Channel Surfing: BubbleWatch for "Chuck," Potter Replaces Farr on "Parenthood," Sci Fi Tackles "Unfinished Business," and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing.

With May Upfronts only a few weeks away, there are an awful lot of series that are on the bubble for renewal next season. Chuck, which airs its penultimate episode of the season tonight, is definitely on the bubble, with its return hindered by the lack of real estate now that NBC will use the 10 pm hour next fall for a nightly Jay Leno talk show and by the numbers for midseason replacement Southland. There's a slightly better chance for Medium to return, however. (Life is expected to be cancelled, as is Kath & Kim.) FOX's Dollhouse is said to have a 50/50 shot at coming back. CBS' Without a Trace and Cold Case are said to have a 50/50 shot at a renewal, things are looking brighter for The Unit after the network asked Shawn Ryan for a fifth season bible, while Eleventh Hour is thought unlikely to return. At ABC, Better Off Ted, Castle, and The Unusuals could get a second go-around as the network is said to be happy with all three series, while Cupid is dead in the water. Privileged could return to the CW in midseason, now that Reaper has been axed. (Hollywood Reporter)

Monica Potter (Trust Me) will replace Diane Farr (Rescue Me) on NBC drama pilot Parenthood after Farr had to drop out of the project due to to scheduling conflicts with her upcoming role on Showtime's Californication. Potter will now play the wife of Peter Krause on the Universal Media Studios pilot. Sam Jaeger (Eli Stone) has also been cast in Parenthood, where he will play the stay-at-home husband of Erika Christensen's character, while Bonnia Bedelia is in talks to play the family matriarch. Elsewhere, Josh Lawson (Chandon Pictures) has been cast in CBS comedy pilot Waiting to Die. (Hollywood Reporter)

Sci Fi has ordered a pilot for supernatural police drama Unfinished Business, about a former police officer who sees "flashes of memories from the recently deceased," which propel him to help restless souls resolve the titular unfinished business. Project, from writer Sally Robinson, director Mikael Salomon (Band of Brothers), and executive producers Will Smith, James Lassiter, and Ken Stovitz, will air as a two-hour backdoor pilot. (Hollywood Reporter)

FOX has now announced that new series Mental will launch on Tuesday, May 26th before it moves to Fridays on July 3rd, while the network will be bringing back reality series The Moment of Truth on Wednesday, July 29th. (Futon Critic)

Hollywood Reporter has taken a look at the pilot projects gathering steam at the networks, offering a rundown of which projects have the best buzz so far at each individual network:

ABC: Flash Forward is a lock for a series pickup, while Happy Town, Inside the Box, Limelight, V, and the untitled Dave Hemingson dramedy are also looking good and last year's Captain Cook's Extraordinary Atlas is in contention again; chances for comedies An American Family, untitled Ricky Blitt, Cedric, and Cougar Town are all high.
FOX: High on dramas Human Target and Maggie Hill, as well as comedies Cop House and Sons of Tucson.
NBC: Slate could be joined by dramas Trauma, Parenthood, Legally Mad, or Lost & Found or comedies Community, Off Duty, or 100 Questions for Charlotte Payne, all of which the network is said to be strong on.
CBS: Likely going ahead with the untitled NCIS spin-off, while pilots Three Rivers, The Good Wife, Washington Field, US Attorney, Happiness Isn't Everything, and Accidentally on Purpose are all gathering steam.
CW: Melrose Place looks to be certain and the network is said to be happy with the Gossip Girl backdoor pilot, while Light Years, Vampire Diaries, A Beautiful Life, and Body Politic are all in contention as well. (Hollywood Reporter)

ABC is giving a chance to new drama series The Unusuals this Tuesday, replacing this week's planned installment of Cupid with a new episode of The Unusuals at 10 pm ET/PT. (The Unusuals, meanwhile, will also air a new episode on Wednesday as well, while Cupid will be back next week.) "Alphabet net has high hopes for The Unusuals, which hasn't made much noise behind Lost," writes Variety's Michael Schneider. "ABC execs would like to see how it does with an entirely different lead-in, the results edition of Dancing with the Stars." (Variety)

