Jake Johnson will play a private detective in NBC Comedy Pilot
Jake Johnson will star in Dan Goor and Luke Del Tredici’s comedy pilot at NBC. Variety has learned.
Additionally, Akiva Schaffer (“The Naked Gun,” “Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping”) is on board the pilot as director and executive producer.
Few plot details are available for the untitled single-camera show, with the logline simply stating the pilot: “Continues the proud tradition of Los Angeles private investigators that began with Philip Marlowe and will end with this show.” It was picked up as a pilot by NBC in January.
Johnson’s character is named Mickey. He is described as “Smart, cynical, and heartbroken, but Mickey tries to pretend he isn’t. Mickey is a private detective with a knack for solving cases. Formerly an LAPD officer until his life imploded three years ago.”
Whether Johnson’s private detective character will be hard-boiled, soft-boiled, or even poached remains to be seen.
Johnson is best known for playing the grumpy Nick Miller on the hit Fox sitcom “New Girl.” The show aired for seven seasons from 2011 to 2018. Since then, he has starred in shows like the animated comedy “Hoops” on Netflix and the 1970s porn magazine comedy “Minx” on HBO Max/Starz. He then has the series “Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed” on Apple TV. In film, Johnson is known for his work in the hit animated film franchise “Spider-Verse” as well as films such as “Let’s Be Cops,” “Jurassic World,” “Ride the Eagle” and “Self Reliance.” He also wrote and produced the last two films, with Johnson making his feature film debut with “Self Reliance.”
Johnson is represented by UTA and Jackoway Austen Tyerman.
Goor and Del Tredici are co-writing the pilot and are executive producers. Schaffer will executive produce, while Johnson will produce in addition to starring. Universal Television is the studio.
This isn’t the only private investigator pilot currently in the works at NBC. The Peacock Network is also preparing a reboot of “The Rockford Files,” starring David Boreanaz as Jim Rockford.
