Kevin Sorbo is ready to segue to the lighter side of television. Sorbo <...> has inked a deal with ABC that calls for the network to develop a comedy project for the actor. <...> "I love the sitcom format -- I like the experience of doing a miniature play each week," Sorbo said. The actor has just started the process of meeting with producers and writers. He's open to a range of concepts but is partial to engaging another one of his passions by doing something set in the world of sports a la ABC's long-running "Coach." "I'm not Jerry Lewis. I don't really do the fall-down stuff," Sorbo said. "I like the kind of observational humor that George Carlin does. They can surround me with wacky (characters) and I'll be the sane one who anchors the group." (26.08.04 Reuters/Hollywood Reporter)

<...> Sorbo inked a talent holding deal with ABC earlier this year, and Kemp has come on board to write and exec produce the project via Touchstone Television. Eric Gold also is aboard to exec produce the skein, expected to be a family comedy. (15.10.04 Variety)

Kevin Sorbo: "I got a pilot with ABC for a new sitcom for the fall of 2005. <...> Barry Kemp. He created "Coach" which went nine years and created the "Newhart" show and also one of the head writers on "Taxi", so he has got a pretty good resume." (01.11.04 John McEnroe, TV)

ABC, in desperate need of some hit sitcoms, has ordered five comedy pilots for next season, including a project starring Kevin Sorbo of "Hercules" and "Andromeda" fame. Sorbo is attached to "Bobby Cannon," about a pro football quarterback nearing retirement who has to mentor his replacement while figuring out what to do with the rest of his life. <...> (08.02.05 Reuters/Hollywood Reporter)

Starved for new comedy hits, the broadcast networks are feasting on half-hour pilot orders for the 2005-06 season. "This year there is a dramatic rise in the number of comedy pilots being produced," Warner Bros. Television president Peter Roth said. "This speaks to the belief that there is a hunger for comedy by the American public." <...> But given the dwindling amount of new comedies that actually made it to air last season -- not to mention the erosion of many of the genre's veterans -- skepticism is considerable that casting a wider net will result in a bumper crop making it to air. <...> Not a single new 2004-05 sitcom has managed to break out of the pack, while the number of new half-hours that have reached hit status since 2000 can be counted on one hand. <...> ABC is considering more traditional series with such stars as Freddie Prinze Jr. and Kevin Sorbo attached. <...> (01.03.05 Hollywood Reporter)

A March 29 production has been set for Kevin Sorbo's "Bobby Cannon" pilot for ABC - which could add contemporary guy to Sorbo's series identities as a mythical hero of the past ("Hercules: The Legendary Journeys") and a spaceman of the future ("Andromeda"). The show has Sorbo as a soon-to-retire star Chicago Bears quarterback who's spooked by the team's hiring of a young QB [quarterback]. The writer-director on the project is Barry Kemp. (20.03.05 Northwest Herald Online)

<...> On Wednesday, April 6, "The Young & The Restless" popular Thad Luckinbill will suit up for what may be the most important game of his life: to tape the pilot for "Bobby Cannon", a comedy from ABC about a pro quarterback (Kevin Sorbo) who, as he nears retirement, must mentor his young replacement, Dallas, who is played by Luckinbill. Likening the tone of "Bobby Cannon" to both "Cheers" and "Coach", Luckinbill says, "Dallas is in awe of Bobby. He is the reason that Dallas thought he could actually do something with football and make it into the pros." While the actor hopes for a touchdown in May, when pilots get picked up for the fall <...> he is open to juggling both gigs. (05-19.04.05 CBS Soaps)