May, then-Fox chairman Kevin Reilly didn’t pick up any of the five produced comedy pilots to series, instead upping the order of previously ordered Mulaney from 6 to 16 episodes. At the time, Reilly entered talks with Universal TV for a six-episode order to Matt Hubbard’s Cabot College, executive produced by Tina Fey and Robert Carlock, considered the front-runner of the bunch. (The project landed at Fox last August 2013 with a series commitment after a bidding war.) Reilly also commissioned a second script for the other internally well-received Fox comedy pilot, the CBS TV Studios-produced Sober Companion, starring Justin Long and Nick Frost. And Reilly also took a meeting on The Pro, Rob Lowe and Rob Riggle’s workplace single-camera pilot from ABC Studios, which did not go to series at NBC. In light of the interest, the studio extended the options on stars Lowe and Riggle. All series consideration was put on hold when Reilly exited the network, with pickup decisions left for his successors, 20th TV toppers Dana Walden and Gary Newman, who were promoted last month to also oversee the network. The decisions are starting to come in, with Cabot College, 30 Rock creator Fey’s first project for Fox, not moving forward. There is no formal decision on Sober Companion yet, though that pickup also is looking unlikely. The Pro, which was the longest shot among the three, is not going forward.
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