Pilot Casting News - 21st February 2015

Jami Gertz To Co-Star In ABC’s NBA Comedy Pilot

It’s a Neighbors reunion. The star of the alien comedy Jami Gertz has signed on for another ABC/ABC Studios single-camera comedy project: the untitled NBA buddy comedy pilot, from The Neighbors creator/executive producer Dan Fogelman and exec producer Aaron Kaplan. Gertz will co-star opposite Skylar Astin in the pilot, written/executive produced by Casey Johnson and David Windsor. The NBA project is a buddy comedy about Mo, an NBA rookie who doesn’t speak English, and Jason, a translator who doesn’t speak basketball. Gertz plays Jason’s good-natured and supportive mother.

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Eddie Cibrian, Donald Faison, Josh Hopkins Join NBC’s Monica Potter Comedy

Monica Potter has found the quartet of men in her sitcom life. Eddie Cibrian, Donald Faison, Josh Hopkins and Rory Scovel have joined the cast of NBC’s untitled sitcom loosely based on the “Parenthood” actress’s life with three ex-husbands, a child by each of them and a new boyfriend.

Cibrian (pictured left), Faison (right) and Scovel will play her three exes. Hopkins plays a veterinarian who is attracted to Potter’s character, Bridget, an animal lover who brings her rescues to kindly Dr. Tom.

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Variety

Jose Moreno Brooks Cast In NBC’s ‘Telenovela’, Ana Kayne Joins CBS’ ‘LFE’

Jose Moreno Brooks (MTV’s One Bad Choice), a former semi-pro soccer player-turned-actor, has been cast as a series regular opposite Eva Longoria in NBC’s 13-episode single-camera comedy series Telenovela starring and executive produced by Eva Longoria. Written/executive produced by Chrissy Pietrosh and Jessica Goldstein, based on an idea by Longoria, and directed by Steve Pink, Telenovela stars Longoria as popular diva Ana Maria, star of Latin America’s most beloved telenovela who strives to stay on top in a world where the drama on-camera is nothing compared to the drama off-camera. Brooks plays Gael Garnica, a masculine soap star who happens to be gay, married and not in the closet. He is one of Ana’s best friends.

Ana Kayne (Rescue Me) has been cast in CBS’ medical drama pilot LFE. Written/co-executive produced by Paul Downs Colaizzo, exec produced by David Marshall Grant and directed by David Slade, LFE is described as a high-octane medical procedural centering on second-year residents at New York City’s top hospital as they attempt to balance their god complexes with their humanity. Kayne plays Mae, a quirky, lovable every-girl who is determined to be a good person and live a good life, but sometimes finds it difficult, despite her best efforts. She is the male lead’s ex-girlfriend.

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Jay R. Ferguson To Star In ABC’s Dan Savage Comedy Pilot

Mad Men‘s Jay R. Ferguson is set for a lead role in the ABC/ABC Studios untitled Dan Savage comedy pilot.

Written by David Windsor and Casey Johnson loosely based on the life of gay activist and author Dan Savage, the single-camera project revolves around the O’Neals, a seemingly perfect All-American family. When the youngest son comes out of the closet, all the family secrets are revealed and the family proves to be quite typical and not so perfect. Ferguson, will play the father, Pat O’Neal, a good-natured, affable cop with the Chicago police department.

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Thomas Sadoski To Star In CBS Pilot ‘Life In Pieces’; Angelique Cabral Also Cast

The Newsroom‘s Thomas Sadoski is set as a lead opposite Colin Hanks and Betsy Brandt in Life in Pieces, CBS’ single-camera comedy pilot from 20th TV and Aaron Kaplan’s Kapital Entertainment. Also cast in the pilot, written by Justin Adler, is Angelique Cabral (Enlisted). The project is about one family, the Shorts, as told through the separate stories of its different family members. Sadoski plays middle sibling Matt Short who can’t catch a break, the most recent being a failed career that has forced him back home with his parents. Hanks and Brandt play the other two siblings, with Dianne Wiest as the trio’s mother. Cabral plays Colleen, the woman Matt has just fallen in love with who is stuck in a messy breakup with her ex-fiancé.

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ABC Casts ‘Cake’ Actress Camille Guaty in Dramedy Pilot ‘Mix’

ABC has cast Camille Guaty as a series regular in the ensemble pilot “Mix,” Variety has learned.

Guaty most recently appeared in SAG Award and Golden Globe-nominated film “Cake,” and has a recurring role in CBS’ “Scorpion.” She was a lead in MTV’s theme park comedy series “Happyland,” and recurred in the CW’s “Hart of Dixie” and “The Vampire Diaries.”

“Mix” is one of this cycle’s many pilots examining diversity. The one-hour dramedy, set in a family restaurant at a crossroads, explores the realities of modern-day families — multicultural, multigenerational and built through divorces, affairs and adoptions.

Guaty will play Lola, a perfectionist former model-turned-photographer whose cool judgmental attitude keeps others at bay. The eldest child in her family, she resents her younger half-sister Remy and devotes her energies to raising her recently adopted 9-year-old Ethiopian son.

