Another Friend is heading back to broadcast TV. Matt LeBlanc has signed on to star in CBS’s I’M NOT YOUR FRIEND. The multi-cam comedy has a large series commitment penalty attached to LeBlanc’s casting. He’ll star as a contractor who learns that raising his kids is more challenging than expected when his wife goes back to work. That 70s Show‘s Jeff & Jackie Filgo are writing the script and will exec produce.
LeBlanc, who is with WME, currently stars on Showtime’s Episodes and recently joined the BBC’s Top Gear as a co-host. Showtime execs have confirmed there is a “real possibility” that Episodes could end with its upcoming fifth season.
Fellow Friends alum Matthew Perry stars in CBS’s The Odd Couple, which is in its second season, and Courteney Cox is set for a comedy pilot at Fox this year.
Jeremy Sisto will star opposite Archie Panjabi in ABC’s THE JURY. Written by VJ Boyd and Mark Bianculli, The Jury is being described as “12 Angry Men meets the podcast Serial.”
The potential anthology series follows a single murder trial a season as seen through the eyes of the individual jurors, exploring the biases and experiences that influence the jurors’ judgment, and how their preconceptions change along the way. Sisto will play Juror Dan, who is widely liked within the group.
Sisto has a strong relationship with ABC, having starred in the alphabet net’s series Wicked City and Suburgatory. His other TV credits include A&E’s The Returned, NBC’s Law & Order, and HBO’s Six Feet Under. He’s repped by Gersh and MGMT Entertainment.
Amy Poehler and Charlie Grandy’s NBC pilot has cast Nico Evers-Swindell, Tim Baltz, and Jessie Ennis. The untitled royal family comedy pilot (fka Dumb Prince) was written by Grandy and is executive produced and directed by Poehler.
The comedy is set in the country of Modaria, known for the manufacture of mopeds and tiny cars, where the Faber family has ruled for generations. Evers-Swindell is set as Prince Karl (aka The Dumb Prince) who returns home from a year’s exile in America after having passed out at the coronation of his father, King Adrian. Baltz will play Prince Marco, the second son of Modaria’s ruling family, and Ennis is Princess Jana, the youngest child of the royal family.
Evers-Swindell already has quite the royal pedigree on screen, having played Prince William in the 2011 Lifetime movie William & Kate as well as recurring as Prince Kenneth on NBC’s Grimm. He’s repped by Gersh and Authentic Management.
Baltz, repped by ICM Partners and El Centro Management, has guested on Veep, Parks & Rec, Better Call Saul, and Superstore. He can next be seen in Netflix’s Christopher Guest-directed feature Mascots.
Ennis’s credits include arcs on Veep and Red Band Society as well as indie features G.B.F. and Helicopter Mom. She is with UTA and Underground.
John Ridley’s ABC pilot PRESENCE has tapped Rick Gonzalez and Marcus Anderson for series regular roles opposite Stephanie Sigman. Described as a stylish update of the classic detective genre, the drama follows Presence Foster (Sigman), a former Army veteran who finds herself interacting with a widely divergent, and highly colorful cross-section of Los Angeles as she unintentionally begins a career as an unlicensed Private Investigator.
Gonzalez will play Manny Acevedo, Presence’s best friend, a small business owner who runs a very funky consignment space, lounge, emporium. Anderson is Tre Davis, Presence’s openly gay, half-brother who works as an event planner for high end clubs.
Gonzalez’s TV credits include arcs on USA’s Mr. Robot and Rush as well as guest spots on Rosewood, Battle Creek, and NCIS. He’s repped by Domain Talent and Framework Entertainment.
Anderson, repped by Rebel Entertainment Partners and Trusik Talent Management, has appeared on Life in Pieces, Jane The Virgin, and Veep.
The CW’s RIVERDALE pilot has cast its Betty Cooper and Jughead Jones. The Greg Berlanti-produced series based on Archie Comics has tapped Lili Reinhart and Cole Sprouse for the iconic roles. Set in present time, Riverdale is a subversive take on Archie, Betty, Veronica and their friends, exploring the surrealism of small-town life as well as the darkness and weirdness bubbling beneath Riverdale’s wholesome facade.
Betty Cooper is sweet, studious, eager-to-please, and wholesome with a huge crush on her longtime best friend, Archie. Jughead Jones is a heartthrob with a philosophical bent and former best friend of Archie Andrews. He is still smarting from the rift that took place between the two.
Reinhart’s credits include The Kings Of Summer and Fox’s Surviving Jack. She’s with UTA and Anonymous Content.
Sprouse, best known for playing Cody on Disney Channel’s The Suite Life series and as Ross Geller’s son Ben on Friends, is repped by WME and Principato-Young Entertainment.
Colm Feore, Alex Kingston, and Jacob Vargas have joined the cast of Regina Hall’s Hulu pilot CRUSHED. The comedy, from Tina Gordon Chism, centers on an African-American family, led by brother and sister Will and Celia (Hall) who stumbles into a successful wine business in Napa. It’s a fish-out-of-water story following the family’s unorthodox approach to wine making and their unique life style.
