Channel Surfing: IFC Stakes Claim to "Anita Blake," Bryan Fuller Talks "Heroes" Return, "Life on Mars" Series Finale, and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. I promise no April Fool's Day jokes here, just real TV-related headlines this morning.

IFC and Lionsgate Television are developing telepic Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter, based on Hamilton's best-selling Anita Blake novels about the female vampire hunter who also works as a police consultant on supernatural crimes. The movie, which will be produced by Lionsgate and After Dark Films, was written/executive produced by Glen Morgan (The X-Files) and will be shot this summer. (Variety)

SCI FI Wire has an exclusive interview with Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller about his return to NBC's Heroes, what went wrong with the series, and how he intends to fix it. "After I finished watching [the "Villains" episodes the producers sent over], I wasn't sure I could do this," said Fuller. "I didn't recognize the show anymore. It had become something else entirely. My favorite characters had become my least favorite, and there was a second I thought I had to get out of this. Then I started reading the 'Fugitives' scripts, and I thought it was picking up again. There were some stumbles along the way, where it started to get muddy, but I was more inspired." (SCI FI Wire)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello talks to Life on Mars executive producers Josh Appelbaum and Scott Rosenberg about the series finale of the US adaptation of the British series, which wraps its run tonight on ABC. "There is a very clear and definitive answer as to what his journey has been about and how all the pieces over the past 17 hours play into that journey," said Appelbaum about the resolution to Sam Tyler's story. "At the same time, we hope, like all great finales, it still leaves things open to interpretation. But if there's one thing we feel pretty good about it's that in the afterlife of Life on Mars on DVD or wherever, it will exist as a cohesive, complete thought that will all make sense." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Pilot casting alert: Kevin Rahm (Desperate Housewives) and Jeff Davis will star in ABC comedy pilot presentation This Little Piggy; Dash Mihok (Punisher: War Zone) has joined the cast of CBS comedy pilot The Fish Tank; Rob Huebel (Human Giant) and Julio Oscar Mechoso (Cane) will star in FOX comedy pilot The Station, directed by Ben Stiller; and Alison Brie (Mad Men) has joined the cast of NBC comedy pilot Community. (Hollywood Reporter)

FOX has found their replacement for the axed MADtv. The network is launching an untitled latenight series starring Wanda Sykes in the 11 pm timeslot on Saturday evenings. Series, which will largely resemble the format of HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, will launch either this fall or January 2010. Meanwhile, Spike Feresten's latenight FOX talkshow is said to be on the bubble. (Broadcasting & Cable)

AMC is developing reality docuseries True West, that will "follow a group of modern cowboys as they pursue a trade that's quickly vanishing." Project, executive produced by Brett Morgen, is still in its early stages. "We had been putting the word out very quietly but sort of consciously that we were looking at unscripted series, with the mandate being that we were looking for an unscripted series that plays like a drama series," said SVP of original programming Joel Stillerman. "We're not looking to do a competition show or one that's heavily formatted." (Variety)

BBC Worldwide has offered episodes of cult British comedy The Mighty Boosh on iTunes. Episodes from the series' third season will be available at the iTunes store for $1.99 each after they air on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim every Sunday night. The first episode is currently being offered at the reduced price of $.99, so act now! (via press release)

Discovery has renewed five unscripted series including American Loggers, Destroyed in Seconds, How Stuff Works, Time Warp, and Treasure Quest, each of which has been picked up for a seconf season. (Variety)

FOX's The Simpsons are being memorialized on a 44-cent first-class stamp designed by series creator Matt Groening, which celebrates the animated series' twentieth anniversary. The stamp, which features the Simpson clan, will be unveiled on April 9th. (Hollywood Reporter)

Fine Living has ordered a second season of 26 episodes of Whatever, Martha!, the unscripted series that showcases Alexis Stewart and friend Jennifer Koppelman Hutt commenting on old episodes of Martha Stewart Living. (Variety)

SAG and AFTRA have jointly reached a tentative new three-year commercials contract, which is subject to the approval of the SAG/AFTRA Joint National Board and sees an increase of more then $36 million in wage hikes and other payments. AFTRA national president Roberta Reardon called the new contract "a major victory for our unions -- and a victory for organized labor as a whole." (Hollywood Reporter)

USA Today's Gary Levin looks at the belt-tightening going on at the networks and how rough economic times are forcing the networks to get smarter with their money during development season. Still, there are a few big-budget pilots on the horizon (like ABC's $7 million Flash Forward) even as the nets look to trim costs by shooting in less expensive locales (hello, Atlanta!), using digital video rather than 35 mm film, and going back to multi-camera on more comedies rather than go for the more expensive single-camera style. (USA Today)

Heroes creator/executive producer Tim Kring has signed a deal to create interactive entertainment applications for Nokia's Ovi Store, launching this summer. (Variety)

BBC One has confirmed that heisty dramedy The Invisibles will not be returning for a second season. The series, which starred Anthony Stewart Head and Warren Clark, did not find an audience when it aired last summer. "In spite of a great cast and production team, The Invisibles didn't find its audience," said a BBC spokesperson. "We remain very proud of it but it won't be returning." (The Daily Mirror)

Nikki Reed has been named VP of current and development for Universal Cable Prods., where she will be tasked with developing scripted series for non-NBC Universal-owned cable networks. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: ABC Kills "Life on Mars," Wolf Has Vendetta for "V," "BSG" Star Gets Talent Holding Deal at NBC, and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing.

Is there life on Mars? Turns out not so much: ABC has canceled the US adaptation of BBC series Life on Mars after seventeen episodes. The series, which will (rather unusually) air its five remaining episodes before the timeslot is taken over by The Unusuals in April, will not return for a second season. However, Life on Mars' producers have been given the go-ahead by the network to write their season finale as a series finale that will answer some questions about Sam Tyler's travel to 1973 and possible return to the present day. (Variety, Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed)

Scott Wolf (The Nine) will star in ABC's re-imagining of classic sci-fi series V. In the drama pilot, produced by Warner Bros. Television, Wolf will play Ryan, a man who is keeping a rather dark secret from his girlfriend, according to Michael Ausiello. [Editor's SPOILER note: Said secret is that Ryan is in fact a member of the alien Visitors but has been aiding the humans as part of a resistance movement.] However, the Hollywood Reporter claims that Wolf will play an ambitious network news anchor who becomes the voicepiece for the Visitors. So which is it? (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files, Hollywood Reporter)

Battlestar Galactica's Michael Trucco has signed a talent holding deal with NBC and Universal Media Studios. Besides for his work on BSG, Trucco most recently starred in NBC comedy pilot Man of Your Dreams. (Hollywood Reporter)

CBS is said to be about to renew Warner Bros Television-comedies Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory for multiple seasons. Two and a Half Men is believed to be about to receive a three-season renewal, while The Big Bang Theory is expected to get a two-season renewal deal. No news yet about a possible renewal of another Warner Bros./CBS series, The Mentalist. Massive renewals could be part of a settlement between the network and studio over a $49 million lawsuit stemming from profits from Two and a Half Men. (Variety)

Jami Gertz (Still Standing) and Autumn Reeser (The OC) have joined the cast of HBO's Entourage next season. Gertz will play Marlo, the wife of Andrew Klein (Gary Cole), a longtime friend of Ari who is brought into Miller/Gold as an agent. Reeser, meanwhile, will play Lizzy, a junior agent at the firm. (Hollywood Reporter)

Lifetime has renewed comedy Rita Rocks for a second season, ordering 20 episodes of the Media Rights Capital-produced series. (Variety)

