Matthew Perry to Develop Pilot for Showtime

NEW YORK, June 20:
Showtime is collaborating with former Friends star Matthew Perry and Peter Tolan, the co-creator
and executive producer of the FX drama Rescue Me, on a new dark comedy, The End of Steve.

According to published
reports, Showtime has given a pilot commitment to the show, with a substantial
penalty to the half-hour project, which is from Sony Pictures Television. Perry will also star as the comedy’s title character, an
egomaniacal local talk-show host who is on a reluctant path to redemption.

Perry and Tolan are writing and executive producing The End of
Steve, which marks Showtime's
first collaboration with the duo, as well as Perry's first project with Sony.
Tolan will continue to executive produce Rescue Me for Sony.

—By Irene Lew