This Ashley Madison TV Show Actually Sounds Kind Of…Decent?

You could say it's been a rough couple of weeks for Ashley Madison. Or, depending on your personal attitude toward infidelity, you might say that users whose data was leaked in the online hack got what they deserve. In any case, the site definitely got its name out to a wider audience, which could help draw more eyeballs to its next planned expansion. The Hollywood Reporter writes that OutEast Entertainment is producing a television show loosely based on the site, tentatively titled Thank You, Ashley Madison. Now, if you happened to catch Amy Schumer's interview with Noel Biderman, who founded Ashley Madison in 2001, on Inside Amy Schumer, you know that he's everything you'd expect someone who started a site to help people cheat on their spouses to be. Unfortunately, Comedy Central hasn't made the interview available to watch online, but Salon has a detailed takedown. Ashley Madison has tried to venture into television before. In September 2014, THR reported that the site had teamed up with OutEast Entertainment to develop a scripted drama, which Biderman said would explore "the mind of the cheating man and woman." The show was to feature a character loosely based on the Ashley Madison founder himself, a family man who would stand out as a beacon of virtue, helping others have affairs while not succumbing to the pressure to have one himself. That first attempt at an Ashley Madison TV show never got off the ground. But this second one actually shows promise, because it's being written by Jennifer Kennedy, who previously wrote for FX's Justified, and Ian MacDonald. And because the creators have chosen to focus the show on a female character. Producer Courtney Hazlett told THR that centering the story on a man seemed "stereotypical." According to THR, "Instead, they opted to fictionalize it and focus it on a good mother who launches the business to help support her family." "There are a lot of TV shows doing a great job of presenting marriage storylines in new ways, but what we’re positing here is, what if there is a third lane to run in, and what if you were honest about it?" Hazlett said. A story about a female entrepreneur that paints and candid portrait of marriage in the 21st century does actually sound like something we'd watch. If only it wasn't going to put money into Noel Biderman's pockets.