NBC has ordered a pilot episode of a sitcom loosely based on the life of comedienne Sarah Silverman.
Professional side-splitter Sarah Silverman is headed back to the tube with the lead role in a new comedy.
On Wednesday, NBC ordered a pilot episode of a semi-autobiographical sitcom starring and inspired by Silverman. The show will star Sarah as a woman re-adjusting to singlehood after calling it quits with her live-in boyfriend of 10 years. Hollywood scribes Dan Sterling and Jon Schroeder, who worked with Silverman on her now-defunct Comedy Central hit, The Sarah Silverman Program, will co-write the script alongside the star.
The Peacock Network originally picked up the series in August, ending a bitter bidding war with FOX and ABC. News that the still-untitled show will be taping a pilot comes after a tough month of sweeps for NBC’s similarly-themed, femme comedy Whitney. That series, featuring funny gal Whitney Cummings in the title role, has nosedived in the ratings after debuting strong earlier this fall. The show was recently moved to Wednesdays, and the entertainment scene is abuzz with speculation about Whitney’s future now that Sarah is in the house.
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Even if Cummings does find herself tossed in the recycling bin labeled “Ghosts of TV Comedies Past,” Silverman will have lots of comical company at her new network home. The ratings-challenged Peacock is currently developing a number of new comedy projects in addition to the one they’ve already worked out for Sarah, including a show starring Sean Hayes of Will & Grace fame, a sitcom led by Jack Black and Laura Prepon’s Are You There, Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea — another “Ripped From My Real Life” effort based on Chelsea Handler’s bestselling book of the same name.
No word yet on when Sarah will make her NBC sitcom debut. In the meantime, look out for her on an all-new, holiday-themed episode of The League. She’ll play the sister of Andre (Paul Scheer) on the next edition of the comedy, airing Thursdays on FX.
Image Courtesy Dan Tanner/WENN.com
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