Channel Surfing: Delany Wonders Who Will Be Next to Leave Wisteria Lane, CW Orders "Melrose Place," Starz Renews "Crash," and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing.

Dana Delany admitted that none of Wisteria Lane's residents feel exactly safe these days, following the announcement that Nicollette Sheridan will leave Desperate Housewives. "Everyone is vulnerable on Wisteria Lane -- any of us could go," said Delany. "Every single person in that cast feels like their days are numbered. I think [Marc Cherry] likes to keep people on their toes." An upcoming storyline will find Delany's Katherine in potential jeopardy. "It's good," said Delany of the upcoming plot, "because that sense of not knowing keeps the actors on their toes and it keeps the audience anticipating." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Pilot helmer alert: The CW has given an official pilot order to Melrose Place, an update of the soap to be overseen by Darren Swimmer and Todd Slavkin (Smallville). Pilot, from CBS Paramount Network Television, will be directed by Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth, 24) and will focus on the residents of a trendy Los Angeles neighborhood. Elsewhere, Jeffrey Nachmanoff (Traitor) will direct FOX drama pilot Masterwork, from writer/executive producer Paul Scheuring (Prison Break).

And on the casting front, Zosia Mamet (The Unit) and Toni Trucks (Barbershop) have been cast in FOX comedy pilot Ab Fab as Eddie's daughter Saffron and her assistant; Diego Klattenhoff (Men in Trees) will co-star in NBC drama pilot Mercy; and Jason George (Eli Stone) and Sarah Drew (Everwood) have been cast in ABC drama pilot Inside the Box. (Hollywood Reporter)

Meanwhile, the recession has wrought some very noticeable changes this pilot season as the networks are funding more in-house production and are shooting more pilot presentations than full-out pilots. The networks, as seen by recent developments, also seem willing to cut and run from a project if the right combination of casting, director, and showrunner don't materialize. (Variety)

Tamara Feldman (Dirty Sexy Money) will appear in a four-episode story arc later this season on CW's Gossip Girl, where she will reprise her role as Manhattan socialite Poppy Lifton. (Variety)

Patrick Dempsey won't be leaving Grey's Anatomy, but Michael Ausiello has a scoop on McDreamy's status at Seattle Grace in an upcoming story arc on the ABC drama. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Starz has renewed drama series Crash for a second season of thirteen episodes but the Lionsgate-produced drama will bring in a new creative team for the series, to be overseen by Ira Steven Behr (The 4400), who will serve as executive producer. He'll be joined on the series by James DeMonaco and Todd Harthan (The Kill Point) while creator/executive producer Glen Mazzara will serve as a consulting producer. "About half of the story lines in the first season will continue into Season 2," writes the Hollywood Reporter's Nellie Andreeva. "Roughly half of the cast, including star Dennis Hopper, will stay on." (Hollywood Reporter)

CW's America's Next Top Model is set to start casting its thirteenth cycle later this week with one noticeable change: for the first time in the series' history, applicants need to be 5'7" and under. "There have been top supermodels in the past that weren't as tall as the industry demands, like fashion icon Kate Moss," said series co-creator/host Tyra Banks. "So we are changing up Top Model for cycle 13 and making it a year for the shorter model!" Gee, something tells me these girls will be highly prized in the cutthroat modeling world and not just one of Tyra's latest "causes." (via press release)

Katelynn Pippy has been bumped to series regular on Lifetime's drama series Army Wives; she plays the daughter of Kim Delaney's Claudia. (Variety)

Fox Reality Channel has renewed docudrama The Academy for a third season, which will focus on firefighter recruits. The Academy: Orange County Fire is executive produced by Scott Sternberg. (Hollywood Reporter)

Jennifer Aspen (Family Man) has been cast in FOX musical comedy series Glee, where she will play the role of Kendra. (Variety)

