One of the best pieces of television development news last week came from basic cable’s Lifetime. The network that prides itself on its programming geared towards women announced the pickup of its first original sitcom in ten years, a half-hour comedy called Rita Rocks.
The series is slated to premiere this fall and will star Nicole Sullivan (Kim Possible, The King of Queens) as title character Rita Clements, a married working mother of two daughters who attempts to regain her youth by returning to her earlier happy days as a garage-band guitarist.
Other cast members include Richard Ruccolo (Joey, Two Guys …read more

The American TV-comedy industry’s collective creative juices must not be flowing too well nowadays because this week brought news of yet two more forthcoming U.S. productions based on British television series. Both of the latest projects are emerging from the developmental stages at premium cable network HBO.
First up is Sex and the City’s Kim Cattrall, who will star in and executive produce an Americanized version of the British series Sensitive Skin. The comedy, which focuses on a middle-aged New Yorker who begins to explore and contemplate her sexuality (What? Are you surprised that’s what Cattrall is into?), ran …read more

Okay — we don’t know that for sure. But, what we do know is that the next television project for Ray Romano, the popular star of the late great-ish Everybody Loves Raymond, isn’t classified as a comedy or a dramedy. No, Ray fans. The next time you see Romano in a regular TV-show gig, he’s going to be acting in a drama.
Ahhh, the horror!
Or maybe not. The show in question is called Men of a Certain Age, and it not only stars Raymond alum Romano, but it’s being written and produced by Mike Royce, a writer …read more