Pilot casting news: Jonathan Silverman will star in ABC's untitled Jeff Strauss comedy pilot; Julie Bowen (Boston Legal) has joined the cast of ABC comedy pilot My American Family; Michael O'Keefe (Brothers & Sisters), Courtney Henggeler (The Big Bang Theory), Frances Turner, and Beth Broderick (Lost) will star in FOX comedy pilot Two Dollar Beer; Dania Ramirez (Heroes), Brad William Henke (October Road), and Patrick St. Esprit (Saving Grace) will co-star in ABC's untitled Daniel Cerone drama (formerly known as Brothers & Detectives); and Tawny Cypress (Heroes) and Sean Bridgers (12 Miles of Bad Road) will star in CBS drama pilot House Rules. (Hollywood Reporter)

Elsewhere, Teri Polo (Meet the Parents) will star in CBS drama pilot Washington Field, where she will play Amanda O'Donnell, a medical forensics and weapons of mass destruction expert whose husband is also on the FBI team. (Hollywood Reporter)

Cabler G4 has ordered twelve episodes of G4 Underground, which will explore such diverse topics as "urban spelunking, ninja schools, and superheroes." Series, hosted by Morgan Webb, will air six episodes this spring beginning March 29th and six episodes this summer. (Variety)

BBC Worldwide America has announced that former BBC Wales drama chief Julie Gardner has been named Executive Producer under an exclusive contract. Under the deal, Gardner, who oversaw Doctor Who, will be responsible for scripted projects, working with top-level U.S. writers in addition to UK creative talent including Russell T Davies (Doctor Who, Torchwood), and Matthew Graham and Ashley Pharaoh (Life on Mars, Ashes to Ashes). Gardner is the first hire announced by Jane Tranter, the recently-appointed Executive Vice President, Programming and Production for BBC Worldwide America. Gardner is expected to join the Los Angeles-based studio in June. (via press release)

Fremantle Media has promoted Gary Carter to COO, replacing Christian Schneider-Sickert, who will depart the company; Carter will still oversee the global format group. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Bryan Fuller Heads to Universal, More Hamm for "30 Rock," Stoltz Stalks Halls of Seattle Grace, and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. I'm still behind on telly so I haven't seen the latest episode of Dirty Sexy Money yet...

That sound you hear? It would be the final nail in the coffin for Pushing Daisies... Daisies creator Bryan Fuller has signed a two-year overall deal with Universal Media Studios, under which he will rejoin the staff of NBC's Heroes and develop new series projects for the studio. Fuller, who is completing post-production on WBTV's Daisies, will rejoin Heroes starting with episode 320 though it is unknown what his official position will be, other than that he will be working closely alongside showrunner/executive producer Tim Kring. (Hollywood Reporter)

In other Pushing Daisies news, Kristin Chenoweth has joined the cast of FOX's animated midseason comedy Sit Down, Shut Up, where she will replace Maria Bamford as Florida high school science teacher Miracle Grohe, opposite Arrested Development's Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, and Henry Winkler, Will Forte, Kenan Thompson, Tom Kenny, Cheri Oteri, and Nick Kroll. (Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider)

More info on Mad Men's John Hamm joining the cast of NBC's 3o Rock, first reported back in October, has emerged. Hamm will play a new love interest for Tina Fey's Liz Lemon, a doctor who lives in her NYC apartment, and could return for future installments. "I just finished a couple of episodes," said Hamm, "and I'll go back in the new year and do another one of those, and then we'll see what happens." (Associated Press)

Eric Stoltz, who will star in Sci-Fi's Battlestar Galactica spinoff Caprica, will guest star in a three-episode story arc of ABC's Grey's Anatomy, where he will play a serial killer "in need of immediate medical attention" whose story "takes a surprising turn around the second episode [and] will raise a myriad of thorny ethical questions for McDreamy and Co." Also cast in a multiple-episode story arc: Jessica Capshaw (The Practice) who will scrub in as pediatric surgeon Arizona Roberts. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

NBC has unveiled their midseason schedule, which includes a super-sized episode of The Office in the post-Super Bowl timeslot, a reduced episode count for Knight Rider, and that 3-D episode of Chuck. (Televisionary)

Showtime has renewed comedy series Californication for a third season of twelve episodes, which will debut later in 2009. The series, currently down 16 percent from its freshman season, will begin production on Season Three this spring. (Variety)

Fred Thompson will guest star on a February sweeps episode of ABC's Life on Mars, where he will play the NYPD chief of detectives. Producers are also said to be casting the role of the daughter of Gene Hunt, described as "mid-30s, beautiful, confident, and be willing to work long hours alongside Harvey Keitel." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Courteney Cox guest stars in the January 6th launch of Scrubs on ABC, where she will play the uber-friendly new chief of medicine. (TV Week)

Bravo has ordered a second season of unscripted series The Rachel Zoe Project and is expected to launch Season Two in mid-2009. (Los Angeles Times)

Miranda Richardson, Christopher Evan Welch (Vicky Cristina Barcelona), and Lauren Hodges (My Guide to Becoming a Rock Star) will star in AMC's untitled political thriller pilot about an analyst at a national think tank who discovers that his employers aren't what they appear to be and uncovers evidence of a secret society that influences world political events. Project, from Warner Horizon, comes from writer/executive producer Jason Horwitch (Medical Investigation), director Allen Coulter (Damages), and executive producer Josh Maurer. Richardson will play the widow of a billionaire who leaves her a cryptic message when he dies mysteriously; Welch will play an arrogant analyst at the think tank and Hodges will play the youngest analyst on the team. (Hollywood Reporter)

Laura Breckenridge (Related) will appear in at least three episodes of the CW's Gossip Girl as Rachel Carr, a new (and very young) English teacher at Constance Billard, who finds herself mistaken for a student and quickly finds herself sparring with Blair. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

BBC has commissioned an eighth season of Spooks (a.k.a. MI-5), to air in 2009. (BBC)

An Echolls Family Christmas, anyone? TV Land has ordered a pilot presentation for an untitled reality series that will offer a behind-the-scenes look at the lives of acting couple Lisa Rinna and Harry Hamlin (who appeared together as a married couple on Veronica Mars) and their two daughters. Project, executive produced by Jason Carbone, could air as early as 2009 if ordered to series. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: "Life on Mars" Co-Creator Likes US Version; Jamie Bamber "Too Scared" to Play the Doctor, Potential SAG Strike, and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. While everyone is buzzing about the possible SAG strike, I hope you all tuned in to last night's episode of Chuck, the final piece of the three-part Jill storyline.

Life on Mars co-creator Ashley Pharoah has praised the US version of the series, calling it "marvelous." In New York to receive an International Emmy for best drama for the original UK version of Life on Mars, Pharoah was pleased that the producers had changed the mythology of the series for the US audience and that the studio had moved the action from LA (where it was based for David E. Kelley's original pilot) to gritty New York City. "They're changing the mythology, which I think is all right," said Pharoah. "It has to be different. Otherwise everyone just goes on YouTube and sees how it ends." (Hollywood Reporter)

Just how would a SAG strike affect a television industry still recovering from the crippling 100-day WGA strike? For one, only scripted primetime series would be affected (soaps and variety shows are covered by AFTRA) but it would completely derail the current season in the midst of the current economic crisis. Network executives are said to be currently looking at contingency plans but as of right now there is no plan to shorten or cancel series' two-week holiday hiatus in order to shoot additional episodes.