The New York Times' Alessandra Stanley takes a look at why FOX's 24 continues to lure audiences in and couples it with that ubiquitous sign of the times: the YouTube video of Susan Boyle from Britain's Got Talent. "That’s why 24 still works after so many seasons (or days, in the now slightly tiresome real-time conceit) and so many repetitive and preposterous red herrings," writes Stanley. "Viewers cannot be fooled the same way twice, but they can be sucked in all over again if the formula is tweaked a little. If nothing else, Britain’s Got Talent and 24, now in its seventh season, prove how quickly memory fades and how willingly audiences suspend disbelief. [...] the whole point of 24 is that we kind of know what’s coming but watch because we want to be surprised all over again." (New York Times)

Michaela McManus, who plays Assistant District Attorney Kim Greylek on NBC's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, will not be returning to the series next season. Stephanie March, who reprised her role as ADA Alexandra Cabot, is slated to appear in four additional episodes this season. (TV Guide.com)

Variety's Michael Schneider takes a look at the way the networks are rewriting previously sacrosanct scheduling rules this year: offering 90-minute or two-hour reality series, lowering their ratings expectations, giving up on programming certain difficult nights like Fridays, offering edgier fare on NBC in an earlier timeslot, and exploring low-cost programming, such as international co-productions. (Variety)

Nielsen has some new competition: from TiVo itself, which is launching Stop Watch, a local TV ratings service, this summer. "We'll launch in no more than 10 markets and build it from there," said TiVo VP/general manager of audience research Todd Juenger. "We're in discussions with all sorts of people [...] I would say that our product addresses a whole bunch of deficiencies in the current system." Those deficiencies include being able to offer a larger sample size than Nielsen and offering second-by-second ratings, which would allow for commercial measurements on a local market level, as well as live and time-shifted measurements. Still, TiVo isn't looking to replace Nielsen outright. "This will work well side-by-side with Nielsen," said Juenger. "We'll produce a much more stable, reliable household rating number. If you have a data source from Nielsen, there's no reason you can't overlay the two." (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Talk Back: ABC's "Cupid" Series Premiere

Did last night's Cupid win you over or break your heart?

You've read my advance review of ABC's redo of Rob Thomas' Cupid, starring Bobby Cannavale and Sarah Paulson. But now that the series has launched, I'm curious to know what you thought of this new Cupid.

To those of you who had seen the original Cupid, with Jeremy Piven and Paula Marshall, how did this new Cupid compare? Did you think that Bobby Cannavale and Sarah Paulson had any chemistry? Did you like the New York City setting? Did you buy that Cannavale really could be the ancient Roman god of love sent to Earth as a punishment where he has to unite 100 couples in true love?

And, most importantly, will you watch the series again next week?

Talk back here.

Heavenly Heart Attack: An Advance Review of ABC's "Cupid"

A lot of what goes right with love can be attributed to Cupid (a lot of what goes wrong can be too). After all, as the myth tells us, it's his arrows that strike the hearts of true lovers and unites them. He's a cosmic matchmaker with a penchant for archery, really.

It's no surprise then that so many writers have taken inspiration from the Cupid/Eros mythology and sought to use the deity as the springboard for all sorts of romantic-related mischief.

Rob Thomas is one such writer. He had a short-lived series entitled Cupid on ABC in 1998 which starred Jeremy Piven as Trevor Hale, a man claiming to be the ancient deity stranded on Earth until he can complete his penance, bringing 100 couples together, and Paula Marshall as Claire Allen, a psychologist who is assigned to keep an eye on Trevor. The series was canceled after just one season. And, for all accounts and purposes, that seemed to be the end of Thomas' Cupid. Until now.

ABC is once again launching Cupid with Rob Thomas at the helm. Tonight, in fact. This time around, the possible-love god (now called Trevor Pierce) is played by Bobby Cannavale (Cold Case), taking over for the dynamic Piven, while Sarah Paulson (Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip) replaces Marshall as Claire. And this Cupid shifts the action from Chicago to New York (though the original pilot script set the action in Los Angeles), where the series is shot.