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Variety

Marianne Jean-Baptiste Cast In NBC’s ‘Blindspot’

Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Broadchurch) has joined the NBC pilot Blindspot, which this week lined up its leads in Jamie Alexander and Sullivan Stapleton. The drama, from Warner Bros TV and Greg Berlanti Prods., chronicles what happens when a beautiful woman, Jane Doe (Alexander), is found in the middle of Times Square in New York City with her memory wiped and no clue as to what the extensive tattoos on her body mean. The leader (Stapleton) of an elite FBI unit is called in from a mission to investigate the woman — who has his name written on her back. Jean-Baptiste will play the series regular role of FBI Assistant Director Bethany Mayfair, who heads the investigation.

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Laura Benanti cast as Supergirl's Mom

Nashville standout Laura Benanti has been cast in a key recurring role in the CBS pilot Supergirl. She will play Alura Zor-El, the birth mother of Kara (Melissa Benoist). A strong noblewoman, Alura sends Kara to Earth to escape Krypton’s destruction. Her wisdom and guidance echoes across space and time, proving invaluable on Kara’s journey toward becoming Supergirl.

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Stacey Farber To Star In ‘Take It From Us’, Charlotte Spencer In ‘Broad Squad’

Stacey Farber, best known for her role on the hit Canadian series Degrassi: The Next Generation, has been cast as the female lead in the NBC comedy pilot Take It From Us, from Greg Malins, Barry Schwartz and Sony TV. The multi-camera/hybrid project, described as a love story told in flashbacks in 1990s New York, is about a couple, Alyson and Lucas, who tells their son the lessons they learned growing up in the ’90s in hopes he and his fiancée can avoid making the same mistakes. Farber will play Aly as a twentysomething in the 1990s. Coming from a semi-prominent family, she was told her whole life that if she just followed the rules – get straight As, don’t get in trouble, go to a good college, find a good guy with a good job — she’ll be happy and successful. So she did all that, only to find out it’s not true. Now she’s looking to change her life in a big way. Jonathan Berry and Michael Rotenberg aslo exec produce.

Charlotte Spencer has landed one of the leads in ABC’s period female-cop procedural drama pilot Broad Squad, written by Bess Wohl and directed by Coky Giedroyc. A fictionalized account of the graduating class of Boston’s first female patrol officers in 1978, they arrived at a tumultuous time in the city’s history and have to navigate rival neighborhoods as well as the conflicting attitudes toward them from everyone. Spencer will play one of them, Molly. Her dad was a notorious criminal who disappeared when she was young (while working with Whitey Bulger), and she grew up with her three delinquent brother

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Morris Chestnut To Topline Fox’s Todd Harthan Drama Pilot

Morris Chestnut is set as the lead in Fox’s untitled Todd Harthan drama pilot (formerly Rosewood), a close-ended procedural written/executive produced by Todd Harthan and directed by Richard Shepard. Produced by 20th TV, it centers on Dr. Beaumont Rosewood, Jr. (Chestnut), a gifted, charismatic private pathologist who can read living and dead bodies like a book.

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Laurie Holden Cast In NBC’s ‘Chicago Med’

The Walking Dead alumna Laurie Holden has been cast in NBC’s Chicago Fire planted spinoff, Chicago Med. Holden will co-star opposite S. Epatha Merkerson and Yaya DaCosta in the ensemble medical drama project whose cast will be introduced in Episode 19 of Chicago Fire this season. Holden will play Dr. Hannah Tramble, a fearless, brilliant ER surgeon whose tough as nails childhood has given her a dark edge.

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Lauren Ash Joins NBC Pilot ‘Superstore'; Christine Ko In CBS’ ‘The Half Of It’

Super Fun Night alum Lauren Ash has booked a series regular role on NBC comedy pilot Superstore. Written by former The Office writer-producer Justin Spitzer and directed by Ruben Fleischer, Superstore is about a group of employees at a big box store and examines love, friendship and the beauty of everyday moments. Ash will play Dina, the store’s assistant manager who lives and breathes her job. Ash recurred on Comedy Central’s Another Period and will next be seen in a co-starring role in Mall Cop: Blart 2.

Christine Ko has joined the cast of CBS comedy pilot The Half Of It. Written/executive produced by Mike Gibbons, The Half Of It centers on a newly divorced dad who revels in the fact that he now gets to keep half his stuff, which is more than he ever had when he was married. Ko will play Suzi, a fun-loving 20-something hipster and an exceptional whiz kid.

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David Fincher’s HBO Comedy ‘Living On Video’ Recasts Charlie Rowe as Lead

I’ve learned that David Fincher has recast the lead in his HBO comedy project Living On Video. No one is commenting, but I hear the role will be played by 19-year-old Red Band Society star Charlie Rowe. Tyler Ross (The Killing) was originally cast in the project, which I hear is filming two episodes in lieu of a pilot.

