TVSquad

We can add Laura Dern to the long list of big-time movie actresses who've moved into TV roles. Her comedy project with Mike White is moving forward with a pilot order from HBO.

Tentatively titled Enlightened, the single-camera comedy stars Dern as a self-destructive woman who has a spiritual awakening and decides to live an enlightened life. Of course, this creates all sorts of turmoil at home and work.

Dern's knock-out performance as Katherine Harris in 2008's Recount got the attention of HBO. White, her director on the 2007 feature film Year of the Dog, says he's "stoked," noting, "The only thing I can think of cooler than making a show at HBO is doing it with Laura Dern."

HBO continues to be a favorite of mine, and I'm looking forward to seeing how this show fares. I've been a fan of Dern's dating back to her roles in Rambling Rose and Wild at Heart, and with her involvement in this project, I can't imagine it will be anything less than fantastic.

After the first 15 minutes of the HBO movie Recount, I was so upset, so filled with rage that I wondered if I wanted to watch the rest of the movie. Did I want to relive the events of November 7, 2000? Did I want to watch what happened, the craziest election fiasco in the last 25 years? I was compelled to stick with it because I had lived through it and I was dying to know what I didn't know when it unfolded in real time. I thought the HBO movie might teach me something, and, in fact, it did.

For those who don't want to know what happened in Recount, I won't reveal any spoilers until after the jump. Of course, if you don't already know how the election turned out, you've either been in a coma or are woefully out of touch. Suffice to say that Recount doesn't rewrite history. The ending is exactly as it was in 2000.