Rita Moreno To Co-Star In Amy Poehler’s NBC Comedy Pilot ‘Old Soul’

February 8, 2014 11:33am

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Rita Moreno, fresh off winning a lifetime achievement award at the SAG Awards, has been tapped to co-star oppositeNatasha Lyonne in NBC‘s single-camera comedy pilotOld Soul. Co-created/exec produced byAmy Poehler, Josh Bycel and Jonathan Fener and directed byDavid Wain,Old Soul centers on a reformed wild child Nadia (Lyonne) who has a business caring for the elderly and feels she has more in common with her colorful old clients than she does with people her age. Moreno will play one of the clients, a character that appears tailored for her down to the name, Rita. A sexy old gal and a ball of joy,Old Soul‘s Rita (Moreno) is a flamboyant, larger-than-life Broadway vet who has been happily married to her writing partner/husband for over 50 years. Moreno, repped by Innovative Artists, was the first and one of the very few performers to win an Oscar, an Emmy, a Tony, and a Grammy. She has earned two Emmys for her guest appearances onThe Rockford Files and theMuppet Show and most recently co-starred on the TV Land comedy seriesHappily Divorced.

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19 Comments

Bobon February 10, 2014 11:08 am
Good. She had a great part on an OK show, Happily Divorced. Too bad TV Land couldn’t see that.
JJon February 9, 2014 5:40 pm
Oh dear. Rita Moreno is very talented but anyone who’s seen her in a tv sitcom can tell you it’s not the medium in which she shines. TV comedy is not her forte. Happily Divorced was dreadful but it’s not as Moreno rose above it. She was as inconsequential in that as she was I. The 80’s short lived sitcom ‘Condo’ and snoozefest that was tv’s 9 to 5. Yes she was great in West Side Story but she’s completely miscast here.
Felix Sanchezon February 9, 2014 6:27 am
Kudos to Rita and much luck with the new show. Let’s hope with Amy Poehler’s creds that it will work. Rita’s late husband was her long-time manager, so perhaps the storyline will have rich and funny examples of what happens when couples work together.
- willon February 9, 2014 5:37 pm
  Hopefully it will work out better than Linda Lavin’s newly-cancelled NBC vehicle.
peteon February 8, 2014 2:29 pm
is it just me or do these “special” life achievement sag awards look like ridiculous smiley faces?
- TVScribeon February 8, 2014 5:07 pm
  I take you’re unfamiliar with the comedy and tragedy masks that have been around for, oh, centuries?
  - peteon February 8, 2014 11:32 pm
    tv scribe–yes i know the comedy and tragedy masks. but every time i see that sag award it strikes me as almost a parody of that special history. my opinion…the sag mask looks goofy and doesn’t have the gravitas it should.
    - Bob Johnsonon February 10, 2014 11:07 am
      I don’t trust anyone’s opinion who uses the word “gravitas” in a sentence.
Titovelion February 8, 2014 1:57 pm
Poor N.Bored.C they dont knoe what to do the only shows with good ratings are NFL the voice and the blacklist n the onlinpics n all them shows are limited exept for the blacklist