Most scripted series will have about 60-70 percent of their episodes shot before the break, with some having about five episodes in various stages of post. 24, According to Jim, and Rules of Engagement have already completed their full orders for the season. Meanwhile, freshman series 90210, Gary Unmarried, Better Off Ted, The Unusuals, and Harper's Island are covered by AFTRA rather than SAG and most scripted cable series are also covered by AFTRA. (Hollywood Reporter)

Ashton Kutcher's Katalyst is developing two scripted series for netlet the CW with CBS Paramount Network Television. Ensemble drama The Beautiful Life, will follow the lives of young models who live together in Manhattan and comes from former model-turned writer Adam Gaiudrone and executive producers Carol Barbee (Jericho), Karey Burke, and Jason Goldberg; offering up a look at the dark side of modeling, series could be a good companion for Top Model. Drama Chloe Gamble, based on novel "The One" by Ed Decter, will follow a Texas girl who moves to Hollywood with her mother and twin brother with dreams of stardom dancing in her head. Decter and John Strauss will write and executive produce the project, which is told from a vantage point in the future, where life didn't end up so well for Chloe. (Variety)

CW is said to be close to renewing America's Next Top Model for a thirteenth cycle to air next fall. (Hollywood Reporter)

FOX will give Spike Feresten an 11 pm slot for a six-week run of daily one-hour episodes beginning January 17th, intended to be a tryout to see whether Talkshow With Spike Feresten could fill the Saturday night void left open by MadTV's cancellation. (Broadcasting & Cable)

Michael Trucco (Battlestar Galactica) will guest star on CBS' The Big Bang Theory next month, where he'll play Leonard's motorcycle-driving partner on a project and "one of the youngest MacArthur Genius Grant winners ever." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Speaking of Battlestar Galactica, Jamie Bamber has said that he would be too scared to replace David Tennant as the Eleventh Doctor on Doctor Who. "Those would be very big shoes to fill - if I'm going to be honest it would be very daunting to take on an icon like Doctor Who," said Bamber. "It's right at the core of British television and to take that on is a big challenge. I think it's a very enviable one for whoever gets it, but I'm not actively seeking it. I think I'm too scared to actually want it." (Digital Spy)

CBS is developing single-camera comedy Things a Man Should Never Do Past 30. Project, from executive producer/director Barry Sonnenfeld, the Tannenbaum Co., and Sony Pictures TV, is based on a book by Esquire contributing editor David Katz containing a list of 500 items that men shouldn't attempt after they hit 30, such as "google ex-girlfriends" or "high five in a business situation." Katz and A.J. Jacobs will write the script with supervision from Al Higgins (Malcolm in the Middle) and Sonnenfeld will direct the pilot. (Hollywood Reporter)

BBC have confirmed that Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures will return for a third season in 2009, with Russell T. Davies remaining on the series as executive producer. Elisabeth Sladen, Tom Knight, Daniel Anthony, and Anjli Mohindra are slated to return. (Digital Spy)

What a surprise: Reveille will produce the previously reported Tony Robbins unscripted project at NBC. (TV Week)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: "Arrested Development" Feature Moves Closer to Reality, "Life on Mars" Gets Four More, CW Takes Back Sundays, and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. I'm still depressed from yesterday's news about Pushing Daisies but another fantastic episode of 30 Rock (and the hilarious Nightman-laden season finale of It's Always Sunny) helped remove some of the sting.

One piece of good news: it seems like that Arrested Development feature film might actually be happening. After a host of rumors, there's finally some solid intelligence on the big screen adaptation moving forward. Series creator Mitch Hurwitz and executive producer Ron Howard have signed deals for the project, which would be released by Imagine and Fox Searchlight. Hurwitz will write the script and co-direct the feature with Howard. Me, I'm pleased as punch about this news. If there's one series that I feel could work on the big screen, it's Arrested Development. Hell, just think of the DVD sales alone. (Hollywood Reporter)

Looking for a fix of Lost? ABC has released a new promo for Season Five that features a new single from The Fray. (Televisionary)

The CW has decided to pull the plug on its Sunday night programming experiment, under which it gave control of the lineup to Media Rights Capital, which filled it with such memorable series as Valentine, In Harm's Way, and Easy Money, among others. Instead, the netlet will use the Sunday night real estate to air repeats of Everybody Hates Chris and The Game in the 5 pm slot, followed by double-pumped repeats of The Drew Carey Show at 6 pm, repeats of CBS' Jericho at 7 pm, and a movie slot at 8 pm. (Meanwhile, MRC is said to be shopping its midseason comedy Surviving Suburbia to other buyers but no deal is in place.) Is the new lineup better... or just oddly different? You decide. (Variety)

ABC has opted not to order any additional episodes of sophomore series Pushing Daisies, Dirty Sexy Money, or Eli Stone. (Televisionary)

In other programming news, ABC has ordered four additional episodes of freshman drama Life on Mars and has now confirmed, in a bit of a reversal from an earlier leaked schedule, that it will air Wednesdays at 10 pm ET/PT after Lost, beginning January 28th. (TV Week)

AMC is developing period police drama Sugar Hill, which will follow the lives of two police detectives--one white, the other black--in 1960s Harlem. Project, from Fox TV Studios, was created by Alex Winter (Ben 10: Race Against Time), Steven Pearl (The Beast), and Allan Loeb (New Amsterdam). Winter and Pearl will write the pilot script and executive produce with Loeb. (Hollywood Reporter)

Gossip Girls' Connor Paolo, who plays Eric van der Woodsen, has turned down an offer to become a series regular on the CW drama. But lest you think that Serena's baby bro is going anywhere, think again. It actually makes more sense for Paolo to remain a recurring actor than a regular as he would still appear in the same number of episodes (rather than ASP or all episodes produced) but have less opportunity to pursue feature or side projects while continuing on Gossip Girl. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

TV Guide talks to Kath & Kim creator Michelle Nader and stars Molly Shannon and Selma Blair about the NBC comedy. One the terrifying tidbit: "There's talk of Britney Spears coming on for a story about Kath and Kim going to Las Vegas to see the Cher show." (TV Guide)

Paterson Joseph speaks out about the constant rumors that he will replace David Tennant as the Doctor on Doctor Who. "His [the Doctor's] parameters are so vast," said Joseph. "I don't see why he can't have more regenerations than the 13 that those who know think a Time Lord can have." (BBC News)

Horatio Sanz has been cast in ABC's single-camera comedy series In the Motherhood, opposite Megan Mullally and Cheryl Hines. He'll play Horatio, a man who had a child with the daughter of Megan Mullally's character Megan and is now a stay-at-home dad trying to raise his daughter after his wife leaves him. In other casting news, Jason London has joined the cast of Showtime drama pilot Possible Side Effects from writer/director/executive producer Tim Robbins; London will play Silas Hunt, the middle son of an eccentric family in the pharmaceutical business. (Hollywood Reporter)

Smallville fans will get to see the Legion of Super-Heroes in the January 15th episode written by Geoff Johns... well, at least three Legionnaires, anyway. Alexz Johnson (Instant Star), Calum Worthy (Psych), and Ryan Kennedy (Whistler) have been cast respectively as Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad, and Cosmic Boy. Their arrival in the 21st century is linked to the recent appearance of Doomsday in the series. (TV Guide)

Bravo has signed a new one-year deal with Kathy Griffin that includes a fifth season of Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List, hosting duties in next year's A-List Awards, and two hour-long comedy speicals for the network. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: ABC Might Shift "Mars" and "Practice," Quinlan Locks Down "Prison Break," BBC Drama in Jeopardy, and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. While I watched this week's episode of Chuck yet again (and fell in love with it all over again), I couldn't help shake the feeling that last night's episode of Gossip Girl was absolutely beyond ludicrous. Anyone else agree?

