Freeform has found its Besties. American Idol alum Jordin Sparks and The Real O’Neals star Matt Shively will headline the Kenya Barris comedy alongside newcomer Brooks Brantly, the network announced on Tuesday.
Co-created by Barris — who also executive produces Black-ish” spinoff Grown-ish” for the network — and Ranada Shepard, Besties is a multi-camera comedy following a pair of newly-discovered half-sisters, as they’re thrown into each other’s lives by an online genetics test and have to figure out how to go from strangers to family.
Sparks will star as Becca, an ambitious overachiever from a hard-working, conservative African-American family, who learns that her birth mother is actually white. Shively will play Matt, a former athlete and current bar manager, who can’t completely let go of his glory days. Brantly will portray Becca’s brother Todd, a mama’s boy who still lives in their parent’s basement.
Ordered to series last year, Besties was one of Barris’ final projects at ABC Studios ahead of his departure for Netflix last July. The Black-ish” creator remains onboard as executive producer alongside Shepard, Casey Johnson and David Windsor.
