CBS Picks Up 3 Comedies Inc. Young Sheldon, Plus 4 Dramas Starring David Boreanaz, Jeremy Piven & Alan Cumming
US network CBS are the next network to go all out with their new show pick ups this season, taking 3 comedies and 4 dramas to series.
We already knew we had Big Bang Theory spin-off ‘Young Sheldon‘ in the works, but that will be joined by ‘Me, Myself & I‘ from Malcolm in the Middle writer Dan Kopelman, and ‘9JKL‘ from actor/writer Mark Feuerstein (Prison Break, Royal Pains, Nurse Jackie).
On the drama side we have a ‘SEAL Team‘ starring David Boreanaz, ‘Instinct‘ starring Alan Cumming, ‘Wisdom Of The Crowd‘ starring Jeremy Piven, and ‘S.W.A.T.‘ from The Shield & Timeless creator Shawn Ryan.
Young Sheldon, of course, tells the story of 9-year-old boy genius Sheldon Cooper (Iain Armitage – Big Little Lies), who can figure out almost anything but his football-loving, church-going, small-town Texan family.
In a clever bit of casting, the daughter of Laurie Metcalf, Zoe Perry (The Family, NCIS), is playing the younger version of Sheldon’s evangelical christian mother Mary, whom Metcalf plays in The Big Bang Theory! Lance Barber (It’s Always Sunny…, Faking It) plays Sheldon’s father, with Raegan Revord playing his twin sister Missy, and elder brother George Jr being played by Montana Jordan. Jim Parsons is narrating the series as the ‘adult’ Sheldon.
Me, Myself & I is a single-camera comedy, which examines one man’s life, Alex Riley, over a 50-year span. The show will focus on three distinct periods in his life – as a 14-year-old in 1991, a 40-year-old in present day, and a 65-year-old in 2042.
Saturday Night Live veteran Bobby Moynihan takes on Alex in the present day, with Jack Dylan Grazer (It) playing the younger version, and John Larroquette (The Librarians, Deception, Chuck) playing the older Alex.
9JKL is a family comedy inspired by a time in writer and star Mark Feuerstein’s adult life when he lived in apartment 9K in the building he grew up in. He was sandwiched between his doting parents’ apartment, 9J, and his brother, sister-in-law and their baby’s apartment, 9L. The show sees his attempts to set boundaries with his intrusive but well-meaning family.
Feuerstein takes the lead role, with Elliott Gould (Ray Donovan, Friends, M.A.S.H.), Linda Lavin (The Good Wife, Mom), David Walton (Masters of Sex, About a Boy), Liza Lapira (Con Man, Apartment 23), and Matt Murray (Rookie Blue, Kevin from Work) co-starring.
Instinct is an adaptation of an upcoming novel from James Patterson & Howard Roughan, which centres on a former CIA operative (Alan Cumming – The Good Wife, Web Therapy, The X Men) who is pulled away from his new life as a professor and writer, back to his CIA past when the NYPD need his help catching a serial killer.
Michael Rauch (Royal Pains, Beautiful People) is writing the series, and Cumming will be joined on screen by Bojana Novakovic, Daniel Ings, Naveen Andrews, and Khandi Alexander.
SEAL Team follows the professional and personal lives of the most elite unit of Navy SEALs as they train, plan and execute the most dangerous, high stakes missions our country can ask of them.
David Boreanaz (Bones, Angel) leads the cast along with Max Thieriot (Bates Motel), A.J. Buckley (CSI:NY, Supernatural), Jessica Paré (Mad Men) Neil Brown Jr. (Suits, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency), and Toni Trucks (Franklin & Bash, Grimm).
Wisdom Of The Crowd stars Jeremy Piven (Mr Selfridge, Entourage) as a visionary tech innovator who is inspired by the notion that a million minds are better than one. Based on this principle, he creates a cutting-edge crowdsourcing app to solve his daughter’s murder, and revolutionize crime solving in the process.
The show is based on the Israeli format of the same name, with the US version being written by Ted Humphrey (The Good Wife, Shark). Piven is joined in the cast by Richard T. Jones, Jake Matthews, Blake Lee, Natalia Tena, and Monica Potter.
Lastly S.W.A.T. comes The Shield & Timeless creator Shawn Ryan, and is inspired by the 2003 Samuel L. Jackson/Colin Farrell film of the same name. The show follows an LA native S.W.A.T. sergeant (Shemar Moore – Criminal Minds), who is torn between loyalty to the streets and duty to his fellow officers when he’s tasked to run a specialized tactical unit that is the last stop in law enforcement in Los Angeles.
Additional cast includes Stephanie Sigman, Alex Russell, Jay Harrington, Lina Esco, Kenny Johnson, and Peter Onorati.
Obviously it’s way too early for UK pick ups on any of these, but keep an eye on the UK TV Air Dates page for the latest information.