Following several weeks of speculation, Peter Chernin will leave News Corp after twenty years and will be "taking up the opportunity to start a new motion picture and television production venture with Fox," according to a memo issued by Rupert Murdoch which confirms that Chernin will not be renewing his contract. So what can Chernin's departure mean for the company? "There will be a streamlined management structure between our Los Angeles-based business units and the rest of the company," writes Murdoch. "Peter and I will be communicating more on this over the next few months. For the time being, of course, the talented executive team at the Fox Group will continue to report to Peter." (Los Angeles Times)

Meanwhile, Nikki Finke claims that former BSkyB executive James Murdoch, Rupert Murdoch's youngest son, may eventually replace Chernin, following a period in which News Corp division heads report directly to Rupert Murdoch. (Deadline Hollywood Daily)

SAG and AMPTP may need some intervention from a mediator in order to end the latest standoff between the guild and the studios. It's hoped the CAA head Richard Lovett will step in and mediate, as he did during the dispute between WGA and the majors last year. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Valley Hits Bullseye for "Human Target," Possible "Grey" Hour for Heigl and Knight, "Betty" Likely to Return at ABC, and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing.

Mark Valley (Fringe) has been cast as the lead in FOX drama pilot Human Target, from Warner Bros. Television, Wonderland, and DC Comics, about a "mysterious security freelancer who assumes the identities of those in danger, becoming the 'human target' for his clients." Pilot will be directed by Simon West. (Hollywood Reporter)

Katherine Heigl and T.R. Knight will depart the cast of ABC's Grey's Anatomy, according to co-star James Pickens who told US Magazine that the duo would leave the series. "Yes, she is," said Pickens when asked if Heigl was leaving. "Wherever Katherine goes, I wish her nothing but the best." As for Knight, Pickens said, "He's going too. He just wanted to pursue other career paths." ABC, ABC Studios, and reps for Heigl and Knight had no comment. (US Magazine)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello had some further news on this development. "Right now, the whole thing is in the hands of their agents and ABC's lawyers," an unnamed source told Ausiello. "Something will probably be worked out soon, but it's a safe bet that Katherine and T.R. won't be returning as series regulars next season." However, creator Shonda Rhimes is said to inclined to have the duo fleetingly reprise their roles next season. "There's talk of one or both of them doing an arc in the fall," said a source within the production. "That's one of several things being discussed." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

NBC quietly rounded out the rest of its cast for upcoming Amy Poehler comedy series Parks and Recreation, which stars Poehler, Rashida Jones, Aubrey Plaza, Chris Pratt and Aziz Ansari. Paul Schneider (Lars and the Real Girl) will play Mark, a co-worker of Leslie Knope (Poehler) who had a fling with her years earlier and can't shake her. Nick Offerman (American Body Show) will play Ron, the Parks and Recreation supervisor. (Zap2it)

Showtime has ordered a second season of dark comedy The United States of Tara, with twelve new episodes on tap for Season Two, which is expected to premiere in early 2010. Production on the sophomore season is slated to begin this summer. (via press release)

FX ordered two pilots yesterday, including an untitled drama from writer/executive producer Graham Yost (Boomtown) that is based on Elmore Leonard's short story "Fire in the Hole," about a Kentucky-based US Marshall who tangles with cases, his ex-wife, and his aging father. Project, from Sony Pictures Television and Timberman/Beverly Prods, will be executive produced by Sarah Timberman and Carl Beverly and will be directed by Michael Dinner. Also on tap: drama Lights Out, from writer Justin Zackham (The Bucket List) and executive producer Phillip Noyce and Fox Television Studios, about "an aging former heavyweight boxing champion who struggles to find his identity and support his wife and three daughters after his fighting days, leading him to accept reluctantly a job as an enforcer collecting debts. He is diagnosed with pugilistic dementia, a neurological disorder that affects boxers who receive multiple blows to the head, which gradually will lead to him losing all of his memories." (Hollywood Reporter)

