CBS Talking to Ellen DeGeneres

Ellen DeGeneres may be coming back to network television, despite what she called a bruising experience with ABC and Ellen.

The actress-comedian is negotiating with CBS for a new comedy in which she would play the host of a Carol Burnett-style TV variety show, Leslie Moonves, president and chief executive officer of CBS Television, said Sunday.

The series, intended for the 2000-01 season, would focus on the character's off- and on-camera life.

Both DeGeneres and her character on Ellen came out as lesbians in April 1997. When the show's ratings dropped and it was canceled about a year later, DeGeneres accused the network of sabotaging her program.

"When I walked out of the studio after five years of working so hard, knowing I had been treated so disrespectfully for no other reason than I was gay, I just went into this deep, deep depression," DeGeneres said in November 1998. "It's not like any other networks have called."

The character's sexual orientation on the new show has not been discussed, but it wouldn't matter to the network if she was lesbian or not, executives told the Television Critics Association.

Since Ellen, DeGeneres has appeared in films including EdTV and The Love Letter.