TV Casting News: Tyler Labine, Chris Parnell, Melissa Leo
The latest round of pilot season casting news includes a Saturday Night Live alum, a funny sidekick, and a recent Oscar nominee. Read on:
- If Reaper doesn't get renewed, Tyler Labine may be headed to Fox. The sidekick known as Sock has been cast in the comedy pilot Sons of Tucson, playing a man who's hired by three boys to pretend to be their dad while their actual father serves a prison term.
- SNL's Chris Parnell is in talks for Big D, a Dallas-set show about a Southern belle welcoming home her son and meddling in his life. He would play one of the matriarch's sons-in-law, a preacher.
- Melissa Leo, an Oscar nominee for Frozen River, has taken a role as a civil rights lawyer in Treme, David Simon's New Orleans-set pilot for HBO. She's the second Oscar nominee to jump to HBO this year: Michael Shannon will appear in the network's pilot Boardwalk Empire.
- I was a big fan of Shannon Woodward when she played DiDi in The Riches, so I'm glad to see she's joined the cast of Limelight, an ABC drama set at a performing arts college (so hot right now). She'll play an actress auditioning for a spot at the school.
- Erika Christensen is the first person to sign on for NBC's remake of Parenthood, playing Julia Braverman, a corporate attorney who struggles with getting more involved with her family.