ABC is allegedly making some changes to its midseason schedule, with Grey's Anatomy spin-off Private Practice shifting to Thursdays at 10 pm, where it will air right behind Grey's. Meanwhile, the current timeslot holder, Life on Mars, will move to Wednesdays at 10 pm, where it will receive a hell of a lead-in from Lost. The Alphabet didn't comment on the leaked schedule, which it has yet to announce. Can we see ABC launching a Wednesday night around Pushing Daisies, Lost, and Life on Mars... or does this once again signal a death knell for Daisies? (Hollywood Reporter)

Samaire Armstrong's Juliet Darling WILL be returning to ABC's Dirty Sexy Money after all. (Come on, I wasn't the only one who didn't believe producers when they said she wasn't off the series altogether!) Armstrong will return for a special Thanksgiving episode that will air on November 26th that finds chauffeur Clark offering his take on the Darlings' many scandals, including Juliet's year-long globe-spanning love affair with Kai. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Kathleen Quinlan (Made of Honor) has been cast in at least four episodes on FOX's Prison Break, where she will recur as a "mysterious woman who has ties to the Company and a surprising connection to Michael." Quinlan's first appearance is slated to air on the series' December 22nd fall finale. Could Quinlan's character be the basis for FOX's long-delayed Prison Break spin-off Cherry Hill? Hmmm... (Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider)

Lifetime has ordered seven additional episodes of freshman comedy series Rita Rocks, bringing this season's total episodic count to 22 episodes.

Rita Rocks is perhaps some much-needed positive news for indie shingle Media Rights Capital, which has bombed with its scripted offerings this season, courtesy of the CW's Sunday night lineup. (Variety)

Departing BBC drama head Jane Tranter, who commissioned such hits as Doctor Who and Life on Mars, warned that BBC drama budgets were at their "breaking point" and that UK production was in grave danger from cost-cutting initiatives. "There's really not much more we can cut without endangering not just the quality of the work, but also the quality of the lives of the people who work on these things," said Tranter, who will become EVP of programming and production at BBC Worldwide this January. (Hollywood Reporter)

USA Today's Robert Bianco offers up three suggestions on how to improve US networks' ailing schedules, including: create more, import less; get serious about comedy; and develop on your time, not ours. I have to say I agree. (USA Today)

Tracy Pollan (Law & Order: SVU), a.k.a. Mrs. Michael J. Fox, has been cast in a three-episode story arc on Season Five of NBC's Medium, slated to launch in January. Pollan will play Caitlyn, a "corporate intuitionist who befriends Arquette's Allison and attempts to bring her to the corporation she works for because of her gift. " (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

The Hills' Heidi Spencer and Spencer Pratt will guest star on a January episode of CBS' How I Met Your Mother, where they will play themselves (naturally) when they taunt Marshall from the cover of a tabloid as he searches for a "quiet place." (TV Guide)

Colm Feore (24) has been cast in Canadian drama The Listener, which will air in the US on NBC. (Elsewhere, it will air on CTV in Canada and on Fox International Channels.) He'll play the mentor of a young parametic (Craig Olejnik) who uses his telepathic gifts to help the people he heals. (Hollywood Reporter)

Whoopi Goldberg has signed a development deal with Discovery Emerging Networks, under which she will develop series for Investigation Discovery and Science Channel with her Whoop Inc. partner Tom Leonardis, one of which is guaranteed to be ordered to series. (Variety)

Cabler AMC has named Charlie Collier as president; Collier has been EVP/general manager since 2006 and has overseen the cabler's expansion into original programming via Broken Trail, Mad Men, and Breaking Bad. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: "Melrose Place" Could Happen at CW; Lionsgate Looks for New Showrunner on "Mad Men," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" Delayed, and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. I did end up watching It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown last night, along with an absolutely hysterical episode of Gavin and Stacey... and a snooze of an episode of 90210, which literally put me to sleep last night. (A storyline involving wisdom teeth? Really?)

CW and CBS Paramount Network TV are going ahead with the development of an updated version of Beverly Hills 90210 spin-off Melrose Place. The studio has not attached any writers or executive producers and original series creator Darren Star will not be involved with this adaptation. Personally, I like my Melrose Place where it belongs: in the past. (And is it just me or is it odd that Rob Estes starred on the original Melrose Place as a different character than he one he currently plays on 90210?) What do you think though: is Melrose Place 2.0 a fantastic idea or a foolhardy one? (Variety)

Lionsgate is said to be exploring the possibility of finding a new showrunner for Mad Men's third season, according to Nikki Finke. Finke says that "Weiner's agents at CAA are asking for too much money for him. I hear CAA wants a multi-year deal that pays Weiner $10 million a year. Plus he wants control over promotion and advertising. Now that's consistent with a big hit on pay cable and what Darren Star or David Chase made on HBO. But it's way, way rich for a Lionsgate show on AMC, and execs are telling CAA it can't pay that." Personally, I think Weiner is worth every penny and Lionsgate was lucky to have him in order to snag their first best drama Emmy award (it was also the first time a basic cable program won the honor). Come on, 'Gaters, get it together... (Deadline Hollywood Daily)

Gina Torres (Firefly, Dirty Sexy Money) will guest star on an upcoming episode of Pushing Daisies as... the ex-wife of one Emerson Cod. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)
Saturday Night Live won't be finding a replacement for Amy Poehler's gig as co-anchor of the Weekend Update installment now that she's had her baby. In fact, look for Seth Meyers to be the sole anchor of the familiar installment for the foreseeable future. "He's going to be doing [Update] solo for the foreseeable future," said Lorne Michaels. "My hope was that Amy would stay forever . . and these changes are complicated." (New York Post)

Foreign formats are doing noticeably worse than their American-created series brethren this year, despite many claiming that this was the year for British imports. Both Eleventh Hour and Life on Mars are slipping behind NBC's ER; Israeli format The Ex List has been cancelled, and Worst Week is barely holding on to 60 percent of Two and a Half Men's lead-in. Look for Kath & Kim to vanish from the lineup before long. (Hollywood Reporter)

Law & Order: Criminal Intent, which was set to launch on USA on November 7th, has been delayed to 2009. Details for the late in the game switch are said to be forthcoming.

Bravo is said to be developing an untitled docusoap about American and British ex-pats set in Dubai with Wonder of Wonder's Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey that is said to be similar in tone to the cabler's upcoming series Miami Social. (TV Week)

Writer/producer Will Gluck (The Loop) has set up a number of comedy projects at various networks: an untitled single-camera comedy at FOX about a construction crew ("It's The Office from a blue-collar point of view," said Gluck) and a hybrid multi-camera comedy The Frozen Family, which has rolled over at ABC; that project is about an organic frozen good family business. (Hollywood Reporter)

Comedian Patton Oswalt (Ratatouille) will appear on Joss Whedon's upcoming FOX drama Dollhouse. (Whedonesque)

Could The Simpsons be renewed for another three seasons? Executive producer Al Jean says it's a nearly certain. (New York Post)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: FOX Issues Reprieve for "Sarah Connor," "Lost" Movie Unlikely, "Chuck," and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. Quite a lot of good telly on last night, including new episodes of Skins, Mad Men, Amazing Race, and Little Britain USA, not to mention another installment of Masterpiece Contemporary's The Last Enemy. Whew.

