Kelsey to Play Really Ratty Lawyer

By Stephen M. Silverman

04/17/2002 at 01:00 PM EDT

It's moonlighting time for Kelsey Grammer. The multi-Emmy-winning "Frasier" star's production company is creating a new cartoon, to be called "Gary the Rat" and to debut next year on the TNN cable network, reports the Associated Press. Grammer, 47, will provide the voice of the lead character, an evil human New York attorney who wakes up one day and discovers that he's become a rat. (Not much of a stretch.) "He becomes the most sought-after lawyer once it is discovered he is actually a rat," Grammer told the news service. TNN plans to show "Gary" in primetime, as part of an evening slate of cartoons. The network has acquired rights to old episodes of "The Ren & Stimpy Show" and hopes to persuade its creator to make new ones, says the AP. Another TV star to join TNN's cartoon fray is newly engaged Pamela Anderson, as the centerpiece of "Stripperella," a cartoon from "Spider-Man" creator Stan Lee. Its leading character (Anderson) is a stripper who moonlights as a superhero. TNN was once the former Nashville Network. Since being purchased by the entertainment conglomerate Viacom, it has re-targeted its programming to attract young men. This fall TNN will premiere two other new series: a game show called "Oblivious," where players don't even know they're on TV, and "Slam Ball," which will essentially be basketball on trampolines.