Kari Lizer sitcom gets NBC pilot order as Jamie Lee Curtis joins Jane Lynch and Katey Sagal - here's what we know 

Kari Lizer has won a pilot order at NBC on a multi-camera comedy to be untitled that features Katey Sagal and Jane Lynch. Among other things, the project is one of a series of comedy pilots ordered by the network as part of the development process of the 2026-27 television season.

The report was released alongside the announcement of another NBC comedy pilot featuring Jamie Lee Curtis, and there was an initial point of confusion in the aggregated media. Nonetheless, Kari Lizer is actually a different pilot with Lynch and Sagal in the middle and with its own creative team and premise.

At this point, the sitcom by Kari Lizer is just a pilot-only venture.

What NBC’s pilot order means

A pilot order given by the NBC network indicates that it has given the green light to produce a pilot episode to be reviewed internally. This move will enable the executives to evaluate how the creative execution of the show is performed and how well the show fits into the programming strategy of the network.

In the case of the sitcom of Kari Lizer, the pilot order is not a series pick-up. As usual, the project will be screened with other pilots that will be ordered in the same cycle. NBC has not specified a date by which decisions are to be made or how many comedy pilots will end up going into production.

Kari Lizer, as creator and executive producer

Kari Lizer is the developer of the untitled comedy pilot and also the executive producer. Her greatest contribution was the development of The New Adventures of Old Christine, which ran through five seasons and continues to be one of the landmarks on which her television career has been founded.

Trade reporting does not imply a change of format and approach in this new project. Rather than that, the sitcom keeps the focus on character-based comedy that Lizer established. On top of the basic premise, no additional creative or tonal information has been released by NBC.

Premise of the untitled sitcom

The Kari Lizer sitcom is a budding comedy, according to the trade description, that is based on two lifelong friends who are working as therapists. Jane Lynch features as a character called Jill, and Katey Sagal as a character called Ginger.

The series is vaguely based on the real-life best friends Pepper Schwartz and Janet Lever, whose careers and relationship, based on their friendship is the basis of the fictional one depicted in the pilot. The concept is built around friendship over the long term rather than workplace relations or family dynamics, with the characters' shared history taking center stage in the story.

NBC has issued no synopsis or episode format and little other story details other than this bare description.

Jane Lynch and Katey Sagal attached as leads

Jane Lynch and Katey Sagal are verified to lead in the pilot, and the project development revolves around them. The trade also covers both actors as executive producers.

Their appearance indicates a more performance-based storytelling-based project, though NBC has not confirmed the attachment of any other cast members or whether the pilot will have an extensive ensemble in addition to the two leads.

Production and studio information

Paramount television studios are the producer of the pilot. Besides Kari Lizer, Jane Lynch, and Katey Sagal, there is one more executive producer, Krista Vernoff.

NBC has not revealed timelines and filming locations of production or the time that the pilot will be completed. Such details are normally announced only when a project reaches an advanced stage, as in the case of most pilots at this stage.

The other NBC comedy pilot and Jamie Lee Curtis

Jamie Lee Curtis does not feature in the cast of the sitcom by Kari Lizer. Trade reporting links Curtis to another comedy pilot commissioned by NBC on the same development.

The other pilot is reported in the coverage of trade as a later-in-life romantic comedy and has a creative team. Curtis has been hired behind the scenes. The trades are silent about her participating in the project, and they do not place her participation in relation to the sitcom of Kari Lizer.

Announcing the two pilots

Kari Lizer's comedy of therapists will always be linked with Jane Lynch and Katey Sagal, and Jamie Lee Curtis with the pilot of the separate romantic comedy.

The trades do not put much emphasis on the differences between the projects other than listing creators, premises, and essential attachments. They also do not pitch the pilots as rivalrous or thematically connected, except that they are on the same development list.

This clustering form of announcement led to a certain initial confusion in aggregated coverage, although the trade descriptions themselves are consistent.

Status Quo of sitcom by Kari Lizer

At this point, the sitcom by Kari Lizer is just a pilot-only venture. NBC has not placed the show as a series and has not yet even specified how it will be aired or further developed beyond the pilot episode.

The project will also be reviewed internally after production, and with other comedy pilots commissioned at the same time. There is no timeframe that has been given to when NBC might make the announcement of which pilots should proceed or not.

The role of Kari Lizer in the comedy development of NBC

The pilot of Kari Lizer is part of the wider strategy of NBC in its approach to the development of comedy, which still tries to test the character-driven sitcoms of experienced writers and well-established actors. The move by the network to place orders on several comedy pilots indicates a tactic of testing various tones and formats before placing orders on series.

Trade reporting, however, does not imply that any of the pilots has priority or a clear route to go. The project by Kari Lizer still remains one of the projects under consideration.

NBC has greenlit an untitled multi-camera comedy pilot written and featuring Jane Lynch and Katey Sagal as lifelong friends and therapists. The project is produced by Paramount Television Studios, with Lizer, Lynch, Sagal, and Vernoff as executive producers.

The pilot was greenlit together with another NBC comedy pilot connected to Jamie Lee Curtis, but the two projects are separate and have different production teams. Jamie Lee Curtis is not connected to Kari Lizer’s sitcom.

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Currently, both projects are in development and have not received a series order yet. Kari Lizer’s sitcom will proceed only after NBC has finished evaluating the pilots.

Also read: "I was lucky because my vanity was not my meal ticket": Jamie Lee Curtis talks about major difference between her and her parents

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