Channel Surfing: "Chuck" Duo Brief ABC Legal Dramedy, Fred Armisen Heads to "Parks and Rec," Showtime Gives Them "L" as Reality Series, and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing.

ABC has emerged victorious from a fierce bidding war over an untitled legal dramedy from executive producers Josh Schwartz and Ali Adler (Chuck). The project, which received a put pilot commitment from the network, is about a female attorney in Los Angeles who "has observed enough misery in her divorce and family law practice to vow never to take the plunge into matrimony." Script will be written by Adler (Chuck), who will executive produce along with Schwartz, Stephanie Savage, Sheldon Turner, and Jennifer Klein. (Variety)

Saturday Night Live's Fred Armisen will reunite with Amy Poehler on NBC's Parks and Recreation this season. Armisen will guest star in an upcoming episode in which he'll play the counterpart to Leslie Knope (Poehler) in Pawnee's sister city. "Leslie arranges for [Armisen and his colleagues] to come for a visit, but they’re from a city in Venezuela," Parks executive producer Michael Schur told Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello. "They’re very confused because in Venezuela the government is so powerful; their parks department travels with military escorts and motorcades and stuff. They have all the money in the world because of their oil and they [don't understand] why Pawnee’s parks department is so rinky-dink." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Showtime has ordered nine episodes of The Real L Word: Los Angeles from L Word creator Ilene Chaiken and Magical Elves' Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz that will follow the lives of six lesbians in Los Angeles. Project, which would seem to be Showtime's version of The Real Housewives franchise, is expected to launch next year. "Even though we concluded our sixth season of The L Word on Showtime this past March, I believe we are not nearly finished telling our L Word stories," Chaiken said. "Showtime has yet again come forward to continue with us this mission to entertain and enlighten and bring more L to the world." (Variety)

FOX has given a pilot commitment plus penalty to drama spec script Worthy from writer Davey Holmes (Damages, In Treatment). Project, from 20th Century Fox Television and executive producer Gavin Polone, revolves around an Arizona politician who finds himself involved in a hit-and-run accident and then is blackmailed by a local mob boss. (Hollywood Reporter)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Michael Westen is returning to FOX's House this season as private investigator Lucas Douglas. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

CBS has given a pilot commitment to multi-camera ensemble comedy Open Books, about an "overinvolved" female book editor and her friends, family, and clients, from writer/executive producer Gail Lerner (Will & Grace) and Warner Bros. Television. (Hollywood Reporter)

Recasting alert! Nicole Ari Parker (Imagine That) will replace Sherri Saum in ABC's midseason legal dramedy The Deep End, where she will play Susan, a crack partner at a Los Angeles law firm where her husband (Billy Zane) is the new managing partner. Elsewhere, Michael Benjamin Washington (30 Rock) has replaced Amir Talai in NBC's midseason comedy series 100 Questions, where he will play the dating counselor to Sophie Winkleman's Charlotte. (Hollywood Reporter)

MTV is said to be very close to handing out a pilot presentation order for a contemporary take on 1985 feature film Teen Wolf, about a teenager who discovers that he is a werewolf. The new project, which will be set in high school and combine horror, comedy, and romance, is written by Jeff Davis (Criminal Minds), who will executive produce with Marty Adelstein and Rene Echevarria. (Hollywood Reporter)

Lighthearted Entertainment has signed a programming partnership with Japan's Nippon TV Network, under which the two companies will co-develop and co-distribute new reality formats across all territories, with ownership of the material shared between the two. (Variety)

20th Century Fox Television has hired former ABC Studios executive Carolyn Cassidy as VP of comedy development for the studio, where she will develop comedy projects and scout for new talent. She will report to Jonathan Davis. (Variety)

Talk show host Paul O'Grady is rumored to be considering a jump to satcaster Sky1 following his rejection of a 50 percent budget cut for his Channel 4 chat show. (Broadcast)

Lifetime Movie Networks have acquired telepic Double Wedding, starring Tia and Tamera Mowry as twins who begin dating the same man. (Variety)

Stay tuned.