Sharona's character was originally written as an African-American, but Bitty Schram, who "had this great maternal thing crossed with an East Coast-type", according to Shalhoub, was cast instead. Ted Levine was cast in an audition in Vancouver, British Columbia as "the main cop". Jason Gray-Stanford accepted to work on it when he became aware of Shalhoub and Parisot's involvement. He originally auditioned for the role of deputy mayor and, as he was not cast, Parisot invited him to read for Disher. Gray-Stanford agreed as he became excited to try for the role of Levine's sidekick. The pilot, originally developed as a TV film, was written by Breckman and filmed in the fall of 2001 in Vancouver. Originally shot in 35 mm film, it was changed to Super 16mm for budget reasons when USA acquired it.