Aly signs with NBC for sitcom!

[Incarnadine]

From "Reuters"



Hannigan Takes Stab at NBC Sitcom

Sun October 12, 2003 08:34 PM ET

By Nellie Andreeva



LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" co-star Alyson Hannigan is returning to the small screen.



The actress, also of "American Pie" fame, has inked a talent deal with NBC to star in a comedy project for the network targeted for fall 2004.



"She has such a natural effervescence, she brought into 'Buffy' a real sense of humor to the role of Willow, and between that and the 'American Pie' movies, where she's so winning, we really think that this is the right time for her to try a half-hour comedy," NBC executive vp casting Marc Hirschfeld said.



Hannigan, who is meeting with writers and reading scripts, played Willow Rosenberg, the best friend of Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar), on Joss Whedon's cult series. On the big screen, she most recently reprised her role as the nerdy band camp lover Michelle Flaherty in "American Wedding."



www.reuters.com/newsArtic...ID=3600347

[Warduke]

SWEEET!

---

Firebird: One Browser To Rule Them All.

[xita]

Congratulations Aly!





And rumor has it, she's been married. What a greek weekend for her!

- - - - - - - - - - -
"Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose."

-Me & Bobby
McGee

[BytrSuite]

Wow! Excellent news!



Congratulations Aly!



That's pretty damn awesome.

________
"Oh, good! I was hoping to add theft, endangerment and insanity to my list of things I did today."
"Ah! You, too?"
(Stitch laughs delightedly)

[HOPE REIGNS]

WOO and HOO!!!













Some peolple do recognize real talent when they see it. Haaa HAaaaah aaaa.





A

Thank you Amber and Alyson!!

[taralicious]

Aly Rules! Now we get to see her comic side every week.

Edited by: Warduke at: 10/13/03 12:41 am

[TKOLove]

I couldn't be happier! Well ok, I suppose I could technically be happier. I could win the lottery (I'd probably have to play first)...and, Willow and Tara could be living in bliss on their own show each week....but, uhm, this is fantastic, too!!!



Yea, Alyson!

[werewolf123]

Now do we start campaigning for Amber to guest star?

[SJ]

That's great news

[maudmac]

This is sooooo great. It's going to be hard to wait almost a year for this. I want to see it now!



Good times for Aly these days. Very good times. I hope this is a phenomenal success.

---

I have often been adrift, but I have always stayed afloat.    --  David Berry,  The Whales of August

[Chino6069]

Its good news, but it worries me that in mentioning her character in Pie they will just be giving her more scripts that have her playing that kind of character.



As much as I loved her as Willow and Michelle, I want to see her develop and show more range if ya know what I mean.



This is great news that Aly is making a career for herself beyond Buffy.



Mo

[WillowPowered]

woohoo, you go girl - does my happy dance.



