Emmy winners in talks for comedy pilot

Multiple Emmy winners Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton are considering a return to TV comedy -- on the same pilot.

The two stars are in negotiations to headline a comedy called "Action News" that's set up at 20th Century Fox TV. No deals are done yet, the showbiz trade papers report, but if things break right, the studio is expected to begin taking bids on the pilot in the near future.

Given the instant name recognition of both Grammer and Heaton, the pilot seems almost sure to incite some heavy competition among the networks. The show's creative team is no slouch either: "Action News," about the reunion of two anchors at a local TV station, comes from "Frasier" veteran Christopher Lloyd and "Just Shoot Me" creator Steven Levitan.

The two writers, whose credits also include "Stacked" and "Greg the Bunny" (Levitan) and "The Golden Girls" and "Out of Practice" (Lloyd), set up a production company at 20th Century Fox last summer.

Grammer won four Emmys for playing Dr. Frasier Crane on "Frasier." Since the show ended in 2004, he has played Beast in "X-Men: The Last Stand" and starred in NBC's "A Christmas Carol," but the bulk of his TV work has come behind the camera. He's an executive producer of NBC's "Medium" (on which he did a guest spot last season) and The CW's "Girlfriends" and has also directed episodes of "Everybody Hates Chris" and "Out of Practice."

Heaton won back-to-back Emmys in 2000 and '01 for her work on "Everybody Loves Raymond," which ended its nine-season run on CBS in 2005. Other recent credits include "The Path to 9/11" at ABC and TNT's movie "The Engagement Ring." She also starred in an ABC pilot last spring that didn't go forward.