Joan Cusack, who received an Oscar nomination for her hilarious turn as the slimmed-down, would-be bride of Kevin Kline in In & Out, is going to try her luck on the small screen. The Hollywood trades report that the actress has signed a deal with the hit-making Carsey-Werner Co. to headline a sitcom set to premiere in the fall of 1999.

The premise is still being worked out, but the show will be written by Roseanne scribe Eric Gilliland. Production will be based in Cusack's hometown of Chicago, and Variety says Gilliland's willingness to move to the city helped seal the deal. Both NBC and ABC are reportedly hot to land the sitcom.

This will be Cusack's first prime-time series, and let's hope she has better luck than fellow big-screen star Melanie Griffith, whose Me & Henry never got off the ground.

Cusack's previous TV work includes a brief stint on Saturday Night Live in the '80s and a part in the 1994 telepic The Mother.

In other TV news, CBS has given full-season orders to the Sammo Hung series Martial Law and the sitcom King of Queens. Martial Law has the distinction of being the most-watched new drama on any network.

HBO has renewed Arliss, Oz, and Sex and the City