USA NETWORK GREENLIGHTS ORIGINAL HALF HOUR COMEDY PILOT "DIVIDE & CONQUER"

Follows Series Pickups For SIRENS and PLAYING HOUSE and Pilot Order LOVE IS DEAD

Top Television Comedy MODERN FAMILY Joins Network Lineup September 24

NEW YORK - May 22, 2013 - USA Network today greenlit a new original half hour comedy pilot with an order for DIVIDE & CONQUER from executive producer and writer Peter Ocko (FAIRLY LEGAL, "The Office," "Pushing Daisies"). The news comes on the heels of the network's first comedy series pickups for SIRENS and PLAYING HOUSE and a pilot order for LOVE IS DEAD. The network's first original comedies are slated to premiere in first quarter 2014, following the launch of the award-winning and top-rated comedy MODERN FAMILY, on USA on Tuesday, September 24 at 8/7c.

DIVIDE & CONQUER is a family comedy about love, support, attention and all the other things parents do to mess up their kids. In a world where failure is the new F-word, and normal is the new stupid, Ben and Charlotte are just hoping their kids make it out of the house someday. DIVIDE & CONQUER gets into the heads of a big family: four children finding their way to adulthood in these complicated times, and the parents whose lives they're sucking dry to get there. Written and executive produced by Ocko, the pilot is from Universal Cable Productions.

From the distinct comedic point of view of Denis Leary ("Rescue Me") and Bob Fisher ("Wedding Crashers"), SIRENS follows three of Chicago's best EMTs whose sometimes silly, self-righteous and even self-destructive personalities make them unqualified for sustaining relationships, friendships and most occupations. They are, however, uniquely qualified for saving anyone who winds up in their ambulance. Based on a UK format, SIRENS stars Michael Mosley ("Pan Am"), Kevin Daniels ("Modern Family"), Jessica McNamee ("The Vow") and Kevin Bigley ("Game Change"). Leary and Fisher co-wrote the pilot and both executive produce the series. Jim Serpico ("Rescue Me") of Apostle, and Hal Vogel, David Aukin ("Hyde Park on Hudson"), and David Leach of Daybreak Pictures also executive produce. Filmed on location in Chicago, the series is from Apostle and Fox Television Studios, in conjunction with Daybreak Pictures.

PLAYING HOUSE is a single-camera buddy comedy about what happens when two best friends come back together, just when they need each other most. The original half-hour series is inspired by the ultra-close friendship between Jessica St. Clair ("Best Friends Forever") and Lennon Parham ("Best Friends Forever"). In PLAYING HOUSE, when mother to-be Maggie (Parham) asks her single and career-driven best friend Emma (St. Clair) to return home from her job overseas to attend her baby shower, she has no idea what's truly in store. Parham and St. Clair co-wrote the presentation and will executive produce the series along with Scot Armstrong ("The Hangover: Part II") and Ravi Nandan ("Animal Practice") of American Work. The series is from Universal Cable Productions and American Work.

LOVE IS DEAD is a single-camera comedy pilot set at a unique company that specializes in breaking-up romantic relationships -- rationally, compassionately, thoroughly -- on behalf of those who are willing to pay to not be around when it happens. It's the unconventional romantic comedy that asks: "Why, if love is so fickle, do we keep coming back for more?" Written and executive produced by Zev Borow ("Chuck"), the pilot is from Universal Cable Productions and Gaumont International Television. Katie O'Connell, Elisa Roth, Sidonie Dumas and Christophe Riandee executive produce for Gaumont International Television. The pilot is based on the award-winning French short film of the same name, written and directed by Eric Capitaine and produced by Carole Lambert and Carine Ruszniewski of De Films Aiguille.

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