Farragut High School graduate Ben Garant and writing partner Tom Lennon - both of whom penned and starred in "Reno 911!" for Comedy Central - have a pilot deal with NBC.
The two are whipping up a comedy that would star Lennon and co-star Garant. A premise has not been announced yet.
"Our entire team has long been fans of the work Lennon and Garant have done on 'Reno 911!' as well as their comedy films," NBC president of primetime entertainment Angela Bromstad told the Hollywood Reporter, noting that network brass will look for the duo "to come up with a comedy hit."
Besides this NBC series, Lennon and Garant have several upcoming film projects, including "How to Survive a Robot Uprising,"; "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,"The Devil You Know" and "The Incredible Shrinking Man."
"We had the best meeting with the heads of NBC ever," says Garant. "They were nice, smart, respectful. It was great.
"They want a show with our sensibility, to go into their super awesome 'The Office/30 Rock' line-up.
"They wanted us to come us with a multi-camera show, so it wouldn't be quite as pricey as the other comedies on that night. So we're all over it. (It's) pretty exciting."
Lennon is also eager about the prospect of working with a major network. "I must say we're very excited to be doing a comedy show for the network that's doing the best comedies on TV," he says.
"Reno 911!" was abruptly canceled by Comedy Central a few weeks ago. The series ran for six years and had been among their most consistent hits.
Lennon and Garant also created sketch show "The State" for MTV and the comedy "Viva Variety" for Comedy Central.
Garant is a Tennessee native and grew up in Farragut. After graduating from Farragut High School, he moved to New York and began his comedy career.
Terry Morrow may be reached at morrowt@knoxville.com or 865-342-6445. His blog can be found at http://blogs.knoxnews.com/knx/telebuddy/. He contributes to "Live At Five At Four" on WBIR, Channel 10, and "The Marc & Kim & Frank Show" on WWST-FM, 102.1.
© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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