This might be TV's year of the funny lesbians. Sixteen years after Ellen DeGeneres came out as gay on her own sitcom "Ellen," two new series are getting ready for a big time launch. Lorraine Bracco and Penny Marshall will play a long-time committed lesbian couple and Ellen DeGeneres will produce a sitcom with a Lesbian theme " NBC announced that it ordered a pilot for an Ellen DeGeneres-produced comedy. 

"One Big Happy" will be a new comedy from executive producer Ellen DeGeneres. The new multi-camera sitcom will have a lesbian lead character. Ellen's "One Big Happy" will be written and executive produced by openly gay comedy writer Liz Feldman, who brought us "2 Broke Girls." Lorraine Bracco and Penny Marshall are coming out on TV. Marshall and Bracco have signed on to play a funny lesbian couple on Fox's "Mulaney." Lorraine Bracco and Penny Marshall will join Martin Short and Elliot Gould for an all-star supporting cast in a Lorne Michaels production.

"One Big Happy" will be about a gay woman and a straight man who are best friends and figure they should have a baby together. It goes well until the man falls in love.
Penny Marshall and Lorraine Bracco will play a funny lesbian couple on Fox's upcoming series "Mulaney." The series is about a comedian living "under the influence of his boss, roommates and neighbor." Marshall and Bracco don't shop up until on the second episode. Penny and Lorraine play Tutti and Vaughn, close friends of Mulaney's neighbor Oscar who is played by Elliot Gould. The comedian's boss is played by Martin Short. Mulraney producer Lorne Michaels also produces "SNL" and produced "30 Rock."


NBC explored gay-themed comedies before, like the sitcom "Will & Grace." The network launched two half-hour series centered on gay men, "The New Normal" and "Sean Saves The World." NBC pulled The New Normal last May.
The official logline from Warner Bros. TV and Ellen DeGeneres describes One Big Happy as: "When gay and straight best friends decide to have a baby together, things get complicated when one of them finds the love of their life."

"One Big Happy" will be produced by Warner Bros TV and DeGeneres' NBC_logostudio-based A Very Good Production are producing, with AVGP's Jeff Kleeman also exec producing.

Liz Feldman worked on Ellen's talk show for two years. She also wrote jokes for DeGeneres the first time she hosted the Oscars, which DeGeneres will be doing again on March 2.

Lorraine Bracco and Penny Marshall, two iconic figures of the big and small screen, are in a league of their own. On movies screens, Lorraine Bracco played Karen Hill, the wife of gangster turned rat Henry Hill in "Goodfellas." Penny Marshall directed classic films like "Big" with Tom Hanks and "Awakenings" with Robert De Niro and Robin Williams.

On TV Lorraine Bracco was Dr. Melfi, the psychiatrist who kept sociopathic gangster Tony Soprano on an uneven keel in HBO's "The Sopranos." Penny Marshall was Laverne, with the iconic L on her blouse, in the "Happy Days" spinoff "Laverne and Shirley." Side note, "Happy Days" also spun off "Mork and Mindy" which, along with HBO, launched Robin Williams into the stratosphere. Sadly, it also spawned "Joanie Loves Chacci."

Penny Marshall was most seen as a guest star on Nickelodeon's "Sam & Cat." Lorraine Bracco has a recurring role "Rizzoli & Isles" as Rizzoli's mom. Bracco and Marshall are the latest movie icons headed to TV. Liev Schrieber, Kevin Bacon and Jeff Daniels have all found that there is interesting work on TV.

Penny Marshall also directed "Jumpin' Jack Flash" with Whoopi Goldberg. Marshall has been directing since she went behind the camera during "Laverne and Shirley."