Nellie Andreeva

Days after ABC passed on comedy pilot The Kings Of Van Nuys starring John Leguizamo, the network has lined up another half-hour project toplined by the ER alum based on his life as a husband, father and fish out of water on the upper West Side of New York. Woven into this world are his privileged wife, his friends from his life back in the Bronx, his mother and grandfather who try to keep him grounded in his Latin roots, and his own kids who he worries are getting spoiled and losing touch with reality. Leguizamo will co-write the story for the untitled single-camera comedy with former Family Guy executive producer/co-showrunner Chris Sheridan. Sheridan will write the teleplay and will executive produce with Leguizamo, Leguizamo’s longtime manager Jeff Golenberg of the Collective as well as Mandeville’s David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman.

The project has been in the works since early February when Leguizamo signed a deal with ABC and ABC Studios with the intention to develop a single-camera comedy inspired by his professional, personal and family life in New York City for him to star in and executive produce with Golenberg and Mandeville, the company he worked with on Edison. But just a week later, Leguizamo was cast in the ABC/ABC Studios multi-camera pilot The Kings Of Van Nuys (then Only Fools And Horses). Earlier this development season, Sheridan was brought in to Leguizamo’s semi-autobiographical project, which continued to be dormant because, after passing on the Kings Of Van Nuys pilot in May, ABC brass ordered a new, reworked version of the adaptation of the UK series Only For Fools And Horses. The second pilot got a pass a couple of days ago, clearing the way for Leguizamo’s other project. In addition to the John Leguizamo project,Sheridan is writing another single-camera comedy for ABC based on his life, which he is executive producing with Seth Gordon, who may direct, for Amblin Television and Sony Pictures TV.

TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.