Roku today announced that Ellie Kemper (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, The Office) and Zach Cherry (Severance, Duncanville) have signed on to co-host the Roku Original series The Great American Baking Show. Kemper and Cherry will take audiences into the iconic tent to watch contestants vying to become America’s top baker.
The highly-anticipated U.S. adaptation of the iconic British competition series, The Great British Baking Show, will feature six 60-minute episodes and will premiere in 2023. Production is underway in the UK.
Roku Original The Great American Baking Show is the American version of the most beloved baking show on the planet, bringing together passionate, talented bakers from around the country to see who will be named America’s Best Amateur Baker. Love Productions USA produces the all-new series.
Love Productions USA brought the original hit series The Great British Baking Show to audiences, plus other adaptations of the competition series, including The Great Celebrity Bake Off, The Great Junior Bake Off, and more.
In addition to Kemper and Cherry, judges featured in the original British iteration, celebrity chef Paul Hollywood and famed restauranteur Prue Leith will serve as judges on The Great American Baking Show.
“We could not ask for a more perfect duo than Ellie and Zach to co-host ‘The Great American Baking Show.’ Our adaptation of the iconic series will continue to dish out the enduring warmth and humor that fans of the “Baking Show” universe love, with a twist that we know Ellie and Zach will deliver,” said Brian Tannenbaum, Head of Alternative Originals at Roku.
“The passion that fans have for this franchise is unmatched, and we’re so honored to kick off production with Love Productions USA to bring ‘The Great American Baking Show’ exclusively to The Roku Channel.”
Ellie Kemper recently appeared in the latest installment of Home Alone, Home Sweet Home Alone, available on Disney+. Before that, she appeared in the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Interactive Special as a conclusion to Tina Fey & Robert Carlock’s half-hour comedy for Netflix, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
She received two Emmy nominations and two SAG Award nominations for her performance on the show. She also co-starred in the two renditions of Live in Front of a Studio Audience: Norman Lear’s All in the Family for ABC. Next up, she’ll be seen in Vicky Wight’s Happiness for Beginners, debuting on Netflix later this year.
In 2018, Ellie published her debut book of essays, My Squirrel Days. She can be seen in Lynn Shelton’s film Laggies alongside Keira Knightley, as well as the Sony Pictures comedy Sex Tape, directed by Jake Kasdan and starring Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel.
Ellie Kemper portrayed Erin Hannon in the last five seasons of NBC’s series The Office. Kemper first gained attention with her one-woman show, Feeling Sad/Mad, at the UCB Theater. She co-starred in Bridesmaids and has also appeared in 21 Jump Street, Identity Thief, They Came Together and Somewhere.
Zach Cherry is a series regular on the Emmy-nominated thriller drama Severance on Apple +. He is also a series regular on the FOX animated comedy Duncanville and can be seen in the Roku Original series Most Dangerous Game opposite Liam Hemsworth and Christof Waltz. He most recently recurred in HBO’s Succession, Living with Yourself on Netflix, You on Netflix, and was a series regular on NBC’s I Feel Bad.
Executive producers for The Great American Baking Show are Richard McKerrow, Al Edgington, Joe LaBracio, Jeremy Finn, and John Hesling.
Love Productions USA develops and produces addictively watchable unscripted competition formats and award-winning documentary series for network, cable, and premium streaming services. It is a division of the UK-based Love Productions, which operates under the SKY umbrella, with an impressive portfolio of thought-provoking programs across all genres and platforms, including the extremely popular formats The Great British Bake-Off, The Great British Sewing Bee and The Great Pottery Throw Down.
Known for taking successful formats from the UK to the US with distinctive adaptations, Love Productions USA also develops original premium long-form television, documentary, and short-form programming. The company is helmed by Emmy Award-winning producers Joe LaBracio and Al Edgington, who have a proven track record in documentaries, scripted and unscripted entertainment, features, and daytime television.
Mirko Parlevliet has been reporting on the entertainment industry since 1998 and founded Vital Thrills in 2018 to cover the latest news on streaming, movies, TV, and video games.