Hank Azaria gets his own show on NBC LOS ANGELES, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Emmy-winning actor Hank Azaria, who recently starred as a Jewish resistance fighter in the NBC mini-series ``Uprising,'' is returning to the network in January with his own comedy series, NBC said on Tuesday. ADVERTISEMENT
``The Hank Azaria Show'' will debut Jan. 8 and air Tuesdays at 8 p.m. as a mid-season replacement for the struggling sitcom ``Emeril,'' starring TV chef Emeril Lagasse. An NBC spokesman said it was not clear whether ``Emeril'' would return to the network lineup in the future.
Azaria, 37, who also performs the voices of several characters on the animated Fox hit ``The Simpsons,'' will play a self-effacing comedy writer named Josh Miller, whose daydreams provide an outlet for his frustrations at home and work.
Azaria has a long history on NBC. For several seasons, he played the recurring role of addled but affable dog walker Nat Ostertag on the popular NBC sitcom ``Mad About You,'' starring Azaria's then-real-life girlfriend Helen Hunt and Paul Reiser.
Hunt and Azaria married in July 1999 but filed for divorce last year.
Azaria won an Emmy earlier this year for his role as Mitch Albom opposite Jack Lemmon in the ``Oprah Winfrey Presents: Tuesdays with Morrie'' television movie on ABC. He also won an Emmy for his work on the Simpsons, in which he voices such characters as Apu the convenience store clerk, Moe the bartender and Police Chief Wiggum.
Last month, he played the leader of a Jewish revolt against the Nazi occupation of the Warsaw Ghetto during World War Two in the acclaimed NBC mini-series ``Uprising.''
NBC is a unit of General Electric Co. (NYSE:GE - news) and ABC is a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Co.
Source: Yahoo!