Our Father, Who Is Mel

By Rebecca Winters

What's left to do after you've made a grisly movie in a dead language about the anguish and suffering of Jesus Christ? Why, a family sitcom! Mel Gibson is producing a comedy inspired in part by his own life as the father of six boys. ABC has ordered a pilot of The Savages, which is about a blue-collar single dad who is raising five boys. Gibson, who also has a daughter, will co-direct the pilot with Mike Scully, executive producer of The Simpsons. Scully and his wife Julie Thacker will co-write the script. "Mike and I decided to do a comedy about five boys," said Thacker, "because we have five girls, and trust me, there's nothing funny about that." This doesn't mean Gibson has lost his appetite for explosive subjects. His company is also working on a TV movie based on the life of Evel Knievel.