Kirstie Alley Returning To Comedy On ABC?

A veteran sitcom success story is on her way back to television to star in a new custom-tailored sitcom pilot.

Kirstie Alley hasn't been an especially visible actress in some time. In fact, it would be a shame if she became more remembered as a prolific Jenny Craig pitchwoman with a fluctuating figure, a penchant for badly timed pot-shots at George Lopez's expense and somewhat iconic status as a figure in Hollywood's female body image debate.

That being said, she could soon be back on ABC starring in the comedy pilot "The Manzanis." Deadline reports that she'll play the brassy, loud-mouthed patriarch of the Manzani family, helping them settle into an existence in a conservative, country-club community for which they're not exactly tailor-made.

The pilot is being produced by Brillstein Entertainment, who started developing the show roughly two years ago. About a month ago, ABC exec Paul Lee told Brillstein suits that the network could finally be open to picking up the series if Alley were cast. Writer Marco Pennette started retooling Alley's character to better fit her personality, and the rest could soon be history.

It feels like a lifetime ago that it was 1987 and Alley was joining the cast of NBC's acclaimed "Cheers" as spoiled rich girl Rebecca Howe, where she spent the next season making fans - and Ted Danson's lead character Sam Malone - almost forget about the departed would-be breakout star Shelley Long.

Not long after "Cheers" wrapped in 1993, she'd get another nice few seasons out of leading the cast of the NBC sitcom "Veronica's Closet."

Since then, she's done precious little acting. Here's hoping the second-place finish she ran to in the most recent "Dancing with the Stars" on ABC makes the network a good-luck charm. Nobody wants to see someone with Alley's talent go down as just another faded "Fat Actress."