ABC is said to be close to renewing struggling dramedy Ugly Betty for a fourth season. Also likely to get early pickups: Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, Brothers & Sisters, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, America's Funniest Home Videos, and The Bachelor, though ABC had no comment about renewals. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

ABC has ordered a pilot for single-camera comedy No Heroics, based on the ITV series about a group of superheroes with less-than-impressive powers who hang out together at a local pub. Project, from ABC Studios and Tiger Aspect, will be written and executive produced by Will & Grace's Jeff Greenstein and original series creator Drew Pearce. (Hollywood Reporter)

Kathryn Hahn (Revolutionary Road) has been cast in FOX's US adaptation of Absolutely Fabulous, which has been ordered to pilot. She'll play Eddie oppposite Kristen Johnston, who will play Eddie's BFF Patsy Stone. "From working with Kate Winslet to Will Ferrell, it's her broad range of talent that inspired us to give her a development deal," said FOX EVP of casting, Marcia Shulman of Hahn. "AbFab was bought with her specifically in mind." Hahn's casting as Eddie seems to invalidate previous reports that pegged Johnston as the PR exec. (Variety)

Aleksa Palladino, Paul Sparks, Shea Whigham, and Anthony Laciura have been cast in Martin Scorsese's HBO drama pilot Boardwalk Empire. Elsewhere at HBO, Rob Brown has been cast in David Simon's drama pilot pilot Treme, where he will play Delmond, a New York jazz musician who returns to his native New Orleans; he's also the son of Clarke Peters' Albert. (Hollywood Reporter)

Lionsgate drama pilot, Tough Trade, will be the first developed project at nascent pay cabler Epix, the new joint venture between Viacom, Lionsgate, and MGM. Project, written by Chris Offutt (Weeds) and executive produced by Jenji Kohan (Weeds) and Sean and Bryan Furst, revolves around a dysfunctional Nashville music family. The pilot is slated to shoot in Nashville late this summer for a possible series launch in 2010. (Variety)

NBC has ordered comedy Community, from writer/executive producer Dan Harmon (The Sarah Silverman Program), Krasnoff Foster Entertainment, and Sony Pictures Television, which has been described as Stripes set at a local community college. (Hollywood Reporter)

Wilmer Valderrama is developing Nickelodeon family comedy Earth to Pablo, about a family that winds welcoming a teenage space alien into their home instead of a South American exchange student they were expected. Project, produced by World of Wonder and WV Enterprises, will be written by Phil Stark. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned,

Channel Surfing: Nets Order Slew of Pilots, Kristen Johnson Could Be "AbFab," "Chuck" to End Season in April, and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing.

ABC ordered three drama pilots yesterday: Inside the Box, about a female news producer in a Washington network news bureau from writer Richard E. Robbins and executive producers Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers (Grey's Anatomy); I, Claudia, about a young prosecuting attorney who is unaware that in the future she will be a contender to be the first female president of the US, from writer/executive producer John Scott Shepherd (The Days); and an untitled US adaptation of Argentinian series Brothers & Detectives, about a detective who discovers that he has a brilliant 11-year-old brother after the death of his estranged father, from Daniel Cerone (Dexter). (Hollywood Reporter)

NBC has ordered a pilot for futuristic drama Day One from writer/executive producer Jesse A. Alexander (Heroes) about "the aftermath of a global event that devastates the world's infrastructures when a small band of survivors strive to rebuild society and unravel the mysteries of why the event took place and what the future has in store." Project, produced by Universal Media Studios, should not be confused with CBS' Jericho, seemingly about the same subject matter... (Hollywood Reporter)

Kristen Johnson (3rd Rock from the Sun) is said to be in talks to star as Eddy in FOX pilot Absolutely Fabulous, a US remake of the BBC comedy created by Jennifer Saunders. Johnson appeared at the table-read of the pilot script on Friday; also participating in the read: Kathryn Hahn (Revolutionary Road). (Variety)

