LOS ANGELES - Saturday Night Live veteran Amy Poehler will star on a new NBC comedy series from two of the producers behind the network's popular workplace satire The Office, executives said on Monday.
Before she signed on as its star, Poehler's yet-to-be titled new show originally was conceived by NBC as a spinoff of The Office.
While declining to discuss the plot and other details of the series for a gathering of TV critics on Monday, network executives said the new show is now being developed as a stand-alone piece.
However, they acknowledged the two shows would be similar in tone and style since both come from two members of the creative team behind The Office--Greg Daniels and Mike Schur.
"This show suddenly got a hundred percent easier," Daniels said in a statement. "Amy shines in everything she does. She can make even bad material funny, and I know we can write bad material."
Earlier this year, Poehler appeared in the big-screen comedy Baby Mama with former Saturday Night Live cast-mate Tina Fey, who joined the NBC prime-time schedule in 2006 as the creator and star of the Emmy-winning sitcom 30 Rock.
Poehler recently finished her seventh season on SNL, for which she was just earned an Emmy nomination last week as best supporting actress for her work as a sketch comedy artist.
NBC had hoped to debut her new show directly after next year's Super Bowl, but the network said that the premiere would likely be pushed back because Poehler is pregnant and due to give birth in the fall.
http://www.hollywood.com/news/Amy_Poehler_to_Make_Jump_to_NBC_Prime_Time/5279584
