Valerie Bertinelli stars in TBS Comedy Series pilot

By April MacIntyre Aug 20, 2008, 16:38 GMT

06/30/2008 - Valerie Bertinelli - "Hancock" Premiere - Arrivals - Grauman\'s Chinese Theater - Hollywood, CA. USA - United States © Albert L. Ortega / PR Photos

Valerie Bertinelli has shed over two stones in weight, and has a new opportunity with TBS in a pilot for the smallscreen.

A two-time Golden Globe winner, Bertinelli (One Day at a Time) has just signed to star in a new comedy pilot for TBS from writer/executive producer Dave Caplan, whose credits include TBS’s highly popular sitcom The Bill Engvall Show, as well as George Lopez and The Drew Carey Show. 

The currently untitled sitcom premise revolves around a single mother trying to run a business while raising two children. 

TBS released a statement that notes the show is inspired by true events in Caplan’s own life. 

The Caplan project is described as the life of a woman who, with good humor, manages to get through the day despite Draconian circumstances: Her husband walks out, leaving her with two kids and a struggling lumberyard business.  Bertinelli's character will have to keep both her household and her business afloat while facing obstacles at every turn.

Caplan penned the pilot script and will serve as executive producer along with Original Film’s Neal Moritz (The Fast and the Furious, I Am Legend) and Vivian Cannon (Thief).   Bertinelli will serve as producer.  The project comes to TBS from Sony Pictures Television.

“Valerie Bertinelli became a popular fixture on television playing one of two children being raised by a single working mother,” said Michael Wright, senior vice president in charge of the Content Creation Group for TBS, TNT and Turner Classic Movies. 

“Now she's exploring that world from the opposite angle, playing a single working mother raising two children.  Between Valerie’s comic skills and Dave Caplan’s highly relatable humor, we’re very excited to watch this pilot take shape."

This past spring, Bertinelli released her inspirational autobiography, Losing It – and Gaining My Life Back One Pound at a Time, which became a New York Times bestseller. 

She is presently a successful spokesperson for Jenny Craig weight loss systems and has a talk show in development for the 2009 season with CBS TV Distribution Group.