Call it recession chic. Debra Messing has signed on to star in an NBC sitcom playing a laid-off executive who is a fish out of water when she’s playing full-time wife and mom. Her husband is equally uncomfortable as breadwinner.

If the show is picked up, it will take Messing back to the network where she earned fame as Grace Adler on "Will & Grace." The project reunites the actress with the team that wrote and produced her USA series "The Starter Wife."

There are other high-profile women who could be coming to TV this fall, based on pilots in development. Leah Remini, the star of "King of Queens,"  stars in ABC’s comedy pilot "Don’t Try This at Home." And CCH Pounder ("The Shield," "ER") is going for laughs in a Fox comedy, "Brothers." Meanwhile, Sherri Shepherd will be doing a comedy pilot for Lifetime. And for "Melrose Place" fans, CW is trying a remake of the old favorite and original cast member Laura Leighton has joined the cast as a recurring character. (Never mind that her character died in the original series — it is, after all, only television.)