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Fox continued to make good on its vow to do business with outside studios Friday, adding a comedy starring John Stamos from ABC Studios as well as dramedy Studio City from John Wells and Warner Bros. Television.
Fox has handed out pilot orders to an untitled comedy starring Full House and ER alum Stamos as well as Wells and Krista Vernoff’s Shameless-like dramedy Studio City, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
Exec produced by The Neighbors and Galavant creator Dan Fogelman, the Stamos comedy landed at Fox in a competitive situation with ABC among those vying for the single-camera entry that would mark Stamos’ first series regular role since ER. Written by The Office alum Danny Chun, Stamos stars as a version of himself: a longtime bachelor whose life is upended after he learns he’s a father and grandfather. Stamos will exec produce the untitled comedy via his St. Amos banner alongside Chun and ABC Studios-based Fogelman. The untitled pilot marks Stamos’ latest reunion with Fogelman after a guest role on ABC’s midseason musical fairy tale Galavant.
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The Stamos pilot pickup comes two months after ABC scrapped its straight-to-series dramedy Members Only — a co-production of ABC Studios and CBS Television Studios — in which he was set to star. The actor, meanwhile, is also involved with a potential Full House revival rumored to be in the works with Warner Bros. Television and Netflix. For his part, Fogelman’s Galavant is still in contention for a second season at ABC.
Studio City, meanwhile, is described as Shameless for broadcast. The dramedy, which landed at Fox with a hefty put-pilot commitment, is inspired by Vernoff’s (Grey’s Anatomy) life and tells the story of a young singer’s path to stardom as she comes of age living with her songwriter father — who turns out to be a drug dealer to the stars. Wells will executive produce via his Warner Bros. Television-based John Wells Productions banner. The hourlong dramedy expands Vernoff’s relationship with Wells and WBTV after she wrote multiple episodes of Showtime’s critical darling starring Emmy Rossum. Vernoff, Wells and JWP’s Andrew Stearn will exec produce. Should it go to series, Wells would have two shows on the air as Showtime has already renewed Shameless for a sixth season in 2016.
Studio City and the Stamos entry also mark the latest pilots to be based on the lives of its creators this season as semi-autobiographical fare continues to be a mainstay among the broadcast nets. CBS has a multicamera pilot starring and based on the life of comic Tommy Johnagin as well as drama Austen’s Razor, which is inspired by the life of bioethics expert-turned-writer Arthur L. Caplan, while NBC has a half-hour based on stand-up comedian Jerrod Carmichael‘s life and family.
The Stamos comedy and Studio City are the second and third pilots from outside studios ordered at the network this season under former 20th Century Fox Television CEOs and Fox Television Group co-CEOs Gary Walden and Dana Newman. Of the network’s other seven pilots, only one — comedy 48 Hours ‘Til Monday (Universal Television) — hails from an outside studio. The Stamos vehicle represents Fox’s third comedy order (including Ryan Murphy‘s straight-to-series Scream Queens), while Studio City is its sixth drama overall this season.
Email: Lesley.Goldberg@THR.com
Twitter: @Snoodit
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