ABC Family Greenlights Tori Spelling Comedy Pilot

By R. Thomas Umstead
( Broadcasting & Cable )
published

ABC Family will produce three new comedy pilots, including one featuring former Beverly Hills, 90210 star Tori Spelling, the network announced Friday.

Spelling will produce and star in Mystery Girls, which follows a former TV star who is lured into solving mysteries with her former mystery TV show co-star, said network officials.

Other pilots include Work Mom, written by Grant Levy and Dominik Rothbard (Bunheads) about a executive at a digital marketing firm who hires her recently unemployed mother; and Young and Hungry, executive produced by Kim Tannenbaum (Two and a Half Men)and Ashley Tisdale (High School Musical) about a well-off young tech entrepreneur who hires  a feisty young food blogger to be his personal chef.

These orders follow on the heels of ABC Family pick-ups of freshman series The Fosters and Twisted, as well as the third season of Switched at Birth and Baby Daddy and the fourth season of Melissa & Joey.

R. Thomas Umstead
R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.