Channel Surfing: Fuller Talks "Pushing Daisies" Comic, Cuoco Checks into Seattle Grace, Whedon on What Will Save "Dollhouse," and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing.

Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller has said that a comic book spin-off of the sadly demised series could be on sale via Marvel as early as this fall, should a deal with Warner Bros for the rights be closed in the next month or so. What should fans expect from the comic, which Fuller describes as Season Three of Pushing Daisies? "We're going to see a lot of exploration with Ned and his father, which we teased but were never able to make good on," Fuller told SCI FI Wire. "We had [Ned's father, played by] George Hamilton save Ned and Chuck, and by having Emerson and Dwight Dixon clean up the whole mess we're going to understand who Dwight was to Chuck and Ned's dad. Dwight will be making a return, and we'll be seeing the adult Eugene Mulchandani and Danny that involves helium smuggling. There's a lot of fun stuff woven into the series that we were intending to pay off that we can now do in the comic-book series. The fans of the show will see a lot of stuff come to fruition, but new fans will have a greater appreciation, too. Since it's Marvel, I would also love for the Pie Maker to touch Captain America." (SCI FI Wire)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that The Big Bang Theory's Kaley Cuoco will guest star on the upcoming season finale of ABC's Grey's Anatomy. "I am working on Grey's Anatomy next week," Cuoco told Ausiello. "It is a big ol' secret. I have no clue what I am doing. I swear on my life that I have no idea what I am playing because it is the finale and they are keeping it under wraps until the last possible moment. [...] My guess is that I will be a patient of some kind. I'm practicing my scared-sad-I'm-dying face." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Questioned about what it would take to get FOX to renew Dollhouse for a second season, creator Joss Whedon said it would take more than a fan-mounted campaign to innundate the network with letters. "I don't think it's a 'Save Dollhouse' campaign. Basically, we've got a few more times up at bat," said Whedon. "It's going to be up to the fans to be vocal in their own community to make sure people are watching, that we get those DVR numbers, that they don't slip. If they want to cold call executives, that's good too, I guess. Or Twitter. A lotta people are Twittering. Ultimately, it's just holding the course, because I honestly began to think that we were dead in the water, and the people at Fox made a point of calling me to say, 'That's not the case. We're still working it out. We're fans. We want this to work.'" (SCI FI Wire)

CBS has announced that it has renewed reality series The Amazing Race for a fifteenth cycle and made history by being the first television network to announce a series renewal via Twitter, confirming the news after host Phil Keoghan posted a tweet sharing news of the renewal. (Hollywood Reporter)

Michael Ausiello is reporting that Kathryn Erbe will fill in for Julianne Nicholson on USA's Law & Order: Criminal Intent while Nicholson temporarily leaves the series on maternity leave. According to Ausiello, "The move means that for the final four episodes of CI's current eighth season (premiering this Sunday on USA), Erbe will alternate between her current partner, Vincent D'Onofrio, and Nicholson's new partner, Jeff Goldblum." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

The New York Post talks to Grey's Anatomy's Chandra Wilson, who says that viewers should anticipate some major surprises in the series' season finale, which airs in May. "I've been told there are some life-changing things that happen to all of us," said Wilson. "I don't know what those things are that [show creator] Shonda Rhimes is talking about... so I don't know how Bailey's life is altered. But I would love to see that final episode!" Wilson also discusses the changes her character has undergone this season and offers a few tidbits about a certain wedding that's coming up on the series. (New York Post)

Elsewhere at the Post, Mary Louise Parker is allegedly thinking of leaving Showtime comedy Weeds after the sixth season when her contract ends. According to the paper's unnamed sources, if Parker does decide to leave the series, Showtime would cancel Weeds, which is slated to air its fifth season this summer. "We'd have to see if it made sense to continue, but we can't envision the show without her," said a Showtime insider quoted in the article. (New York Post)

YouTube has signed deals to offer full-length feature films and television episodes in a move to compete with NBC Universal/20th Century Fox-backed rival site Hulu. The site has signed deals with Sony, Lionsgate, BBC, Starz, Discovery, and National Geographic as well as Anime Network, Cinetic Rights Management, Current TV, Documentary Channel, First Look Studios, and IndieFlix. The content will be offered for free but will contain advertising during the commercial breaks in TV series' episodes; site may also eventually charge for premium content. (Variety)

Adrian Grenier (Entourage) is producing documentary Spin, which explores the relationship between technology and 21st century society. The doc, which is written and will be directed by Matthew Cooke, is being looked at as a made-for television documentary film or as the pilot for a thirteen-episode limited series. (Hollywood Reporter)

Comedy Central has signed a multi-platform output deal with Levity Entertainment Group, under which the cabler will produce 12 comedy standup specials, with half of those coming from such comedians as Christopher Titus, Gabriel Iglesias, Pablo Franscisco, Jim Breuer, Mitch Fatel, and Pete Correale. The cabler will all air all six specials this year, with another six planned for 2010, and eight of these specials will be released on DVD, under the terms of the deal. (Variety)

MTV has given a series order to Gone Too Far, a reality series hosted by DJ AM which will feature "tough-love interventions for young people whose lives have become unmanageable because of chemical dependence. Project, from Ish Entertainment and Gigantic Prods., will feature an addiction specialist as well as DJ AM, who has gone through his own battles with chemical dependency. (Hollywood Reporter)

USA Today's Gary Strauss alks to Stanley Burrell (a.k.a. MC Hammer) about his upcoming reality series, Hammertime, which is set to launch in June on A&E. "I get offers like this 10 times a year, but it wasn't something I was interested in," Burrell told the paper. "But in the last 18 months, I started thinking I might be able to bring something to the genre. There are not a lot of family-oriented shows that speak to the America we're in right now." (USA Today)

SAG's national board is due to sit this weekend in a two-day session in which they might approve the feature-primetime contract deal that's on the table. If the board does decide to approve the deal, which had been floated during back channel talks between SAG and CEOs, it could be sent to members and ratified before the end of May. (Variety)

Stay tuned.