Linda and Delta in D.C.

NEW YORK —  As I sat minding my own business, the phone rang and two of my favorites in the world were together on the other end. When I say “together,” I mean together--the genius TV creator Linda Bloodworth-Thomason and Delta Burke, the delicious “Designing Women” star. As I reported some months ago, these two have made up their professional differences--and now they will finally join forces again with a brand-new series called “Woman in the House.”

The pilot script is already at CBS, and they expect a green light to film the first episode. The series is set in Washington, but will be filmed in Little Rock, which is the only U.S. city that has a duplicate of D.C.’s Capitol Building.

The pilot concerns an elderly U.S. congressman from Georgia wed to a young, sexy woman named Lee Ann Wannamaker. He dies and she is appointed to fill out his term. She takes his seat but refuses to “know her place.” She plunges into her new job with no realization that telling the truth in politics is dangerous. She has an adopted Asian daughter, as well as a mentally retarded brother. She insists on taking him everywhere in Washington.

When she puts her brother’s ceramics on sale in the House Gift Shop, a scandal ensues, called “Knickknackgate.” Lee Ann goes on “Crossfire” and says all the politically incorrect things.

What you must remember in considering all the above is that the accidental congresswoman in the series is actually Suzanne Sugarbaker, the wonderfully self-absorbed Southern belle of “Designing Women.” For the moment, Linda is calling the character Lee Ann. But believe me, Lee Ann by any name is Suzanne all over again.

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Jeff Daniels co-stars with Jim (“Ace Ventura”) Carrey in New Line’s “Dumb and Dumber.” Daniels and Carrey play the world’s most stupid guys in this slapstick comedy filming in Colorado.

Jeff, who made such a big, serious impression last year in “Gettysburg,” will also be seen this summer in Fox’s action pic “Speed”--with a short-haired pumped-up Keanu Reeves.