Nicole Richie is prepping for a major TV comeback.

Variety is reporting that the former 'Simple Life' co-star is set to produce and star in a single-camera comedy for ABC, an idea that Richie pitched herself. The untitled show will follow her as a professional woman who is trying to figure out how to juggle her family and career duties. 'Californication' writer Daisy Gardner is set to write the pilot, with 'According to Jim' alum Warren Bell serving as executive producer.

Probably known more for being a tabloid fixture, Richie's new, more settled-down life might mirror her new TV project. She's recently given birth to two children, ducking the dumb-blonde shtick that 'The Simple Life' once projected her as.

This week, we're going to take a bit of a departure from the shows we normally cover. It's very rare that a show that puts out 76 episodes could be considered by anyone to be gone too soon, and yet I make the argument that 8 Simple Rules (for Dating My Teenage Daughter) is that show.

I'm also not going to try and convince you that 8 Simple Rules was one of the greatest sitcoms of all time, because it simply wasn't. It was a fairly standard, solid series headlined by a brilliant comic actor... and then it became something else.

Hey, let's all mark our calendars, because it's a big day in the TV world. Now all the people who aren't watching According to Jim on TV can not watch it on DVD.

Season one of the ABC comedy (it's a comedy, right?) will be released on Oct. 21, 2008. It's part of a deal ABC Studios inked with Lionsgate Home Entertainment to distribute select titles on DVD. Season one of Reaper is next on Nov. 4, followed by Boy Meets World (which was discontinued in 2006), Hope and Faith, and 8 Simple Rules.

That's interesting, because I've got Season one of 8 Simple Rules here (no, I didn't buy it, a publicist sent it to me), and it's from Buena Vista Home Entertainment. So Lionsgate must be taking over distribution.