Molly Shannon Joins Showtime Comedy Pilot BIG DEAL

Three-time Emmy nominee Molly Shannon (The Other Two) has signed on to star in the half-hour comedy pilot BIG DEAL, starring and executive produced by Emmy nominee Vanessa Bayer (Saturday Night Live). If the project is picked up to series, Shannon would appear as a series regular. Bayer co-created BIG DEAL with Emmy nominee Jeremy Beiler (Saturday Night Live, Inside Amy Schumer), who will also executive produce. Emmy winner Jessi Klein (Inside Amy Schumer, BLACK MONDAY, Big Mouth) will serve as showrunner and executive produce along with Michael Showalter (The Big Sick, Wet Hot American Summer, The Lovebirds), who will direct, as well as Annapurna's Megan Ellison and Sue Naegle and Jordana Mollick of Semi-Formal.

Produced by SHOWTIME, BIG DEAL is a grounded comedy in which Bayer plays a character, inspired by her own past, who overcame childhood leukemia to achieve her lifelong dream of landing a job as a successful home shopping channel host. Shannon will star as Jackie, the charismatic, popular host at the network.

Shannon is known for her Emmy-nominated tenure on Saturday Night Live, along with Emmy-nominated performances in Will & Grace and Enlightened and memorable roles in Wet Hot American Summer and Divorce. She also won a Film Independent Spirit Award for her role in Other People. Shannon is currently in production on the second season of The Other Two, for which she garnered a Critics' Choice Award nomination and can be seen in Horse Girl opposite Alison Brie and the upcoming Promising Young Women with Carey Mulligan.

BIG DEAL is executive produced by Vanessa Bayer, Jeremy Beiler and Jessi Klein, along with Megan Ellison and Sue Naegle of Annapurna and Michael Showalter and Jordana Mollick of Semi-Formal.

Showtime Networks Inc. (SNI), a wholly owned subsidiary of ViacomCBS Inc., owns and operates the premium television networks SHOWTIME®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ and FLIX®, and also offers Showtime ON DEMAND®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ ON DEMAND and FLIX ON DEMAND®, and the network's authentication service Showtime ANYTIME®. Showtime Digital Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of SNI, operates the stand-alone streaming service SHOWTIME®. Showtime is currently available to subscribers via cable, DBS, and telco providers, and as a stand-alone streaming service through Amazon, Apple®, Google, LG Smart TVs, Oculus Go, Roku®, Samsung Smart TVs and Xbox One. Consumers can also subscribe to Showtime via Amazon's Prime Video Channels, Apple TV Channels, AT&T TV Now, FuboTV, Hulu, The Roku Channel, Sling TV and Youtube TV. Viewers can also watch on computers at Showtime.com. SNI markets and distributes sports and entertainment events for exhibition to subscribers on a Pay-Per-View basis through Showtime PPV®. For more information, go to www.SHO.com.