Channel Surfing: Sons of Anarchy and Haven Renewed, Walking Dead Novels, NCIS: LA, Modern Family, and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing.

FX has renewed motorcycle drama Sons of Anarchy for a fourth season. Series, which wraps up its third season on November 30th, is the most-watched series in the cable network's history. "Sons of Anarchy is the most popular show FX has ever had, and the No. 1 series in basic cable for our key demographic," said FX president/general manager John Landgraf. "It is also one of the best, most original series on television." (Variety)

Elsewhere, Syfy renewed freshman drama Haven for a second season, with thirteen episodes on tap for next summer. Production is slated to resume in the spring in Nova Scotia on the sophomore season. (Variety)

Robert Kirkman's zombie comic, "The Walking Dead," which is heading to the small screen later this month with AMC's television series of the same name, will also be transformed into a trilogy of original novels, the first of which will be released in 2011. Kirkman will provide the concept and outline for the novels, which will be written by Jay Bonansinga. (Deadline)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Raymond J. Barry (Lost) has been cast in what appears to be a recurring role on CBS' NCIS: LA, where he will play Branston Cole, an ex-secret agent who has crossed paths with Linda Hunt's Hetty. Barry's character is described as appearing "rail and blind from a stroke he suffered a while back, but he remains vigorous and sarcastic as he lives out the remainder of his days in a retirement home. A man with a long history and a deep well of secrets, he seems to still enjoy the game of espionage and manipulation, leading his handlers down questionable paths.” He'll make his first appearance in November. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

TV Guide Magazine's Will Keck is reporting that Danny Trejo (Machete) will guest star on ABC's Modern Family, where he will play the school janitor in an upcoming episode. "The Modern Family episode finds Claire in charge of an upcoming school dance at the boys' school," writes Keck. "While all the other moms are afraid of Danny's menacing janitor, fearless Claire forms an unlikely bond with the guy." (TV Guide Magazine)

Ryan Seacrest is said to be in talks with CAA and AEG about launching a cable network. "The business venture is in very preliminary stages, but the network's concept is described as music, pop culture and lifestyle oriented," write The Hollywood Reporter's James Hibberd and Kim Masters. "Seacrest is likely to have some kind of on-air presence in the venture. Unlike Oprah Winfrey's upcoming OWN cable channel, however, Seacrest is expected to operate mainly as an influential partner rather than serve as the face and personality of the network. The channel won't be 'Seacrest TV, but will have its own brand. (Hollywood Reporter)

Rebecca Mader (Lost) is set to guest star on NBC's Law & Order: Los Angeles this season, where she will play a woman named Rebecca. "The fictional Rebecca’s lot in life is to get run over by a car, yet miraculously survive," writes Fancast's Matt Mitovich. (Fancast)

Tina Fey is set to return to Saturday Night Live with a primetime special that will celebrate the women of SNL. She'll be joined by Rachel Dratch, Amy Poehler, Nora Dunn, Ana Gasteyer, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Laraine Newman, Cheri Oteri, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Molly Shannon, and Kristen Wiig. Special is slated to air November 1st at 9 pm ET/PT. (Hollywood Reporter)

Chris D'Elia (Monk) has been cast in TBS' upcoming period comedy series Glory Daze, where he will play Stankowski, described as "as an older, oracle-style figure to the members of a college fraternity." (Variety)

Deadline's Nellie Andreeva is reporting that ABC has given a script order (plus penalty) to an untitled comedy which will star Wilmer Valderrrama (That '70s Show). Project, which hails from Murray and Judah Miller, will have "a musical component" and will be directed by Akiva Schaffer. (Deadline)

Ed Begley Jr. will turn up on Shonda Rhimes' midseason medical drama Off the Map, according to TV Guide Magazine's Will Keck, who reports that the St. Elsewhere veteran will play Hank, a dentist, in the season's fifth episode. (TV Guide Magazine)

Oxygen has renewed Tori and Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood for a sixth season and ordered a new Tori-centric reality project entitled Tori and Dean: Storibook Weddings, which will "focus on Spelling's party planning skills while McDermott focuses on the groom's issues leading up to the pair's nuptials." (Variety)

USA has renamed its upcoming legal drama Facing Kate, which will now be entitled Fairly Legal. News was announced via Twitter by USA executive Ted Linhart. (Twitter)

Deadline's Nellie Andreeva is reporting that Sony Pictures Television has signed a two-script deal with writer/actress Stephnie Weir, who wrote ABC comedy pilot Wright vs. Wrong. The first project under the new deal is an ABC comedy pilot that is set at a diner. (Deadline)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Jason O'Mara Signs on to Terra Nova, Marina Klaveno Talks True Blood, Happy Town Yanked Again, and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing.

