Looks like there’s no stopping this Valerie Bertinelli comeback: The girl is on a roll. After losing unwanted pounds, and getting a Jenny Craig spokesperson deal, Bertinelli (former star of television’s One Day At A Time and Touched By An Angel) next penned a best selling book: Losing It – And Gaining My Life Back One Pound At A Time. The memoir, which dishes the dirt on her rocky marriage and subsequent divorce to Van Halen guitarist Eddie Van Halen, became a bestseller. In the book, Bertinelli details a steamy Sapphic kiss in her past – but that’s not the only reason it shot up the charts: Critics have hailed her for her courageous honesty about everything else in her life, from her divorce to her subsequent weight gain.
Now Bertinelli, a two-time Golden Globe winner, returns to what she does best: acting. The 48-year-old will star in a new as-yet-unnamed TBS sitcom written and produced by Dave Caplan, the man behind TBS’s The Bill Engvall Show (as well as The Drew Carey Show and George Lopez). And how’s this for irony: Bertinelli, who shot to stardom playing the daughter of a single mom on One Day At A Time will play the role of the single mom. Although ever-perky Val doesn’t look much older than she did when she played loveable Barbara Cooper, she is the real-life mother of a teen-ager, Wolfgang Van Halen, last seen playing bass with pop’s band on tour.
Let’s remember the reason why America fell in love with Val by enjoying a mini webisode of One Day At A Time. This one features a guest actor all you eagle-eyed Star Wars fans will recognize. (This was before the Force was with him). It’s worth watching for MacKenzie Phillips’ bell-bottoms alone. Bertinelli is also rumored to be in talks to develop her own talk show. Is a magazine next? Look out, Rachel Ray.
Are you a fan of Valerie Bertinelli? Are you happy to see her back on television?
