While You Were Breeding is based on Newman's memoir. Producers of the series, from Freeform Studios, will have the opportunity to sell the series elsewhere.
The 10-episode series had wrapped production and was headed into post-production when it paused days into the WGA strike. Newman on May 13 wrote an emotional Facebook post explaining her decision to shut down post-production.
As a result, While You Were Breeding, starring Chelsea Frei (pictured, The Cleaning Lady (US)), missed its August premiere date. After a review of Freeform's pipeline in the context of Disney's company-wide content spending and emphasis on curation, it was determined that the comedy series no longer fit into the linear network's programming strategy, sources said.
This is the last series whose fate was affected by the strike. Starz canceled four series last week, including The Venery of Samantha Bird, which paused production in May due to the strike with two episodes left to film.
During the work stoppage, programming has been reexamined and many series have been canceled, including series that had previously been greenlit - such as Showtime's Gattaca and Seasoned and Apple/NBCU's Metropolis - or renewed, such as Prime Video's The Peripheral and A League Of Their Own and Peacock's Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin.
At Disney, in line with the company's cost-cutting streaming content removal, Disney+ opted during the strike not to continue with two series that had been produced, The Spiderwick Chronicles and Nautilus.
While You Were Breeding follows Kacey (Frei), single for the first time in her thirties, as she escapes her fast life in Los Angeles to see the world. From culture clash to holiday romances, the comedy series is a globetrotting journey of self-discovery that will inspire the wanderlust in everyone.
Newman produces with Susanna Fogel and Blair Breard.
Freeform, one of the Disney cable networks whose distribution has been affected by the loss of Spectrum, has scheduled Good Trouble to return for the second half of season five in early 2024. Once Grown-ish begins production on the final half of season six resumes, that series will also return.
Waiting for news about their futures are Cruel Summer and Praise Petey, who aired their respective seasons this summer. In addition, the network just announced three unscripted series: Chrissy & Dave Dine Out, Royal Rules of Ohio and Sasha Reid and the Midnight Order. It has special programs for the rest of the year: 31 Nights of Halloween from yesterday until the end of the month, 30 Days of Disney in November and 25 Days of Christmas in December.