TVSquad

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.

Another major Broadway name has also been added to the cast, Norbert Leo Butz (Comanche Moon), a Tony-winner for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Prince Fiyero, the leading man in the original cast of Wicked. Considering Bart and Butz's musical theater chops, maybe Hemingson should add songs to the pilot! Hey, don't laugh, the musical numbers in another ABC legal drama, Eli Stone, were terrific.