GILBERT REPLACES HANNIGAN in 'Game'

GILBERT REPLACES
HANNIGAN IN 'GAME'

Release Date:

January 4, 2005
with update on
January 18, 2005 and
February 7, 2005

Press Release:

The Hollywood Reporter and
Love Spell Entertainment UnOfficial

UPDATED: FEBRUARY 7, 2005

The Jennifer Love Hewitt TV sit-com will not be on the the mid season replacement! ABC is stocking up on 5 comedies for mid season, while opting not to go forward with "In the Game," its half-hour project starring Jennifer Love Hewitt.

by Jim Mix

A change in casting. "Roseanne" star SARA GILBERT will replace Alyson Hannigan as the role of Carrie, the best friend to Riley Reed (played by star and co-executive producer Jennifer Love Hewitt) for ABC's mid season replacement, "IN THE GAME". No one is saying why, and no one wants to.

This will be home sweet home for Sara Gilbert. CBS Studios Center was the home of "ROSEANNE" and now is the home of "IN THE GAME". The show is being filmed at Stage 9 (once the home of the 1980's NBC TV show called "The Duck Factory" starring an unknown Jim Carrey). "ROSEANNE" was taped on this CBS lot.

Born on January 29, 1975 as Sara Rebecca Abeles in Santa Monica, CA to the parents Harold and Barbara Abeles.

A SCENE FROM THE FOX TV SHOW "24" IN THE SECOND SEASON (Circa 2002).

Barbara Abeles was previously married to the late Paul Gilbert.

At the age of six, when Sara saw her sister "Little House on The Prairie" and future Screen Actors Guild president, MELISSA GILBERT received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Sara told her mother that she wanted to be an actress too. After a string of commercials, and a 1984 appearance in the CBS' made-for-TV movie Calamity Jane, Gilbert eventually would find success with "Roseanne" in 1988. Sara spent a total of nine years on Roseanne and was also given time to be able to study at Yale University. Gilbert majored in art with an emphasis on photography while at Yale. She graduated with honors in 1997. Aside from Roseanne, she has provided the voice of Laura Powers on "The Simpsons" (1989), and starred in several movies.

Tid bits on Sara Gilbert: She's the Granddaughter of comedy writer Harry Crane; not only the sister to Melissa Gilbert, but also the brother to Jonathan Gilbert (both of them are half-siblings); and Gilbert is a vegetarian.

by Nellie Andreeva and Jim Mix

"American Pie" (1, 2, & 3) star Alyson Hannigan is set to join Jennifer Love Hewitt and Ed O'Neill on ABC's upcoming comedy series "In the Game."

"In the Game," from Touchstone TV Love Spell Entertainment and Handprint Entertainment, centers on an up-and-coming sports producer (Hewitt) who unwillingly becomes an on-camera reporter on a sports TV show.

Hannigan will play the reporter's best friend. O'Neill co-stars as the show's executive producer. The role originally went to actress Paula Cale in the original pilot. Cale was great in the original role, but has moved on to other commitments and all have wished her happiness and good luck. Alyson will co-star in the pilot re-do.

Born on March 24, 1974 in Washington, DC, Alyson began her acting career in Atlanta, GA at the age of 4, doing commercials for McDonald's and Six Flags before moving to the Los Angeles area at age 11. Hannigan moved into television series in 1989 co-starring on "Free Spirit" and then making guest roles on "Picket Fences", "Rosanne", "Touched By An Angel", and "The Torkelsons". But the big break came in 1997 as Willow Rosenberg in and long run horror/action series "Buffy The Vampire Slayer".

She's the Class of '92 from North Hollywood High; she plays the clarinet; she use to play soccer until an injury sidelined her; she's a spokeswoman for breast cancer; and she's tatooed---tribal dolphins on her ankle, and a japanese kanji, for luck and happiness, on her back.

And she's married.

In October 2003, Hannigan married actor Alexis Denisof who played Wesley Wyndam-Pryce in nine episodes of 'Buffy'. Denisof proposed during a trip to Northern California wine country during the 2002 holiday season. Her wedding was featured in the February 2004 issue of InStyle Magazine.

Story: © 2005 The Hollywood Reporter in association with My Love Hewitt Websites. All Rights Reserved.
Image: © 2003 Universal Studios Inc. - an NBC Universal company. All Rights Reserved.