Lily Tomlin to Star in ABC Comedy Pilot MALIBU COUNTRY

As first reported on Deadline.com, Emmy and Tony award winning comedian Lily Tomlin is set to return to primetime TV, starring in ABC's upcoming TV pilot MALIBU COUNTRY opposite Reba McEntire.

The pilot tells the tale of Reba Gallagher (McEntire) who, "after her “good ol boy” rock star husband cheats on her and burns through most of their money, divorces him and moves her family from Nashville to the only asset she has left — a little house in Malibu." In her new surroundings, she will attempt to restart her singing career and keep her kids from being influenced by the materialistic and shallow world of Malibu. 

Tomlin will play Shirley, described as Reba’s "classically Southern, warm and funny (not always intentionally) mother who joins the family in their move from Nashville to Malibu." The project will be executive produced by Kevin Abbottt, McEntire, Mindy Schultheis, Michael Hanel, Narvel Blackstock, Dave Stewart and Pam Williams.

Spanning 40 years, Lily Tomlin's body of work has won her several Tony Awards and Emmy Awards, as well as a Grammy Award. She is best known for her larger-than-life and still-believable Laugh-In TV characters – Ernestine, the snappy telephone operator, and Edith Ann, the devilish six-year-old.

Additional highlights of her career include her long-running Broadway show and film The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, written and directed by her partner in showbiz and life, Jane Wagner. Tomlin has also captured the hearts and imaginations of millions in box-office hits such as Nashville (her Oscar-nominated film debut), 9 to 5 with Dolly Parton and Jane Fonda, All of Me with Steve Martin, Big Business with Bette Midler, I Heart Huckabees with Dustin Hoffman and A Prairie Home Companion, in which she and Meryl Streep appear as a sister singing act.

The comedian's TV credits include recurring roles Murphy Brown, Desperate Housewives and The West Wing. 

 

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