 It was there that Vitale was paired with gay sitcom veteran Marc Cherry, with whom he began developing the show.Jason Bateman arrived at Axelrod/Widdoes to pitch a spec script that he'd written, but the producers were more interested in getting him to star as gay lead Warren Fairbanks in their TV series.Bateman did several auditions and readings, but the one person he couldn't impress was CBS president Les Moonves.