers need and that audiences have been missing. We’re not just creating shows, we’re making a pipeline and looking for strategic distribution partners to help build with us.”
