Malcolm Barrett To Headline ‘The Hug Machine’ CBS Comedy Pilot; Michaela Conlin & Allison Guinn Also Cast

Joe Otterson TV ReporterDavid Hollander will no longer be an executive producer on the CBS comedy series “How We Roll,” Variety has confirmed with sources.The news comes shortly after it was reported that Hollander had been let go from his role as showrunner on the upcoming Showtime series “American Gigolo” following a misconduct investigation.Production has already wrapped on Season 1 of “How We Roll” and the show is awaiting word on a second season pick up. Should it return, Hollander will no longer be credited as an executive producer.Reps for CBS and CBS Studios declined to comment.Hollander had a longstanding relationship with Showtime, as he previously worked as showrunner and executive producer on the hit Showtime series “Ray Donovan.” That show ran for seven seasons and recently concluded with a feature length finale.

If CBS comedy series How We Roll is renewed for a second season, it will return without executive producer David Hollander. Production on the Pete Holmes sitcom’s freshman season has been completed but if the series gets renewed for Season2, Hollander won’t be involved, the network and How We Roll producer CBS Studios said in a response to an inquiry by Deadline.

Megan Fox had sweet birthday wishes for the love of her life! On Saturday, the actress wished her fiancé, Machine Gun Kelly, happy birthday with a sweet post.“Today your mom told us that you were born a month early (you were SO meant to be a Gemini, you charming mercurial Svengali) and as a baby you were both “cuddly and fussy at the same time” and I couldn’t have imagined a more apt description of you,” the actress wrote next to a photo of the “Emo Girl” rapper giving her a piggy back ride.

EXCLUSIVE: CBS has set up a writers room for drama The Great Game, produced by CBS Studios in association with Alex Kurtzman’s studio-based Secret Hideout. It will be led by the project’s co-writers/executive producers John Hlavin (The Man Who Fell to Earth) and Matthew Newman (Chicago PD) with the goal of generating multiple scripts for a potential straight-to-series order.

Selome Hailu George Lopez and Mayan Lopez’s NBC comedy pilot “Lopez vs. Lopez” has cast Laci Mosley and Kiran Deol in recurring roles and set Kelly Park to direct, Variety has learned exclusively.The multi-cam pilot starring the Lopezes is described as a working-class family comedy about dysfunction, reconnection and all the pain and joy in between.Mosley will play Brookie, Mayan’s co-worker and best friend who always knows what’s trending (and sometimes it’s her feet pics).

Selome Hailu Evangeline Young has been cast as Charlotte Walton in “The Son in Law,” a comedy pilot from ABC.“The Son in Law” stars Chris Sullivan as Jake, a single father who never thought he would love again, until Asha came along. The problem is that Jake, a hard-working plumbing contractor, is solidly middle class, while Asha hails from the equivalent of uber-wealthy South Asian royalty.

Evangeline Young  (ABC’s Emergence) has been cast as a series regular opposite Chris Sullivan in ABC’s comedy pilot The Son in Law. In addition to Sullivan, she joins previously cast series regulars Reema Sampat, Meera Simhan and Anupam Kher.

EXCLUSIVE: ABC comedy pilot The Son In Law has found its father in law.

Nick Grad, president of original programming at FX, announced on Thursday that the network has ordered the pilot of an untitled half-hour comedy written by writer/director Lauren Ludwig. The project is a metaphysical comedy about a group of queer 20-somethings forced by the most unlikely source to confront their generational anxieties and unpack their emotional baggage. Ludwig will executive produce along with Chris & Paul Weitz through their production company Depth of Field.

FX has ordered the pilot of an untitled half-hour comedy written by Lauren Ludwig (American Auto, Rob Riggle’s Ski Master Academy).

Joe Otterson TV ReporterFX has ordered a half-hour comedy pilot from Lauren Ludwig.The pilot is described as a metaphysical comedy about a group of queer twenty-somethings forced by the most unlikely source to confront their generational anxieties and unpack their emotional baggage.Ludwig is writing and executive producing the pilot. Chris & Paul Weitz of Depth of Field, Andrew Miano, Dan Balgoyen and Aaron Kogan will also executive produce.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterLauren Lapkus and Krysta Rodriguez are set for the lead roles in the CBS multi-cam comedy pilot “Sober Companion,” Variety has learned.Rodriguez will play Eliza, described as a fun-loving, quick-witted alcoholic who runs a bookstore/bar with her uncle in New Orleans. After one too many run-ins with the law, she is assigned a court-appointed Sober Companion who will force her to confront her demons, get her act together, and stay sober, all while driving her completely nuts.Lapkus will play Shelley, Eliza’s Sober Companion.

Krysta Rodriguez (Halston) and Lauren Lapkus (Good Girls) have been tapped as the leads in CBS’ multi-camera comedy pilot Sober Companion, from Jane the Virgin creator/executive producer Jennie Snyder Urman and CBS Studios, where Urman is under an overall deal.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterGeorge Lopez and Mayan Lopez’s NBC comedy pilot “Lopez vs. Lopez” has added three new cast members, Variety has learned exclusively.Selenis Levya, Brice Gonzalez, and Matt Shivley will star alongside the Lopezes in the multi-cam pilot.

Katy Mixon (American Housewife), Christopher Gorham (Covert Affairs), Cree Cicchino (And Just Like That…) and Connor Kalopsis (The Grinder) are set as leads in Unplanned in Akron, CBS’ multi-camera comedy pilot from Schuyler Helford (Call Me Kat), Erik Feig’s Picturestart and CBS Studios.

Selome Hailu Cree Cicchino, Connor Kalopsis, Katy Mixon and Christopher Gorham have been cast in “Unplanned in Akron,” CBS’s teen-parenting comedy pilot from Schuyler Helford.The series follows two teenagers navigating parenthood in the best way they know how. With a little help from their friends and parents, they’ll learn that mistakes in life don’t have to derail your life — that no matter what age you are, taking care of a child is no joke — but sometimes, you just have to laugh (or cry) your way through it.Cicchino plays Brianna, who is sharp-witted, outspoken and unfiltered.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterThe ABC comedy pilot “Not Dead Yet” starring Gina Rodriguez has found five new series regulars, Variety has learned.Josh Banday (“Pam & Tommy,” “Upload”), Jessica St. Clair (“Playing House,” “Avenue 5”), Mary Elizabeth Ellis (“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” “Licorice Pizza”), Angela Gibbs (“Black Jesus,” “Hacks”), and Rick Glassman (“Old Dads,” “A Futile and Stupid Gesture”) will all appear alongside Rodriguez.In the single-cam pilot, Nell Stevens (Rodriguez) is broke, newly single and feeling old. Nell – a self-described disaster – works to restart the life and career she left behind 10 years ago.

ABC has rounded out the series regular cast for its single-camera comedy pilot Not Dead Yet. Josh Banday (Upload), Jessica St. Clair (Avenue 5), Mary Elizabeth Ellis (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia), Angela Gibbs (This Is Us) and Rick Glassman (As We See It) are set as leads opposite Gina Rodriguez in the pilot from The Real O’Neals creators Casey Johnson and David Windsor, McG and 20th Television.

If the last week in our entertainments has shown us anything, it’s that even the most ordered, traditional of ceremonies can be disrupted by an unkind explosion of id, with ramifications splashing like crocodile tears on even the most unexpected of our heroes. Take Me Out, Richard Greenberg’s 2002 play that charts the ramifications when a star baseball player comes out as gay, opens on Broadway tonight in a revival that has the perfect timing of a triple play.