With Smash relegated to Saturdays, star Debra Messing has already moved on.
The Emmy winner has landed the starring role in CBS' untitled Julie Rottenberg and Elisa Zuritsky comedy pilot, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
The single-camera effort, based on an Israeli format, revolves around Shira, a married mother as she struggles to balance family, life and work.
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Messing will star as Shira, the happily married yet harried mother to three who's a ghost writer for a demanding celebrity chef. Between her job and three children -- ranging in age from preschool to 7, she feels like the world's worst mother because of her tendency to cut corners.
The Will & Grace star, who is now the first person cast in the pilot, will also receive a co-executive producer credit on the comedy from CBS Television Studios. Messing's casting is in second position to Smash, which is not expected to return for a third season on NBC.
Sex and the City alums Rottenberg and Zuritsky will write and executive produce the pilot. Avi Nir, Ran Telem, Daniela London-Dekel and Dana Eden will also serve as EPs.
The role marks Messing's return to series comedy, following two seasons playing beleaguered playwright Julia Houston on NBC's Smash and starring as Molly Kagan for a season on USA Network's The Starter Wife.
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Messing is a six-time Emmy nominee, winning in 2003 for her role as Grace Adler in NBC's Will & Grace, and taking home a lead actress in a miniseries or movie for Starter Wife. She's repped by Gersh, 3 Arts and Stone Meyer.
The casting further cements the demise of Smash, which NBC banished to Saturdays starting April 6. The pricey Broadway drama crashed and burned in its second season. Since opening its sophomore season to a disappointing 1.2 rating in the advertiser-coveted adults 18-49 demographic, Smash has continued to slide, most recently drawing a measly 0.8.
Messing becomes the latest actor this point season to book an insurance policy in second position. Southland's Ben McKenzie (CBS' The Advocates) and Shawn Hatsoy (CBS' Reckless), Deception's Tate Donovan (CBS' Hostages) and Up All Night's Will Arnett (CBS' unauthorized Greg Garcia comedy), among others, have all booked CBS pilots this season.
Email: Lesley.Goldberg@thr.com; Twitter: @Snoodit
