ABC has picked up new drama Happy Town and the Courteney Cox-starring comedy Cougar Town, both from ABC Studios. Additionally, midseason drama Castle, also from ABC Studios, was renewed for a second season. ABC won’t confirm any pickups until it unveils its fall schedule on Tuesday.
Happy Town is a small-town murder mystery from the team behind October Road, creators Josh Appelbaum, Andre Nemec and Scott Rosenberg and director Gary Fleder. The cast includes Geoff Stults, Lauren German, Dean Winters, Amy Acker, Sam Neill, John Patrick Amedori, Sarah Gadon, Jay Paulson and Robert Wisdom.
The single-camera Cougar Town, from Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence, stars Cox as a newly single mother with a 17-year-old son. Lawrence is executive producing with Kevin Biegel, Cox and David Arquette. The cast of the show also includes Dan Byrd, Busy Philipps, Brian Van Holt, Christa Miller, Josh Hopkins and Ian Gomez.


