ABC has given a pilot order to Harlem’s Kitchen, a drama from writer Zahir McGhee (For the People), Mandeville Television and ABC Studios where both McGhee and Mandeville TV are under overall deals.
Harlem’s Kitchen (fka Untitled Zahir McGee Project aka Rice), written by McGhee, is an ensemble family drama set in a fine dining restaurant in Harlem. Ellis Rice, Executive Chef and patriarch, runs a successful restaurant with his wife and three daughters. But an unexpected death thrusts the family into turmoil and puts the restaurant’s future in jeopardy as long-buried secrets are revealed.
Marcus Samuelsson, famed head chef of Red Rooster in Harlem, New York, executive produces the drama, alongside McGhee and Mandeville’s Laurie Zaks, Todd Lieberman and David Hoberman.
This marks the first pilot for McGhee, who is a homegrown talent, having come out of the Disney writers workshop. He got his start as a writer at Shondaland where he had worked for the past decade with stints on the company’s ABC drama series Private Practice, Scandal and For the People. He worked for six seasons as co-executive producer on Scandal and most recently on both seasons of legal drama For The People. McGhee is currently a consulting producer on the ABC/ABC Studios freshman drama Stumptown.
2020 ABC Pilots & Series Orders
Here are the official credits for the newly picked up pilot.
HARLEM’S KITCHEN
Network: ABC
Studio: ABC Studios
W/EP: Zahir McGhee
NW/EP: Mandeville (David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Laurie Zaks)
NW/EP: Marcus Samuelsson
Logline: An ensemble family drama set in a fine dining restaurant in Harlem. Ellis Rice, Executive Chef and patriarch, runs a successful restaurant with his wife and three daughters. But an unexpected death thrusts the family into turmoil and puts the restaurant’s future in jeopardy as long-buried secrets are revealed.
