Trek Alumni In 'Happy Family'

John Larroquette and Susan Gibney star together in a new comedy pilot for NBC scheduled to premiere in September 2003, according to Startrek.com.

The pilot for Happy Family, filmed earlier this week, concerns a pair of empty nesters who want to enjoy the peace and quiet of their new stage of life, but their adult children return home. NBC is planning to introduce this sitcom along with several others in the fall as the network seeks a replacement for Friends and several other aging comedies in its lineup, according to Yahoo! Entertainment News.

Larroquette played luckless Klingon Commander Maltz in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, yet is best known for his eponymous John Larroquette Show, which also ran on NBC. The show enjoyed three successful seasons as a hard-edged dark comedy before NBC made controversial changes and cancelled the show in its fourth season.

Gibney, who appeared as scientist Leah Brahms on Star Trek: The Next Generation and as war-ready Captain Erika Benteen on Deep Space Nine, was reportedly a favorite with executive producers Rick Berman and Jeri Taylor to play Captain Kathryn Janeway on Voyager before UPN began to seek a better-known actress for the lead role. Gibney was a regular on NBC's Crossing Jordan.

Happy Family will have to vie for a spot in the NBC fall schedule against new sitcoms starring Whoopi Goldberg, Tom Selleck and Heather Locklear among others. NBC Entertainment president Jeff Zucker said that it is "really the comedy side that is our focus next season".

More information can be found in this article at Yahoo! TV and in the original bullet here at Startrek.com.

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