Rosie O'Donnell is back, and busier than ever. At Sundance this week to promote her documentary All Aboard!, she told Fox News columnist Roger Friedman that she has partnered up with well-known novelist Alice Hoffman (Practical Magic) to write a pilot for a new sitcom about a queer Erma Bombeck-type newspaper columnist.“She'll be a columnist for Newsday, and have a blended family at home,” Rosie told Friedman. “Her ex-husband will have to move in with her, with his 10-year-old son from his most recent marriage.”
Don't expect to see Rosie back on TV, though – for now, at least, she's not planning to star in her sitcom. “I have a Sharon Gless-type in mind for her,” Rosie said, “and Colin Quinn as the ex. But that's just in the working stage.” Unfortunately, the fictional columnist won't have much of a love life on-screen - according to O'Donnell, the character will have just lost her long-time lover to breast cancer, but still speaks to her when she's working on her column.
This isn't the only TV project O'Donnell is working on. Earlier this month, O'Donnell and gay TV channel Logo announced they're jointly developing a sketch- comedy show. The former talk show host will serve as the executive producer of the show, tentatively titled Simply Sketch, which will feature a cast of up-and-coming comedians performing sketches satirizing politics and popular culture.
Logo also said that episodes will include musical performances and appearances by celebrities and “friends of the LGBT community.” O'Donnell and the show's creators, Dan MacDonald and Joe Del Hierro, plan to team up with writers and producers from The Rosie O'Donnell Show.
Ellen DeGeneres is revisiting her sitcom roots, as well. She and her brother, Vance, are reportedly teaming up to develop a new half-hour sitcom on The WB. According to a January 16th press release from the network, the siblings are set to write the currently untitled pilot script. The show will depict family life from the perspectives of both humans and their pets. Ellen will appear in the show as the voice of the family dog. “Joining forces with my brother has long been a dream of ours. Of course, that dream used to involve world domination. But a show on The WB works, too,” DeGeneres said in a statement.
This is the first time the pair has collaborated, but Ellen and Vance both have previous television experience. Ellen's extremely popular talk show is currently in its third season, and she and her character famously came out during the four year run of the sitcom Ellen. Vance was a correspondent for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson.
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