Another Post-'Seinfeld' Show for Jason

By Stephen M. Silverman

Thursday October 02, 2003 10:00 AM EDT

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Buoyed by his appearance in the Los Angeles production of the Broadway musical "The Producers," former "Seinfeld" costar and KFC pitchman Jason Alexander is about to give TV another try, says the Hollywood Reporter.

George Costanza's former alter ego, who quickly flopped on his own 2001 ABC sitcom "Bob Patterson," is now set to star in CBS's as-yet-untitled comedy pilot based on the life of Washington Post sports columnist Tony Kornheiser.

Alexander's character is described as someone who juggles his career as a plainspoken writer and humorist with his family life as a father to teens. (Yes, this sounds remarkably like "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter.")

The pilot is scheduled to be filmed before year's end, says the Reporter.

Alexander, who also will serve as a producer, told the trade paper that he was drawn in because this character is so different from Costanza and Patterson. "This feels really right," Alexander, 43, told the Reporter. "I think it is a good character for me to do on television."

"The characters were really well defined, and the sense of humor was well defined," he went on to say. "The voice is so strong already, mostly because it's based on Kornheiser's writing, and that I think is a real benefit, to have the comedic voice established from the offset."

Although Alexander drew mixed reviews for his portrayal of Max Bialystock in "The Producers," in which he costars with Martin Short, the show has proved successful in its Los Angeles run. But, as the Los Angeles Times (which panned Alexander's performance) reported in August, it was never the sell-out that the New York production was.