It's official: former Life on Mars star Jason O'Mara has signed on to topline FOX's new action-adventure series Terra Nova, following the successful close of his deal, according to Deadline's Nellie Andreeva. Series revolves around a family from the future who travels back in time to the Earth's prehistoric past in order to save mankind. O'Mara will play Jim Shannon, described as "a devoted father with a checkered past who guides his family through this new land of limitless beauty, mystery and terror." (The role was reportedly offered to Friday Night Lights star Kyle Chandler prior to O'Mara.) Alex Graves (Fringe will direct the pilot. (Deadline)

Back Stage's Jessica Jardine has an interview with True Blood's Mariana Klaveno, who plays Bill's maker, the devious vampire Lorena. "That's one of the really brilliant things about the show," said Klaveno. "[The writers] show how vampires relate to humans, and vice versa: What parts of humanity do they maintain, and what parts do they not? And obviously some do so more than others. Bill fights really hard to maintain some of his humanity, and someone like Lorena doesn't. There's parts of her that are just not there anymore, nor does she want them to be, because that's part of her human life, and that's dead and gone now. But it's interesting to me that love seems to be something that stays with them. Love and jealousy and greed and lust—-those all carry into your vampire life." (Back Stage)

Say goodbye to Happy Town... again. ABC has yet again yanked the low-rated mystery series from its schedule after the network began to burn off the remaining episodes on Wednesday evenings this summer. ABC will instead use the timeslot to house Castle repeats and a Jimmy Kimmel special, though the network does intend to air the final two installments of Happy Town this summer as it will burn them off on a Saturday night in July. Meanwhile, ABC will bring back the final two episodes of The Forgotten on Saturday, July 3rd and the last two installments of Eastwick on Saturday, July 10th. (Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed, Futon Critic)

TV Guide Magazine's Will Keck has details on just who Vanessa Williams (Ugly Betty) will be playing when she drops by Wisteria Lane this fall. Keck, citing unnamed sources, reports that Williams, who is set to join the cast of ABC's Desperate Housewives, will play Renee Filmore-Jones, described as "an old college chum of Lynette Scavo" (Felicity Huffman) and bitter rival of Lynette's back in the 1980s. "Renee has been married for years to a handsome, hunky man (likely an athlete) named Keith Jones (I'm so picturing NYPD Blue hunk Henry Simmons in this role, though it's yet to be cast)," writes Keck. "They have no kids, meaning Renee has spent all these years just being a housewife supporting her man. But she's reached a time in her life when she wants to do more. Oh, one last thing: she has a secret." (TV Guide Magazine)

SPOILER! Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello has a spoilery image from the season premiere of House, one that depicts House and Cuddy getting, uh, cuddly on the beach. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Deadline's Nellie Andreeva is reporting that Patrick Fugit (Almost Famous), Shanna Collins (Swingtown), and Caitlin Custer have joined the cast of HBO's telepic Cinema Verte, based on the groundbreaking 1970s reality series An American Family, which stars Tim Robbins, Diane Lane, James Gandolfini, and Thomas Dekker. Elsewhere, Alex Wolff (The Naked Brothers Band) has signed on for a multiple-episode story arc on HBO's In Treatment, where he will play the son of Gabriel Byrne's Paul. (Deadline)

Richard Dean Anderson (Stargate: SG-1) will appear in at least five episodes of USA's upcoming Sarah Shahi-led legal dramedy Facing Kate, where he will play David Smith, described as "a charismatic but secretive man who enters Kate’s life shortly after the death of her father." (Fancast)

HBO's Eastbound and Down is slated to return to the schedule on September 26th, with the launch of its second season. (Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed)

