The Fox network is looking at the pilot for Global Television’s The Animated Adventures of Bob & Doug McKenzie, with an eye to a possible pickup of the Canadian primetime series.

‘Making a sale to the U.S. market was always part of our plan. We got nice interest from Fox — they liked the script and demo,’ Dave Thomas tells Playback Daily from Los Angeles.

Driven by stereotypes reminiscent of SCTV‘s original ‘Great White North’ skits, Bob & Doug will take place in the fictional Canadian town of Maple Lake and parody a ‘Canadian’ perspective on American pop culture.

Global Television has already ordered 15 episodes of the adult animated series, which is based on the classic SCTV ‘hoser’ characters Bob & Doug McKenzie, who will be voiced by a reunited Thomas and Rick Moranis.

In their latest incarnation, the McKenzie Brothers will do their best to ‘beat the system,’ avoid work and frolic in a changing Canadian society.

Thomas, who will coproduce with former Nelvana executive Patricia Burns, says no creative concessions will be made for Fox.

‘The only ones who make [Canadian-American] distinctions are the CRTC, people hoping to get money from the government for broadcasting, and some nationalistic writers,’ Thomas says of any notion he and his team will tailor the Canadian series for the U.S. market.

‘With this animated show, you can’t find two more Canadian characters: their love of hockey, beer and overall attitude. The Americans love that, and always have,’ he argues.

Thomas adds Bob & Doug will for the first time include friends and family of the McKenzie brothers, whose live-action characters were previously performed alone and direct-to-camera in SCTV skits and 30-second commercials.

The series’ voice cast includes Canadians Colin Mochrie, Patrick McKenna, Derek McGrath, Ron Pardo, Jayne Eastwood and Ho Chow, plus American Dave Coulier (Full House).

The cartoon will be executive produced by Thomas and Moranis through a numbered company in Toronto and Ottawa’s PIP Animation.

Fox’s interest in the Bob & Doug pilot follows the creative direction of the U.S. networks this development season, as they turn to Canadian and other international TV shows — whether formats or original series — to fill their slates.

Also on the comedy side, NBC recently acquired Global Television’s Howie Mandel-starrer Howie Do It, and 20th Century Fox Television picked up the U.S. format rights to the popular CBC comedy Little Mosque on the Prairie, with an eye to a U.S. network berth.

While acknowledging the recent U.S. network pickups of Canadian series, Thomas insists the original SCTV sale to NBC illustrates the right Canadian show has always been ripe for an American sale.

‘I understand that there may more of that going on now. But it was happening 30 years ago, if you came up with the right show,’ he says.

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This story has been corrected. The series is produced through a numbered company in Toronto and Ottawa’s PIP Animation, not by Maple Palm Productions and Two Presidents Productions as originally reported.