Will Arnett Lands CBS Comedy as 'Up All Night' Hopes Dwindle

6:15 PM PST 2/20/2013 by Lacey Rose

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As his NBC comedy "Up All Night" remains on life support in the wake of a planned retooling and co-star Christina Applegate's exit, Arnett has signed on to star in another multicamera comedy.

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Will Arnett

Will Arnett has found his next gig.

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The star of NBC's struggling comedy Up All Night has inked a deal to headline Greg Garcia's untitled half-hour pilot at CBS. The unauthorized Greg Garcia project, as it is currently being billed, centers on a recently divorced man named Jack, whose life gets more complicated when his parents have marital problems of their own.

The Raising Hope showrunner, who recently moved from 20th Television to CBS TV Studios, is writing and executive producing the CBS pilot, with veteran director James Burrows on tap to helm the multicamera effort. Arnett is the first name cast in the project from CBS TV Studios, one of two Garcia has set up this season.

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Arnett's CBS role is in second position to Up All Night, though as The Hollywood Reporter recently reported, NBC execs are said to be strongly considering abandoning plans to keep the floundering series alive in the wake of star Christina Applegate's recent exit.

With a planned one-episode reboot - -transforming the series from a single-camera entry to a multi-camera, behind-the-scenes look at a struggling television series-- stalled, the writing staff is believed to be seeking new jobs. Perhaps ironically, NBC had hoped to salvage the Lorne Michaels-produced half-hour by hiring Burrows to tape one episode of a largely re-imagined show with Arnett and now pregnant co-star Maya Rudolph.

For Arnett, often high on pilot season wish lists, the potential new series would join Netflix's Arrested Development reboot on his current resume. The star, whose previous credits include Fox's Running Wilde and Sit Down Shut Up, is repped by WME, Principato-Young and attorney Neil Meyer of Stone, Meyer.

Kim Masters contributed to this report.

Email: Lacey.Rose@THR.com; Twitter: @LaceyVRose