Nellie Andreeva

A dozen years after Jim Gaffigan got his first sitcom-starring role on CBS‘ Welcome To New York, the actor-comedian is one step from another comedy series on CBS as the network has greenlighted a half-hour pilot based on his life. Gaffigan is partnered with Peter Tolan on the project, which landed at CBS with a put pilot commitment in September. Gaffigan and Tolan co-wrote the story, and Tolan wrote the script for the project, which centers on a guy who lives with his wife and five kids in a 2-bedroom New York apartment. Sony Pictures TV, where Tolan and Michael Wimer’s company Fedora Entertainment is based, is producing, with Gaffigan, Tolan and Wimer executive producing alongside Gaffigan’s manager, Brillstein Entertainment’s Alex Murray. Gaffigan’s most recent comedy album, Mr. Universe, is nominated for a Grammy; his book, Dad Is Fat, for Crown Publishing is due out June 2013.

So far, two of CBS’ three comedy pilot orders have gone to single-camera projects: Rob Greenberg’s off-cycle pilot and the Gaffigan comedy, underlying the network’s commitment to launching a single-camera comedy series. The network also has a multi-camera pilot from Chuck Lorre, Mom, which stars Anna Faris.

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