Melissa McCarthy Image: Michael Buckner/Getty Images
Melissa McCarthy and husband Ben Falcone, both Groundlings alums, have just inked a deal to executive produce Friends with Melissa, a single-camera comedy, where McCarthy will guest star in the pilot episode. Friends with Melissa is written, executive produced and inspired by the real lives of Hugh Davidson, Larry Dorf and Rachel Ramras who witnessed McCarthy and Falcone and their friends from The Groundlings go on to star in blockbuster comedies and win Oscars as they toiled away writing for children’s television.
McCarthy and Falcone’s Friends with Melissa is the latest of several other production projects in development with TVLand, along with I Shudder which will star Hamish Linklater (Fantastic Four) and be produced by Dan Jinks and Paul Rudnick; and an untilted John Wells/John Riggi/Warner Horizon Television project inspired on the life of Kyle Richards from The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.