NBC has given an early 12-episode order to Working the Engels, a new comedy starring SCTV alum Andrea Martin that’s being targeted for the 2014-15 season, THR reports. The sitcom is a co-production between Canadian company Halfire-Core Entertainment and NBC, the first-ever time a US and Canadian broadcaster have teamed up on a show.
Martin, who recently won a Tony and a bunch of other awards for her role in the current Broadway revival of Pippin, stars in the sitcom as Celia “Ceil†Engel, a self-involved but loving mom. When her husband passes away and leaves the family with a lot of debt, Ceil and her kids must work together to keep his storefront law firm afloat — only her daughter Jenna is the only one with a law degree. Working the Engels was created by Katie Ford (Miss Congeniality, Desperate Housewives) and Jane Ford (Canadian series Listen Missy). This is the second show NBC has given a straight-to-series order to for 2014-15 after a new project created by Tina Fey and starring Ellie Kemper, which received a 13-episode order from the network.