Altoona native pens new CBS sitcom ‘Eternally Yours’
Port, writing partner, wrote ‘Eternally Yours,’ set to premiere
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A longtime partnership can feel like forever, which partly inspired a city native and his writing partner to create a new CBS sitcom, "Eternally Yours."
Coming off the success of television series "Ghosts," writers Joe Wiseman and Joe Port, who hails from Altoona, are set to watch the premiere episode of "Eternally Yours" air on CBS at 8:30 p.m. tonight. Episodes will be available for streaming on Paramount+ the following day.
"We thought it was interesting to depict two people kind of stuck together forever, and vampires were the extreme version of that," Port said.
"Eternally Yours" follows Charles and Liz, two vampires in a lifeless marriage until their daughter, Emma, brings her human boyfriend, Max, to their doorstep. When Max finds out that his potential in-laws have a bit of a blood obsession, he's forced to reevaluate his world.
Wiseman and Port were originally inspired by a scene in "Twilight" (2008) where human Bella Swan asks her blood-sucking boyfriend to turn her into a vampire as well so they can spend eternity together.
"We thought that was very funny to think about the long-term ramifications of that," Port said. "What happens after the initial burst of enthusiasm wears away?"
Growing up in Altoona, Port said his father, Steve, had a huge influence in his life, introducing Port to classic comedy films.
He graduated from Altoona Area High School in 1993, majored in history at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia before following his brother, Moses Port, to work on a show in Los Angeles.
Port and Wiseman met while working on "Dilbert" together more than 20 years ago. Now, the writing duo is credited for "New Girl" (2011), "Me, Myself and I" (2017) and "Ghosts" (2021), and it was their relationship that also played a role in the concept for "Eternally Yours."
Port noticed that his partner clears his throat a lot, which in return inspired a scene between their characters in one of the first episodes.
"Spending a lot of time with the people that you're closest to, it's enjoyable, but they can get on your nerves," Port said.
They wrote the pilot script 11 years ago and sold it to CBS, but the production company ultimately decided not to shoot and passed on the series. A few years later, the company acquired the rights to adapt the British show "Ghosts."
"Because we wrote this show about vampires for them (CBS), they thought of us to adapt 'Ghosts,'" Port said. "Now that 'Ghosts' has done well, they decided to revisit 'Eternally Yours.'"
Season one of the series will air 20 episodes at 8:30 p.m. every Thursday night on CBS, following "Georgie and Mandy's First Marriage." The first episode of season six of "Ghosts" will premiere on Oct. 29.
Neil Port, Joe's uncle and producer of P&J Productions, said he's looking forward to watching the premiere episode of "Eternally Yours."
"He has two shows running on CBS; that's very impressive," Neil said. "I think he's done a great job."
While Neil said Blair County viewers enjoy picking out Altoona references in "Ghosts," he's interested to see how they will respond to "Eternally Yours," which will include fewer local tidbits meant for townies.
"He seems to have a following in Blair County," he said. "People will take a look and see what it looks like."
Like "Ghosts," Joe Port said "Eternally Yours" will focus more on character relationships and mythology.
"It's going to be about relatable, grounded stories that are funny and have some heart," he said.
Mirror Staff Writer Colette Costlow is at 814-946-7414.