What's better than when one former SNL star gets his own TV show? When one former Saturday Night Live star enlists the help of another former Saturday Night Live star to play his father. Taran Killam recently joined Showtime, and will soon be headlining his own comedy project called Mating. SNL alum Jim Belushi will join him playing Taran Killam's father, Paul.
The new comedy pilot is expected to star Taran Killam as a formerly married man who is just putting himself out there again. Dating has changed since the first time he was dating and TV Line says he won't be ready for the "frank" new world of getting numbers and going on dates. When not trying to entice ladies to go on dates with him, he'll be working with his father, Paul, who is his business partner. The pilot hasn't moved forward to series yet, but Parenthood and Friday Night Lights producer Jason Katims has a pretty good track record.
It'll hopefully work out. While Showtime didn't poach Taran Killam from SNL, he was busy with a few other opportunities and the series let him go rather than working out a schedule that would have allowed him time to work on other projects. The former cast member was let go by the NBC sketch comedy series earlier this year. We later found out from Killam that he was hoping to figure out a way to finagle both gigs, but due to the time commitment, it wasn't working out. He was fired from the series at the same time as Jay Pharaoh, who was also trying to figure out a way to schedule a potential project with Showtime. It's a risky proposition in some ways, as Mating hasn't been greenlighted to series yet, but with a little luck the move will pay off for both funnymen.
Getting back to Mating, I'm not sure if I can totally wrap my head around the idea of Jim Belushi playing Taran Killam's father. There's a pretty good age gap between the two comedians, so that's not the problem. Without having seen any footage (as the project is still in the early stages) it just seems like a weird match-up to me. The good news is that SNL connection is pretty strong. Belushi has been back to the NBC series in the time since his tenure on the show ended in the eighties. He most recently popped in for the SNL 40 special on NBC. The team-up should be fun for fans of the late night sketch comedy series, and it makes sense in other ways. Belushi already has a relationship with Showtime, as he's expected to be in the Twin Peaks revival.
It would probably be a while before Showtime makes a final decision on whether or not Mating will move forward. In the meantime, you can catch new episodes of Saturday Night Live on NBC at 11:30 p.m. ET, obviously on Saturday. To find out what else is heading to TV this fall, check out our fall TV premiere schedule.
