Showtime orders Kudrow's Web series

LOS ANGELES, April 23 (UPI) -- U.S. cable network Showtime says it will air a minimum of 10 half-hour episodes based on Lisa Kudrow's online comedy series "Web Therapy."

The announcement was made Friday by Showtime Networks' President of Entertainment Robert Greenblatt.

The episodes are expected to include additional new material to be shot.

In the online series, which is now in its third season, Kudrow plays "a self-professed psychotherapist who treats patients via Web-cam in hilarious sessions that are way too brief to ever make any material progress in her clients' lives," Showtime said.

The series was conceived and is executive produced by Kudrow and her producing partners Dan Bucatinsky and director/producer Don Roos, all of whom also executive produce NBC's "Who Do You Think You Are?"

"I've always been a huge fan of Lisa, Dan, and Don, who master-minded this very clever show," Greenblatt said in a statement. "As the TV landscape continues to change, we really fell in love with the idea of taking something that has made so much noise on the Web and re-conceiving it with the original creators as a completely satisfying yet different experience for a half-hour audience on a television network."

"Showtime is the only place on television where this belongs," added Kudrow, a former star of TV's "Friends."

"I couldn't dream of a better television home for this series. I'm thrilled."