Too good to be true!

Al Sharpton wants his own sitcom

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - He has led civil rights marches, scolded the nation's leaders and even run for president, but the Rev. Al Sharpton now wants to do something completely different -- star in his own television sitcom.

Sharpton, in an interview with Reuters on Friday, confirmed a report in Daily Variety that he would soon be filming a pilot for a family show called "Al in the Family" that would revolve around his larger-than-life personality.

"I don't know if I am a good actor or not but I will be playing myself and I have been practicing that for 51 years," the New York Democrat and civil rights leader said.

He added that in the show, "I am the center of a family with different social and political views and we crack jokes and confront each other but are a family."

Asked if one of his children was a Republican on the show, the man who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 said the producers asked him not to give away too many plot details, "but you can assume something like that."

Sharpton said he was attracted to the idea of a sitcom because "this is a way of impacting and bringing a social message in a way that people can digest it. We will talk about our differences and our commonalities."

A pilot episode for a series would be produced early next year by Paramount Network Television for CBS. Both are units of Viacom Inc.

Each year, networks view a series of pilots to determine what shows they will order for the season. Many pilots fail to make it into full production.

Sharpton has been involved in many controversies since bursting onto the public scene more than two decades ago, among them his defense of a young black woman, Tawana Brawley, who charged she was raped by law enforcement officers.

Her story was later exposed as a hoax, although Sharpton has never conceded he was wrong.

He also led many protests against high-profile cases of police brutality in New York and won praise for enlivening the 2004 primaries with his sharp wit and colorful rhetoric.

Sharpton has made guest turns on several TV series.