Other than the casting changes, the premise remains the same: Cannavale's Trevor either is the ancient god of love... or he's a crazy man with delusions of grandeur whose belief in his deityhood manage to bring people together. But the one heart he can't melt seems to be that of his psychologist, Claire McCrae (Paulson) who is a relationship expert and self-help author who seems to lack anything resembling love in her life. Once again, Trevor must unite 100 couples in true love before he can return to Mount Olympus.

Rounding out the cast are Rick Gomez (What About Brian) and Camile Guaty (Prison Break), who play siblings Felix and Lita, owners of Tres Equis Cantina, who rent Trevor a room above the bar. Romantic hijinx ensue.

Or they should, anyway. In the hands of Piven and Marshall, Trevor and Claire had an easy sexual tension that thrived on the screwball banter between them. Here, Cannavale and Paulson don't charm as they should. Their Trevor and Claire seem about as fun as a heart attack and have virtually no chemistry together whatsoever. Which makes the series rather painful to watch as they engage in the sort of staged cookie-cutter cuteness that seems far more clever on the page than it does on the screen.

It's hard to care about Cannavale's Trevor, especially as he seems so woefully miscast in the first place. Whereas Piven brought a manic energy to the role, Cannavale seems like he's going through the motions, not a man who might be Cupid but perhaps one who's seen a few too many cartoon Cupids over the years. Claire meanwhile has no place overseeing a singles support group or really giving out any advice about love or relationships; she seems to frigid and icy-cold dull that it's hard to imagine even the real Cupid being able to pierce her shield with his bow and arrow.

Which is a real problem, especially when fans of the original series--which aired not all that long ago--still have images of a very specific Trevor and Claire in their minds, images that are only a decade old. Complicating things is a glacial pacing that left me losing interest in what was going on screen and I found myself wondering what I needed at the grocery store several times while watching. (Also missing besides Trevor's proof that he's Eros? Any of the romantic whimsy of the original series.)

I'm not sure why ABC would seek to redo a series that failed the first time around but, given the series' troubled production, I think ABC realized halfway through shooting the seven episodes that comprise Cupid's season that they too had been under some sort of divine enchantment when they attempted this Grand Experiment. Prognosis: this Cupid's got a troubled ticker.

Cupid premieres tonight at 10 pm ET/PT on ABC.

Less Love for "Cupid" at ABC?

It definitely seems as though there are some problems with ABC's relaunch of romantic drama Cupid and not of the romantic kind.

The series, which stars Bobby Cannavale, Sarah Paulson, Rick Gomez, and Camille Guaty, was originally slated to air this spring with 13 episodes. Back in December, it was widely reported that ABC slashed Cupid's episodic order to nine episodes, including the pilot, and announced that the series would premiere on Tuesday, March 24th.

Today, ABC indicated that it would bump Cupid's premiere back a week to Tuesday, March 31st. However, that's not the only news for the Rob Thomas-executive produced series.

A source within ABC Studios, speaking on condition of anonymity, has told me that ABC has once again cut Cupid's order, this time to seven episodes, including the pilot.

The reason behind the reduced order? That old standby: creative differences, according to my source, who tells me that Cupid's writers had sent the network story beats for the last two installments of the original nine-episode order. The network was said to be displeased and asked the writers to submit outlines for the two episodes. After allegedly being unhappy with the outlines, ABC then informed the production that they were cutting the order back by two episode due to creative differences.

ABC, however, maintains that the reduced order they handed out in December had been for eight episodes including Cupid's pilot, rather than the widely reported nine installments, though they did acknowledge that they had now slashed the order to seven episodes.

Furthermore, ABC states that the decision to reduce Cupid's order was based on scheduling rather than creative concerns. Once the premiere date was shifted, that eighth episode was no longer needed.

Is it possible then that creative concerns allowed ABC to cut the order once more, bringing Cupid's episodic total to nearly half of its original order, thus enabling the network to cut costs in the process and free up another week in the schedule? Perhaps.

However, regardless of the cause, the end result remains the same: this Cupid will only be firing seven arrows this season.

Stay tuned.

ABC Announces Launch Dates for "Cupid," "Castle," and "The Unusuals"

After several weeks of guessing, I'm finally happy to report that ABC has announced launch dates for the three new drama series it will launch this spring: Castle, Cupid, and The Unusuals.

