Channel Surfing: ABC Reveals First "Lost" Promo, BBC One Sets Airdate for "Doctor Who: Waters of Mars," Easton Ellis Spies "Follower" at HBO, and More
Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing.ABC has released the first promo for Season Six of Lost, the series' final season. But, be warned, the fifteen-second clip doesn't contain any new footage, which many believe is proof positive that the network will be going out of their way to avoid revealing just what happened after Juliet detonated the hydrogen bomb at the end of last season. There's still no premiere date for Season Six of Lost, but it's expected to debut roughly around the end of January.
BBC One has announced today that it will air the latest David Tennant Doctor Who special, Doctor Who: The Waters of Mars, on Sunday, November 15th at 7 pm GMT. No word yet on when BBC America will schedule the special, which will feature Tennant in one of his last appearances before his final two-part story at the end of the year. As soon as BBC America announces their scheduling plans, I'll let you know.
Novelist Bret Easton Ellis will adapt Jason Starr's novel "The Follower," about a group of twenty-something Manhattanites seen through the eyes of a stalker, for HBO. Project, from Lionsgate Television, will be executive produced by Jason Blum, Doug Davison, Roy Lee, and Geyer Kosinski. (Variety)
Sasha Alexander (NCIS) has been cast opposite Angie Harmon in TNT's drama pilot Rizzoli, where she will play medical examiner Maura Isles, who teams up with Harmon's police detective Rizzoli to solve crimes in the Boston area. Also cast: Bruce McGill (Law Abiding Citizen), Jordan Bridges (Bionic Woman), and Lee Thompson Young (FlashForward). (Hollywood Reporter)
With Rescue Me set to wrap its run in 2011, Denis Leary and Jim Serpico's Sony Pictures Television-based shingle Apostle Films is busy adding to its development slate, including an untitled CBS dramedy with Peter Ocko which will star Michael Rapaport as a social worker who helps people with their problems but can't solve his own; multi-camera FOX comedy Extended Family, with John Beck and Ron Hart, about a family that takes in foster kids; an untitled FX drama about evangelists with writer David Folwell (Medium); USA procedural drama Partners in Crime, about divorced spouses who are private eyes; USA drama Scales of Justice, about an overweight former cop who teams up with his support group to fight crime; and an adaptation of "The Rebel League," about a hockey league, for Spike. (Variety)
Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello has the scoop on last night's shocking twist on the CW's Vampire Diaries. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)
Feature writer Josh Heald has set up two comedy projects at NBC and FOX. His NBC multi-camera comedy script, Sausagefest, will revolve around two twenty-something best friends who each have clingy fathers. Norm Macdonald is attached to play one of the dads, a three-time divorcee and misogynist. Project, from Universal Media Studios and BermanBraun, will be executive produced by Gail Berman and Lloyd Braun. Heald's FOX project, multi-camera comedy Sequestered, will focus on twelve jurors forced to live together when they are sequestered for a lengthy trial. Project, from 20th Century Fox Television and Chernin Entertainment, will be executive produced by Peter Chernin and Katherine Pope. (Hollywood Reporter)
FOX has ordered a sixth season of Seth MacFarlane's animated comedy American Dad, with 22 episodes expected to air during the 2010-11 season. (The Wrap's TVMoJoe)
SPOILER! Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that 90210's token lesbian Gia (Rumer Willis) will embark on a romance with a major and heretofore straight female character later this season. "This isn’t a fling," 90210 executive producer Rebecca Sinclair told Ausiello. "We’re coming at this [relationship] from a genuine place and not going, 'Let’s do a titillating story that will grab some promotion.' This is a real aspect of teenager life that’s interesting... And there’s been a real void in the 90210 universe in terms of gay and bisexual characters." The character in question? Jessica Lowndes' Adrianna. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)
Comedy Central has ordered six half-hour episodes of an untitled sketch comedy series to star Nick Swardson (Reno 911!) that will mix man-on-the-street interviews, animation, skits, and digital shorts. Series, from Sony Pictures Television and Happy Madison Prods., is expected to launch in 2010. (Variety)
Danielle Panabaker (Shark) has been cast as a guest star on an upcoming episode of ABC's Grey's Anatomy, where she will play a patient at Seattle Grace under the care of Cristina and Jackson in the November 19th episode. The episode will also feature The Wire's Frankie Faison, who will play Bailey's father, Bill. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)
Disney Channel has ordered 21 episodes of animated high school comedy Fish Hooks, which will mix photo collage with two-dimensional digital animation. Series, which will launch in Fall 2010, "revolves around party guy Milo (voiced by Kyle Massey); his neurotic brother, Oscar (Justin Roiland); and an overly dramatic goldfish, Bea (Chelsea Staub). They attend Freshwater High, a school submerged in a giant fish tank in the center of a local pet store." (Hollywood Reporter)
The New York Times is reporting that Cox Communication's sale of cabler Travel Channel could fetch as much as $1 billion. The company is said to have received bids from such entities as News Corporation and Scripps Networks, with one of the bids said to be north of $900 million. (New York Times)
Discovery has ordered eight episodes of unscripted series Airplane Repo, from executive producer Craig Piligian, about repo man Nick Popovich who specializes in repossessing jets and helicopters from delinquent owners. It's expected to debut during first quarter 2010. Elsewhere, the network renewed Swords for a second season. (Hollywood Reporter)
Stay tuned.