· Congratulations to Rachael Leigh Cook who has landed a leading role in Fox's comedy pilot Nirvana. In the potential series, the She's All That actress plays the white girlfriend of an Indian-American. The show follows two Indian-American brothers who have a disagreement with their immigrant parents as they adjust to American culture. Canadian-born Indian-American Ajay Sahgal is producing and directing the project, which is largely based on Sahgal's own experience adjusting to an American lifestyle and marrying a white woman (Lie to Me's Kelli Williams). NBC tinkered with the series, then called Nevermind Nirvana in 2004. [THR]
Fox inches towards a small-scale Arrested Development reunion, Nicollette Sheridan finds her inner stage mom, and more TV Bites after the jump.
· Fox is close to ordering a pilot from Arrested Development creator Mitch Hurwitz that would co-star Will Arnett. The still-untitled half-hour comedy stars Arnett as a rich Beverly Hills jackass who falls in love with a charitable tree-hugging woman who can't stand his lifestyle or values. The series was picked up by the network last August with a script commitment and was recently moved from Sony Pictures TV to Lionsgate. [Variety]
· Nicollette Sheridan will star opposite Paul Kaye in the untitled Ant Hines comedy pilot at CBS. The semi-scripted project, directed by Larry Charles, features Kaye as a British lowlife moving to L.A. to reconnect with his daughter, a precocious teen superstar. Sheridan will play the girl's over-the-top stage mother. [THR]
· Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica) has been cast as the lead in ABC's untitled Richard Hatem pilot. Sackhoff will star as a beautiful female detective who teams with a disgraced ex-cop to solve crimes and untangle the conspiracy that sent him underground. [THR]
· In other casting news, Ugly Betty actress Becki Newton has been tapped for NBC's hour-long romantic comedy pilot called Love Bites. The project, executive produced by Sex and the City's Cindy Chupack, will follow three loosely connected stories of love, dating and marriage each week. Newton will play a hopeless romantic named Annie who also happens to be a virgin. [EW]
· Another Sex and the City writer/producer has found work: Jenny Bicks has joined Showtime's upcoming comedy series, The Big C as an executive producer/showrunner. Laura Linney stars in the project, as a suburban wife and mother who makes some big life changes after being diagnosed with cancer. Bill Condon directed the pilot. [THR]