Pilot Season: First look at NBC's 2010 comedy pilots

Feb. 26, 2010 2:42 PM PT

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It’s been a while since NBC had a successful sitcom, so the network has gone back to its ‘Friends’ and ‘Seinfeld’ roots, ordering five multi-camera comedies in addition to five single-camera, the format that has worked better for NBC in recent years.

‘Reno 911!’ co-creators Tom Lennon and Ben Garant have co-written and are starring in ‘The Strip,’ a sitcom about a former child star who becomes a Hooters-style-bar-owner (Lennon) in the outskirts of Las Vegas. The cast also includes Cedric Yarbrough (‘The 40-Year-Old Virgin’), Natasha Leggero (‘He’s Just Not That Into You’), Andrea Savage, and Dave Holmes and Carrie Wiita, both of ‘Reno: 911!’

‘Nathan vs. Nurture’ stars Jay Harrington (‘Better Off Ted’), pictured right, and Bill Pullman (‘Independence Day’), pictured left, and was co-written by Moses Port and David Guarascio, both of ‘Just Shoot Me.’ The sitcom features an overachieving heart surgeon (Harrington) who reunites with his birth father (Pullman) and underachieving brothers 35 years after his adoption. Great casting. I’m in.

‘Newsradio’ scribe Paul Simms has penned ‘Beach Lane,’ produced by Lorne Michaels, about a celebrity author hired by an irresponsible millionaire heir to run his struggling small-town newspaper in the Hamptons. No one has been cast.

‘This Little Piggy’ was co-written by Stephen Cragg and Brian Bradley, both of ‘Scrubs,’ and so far includes Ben Koldyke (‘Big Love’) and Erinn Hayes (‘Worst Week’) in the cast. It’s a family comedy about a father of two whose dream for a peaceful household is shattered when his under-employed sister and materialistic brother move in.

‘American Dad’ scribes Rick Weiner and Kenny Schwartz have co-written ‘The Pink House,’ about two buddies who move to Los Angeles to begin the next chapter of their post-college lives. No one has been cast.

Of the single-camera shows, Adam Carolla’s ‘The Adam Carolla Show’ is already generating some buzz. Carolla, pictured right, plays a contractor and father of a teenage daughter who embarks on rebuilding his life after a divorce. It also stars Ashley Williams (‘Montana Sky’), Megan Hilty (‘The Closer’) and Shanley Caswell (‘Mending Fences’).

Paul Reiser hopes to return to TV with a single-camera comedy in which he plays himself. ‘Next’ was written by Jonathan Shapiro (‘Boston Legal’) in a co-production with Reiser that will follow him as he balances his life as a husband, father and friend. Maybe it wasn’t sexy enough to be a reality show?

‘Perfect Couples’ is a romantic comedy about three couples with varying definitions of relationship perfection. Written by Jon Pollack (’30 Rock’) and Scott Silveri (‘Friends’), it includes Olivia Munn (‘Greek’) in the cast.

‘Outsourced’ is an office comedy about a recently demoted manager of a novelties company who is shipped off to India to manage a rag-tag group of customer service reps. Robert Borden (‘The Drew Carey Show’) wrote the script and Ben Rappaport has been cast.

Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber (‘[500] Days of Summer’) have written ‘Friends With Benefits’ about five friends who is each looking for ‘the one’ but is each settling for friends with benefits in the meantime. No one has been cast.

--Maria Elena Fernandez (follow me on Twitter @writerchica)

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