News

ABC got busy putting the pieces of its 2006-07 schedule together Wednesday, handing series orders to the dramas The Nine, Six Degrees and Day Break and comedies In Case of Emergency, Help Me Help You and Notes From the Underbelly. NBC, which will kick off the broadcast networks' upfront week Monday, was widely expected to make the bulk of its series pickups Wednesday but did not. Pilots that are expected to get a formal series greenlight today or Friday include the dramas Friday Night Lights, Heroes and Raines and the untitled Tina Fey comedy. The comedies 20 Good Years, Community Service and The Singles Table are understood to be in contention for the remaining NBC comedy slots. Sources said NBC is passing on Andy Barker, P.I., Conan O'Brien's single-camera gumshoe comedy starring Andy Richter, and the project will be shopped to Fox.

Kaley Cuoco has landed one of the leads in ABC's untitled sisters comedy pilot, Oliver Hudson has been cast in CBS' comedy pilot The Weekend, and Marion Ross been tapped for NBC's comedy pilot Community Service. In other casting news, Yara Martinez has joined Fox's drama pilot Faceless. The untitled sisters project, from Warner Bros. Television, revolves around two sisters who live together despite having grown up under different circumstances -- one rich, one poor. Cuoco will portray Gabby, the younger sister to Marisa Coughlan's character.

Stanley Tucci is set to star in CBS' untitled Peter Ocko drama pilot. Meanwhile, Campbell Scott is in negotiations to join ABC's drama pilot Six Degrees; Lolita Davidovich has joined ABC's comedy pilot Help Me Help You; Brittany Daniel is set to star opposite Jay Mohr in NBC's comedy pilot Community Service; Andrew McCarthy has joined CBS' drama pilot The Way; Marla Sokoloff has landed a lead in ABC's comedy pilot A Day in the Life, with Kurt Fuller and Miriam Shor also cast in the project; and Geoff Pierson has joined NBC's untitled Jace Richdale comedy pilot. Additionally, Peter Cambor has been cast in ABC's comedy pilot Notes From the Underbelly, and Lauren Stamile has joined Fox's comedy pilot That Guy.

Dylan McDermott has joined ABC's drama pilot A House Divided, Kim Cattrall has been tapped to star in ABC's comedy pilot Him and Us, and Wendie Malick has come on board another ABC comedy pilot, A Day in the Life. Additionally, Denise Richards has joined ABC's drama pilot Secrets of a Small Town, Julie Warner has come on board ABC's one-hour pilot Women in Law, Lizzy Caplan has landed a role in CBS' comedy series The Class, John Heard has come on board ABC's drama pilot Twenty Questions, Vanessa Ferlito has been cast in ABC's drama pilot Drift, Annie Potts has joined Fox's comedy pilot Julie Reno, Bounty Hunter, and Todd Stashwick has been added to NBC's comedy pilot Community Service. A House Divided, from Touchstone TV, explores the conflict between a Midwest farming community and the U.S. government.

Dylan McDermott has joined ABC's drama pilot A House Divided, Kim Cattrall has been tapped to star in ABC's comedy pilot Him and Us, and Wendie Malick has come on board another ABC comedy pilot, A Day in the Life. Additionally, Denise Richards has joined ABC's drama pilot Secrets of a Small Town, Julie Warner has come on board ABC's one-hour pilot Women in Law, Lizzy Caplan has landed a role in CBS' comedy series The Class, John Heard has come on board ABC's drama pilot Twenty Questions, Vanessa Ferlito has been cast in ABC's drama pilot Drift, Annie Potts has joined Fox's comedy pilot Julie Reno, Bounty Hunter, and Todd Stashwick has been added to NBC's comedy pilot Community Service. A House Divided, from Touchstone TV, explores the conflict between a Midwest farming community and the U.S. government.

John Lithgow has been tapped to star in the NBC comedy pilot Twenty Good Years, while Barry Sonnenfeld is set to direct ABC's comedy pilot Notes From the Underbelly. Additionally, Jay Mohr is set to star in another NBC comedy pilot, Community Service, with Christopher Wiehl also cast; Alicia Witt will play the title role in Fox's comedy pilot More, Patience; Justine Bateman has joined ABC's untitled Patricia Heaton comedy pilot; Marisa Coughlan has landed one of the leads in ABC's untitled sisters comedy pilot, lifting the contingency on the project; and Johnny Lewis has nabbed the lead in another ABC comedy pilot, Southern Comfort. In other pilot-casting news, Eion Bailey has joined CBS' Orpheus, Tim Daly is set to co-star in CBS' untitled Steinbergs drama, Abraham Benrubi has joined ABC's one-hour Men in Trees, John Patrick Amedori has been added to Fox's drama Vanished, and Kevin Rahm has come aboard NBC's comedy Alpha Mom.