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The third time could be the charm for comedy writer-producer Dan Fogelman, who has landed a pilot order at Fox for a high-concept family comedy.

The untitled single-camera project, from Warner Bros. TV, centers on a typical dysfunctional nuclear family that moves into a sought-after gated community only to discover that everybody who lives there is an alien. It was greenlighted off a pitch and put on the fast track for production by year's end.

This is Fogelman's third consecutive pilot, following his buzzworthy The 12th Man for Fox in 2006 and Lipshitz Saves the World for NBC this past development season.

Lipshitz, about a 17-year-old nerd on a mission to save the world with the help of Leslie Nielsen, enjoyed strong support at NBC and came close to a series order in May.

"It was an amazing, cool development experience with a bit disappointing outcome," Fogelman said.

One of Lipshitz's most enthusiastic supporters, NBC's then-entertainment president Kevin Reilly, is now entertainment president at Fox.

Laura San Giacomo has been tapped to co-star opposite Holly Hunter in TNT's drama pilot Grace. Leon Rippy and Bokeem Woodbine also have been cast in the project from Fox TV Studios. In other pilot-casting news, Ty Burrell and model Brooklyn Decker round out the cast of the NBC/NBC Universal TV Studio comedy Lipshitz Saves the World. Grace centers on a jaded Oklahoma City police detective (Hunter) who is visited by an irascible angel (Rippy) and offered an opportunity to redeem her life. San Giacomo will play Grace's best friend, a forensic scientist. Woodbine will play a death-row inmate who also can see the angel.

Two pilots have cast their title characters: Newcomer Jack Carpenter is set to play Adam Lipshitz in Lipshitz Saves the World, Dan Fogelman's comedy pilot for NBC, and Austin Nichols will topline John From Cincinnati, David Milch's drama pilot for HBO. The single-camera Lipshitz, from NBC Universal Network TV, centers on a 17-year-old social outcast (Carpenter) who finds out in a most bizarre way that he might be "the one" to save the world with the help of Leslie Nielsen. Carpenter landed the role in his third professional audition after graduating this summer from the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama. He is repped by ICM and managers Myrna Jacoby and attorney Lev Ginsburg.

Leslie Nielsen has signed on to star in NBC's comedy pilot Lipshitz Saves the World. The single-camera project, from Cars writer Dan Fogelman and NBC Universal Network TV, centers on a 17-year-old social outcast who finds out in the most bizarre way that he might be "the one" to save the world with the help of Nielsen. "I'm a lifelong fan and wrote the part specifically for him, never having met him, and with no knowledge of whether or not he'd take to it," Fogelman said. "But he could not have been more gracious and responsive once he read the script. I will now reward him by making him spend seven days on a set in Chatsworth."...