Jay Baruchel writing sitcom for ABC about actor disaffected with Hollywood

TORONTO – Jay Baruchel is angling a return to TV.

ABC says the “Goon” star is working on a semi-autobiographical comedy about a successful actor who moves back to his hometown to get away from the shallowness of Hollywood.

In Baruchel’s case, that hometown is Montreal. In the proposed series, the lead character returns to Burlington, Vt., where he buys a house near his mom and invites two childhood pals to move in with him.

Baruchel will co-write the project with Jesse Chabot, and both would executive produce.

Before becoming a movie star, Baruchel cut his teeth as co-host of the TV show “Popular Mechanics for Kids” and made his breakthrough in the United States on the sitcom “Undeclared.”

More recently, he’s become known for big-screen ventures that include penning the screenplay for the hockey comedy “Goon,” co-starring in “This Is the End” and “Cosmopolis,” and doing voice work in “How to Train Your Dragon.”