After HBO decided not to move forward with the series he and Diallo Riddle had set up at the network ("Brothers in Atlanta"), Bashir Salahuddin has found his next project. Hulu (the streaming platform that’s been pushing heavily recently into original scripted programming, seemingly trying to keep up with Netflix and Amazon) has cast Salahuddin as the male lead in its comedy pilot, "Crushed," joining the previously-cast Regina Hall.

Produced by Lionsgate Television and Homegrown Pictures, "Crushed," which hails from Tina Gordon Chism (writer and executive producer) and Stephanie Allain (executive producer), follows siblings Will (Salahuddin) and Celia (Regina Hall) as members of an African American family who stumble into a successful wine business in Napa Valley. Described as a "fish-out-water story," the series will follow the family’s unorthodox approach to wine making and their unique life style.

Salahuddin plays Will, who is described as a chemist and Harvard med school drop-out who goes off the grid squatting at his parents’ abandoned Napa property until his sister, Celia, persuades him to use his knowledge to help her build a legitimate winery.
The project was initially set up at HBO in 2013 but the network didn’t pick it up. Lionsgate Television, who is producing, then shopped it elsewhere, with Hulu eventually snapping it up, ordering a pilot.

"Crushed" joins other new original projects in development for Hulu – the Netflix and Amazon Prime competitor co-owned by Disney, Fox, and NBCUniversal.