CBS Greenlights Comedies From 'Will & Grace,' 'Friends' and 'Raising Hope' Scribes

5:37 PM PST 1/27/2012 by lrose

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Capping off a busy week, CBS has ordered three more comedies.

The top-rated network has ordered a half-hour comedy from Greg Berlanti and Friends’ Greg Malins, Partners, from Will & Grace creators David Kohan and Max Mutchnick and Friend Me, from Alan Kirschenbaum and Ajay Sahgal.

With Partners, Kohan and Mutchnick will turn the lens on their lives with a semi-autobiographical comedy about two male best friends -- one gay, one straight, who are both in serious relationships.The pair will write and executive produce the project.

The duo previously attempted a similar version of the concept with ABC and CBS but were unhappy with the script and casting. The 2007 CBS version starred Jay Mohr and Brian Austin Green, while ABC's 2008 incarnation starred Alan Tudyk, Josh Cooke and Ty Burrell. This interation hails from Warner Bros. Television and their KoMut Entertainment.

For its part, the untitled Malins-Berlanti comedy, which the pair will write and executive produce through Warner Brothers TV, centers on the character of Nick, who has a health scare and realizes Wendy, his best friend and business partner of 15 years, is ‘the one’. Now he has to figure out how to break it to her. The project marks Berlanti's second at the network. Earlier this week, CBS ordered to pilot cop drama Golden Boy.

Finally, Friend Me, set up at CBS Television Studios and The Tannenbaum Co, is being penned by Kirschenbaum (Raising Hope, My Name is Earl) and Sahgal. The comedy revolves around twenty-something best friends, Evan and Rob, who move from their hometown of Bloomington, Indiana to Los Angeles to begin their exciting new lives working at Groupon.

Evan is having trouble breaking his old slothful habits and rather than go out after work to explore LA and meet new people, prefers to play online poker with his buddies back home. Rob has different plans and is determined to drag Evan, kicking and screaming, along with him. Kirschenbaum and Sahgal are joined by Eric and Kim Tannenbaum as executive producers.