Locklear to Get Her Own NBC Sitcom

By Stephen M. Silverman

Wednesday February 26, 2003 01:00 PM EST

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One more fight back against reality TV: NBC has signed the most-wanted woman in TV, reports Variety. Her name is Heather Locklear.

The former "Spin City" and "Melrose Place" star, 41, is due to star as a divorced mother of two kids in a sitcom with the working title "Once Around the Park," says the trade paper. It goes on to note that nearly every network has been pursuing the blonde star since ABC's "Spin City" went off the air.

On that one she played her typical vixen. She's done the same, with great success, on "T.J. Hooker" and Dynasty," and she helped to boost the ratings on NBC's "Scrubs" when she made a multi-episode guest-starring appearance earlier this season.

Locklear did come dangerously close to signing a deal to star in the NBC drama "HUB," but that project died when she refused to move her family to Texas, where the show would have been shot, says Variety.

"I think there are very few proven, successful television stars today, and there's no doubt Heather Locklear is one of them," NBC Entertainment President Jeff Zucker told Daily Variety. "She's funny, she's dramatic, she's lovable. She's a proven winner."

And in news of another proven winner -- "Friends" -- Aisha Tyler, former host of "Talk Soup" and the dating show "The 5th Wheel," has been signed to do a multi-episode arc on the Thursday-night hit, says Variety.

Tyler will play a paleontologist professor who comes between David Schwimmer's Ross and Matt LeBlanc's Joey.