Charles developing new comedy series

Produced by MRC -- the independent film, television and digital studio -- the half-hour, single-camera show is to air on the multiplatform premium entertainment channel, video-on-demand and online service, EPIX.

Charles's TV credits include "Seinfeld," "Entourage" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm." He also directed the films "Borat," "Religulous" and "Bruno."

Charles will oversee development of the script and direct the pilot for the "iCON" series written by Dan Lyons, a technology consultant for Newsweek, creator of the popular "Fake Steve Jobs" blog and author of the novel "Options: The Secret Life of Steve Jobs -- A Parody."

The show is described as "a savage satire centering on a fictional Silicon Valley chief executive officer whose ego is a study in power and greed," the companies said in a news release.

"A comedy series by Larry Charles is the perfect complement to the original comedy specials being produced by EPIX," Mark Greenberg, president of EPIX, said in a statement. "His incomparable sense of humor, along with Dan's insight will have hilarious results that we can't wait to see."

"We are attempting to do nothing less than a modern 'Citizen Kane.' A scabrous satire of Silicon Valley and its most famous citizen. We needed a bold environment to nurture such a vision. One that was free of pre-conceived ideas.

And EPIX made it clear they were that place. They asked us to make their home our home. And we have," added Charles.

Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI).