As If The Penn State Cocaine Ring Saga Couldn't Get Any Bigger, Now Netflix And 'Seinfeld' Writer Alec Berg Are Developing A Comedy Series Inspired By The Story
Hollywood moves fucking fast, man.
About a month ago, it was revealed that a group of Penn State fraternity brothers were allegedly a part of a cocaine-trafficking ring that was busted in due time. I don't need to fill you guys in on all the details of it; the story has already been well-documented on this blog. And I'm sure you've seen all the memes that have come from it anyway. They're pretty good, I won't lie.
Regardless, only 36 days after the original news broke, it was announced that Netflix is looking to create a comedy series loosely based on the students who were charged in the ongoing drug saga. Charlie Hall, the son of Julia Louis-Dreyfus, is set to star in the project. He'll also be writing the show with the help of Alec Berg, who was actually a writer for Louis-Dreyfus on 'Seinfeld.' Berg has gone on to develop hit shows like 'Silicon Valley' and 'Barry' on HBO, and he'll now serve as an executive producer for this Netflix series.
This is now the second comedy series inspired by a viral moment at Penn State in recent years. For those of you who are watching 'Chad Powers' on Hulu right now, that show was born from a prank executed by Eli Manning, who disguised himself to try out at quarterback for the Penn State football team. Think fast, run fast, baby.
Obviously the inspiration for that show was a little bit more lighthearted, as opposed to the subject matter of this Netflix one. After all, Eli Manning wasn't put in handcuffs during his viral moment for being a drug kingpin. And I've never watched 'Chad Powers,' but I can't imagine Glenn Powell is proctoring a steady hand test in that show to figure out if his fraternity brothers can cut blocks of cocaine. I might be going out on a limb there, but I think that's fair to assume.
I mean, shit. I see why Netflix is wanting to create a show around this. It's a fucking wild story. I'll be honest, though. Until now, I've avoided blogging about it altogether:
A) Because it's an ongoing legal situation, and I was worried about getting some of the facts wrong.
B) Because other Barstool people have rushed to blog about it, and it was already receiving a ton of coverage without me.
C) Because I DESPISE the fact that Penn State Greek Life has already had major controversies in the past, and now this fucking shit pops up to make it even worse. I hated how out of control some of the fraternities were when I was a student at Penn State, so learning the details of this story has absolutely enraged me, to the point where I barely even wanna talk about it.
Stupidly, I thought this whole thing would blow over after a couple of weeks (no pun intended on "blow"). But clearly this story's still got major legs, and this Netflix show is only gonna breathe new life into it. I'll be watching for research purposes. That I can assure you.
So, this has been Connor Griffin -- a geed who was never involved in a fraternity or a drug ring during my time at Penn State -- signing off.
P.S. In case I wasn't explicitly clear the first time, I was not in a fraternity at Penn State and I was not in a drug ring. Thank you.