'Clueless' star joins ABC pilot, NBC casts its 'Crusoe'

Alicia Silverstone is going to play a mother on TV. Just not that one.

Silverstone, who was courted for a recurring role on CBS' "How I Met Your Mother" earlier this season, has taken the lead role in ABC's comedy pilot "Bad Mother's Handbook." NBC, meanwhile, has found the star of its series "Crusoe" in the person of Philip Winchester, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

"Bad Mother's Handbook" has also cast "Arrested Development" co-star Alia Shawkat. The show centers on Silverstone's character, a woman in her 30s who has no time for her own life thanks to both her teenage daughter (Shawkat) and her mother.

Silverstone was reportedly cast on "How I Met Your Mother" earlier this season, causing speculation that the show was lining her up to be the "Mother" of the title. That, however, didn't happen, either because it simply didn't happen or because she was concerned about Britney Spears' guest spot in the same episode. ("Scrubs" star Sarah Chalke ended up taking the role.)

The "Clueless" star has had a run of bad luck with TV projects in recent years. She starred in NBC's "Miss Match" in 2003-04, but that lasted only one season, and the past couple of pilots she was attached to didn't get pickups. She also co-starred in NBC's never-aired "The Singles Table" last year.

At NBC, the American-born Winchester will play British sailor Robinson Crusoe in "Crusoe," based on the classic Daniel Defoe novel. Winchester, who trained in London, has appeared in "The Patriot" and "Thunderbirds" and played the title role in the "Commando Nanny" pilot for The WB a few years back (he was later replaced by Owain Yeoman). Anna Walton ("Hellboy II") has also joined the series, which is set for Friday nights in the fall.