Set in 1983 Los Angeles, Living On Video revolves around the players of the then-exploding music video industry — directors, record executives and crew members, many of them dabbling in drugs — through the eyes of a newcomer, Robby (Rowe). Robby is a wide-eyed guy who drops out of college and drives to Hollywood with dreams of directing a sci-fi epic and lands a job as a PA for a company making music videos.

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ABC Pilots ‘Dr. Ken’, ‘Boom’ & ‘Family Of The Year’ Add To Cast

Newsradio alum Dave Foley has been cast opposite Ken Jeong in Jeong’s ABC comedy pilot Dr. Ken, from Sony TV and ABC Studios. Written by Jared Stern, Mike O’Connell and Jeong, who is a licensed physician, Dr. Ken stars Jeong as a frustrated HMO doctor juggling medicine, marriage and parenting, and succeeding at none of them. Foley will play Pat, the head of the hospital.

Greek alum Scott Michael Foster has landed a lead role in ABC drama pilot Boom from producer Tony Krantz. Written by Josh Pate and Rodes Fishburne and produced by ABC Studios, Boom examines the biggest oil discovery in American history — bigger than Texas and as big as Saudi Arabia — which has triggered a geopolitical shift and an economic boom in North Dakota on a scale not seen since the 1849 California Gold Rush. Foster will play Wick, an entitled rich kid.

Matthew Shively (Paranormal Activity 4) and Bebe Wood (The New Normal) have joined the cast of Family Of The Year (aka untitled Dan Savage). Written by David Windsor and Casey Johnson loosely based on Savage’s life, the single-camera project is about a picture perfect family, the O’Neals, that is turned upside down when the youngest son Danny comes out of the closet. Shively will play Jimmy O’Neal, Danny’s older brother, a two-time all-state wrestling champion. Wood is Shannon O’Neal, Danny’s little sister, a real do-gooder who’s always working on some new charity.

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Stephen Schneider & Jack Carpenter Cast In Jimmy Fallon’s NBC Pilot ‘Sharing’

Stephen Schneider (Broad City) and Jack Carpenter (The Good Wife) have booked leads in NBC’s single-camera comedy pilot Sharing, from Universal TV and Jimmy Fallon’s Eight Million Plus. It is a workplace comedy about the different groups of people working side by side in a shared office space. Carpenter plays the nerdy, sweet and nervous Jesse, who handles all the technology for Giftr. Schneider plays Todd, the cocky and brash third member of the Giftr team.

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Rob Brown, Audrey Esparza & Ukweli Roach Join NBC’s ‘Blindspot'; Graham Rogers Enrolls In ‘Quantico’

Rob Brown (Treme), Audrey Esparza (Public Morals) and Ukweli Roach (the UK’s Grantchester) have landed series regular roles in the NBC drama pilot Blindspot. It follows a woman (Jaimie Alexander) found in Times Square with her memory wiped and no clue as to what the extensive tattoos on her body mean and an FBI agent (Sullivan Stapleton) and his Critical Incident Response Group who investigate her. Brown and Esparza both play CIRG team members: He is the friendly but lethal Ramirez; she is the sharp Tasha Oslo. Roach will play Dr. Borden, an impressive scientist/psychiatrist brought in to help evaluate and treat Alexander’s character.

Graham Rogers (Revolution) has been cast as a series regular in ABC’s drama pilot Quantico. It revolves around a group of young FBI recruits, all with specific reasons for joining, who battle their way through training at the Quantico base in Virginia. One will launch a devastating terrorist attack on the U.S. Rogers will play Caleb, an athletic, somewhat cocky “golden boy” FBI trainee who’s having a hard time making the grade.

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Omid Abtahi Joins ‘Damien'; Hal Ozsan & Johnny Ward In ‘Clan Of The Cave Bear’

Omid Abtahi (Those Who Kill) has booked a regular role on Damien, Lifetime’s straight-to-series drama follow-up to 20th Century Fox’s classic horror film The Omen. Produced by Fox 21 TV Studios, the six-episode Damien follows the adult life of Damien Thorn (Bradley James), the mysterious child from the 1976 film who has grown up, seemingly unaware of the satanic forces around him. Haunted by his past, Damien must now come to terms with his true destiny — that he is the Antichrist, the most feared man throughout the ages. Abtahi will play Amani Golkar, Damien’s big hearted wingman and best friend who doesn’t know Damien’s dark secret.

Hal Ozsan (The Blacklist) and Johnny Ward (Love/Hate) have been tapped as series regulars on Lifetime’s drama pilot The Clan Of The Cave Bear, from Imagine TV, Allison Shearmur Prods., Fox 21 TV Studios and Lionsgate TV. Written by Maleficent scribe Linda Woolverton based on Jean M. Auel’s series of best-selling novels, The Clan Of The Cave Bear takes place at a time in prehistory more than 25,000 years ago when Neanderthals shared the planet with the first early modern humans and a band of cave dwellers adopts blond and blue-eyed Ayla (Brady), a child of the “Others.” As Ayla matures into a young woman of spirit and courage, she must fight for survival against the jealous bigotry of Broud, who one day will be clan leader. Ozsan will play Brun, the leader of his Clan. Ward is Broud, the son of Brun.

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