What took so long? That’s our reaction to the news that Joey McIntyre is getting his own scripted comedy series. The PopTV show starring the New Kids on the Block member (and costarring his bandmate Donnie Wahlberg) was announced at a gathering of the Television Critics Association this week. Titled, for now at least, “The Joey McIntyre Project,’’ the eight-episode series is inspired by McIntyre’s real life as a grown-up member of a successful boy band who’s casting about for his next job in showbiz. Joey Mac, a married father of three children, plays a married father of three children. “I lucked out. What are the chances of me being cast as a character named Joey McIntyre?’’ said McIntyre. According to Deadline.com, the show will be executive produced by McIntyre, Wahlberg, Wahlberg’s wife Jenny McCarthy, Tim Gibbons (“Curb Your Enthusiasm’’), Paul Greenberg (“Best Time Ever With Neil Patrick Harris’’) and Jenny Daly (“Storage Hunters’’). McIntyre, arguably the most talented member of NKOTB, grew up in Jamaica Plain, the youngest of nine children. He made his musical theater debut at the age of 8, singing “Gary, Indiana’’ from “The Music Man’’ at the Footlight Club in JP. Less than a decade later, New Kids on the Block were performing in front of stadiums of screaming girls and selling millions of records.
