Emmy winners Allison Janney and Tony Shalhoub are finalizing deals to star in Greg Daniels’ NBC comedy pilot Friday Night Dinner. The single-camera project, based on the British format, centers on a quirky family that has dinner together every Friday night. Janney will play Barbara and Shalhoub will play Gene, the matriarch and patriarch of the family. On the British series the roles are played by Tamsin Greig and Paul Ritter. Daniels is executive producing the pilot with Howard Klein and the original series’ creator Robert Popper and producer Big Talk TV.
Ken Kwapis, who helmed the pilot for Daniels’ NBC adaptation of another British comedy, The Office, is on board to direct. The casting brings together Janney, four-time Emmy winner for The West Wing; Shalhoub, 3-time Emmy winner for Monk; and Greg Daniels, five-time Emmy winner for SNL, The Simpsons, King Of The Hill and The Office. WME-repped Janney is coming off an ensemble SAG Award win for The Help. ICM-repped Shalhoub co-stars in the upcoming HBO movie Hemingway & Gellhorn.
