Bonnie Dennison Lands Lead Role in FOX Comedy Pilot

Bonnie Dennison reunited with GUIDING LIGHT castmates in
Peapack on a recent fall Sunday.  Photo Sue Coflin/Max Photos

Former GUIDING LIGHT actress Bonnie Dennison has landed a lead role in Fox's new Matt Hubbard multi-camera comedy pilot, according to Deadline.

Hubbard was co-executive producer on 30 ROCK and will executive produce the new series along with 30 ROCK showrunners Tina Fey and Robert Carlock.

Directed/exec produced by Pam Fryman, the untitled comedy is set at a women's college that begins accepting men for the first time in its history. Dennison will play Thena, a pretty but uptight sophomore, a hard-core feminist and leader of the sizable population of Cabot College that does not want men on campus. However, her militance masks a vulnerable and romantic side that pops up in unexpected ways.

Dennison played Daisy on GUIDING LIGHT during the show's final three seasons.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Catching Up With Ellen Wheeler As She Begins A New Project With Old Friends (Part 2 of 2)

Michael O'Leary, Yvonna Wright and Ellen Wheeler.
Photo Credit: Sue Coflin/Max Photos

We Love Soaps spoke with former GUIDING LIGHT executive producer Ellen Wheeler, who recently reunited with a group of alums from the show's cast and crew on a fall Sunday for a day of taping, talking and pizza. Dubbed "A New Project With Old Friends," it was a chance for much of the old gang to get back together, shoot some scenes and catch up.

Read Part 1 of our exclusive interview here, and read Part 2 below.

WE LOVE SOAPS: When I visited the studio and Peapack in the final year of GUIDING LIGHT, the set had an really nice indie vibe to it, something you don't see much with a broadcast TV show.
ELLEN WHEELER: We were saying something like, "I want this to keep going because I understand it's important. GUIDING LIGHT has been chronicling American life since before World War 2, and I want to continue to chronicle American life. I want to show the stories of the people in American back to them so they have a place to talk from." It's not unlike pitching in when some hard or tragic moment kicks in. In the beginning people might have been thinking to themselves, "Oh my God, I might lose my job," but near the end it wasn't about it.

Chiller Movie 'Beneath' Begins Production; Stars Bonnie Dennison, Danny Zovatto, Mark Margolis

Bonnie Dennison at the EMPIRE premiere in July
Photo: Sue Coflin/Max Photos

Chiller’s original movie Beneath has commenced production in Oxford, CT with an eye towards a Spring 2013 premiere. Beneath stars Danny Zovatto (Innocence), Bonnie Dennison (GUIDING LIGHT), Chris Conroy (Sorority Row), Jonny Orsini (Imogene), Griffin Newman (Political Animals) and Mackenzie Rosman (7TH HEAVEN).  Also joining the cast is Emmy-nominee Mark Margolis (BREAKING BAD) as Mr. Parks.