Elsewhere at FOX, the network has given a pilot greenlight to drama Masterwork from Prison Break creator Paul Scheuring. Project, from 20th Century Fox Television, is a globe-spanning adventure in recover artifacts and is said to be in the same vein as National Treasure or The Da Vinci Code. (Hollywood Reporter)

TV Guide has a look at the best of Sawyer's constant stream of sobriquets on Lost. Any you would have added in the mix? (TV Guide)

NBC has announced that it will launch unscripted celebrity genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are, based on the BBC series, on April 20th. Series, which will feature such celebs as Lisa Kudrow, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Susan Sarandon, will take over the Monday night at 8 pm timeslot currently home to Chuck, as "slot occupant Chuck will have finished its season run by then." Is anyone else troubled that Chuck will wrap in April and not May? (Variety)

Bonnie Sommerville (Cashmere Mafia) has been cast in NBC comedy pilot Off Duty, opposite Bradley Whitford (The West Wing) and Romany Malco (Weeds), about a decorated detective on his way out (Whitford) who is assigned a new partner (Malco) who is a straight arrow both on the job and off. Sommerville will play Malco's wife. Also cast: Capethia Jenkins as the police district chief. Elsewhere, Jesse Tyler Ferguson (The Class) has been cast in ABC comedy pilot An American Family, from Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd and 20th Century Fox Television, where he will play one of the neighborhoods' gay dads. (Hollywood Reporter)

Unnamed SAG board members, speaking on condition of anonymity, claim that talks between the guild and the AMPTP could begin as early as next week, following the ousting of chief negotiator Doug Allen. Meanwhile, the board has also voted to remove president Alan Rosenberg's ability to speak to the press on behalf of the guild. Another sign of things to come? (New York Times)

TNT's launch for scripted drama Trust Me scored not such great numbers, capturing only 3.4 million viewers and 1.3 million adults between 18-49, significantly less than its launch for Leverage, which bowed with 5 million viewers without support from a lead-in from The Closer, and Raising the Bar, which launched with 7.7 million viewers. (Variety)

Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick (Quarterlife) have sold a drama pilot script to CBS about a "marriage that works." Relationship dramas are no strangers to Hershovitz and Zwick, who also created Once and Again and thirtysomething. (Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider)

UK's Channel 4 has acquired rights to two HBO series: True Blood and Generation Kill. (Variety)

Noel Clarke, who played Mickey on Doctor Who, has said that he would love to return to the series. "Who would turn down a return to Doctor Who?" said Clarke in an interview with The Sun. "I love the show and have always supported it. I was there from day one when nobody was sure if it was going to be a hit. But the show moves on. Who knows? Whatever happens, happens." (Digital Spy)

Generate has signed a multiple-year overall deal with 2oth Century Fox Television to develop and produced scripted series for broadcast and cable networks and will grant a first look to the studio for its alternative and reality projects. (Variety)

Style has acquired exclusive off-network rights to all seasons of ABC's Supernanny, which it will launch in the fall. (Hollywood Reporter)

TBS has ordered 80 additional episodes of Tyler Perry comedy series Meet the Browns, which is currently in the middle of a ten-episode test run that started January 7th. Order pattern closely follows that of Perry's other TBS series House of Payne, which launched with ten episodes and went on to receive an order for 90 additional installments. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: FOX to Get "AbFab," Jane Espenson Will Be Showrunner on "Caprica," Lauren Graham, Pilot News, and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing.

