Channel Surfing: David Tennant Talks End of "Doctor Who" Run, Jeri Ryan Finds "Leverage," Noah Wylie to Battle Aliens for Spielberg and TNT, and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing.

The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan has an absolutely fantastic interview with Doctor Who star David Tennant on the eve of BBC America's airing of last Christmas' Doctor Who special "The Next Doctor." Among the topics of discussion: the end of his run on the legendary British sci-fi series, the truth behind the all-Doctors reunion rumors (false, says Tennant), and what's next for the actor (Poliakoff's Glorious 39), among other things. "I'm all finished," said Tenannt of his run on Doctor Who. "Three or four weeks ago, I filmed my last scene. So it's over. Still a long time to go before they're all broadcast, though, so I'm still clinging on for a bit. But yeah, it's done. It was very emotional, very exciting. We managed to go out with some of the best scripts I had in four years. So it was a real treat." (Chicago Tribune's The Watcher)

Jeri Ryan (Shark) has been cast in a recurring role on Season Two of TNT's drama series Leverage, where she will play "Tara, a smart-ass, street-wise con woman whom Sophie (Gina Bellman) calls on for help and who gets sucked into the Leverage family." (Hollywood Reporter)

It's official: Noah Wylie has signed on as the lead in TNT's untitled sci-fi pilot from executive producer Steven Spielberg and writer Robert Rodat. Project is set in a future where most of humanity has been wiped out by an alien incursion; Wylie will play the leader of a small human resistance force who are attempting to overthrow the occupying aliens. (Hollywood Reporter)

Former Privileged star Joanna Garcia has joined the cast of CW's Gossip Girl for a four-episode story arc next season, where she will play Bree Buckley, "an irreverent, slightly evil Miss America-type who hails from a conservative Southern family" who becomes romantically entangled with Chace Crawford's Nate Archibald. Garcia's first appearance on the series is set to air on September 14th. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Flashpoint returns to CBS will new episodes on Friday, July 17th at 9 pm. The network ordered a third season of the Canadian co-production last month. (Futon Critic)

Meanwhile, CBS has teamed up with its affiliate stations to launch a marketing plan tied around the crucial 10 pm timeslot, which has been named Project LENO (that's, ahem, Late prime Enhanced News Opportunity). The network is offering affiliates at 10 pm "tool kit" including "sponsorable broadcast spots, Web banners and radio spots, as well as behind-the-scenes vignettes" and CBS is also offering "an affiliate swap spot to promote the 10 pm hour." (Variety)

NBC announced their fall premiere dates yesterday, with most series--except 30 Rock--launching in the two week period between September 14th and September 26th. The Peacock will roll out its comedies Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday, Parks and Recreation, The Office, and Community on September 17th (30 Rock, which returns October 15th); The Biggest Loser will launch on September 15th; Heroes returns with a two-hour premiere on September 21st; Trauma kicks off on September 28th; Parenthood and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit debut on September 23rd; Southland and Law & Order will launch on September 25th, followed the next night by Saturday Night Live. (via press release)

BBC Worldwide and WGBH will co-produce a new Emma mini-series starring Atonement's Romola Garai, Michael Gambon, and Jonny Lee Miller and a sequel to Cranford that will star Judi Dench, Imelda Staunton, Francesca Annis, Eileen Atkins, Jonathan Pryce, Tim Curry, and Tom Hiddleston, both of which will air stateside on Masterpiece Classic next year. (More info on Cranford 2 can be found here.) Additionally, WGBH has partnerned with BBC on Framed, an adaptation of Frank Cottrell Boyce's children's book, and two-parter Small Island, based on Andrea Levy's novel about an ambitious Jamaican woman (Naomi Harris) in London after WWII. And the PBS affiliate also acquired three BBC productions: a remake of The 39 Steps starring Rupert Penry-Jones and Sharpe's Peril and Sharpe's Challenge, which star Sean Bean. (Variety)

The N will launch thirteen-episode original comedy series The Assistants, about four Hollywood assistants working for a high-profile producer, on July 10th at 8:30 pm. Series was ordered in November 2007 but the cable network hadn't been able to find a spot for the series on the schedule. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Fichter and Stringfield Are "Night and Day," CBS Renews "Flashpoint," Emmys, Muppets, "Doctor Who," and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing.

I had a wonderful if busy weekend which--not atypically--revolved around television. The wife and I attended Saturday's BAFTA/LA TV Tea Party and shared more than a few Pimm's Cups with Flight of the Conchords, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, 90210 executive producer Gabe Sachs, The Office's Kate Flannery, Leslie David Baker, and Creed Bratton, Mad Men's Rich Sommer, Aaron Staton, and Michael Gladis, The Riches' Noel Fisher, 30 Rock's Scott Adsit, Battlestar Galactica babe Tricia Helfer, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles' Thomas Dekker, Jeff Garlin, and many, many others. (Fun, to say the least.)

