The Casting Call 01.29.09

The Casting Call brings together the latest casting news to keep you informed on who is showing up on which show. Find out who is joining your favorite show as a series regular, a recurring character, a guest star or special cameo. The Casting Call could reveal upcoming story-lines, so be aware, there may be spoilers ahead.

An American Family (ABC)
Jesse Tyler Ferguson has joined ABC’s comedy pilot An American Family. Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd’s docu-style single-camera comedy revolves around three families: one comprised of a working dad, stay-at-home mom and two kids; another that includes a 60-year-old man who becomes a stepfather after marrying a Latina who is 30 years his junior; and the third, a gay couple who have just adopted a Vietnamese baby. Ferguson will play one of the gay dads.

How I Met Your Mother (CBS)
Frances Conroy, who as Six Feet Under’s matriarch collected a Golden Globe and four Emmy nods, has been cast to play Barney’s mom. Conroy will appear on the CBS hitcom’s 15th episode of the season, The Stinsons, in which the gang discovers that Barney has a fake wife-and-kid on call should his mother ever come to town. Sure enough, an occasion presents itself where Barney has to produce his “family,” and it’s Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle’s Brooke D’Orsay fulfilling the wifely duties.

Lost In The ’80s (NBC)
Billy Campbell has been cast to star in NBC’s drama Lost in the ’80s. The show centers on the Mobley family. Campbell will play patriarch Pete Mobley, married with four kids and proprietor of a car dealership.

NCIS (CBS)
Producers have signed Lance Henriksen to guest-star later this season. Henriksen will play Sheriff Clay Boyd in the episode South by Southwest, which is scheduled for a February sweeps airing. In the episode, Gibbs is led to the Arizona dessert when an NCIS agent turns up dead.

Off Duty (NBC)
Bonnie Sommerville has been cast to co-star in NBC’s comedy pilot Off Duty. The show, from Universal Media Studios and Upright Citizens Brigade’s Jason Mantzoukas, centers on a once-legendary police detective (Bradley Whitford) on his way down who complicates the life of his new partner (Romany Malco) – a straight shooter on his way up – both on duty and off. Sommerville will play Malco’s wife. Also cast in the pilot is Capethia Jenkins as the crusty police district chief.