ABC has added two more comedy pilots to its roster, picking up half-hours from familiar faces in Apartment 23 creator Nahnatchka Khan and Man Up's Chris Moynihan.
Khan's Fresh off the Boat is based on Eddie Huang's memoir of the same name. Set in the 1990s, the single-camera comedy revolves around hip-hop loving Eddie as he grows up in suburban Orlando, raised by an immigrant father who is obsessed with all things American and an immigrant mother who is often bewildered by white culture. With his father owning and operating an All-American Steakhouse chain, this loving family of "fresh off the boat" Taiwanese-Americans try to live the American dream while still maintaining their cultural identity and sense of family.
Khan will pen the script and executive produce the 20th Century Fox TV comedy alongside Jake Kasdan and his Popular Misconception banner partner Melvin Mar.
Boat brings Khan back into the ABC fold a year after the network canceled James Van Der Beek starrer Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23. It also gives Khan, who had multiple sales this development season, two pilots in the works this year. Boat joins Fox's Zach Cregger-Marcia Cross starrer Fatrick, which the network has completed casting on and is eyeing for a series order.
Meanwhile, actor-turned-producer Moynihan will return to ABC with multicamera entry Saint Francis arriving three years after he created and starred in Man Up. The comedy centers on a blue-collar, no-nonsense, Long Island cop and family man who butts heads with the modern, liberal world when his 29-year-old sister gets pregnant out of wedlock.
Moynihan will pen the script and executive produce the ABC Studios and Tagline Pictures entry. (Tagline, whose sibling company Thruline Entertainment, manages Moynihan.) Ron West and Kelly Kulchak will also executive produce the comedy.
The two orders bring ABC's comedy pilot haul to nine orders, including fellow family comedies from Kevin Hart and Jeff Lowell.
This pilot season, ABC is again looking to established properties for its comedy offerings, with adaptations including An American Education, Irreversible andStrange Calls.
E-mail: Lesley.Goldberg@THR.com
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