Alicia Silverstone agreed to play the lead role in an ABC comedy, Pink Collar, which is about women's relationships in the workplace. Silverstone was last on television during the short-lived Miss Match on NBC in 2003, unless you count the constant reruns of Clueless on cable. Silverstone had seemed to drop off the face of the earth until she popped up again this year in, of all things, Beauty Shop.

Further proof that Joey won't be returning next fall, Jennifer Coolidge, who plays the agent on Joey (and is wickedly funny), has been cast in the FOX comedy pilot, If You Lived Here, You'd be Home by Now. It's about a bunch of people living in temporary housing in L.A. Let's hope it gets a new name.

Other casting news:

• Alan Dale, also known as the deceased Caleb Nichol on The O.C., joins Ugly Betty, an ABC pilot about an unattractive woman who works at a fashion magazine. I feel bad for whoever gets the lead role in that one.
• Shawn Hatosy will play the second lead in the FOX comedy pilot, Southern Comfort, about a wealthy nerd who moves to his small hometown and is harassed by his older brother (Hatosy).
• Alexondra Lee landed the lead role in Alpha Mom, an NBC comedy about a working mom with a stay-at-home husband and a couple of kids.
• Rosemarie DeWitt will play opposite Ron Livingston in the FOX drama, Primary, about a team of hostage negotiators who balance their emerging romantic relationship with the pressures of their jobs.
• Jennifer Aspen, also known as 'Trina' on Rodney, will play a co-starring role in the CBS comedy Welcome to the Jungle Gym. It's about a new mom/career woman and her friends.
• Paige Turco, who played Ofc. Abby Sullivan on NYPD Blue back in 1997, is the latest woman to sign on to ABC's comedy-drama, Women in Law. It's about (what else?) women in a law firm.
• Ming-Na (ER) and Robert Hoffman (She's the Man) joined the cast of the FOX drama, Vanished, about the disappearance of a senator's wife. Ming-Na will play an FBI agent, while Hoffman will play a news cameraman.
• Newcomer Brian Thomas Smith will play the lead role of an NBA benchwarmer in the FOX comedy, The 12th Man.