NBC is betting against Cougar Town getting a fourth season.

The network has cast the show’s leading man, Josh Hopkins, in Lady Friends, Kari Lizer’s comedy pilot about two life-long female pals — Nicole (Better Off Ted‘s Andrea Anders) and Jen — who are living very different lives but can’t live without each other. Hopkins would play Nicole’s hubby.

Pilot Season Lingo Guide (Including the Always-Scary ‘Second Position’)

The gig is in second position to Cougar Town, which essentially means NBC will be forced to recast Hopkins’ role should ABC renew C-Town for a fourth season (as well all hope it will.)

In fact, Fox’s New Girl and NBC’s (yet-to-debut) BFFs had to do just that — recast Damon Wayans Jr. and Adam Pally, respectively — when Happy Endings was renewed by ABC last spring.

In anticipation of Hopkins’ news leaking, C-Town co-creator Bill Lawrence took to Twitter to assure the show’s fans that “the odds of Cougar Town coming back are the same,” adding, “But if it’s a coin flip, I don’t want actors to be jobless/cashless… I want them to go out, make $$, then have to be recast because our show comes back. I still believe — promise.”

http://www.tvline.com/2012/02/scoop-josh-hopkins-cast-in-new-pilot/#more-305225