NBC orders comedies ‘Bad Judge,’ ‘Mission Control,’ ‘One Big Happy’

NBC stocked up on comedies Friday, picking up the pilots “Bad Judge,” “Mission Control” and “One Big Happy.”

In “Bad Judge,” Kate Walsh (“Private Practice”) stars as a tough and uncensored Los Angeles criminal court judge with a chaotic personal life. It hails from Will Ferrell and Adam McKay’s Gary Sanchez Productions and is written and executive produced by Chad Kultgen (“The Incredible Burt Wonderstone”).

It’s one of two series NBC picked up from Gary Sanchez on Friday. “Mission Control” is a 1960s-set comedy about a female aerospace engineer played by Krysten Ritter (“Don’t Trust the B--- in Apartment 23”) navigating a world dominated by nerdy men. Writer David Hornsby serves as executive producer along with Owen Burke, McKay and Ferrell.

From executive producer Ellen DeGeneres, “One Big Happy” is a sitcom about a lesbian and her straight male best friend (Elisha Cuthbert and Nick Zano) attempting to have a child together. Their unusual arrangement grows even more complicated when he decides to get married after a whirlwind romance and she discovers she’s pregnant. It is scheduled for midseason.

Writer Liz Feldman (“2 Broke Girls”) and director Scott Ellis (“2 Broke Girls”) serve as executive producers with Jeff Kleeman (“The Change Up”) and DeGeneres.

Though NBC has experienced an impressive ratings turnaround this season and is poised to finish in first place, the network remains vulnerable on the comedy side. Only two sitcoms -- the rookie “About a Boy” and the long-running “Parks and Recreation” -- will be returning to the NBC in the fall.

“Bad Judge,” “Mission Control” and “One Big Happy” join the comedies “A to Z” and “Marry Me” picked up by NBC earlier this week. The network has already given two sitcoms a straight-to-series order: the Tina Fey-produced “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” and the Craig Robinson vehicle “Mr. Robinson.”