Originally created by “Sex and the City” writer Cindy Chupack, “Love Bites” was designed as a three-part “anthology” series in which each episode contained three self-contained vignettes of romantic quandaries. Former NBC entertainment chief Jeff Gaspin championed it; NBC’s Universal Media Studios spent heavily on shooting on location and on stars like Becki Newton (“Ugly Betty”). Then Ms. Chupack left the show for personal reasons. Executive producers Tracy Poust and Jon Kinnally (“Will & Grace,” “Ugly Betty”) were signed on to run the show and write storylines with more connected vignettes. In an interview, the writers said they had to redo the pilot multiple times. Vernon Sanders, an executive vice president at NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios, denied this account. In a subsequent interview Ms. Poust said that only a portion of the pilot had been rewritten to accommodate the fact that Ms. Newton had become pregnant. “We probably wrote seven versions of the pilot,” Mr. Kinnally says.

Mr. Gaspin later left NBC. Production was almost finished when newly-named entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt took over and felt the anthology format would be tough to sustain long term, according to people familiar with the matter. Mr. Sanders says “Love Bites” is debuting in the summer because there’s less competition and that Mr. Greenblatt is on board. “Bob has said if we have success we can absolutely do it again,” he says. Not since the 1970s series “Love, American Style” has network TV attempted a romantic anthology. With no ongoing storylines or regular characters to build on, “Love Bites” writers sometimes pulled words randomly out of a hat (“Rottweiler, shadow,” in one case) and tried to use them as a springboard for storylines.

“We were that desperate,” Mr. Kinnally said.

Jackie and Jeff Filgo (That ‘70s Show, The New Adventures of Old Christine) will write and executive produce. Andy Ackerman, who is also set to direct pilots for I Hate My Teenage Daughter and Smothered, will direct and serve as an executive producer. Newton is repped by The Gersh Agency and Management 360.

“This new schedule brings NBC back to basics with its commitment to quality scripted programming,” said NBC Universal TV Entertainment chairman Jeff Gaspin. “Our new shows are distinctive and feature a combination of the biggest talent, the brightest new stars and the strongest auspices in television. With this new schedule, we’re poised to take the next step toward our long-term goals with a lineup that has stabilized and has been building solid momentum through the second half of the season.”
Added NBC/Universal Media Studios primetime entertainment president Angela Bromstad: “Our team has been working tirelessly to achieve our ambitious goals and we are so pleased to see that these new series demonstrate tremendous upside for NBC. We feel that this development season introduces shows that will become part of the great programming legacy of our network.”

From Emmy Award-winning writer-producer Cindy Chupack (“Sex and the City”), “Love Bites” is an hour-long romantic comedy anthology series featuring three loosely connected, modern stories of love, sex, marriage and dating. Each episode contains multiple vignettes, all illuminating the theme of love with an edgy, irreverent spin. Becki Newton (“Ugly Betty”) stars as Annie and Jordana Spiro (“My Boys”) stars as Frannie, the last two single girls standing after all of their friends get married. Annie is an infectiously bubbly optimist and Frannie is an always-a-bridesmaid realist. Their story will anchor the series, while other romantically-challenged characters will come and go each week.
The pilot’s guest cast includes Jennifer Love Hewitt (“Ghost Whisperer”), Greg Grunberg (“Heroes”), Craig Robinson (“The Office”), Jason Lewis (“Sex and the City”), Lindsay Price (“Lipstick Jungle”), Larry Wilmore (“The Daily Show”), Charlyne Yi (“Knocked Up”), Pamela Adlon (“Californication”), Stacy Galina (“Hidden Hills”), Brian Hallisay (“Privileged”), Kyle Howard (“My Boys”) and Steve Howey (“Bride Wars”). “Love Bites” is a production of Universal Media Studios and Working Title Television, which is a new division of Working Title Films (the U.K. production company behind box office hits including “Love Actually,” “Bridget Jones’s Diary” and “Four Weddings and a Funeral”). Chupack is creator, executive producer and writer. Emmy Award-winning producer-director Marc Buckland (“My Name Is Earl”) also is executive producer and directs the pilot. Eric Fellner, Tim Bevan and Shelley McCrory from Working Title Television are executive producers. “Love Bites” is Working Title Television’s first U.S. commission.

GALLERY LINK:
Love Bites (2010) > Season One > Promotional Shoot

LOVE BITES
Plot: “The romantic dramedy chronicles several loosely connected, modern stories of love, sex, marriage and dating.”
Cast/Crew: created by Cindy Chupack (Sex and the City); stars Becki Newton (Ugly Betty) and Jordana Spiro (My Boys)
Buzz: Executives like the pilot and are reportedly looking for writers in case they like it enough to order Love to series.