Allison Janney playing Anna Faris' 'Mom' for CBS

The lead character in CBS' comedy pilot "Mom" now has a mom of her own: Emmy winner Allison Janney has signed on to play the mother of Anna Faris.

"Mom," which comes from CBS comedy titan Chuck Lorre and "Two and a Half Men" writers Gemma Baker and Eddie Gorodetsky, is about a single mother, Christy (Faris), who lives in California's wine country -- and has recently gotten sober. Janney will Faris' mother and the root of many of Christy's issues.

(Janney is 17 years older than Faris, incidentally, so she's technically old enough to play Faris' mother. But the average age for first-time mothers in the 1970s was about 21.)

Janney and Lorre have worked together once before; she guest-starred on an episode of "Two and a Half Men" in 2007. If "Mom" gets picked up -- not a bad bet, considering its auspices -- it will be her first TV series since "Mr. Sunshine" in 2011. Her recent credits include the movies "Liberal Arts" and "Struck by Lightning" and a guest spot on "The Big C."

Keep up with all the news on next fall's TV hopefuls at Zap2it's Pilot Season page.