Scott Baio Daddy's HomeEXCLUSIVE: Nick At Nite‘s first original scripted comedy pilot, Daddy’s Home, will become the programming block’s first homegrown live-action comedy series. I hear that Nickelodeon has given a 20-episode order to the multicamera project starring Happy Days alum Scott Baio. Daddy’s Home centers on David Hobbs (Baio), an actor who, after 10 years of starring as America’s favorite TV dad, becomes a stay-at-home father to honor the deal he made with his soap-star wife so she can return to the limelight. The project was created by writer-producer Tina Albanese (CSI) and actor Patrick Labyorteaux (Little House On The Prairie), who are executive producing with Baio as well as showrunners Mitchel Katlin and Nat Bernstein, Eric Bischoff and Jason Hervey. Nick is not commenting, but at the time the network picked up Daddy’s Home to pilot in October, Nickelodeon’s president of original programming and development Marjorie Cohn said the show puts “contemporary and comedic twist on parenthood that will make for a great addition to our existing slate of family programming.”

This marks Baio’s return to scripted comedy series after a decade on the unscripted side, teaming with Hervey for Scott Baio Is 45 and Single, Scott Baio Is 46 and Pregnant, and Confessions Of A Teen Idol. Nick at Nite’s only previous original live-action scripted series was the short-lived 1991 sitcom Hi Honey, I’m Home, which originated on ABC with instant reruns on Nick at Nite, migrating to the cable outlet after ABC canceled it. On the animated side, the primetime and overnight block of Nickelodeon has aired  Fatherhood. Daddy’s Home may soon have a companion — Nick At Nite recently greenlighted its second comedy pilot, Wendell & Vinnie, starring iCarly‘s Jerry Traino, created by Jay Kogen and executive produced by Aaron Kaplan.