SoHo to Unleash Mad Dogs and Animals

The producers of a new SoHo comedy/drama considered having the killer don a Donald Trump mask but thought it would be too hard to pull off legally.

The Amazon-commissioned Mad Dogs, which is a US re-make of the British series, will premiere February 1 on SoHo and screen 9.30 Mondays.

In the original, the killer wore a Tony Blair mask but according to a Deadline Hollywood report, the producers say using a politician’s likeness is hard to clear legally in the US.

“Politicians seem to be fair game [in the UK] which is why Tony Blair worked,” executive producer Shawn Ryan (The Shield) said on the Television Critics Association tour. “It’s dicier here.”

Mad Dogs stars Steve Zahn (Dallas Buyers Club), Michael Imperioli (The Sopranos), Billy Zane (Titanic), Romany Malco (Weeds) and Ben Chaplin (World Without End), who was in the original.

They play a group of middle-aged friends who reunite for a trip that turns into “a labyrinthine nightmare of deception and murder”.

The producers finally opted for a hideous cat mask that Ryan says offered one of several “opportunities to diverge more from the British series”.

Other February premieres on SoHo include Vinyl, 11.22.63, Baskets, Animals and the latest seasons of Girls and Togetherness.

Vinyl is an HBO drama about the ’70s music business from Martin Scorsese, Mick Jagger and Terence Winter.

Starring Bobby Cannavale (Boardwalk Empire), Olivia Wilde (Rush) and Ray Romano (Everybody Loves Raymond), it will air 8.30 Mondays from February 15.

11.22.63 is a Stephen King adaptation about a high school teacher who journeys back in time to try to thwart President John F Kennedy’s assassination.

It stars James Franco (127 Hours), Chris Cooper (August: Osage County) and Josh Duhamel (Battle Creek), and will air 9.30 Tuesdays from February 23.

Baskets stars The Hangover’s Zach Galifianakis as a rodeo clown confronting his past and will air 9.30 Thursdays from February 4.

A double-bill of Girls and Togetherness will be its lead-in from February 25 while airing 10pm Thursdays from February 11 will be the adult animated comedy, Animals, which focuses on New York City’s downtrodden native wildlife.

Last Week Tonight With John Oliver resumes on February 15 (10.30 Mondays) while being dusted off for weekend box sets are Girls (s4), Togetherness (s1) and Breaking Bad (s1-3).