TV Briefs: NBC Picks Up New Office Comedy from Steve Carell; Jason Butler Harner and Jonny Coyne Head to ALCATRAZ

Steve Carell may be leaving The Office after this season, but he’s not leaving behind comedy in the workplace. Deadline reports NBC has just picked up a new half-hour comedy tentatively titled The Post-Graduate Project. The potential series, based on Carrell’s early days working as a mail carrier in Littleton, Massachusetts, focuses on a small-town post office frequented by a quirky but tight-knit group of local twentysomethings. The new series will be a single camera comedy, so it likely won’t follow in the footsteps of his success in mockumentary fashion. However, this project will only have Carell writing and executive producing. Hopefully we’ll be hearing more about this project sometime next year.

Hit the jump for two new additions to J.J. Abrams mysterious series Alcatraz.

After working with J.J. Abrams briefly before, Deadline two new talents have landed roles in Alcatraz. Jonny Coyne, who had a two episode arc on the now defunct Undercovers, will play the lead role of warden Edwin James while Jason Butler Harner, who guest starred on the pilot for Fringe, has snagged the supporting role of associate warden E.B. Tiller, a man who abuses his power. The two actors join previously cast leads Jorge Garcia and Sarah Jones for a series that sounds more and more interesting. With a touch of science fiction the series is suppose to focus on the efforts of a team of FBI agents tracking down a group of missing Alcatraz prisoners and guards who reappear in the present day. Stay tuned as this project continues developing.