Desperate Housewives’ Felicity Huffman Lands First Post-Prison Role

Former Desperate Housewives star Felicity Huffman made headlines last year for her role in Varsity Blues, the college admissions-cheating scandal, she is now getting press for another reason. She’s landed a lead role in a new sitcom that has a commitment at ABC.

Felicity Huffman Makes Acting Return

Deadline reports that Huffman, who has a long history with ABC, is returning to the alphabet network in a single-camera comedy that she will star in and executive produce. The series also will star Zack Gottsagen (The Peanut Butter Falcon) as her character’s son.

The untitled comedy, written by Becky Hartman Edwards, is receiving its inspiration from the story of Susan Savage, a woman who took over ownership of the Triple-A baseball team the Sacramento River Cats after her husband died.

Watch for Huffman’s character in this new series to try to make her way as she takes over ownership of the team with the help of her family. Gottsagen’s character is a baseball devotee. Expect Huffman’s character to not only survive but thrive.

In addition to her Emmy-winning run on Desperate Housewives, Huffman’s other series for ABC include the comedy Sports Night and the anthology drama series American Crime.

In real-life Huffman is wed to actor William H. Macy (Shameless). Last year, on March 12, Huffman was arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud for her role in the highly-publicized college cheating admissions scandal. On May 13, she pled guilty to federal charges for paying $15,000 to have a proctor correct SAT questions answered incorrectly by her daughter.

Huffman was sentenced to serve 14 days in prison, she was fined $30,000, and ordered to complete 250 hours of community service, and received one year supervised release. She spent less than two weeks in prison, entering a facility on October 15, 2019, and was released on October 25, 2019.

In an effort to explain her actions, Huffman said in court: “I was frightened. I was stupid and I was wrong. I have inflicted more damage than I could ever imagine. I take full responsibility for my actions. I am prepared to take whatever sentence you give me.

“I would like to apologize again to my daughter, my husband, my family, and the educational community for my actions,” Huffman said. “And I especially want to apologize to the students who work hard every day to get into college, and to their parents who make tremendous sacrifices supporting their children.”