LOS ANGELES – If Philadelphia-born Rob McElhenney were a stock, he’d be Google or Microsoft, says FX president John Landgraf.

A few months ago, McElhenney was waiting tables in West Hollywood. Now, after shooting his own pilot for $200, he’s the star, creator, executive producer, writer and director of the FX sitcom “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.”

“Sunny,” about three pals who open a bar in South Philly, launches Aug. 4. Seven episodes will run at 10:30 p.m. Thursdays after “Starved,” another freshman comedy. That one features four Brooklyn friends with eating disorders. (“Starved” and “Sunny.” There’s a promo there somewhere.)

“Rob is an awesome investment,” Landgraf said in an interview Sunday at the TV critics’ summer meetings here. “He’s like a young Larry David.”

Production wrapped Friday, and it hasn’t hit McElhenney yet that he could be on the precipice of stardom.

“The big surprise is that I don’t feel any different,” says the 28-year-old who left Temple University after one semester. (“I could have dropped out of anywhere, but I chose Temple.”)

“I have more money than I’ve ever had in my life, but I still live in the same apartment (a one-bedroom in West Hollywood) and drive the same car (a 2000 Toyota pickup) and do the same things I’ve done every day.”

McElhenney worked 14-hour days for four months with his costars, Glenn Howerton and Charlie Day, also his buds in real life. He had a blast, “which is great because it coincides with me making a living.”

McElhenney’s $200 “Sunny” pilot, shot on his hand-held digital camera and edited on his computer, was reshot by FX for $400,000, Landgraf says. The budget for each episode was about $490,000 – less than half that of a broadcast-network sitcom.

McElhenney says his future projects will be behind the camera only.

“I’m done with acting. I feel like it was the means to an end. My true passion is writing and producing. It’s like putting the pieces of a puzzle together. Of course, I don’t know how I’ll feel six months or a year from now.”

—

Tough and flawed. Kyra Sedgwick of “The Closer” says she’s flattered by comparisons of her character to Helen Mirren’s Inspector Jane Tennison on PBS’s “Prime Suspect.”

In TNT’s new breakout hit, L.A. Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson is a CIA-trained Atlanta detective brought in to head the priority homicide squad. She’s “not afraid to be feminine but she can also be really tough,” Sedgwick said in an interview Sunday. “She’s deeply flawed, especially in her personal life. She’s extremely human.”

Unlike Tennison, Johnson is disorganized, and her petite stature and lilting Southern accent can be deceptive.

“People make the assumption they can railroad over this backwoods hick. It’s wonderful to see this small Southern woman kicking butt.”

Turns out the actresses have worked together three times, and Sedgwick labels Mirren an idol.

Sedgwick, 39, is a New Yorker and the wife of Kevin Bacon. Like her character, she’s a junk-food junkie. (“A day without chocolate is like a day without sunshine.”)

She’s also so absent-minded, there’s an area on the set labeled “Kyra’s lost item of the day.” It has included her water bottle, cell phone, sunglasses and script.

Being the lone female in the testosterone-heavy cast is “awesome,” Sedgwick says. “I grew up with two older brothers. I love boys, especially these boys. Everybody is so giving, so in touch with their sensitive sides.”

J.K. Simmons, who plays Johnson’s twice-married boss and ex-paramour, says Sedgwick “is one of the guys in all the good ways – her sense of humor, willingness to go along and be part of the team.”

He’d like them to hook up again. “It would be interesting to make out with Kyra. Their relationship will definitely be dealt with over the course of our many, many seasons.”

—

(c) 2005, The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Visit Philadelphia Online, the Inquirer’s World Wide Web site, at http://www.philly.com/

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.

AP-NY-07-18-05 1803EDT