Katey Sagal seems intent, come hell or highwater, to get herself back into the TV comedy business. She originally signed on as one of the leads in the CBS single-camera pilot Furst Born. But that project is currently languishing in network purgatory as a possible midseason replacement. Undaunted in her quest to shake off eight years of bleak basic-cable seriousness, Sagal has attached herself to another comedy pilot, Superior Donuts, Deadline reports.
Also under consideration by CBS for a midseason series order, the multi-camera sitcom will focus on a Chicago doughnut shop own and his young employee—played by Judd Hirsch and Jermaine Fowler (The Eric Andre Show)—as they deal with the customers, both new and regular, who patronize their business and scarf down their delicious pastries. Sagal will play a veteran beat cop who frequents the shop because, you know, cops and doughnuts.
The Married With Children alum is taking over for Megyn Price (Rules Of Engagement), who played the pastry-eating police officer in the original version of the pilot, before network executives presumably decided the show needed to have a little less Megyn Price. They apparently looked high and low, considering performers of varying ages and ethnicities, before they decided that they had the perfect actor chilling out in their waiting room, looking for a way to get back in the game. Whichever of these two series gets picked up, thus carrying Sagal back into the world of half-hour comedies, it will mark the former her first regular role in the format since 8 Simple Rules went off the air in 2005.
Neil Goldman, Garrett Donovan, and Bob Daily will serve as showrunners for the series, which is based on Chicago playwright Tracy Letts’ play of the same name.