TV watchers probably know Roger Bart best as George Williams, the murderous pharmacist on Desperate Housewives. On Broadway, he's been a musical dog (Snoopy in You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown -- for which he won the Tony award), a sidekick (Carmen Ghia in The Producers) and a scientist (Young Frankenstein). Now, he's slotted for a return to the tube. Roger Bart will star as a lawyer in the untitled David Hemingson dramedy pilot for ABC. The project casts Bart as Cliff, a high-strung attorney in a fancy-schmancy L.A. law firm, where one of the partners is his spouse.

Hemingson's pilot is getting a lot of attention, in part because of his pedigree. He's written for How I Met Your Mother, American Dad and Kitchen Confidential. Adding Roger Bart to the mix ups the likelihood of ABC finding a place in the schedule mid-season for this comedy. They start filming next month.

With the thought of another year of According to Jim on the air, it's with excitement that I report that new shows may be coming to take its place. ABC has ordered two pilots: Prince of Motor City and an untitled David Hemingson dramedy. The former, which purports to have Shakespearean roots, comes from writer Jessica Goldberg and writer/actor Hamish Linklater, better known around here as Matthew on The New Adventures of Old Christine.