Duo secure roles on 'Hawaii,' 'Edgar'

11:09 PM PDT 10/13/2010 by Nellie Andreeva, AP

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Jean Smart to CBS remake; Tom Cavanagh tapped as lead

From a First Lady to a Governor.

Jean Smart, who earned two Emmy nominations for her role as First Lady Martha Logan on Fox's "24" has joined CBS' "Hawaii Five-O" remake, playing Hawaii Governor Pat Jameson.

In other pilot castings, former "Ed" star Tom Cavanagh has closed a deal to play the lead in ABC's drama pilot "Edgar Floats."

The new "Hawaii" centers on an elite branch of the Hawaii State Police headed by Steve McGarrett (Alex O'Loughlin) and answerable only to the governor (Smart) who is described as "a local Hawaiian with a Washingtonian's backbone" and a completely honest politician.

With women having made great strides in politics in the forty years since the original series, the creators of the updated "Hawaii," "Star Trek" writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci and "CSI: NY' executive producer Peter Lenkov, went for a gender switch. On the original, Gov. Paul Jameson was played by Richard Denning.

Smart, who is billed as a guest star in the "Hawaii" pilot, most recently co-starred on the ABC comedy "Samantha Who?" which earned her an Emmy.

"Edgar Floats" is about a police psychologist (Cavanagh) who becomes a bounty hunter.

The project was close to setting up a "Friends" reunion.

David Schwimmer was approached for the role, which would have brought him to the same network that houses his former cast mates Courteney Cox (freshman series "Cougar Town") and Matthew Perry (pilot "Mr. Sunshine").

Cavanagh, who has recurred on the NBC/ABC comedy "Scrubs," most recently starred on the TNT drama "Trust Me."