Reaction to this year's Emmy Awards--the 60th installment--wasn't quite what producers likely intended, with many critics--myself included--lashing out at the format, the hosts, and the distinct lack of scripted funnies. (Televisionary)

FOX has given a script order to workplace comedy The Station, about the employees of a covert CIA office in South America, from writer Kevin Napier, Fox Television Studios, and Red Hour Films' Ben Stiller, Jeremy Kramer, and Stuart Cornfeld. (Variety)

In other FOX news, the network has given a series order to Sam Baum's procedural drama Lie to Me, starring Tim Roth, Brendan Hines, Monica Raymund, and Kelli Williams. Project, from 20th Century Fox Television and Imagine Television, is about the fractious partnership between a former police officer who is a "human lie detector" (an expert in reading facial and body language that gives away deception) and a female clinical psychologist as they solve Washington-based crimes. I'm usually not a fan of procedurals but I found this to be a really compelling, interesting twist on a familiar crime-solving formula and a cracking script.

William Fichtner (Prison Break) and Sherry Stringfield (ER) have been cast in TNT drama pilot Night and Day from writers/executive producers Joel Surnow (24) and Todd Robinson. Project follows Dan Hollister (Fichtner), a middle-aged agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms who works for a special intervention task force as he finds himself drifting towards retirement age and dealing with upstarts half his age. Stringfield will play his wife Elizabeth, a stay-at-home mom. Night and Day will be in second position to Prison Break for Fichtner, whose deal expires at the end of the current season. (Hollywood Reporter)

Uma Thurman, Jesse L. Martin, and Jane Krakowski have signed on to appear in NBC holiday special Letters to Santa—A Muppets Christmas, which is slated to air December 17th. Previously announced participants include Whoopi Goldberg, Richard Giffiths, Tony Sirico, and Steve Schirripa. (Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider)

CBS has renewed cop drama Flashpoint, which it co-produces with Canadian network CTV, for a second season; series hit a season high on Thursday night and gained 18 percent in the key demo over the last two weeks. No decision whether the 13 episodes will air during midseason or summer; production on Season Two begins in early 2009. (Variety)

In the resolution to one of the worst kept secrets in the entertainment industry, BBC drama czar Jane Tranter will move to Los Angeles to take a position as EVP of programming and production at BBC Worldwide, working alongside Paul Telegdy to oversee the company's North American production activities in LA and New York beginning January 1st. (Televisionary)

MTV has ordered Sex... With Mom and Dad, a sex-themed series for teenagers and their parents, featuring Dr. Drew Pinsky, who will help teens and/or their parents deal with issues related to sex, dating, and relationships. Series launches September 29th at 9 pm. (Hollywood Reporter)

Kathy Griffin has signed on for a fifth season of her Bravo reality series My Life on the D-List, following unsubstantiated rumors that the series would defect--like Project Runway--to cable rival Lifetime. (Variety)

Outbound Doctor Who showrunner Russell T. Davies has said that he would consider returning to the franchise if a feature film is greenlit. "I'd be very interested in going back for it," said Davies, who said the project will happen one day. "I think it could be lovely and could work as an idea. They did one in the 1960s and that worked and it didn't affect the TV series at all." (Digital Spy)

Sorry, GE, Rupert Murdoch has said that he's not interested in acquiring NBC or even smaller parcels of it though he does admire USA for being a "mature channel" that "makes a lot of money." (Hollywood Reporter)

Jennie Garth might not be appearing in any additional segments of 90210 after her original six episode commitment. "Nothing's confirmed at this point," said Garth. "It's still totally up in the air." Hmmm... (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Stay tuned.

Papa Mars to Return to Small Screen in "Flashpoint"

Is Keith Mars returning to television... as a cop, no less?

CBS Paramount will team up with Canada's CTV to co-produce at least 13 episodes of police drama Flashpoint, which revolves around cops in a Strategic Response Unit (SRU) who deal with bomb threats, hostage situations, and gang warfare.

Series, which is expected to hit the airwaves sometime in May or June (once the current 2007-08 season has wrapped up), will use scripts from Canadian writers and air at the same time on CBS and CTV.

The series, created by Mark Ellis and Stephanie Morgenstern, will star Enrico Colantoni (Veronica Mars' Keith Mars), Hugh Dillion (Degrassi: The Next Generation), and David Paetkau (LAX).

Hell, if they throw in adorable Canuck actresses Caroline Dhavernas or Jewel Staite, I might just have to check out this summer series.

In the meantime, the pilot for Flashpoint has already been shot by CTV and was shopped to CBS, who joined the project once they viewed the completed pilot episode. The network will have creative input on the series, which according to Variety, will have production values "as good as any American production."

Stay tuned.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: NCIS (CBS); Biggest Loser (NBC; 8-10 pm); Reaper (CW); Just for Laughs/Just for Laughs (ABC); American Idol (FOX)

9 pm: The Unit (CBS); One Tree Hill (CW); According to Jim/Carpoolers (ABC); House (FOX)

10 pm: 48 Hours Mystery (CBS); Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (NBC); Boston Legal (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

8 pm: Doctor Who on BBC America.

Missed Season Three of Brit import Doctor Who or itching for another go-around with the Doctor and new companion Martha Jones? You're in luck as BBC America begins the series' third season anew tonight with "The Runaway Bride" and "Smith & Jones."