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CW dips toes into comedy

The comedy rosters at UPN and The WB are not what you would call deep. Yet to this point, The CW – which will rise from the ashes of the two nets in the fall – has had only one sitcom project in development.

That show, a “Girlfriends” spinoff titled “The Game,” finally has some company. The CW has given the green light to a pilot called “She Said, He Said,” with singer-actor Nick Lachey in negotiations to star in it.

Insert Nick-and-Jessica joke here.

Dan Berendsen (“Sabrina, the Teenage Witch,” “The Madam’s Family”) and Heidi Clements are writing “He Said, She Said,” which is the first comedy to be ordered by The CW since it came into being (“The Game” was previously in development at UPN). As the title implies, the show will explore how men and women often have different perceptions of the same situation.

Berendsen will also executive produce with Garry Hart, while Clements will be a supervising producer.

Lachey’s involvement arises out of a talent deal he signed with The WB last year. He had a recurring part on “Charmed” last season and has also appeared on “Hope & Faith” and The WB’s “Twins.”

Earlier this development season, he was attached to a WB project about a newly married professional athlete. That project has apparently become a victim of the merger.

Former ‘Apprentice’ running for congress

Raj Bhakta, the bow tie-wearing former “Apprentice” contestant who was considering a run for Congress, has officially thrown his hat into the political ring.

Bhakta, who runs a real estate firm in Fort Washington, Pa., has filed papers to run as a Republican for the 13th District House seat in suburban Philadelphia. He’s so far the only Republican candidate to file papers to run in the state’s May 16 primary. His likely opponent in November is Democrat Allyson Schwartz, the incumbent.

Calling himself a “Theodore Roosevelt Republican,” Bhakta says on his campaign web site that he may not march in lockstep with current GOP leaders if he’s elected. “I am concerned that the current leadership in Washington, D.C., has strayed too far from the promises they made twelve years ago when they took control of Congress,” he writes.

He also says he wants to make the tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 permanent, simplify Medicare’s prescription-drug benefit and “ensure that our water and air are clean,” even if it means opposing the president and party leaders.

Bhakta has raised more than $100,000 thus far. Federal Election Commission disclosures show contributions from a number of family members and at least one of his former fellow “Apprentices,” Bradford Cohen.