TVSquad

Sorry, gang, I've been away for awhile so everyone stand back while I dump a big pile of casting news all over the floor (try not to get any on you):

John Michael Higgins will star in the new ABC comedy pilot The Thick of It, and by "new" I mean it's yet another remake of a British sitcom. It's being helmed by Arrested Development creator and will also star Oliver Platt, Alex Borstein (Family Guy) and Michael McKean. The pilot is being directed by Christopher Guest.

Also, on ABC, Mark Moses of Desperate Housewives has joined a comedy pilot as a senator whose daughter (Michelle Trachtenberg) falls in love with a staff member (Eric Christian Olsen) of his rival.

Family of the Year, another ABC pilot, recently added Alan Ruck and Jennifer Coolidge to the cast.

Rosa Blasi (Strong Medicine) has joined the CW comedy pilot Eight Days a Week. The series focuses on the lives of four assistants living in New York. Blasi will play a publicist and boss to one of the young women. Anna Chlumsky will play the lead.

Also, yet another angel/demon/heaven/hell/whatever pilot is in the works: this time a comedy for the CW called Hell on Earth about a mean girl who gets hit by a bus and sent back from purgatory for a second chance at life. Kim Coles of Living Single has been cast as an angel.

The FOX comedy pilot Playing Chicken, about two brothers with opposing political beliefs, one of which has been paralyzed in an accident, recently added Alanna Ubach, who will play a physical therapist.

Josh Dean has joined The Beast, another new pilot based on a popular British sitcom. The series focuses on a womanizing veterinarian who hates animals, played by Steve Howey. Dean will play Howey's assistant.

[via Zap 2 It and The Hollywood Reporter]