First up is Castle, starring Desperate Housewives' Nathan Fillion (though he'll always be Firefly's Mal to me), which launches Monday, March 9th at 10 pm. Fillion stars as mystery novelist Richard Castle who is called in to assist the NYPD with a series of homicides that seem virtually recreated from scenes within his own novels. Series also stars Stana Katic, Susan Sullivan, Molly Quinn, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Tamala Jones, Jon Huertas, and Seamus Dever.

Rob Thomas' Cupid, starring Bobby Cannavale and Sarah Paulson, launches Tuesday, March 24th at 10 pm. Cannavale stars as Trevor Hale, a man who claims to be the Roman god of love exiled to Earth until he can make 100 mortal couples fall in love; Paulson plays a psychiatrist and self-help author assigned to keep an eye on Trevor. Will there be sparks? Rick Gomez and Camille Guaty also star.

Lastly, The Unusuals will bow Wednesday, April 8th at 10 pm. The ensemble cast of this quirky police drama includes Amber Tamblyn, Jeremy Renner, Harold Perrineau, Adam Goldberg, Kai Lennox, Monique Curnen, Terry Kinney, and Joshua Close. (If my earlier reports didn't tip you off, I'm already a fan of this quirky and suspenseful series, which blends together mystery, comedy, and drama with some seemingly supernatural elements.)

Stay tuned.

UPDATED: ABC Orders "Castle," "Cupid," and "The Unusuals" to Series, Plus Two Comedies

In a flurry of ordering activity, ABC has granted series orders to no less than five projects today.

The Alphabet handed out series orders to procedural mystery series Castle, Rob Thomas' update of romantic dramedy Cupid, and cop drama The Unusuals.

Castle, which stars Nathan Fillion (Firefly), is about a womanizing horror novelist who assists the New York Police Department with crime-solving. Project, from ABC Studios, was written by Andrew Marlowe and is executive produced by Marlowe, Laurie Zaks, and Armyan Bernstein. Pilot was directed by Rob S. Bowman (The X-Files) and also stars Stana Katic (24), Monet Mazur (The House Bunny), Molly Quinn (Walk Hard), Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Law & Order), and Susan Sullivan (The Nine).

(Yes, it is Captain Tightpants himself. I wasn't crazy about the pilot script but think that Fillion will bring a certain je ne sais quoi to the role. And rest assured, I am trying to get my hands on the completed pilot.)

Rob Thomas' update of his own shortlived CBS dramedy Cupid, has also been ordered to series. It stars Bobby Cannavale (The Station Agent) as Trevor Hale, a man who is either mentally insane or the actual living Eros himself; Sarah Paulson (Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip) plays Dr. Claire Allen, a psychologist assigned to monitor Trevor as he is released from psychiatric care... who happens to be writing a book that could use Hale as a case study. Cupid also stars Camille Guaty (Prison Break) and Rick Gomez (What About Brian). The pilot was directed by Bharat Nalluri (Life on Mars).

Also on deck: Sony's The Unusuals, which is a cop drama (with some comedic elements) that uses the listings of yesterday's crimes (in police parlance, "the unusuals") as a procedural entry to the story. Project stars Amber Tamblyn (Joan of Arcadia), Harold Perrineau (Lost), Joshua Close (The Pacific), Adam Goldberg (Entourage), Terry Kinney (Canterbury's Law), Monique Gabriela Curnen (The Dark Knight), Kai Lennox (40 Days and 40 Nights), and Jeremy Renner (The Oaks). Project was written by Noah Hawley and executive produced by Peter Tolan (Rescue Me); pilot episode was directed by Stephen Hopkins (Californication).

UPDATE: ABC has now also given series stripes to two half-hour comedies, Single With Parents and Better Off Ted.

Single With Parents (formerly known colloquially as the untitled Kristin Newman comedy), from ABC Studios and Dreamworks, is a single-camera comedy about a woman forced to deal with her dysfunctional family, friends, and boss. It stars Alyssa Milano (My Name is Earl), Beau Bridges (My Name is Earl), Amanda Detmer (What About Brian), Meagen Fay (How I Met Your Mother), Annie Potts (Men in Trees), and Eric Winter (Viva Laughlin).

