By Lisa de Moraes
Friday, November 18, 2005

Imagine Television and a member of the Kennedy family are developing a sitcom, to star the same Kennedy clan member, about what it's like to be a member of the Kennedy dynasty and run for political office in California.

For the Fox network.

No kidding.

Christopher Kennedy Lawford -- son of Peter Lawford and JFK sister Patricia Kennedy -- will star in the series, which will be based on his own life as Rat Pack toddler-cum-First Nephew.

The half-hour series would be shot single camera and without a laugh track -- really, do you need a laugh track when you're writing about the Kennedy family? -- and will look vaguely documentary-ish.

Lawford will play himself but, for the sake of Fox's race to attract 18-to-49-year-old viewers, the 50-year-old will fudge his age by about five years, said one source close to the project who did not wish his/her identity to be revealed lest it impede his/her ability to continue to be gainfully employed and get a table at the Ivy.

Television Christopher Kennedy Lawford will, like Actual Christopher Kennedy Lawford, be coming out of an "extended adolescence," as our source put it. And -- in one of those astounding coincidences that make you wonder if there isn't a Great Scheduler out there -- that's exactly how the trade paper the Hollywood Reporter put it, too.

Actual Christopher Kennedy Lawford is an actor, best known for playing Brewster's aide in "Terminator 3," Sen. Jordan on "General Hospital," Studio Exec #1 in "Chump Change" (Roger Clinton played Studio Exec # 2, according to the Web site Imdb.com), Vice President Chet Ridgeway in "Counterstrike," another vice president in "Exit Wounds" and Reuben in "Mary, Mother of Jesus."

But mostly, he's known for looking like the spittin' image of his extremely handsome dad, and for his much publicized substance-abusing past, which will be featured in the series. Which, to refresh your memory, will be a comedy. If you can't wait for the series, you can read all about Lawford's past in his new book with the really long title "Symptoms of Withdrawal: A Memoir of Snapshots and Redemption."

In the series, TV Christopher Kennedy Lawford will not decide to pitch a sitcom to Fox.

He will instead decide to "embrace the family business" -- the Kennedy family business, not the Lawford family business. To be specific, our source says he will run for some minor political office in Los Angeles. Our source would not tell us what office but assured us it was not governor of the state. That post currently is occupied by Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is Actual Christopher Kennedy Lawford's cousin-in-law, Maria Shriver being his cousin.

The series also will star Gavin Grazer, who in real life is the pal of Actual Christopher Kennedy Lawford.

Grazer is also the brother of Imagine's principal, Brian Grazer, which may have something to do with why this show is being developed by Imagine -- home of Fox's nearly canceled "Arrested Development."

Gavin Grazer would assume the role of Gavin Grazer in the series, which will examine the tragedy of living in the shadow of fame and which -- we cannot emphasize this enough -- is going to be a comedy.

A series cashing in on the Kennedy cachet hasn't been tried since . . . well, last season.

WB's "Jack and Bobby" was set in the year 2049, with flashbacks to the less-distant future. Only in this Camelot, older, really cute brother Jack wasn't the one who became president; he just died. Younger brother Bobby became president and married his brother's girlfriend, which was creepy. And their mom smoked pot and was angry and pinched as only Christine Lahti can do angry and pinched. It was a total downer and gone at the end of its first season.

Should have made it a comedy.