Swoosie Kurtz Getty Images
The 'Mike & Molly' regular will remain in business with the network.
Swoosie Kurtz is staying put at CBS.
The actress has been tapped to co-star in the network's comedy pilot adaptation of Australian format Upper Middle Bogan, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
The untitled comedy is described centers on a wife and mother who learns she was adopted and that her birth parents are a flamboyant but loving family of drag-racers.
Kurtz will play Margaret, Bess' (uncast) widowed mother who is revealed to have adpted her daughter. The character has a sharp tongue who is inclined to use it on her nearest and dearest.
Dan O'Shannon, Robyn Butler and Wayne Hope will pen the script for the single-camera comedy. Todd Holland is attached to direct the pilot, which is a co-production between CBS Television Studios and ABC Studios, in association with Dark Toy Entertainment.
The casting keeps Kurtz at the network following the six-season run of Chuck Lorre comedy Mike & Molly. Kurtz has been a series regular since the start, playing Joyce, the mother to Melissa McCarthy's Molly. Her credits include Pushing Daisies and Sisters. She's repped by Innovative, Creative Talent Group and Jackoway Tyerman.
Kurtz joins a cast that also includes John Carroll Lynch, who plays Bess' biological father, Wayne.
The Mike & Molly stars continue to field pilot offers. Co-star Katy Mixon booked the lead in ABC's Second Fattest Housewife in Westport, while McCarthy continues to field offers.
Keep up with all the latest pickups, castings and eventual series orders with THR's handy guide to pilot season.
Pilot Season