Feore will play Roberto Stella, an eccentric, savvy wine-maker whose successful label underpays for the siblings’ perfect grapes to make his special reserve wine. After Celia disrespects him, he cuts business ties with Will, and sets out to thwart the siblings’ plans for their vineyard. Feore has had arcs on Gotham and Revolution and was a series regular on The Borgias. He’s with Greene & Associates Talent Agency and the Coronel Group.
Kingston will play Cricket Stella, Roberto’s bored Napa Valley wife, who amuses herself by having an affair with Will, only to parlay it into a power play. Best known for her roles on Doctor Who and ER, Kingston has recently recurred on Arrow and American Odyssey. She’s repped by Curtis Brown Group and Principal Entertainment LA.
Vargas will play Jose Alturo, a Mexican-American vineyard manager of the venerable Stella Winery who’s tired of working for the “man,” so he moonlights with the fledgling Black Estate to make a better life for his family. Vargas, repped by Innovative Artists and Luber Roklin Entertainment, has had arcs on Colony, Hand Of God, and Sons Of Anarchy.
Jermaine Fowler is set to star in CBS’s SUPERIOR DONUTS. The multi-cam comedy pilot written by The Odd Couple showrunner Bob Daily and Community’s Neil Goldman & Garrett Donovan will be directed by James Burrows. Fowler will also co-executive produce.
Based on the play by Tracy Letts, Superior Donuts follows the relationship between the owner of a donut shop, Arthur, his new young employee, Franco (Fowler), and their patrons in a gentrifying neighborhood of Chicago. Franco is a high-energy, fast-talking force of nature who sees Superior Donuts as a symbol of everything he loves about the neighborhood — it’s authentic and real. As Arthur’s new (and only) employee, he’s going to make it his mission to drag the shop — and Arthur — into the 21st century …
Last year, Fowler starred opposite Whoopi Goldberg in a semi-autobiographical half-hour pilot for ABC. Fowler co-created, writes and stars in TruTV’s sketch comedy Friends Of The People and has appeared on on MTV2’s Guy Code and Comedy Central’s Comedy Underground With Dave Attell. He’s repped by WME and 3 Arts.
Bill Hader’s HBO pilot BARRY has tapped Glenn Fleshler for a series regular role. The half-hour comedy (starring, directed, and co-written by Hader) centers on an ex-Marine (Hader) who works as a low-rent hitman in the Midwest. Lonely and dissatisfied in his life, he begrudgingly travels to Los Angeles to kill someone and ends up finding an accepting community in a group of eager hopefuls within the L.A. theater scene. Fleshler will play Goran, a Russian gangster.
Fleshler, who has had arcs on Hannibal, True Detective, and Boardwalk Empire, can currently be seen in Showtime’s Billions. He’s repped by Gersh and Suskin Management.
Amazon’s THE INTERESTINGS has added Matt Barr as a regular. Written by Nip/Tuck alums Lyn Greene and Richard Levine and directed by Mike Newell, The Interestings is described as a grounded. character-driven drama based on Meg Wolitzer’s novel about a group of friends who meet at an arts camp when they’re 15 in 1974. The series chronicles their relationships throughout the next three decades dealing with the great expectations of youth juxtaposed with the realities life hands you as you get older.
Barr will play Goodman Wolf, the brother of Ash Wolf. He joins Jessica Collins, Corey Cott and Gabriel Ebert.
Barr is coming off of a recurring role on Sleepy Hollow‘s second season. His TV credits include History’s Hatfields & McCoys, the CW’s Hellcats, and NBC’s Friday Night Lights. He’s repped by UTA and Luber Roklin Entertainment.
Adam Campbell is set to star in NBC’s Tracey Wigfield pilot. The single-cam comedy centers on an already inseparable mother-daughter relationship that becomes more complicated when the mom accepts an internship at her daughter’s workplace, a news program where the daughter, Katie, is a segment producer. Campbell will play Greg, the Harvard-educated son of a famous news anchor who was recently-named executive producer of the show. He’s energetic and driven, constantly trying to put out fires and manage the show’s difficult anchor. Greg and Katie butt heads when he hires her mother as an intern.
The comedy reunites Campbell with Tina Fey and Robert Carlock, having previously recurred on the first season of their Netflix series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Campbell is repped by ICM Partners and Steven Levy.
Oscar-nominee Jackie Earle Haley has joined PREACHER as Odin Quincannon. The iconic character from Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s comic series will appear in a six-episode arc on the AMC series from Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, and Breaking Bad‘s Sam Catlin.
Preacher revolves around Rev. Jesse Custer (Dominic Cooper), a badass Texas preacher who, after losing his faith, learns that God has left heaven and forsaken his duties. Jesse becomes the only one who is able to track God down and hold him responsible for his abdication. Tulip O’Hare (Ruth Negga), Jesse’s beer-guzzling vampire ex-girlfriend, accompanies him on his quest.
Quincannon is described as a small, decrepit man with the unscrupulous iron will necessary to be the most powerful man in Annville County, Texas. As the chief employer in town, he runs Quincannon Meat & Power, a 125-year-old family-run cattle slaughterhouse business.
Haley’s credits include Lincoln, The Bad News Bears, and comic book adaptation Watchman. He earned an Oscar nod for his role in Little Children and can next be see in Sundance breakout Birth Of A Nation. Haley is repped by Gersh and Leslie Allan-Rice Management.
Katia Juanita | Staff Writer
