Molly Shannon Chris Parnell Yvette Nicole Brown - H 2014
AP ImagesUSA Network’s Benched has secured three comedy veterans.
Saturday Night Live alums Molly Shannon and Chris Parnell have joined the Eliza Coupe courtroom comedy series, along with Community star Yvette Nicole Brown, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. All three will guest-star in the first season.
Benched is a single-camera comedy that centers on Nina (Coupe), a dedicated, career-driven corporate attorney who has a public nervous breakdown after getting passed up for an expected promotion, and finds herself working as a public defender.
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Shannon will play Judge Conner, a sexy, mature judge who walks the line between flirtatious and predatory. Parnell will portray Mitch, a glad-handing public defender from Pasadena who consistently schmoozes his way to Los Angeles Defender of the Year. Brown has been cast as Donna, a head clerk in the courthouse who is a stickler for bureaucratic rules and regulations.
They join previously announced guest stars, writing partners Jim Rash and Nat Faxon; Jay Harrington also co-stars in the half-hour series from ABC Signature and The Mark Gordon Co. Executive producers are Michaela Watkins, Damon Jones and John Enbom, the latter of whom will serve as showrunner, along with Mark Gordon and Andrea Shay.
Shannon is repped by UTA, Framework Entertainment and attorney Steve Warren. Parnell, coming off a three-season run on ABC’s Suburgatory, next co-stars in NBC’s Bad Judge; he is repped by UTA and Mosaic. Brown, wrapping up five seasons on NBC’s Community, is repped by Innovative Artists and Kazarian Measures Ruskin.
Email: Philiana.Ng@THR.com
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