'L&O' vet Harmon joins 'Murder Club'

Former "Charmed" star Alyssa Milano is back in the TV series business, taking the lead role in an ABC drama pilot about a lawyer/new mother.

ABC has also tapped former "Law & Order" regular Angie Harmon as one of the leads in "Women's Murder Club," and Johnny Messner ("The O.C.") has joined the cast of "Judy's Got a Gun."

Milano, who played witch Phoebe Halliwell for eight seasons on "Charmed," will star in an untitled drama from former "Everwood" executive producer Rina Mimoun, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The show centers on a lawyer who moves with her infant son from Atlanta to her hometown of Savannah, Ga., where her eccentric family still lives. Mary Steenburgen ("Joan of Arcadia") was previously cast as Milano's mother.

In addition to "Charmed," Milano starred on "Who's the Boss?" and was a regular on "Melrose Place" late in that show's life. She was attached to another ABC project earlier this development season, but it didn't receive a pilot order.

Harmon, who played prosecutor Abbie Lockhart on "Law & Order" from 1998-2001, will play a detective in "Women's Murder Club," about four friends who work together to solve homicide cases. She joins Aubrey Dollar and Paula Newsome in the cast.

Last spring Harmon starred in another ABC pilot, "Secrets of a Small Town." Her credits also include NBC's short-lived "Inconceivable" and "Fun With Dick and Jane."

Messner is set to play a cop who sparks with the title character (Louise Lombard) in "Judy's Got a Gun," about a single mother who works as a suburban police detective. He starred on FOX's "Killer Instinct" and had a recurring part on "The O.C."