‘Seinfeld’s’ Michael Richards to join ‘Dancing with the Stars’ alum on TV Land

This may be news that we were never quite sure that we would be reporting. Six years after his career went off the rails courtesy of a racially-charged rant at Los Angeles hotspot Laugh Factor, “Seinfeld” star Michael Richards is finally going to be returning to TV as a series regular for the first time in more than a decade.

So what show would he be a part of? It is none other than a new TV Land project entitled “Giant Baby,” which stars Kirstie Alley as Madison “Maddie” Banks, a Broadway star who is shocked when the son she gave up for adoption shows up hoping to reconnect with her. According to Deadline, Richards would be playing the role of her limo driver. Alley will also have her fellow former “Dancing with the Stars” contestant Gilles Marini on board, where he will be playing the recurring role of her chef. Rhea Perlman also stars as Madison’s best friend.

This move is obviously a gamble for TV Land, as Richards has never fully seen his reputation recover from the incident despite apologies and words of encouragement from Jerry Seinfeld himself. However, his casting here is part of a larger strategy by the network to cast veteran sitcom actors on their shows in hopes of drawing nostalgic fans looking to see some of their favorite actors working again. It has worked well for Betty White’s “Hot in Cleveland” as well as “Happily Divorced.” There is a great deal of talent on this new show, so the potential is high here for success.

We’ll close here with a fun fact: not long after the end of “Seinfeld,” Richards was offered a role as the lead in a show about an obsessive-compulsive detective. He turned it down, and that show ended up being “Monk,” which was one of the most-successful series in basic cable history.

If you want to read more news on White’s upcoming “Off Their Rockers” show, you can check it out here.

Photo: TV Land