Facing the demise of her same-name ABC sitcom, the comedian has already lined up TV work on NBC.
She'll be guest-starring as Jamie and Paul Buchman's babysitter on the May 19 season finale of Mad About You.
DeGeneres could parlay the guest gig ("a chatty caterer who instantly connects with Mabel" says NBC) into a recurring role--especially if ABC axes her sitcom as expected, Variety reports.
"We love having her here, and we'd be happy to get her back next season," Mad executive producer Vic Levin tells the trade paper.
No further word yet from DeGeneres' camp.
Returning the favor, Mad star and Oscar winner Helen Hunt will stop by the season- (and maybe series-) ending episode of Ellen.
Also making a cameo on the Mad season sendoff is the King of the World, James Cameron. In what's sure to be a stretch, the über-director will be playing himself.
Meanwhile, in other Mad news, industry types are already cringing over NBC's recent resigning of Hunt and costar Paul Reiser for $1 million per episode. Entertainment Weekly says that several stars of more popular shows will probably be begging for big bucks contracts, including Kelsey Grammer (who only gets $250,000 per Frasier, the pals on Friends ($100,000), and Touched by an Angel cherubs Roma Downey and Della Reese (75,000 and $55,000 per, respectively.)