Valderrama Returning to Fox

Wilmer Valderrama is returning to Fox in a new comedy.

The network ordered the production of the pilot called The Emancipation of Ernesto, which stars Valderrama in - if it were to be picked up - the first one-hour comedy on Fox since Ally McBeal. Valderrama play a "guileless innocent embarking on an epic quest to find his father amid a Los Angeles landscape polluted with excess," according to the Hollywood Reporter. The show is reportedly inspired by Steve Martin's comedy, The Jerk.

The pilot, written by Emily Kapnek (whose previous credits include the Emmy-nominated As Told by Ginger and ABC's Emily's Reasons Why Not), came to the network who had also aired Valderrama's That 70's Show for eight seasons.

"The writing jumped off the page; it has a really unique original tone," said Susan Levinson, the senior vice president of comedy development at Fox. "It was a mix of real emotion with hard comedy. She (Kapnek) has crafted a character we have never seen before (she later said he was a little bit Chauncey Gardiner and a bit of Forrest Gump).