Fox Bags Helford-galecki Pilot

Fox Broadcasting Co. has given a pilot commitment to "Bagtime," a single-camera comedy from "The Drew Carey Show" executive producer Bruce Helford that will star Johnny Galecki ("The Opposite of Sex").

The show is set in Chicago, hometown of Helford and Galecki, who have wanted to do a joint project ever since they worked together on "Roseanne."

Helford will executive produce "Bagtime" with fellow "Roseanne" alumnus Jay Daniel and Deborah Oppenheimer. Helford's production company Mohawk Prods. is producing the show in association with Warner Bros. Television, with which Helford and Galecki have deals.

The deal seals Helford's title as the busiest TV producer at the moment, with six projects at four networks. In addition to running three series — ABC's "Drew Carey" and "Norm" and the WB Network's "Nikki" — he also serves as an executive producer on "The Oblongs," an upcoming animated series for the WB, and a partially scripted comedy pilot for NBC.

"Bagtime" will be loosely based on the 1970s book of the same name by Mike Holiday, an alias for columnist-writer Bob Greene and Paul Galloway.

Helford has retained the premise of the book, centering on a young guy who works in a grocery store as a bag boy. But in the TV show, the character (Galecki) is also studying cello and trying to join the Chicago Symphony. The choice of the character's career was not arbitrary — Galecki plays cello. Helford is known for building characters around his stars' artistic abilities. That is how Nikki Cox, who has dance training, became a Las Vegas dancer in the WB sitcom "Nikki."

In the "Bagtime" pilot, to be written by Helford, all of the Galecki character's friends are making fortunes, but he is chasing his music and refuses to go down that path. "The show is about a young guy who chooses art over money, and his life in the fast lane in Chicago," Helford said.

This is the first time Helford is trying a one-camera show. "This is a pretty bold experiment for me, and it's probably the most I have been excited in a long time about writing something," he said. Part of the reason for choosing a single-camera format was to make Galecki, primarily a feature actor, feel more comfortable, Helford said.

With "Bagtime," Galecki returns to television after a four-year hiatus, during which he focused on features. He was most recently seen in the Gwyneth Paltrow-Ben Affleck starrer "Bounce." He also co-starred in "I Know What You Did Last Summer," "Bean" and "Suicide Kings." He recently joined the cast of Cameron Crowe's upcoming movie "Vanilla Sky."

"(Galecki) is a really smart, intense young man," Helford said. "I think that he is right up there with the Afflecks and the Damons and all those guys as far as talent and ability. He is also a proven TV star from 'Roseanne,' and I'm really lucky to be in business with him."

Shooting of "Bagtime," which Helford is developing with Galecki, is set for late March.