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)