FOX sitcom woos Zooey Deschanel

'Elf' star is being recruited for the former 'Chicks and Dicks'

By Hitfix StaffWednesday, Feb 9, 2011 1:47 AM

Zooey Deschanel

Credit: Danny Moloshok/AP

Is Zooey Deschanel ready to join sister Emily on FOX?

It's a possibility.

According to an assortment of media reports that all got the "scoop" at the exact same moment (we'll cite EW.com, just for fun), Zooey Deschanel is "near a deal" to star in the FOX comedy pilot formerly titled "Chicks and Dicks."

Created by Liz Meriwether, the 20th Century Fox and Chernin Entertainment (talk about having a foot in the door already) production is an ensemble about sexual politics among a group of young men and women. So it's "Perfect Couples" meets "Traffic Light" meets "Happy Endings"?

Deschanel has been inching towards regular work on the small screen since early last year when she was linked to an HBO pilot based on the book "Iâ€™m With the Band: Confessions of a Groupie." That project apparently failed to move forward.

Previous small screen credits for Deschanel have included an arc on "Weeds," the Sci Fi Channel miniseries "Tin Man" and a guest appearance on "Bones" where she played a distant cousin to real-life sister Emily's Temperance Brennan.

She's still best known for films like "(500) Days of Summer," "Elf" and "Almost Famous."