Comedic actor John Michael Higgins ("Best in Show," "Fred Claus") has been cast in the lead role of an American remake of cult Irish comedy "Father Ted."

Higgins tells Teletext UK that "It's not on Craggy Island, it's a fishing village down on its luck in New England."

The big question is, will it work? Only a scant few shows (eg. "Pop Idol," "The Office") have made the transition, most have crashed and burned or not even gotten off the ground.

Higgins himself is dubious "The English have a very robust history of being unkind about religion. We don't have that in our country, we're frightened of it. It's basically that you guys are doing an Irish joke also, we don't have that. So I'll be Father Ted, we'll see how it goes."

Shooting is scheduled to begin in January.