Gary Cole, last seen as Dana Delany's troublemaking ex on "Desperate Housewives," will stay at ABC for his next project.

The "Talladega Nights" and "Harvey Birdman" star leads the latest wave of casting at the Alphabet. Cole is joining the cast of Rob Thomas' pilot "Good Behavior," playing the patriarch of a family of con artists. Jeffrey Tambor ("Arrested Development") has also signed on as a guest star in the pilot.

Elsewhere at the network, Ty Burrell ("Back to You") will co-star in the untitled Kohan-Mutchnick comedy, and John Carroll Lynch ("K-Ville") and Benny Ciaramello ("Friday Night Lights") have joined the drama "Prince of Motor City," according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Thomas is adapting "Good Behavior" from the New Zealand series "Outrageous Fortune." It stars Catherine O'Hara as the mother of the law-breaking family, who tries to get her kids to go straight after her husband (Cole) is sent to prison. Tambor is set to play her unscrupulous partner in a pawn shop.

Cole appeared in six episodes of "Desperate Housewives" last season. He'll next be seen in the Seth Rogen stoner comedy "The Pineapple Express," which hits theaters in August.

The Kohan-Mutchnick comedy, from the creators of "Will & Grace," stars Alan Tudyk and Josh Cooke as best friends and business partners, one gay and one straight. Burrell, whose credits also include "Out of Practice" and "National Treasure: Book of Secrets," will play Tudyk's boyfriend.

"Prince of Motor City" centers on a professor (Warren Christie, "October Road") who leaves his job to help run the car company his family controls. Lynch ("The Drew Carey Show") will play an executive at the company and the father of Christie's ex-girlfriend (Piper Perabo). Ciaramello will play a childhood friend of the lead character.