FOX has handed out a pilot order to a US remake of BBC comedy series Absolutely Fabulous, which follows the boozy exploits of PR magnate Edina Monsoon, her magazine editrix best friend Patsy, and Edina's uptight daughter Saffy. US version will be set in LA and the script written by Christine Zander (Less Than Perfect), who will executive produce with Jennifer Saunders, Ian Moffit, Mitch Hurwitz, Eric Tannenbaum, and Kim Tannenbaum. Project will be produced by Sony Pictures Television, Tantamount, and BBC Worldwide Americas. (Variety)

Battlestar Galactica's Jane Espenson will serve as an executive producer on BSG prequel series Caprica and will eventually become the showrunner on the series, slated to air on Sci Fi in 2010. Espenson, whom many fans will know from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Gilmore Girls, will take over the reins of Caprica's writers' room from co-creator Ron Moore later this year. Production on Caprica--which will also feature BSG writers Michael Taylor and Ryan Mottesheard, production designer Richard Hudolin, composer Bear McCreary, and special effects supervisor Gary Hutzel--is scheduled to begin in July. (Chicago Tribune's The Watcher)

Lauren Graham talks to Michael Ausiello about her upcoming run in Guys & Dolls on Broadway, the likelihood of a Gilmore Girls movie (slim to none), and her new ABC pilot--about an embittered self-help guru--which she says is a much "darker" comedy than Gilmore and features a character who is "deeply flawed." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

In other pilot news, ABC has ordered a two-hour pilot for mystery Happy Town from writers/executive producers Josh Appelbaum, Andre Nemec, and Scott Rosenberg (October Road, Life on Mars). Project is said to be in the same vein as Twin Peaks and is "set in the hamlet of Happy Town, which had enjoyed a seven-year peace after a series of kidnappings until it is hit by another crime." (Hollywood Reporter)

As expected, NBC has given a pilot order to medical drama Trauma, from writer/executive producer Dario Scardapane, that is said to be a "a high-octane emergency medical procedural that takes place out in the field." Project, from Universal Media Studios and Film 44, will also be executive produced by Peter Berg and Sarah Aubrey. (Hollywood Reporter)

Disney has renewed syndicated fantasy drama Legend of the Seeker for a second season on Tribune-owned stations. (Variety)

As anticipated, series 30 Rock and Mad Men, and mini-series John Adams swept the television categories at the SAG Awards last night and House's Hugh Laurie and Brothers & Sisters' Sally Field took home individal awards. (Hollywood Reporter)

Shortly after upgrading Sara Gilbert from recurring to series regular status on CBS' The Big Bang Theory, the former Roseanne star has now been bumped back down to recurring on the comedy series. The reason for the about-face is said to be due to the fact that the series' writers couldn't create enough story for her and Johnny Galecki's Leonard. "They couldn't write for her, so they changed her status to recurring," a source told Michael Ausiello. "It's a little mystifying." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Lauren Allen (Dirt, The 4400) will appear in a two-episode story arc on ABC's Grey's Anatomy, where she will play the ex-girlfriend of Kevin McKidd's Dr. Owen Hunt. [Editor's note: the story says ER, but they clearly mean Grey's Anatomy.] (Variety)

Executive producer John Wells is writing the series finale for NBC's ER, which is wrapping its run on April 2nd after fifteen seasons. "You want to try and find the essence of the series," said Wells about writing the finale script. "You want to find the thing that people actually identify with in the series and do something that leaves them feeling satisfied for having spent X number of hours of their lives devoted to watching your ongoing narrative." (Los Angeles Times)

CBS has ordered a pilot presentation for Missing You, an unscripted crime series which follows missing persons investigators as they take on various cases each week. Project will be executive produced by Shaun Cassidy, Ned Nalle, and James Bruce. (Hollywood Reporter)

NBC Universal has signed a deal with American Airlines to provide the carrier with in-flight entertainment. Under the terms of the exclusive two-year deal, NBC Universal will replace CBS and provide American with four 90-minute programs each month beginning March 1st. Content won't be limited to NBC, as the studio will draw from the Peacock as well as Bravo, Sci Fi, USA, Oxygen, MSNBC, films from Universal, and programs from NBC News and NBC Sports. (Variety)

Starz is developing a comedy series based on online series Tom and Sam Are Stuck, from creators Tom Saunders and Sam Laybourne, about a man and his uncle from the future who find themselves trapped in the present day when their time machine fails. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: FOX to Remake "Absolutely Fabulous," Renewals for "Sons of Anarchy" and "Entourage," Three Set for "Washingtoniennes," and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. I hope you all watched the second episode of Chuck last night; we need to try to get those numbers up ASAP!

