"Saturday Night Live" alum Molly Shannon's ready for primetime, sealing a deal to star in the laffer "Cracking Up" at Fox.
Meanwhile, the WB has cast Rhea Perlman ("Cheers") in the pilot "Dicks," exec produced by her hubby Danny DeVito.
In "Cracking Up," Shannon will star as Lesley, the mother of a crazy Beverly Hills family that takes in a psychology grad student.
Mike White penned "Cracking Up" for 20th Century Fox TV and Brad Grey TV.
Shannon, who's repped by ICM and Framework, will star opposite Ashton Kutcher in the upcoming feature "The Boss' Daughter" and has a cameo in the Sundance entry "American Splendor." She spent seven seasons on "SNL," appearing in more than 115 episodes.
As for Perlman, in "Dicks" she'll play Mrs. Wabash, a teacher to four kids who go to junior college and learn how to be private investigators.
Perlman, who's repped by ICM, recently appeared in the CBS series "Kate Brasher." She also exec produced and starred in the Eye sitcom "Pearl."
Besides DeVito, Michael Shamberg, Stacey Sher and John Landgraf exec produce the pilot for their Jersey TV shingle, along with Sony Pictures Television.
In other casting and pilot news:
* Elizabeth Mitchell ("ER," "The Beast") is the latest thesp to join Rob Lowe's "Lyon's Den" at NBC. Lowe toplines and will produce the ensemble legal drama, from Brad Grey TV and 20th Century Fox TV. Mitchell is repped by UTA and Envision Entertainment.
* Reid Scott, who last year toplined "With You in Spirit" for 20th Century Fox Television and ABC, is on board for another Alphabet project.
Scott has nabbed a lead role in the net's untitled comedy from Anne Flett-Giordano and Chuck Ranberg. Par/Touchstone/Storyline project is about a man from a conservative background who is betrothed to the daughter of a gay couple.
Besides the scribes, Storyline's Craig Zadan and Neil Meron ("Chicago") will exec produce. Andy Cadiff, who is helming fellow ABC laffers "Platonically Incorrect" and "My Life With Men" will direct. (As reported by VARIETY)
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