
- Details
- By Kaili Berg
NBC has ordered a single-camera comedy pilot centered on a Native American community center in Oakland, California.
The untitled project comes from writers and executive producers Sierra Teller Ornelas, Jackie Keliiaa, and Bobby Wilson. Teller Ornelas will also serve as showrunner.
Morgan Sackett will executive produce alongside the trio. The pilot is produced by Universal Television, where both Teller Ornelas and Sackett have overall deals.
According to the official logline, the show is “an ensemble comedy set at a Native community center in Oakland. The employees hustle to keep the lights on while lifting up those in need.”
The pilot reunites Teller Ornelas, Wilson, and Sackett, who previously worked together on Rutherford Falls, a Peacock series that explored Native identity and politics through comedy.
Teller Ornelas co-created and showran that series, Sackett served as an executive producer, and Wilson was both a writer and cast member.
Teller Ornelas’s other television credits include Loot (Apple TV+), Superstore and St. Denis Medical (NBC), and Happy Endings (ABC).
Keliiaa is a stand-up comedian, writer, and actor based in Oakland. Her credits include Comedy Central, Team Coco, Netflix’s Spirit Rangers, and the First Nations Comedy Experience on Amazon. She also produces Good Medicine Comedy, a showcase featuring all-Native performers.
Wilson is known for his work on FX’s Reservation Dogs, where he contributed as an actor, writer, and producer. He has also written for Marvel’s Echo and appeared in FX’s What We Do in the Shadows. He is a founding member of the Native sketch comedy group The 1491s.
This marks the third comedy pilot ordered by NBC for the 2025 season. The other two are a yet-untitled series starring Tracy Morgan and Daniel Radcliffe, and a cheerleading comedy titled Stumble.
NBC Orders Comedy Pilot Set at Native American Community Center
No casting details or projected air date have been announced at this time.
More Stories Like This
"Your'e No Indian" Examines the Disenrollment IssueAgua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians to Open New Exhibition: Section 14 – The Untold Story
Actor Jonathan Joss, Voice of John Redcorn, Killed in Texas Shooting
Celebrate Summer and Father’s Day at the Chickasaw Cultural Center – June 14
After 30 Years, Berkeley's Turtle Island Monument Foundation Will Be Built
Help us tell the stories that could save Native languages and food traditions
At a critical moment for Indian Country, Native News Online is embarking on our most ambitious reporting project yet: "Cultivating Culture," a three-year investigation into two forces shaping Native community survival—food sovereignty and language revitalization.
The devastating impact of COVID-19 accelerated the loss of Native elders and with them, irreplaceable cultural knowledge. Yet across tribal communities, innovative leaders are fighting back, reclaiming traditional food systems and breathing new life into Native languages. These aren't just cultural preservation efforts—they're powerful pathways to community health, healing, and resilience.
Our dedicated reporting team will spend three years documenting these stories through on-the-ground reporting in 18 tribal communities, producing over 200 in-depth stories, 18 podcast episodes, and multimedia content that amplifies Indigenous voices. We'll show policymakers, funders, and allies how cultural restoration directly impacts physical and mental wellness while celebrating successful models of sovereignty and self-determination.
This isn't corporate media parachuting into Indian Country for a quick story. This is sustained, relationship-based journalism by Native reporters who understand these communities. It's "Warrior Journalism"—fearless reporting that serves the 5.5 million readers who depend on us for news that mainstream media often ignores.
We need your help right now. While we've secured partial funding, we're still $450,000 short of our three-year budget. Our immediate goal is $25,000 this month to keep this critical work moving forward—funding reporter salaries, travel to remote communities, photography, and the deep reporting these stories deserve.
Every dollar directly supports Indigenous journalists telling Indigenous stories. Whether it's $5 or $50, your contribution ensures these vital narratives of resilience, innovation, and hope don't disappear into silence.
The stakes couldn't be higher. Native languages are being lost at an alarming rate. Food insecurity plagues many tribal communities. But solutions are emerging, and these stories need to be told.
Support independent Native journalism. Fund the stories that matter.
Levi Rickert (Potawatomi), Editor & Publisher