Jill

~~~~~~~~

Willow - Say, you all didn't happen to do a bunch of drugs did ya?



My Home Page



“Bite me” - the general, all-purpose response suitable for all occasions.

[WebWarlock]

This so great because this is exactly what she wanted.



Now she has the chance to really shine, not doing some depressing shit in the TV ghetto.



Wonderful, I can't wait.



Warlock

-----

Web Warlock

The Other Side,
home of Liber Mysterium: The Netbook of Witches and Warlocks: Available October 31st, 2003!

"I don't want to believe. I want to know." - Carl Sagan

[xita]

That is so true Tim. She wanted a sitcom and she wanted the right people working on it. I think NBC knows a thing or 2 about a successful comedy.

- - - - - - - - - - -
"Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose."

-Me & Bobby
McGee

[Hemiola]

Well, OK, there are some things I have to do:



1. Find out which night of the week the show will be on, so that I can tell all my friends, acquaintances, relatives, etc. that it is a reserved night, which means I may not be disturbed under penalty of death



2. Make space on my shelves since, of course, I will be taping all of the show's episodes .

[Puff]

This is wonderful news Congratulations to Aly on getting what she wanted. I can't wait to see her do a comedy sitcom.

---

So, the day started and I knew my name and had my pants on. So far, so good. Yay.
Amber Benson

[eccentrictulip]

woohoo!!!!!!

: :

~*I would like to be the air that inhabits your body for one moment

only. I would like to be that unnoticed and that necessary*~ Margaret

Atwood

[Warduke]

The news is up at Yahoo now...

Quote:

---

CASTING A SPELL: Willow's witchy powers seem to have rubbed off on portrayer Alyson Hannigan. The former Buffy sorceress recently made public her wish to star in a sitcom, and, like magic, her very own TV comedy appears! NBC has signed Hannigan to a talent holding deal, with an eye on creating a sitcom for the actress, Variety reports. The potential series could hit the airwaves as early as next fall. In the meantime, Buffy fans can catch Hannigan in a multi-episode arc on Fox's That '70s Show.

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Firebird: One Browser To Rule Them All.

[shuyaku]

NBC Stakes 'Buffy' Thesp

by Josef Adalian

Monday, Oct. 13, 2003

Quote:

---

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" vet Alyson Hannigan is yukking it up with NBC.



Peacock has made a talent holding and development deal with Hannigan with an eye on creating a comedy pilot for the actress. Signing comes after several networks made a bid for Hannigan and the actress publicly declared her desire to topline a sitcom during interviews to promote the August release of "American Wedding."



NBC development prexy Kevin Reilly said Hannigan is "a great personality for us to anchor a comedy with."



"America watched her grow up on these movies, and she's come into her own as a young woman." he told Daily Variety. "She's beautiful and funny and really charming. And she exudes a great spark comedically."



Peacock and Hannigan are already talking to potential writers about different projects. If the right project doesn't come together by the early part of pilot casting season next spring, Hannigan will be free to jump to a non-NBC project for fall 2004.



Net is shaping most of its talent holding deals is a similar fashion, offering talent more flexibility in exchange for less penalty coin upfront.



"It's a win-win for everyone," he said.



Hannigan will next be seen in a multiepisode arc of Fox's "That 70's Show" (Daily Variety, Oct. 1). She spent seven seasons playing good witch Willow on "Buffy" and appeared in all three "Pie" pics.



Deal was brokered by Innovative Artists and Lovett Management.

---

Cool!!



-shuyaku

------------------------------------

"Oh God, Willow—you’re giving me the gift of Karen Carpenter. Just when I think I grasp the full extent of your love." - Tara

"Why do birds suddenly appear? It’s because, you are queer…" - Willow (Gods Served and Abandoned by AntigoneUnbound)

[tyche]

This year's line-up of new sitcoms has been really dismal - I'm sure Aly will be one of the few bright spots in next autumn's line-up. Congratulations to her - and wouldn't it be great if Amber could do a guest spot?

The BBC also have the news:

Quote:

---

www.bbc.co.uk/cult/news/b...7343.shtml

Days after signing to guest on a leading American sitcom, Alyson Hannigan has been signed up by the NBC network to star in a brand-new comedy to premiere in late 2004.

The untitled comedy project is at the heart of a talent deal that NBC has agreed with the actress. What the sitcom might be about is still all to play for as yet. Hannigan is reportedly at the 'meeting writers and reading scripts' stage.

"Alyson has such a natural effervescence", said NBC executive Marc Hirschfeld, who was involved in her casting. "She brought into Buffy a real sense of humour to the role of Willow. Between that and the American Pie movies, we think this is the right time for her to try a half-hour comedy."

As for Alyson's upcoming guest spot on That 70s Show, she will reportedly play a new recruit at the police academy where Kelso (recent Rolling Stone cover-star Ashton Kutcher) is also enrolled.

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[urnofosiris]

This is great news. I hope she will land a few movie roles and/or TV appearances in the meantime. A year is far too long a wait.

The last mosquito that bit me had to check into the Betty Ford Clinic.

--Patsy Stone

Edited by: DrG at: 10/13/03 11:02 am