FOX has issued a reprieve for ratings-starved sci-fi action drama Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. The series has been given a full season order for its second season, which averaged a 2.3/6 in adults 18-49 in its last original airing. Many insiders had pegged the series as a goner, proving that there's obviously still some life in the Terminator franchise yet. (Variety)

Zeljko Ivanek (Damages) has been cast in Season Three of Heroes, where he'll appear in a multiple-episode story arc playing a character known as the Hunter in Volume Four of the series, which is subtitled "Fugitives" and is set to kick off in January or February of 2009. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Entertainment Weekly's Marc Bernardin says that Chuck's Yvonne Strahovski is "TV's most underrated actress [or] she's definitely in the top five." Do we think that the Aussie native who plays Chuck's CIA handler Sarah Walker is unduely underrated? Or do we instead think of her as one of telly's greatest secrets? (Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch)

In its second outing, ABC's Life on Mars lost about 30 percent of its premiere numbers and finished behind CBS' Eleventh Hour in the 10 pm timeslot on Thursday. The second episode of Life on Mars managed to grab only a 2.5/7 in adults 18-49 and 8.22 million viewers overall (vs. its original 3.7/10 and 11.33 million viewers) and only retained 42 percent of its lead-in from Grey's Anatomy. One doesn't need to be a time-traveling detective to see that this is not good. (Variety)

J.J. Abrams teases MTV with the possibility of a feature film version of ABC's Lost but admits that it's probably unlikely that the castaways will grace the silver screen. "There’s a chance," said Abrams in an interview, "but my gut is it would never happen.” (I have to say that, as much as I love Lost with a fiery passion, I hope it stays on television where it belongs.) (MTV)

Hope Davis (Six Degrees) and John Mahoney (Frasier) have been cast in Season Two of HBO's drama In Treatment. Davis will play high-powered, childless malpractice lawyer Mira while Mahoney will play Bill, a super-confident CEO who feels that his life has slipped away. Elsewhere, Jeffrey Nordling (24) has signed on to star opposite Jada Pinkett Smith in TNT's drama pilot Time Heals; he'll play Tom Wakefield, the hospital's director of medicine. (Hollywood Reporter)

CBS Paramount Network Television has signed a talent holding deal with Rob Riggle (The Daily Show with Jon Stewart), under which he will create and star in a half-hour comedy on CBS. (Variety)

Jeff Probst, Mark Burnett, and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition executive producer Denise Cramsey have sold a pilot to CBS called Live Like You're Dying, which will feature a person with a terminal illness who will receive a chance to go "on the last adventure of their life,” which will include reunions with lost friends or estranged family members and living out their personal dreams. (Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider)

In other CBS news, the network's interactive division is launching a new online feature that is has dubbed "social viewing rooms," which combines the social networking aspects of a chat room with video streaming, allowing fans to interact whilst watching the network's online content. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Walking Through a Sunken Dream: Sam Tries to Figure Out What's Real on "Life on Mars"

Sigh. I was really hoping by now that the writers of ABC's Life on Mars would have stopped cribbing from the original UK series but was sadly disappointed to see that last night's episode ("The Real Adventures of the Unreal Sam Tyler"), the series' second, once again borrowed way too heavily from the original script.

Last night's episode of Life on Mars followed the squad as they attempted to take down the organizer of a series of armed robberies at local check cashing stores, introduced Lee Tergesen as Assistant District Attorney Lee Crocker, and had Gene and Sam coming to blows (yet again) when Sam's plan put one of their own (Heather Matarazzo's June) in harm's way.

To me, this series needs to be a hell of a lot more clever by half as much of the action and plotting seems predictable and pedestrian. The fact that Sam would go to the ADA and tell him that he suspects that the robberies are an inside job and implicate members of his own precinct before even considering the possibility that the "policeman" involved with Kim Trent are in fact impostors was absolutely ludicrous. (As was Sam's belief that Ray would be helping him out.) Sam Tyler is meant to be a brilliant detective with an innate ability to solve crimes; Jason O'Mara's Sam seems just as thick as the crooks he's trying to catch if he can't surmise that the cops are fake or that Ray could have a hidden agenda.

(Aside: Sam's real/unreal bit got real old, real fast, so writers better come up with a better way of expressing his exploration of his new world quickly. And producers would be wise to invest in a little more SFX time to fully render the Red Rover as it looked laughably bad on screen.)

I was waiting to see just when the series' writers would introduce a cliched hippie chick and was surprised to see that it was as early as the second episode. Having her turn up stark naked in the hallway of Sam's apartment building was a little too convenient as was her silly habit of talking to the clouds and the stars (the fact that Sam would keep repeating these gems of wisdom as Truth made me laugh out loud). Silly name? Check. (Windy, no less.) Penchant for putting pot into homemade lasagna? Check. Tendency to wander around in the nude or into a virtual stranger's apartment without knocking? Check and check.

It's clear that Windy is meant to be a potential love interest for Sam while Annie and Lee begin to date (beginning with Grease, no less!), just so we can keep Sam and Annie apart for now. Yawn.

Why ABC was even advertising Lisa Bonet in this week's episode was utterly confounding as Bonet's Maya only rated about 30 seconds of screen time and not a single line of dialogue. Bonet was one of the better things about ABC's reshot pilot and I hate to think of her sticking around the series' set in the hopes of appearing in a single shot each week.

And I am still having problems with Harvey Keitel as Gene Hunt. While I love Keitel as an actor, he's a little too old to take seriously when he's shown running at top speed through Central Park to apprehend a perp. And his use of brute force (such as when he punched Sam at June's bedside at the hospital) come off as more cartoonishly silly than brutal. Philip Glenister's Gene Hunt was a living, breathing ball of rabid energy who was much more physically imposing than John Simm's Sam Tyler; here, it's hard to see why Jason O'Mara wouldn't just squish Gene under his left shoe.

All in all, I was less than impressed with last night's installment and I'm beginning to wonder if I'll even bother to tune in next week. For those of us who've already seen just how brilliant Life on Mars can be, this proved to be a lackluster cover band version of Bowie rather than the real deal itself.

Next week on Life on Mars ("My Maharishi's Bigger Than Your Maharishi"), Gene is on the warpath when a Vietnam vet is murdered; clues lead Sam to some information about his family.

Talk Back: ABC's "Life on Mars" Series Premiere

How many of you tuned in to watch the launch of ABC's Life on Mars last night?

Likely by now you've already read my original review of the pilot episode (back when David E. Kelley was the showrunner) from back in May as well as my review of the reshot pilot (under the direction of executive producers/showrunners Josh Appelbaum, Andre Nemec, and Scott Rosenberg) but now you've had a chance to watch the premiere episode, with Jason O'Mara (Men in Trees) filling in for the original's John Simm as Detective Sam Tyler, who finds himself inexplicably stuck in 1973.

Is he in a coma? Has he traveled through time? Or is something else altogether going on here? It looks like the producers aren't revealing though they do say that Sam isn't necessarily in a coma, which was a given fact of the original BBC series.

But I am curious to see what everyone thought of Life on Mars' premiere episode ("Out Here in the Fields"), both those of you who are fans of the original and newbies coming to ABC's version without any preconceived notions. Did you like O'Mara as Sam Tyler? Were you totally engrossed by Lisa Bonet? Are you in awe of Harvey Keitel? Or do you think Philip Glenister does Gene Hunt better?

Talk back here.

"A God-Awful Small Affair": An Advance Look at the "Life on Mars" Series Premiere

Longtime visitors to this site know of my love for the original UK version of Life on Mars, a brilliant and mind-bending journey into the 1970s and the subconscious of one fine detective, Sam Tyler (played in the original by John Simm). It's a brilliant and heartbreaking work of genius, deftly blending together sci-fi, cop drama, and thriller into one shocking package.

I'll admit that my expectations were very low when I saw the original pilot last May that ABC had produced for the US version of Life on Mars, starring Jason O'Mara (Men in Trees) as time-displaced detective Sam Tyler. I described the original pilot--set in Los Angeles--as "misguided" and said that the sunny Los Angeles setting was "very much at odds with the sort of haunting, slow burn atmosphere of the plot." I further said that I was "deeply disappointed" with the entire thing.

ABC was apparently disappointed with Life on Mars as well, as the network commissioned another pilot, hired Josh Appelbaum, Andre Nemec, and Scott Rosenberg as showrunners, recast most of the roles (hiring Harvey Keitel in the process), and moved the action to New York City.

