Melissa McCarthy and husband Ben Falcone signed a deal with TV Land to executive produce a pilot script, tentatively titled “Friends With Melissa,” according to Variety. The single-camera comedy is inspired by the real lives of the show’s writers and producers Hugh Davidson, Larry Dorf and Rachel Ramras who constantly have to watch fellow members of the Los Angeles comedy troupe The Groundlings (like McCarthy) go on to big fame and fortune while they have to settle as writers for children’s television.
“We are continuing to build our stable of innovative, engaging and challenging comedies, which is exactly what Melissa, Ben and these writers have brought us,” said TV Land Executive Vice President of Development and Original Programming Keith Cox in a press release. “With this script being from a group of alums from The Groundlings, we’re excited to know they’ll have an endless amount of creativity and interesting experiences to pull from.”
“We are so excited to be working with Hugh, Rachel & Larry—such funny people, who are great friends. TV Land is a great place for this show,” said McCarthy and Falcone in the press release.
McCarthy—who already has one hit show on television, the CBS comedy “Mike & Molly,” which is heading into its sixth season—will appear in the pilot as herself.
In addition to her TV projects, McCarthy is also in various stages of production for several movies, including Paul Feig’s all-female “Ghostbusters” reboot with Leslie Jones, Kristen Wiig and Kate McKinnon, and the R-rated comedy “Michelle Darnell,” which is based on a Groundlings sketch from about 10 years ago about a self-help guru, that she wrote along with Falcone, who is also directing. Both flicks are scheduled to hit theaters in 2016.
