CBS Buys Single-Dad Comedy From Fred Savage, Matt Dearborn (Exclusive)

11:03 AM PDT 8/29/2013 by Lacey Rose

The comedy project, "Raised by Wolves," will center on a 20-something guy who suddenly becomes a full-time dad to his 7-year-old daughter and has his buddies help him raise her.

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CBS is pushing into single dad territory.

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The network has made a script deal for a comedy called Raised by Wolves. The half-hour effort will revolve around a 20-something guy who suddenly becomes a full-time dad to his 7-year-old daughter. As the title suggests, his buddies will band together to help him raise her.

The project is being produced by CBS TV Studios, where Wolves' executive producer Fred Savagesigned an overall deal when he launched his production company in late 2011. Matt Dearborn(Even Stevens) and Racelle Rosett (Blossom) will co-write and executive produce.

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The news comes mere days after Disney XD announced it had greenlighted a pilot,Neckpee Island, from Dearborn and his Even Stevens and Zeke and Luther writer-producer Tom Burkhard. It'll center on OB, a 14-year-old troublemaker who is sent by his dad to the small remote island of Neckpee where he joins the Neckpee High Flag Corps.

For Savage's part, the former Wonder Years star has managed to successfully transition behind the camera, where his work as a TV director has earned him the most attention. Among his small-screen credits: Modern Family, 2 Broke Girls and NBC's short-lived Best Friends Forever, for which he was an executive producer as well. Earlier in his helming days, Savage directed a few episodes of Dearborn's Stevens. In March, Savage was tappedto direct the Charlize Theron comedy film Ladies Night.

Dearborn is repped by Original Artists and Skrzyniarz & Mallean; Savage is repped by CAA and Jackoway Tyerman.

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Paula Deen Court Case Tossed Out

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A federal judge Monday threw out race discrimination claims by a former Savannah restaurant manager whose lawsuit against Paula Deen has already cost the celebrity cook a valuable chunk of her culinary empire.

Lisa Jackson sued Deen and her brother, Bubba Hiers, last year saying she suffered from sexual harassment and racially offensive talk and employment practices that were unfair to black workers during her five years as a manager of Uncle Bubba's Seafood and Oyster House. Deen is co-owner of the restaurant, which is primarily run by her brother.

But claims of race discrimination by Jackson, who is white, were gutted in the 20-page opinion by U.S. District Court Judge William T. Moore Jr. The judge agreed with lawyers for Deen and Hiers that Jackson has no standing to sue her former employers for what she claims was poor treatment of black workers, regardless of her claims that she was offended and placed under additional stress.

Jackson, at best, "is an accidental victim of the alleged racial discrimination," Moore said in his ruling. "There are no allegations that defendant Hiers's racially offensive comments were either directed toward plaintiff or made with the intent to harass her."

The ruling lets stand Jackson's claims that Hiers sexually harassed her when she worked at the restaurant from 2005 to 2010. However, the judge said he was reserving the chance to rule on requests from Deen's lawyers to dismiss other claims in the lawsuit.

The judge added that to allow Jackson to seek legal recourse for discrimination directed toward other workers "would serve to conscript federal courts as human resource departments that are responsible for imposing and monitoring a federally created standard for harmony in the workplace."

Of course, Jackson's race-based claims have already resulted in serious damage to Deen's public image. It was Jackson's lawyer who questioned Deen under oath in May when she acknowledged having used racial slurs in the past. A transcript of the legal deposition became public in June, and the backlash against Deen caused the Food Network and other corporate sponsors and business partners to drop her.

Still, Deen's publicist issued an upbeat statement Monday.

"We are pleased with the court's ruling today that Lisa Jackson's claims of race discrimination have been dismissed," Elana Weiss said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press. "As Ms. Deen has stated before, she is confident that those who truly know how she lives her life know that she believes in equal opportunity, kindness and fairness for everyone."

Jackson's attorney, Matthew Billips, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment. Attorneys for Deen and Hiers also did not immediately return phone calls.

The judge's decision comes a month after Deen and Hiers dumped their attorneys and hired a new legal team. But the court motions seeking dismissal for all race-based claims in the case were filed in December, months before those changes were made.

In her lawsuit, Jackson had claimed Hiers frequently made jokes containing racial slurs at work and prohibited black workers from using the restaurant's front entrance and customer restrooms. She said she was personally offended because she had biracial nieces.

Attorneys for Deen have said in court filings that Jackson's lawsuit was based on "scurrilous and false claims." They said before Jackson filed suit, she threatened to embarrass Deen publicly unless she paid the ex-employee "huge sums of money.