So what did I think of the new premiere episode for Life on Mars ("Out Here in the Fields")? Let's discuss.

For one thing, shifting the location of this story from palm tree-strewn Los Angeles to the grittiness of 1970s Manhattan is a very wise move. More analogous to the original series' Manchester setting, New York City in the 1970s is a much more interesting place--both in terms of visuals and morals--than LA and the juxtaposition with Sam's possible time travel and/or his coma-like state in the present day makes more sense in the grey, grimy streets of the Big Apple than they do among the surf and sand of Los Angeles.

Additionally, the cast is significantly improved in this iteration. While they still don't match the heights that John Simm, Philip Glenister, and Liz White reached in the original series, I think that the additions of Harvey Keitel, Michael Imperioli, and Gretchen Mol elevate the US version through their performances. Keitel brings his own energy and interpretation to the role of Gene Hunt, lending him the aura of aging Italian hoodlum who might be more dangerous than the criminals he chases. It's a different role, granted, than the Gene Hunt that Glenister made so memorable but I am glad to see Keitel put his own spin on the part rather than just channel Glenister's performance as Colm Meaney had done. Imperioli is suitably weaselly as Ray, Hunt's putative second-in-command who feels instantly threatened by Sam's arrival in the department. And Mol is at her most likable as policewoman Annie Norris, who acts as a sympathetic ear to Sam and a potential love interest.

However, I still am not crazy about O'Mara as Sam Tyler. At his heart, Sam is presented as a highly intelligent thinking man's cop and O'Mara doesn't quite pull this off, given the physicality rather than mental agility he brings to the role. However, I fully admit that no one will ever compare to John Simm, so I'll stay quiet on any further comparisons between the two. ABC has been trying for some time now to find an ideal role for O'Mara and Life on Mars' Sam Tyler is definitely the closest they've come to date.

(I will say however that I was impressed by Lisa Bonet's performance as Sam's 2007 colleague/girlfriend Maya Daniels, who is abducted by potential serial killer Colin Raimes shortly before Sam finds himself in 1973. Bonet's performance is gutsy and headstrong and it's a treat to see her again on network television.)

My main complaint with the US version of Life on Mars is that it again stuck too closely to the script for the original with some (very) minor exceptions, such as giving suspect Colin Raimes a twin brother in order to have the police let him go when he presents a video alibi. (Twin brother? Really?) It smacks of desperation and lazy writing, particularly when the original series already provided you with an easy way to let Raimes off the hook at the episode's start and this twin thing just needlessly complicates an already intricate plot.

Jettisoning the original series' storyline with Annie's psychology boyfriend lightens the load a little here but I do miss having some sort of intimate scene with Sam and Annie wherein she has to talk him down off the ledge when he believes killing himself may be the only way to escape 1973. (A downer? You betcha but it also set up a major theme for the two seasons to come.) We don't really see a clear indication of the stakes here for Sam nor how much this experience is really playing with his head.

While it's good that the writers didn't lift the entire UK script, using the same little-boy-lost-in-the-woods vision that Sam experiences when he is hit by a car and finds himself slipping back to 1973 hits little too close for comfort. Hell, it even seems like the actual shots were lifted right out of the original UK series, grainy distortion and all. I can only hope that, in subsequent episodes, the writers attempt to do really their own thing rather than following the UK playbook beat by beat or just omitting things when it suits them. I'm looking for compelling originality here and just getting something that feels rehashed and not as effectively realized as the original.

If you've never seen the original Life on Mars, then this could be a somewhat interesting ride. For the rest of us, who already know just what happens to Sam (and what did happen in his past), it's far less interesting to see it play out here in the US version, which seems oddly bland in comparison and, despite having a larger budget than the BBC original, feels smaller in some respects.

While I acknowledge that networks and studios invest in foreign formats because they work in the first place, I can't help but feel that they'd find success down the line if they stick to the basic premise but throw out the scripts from the original. (Or, hell, air the original series in the first place.) After all, one mission to Mars is likely more than enough for loyal viewers of the original series.

Life on Mars premieres Thursday, October 9th at 10 pm ET/PT on ABC.

Channel Surfing: Starbuck is "Lost and Found," Paul McGann NOT headed to "Doctor Who," Hugh Laurie, and More

Good morning and welcome to your Friday morning television briefing.

In her first television role since the end of Battlestar Galactica (hitting small screens in 2009), Katee Sackhoff has signed on to star in drama pilot Lost and Found for Dick Wolf at NBC. Project, from writer/executive producer Chris Levinson, revolves around NYPD detective Tessa Cooper (Sackhoff) who is forced to solve John and Jane Doe cases after she finds herself rubbing her bosses the wrong way. Sackhoff's attachment lifts the cast contingency on the project, which was ordered to pilot last month. (Hollywood Reporter)

FOX has signed a new deal with Gordon Ramsay that will keep the chef at the network for several more years and includes an agreement to produce two more editions of Hell's Kitchen, another season of Kitchen Nightmares, and a third series (likely based on Ramsay's Channel 4 series Man Camp, about a boot camp for men worried by how feminine they're becoming) and a special in which at-home viewers will be able to cook alongside Ramsay. (Futon Critic)

Hugh Laurie has become one of the highest paid actors on television, signing a new deal with Universal Media Studios to continue starring on FOX's House through the 2011-12 season, in a deal said to be worth more than $9 million a year (or $400,000/episode). (Hollywood Reporter)

HBO has ordered a pilot script for an untitled drama series about a Florida golf pro who is forced to enter the witness protection program from writers/sports columnists Carl Hiaasen and Mike Lupica. (Variety)

BBC has denied tabloid reports that Paul McGann, who played the Doctor in a 1996 made-for-TV movie and a series of audio adventures, had been cast in one of the four upcoming Doctor Who specials expected for 2009. The Beeb has categorically denied the story, which ran in The Sun: "There is no truth to the story at all," said a spokeswoman. (Digital Spy)

Wondering how Jason O'Mara felt, being the only cast member to stick around after ABC axed the original pilot for Life on Mars? Find out in this interview. (Los Angeles Times)

BermanBraun has hired Gene Stein as its head of nonscripted programming while Matt Hanna, who had been overseeing the development slate, will focus on overseeing the series that the production company produces through its deal with Thom Beers' Original Prods. (Variety)

In other executive shuffle news, Maria Grasso has left Lifetime and to join cabler OWN:The Oprah Winfrey Network in a top development role, reporting to Robin Schwartz. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Ghost Whisperer (CBS); America's Toughest Jobs (NBC); Friday Night SmackDown! (CW; 8-10 pm); 2008 ALMA Awards (ABC; 8-10 pm); Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? (FOX)

9 pm: Ghost Whisperer (CBS); Dateline (NBC; 9-11 pm); Don't Forget the Lyrics (FOX)

10 pm: NUMB3RS (CBS); 20/20 (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

Um, I think I'll just go out instead...

Casting Couch: Lucas Finds "Possible Side Effects," Mol Explores "Life on Mars"

The invasion of this year's crop of feature actors into television roles continues apace.

Josh Lucas (Poseidon) has signed on to star as the lead in Tim Robbins' Showtime drama pilot Possible Side Effects, about the employees of family-run pharmaceutical company.

Robbins will write, direct, and executive produce the pilot, which is set to start shooting this autumn in New York City.

The casting marks Lucas' first television role in nearly a decade; he last appeared on TV sets in 1999 as Lieutenant Macy in three episodes of the short-lived mystery series Cracker, opposite Robert Pastorelli... and one of his first roles was as a guest star on an episode of that fabled TV gem of yesteryear, Parker Lewis Can't Lose.

