We first heardback in NovemberthatGeorge Clooneywould be returning to television to direct and star in aCatch-22series, based onJoseph Heller’s seminal novel. But at that time, the 6-episode adaptation didn’t yet have a network attached. Today, Hulu has announced that it has nabbed the series, continuing to build up their library of original series.
In addition to Clooney, the series comes from Paramount TV and Anonymous content, and is co-written byLuke Davis(Lion) andDavid Michod(War Machine), who will also executive produce. Clooney will play the role of Colonel Cathcart, the antagonist, obsessed with becoming a general, who continues to curry favor with his superiors by raising the number of missions it takes to fulfill a tour of duty.
In a statement released today, Hulu Chief Content OfficerJoel Stillermansaid that,
“Catch-22is a rare story that has withstood the test of time, not only as a literary masterpiece, but as a story that still resonates in today’s political and social conversation. These are exactly the types of stories we want to be programming at Hulu, and we couldn’t be happier to partner with George Clooney, Paramount TV and this phenomenal group of creatives to bring one of the most well-known books of all time to viewers in a way that has never been seen before.”
Hulu has been a little hit or miss with its original content, but in this era of Peak TV it’s impossible to have complete loyalty to any one network or streaming service. There’s so much variety, and not everything will work. But,Catch-22is one of my favorite books, and the project sounds extremely promising (especially in a limited, 6-episode format). Let us know what you think in the comments, and if you didn’t have to read it in school for some crazy reason (or just forgot because it’s been a long time), here’s the synopsis forCatch-22:
Based on Joseph Heller’s seminal novel of the same name, Catch-22 is the story of the incomparable, artful dodger, Yossarian, a US Air Force bombardier in World War II who is furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him. But his real problem is not the enemy, but rather his own army which keeps increasing the number of missions the men must fly to complete their service. Yet if Yossarian makes any attempt to avoid his military assignments, he’ll be in violation of Catch-22, a hilariously sinister bureaucratic rule which specifies that a concern for one’s own safety in the face of dangers which are real and immediate is the process of a rational mind; a man is considered insane if he willingly continues to fly dangerous combat missions, but a request to be removed from duty is evidence of sanity and therefore makes him ineligible to be relieved from duty.
