A pastor’s job may disappear, but his calling to care for people follows him into the grocery aisles in SHELF LIFE, a new Angel comedy starring actors Jim O’Heir and Zachary Levi.
“I’ve spent 20 years working in the faith and comedy space, and my belief hasn’t changed: if you make people laugh, you can make people listen,” said creator, writer and director Brian Cates. “That’s the heart of what we’re doing with SHELF LIFE.”
The series is already in production, with an exclusive Angel premiere planned for 2027, Deadline reported. Milk & Honey Studios produces the comedy, and Richie Johns serves as producer.
The setup takes a familiar question about purpose and puts it somewhere decidedly ordinary: a local grocery store. After losing his pulpit, a former pastor takes a job there and discovers that his coworkers’ everyday troubles still give him opportunities to care for others.
“Humor has a way of lowering our defenses and creating space for conversations about the things that actually matter,” Cates said. “At the end of the day, the message is simple: we all reach moments when we think we’ve passed our expiration date. But God isn’t finished with us yet.”
Rather than leaving faith behind with the pastor’s former position, Cates wants to bring it into the conversations and complications of a workplace ensemble. He described second chances as part of the show’s purpose, alongside the laughs.
“We wanted to make a show that families could watch together — something genuinely funny, but also honest about life, faith, failure and second chances,” he explained.
For families interested in the premise, that opens up a practical question. What does serving others look like when life no longer resembles the plan you had? A grocery store is not a pulpit, but the show’s displaced pastor still has neighbors right in front of him.
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The series is currently filming in Oklahoma, according to the state production office’s current production list. The listing says filming will wrap Nov. 13.
O’Heir, known for PARKS AND RECREATION, brings experience with a workplace comedy built around an ensemble. Levi, whose credits include SHAZAM!, joins a cast that also includes actors Wesam Keesh, Donna Biscoe, Tommy Woodard, Jonathan Charles, Leilany Celeste, Jazelle Villanueva and Brittany Visser.
“When I first read the scripts, I knew there was something special here,” O’Heir said.
Levi commented, “I’m thrilled to be part of a show that brings together such a compelling mix of characters and finds the humor, heart, and humanity in their stories—creating something audiences can see themselves in, connect with, and keep coming back for.”
O’Heir has spoken before about the pleasure of making comedy with other people. In a WPR interview published in January 2025, he recalled how much the PARKS AND RECREATION cast laughed together on set.
“First of all, every day there were scenes that were hard to get through because we just made each other laugh,” O’Heir recalled of making PARKS AND RECREATION with WPR’s BETA host Doug Gordon.
The creative team’s Angel connection includes THE PROMISED LAND, which lists Johns among its producers. That series follows Moses and the Hebrews after their escape from Egypt, finding comedy in the bickering, leadership challenges and daily demands of a community in the wilderness.
SHELF LIFE moves the setting to a grocery store, but its announced premise keeps people’s messy lives at the center. The pastor has lost his familiar place to serve; the people who need care have not gone away. Angel viewers will get to meet that new workplace ensemble in 2027.
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