***

In other casting news, ABC's adaptation of UK series Life on Mars has added another actor to the mix, following the groundbreaking casting of Harvey Keitel last week as Gene Hunt.

According to TV Guide, Gretchen Mol (The Memory Keeper's Daughter) has joined the cast as the female police officer Annie Norris, who was played in the original UK series by the luminous Liz White. Annie is a member of the Police Women's Bureau, whose modus operandi was to deal with the menial tasks around the precinct that none of the men wanted to be bothered with, though it's clear enough to Sam Tyler (Jason O'Mara) that Annie is the smartest person in the room.

Mol replaces Rachelle Lefevre (Twilight), who starred as Annie in the original US pilot.

The securing of Mol means that Life on Mars now has assembled the majority of its cast, with O'Mara, Keitel, Mol, Jonathan Murphy (October Road), and Michael Imperioli (The Sopranos) all in place.

Stay tuned.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Greatest American Dog (CBS); America's Got Talent (NBC); America's Next Top Model (CW); Wife Swap (ABC); So You Think You Can Dance (FOX)

9 pm: Criminal Minds (CBS); Baby Borrowers (NBC); Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious (CW); Supernanny (ABC); So You Think You Can Dance (FOX)

10 pm: CSI: New York (CBS); Law & Order (NBC); Primetime: Crime (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

9 pm: Project Runway on Bravo.

Season Five (the final season on Bravo) of Project Runway continues tonight. On tonight's episode ("Bright Lights/Big City"), tempers flare during a rain-soaked challenge, the designers must find inspiration in the Manhattan sunset and use the colors of the city to create their designs; Sandra Bernhard drops by to be this week's guest judge.

Casting Couch: Amy Poehler to "Office" Non-Spinoff; Marcia Gay Harden Finds "Damages"

The, er, non-spinoff spinoff of The Office from Office executive producers Greg Daniels and Mike Schur just got a hell of a lot more interesting.

Saturday Night Live's Amy Poehler is said to be in negotiations to join the cast of the untitled comedy opposite the previously announced Aziz Ansari, who was cast in the project last month.

Confirming news I had heard from someone close to the production, the untitled comedy series will NOT be a spin-off as previously announced at the NBC Upfronts by Ben Silverman but will in fact be a completely separate series, which will not utilize any existing or forthcoming characters on The Office but remain its own entity.

I think Poehler is a fantastic choice for this new series, whatever the premise might eventually be. I'm hoping that she actually is the de facto series lead as television needs more female lead actors in comedy series to join the current troika of Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Tina Fey, and Mary-Louise Parker. While there were no indications of who or what Poehler will play, I know that she'll bring her fantastic comedic timing, penchant for deadpan humor, and snarky attitude to whatever this series ends up being.

Now if Daniels and Co. could just lure Poehler's hubby Will Arnett to the mix, I'd set up my TiVo Season Pass right now.

***

In other casting news, Marcia Gay Harden (Into the Wild) has joined the cast of FX's Damages for its sophomore season. She'll play a high-powered attorney who opposes Glenn Close's Patty Hewes on a high stakes case and will recur throughout the season.

Returning to the series (SPOILER ALERT!): Ted Danson, who will turn up in Season Two as the delightfully malevolent Arthur Frobisher, who clearly survived the gunshot that seemed to fell him in the first season's taut season finale last year. Danson is set to appear in several episodes of Damages' second season.

Damages has been a role lately, racking up some A-list talent for its second season, including Harden, Timothy Olyphant, and William Hurt (who, coincidentally, also appeared in Into the Wild, opposite Harden).

I think Harden will be a fantastic addition to the cast and I'm still curious to check out the pilot presentation she filmed for CBS this season, The Tower, which is currently sitting in a pile of unwatched pilot DVDs by my television set.

***

Finally, ABC's remake of Brit series Life on Mars has finally found its Chris Skelton.

Life on Mars, which stars Jason O'Mara as Detective Sam Tyler who seemingly travels back in time to 1973 while on the hunt for a serial killer who has kidnapped his police colleague/lover, is currently being rejiggered by October Road creators Josh Appelbaum, Scott Rosenberg, and Andre Nemec.

They've enlisted former October Road cast member Jonathan Murphy for their new series venture. Murphy will play the wet-behind-the-ears and naive newbie cop Chris Skelton (a role played by the fantastic Marshall Lancaster in the BBC original) in the US version of Life on Mars.

Stay tuned.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Big Brother 10 (CBS); Baby Borrowers (NBC); America's Next Top Model (CW); Wife Swap (ABC); So You Think You Can Dance (FOX; 8-10 pm)

9 pm: Criminal Minds (CBS); Baby Borrowers (NBC); Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious (CW); Supernanny (ABC)

10 pm: CSI: New York (CBS); Celebrity Circus (NBC); Primetime: Crime (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

9 pm: Project Runway on Lifetime.

Season Five (the final season on Bravo) of Project Runway begins tonight with sixteen unsuspecting designers thrown into the deep end. On tonight's episode, they'll have to create clothing from unusual sources... as though that's anything new for the sartorial showdown.

Former "Sopranos" Star Searches for "Life on Mars"

Sam Tyler, meet Ray Carling.

ABC's adaptation of the hit BBC series Life on Mars has landed another cast member in the face of massive overhauling since shooting the original pilot (you can read my review here) under the watchful eye of executive producer/showrunner David E. Kelley.

Kelley, of course, will famously not be continuing with Life on Mars as a full-time showrunner and the series--which has become a co-production between ABC Studios and 20th Century Fox Television--has brought in October Road showrunners Andre Nemec, Scott Rosenberg and Josh Applebaum to oversee the series.

So who will be playing the notoriously sexist and difficult Ray Carling?

ABC has announced that Michael Imperioli (The Sopranos) will join the cast of Life on Mars opposite Jason O'Mara as Detective Sam Tyler.

I'm intrigued by the casting of Imperioli as it comes on the heels of word that the production may recast all of the major roles (other than O'Mara) and is at least a step in the right direction towards creating a compelling cast for this so-far sodden US adaptation. (A complete rewrite of the script would also do wonders.)

Stay tuned.

Pilot Inspektor: ABC's "Life on Mars"

ABC had very little to announce for next season at this year's upfronts; most of its pilots have yet to have been shot and won't film a single frame until later this summer. And the few things that ABC did end up ordering were either picked up from another network (Scrubs) or had been shot last year (Life on Mars).

What's my point? I finally sat down last night to watch the pilot for Life on Mars with bated breath. After all, longtime readers know how bloody much I love the UK original series of Life on Mars--starring John Simm, Liz White, and Philip Glenister--and I had pretty low expectations for this David E. Kelley-created US remake, which keeps the basic plot intact (detective Sam Tyler gets hit by a car whilst investigating a serial killer and wakes up in 1972... or does he?), along with much of the dialogue, shot compositions, and graphics. (Kelley, for his part, won't be involved with the series; ABC has hired Josh Appelbaum, Andre Nemec and Scott Rosenberg, the executive producers/creators of the recently axed October Road, to come on board as showrunners.)

I wasn't sure how the action would really transport from 1970s Manchester with its Northern accents, creepy Test Card girl, and satirical humor intact (not to mention a rocking soundtrack from David Bowie et al). It's an odd juxtaposition with Los Angeles, which lacks the same essential temperament as Manchester and was undergoing a very different transition of its own in the 1970s. The essential look of the show, with its sunshine and palm trees, seems very much at odds with the sort of haunting, slow burn atmosphere of the plot. The fact that Sam Tyler is quite possibly laying in a coma in a present day hospital seems to lend itself better to the wet, damp, grey atmosphere of Northern England than sunny Southern California.

