PILOTS: Patton Oswalt joins Matthew Broderick on NBC's "Beach Lane"

FIRST ON VARIETY: NBC has rounded out the cast of its Matthew Broderick comedy pilot "Beach Lane," adding comedian's comedian Patton Oswalt ("Ratatouille") and "3rd Rock from the Sun" alum Kristen Johnston to the mix.

Oswalt will star as James opposite Broderick. Show revolves around the world of a millionaire (Oswalt) who hires a celebrity author (Broderick) to run his struggling Hamptons newspaper.

Oswalt became available after the play "Lips Together, Teeth Apart" -- in which he was set to make his Broadway debut -- fell apart at the last minute. According to several accounts, the play's plug was pulled after co-star Megan Mullally dropped out.

Oswalt's recent credits include the feature "Big Fan," as well as recurring roles on "Caprica" and "United States of Tara," as well as guest spots on "Community" and "Dollhouse." The Comedy Central regular also showed up on HBO's "Flight of the Conchords" and "Bored to Death."

Paul Simms created "Beach Lane," which also comes from Lorne Michaels' Broadway Video. Simms, Michaels and Marci Klein are exec producing for Universal Media Studios.