Lisa Kudrow Gets Work, Completes Friends Employment Phenomenon

It's been a busy month for the esteemed alumni of Friends. ABC picked up Courteney Cox's Cougar Town for a full season. Matt LeBlanc finally rebounded from Joey with a Showtime satire about the perils of stardom. According to IMDB, Jennifer Aniston has no less than seven projects in development. David Schwimmer is slated to direct a Clive Owen indie. And Matthew Perry is co-writing and exec producing a comedy series inspired by -- himself. Now, Lisa Kudrow can get back to regular work as well. To see which network saved Kudrow from a Smelly Cat American tour, and which Oscar-winning actress will join her, follow us after the jump.

Kudrow will join LeBlanc at Showtime, where she and her Comeback executive producer Dan Bucatinsky are developing a comedy based on Craig Chester's memoir Why the Long Face?: The Adventures of a Truly Independent Actor, tentatively titled Rapture. The story is about Chester's "childhood as the gay son in a family of born-again Christian parents and his experiences as a thesp in the indie film world."

Longtime Kudrow collaborator Don Roos has already agreed to direct if the series is picked up for pilot. The actress will be joined onscreen by Susan Sarandon and Sarah Jessica Parker. Variety reports that a premiere date will be announced soon. And while each alum simultaneously finding work after a major hit sitcom is unprecedented (sorry Cheers and Seinfeld), chances are that at most, two Friends will find success off of these projects. Our money stays on Aniston and Cox.

· Kudrow, Bucatinsky feel 'Rapture' [Variety]