Wilmer Valderrama eyes Fox comedy return

A one-hour series starring Wilmer Valderrama as guileless innocent embarking on an epic quest to find his father amid a Los Angeles landscape polluted with excess has been greenlighted as a pilot by 20th Century Fox Television. The story titled “The Emancipation of Ernesto,” is said to be in the spirit of the classic Steve Martin comedy “The Jerk.”

Valderrama told The Hollywood Reporter: “This is the first script I’ve read that made me excited to come back to TV.”
The pilot is written by Emily Kapnek, who created the Emmy-nominated Nickelodeon series “As Told by Ginger” and ABC’s “Emily’s Reasons Why Not,” and was sold to Fox as a spec script with the former “That ’70s Show” actor attached.

“The writing jumped off the page; it has a really unique original tone,” said Susan Levison, senior vp comedy development at Fox. “It was a mix of real emotion with hard comedy. She has crafted a character we have never seen before.”

The story tells of Ernesto who is raised in a Mexican prison, and is working in a Twinkie factory when the pilot catches up to him. Voiceover narration describes his journey to complete a mystery destiny, which includes finding his father and a long-lost love.

One-hour comedies are increasingly popular, but if “Ernesto” is greenlighted, the show would be the first of the format on Fox since “Ally McBeal.”

“Ernesto” would mark Valderrama’s return to primetime television after his role on “That 70′s Show,” which ran for eight seasons on Fox and concluded in 2006. Valderrama since has appeared in feature films “Fast Food Nation” and “Unaccompanied Minors.”