Ariel Winter Returning to TV, Replacing Demi Lovato On NBC’s ‘Hungry’ Pilot
Ariel Winter has found her Modern Family follow-up. Winter will replace Demi Lovato in the NBC comedy pilot Hungry.
Lovato was tied to the project for a year before scheduling issues prompted them to back out. Their departure from Hungry was announced March 4. They will still executive produce the series, along with their manager, Scooter Braun.
Winter was cast quickly so production could continue as scheduled this week, per Deadline. Production will kick off with a table read on Tuesday, March 8.
Hungry is written and executive produced by Suzanne Martin (Hot in Cleveland) and directed by James Burrows (Frasier). The series is about members of a food dependence support group as they search “for love, success, and the perfect thing in the fridge that’s going to make it all better.”
Winter joins Valerie Bertinelli (Hot in Cleveland), Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias (Thanks A Million), Ryan McPartlin (L.A.’s Finest), Alex Brightman (SMILF), and Ashley D. Kelley (Insatiable) in the cast. Lovato and the other cast members previously filmed the Hungry pilot in single-cam, but NBC passed on it. It will be filmed again in multi-camera format.
“The network wants to see it in a multi-cam,” Bertinelli said during a talkshoplive Q&A last year. “Because we filmed it in a single cam. I’m so excited! We get to film in multi-cam! So, the show has not been picked up yet; we are filming the pilot again, this time in front of an audience. That’s going to happen next year and I’m super-duper excited, you guys. It’s such a good show.”
Hungry will mark Winter’s first network comedy since Modern Family ended in April 2020. Winter grew up on the series, playing Alex Dunphy starting in 2009. She also voiced Princess Sofia in Sofia the First on Disney Junior.
Lovato currently hosts The Demi Lovato Show on the Roku Channel and Peacock reality series Unidentified with Demi Lovato.
Hungry, Pilot, TBA, NBC
