After the cancellation of the FOX sitcom Back to You in May, male lead star Kelsey Grammer immediately landed an ABC comedy pilot called Roman's Empire.  His Back to You co-star Patricio Heaton, however, wasn't as lucky. She was cast in Hallmark Hall of Fame's Front of the Class but other than that, her TV career was deemed uncertain.  Now, ABC is hoping to bring 50-year-old actress back to primetime as she takes the lead on the comedy pilot called The Middle.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Back to You actress has signed on to play the matriarch of a middle-class Midwestern family in the pilot directed by Julie Anne Robinson, whose credits include Weeds, Grey's Anatomy, Holby City and Pushing Daisies.


ABC originally developed the project during the 2006 to 2007 development cycle when it was picked up to pilot, which at the time starred Ricki Lake.  The network resurrected it in the summer with a pilot order contingent on casting Heaton.  Though the network has already greenlighted the comedy, The Middle won't actually shoot until February.

Aside from Back to You, Heaton is also noted for playing lead character and Ray Barone's wife Debra Barone on the CBS television sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond.  She was nominated in each of the series' last seven seasons for the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Emmy, winning the award twice.  She has also collected two Viewers For Quality Television awards and a Screen Actors Guild trophy for her work on the series.  Heaton's other credits include Shattered Dreams, Women in the House, where she played Natalie Hollingsworth, thirtysomething as Dr. Silverman, Miracle in the Woods, A Town Without Christmas, as well as the remake of Neil Simon's The Goodbye Girl with Jeff Daniels, and The Engagement Ring, both for TNT.


-Kris De Leon, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
(Image courtesy of FOX)