Spike TV picks up sports comedy "Blue Mountain"

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Spike TV has picked up the football-themed series "Blue Mountain State," a comedy in the vein of "Animal House."

"Mountain" follows three incoming freshmen (Darin Brooks, Chris Romano, Sam Jones III) who attend Midwestern football powerhouse Blue Mountain State and quickly must adapt to college life while juggling football, women, classes and nonstop hazing.

Co-starring on "Mountain" are NFL running back-turned-actor Ed Marinaro as the team's coach, Gabrielle Dennis as Jones' controlling girlfriend and Alan Ritchson as a senior on the team.

The series will premiere in the summer.

"'Blue Mountain State' contains four key ingredients to being a guy: football, partying, women and hazing," said Kevin Kay, president of the male-centric Spike TV.

The 12-episode order for the project is the second new comedy series pickup recently for Spike, which also green-lighted the Matt Walsh-starring "Players," also slated for a summer premiere.

(Editing by Sheri Linden at Reuters)