Kenan Thompson-Starring Family Sitcom Lands Pilot Order at NBC
Kenan Thompson just moved one step closer to being a Not Ready for Primetime Player: A family sitcom starring the SNL cast member has earned a pilot order from NBC, TVLine has learned.
The single-cam comedy, now titled Saving Kenan, stars Thompson as a recently widowed dad who is “determined to be everything for his kids while begrudgingly letting his persistent father-in-law become more involved in their lives,” per the official description. (No casting news yet on the father-in-law.) Thompson will also serve as an executive producer on the project, along with SNL guru Lorne Michaels; Jackie Clarke (Superstore, Happy Endings) will pen the pilot script.
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If Saving Kenan gets picked up to series for the 2019-20 TV season, Thompson would reportedly leave SNL, where he’s been a cast member for 16 seasons and counting. He’s now the longest-tenured cast member in SNL history, and earned his first Emmy nomination last year for Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.
Also scoring a pilot order from NBC: Like Magic, a single-cam workplace comedy “that follows an optimistic young woman pursuing her dream to be a headlining magician in the eccentric and ego-driven world of the Magic Palace,” according to the network. Bridget Kyle and Vicky Luu (Superstore, The Grinder) will write the pilot, with 30 Rock veteran Matt Hubbard serving as a supervising EP.
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