Jason O'Mara (Men in Trees) plays Sam Tyler who, like his predecessor, is on the hunt for a serial killer in the present day when his colleague/girlfriend Maya (BSG: Razor's Stephanie Chaves-Jacobsen) is kidnapped by the madman; distraught, Sam pulls over onto the side of the road (or in this case a median on a completely deserted road by the Disney Concert Hall) and, while listening to Bowie's "Life on Mars" in unexpectedly hit by a car. While the shots are almost perfectly lifted from the original, that version shocked and disturbed me when Sam was struck out of nowhere; here, it's laughably bad and telegraphed a mile away. O'Mara isn't bad as Sam Tyler but he lacks the intensity and rapid-fire thought of Simm's interpretation; he's more brawn than brains here.

Sam wakes up in 1972 Los Angeles and wanders the streets in a dazed, bewildered state before ending up at the police station where he (A) discovers that he is still a detective and has been transferred (from where?) to this precinct and (B) meets the adorable Annie (What About Brian's Rachelle Lefevre) and gruff boss Gene Hunt (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Colm Meaney).

While Lefevre is absolutely charming as sweet-as-pie Annie (though doesn't quite match the kewpie doll innocence of the original's Liz White), Meaney is a pale imitation of Glenister's Gene Hunt; while Hunt is an amoral psychopath in his own right, he manages to still be sympathetic and fascinating at the same time, no small testament to the acting prowess of Philip Glenister. Meaney plays Hunt as an aggressive thug but with little of the charisma that has made the character so memorable on not one but two series (including Life on Mars spinoff Ashes to Ashes). When Hunt slams his fist into Sam's stomach as a way of introducing himself it just didn't ring as true, especially as O'Mara towers over Meaney physically and isn't as slight or wiry as Simm was in the role.

Overall, I was deeply disappointed by Life on Mars' pilot episode. The original had such spark, creativity, and vision--from the overarching plot to the set design, costumes, and visual look of every shot--while the US version seems fairly... generic. It's dully colored puddle of an episode that looks to have been shot on a soundstage and has none of the nail-biting tension, subtle satire (of British cop series like The Sweeney, among other things), or the psychological drama of the brilliant original.

No, Life on Mars seems more like mass-produced, microwavable fare; it's boxed macaroni and cheese: loaded with calories and fat but no soul.

Life on Mars launches this fall on Thursday nights at 10 pm on ABC.

Casting Couch: Two More Discover "Life on Mars"

David E. Kelley's US adaptation of hit BBC series (and Televisionary favorite) Life on Mars just got a little more crowded.

After locking in series leads Sam Tyler and Annie, to be played by Marlowe's Jason O'Mara and Veronica Mars' Rachelle Lefevre, Kelley has finally clinched the pivotal character of Detective Gene Hunt, the surly, violence-prone head of the homicide division. (The Gene Genie in the original Life on Mars was played with aplomb by the preternaturally talented Philip Glenister.)

Hunt will be played by veteran Irish actor Colm Meaney, familiar to many as Chief O'Brien on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: The Next Generation. He's appeared in dozens of films including Layer Cake, The Commitments, Claire Dolan, Con Air, The Snapper, and Mystery, Alaska, the latter of which was written by--you guessed it--David E. Kelley himself.

Also cast in the drama pilot: Rescue Me's Lenny Clark.

Life in Mars is still in contention for a midseason berth on ABC.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Ghost Whisperer (CBS); 1 vs. 100 (NBC); WWE Friday Night SmackDown (CW; 8-10 pm); Set for Life (ABC)

9 pm: Jericho (CBS); Las Vegas (NBC); George Lopez/George Lopez (ABC)

10 pm: NUMB3RS (CBS); Law & Order: Criminal Intent (NBC); 20/20 (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

8 pm: Doctor Who on Sci Fi.

On tonight's episode ("42"), the Doctor and Martha only have 42 minutes to prevent the spaceship they're on from crashing into the heart of the sun. Is it getting hot in here?

"Life on Mars" Finds Its Sam Tyler in Actor Jason O'Mara

One of the questions I get asked fairly regularly via email is what ever happened to David E. Kelley's US adaptation of Life on Mars?

Being a huge fan of the original UK Life on Mars, I was fairly underwhelmed by Kelley's script, which did little more than transport the action from 1970s Manchester... to 1970s Los Angeles and slightly Americanize the dialogue. As for the rest, it's all basically the same: Sam Tyler chases serial killer, arrests Colin Raimes, has car accident, wakes up in 1970. Oh, except, this time around Annie is a full-on female detective, rather than a WPC in a skirt.

The project was meant originally for fall consideration but when the pilot for Life on Mars--which had only cast Rachelle Lefevre (Life on a Stick) as Annie--failed to cast the ever-crucial role of series lead, it was placed on hold until an appropriate Sam Tyler could be cast.

Cut several months forward to today, where ABC has announced that it has finally managed to find its lead for Life on Mars: Jason O'Mara, whom Monarch of the Glen fans will remember as Fergal.

O'Mara--who has also appeared in Band of Brothers, Men in Trees, In Justice, and The Closer--had most recently appeared in the pilot for Marlowe (expect a review of that failed pilot next week) and has a talent deal with ABC, the network behind Life on Mars.

Life on Mars' director Thomas Schlamme feels that O'Mara is the perfect choice to play the conflicted time-traveler (or madman) Sam Tyler. "When I read the script, the bad news was that in order for the project to work, we needed an actor who could play confident yet lost, forceful yet frightened, withdrawn yet available, and uncompromising yet funny," said Schlamme. "The good news is we got Jason O'Mara."

The pilot for Life on Mars will begin production on August 14th and is said to be under consideration for midseason. I'll be trying to get my greedy mitts on the completed pilot as soon as it goes through editing, so stay tuned.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Ghost Whisperer (CBS); 1 vs. 100 (NBC); WWE Friday Night SmackDown (CW; 8-10 pm); Kyle XY (ABC); Bones (FOX)

9 pm: Close to Home (CBS); Las Vegas (NBC); George Lopez/George Lopez (ABC); Standoff (FOX)

10 pm: NUMB3RS (CBS); Law & Order: Criminal Intent (NBC); 20/20 (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

9 pm: The Gil Mayo Mysteries on BBC America.

It's an all-new mystery series on BBC America starring Alistair McGowan (Bleak House) as Gil Mayo, a single dad and detective. On tonight's episode, Mayo and Alex bicker and the team solves a crime at Scissors Palace.

"We've Seen it Ten Times or More": ABC Pushes "Life on Mars" to Midseason

Expect Sam Tyler to travel back in time a little later than originally expected.

In an unsurprising move (I've been waiting for weeks for this announcement), ABC has opted to push the US adaptation of drama Life on Mars to midseason, allowing executive producer David E. Kelley more time to, you know, cast the lead actor. (They had only managed so far to cast Rachelle Lefevre as Annie.)

"After a thorough search, we still haven't been able to find the right actor for this role," Kelley was quoted as saying. "Life on Mars is a project whose success relies heavily on the strength of its lead actors, and rather than compromise we prefer to keep looking and shoot for midseason."

Having read the script earlier this weekend (coincidental, no?), I can't say that I am all that excited by a US adaptation of Life on Mars, a brilliant series about a contemporary police detective on the trail of a serial killer who finds himself, after a car accident involving the freeway, an iPod, and some killer David Bowie tunes, in the 1970s.

I can't say that Kelley's script diverges much from the BBC original enough to warrant this sort of treatment nor does the substitution of 1970s Los Angeles for 1970s Manchester make this the home run that ABC is hoping it is.

Do yourself a favor and try to catch the original version of Life on Mars, starring Jon Simm, Philip Glenister, and Liz White, as soon as humanly possible.