Platinum-selling musical artist John Legend has made his first major deal as a TV producer, selling a single-camera family comedy entitled “Mixed Blessings” to NBC through his Get Lifted Film Co. Legend will executive-produce the project along with his production partner Mike Jackson, whose upbringing in suburban Philadelphia served as the inspiration for the show.
The series will center on a famous, urban-raised hip-hop artist who discovers he has a teenage son living with his white adoptive family in the suburbs, Deadline is exclusively reporting. He then attempts to establish a relationship with the boy and his brood, resulting in a “culture clash” scenario.
Former NBC exec Teri Weinberg is also executive-producing the series, which received interest from several other networks before landing at Weinberg’s former home. Rob Pearlstein will write and co-executive-produce the project.
Legend’s last album was a collaboration with The Roots entitled “Wake Up!”, released last year. Though it sold only moderately well, Legend went on to win a Grammy Award for Best R&B song for “Shine”, the final track on the album. He shared two more Grammys with The Roots, one for Best R&B Album and the other for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance for the song “Hang On In There”.