Warner Bros. Entertainment is said to be in talks to purchase UK production entity Shed Media, which produces Supernanny and Who Do You Think You Are? and itself owns a number of shingle including Wall to Wall, Ricochet, and Twenty Twenty. No deal has been reached but the two sides were said to be in talks. (Variety)

Matthew Lillard (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit) and Gillian Vigman (Defenders) have landed the leads in CMT single-camera comedy pilot The Hard Life, from creator/executive producer Bill Diamond. Lillard and Vigman will play a married couple who attempt to be great parents and spouses but who find it difficult to juggle everything in their lives. (Deadline)

Paul Hewitt has been promoted to SVP of network communications at the CW, replacing Paul McGuire, who has been moved into Warner Bros. corporate communications. He'll report to Dawn Ostroff. [Editor: congratulations, Paul!] (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Glau to Don "Cape," "Parks and Rec" to Lose an Actor, "Doctor Who" Companion, USA Orders "Facing Kate," Callis to "Eureka," and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing.

It was only a matter of time before someone snapped up River Tam. Former Firefly and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles star Summer Glau, who most recently appeared in a multiple-episode story arc on Dollhouse this season, has landed one of the leads in NBC's vigilante drama pilot The Cape. Project, from writer Tom Wheeler and directed by Simon West, revolves around a a disgraced former cop (David Lyons), framed for a crime he didn't commit, who becomes a costumed vigilante in order to clear his name. Glau will star opposite Lyons, James Frain, and Dorian Missick, and will play Orwell, described as "a cute and intrepid investigative blogger who fearlessly goes after corrupt cops and costumed bad guys" and who "gets physical and is quite capable of kicking ass." If that isn't a part made for Glau, I don't know what is. (Hollywood Reporter)

Los Angeles Times' Denise Martin talks to Parks and Recreation co-creator Mike Schur about Paul Schneider's planned departure from the NBC comedy, set to return for a third season this fall. "It was a combination of us always knowing that the character would always leave some day, the timing of this movie, and then sort of feeling like, well, the way the character's gone...we were all on the same page here and we decided to write the character out," Schur told Martin. "But the goal and the aim is to have him come back as soon as his schedule permits and as soon as the arcs we're writing call for it. We very much want him back and he has told us he very much wants to come back in the future. It really is one of those mutually beneficial situations. And we're hoping we can have him back in Season Three." And the door will definitely be open for Schneider to return as Mark Brendanawicz and possibly recur in Season Three. "He's going to remain in the world of the show in a way that not only allows but hopefully demands that he'll reenter it," said Schur. "He's not going to be killed in some weird accident." (Los Angeles Times' Show Tracker)

The Observer's Euan Ferguson has an interview with Doctor Who's Karen Gillan, who plays Amy Pond, the latest traveling companion to the Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith). "To be honest, I wasn't really a huge follower of Doctor Who before I got this part," Gillan told Ferguson. "But having read the first episode I was utterly smitten, and with the character. Amy's a sassy lady, funny and passionate, and her relationship with the doctor has a really interesting dynamic... She has a love for him, a really deep love for him. But not romantic." (The Guardian)

USA has given a series order to legal drama Facing Kate, which stars Sarah Shahi. The cabler ordered eleven episodes (plus the 90-minute pilot) for the series, which hails from Universal Cable Prods. and was created by Michael Sardo, who will executive produce with Steve Stark. Series, which follows Shahi's Kate Reed as she leaves behind litigation for mediation, also stars Michael Trucco, Virginia Williams, and Baron Vaughn. (Hollywood Reporter)

Former Battlestar Galactica star James Callis--who will next be seen later this season on ABC's FlashForward, has joined the cast of Syfy's Eureka, which returns for its fourth season this summer. Callis will play Dr. Grant, a former resident of Eureka who is a romantic interest for Salli Richardson-Whitfield's Allison Blake. (Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting, citing multiple unnamed sources familiar with the situation, that 20th Century Fox Television, the studio behind FOX's 24, is in talks with NBC about picking up the serialized action drama should FOX opt to make Day Eight Jack Bauer's last. "A move to NBC — while still considered somewhat of a long shot given the hefty price tag — would likely delay 20th’s plans to launch a Jack Bauer film franchise," writes Ausiello. "From a production standpoint, 24 execs have long maintained that it would ne next to impossible to make a movie while the series was still on the air. Reps for 20th and NBC declined to comment." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

