Showtime’s home-shopping comedy I Love This for You has made an exchange: black-ish actress Jenifer Lewis has boarded the series, replacing the previously cast Cybill Shepherd, TVLine has learned.
Co-created by SNL‘s Vanessa Bayer and Jeremy Beiler (Inside Amy Schumer) — and inspired by Bayer’s own story of overcoming childhood leukemia — I Love This for You follows Bayer’s Joanna Gold, who dreams of becoming a home-shopping channel host. “Working to shed her lifelong label as ‘that cancer girl,’ she moves away from her parents, starts a budding romance for the first time in her adult life and forms a meaningful friendship with her idol Jackie,” the logline describes, “all against the backdrop of a highly competitive workplace run by an unstable billionaire, where people play dirty to succeed.”
Lewis will co-star as the billionaire in question, Patricia, described as the network’s icy and enigmatic founder and CEO. A reason for Shepherd’s departure, after she was cast in November, was not given.
I Love This for You‘s ensemble also includes Molly Shannon (The Other Two) as Jackie, the network’s charismatic star; Paul James (Greek) as stage manager Jordan; Ayden Mayeri (Homecoming) as Beth Ann, an ambitious but insecure host; Matt Rogers (Haute Dog) as Darcy, Patricia’s right-hand man; and Punam Patel (Special) as backstage producer Beena.
The show’s EPs include Bayer, Beiler, Michael Showalter (Search Party) and Jessi Klein (Big Mouth), who also serves as showrunner.