Don't break open the Bolly just yet. FOX has ordered a script for an American remake of hit British series Absolutely Fabulous from executive producers Mitch Hurwitz (Arrested Development), Eric and Kim Tannenbaum, and writer/executive producer Christine Zander (Saturday Night Live). Project, from Sony Pictures TV, Tantamount, and BBC Worldwide America, is the latest attempt to remake Jennifer Saunder's AbFab. (Previous attempts have included a Roseanne Barr adaptation with Carrie Fisher, CBS' Cybill and High Society, both of which were thinly veiled attempts to cash in on AbFab.) This version will shift the action to Los Angeles, where two boozy over-the-hill BFFs attempt to stay hip while earning a disapproving eye from Edina's straitlaced teenaged daugher Saffron. I would have thought that, post-Arrested Development, Hurwitz was the prime person to guide this project but, after the disaster that was The Thick of It (and the disaster-in-the-making of Sit Down, Shut Up), I have significant worries about anyone tampering with this brilliant format. After all, remember what FOX did with Spaced... (Variety)

Meanwhile, Summer Heights High creator Chris Lilley is developing a new comedy series with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that is thought to possibly revolve around cop-turned-motivational speaker Phil Olivetti or spoiled Summer Heights High student Ja'mie King. But don't look for Summer Heights High to turn up in a US format reversioning. Lilley reveals that he had turned down "lots of money" to remake Summer Heights High for the US market. "They wanted me to do it again in an American accent - all these terrible ideas," said Lilley in an interview. "I wouldn't let it happen. I spent so long working on the characters, I hate the thought of someone else playing them." (Digital Spy)

FX has renewed its freshman drama Sons of Anarchy for a second season; series has been a consistent ratings hit for the cabler, averaging an audience of 5.4 million total viewers and 3.5 million adults 18 to 49 in its five outings to date. “I think the underlying themes of family and the common man's fight against oppressive corporate greed has grabbed people's attention," said creator Kurt Sutter in a statement. "It's relatable, it's very timely and it's why the audience is coming back week after week. I love the action and the dark places the show goes, but ultimately it's the bigger, more poignant themes that inspire me.”

In other series renewal news, HBO has quietly renewed Entourage for a sixth season. Production will start on the sixth season early next year for a summer launch. (Variety)

CBS has ordered six additional scripts for freshman procedural drama series The Mentalist, starring Simon Baker. A full season pickup could come as early as this week. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Rachael Taylor (Transformers), Amanda Walsh (Sons & Daughters), and Bitsie Tulloch (quarterlife) have been cast as the leads of HBO's comedy pilot The Washingoniennes, from executive producer Sarah Jessica Parker and writers/executive producers Susaanna Fogel and Joni Lefkowitz. Series, based on a semi-autobiographical book by Jessica Cutler, will follow the exploits of three 28-year-old women working on Capitol Hill. Also cast: David Furr. (Hollywood Reporter)

Put this in the unsurprising category: CW's latest experiment in selling off its real estate on Sunday nights to Media Rights Capital has proven a resounding failure, generating only meager numbers for the lineup, which included In Harm's Way, Valentine, and Easy Money. Each only received a 1 share in adults 18-49 and 18-34. Ouch. But each of the hour-longs did improve on their audience in their respective second half-hours. All series are secured for 13-episode runs this fall. (Variety)

The premiere episode of NBC's Kath & Kim can be found online at Yahoo! TV, though I don't know why anyone would want to watch this sad, painfully unfunny half-hour. (Yahoo!)

Stay tuned.