Steve Coogan’s ‘Chivalry’ Heads To U.S. Via New Free Streamer The Network

EXCLUSIVE: The Network is the latest free streaming service to launch in the U.S. The ad-supported service, which was set up by Aram Rappaport, founder of the creative ad-agency The Boathouse, is launching April 30.

However, the service, which has backing from BH Media Holdings, part of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway empire, is not launching with a slew of library titles and movies. Instead, it will focus on two originals at a time.

It is launching with Chivalry, a comedy originally commissioned by the UK’s Channel 4 and starring Steve Coogan and Sarah Solemani, and The Green Veil starring John Leguizamo.

Chivalry was written by Coogan and Solemani and is set in Hollywood, exploring the nuances, advances, and limitations of the entertainment industry in a post #MeToo era. It follows a critically acclaimed female director, played by Solemani, who is brought on to right the ship of a wayward production run by a seasoned male producer, played by Coogan.

Wanda Sykes and Sienna Miller also appear in the six-part series, which comes from Coogan’s Baby Cow Productions and is exec produced by Sarah Monteith and Rupert Majendie. Its launch will be its U.S. debut after launching in the UK in 2022.

Meanwhile, The Green Veil was created, written and directed by The Network founder Rappaport, who exec produces alongside Leguizamo. The eight-part series follows a government agent in the 1950s tasked with an unraveling secret mission that threatens to expose deeper secrets.

Leguizamo stars as Gordon Rogers, an immigrant who came into the U.S. as a child and dedicated his life to achieving the American Dream. He experiences both an insidious obsession with that dream, and the societal limitations to it placed upon certain groups.

Hani Furstenberg, John Ortiz, Irene Bedard, and Isabel Poloner also star in the series, which has co-executive producers Irene Bedard and Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel (of the Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut) serve as creative and Native American consultants on the series.

The Network will launch its dramas on Tuesdays and its comedies on Thursdays. It will be available on all devices across Apple, Android, Roku, Amazon Fire, and online.

“The Network is providing a solution for consumers that feel overwhelmed by the excess of unnecessary content,” said Aram Rappaport. “The service is an opportunity to bring a curated catalog to U.S. audiences who want to eliminate the scrolling fatigue of subscription services. We are not justifying monthly fees by holding droves of content consumers get lost in. In fact, we never want you to search our platform, let us come to you. When there’s a new show launching – we’ll let you know.”