The Alphabet has also granted a series order for single-camera workplace comedy Better Off Ted, from 20th Century Fox Television, about the employees of a corporation that manufactures everything from, say, light bulbs to weapons. From writer/executive producer Victor Fresco (Andy Richter Controls the Universe), it stars Jay Harrington (Desperate Housewives), Andrea Anders (The Class), Portia de Rossi (Arrested Development), Malcolm Barrett (Side Order of Life), and Jonathan Slavin (Andy Richter Controls the Universe).

Stay tuned.

(Rob) Thomas Guide: Russo's "Good Behavior," Cannavale to Play "Cupid"?

I spent this weekend catching up on reading the growing stack of pilot scripts in my living room, a daunting challenge given how many scripts I still have to read but I was propelled forward by the fact that I did at least have a script written by Rob Thomas (Veronica Mars) to look forward to.

The alternately hilarious and touching Good Behavior script, for Thomas' US adaptation of New Zealand series Outrageous Fortune set up at ABC, was a thing of beauty: fast-paced, quick-witted, and, well, pretty damn fun. (It's like The Riches crossed with Shameless, blended together with the bleak humor of Veronica Mars, and served straight up in a chilled martini glass.)

The plot revolves around the West family who, after their father is arrested and sentenced to five years in prison, are forced to go straight by their domineering mother. There are hints of some of the familiar themes of Veronica Mars at work there: class warfare, morality struggles, and the exploration of a city's seedy underbelly (here, greater Las Vegas). There's also a character in teenager Roxy who completely reminds me of Veronica in the best possible way, complete with her grifting ways and maturity way beyond her years.

But the very best role in Good Behavior is that of series lynchpin Jackie West, the long-suffering mater familias who is a hellion on wheels, a woman not above wielding a shotgun to deter a man threatening one of her kids or smacking some sense into them herself. This is the sort of role that people claim doesn't exist for women over 40: brave, bold, and unflinching. E!'s Watch with Kristin claims that Rene Russo is circling this role and, if I were ABC, I'd do anything and everything in my power to get Russo to sign those papers. She would kill as Jackie.

That said, I was really hoping that this was the Rob Thomas project that Kristen Bell was allegedly interested in joining, but I don't really see a role here suitable for her in Good Behavior, other than the small part of Tawny West. This is at its heart an ensemble piece and I don't see Bell taking a role that's so second banana at the moment, especially coming off of her upcoming turn in feature Forgetting Sarah Marshall or her role on Heroes.

Tawny, a bit of a slutty tearaway, would be a different type of role for Bell, who would have nailed the grittier role of Veronica-esque Roxy a few years back, but I don't know that she would want to take on another teen role after the demise of Veronica Mars. (That scene of her sauntering through the deserted halls of her high school while calmly sucking on the straw of her soft drink contained memories of our girl V, especially when she pulls out that hall pass, obtained by blackmailing the school principal.)

Which leads me to wonder if the project that will reunite Bell and Thomas is in fact ABC's Cupid. Casting is underway on the Rob Thomas-scripted remake of his 1998 series, which starred Jeremy Piven and Paula Marshall; the pilot will be directed by Bharat Nalluri (Life on Mars, Spooks, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day). I could definitely see the brainy but beautiful Bell pull off the role of Dr. Claire Allen, psychiatrist and possible love interest for Trevor Hale, a man claiming to be the god of love. It would be ideal casting, in fact.

Meanwhile, sources tell me that an offer has been made to Bobby Cannavale (The Station Agent) to star in Cupid as the aforementioned Trevor. I like the genial Cannavale but I am having a hard time imagining him as the is-he-crazy-or-is-he-really-Cupid series lead here. It's a challenging role and whoever is cast will really have to work hard to distance themselves from Piven's memorable performance in the original series.

Still, I can't help but think that Cannavale and Bell would look pretty darn cute together on a poster...

UPDATED: The Hollywood Reporter has once again confirmed one of my scoops: Cannavale will star in the Cupid pilot.