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Dolly Parton has television plans in her immediate future.

She is preparing to play the lead in the Mae West story, a two-hour made-for-TV movie to air on ABC.  Talk has it that the movie might air during November sweeps of 2003.

The project has been long rumored but has not gotten off the ground because of the script.

"We’re hoping to start it sometime in the spring if everything goes well," Parton says.

Janet Roach wrote the original script, though other writers have been brought in, too, Parton says.  Roach’s credits include the "Three Stooges" bio-pic that aired in 2000 on ABC.

Even with other writers on the project, Parton is confident that some of Roach’s work will be retained and make for a good script.

"It’s not up to me," Parton says of when the project will get going.  "(The network) has certain things they want done with it, so that’s why they keep bringing in different writers.

"It won’t do it until there is a final script, then that’s when we’ll begin."

Such delays can be frustrating, but Parton says she’s not fretting.

"I’m getting mellow about how picky I am," she says jokingly.

What’s she pickiest about?

"My time and how I spend it," she says more seriously.  "I do what feels right to be that day, whether it pleases anyone else or not.  If I feel good about it, then that’s what I am supposed to do."

She has other plans of a musical nature.  She wants to do a "great country album," a gospel recording, a collection of children’s tunes and even a dance remix disc.

"I have a lot of different fans, and I want to please them all," she says.

Bluegrass music – which she has been doing to critical acclaim in recent years – isn’t on her agenda.

"I don’t want to get pigeonholed in this bluegrass thing," she says.