CBS orders sitcom pilot about 70-year-old woman pursuing Broadway stardom

"Hilda! (In Lights!) follows " a 70-year-old woman from Nebraska with absolutely no experience" as she moves to New York to become a Broadway star

The show was created by Abbey Caldwell (Laid, Fresh Off the Boat). No casting has been announced yet.

Updated On: 8/3/26 at 07:08 PM

Whoopi Goldberg or Patti LuPone

Actually, I don’t know if either of them could pull off coming from Nebraska!

Updated On: 8/4/26 at 05:37 AM

This, like countless pilot orders, will either be yanked prior to filming or pilot won’t be picked up. Every season tons of pilots are filmed they never get series pickups. Same with network development deals. Both Marissa Jaret Winokur and John Lloyd Young both got lucrative development deals with ABC Network after their Tony Award wins and zero came from those deals.

This sounds like a contractual fulfillment agreement with one last clause to end a contract term. 😎

Voter said: "Seems like this must've been inspired by Kim Hale"

I had that exact same thought but was blanking on her name. It does seem like an exaggerated version of her story.

We’re not boycotting CBS anymore?

I wouldn't be surprised if they cast Christine Ebersole. She was a series regular on a successful CBS sitcom a few years ago, "Bob Hearts Abishola."

She certainly reads as fitting the part based on the description. I will say Bernadette would be my first choice if this came to be, I thought she was so charming on "Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist."

BrodyFosse123 said: "This, like countless pilot orders, will either be yanked prior to filming or pilot won’t be picked up. Every season tons of pilots are filmed they never get series pickups. Same with network development deals. Both Marissa Jaret Winokur and John Lloyd Young both got lucrative development deals with ABC Network after their Tony Award wins and zero came from those deals.

This sounds like a contractual fulfillmentagreement with one last clause to end a contract term. 😎"

That used to be how TV was developed but not really anymore. CBS, especially, now orders very few pilots (in terms of filming the actual pilot script), and they have moved to off-cycle development (which is why this is getting an order in August, rather than in December/January when the broadcast pilot season used to be) to allow more time for proper prep and post-production. Last year, CBS only ordered two comedy pilots and picked one of them up (the one that happened to be produced by their in-house/sister studio which is also the studio behind this project). Not saying this is a guarantee, but this news is actually fairly significant in the new way CBS orders series, also since they already ordered back-up scripts which must have come in strong which prompted the pilot order itself.

Casting-wise, some fun suggestions, but I can see them swinging for the fences with this and aiming for a big name a la Kathy Bates for MATLOCK. Perhaps Jamie Lee Curtis (who is going to be recurring on the new Tea Leoni/Tim Daly sitcom for NBC this season), Geena Davis, Allison Janney (a CBS sitcom vet), Laurie Metcalf or Mary McDonnell to name a few.



Fingers crossed for this one!

Dusoleilcanwhistle said: "BrodyFosse123 said: "This, like countless pilot orders, will either be yanked prior to filming or pilot won’t be picked up. Every season tons of pilots are filmed they never get series pickups. Same with network development deals. Both Marissa Jaret Winokur and John Lloyd Young both got lucrative development deals with ABC Network after their Tony Award wins and zero came from those deals.

This sounds like a contractual fulfillmentagreement with one last clause to end a contract term. 😎"

That used to be how TV was developed but not really anymore. CBS, especially, now orders very few pilots (in terms of filming the actual pilot script), and they have moved to off-cycle development (which is why this is getting an order in August, rather than in December/January when the broadcast pilot season used to be) to allow more time for proper prep and post-production. Last year, CBS only ordered two comedy pilots and picked one of them up (the one that happened to be produced by their in-house/sister studio which is also the studio behind this project). Not saying this is a guarantee, but this news is actually fairly significant in the new way CBS orders series, also since they already ordered back-up scripts which must have come in strong which prompted the pilot order itself.

Casting-wise, some fun suggestions, but I can see them swinging for the fences with this and aiming for a big name a la Kathy Bates for MATLOCK. Perhaps Jamie Lee Curtis (who is going to be recurring on the new Tea Leoni/Tim Daly sitcom for NBC this season), Geena Davis, Allison Janney (a CBS sitcom vet), Laurie Metcalf or Mary McDonnell to name a few.



Fingers crossed for this one!"

I was just coming here to explain this so thank you. It's not like it was even 10 years ago. Most pilots ordered end up as series (not all, but a much higher percentage than it used to be because they order so few pilots).

Updated On: 8/5/26 at 07:46 AM