Christopher Meloni returns to TV in FOX comedy pilot

Former "Law & Order: SVU" star Christopher Meloni has lined up his next series role, and it's a long way from Elliot Stabler.

Meloni will star in a comedy at FOX from writers Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumacker ("Cougar Town," "$#*! My Dad Says"), based on Halpern's book "I Suck at Girls." He'll play the no-nonsense and not very warm father of two teenage kids (Connor Buckley of "Deception" and "Hart of Dixie's" Claudia Lee) who takes a more active role in their upbringing when their mother is accepted to law school.

The FOX project is Meloni's first series-regular role since he left "SVU" at the end of the 2010-11 season. He had a recurring part on "True Blood" last summer.

While he's best known for playing the intense Stabler on "SVU" and the sociopathic Chris Keller on "Oz," Meloni has a number of comedy credits as well. He co-starred in "Wet Hot American Summer" and the first two "Harold & Kumar" movies and guested on two episodes of "Scrubs" -- whose creator, Bill Lawrence, is a friend of Meloni's and is also executive producing the FOX pilot.