There aren’t too many artists who can make the jump from the music scene to the large or small screen, and former teen pop stars seem more comfortable in the reality sphere than anything else. Mandy Moore has been determinedly trying to make her break into television for quite some time. Now, having landed another pilot, this time for NBC, her time may have finally come.
Moore has signed on to play a key role in a currently unnamed dramedy on NBC. The project will follow the lives of an ensemble of characters, all of whom were born on the same day, according to According to THR. Mandy Moore plays Rebecca, a mother-to-be with triplets on the way who has just moved to Pittsburgh with her husband Jack. Easygoing Jack will be played by Milo Ventigmilia, which at least guarantees that the triplets will have to be played by some seriously gorgeous babies.
As a former teen pop star, Mandy Moore has had success making the jump to film. She got her start in The Princess Diaries and starred in Nicholas Sparks’ tearjerker A Walk to Remember, later eventually lending her voice talents as Rapunzel in popular Disney film Tangled. (This new pilot is actually being written by Tangled writer Dan Fogelman.) Sadly, television ventures have been smaller and less successful. Appearances on shows such as Grey’s Anatomy and How I Met Your Mother failed to materialize into any larger projects that got off the ground.
Of course, Mandy Moore has been attached to some larger projects over the years. An ABC original starring Moore fell through entirely, and an ABC remake of British series Pulling dropped Moore after a premise makeover. She fared no better on CBS as legal drama Advocates failed to get off the ground. Even hospital series Red Band Society was cancelled by Fox in its first season, and Moore was only a guest star.
Now, all of Mandy Moore’s flopped projects are more the result of rotten luck than any reflection on her abilities. She’s proved herself a capable actress on the big screen, and perhaps she has only needed the right project to showcase her skills on the small. She has been going against the norm for years now, ditching her blonde teenybopper locks for a brunette look and choosing an uphill battle to be taken seriously as an actor after her singing career. Her dedication to her craft and willingness to keep trying despite all of the rotten luck is a sign that she could be meant for great things on television. Hopefully, this latest pilot will be the one for her.
Or she could look into a sequel to A Walk to Remember. Sure, her character came to a rather…definitive end, but there are definitely legions of former teenage girls who would love to see a happily-ever-after redo.
