Rizzoli

Roles requiring a thick skin? Check.

Roles dispensing advice? Check.

Experience as both a tough mom and wife? Check.

In other words: Lorraine Bracco definitely has what it takes to play her next role.

The 'Sopranos' alumna is the latest star to join TNT's new drama 'Rizzoli.' The show is based on the series of popular mystery novels by Tess Gerritson.

George Clooney learned a lot about television toiling away on The Facts of Life and E/R. The latter wasn't NBC medical drama that made him a star. I'm talking about the 1984 Elliott Gould sitcom on CBS that lasted a year, just 22 episodes.

But the point is this: he may be a major movie star today, but George knows and appreciates television. That could be why George Clooney's behind Delta Blues, a cop drama that TNT has just picked up.

I use the term drama loosely, because it's something goofier than a straight drama. The lead character is an Elvis Presley impersonator when he's not working for the Memphis Police Department. One more thing: Like Elvis, he honors his mother... and lives with her. Does that make him a mama's boy? I guess we'll have to wait and see.