‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Author Kevin Kwan Scores Put Pilot Commitment for Asian-Led Comedy at CBS

By Joe Otterson

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – CBS has given a put pilot commitment to a comedy series co-created by “Crazy Rich Asians” author Kevin Kwan, Variety has learned.

The multi-camera comedy is titled “The Emperor of Malibu.” It follows two very different families–one from Shanghai with new money and one from the East coast of the U.S. with old money– that must learn to co-exist when their children get married.

Kwan will serve as writer and executive producer on the series along with David Sangalli. Michelle Nader, Christina Lee, and Danielle Stokdyk will also executive produce, with Warner Bros. Television producing.

This marks the second TV project that Kwan and Sangalli have teamed to create.  Variety previously reported that the duo is developing a drama at Amazon set amongst Hong Kong’s most influential and powerful family and the business empire they control.

Kwan’s international best-selling debut novel “” was recently adapted into a feature film of the same name, which has grossed over $232 million worldwide. His subsequent novels “China Rich Girlfriend,” published in 2015, and “Rich People Problems” are both national and international bestsellers. “Rich People Problems” debuted on the New York Times Bestseller List upon its release in 2017.

This is also the second Asian-centric comedy to be put into development this year. ABC is developing a single-camera comedy from “Rick and Morty” writer Jessica Gao about a first-generation Chinese-American woman who becomes the sole inheritor of her wealthy grandmother’s estate.

Kwan and Sangalli are repped by ICM Partners and Lichter Grossman.