Patrick Stewart to Lead Newsy Starz Comedy From Seth MacFarlane and Jonathan Ames

Patrick Stewart has a new, two-year mission: to boldly go where Stephen Colbert has gone before.

The former Star Trek: The Next Generation captain will play an opinionated British TV host bent on civilizing America from behind his cable news desk in Starz’s Blunt Talk, the network announced Tuesday.

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The half-hour comedy, conceived by Jonathan Ames (Bored to Death) and executive-produced by Ames and Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy), has received a supersized, straight-to-series order at the pay cabler: 20 episodes over two seasons.

Unlike Colbert’s The Colbert Report, Blunt Talk is a scripted series that follows Stewart’s borderline-alcoholic Walter Blunt as he conducts a nightly interview show and makes well-intentioned-yet-poor decisions regarding his network bosses, dysfunctional staff, ex-wives (yes, plural) and children.

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In addition to helming the U.S.S. Enterprise for seven seasons — and in subsequent movies — Stewart plays Professor X in the X-Men film franchise. He also voices characters on MacFarlane’s American Dad! and Family Guy.

Blunt Talk is slated to premiere in 2015.