Tracy Letts Comedy SUPERIOR DONUTS to Be Adapted for CBS Pilot

Variety reports that Jermaine Fowler will star in a new CBS comedy pilot SUPERIOR DONUTS, based on Tracy Letts 2008 play. Fowler will also serve as a co-executive producer.

The multi-camera comedy will center on "the relationship between the owner of a donut shop, his new young employee and their patrons in a gentrifying neighborhood of Chicago." Fowler will take on the role of Franco, described as "the highly energetic new employee at the donut shop, working under the owner, ARTHUR (yet to be cast). As gentrification looms, Franco sees Superior Donuts as a symbol of everything he loves about the neighborhood with its authenticity and realness, so he makes it his mission to drag the shop - and ARTHUR - into the 21st century."

The project will be penned by Neil Goldman, Garrett Donovan and Bob Daily, who will executive produce along with Mark Teitelbaum, John Montgomery, Michael Rotenberg and Josh Lieberman. CBS Television Studios will produce. Daily will also serve as showrunner.

Steppenwolf's 2009 production of SUPERIOR DONUTS transferred to Broadway's Music Box Theatre in September of that year. The full ensemble cast from the original Chicago production, Jon Michael Hill, Yasen Peyankovand James Vincent Meredith with Jane Alderman, Kate Buddeke, Cliff Chamberlain, Michael Garvey, Robert Maffia and Michael McKean reprised their roles for the Broadway run.

"Superior Donuts" was written by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winner Tracy Letts. The production, directed by ensemble member Tina Landau, enjoyed a sold-out, world-premiere at Steppenwolf Theatre Company.

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