HBO's upcoming miniseries Mildred Pierce just gets better and better. The Todd Haynes-directed adaptation of James M. Cain's novel, which stars Kate Winslet as the the titular character, has cast Guy Pearce (The Hurt Locker), Evan Rachel Wood (True Blood), and Melissa Leo (Treme). [Editor: Also cast: James LeGros and Brian F. O'Byrne.] (Variety)

TVGuide.com's Kate Stanhope is reporting that it's looking likely that HBO comedy Curb Your Enthusiasm will return for an eighth season. "I'm leaning towards it, so I would say there's a good chance," said series creator/star Larry David, though an eight season is "not definite yet, but we're working on it." (TVGuide.com)

E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos has an extensive recap of the Glee panel at the Paley Festival this weekend, which teased Lady Gaga, more romance, new characters, more Kristin Chenoweth, and more. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Zap2It's Marisa Roffman is reporting that Annabeth Gish (The X-Files) has signed on to appear on ABC's FlashForward, where she will appear as a guest-star during the back half of the sci-fi drama's first season. (Zap2It's KorbiTV)

Pilot casting roundup: Mary Steenburgen will star in ABC comedy pilot Southern Discomfort, where she will play the matriarch of a family whose grown children move back in with her and her husband; Carly Pope (Day One) and David Ramsey (Dexter) will star opposite Jimmy Smits in NBC's untitled John Eisendrath drama pilot (a.k.a. Rough Justice); Ian Reed Kessler (Sons of Tucson) has snagged one of the leads in NBC comedy pilot Friends with Benefits; Kerri Kenney (Reno 911) has come on board FOX comedy pilot Tax Man; Xander Berkeley (24) has joined the cast of CW drama pilot Nikita; and Odette Yustman (October Road) will play the female lead on FOX's untitled Adam Goldberg comedy pilot; and Lindsey Broad ('Til Death) has been cast as one of the leads in ABC comedy pilot Who Gets the Parents. (Hollywood Reporter)

Chris Parnell (Archer) and Horatio Sanz (In the Motherhood) will star opposite Jon Heder in Comedy Central's untitled multi-camera comedy about a man (Heder) who continues to chase his dreams despite failing miserably at everything he tries. Sanz will play one of his friends, an ex-convict, while Parnell will play a down-on-his-luck teacher. (Variety)

Colme Feore (24) is said to be in talks to star opposite Jeremy Irons in Showtime's upcoming period drama series The Borgias, where he would play Cardinal Giuliano Della Rovere, described as "Borgia's nemesis... who vigorously opposes Borgia's election as Pope Alexander VI and continues to tangle with him." (Hollywood Reporter)

Betty White is set to guest star in the season finale of ABC family comedy The Middle, where she will play "a school librarian who confronts Brick (Atticus Shaffer) over his failure to return numerous overdue books." (via press release)

Season Four of Showtime's period drama The Tudors, the series' last outing, is will premiere Sunday, April 11th at 9 pm ET/PT. (via press release)

Marsha Thomason (Lost) will return to USA's dramedy White Collar as a series regular, after she appeared in the pilot episode and the season finale. Move comes as Natalie Morales, who has recurred throughout the series' first season, will depart the Fox Television Studios-produced series. Elsewhere, Billy Brown (Star Trek) has joined the cast of FX's upcoming drama series Lights Out, where he will play Raymond "Death Row" Reynolds, described as "the current heavyweight champion and longtime rival of Leary (Holt McCallany)." And Gregg Henry (The Riches) has been promoted to series regular on HBO's comedy Hung, which returns later this year for a second season. (Hollywood Reporter)

Bobby Flay will serve as one of the judges/mentors on NBC's upcoming culinary competition series America's Next Great Restaurant (formerly known as United Plates of America), where he will search for a winning chef or businessman to launch a restaurant with. Casting is currently underway to select the participants on the series, which hails from executive producers Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz. (Variety)

Warner Bros. Television has signed a new two-year overall deal with Privileged creator Rina Mimoun, under which she will develop new series projects for the studio and work on current series. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.