DeGeneres Eye-ing pilot
Show is a first for ATG
DeGeneres would play the host of a TV variety show, a la the Burnett-hosted comedy hour that ran on CBS 1967-78, but the storylines would also delve into the character's life off-camera as well. Project is targeted for the 2000-01 season.
Format would allow the series to feature some performance segs within the context of the variety hour, although sources stress the concept is still in the very earliest stages of development.
CBS and ATG declined to comment Friday on the deal. The DeGeneres pilot commitment is one of the first projects to emerge from ATG, the newly formed TV production company headed by former Columbia TriStar TV prexy Eric Tannenbaum and aligned with Michael Ovitz's Artists Management Group.
DeGeneres has kept a low profile since her eponymous ABC sitcom ended its four-year run in early 1998 amid considerable bitterness between the star and the network.
The one-time standup comic faced a firestorm of media attention and public scrutiny in 1997 with her decision to come out publicly as a lesbian both in her character on the TV series and in real life.
DeGeneres most recently has been seen in supporting roles in 1998's "Goodbye Lover" and this year's "EDtv" and "The Love Letter." She's repped by ICM and Artists Management Group.
(Chris Petrikin contributed to this report.)
