Sagal Married With Job for Spouse

By GREG HERNANDEZ

Katey Sagal knows she can get laughs, but that’s not what she’ll be looking for in her latest TV gig.

The star of the sitcoms “Married With Children” and “8 Simple Rules” has stepped into the role of the ferocious matriarch of a notorious outlaw motorcycle gang on the new FX series “Sons of Anarchy.”

“She’s lived in this motorcycle world for 30 years and was married to the guy who started the original club,” Katey said of her character, Gemma. “I’ve been wanting to do a drama. I’ve been wanting to do something different. This is really something I was looking for, and I’m really happy to be here.”

Gemma could not be further from Peg Bundy, and that was the appeal for the actress who started in showbiz as a background singer for Bette Midler.

“I feel like I’ve been in the sitcom world so much, which I’m so grateful for, and I sort of feel like there wasn’t a lot more to explore,” she added. “I feel like I really did a good job in that world.”

For the new show, which will air Wednesday nights beginning Sept. 3, Katey is working with her husband, Kurt Sutter, who created “Sons of Anarchy” and is one of the writers and executive producers. They previously worked together on a few episodes of “The Shield” but never regularly on a series.

I asked Katey at the Television Critics Association Press Tour this week how it’s working out for the couple.

“He’s in the writers room and producing, and I’m actually on the set, so during the day we don’t seem to run into each other quite as much, but we’re all on the same lot, so we can sneak off for lunch,” she said.

“We never have done this, and it’s working out great. I have enormous respect for my husband as an artist. It’s great to leave the husband and wife (stuff) at home, and I have no problem with him being the boss, which I think is his favorite part.” (She laughs.)

Would her character ever ride a motorcycle? Katey said no but quickly added: “She might ride on the back.”

Katie Holmes back to TV roots

Katie Holmes has had a lot more attention in recent years for her marriage to Tom Cruise than for her acting. But this week, the former star of “Dawson’s Creek” began working on an episode of the ABC show “Eli Stone.”

“It’s not a one-scene, two-scene thing,” the show’s creator, Greg Berlanti, said Wednesday at the Television Critics Association Press Tour. “She’s in a significant portion of the episode. … She’s an incredible actress and a good friend.”

Berlanti makes no secret that Katie’s guest spot is for ratings. “We really want to bring eyeballs to the show and do anything we can to get people talking about the show.”

Busy schedule divine for Devine

Loretta Devine has a rather nice problem: She not only has a regular job on “Eli Stone” as Jonny Lee Miller’s secretary, but she also has a recurring role on ABC’s hit show “Grey’s Anatomy.”

“I’ve sort of always been in limbo,” she said of her role on “Grey’s.”"I never know whether they’re going to kill me off. … Instead they wrote in a bedroom scene, so I was really happy about that. … I’m real excited to be a part of both shows.”

(c) 2008 Daily News; Los Angeles, Calif.. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.