Showtime's 'Episodes' loses Thomas Haden Church, Claire Forlani

Showtime's forthcoming comedy series "Episodes," about the difficulty of getting a TV series made, has run into a couple of difficulties of its own.

The show has recast one of its lead roles and has also lost the services of Thomas Haden Church, who was slated to play a recurring part as a network executive. Church had to drop out because of scheduling conflicts with a film project he's working on, Variety reports.

Meanwhile, Claire Forlani -- who was set to play half of a married British writer-producer team -- has been replaced on the show with British actress Tamsin Greig ("Shaun of the Dead," "Love Soup").

"Episodes" is about the travails of the husband-and-wife writing team (Stephen Mangan plays the husband) when they try to adapt their hit British show for an American network, which wants Matt LeBlanc (playing himself, sort of) to star.

The news also gives us a chance to show off a teaser clip of LeBlanc's "audition" for the show. If the show is as funny as the clip, we're in for something pretty good. (Warning: There's some profanity in the clip.)



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Matt LeBlanc has 'Episodes' at Showtime

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