[Sheridan]

Really excellent news, and a sign the NBC does have taste. Now if she could just find herself something else this year that would keep her too busy for any other guest shots...

Willow: ...I have to tell you....

Tara: No, I understand you have to be with the person you l-love

Willow: I am

[willowlove]

Excellent news, and we must have more dancing bananas to celebrate it!







I'm just sitting here idly speculating on where the show could go. Thursday, perhaps? With "Friends" leaving, there'll be a spot available. Or maybe Tuesday, with "Frasier"'s almost certain exit. (Unless it got placed against "Gilmore Girls", at which point my reaction would be )



Of course it has to get on the air first, but even network programmers--not a group generally known for intelligence--have to see Aly's talent, right? Right.

"You forgot the first rule of mass media...give the people what they want!"--James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) to Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce) in "Tomorrow Never Dies" (1997)

[sam7777]

I'm so glad to see Aly move on. She's so talented and deserves a real forum for her talent. Between the 70's show and her new series which will go into development next spring, I doubt that Aly will have time for other guest shots. Now we know why Aly has been so mum about her future projects. She's obviously been working on this and NBC will be great exposure since it is the top network and not a loser netlet like WB and UPN. You go girl!!

_____________________

I see dead lesbian cliches

Edited by: sam7777  at: 10/13/03 4:39 pm

[Incarnadine]

More articles are popping up as the news spreads to to usual entertainment sources. The latest is this one:





story.news.yahoo.com/news...b_eo/12683



Hannigan Charms New Hubby





By Lia Haberman



Buffy's former spell-wielding sidekick has finally come into her own.







Alyson Hannigan married her longtime beau, Angel's Alexis Denisof (news), this weekend, E! News Live has confirmed.





On top of that, she's just inked a deal with NBC to star in her own sitcom, the network confirmed Monday. (Beats a five-piece place setting off the registry.)





No details on the Hannigan-Denisof nuptials were released, but it's the first marriage for both.





Denisof proposed last January while winsome twosome were visiting California's wine country. The union was a long time coming. Though he and Hannigan originally met on the set of Buffy the Vampire Slayer during the 1999-2000 season, the two didn't become an item right away.





"Actually, I had a crush on him from the moment he showed up on set, and he was the good one who said, 'Not while we're working together...' blah blah blah, whatever," Hannigan once told E! Online.





"So we became friends for a couple of years, and I was dating somebody else [Marilyn Manson drummer Ginger Fish (news)], and when that didn't work out, he was on Angel and we just started dating. We had always had a very flirty relationship."





Hannigan, who spent seven years on Buffy until the show ended last season, is unlikely to take an extended honeymoon with her new NBC gig looming.





The thesp, who expressed interest in headlining a comedy pilot while promoting American Wedding this August, was pursued by several networks but ultimately signed a talent holding and development deal with the Peacock.





NBC development prez Kevin Reilly told Variety Hannigan is "a great personality for us to anchor a comedy with."





"America watched her grow up on these movies, and she's come into her own as a young woman," said Reilly. "She's beautiful and funny and really charming. And she exudes a great spark comedically."





Already, NBC and the actress are meeting with potential writers to hear pitches. Per the deal, if nothing comes along by pilot casting season next spring, the red head is free to enter into negotiations with other networks for fall 2004.





The net is inking similar holding deals with much of its talent according to Reilly, offering actors more flexibility and less financial responsibility for the network.





"It's win-win for everybody," he said.





In the meantime, Hannigan will crack funny for That '70s Show. The actress is joining the Fox sitcom for a multi-episode arc this season. She'll play a new recruit at the police academy where Ashton Kutcher (news)'s character, Kelso, enrolls.



Hannigan, who got her start in 1988's My Stepmother is an Alien opposite fellow Scooby Seth Green (news), has starred in all three American Pie movies as band camp geek turned leading sexpot Michelle Flaherty.





Denisof, who continues to play Angel's brainy buddy Wesley Wyndham-Pryce, previously starred in Disney's video sequel Tarzan & Jane and the 1995 Sean Connery (news)-Richard Gere (news) Camelot flick First Knight. He and Hannigan also costarred in last year's straight-to-video dud Rip It Off.

[Tempest Duer]

NBC is now officially on my "good" list... Aly... *sigh*

Choosing not to decide is still a choice.

[Grimaldi]

cool, now i'll have a reason to watch NBC

I'm not stealing, I'm just taking things without paying for them. In what twisted dictionary is that stealing?
Why do we have to resort to non-violence? Couldn't we just kick their asses instead?

[scifiacid]

OMG this is so brilliant. What a week for Aly, a new sitcom and a wedding!

Edited by: Warduke at: 10/14/03 1:04 pm

[MelanieCFan1]

Awesome!

Edited by: Warduke at: 10/15/03 1:13 pm

[emma peel]

OMG! I just realized the possibility of Aly and Mariska Hargitay on the same network.

Oh, be still, my beating heart!

Janice