HBO picks up VALENTINE from Bryan Sipe, Kevin Bacon to produce and likely star

HBO has just bought a script from Bryan Sipe for a new comedy called Valentine. Deadline reports that the cable network made the deal with Sipe and producers Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald. Kevin Bacon is set to exec produce the show and will likely star. 

The story centers on "Johnny Valentine, the role that would be played by Bacon. With three ex wives and his glory days behind him, Johnny Valentine is the new voice of talk radio. He’s not on the left, the right, or the middle, he’s on the bottom."

This is the second comedy on HBO that's being developed for Bacon. The other is a single-camera comedy based on Clint McCown's 1995 book The Member-Guest, which has a new writer, Neil LaBute. Bacon is doing more producing, and will be executive producing the Showtime drama series project The Booths, "a drama about Abraham Lincoln's assassin John Wilkes Booth and his brother." The ator just finished Billy Bob Thornton's Jayne Mansfield's Car and will next do R.I.P.D. Sipe is just as busy lately. He has signed on to do a re-write on the Parkes/MacDonald-produced feature The Kid Who Knew Too Much for Paramount, a remake of Alfred Hitchcock's 1934 and 1956 movies.

I think HBO does the best shows on TV aside from AMC and FX. I am excited to see what comes of this series. It sounds like a perfect role for Bacon. What are your thoughts?