Channel Surfing: Bones Bounces Sabato, Sam Page Lands Gossip, SOA's Hunnam Talks Season 3, Victor Webster to Castle, and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing.

TV Guide Magazine's Will Keck is reporting that Bones producers have turned lemons into lemonade with their upcoming Jersey Shore-inspired episode, following the breakdown in talks with The Situation. Instead, Bones has recruited Antonio Sabato Jr. to play a "guido bouncer at a Jersey Shore club that Brennan (Emily Deschanel) and Booth (David Boreanaz) visit to question someone involved with a murder." (TV Guide Magazine)

Mad Men's Sam Page is heading to the Upper East Side, according to Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello, who reports that Page has been cast in a multiple-episode story arc on the CW's Gossip Girl, where he will play a new love interest for Blake Lively's Serena. He's first expected to turn up in an episode slated to air in October. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan--soon to be AOL's chief television critic--has an interview with Sons of Anarchy's Charlie Hunnam about just where Jax is going this season and how much of his journey will be influenced by reading John Teller's manuscript. "I think it informed the path that I'm trying to take," said Hunnam. "I think that was really always there, though, and it was reassuring me that I wasn't crazy for desiring these things. It pulled into focus exactly what I was [thinking about]. But I also think about the fact that, these were his wishes -- they were unrealized. Jax realizes how idealistic that was. I think I'm trying to figure out what I can actually change and be realistic and be happy with that. Obviously there are giant problems between Jax and Clay but I think all of that stuff, though it rears its head here and there, needs to be put on the back burner until we get Abel back and figure out what we're doing. There's also this big thing hanging over us [the gun charges the Sons face]." (Chicago Tribune's The Watcher)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Victor Webster (Melrose Place) has been cast in a recurring role next season on ABC's Castle, where he will provide a new love interest for Stana Katic's Beckett. "There’s an element of mystery to him,” executive producer Andrew Marlowe told Ausiello. “He’s more of a motorcycle guy…A person that is going to intrigue Castle, because he’s going to see a different side of Beckett.” Ausiello also reports that Secret Life of the American Teenager's Ken Baumann will play a love interest for Castle's daughter Alexis, played by Molly Quinn. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Kate Micucci (Scrubs)--better known as half of musical-comedy act Garfunkel & Oates (a Televisionary fave after seeing them open for The Thrilling Adventure Hour)--has been cast in a recurring role on FOX comedy Raising Hope, where she will play Shelly, the "owner of a baby and doggy day care center," a role that was created for her by executive producer/creator Greg Garcia after her original character was cut from the pilot. (Hollywood Reporter)

Bad news for fans of NBC's Persons Unknown--however many of you are still watching. According to The Futon Critic, NBC is pulling the eleventh episode ("Seven Sacrifices") from the linear broadcast and will make it available online before the series wraps its run with a two-hour finale on Saturday, August 28th. (Futon Critic)

The Hollywood Reporter's Leslie Bruce talks to Nurse Jackie star Edie Falco about her Showtime dark comedy and why she wouldn't rule out reprising her role as Carmela Soprano in a movie version of The Sopranos, should it ever get made. "Frankly, I think it's not going to materialize, but stranger things have happened," said Falco. "I would definitely be interested in being involved; I'm pretty good at rolling with the punches. I would be fine if it never happened, but I would also love to go back there and see all the people I love again. Who knows? I'm not the one making the decisions and I would jump at the chance to participate." (Hollywood Reporter)

Can't wait for next week's release of Lost: Season Six and Lost The Complete Series? E! Online's Watch with Kristin already has the sixth season blooper reel--which features Josh Holloway, Terry O'Quinn, Michael Emerson, Daniel Dae Kim, Yunjin Kim, Alan Dale, and Dominic Monaghan--and which you can watch online now, exclusively at the site. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

TV Guide Magazine's Will Keck reports that Mandy Moore will reprise her role as Mary on the sixth episode of the upcoming season of ABC's Grey's Anatomy. (TV Guide Magazine)

Deadline's Nellie Andreeva is reporting that former Paramount Film Group chief John Lesher has set up two projects at HBO, both based on books. The first is drama Keys to the City, based on Joel Kostman's memoir of his time as a Manhattan locksmith. Adapted by William Monahan, the project will revolve around a "New York locksmith and offers a view of people and sights glimpsed beyond the doors he unlocks." The second project is The Three Weissmans of Westport, to be written by Jenny Lumet (Rachel Getting Married), based on Cathleen Schine's novel, about "a woman's search for meaning after her husband of 48 years walks out on her" and how she "reconnects with her grown daughters who are also dealing with professional and familial irrelevance." (Deadline)

ABC has renewed reality series Wipeout for a fourth season, according to The Hollywood Reporter's James Hibberd, and will get some new obstacles next season. "I'm excited that a fourth season will give our team the opportunity to create bigger and funnier ways to wipe out contestants and thrill families across America," said creator and executive producer Matt Kunitz. (Hollywood Reporter)

ABC Family has ordered a script for drama pilot What Would Jane Do, about a "dateless high school outsider living a double life as a twentysomething career girl in the corporate world." Project hails from executive producer Gavin Polone and writer April Blair. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: More on Party Down Cancellation, NBC Dumps Persons Unknown on Sats, Weeds, Big Love, and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing.

Following yesterday's brutal cancellation of Party Down, Hitfix's Alan Sepinwall talks to Party Down executive producer Rob Thomas about the cancellation of the Starz comedy. "No one on our side is particularly shocked by the news," Thomas told Sepinwall about the cancellation. "Frankly, the waiting has been excruciating, and there's a certain amount of relief in knowing and being able to move on." Thomas indicated that the series was heading towards a third season renewal before newly installed entertainment czar Chris Albrecht was brought in. "There's little to no doubt that we were going to get one until Chris came in," said Thomas. "But I do think if we had done better numbers, Chris would've kept us. I don't think Chris wanted to come in and clean house. I just don't think he had quite the emotional attachment that people who had been at Starz through the birth of the show had towards it." (Hitfix)

E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos also spoke briefly with Rob Thomas about the Party Down cancellation and learned that he's working on a new project. "I'm writing a drama pilot set in the world of corporate espionage for Showtime," Thomas told Dos Santos yesterday. [Editor: of course, that came out when Dos Santos asked Thomas about what was happening with a Veronica Mars feature film, so Neptune fans, I wouldn't keep holding our breaths on that one.] (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

If you're one of the few tuning in to NBC's serialized thriller, don't get too attached to watching Persons Unknown on Mondays. The Futon Critic is reporting that NBC is shifting Persons to Saturday evenings at 8 pm ET/PT beginning July 17th. Mondays will now how repeats of America's Got Talent at 8 pm, new episodes of Last Comic Standing at 9 pm, and Dateline at 10 pm. Persons Unknown will air its final Monday airing on July 5th. (Futon Critic)

SPOILER! Looking for some dirt on Showtime's Weeds, which returns August 16th? TV Guide Magazine's Will Keck talks to Weeds' Hunt Parrish about the sixth season, which finds the Botwins on the run. "Nancy would never leave her family behind so we're all on the run together. We pick up and move states. It's cool to see this family outside of their world," said Parrish. "We've only had one consistent set in the nine out of thirteen episodes we've shot so far [the Bowtin's RV]. We're filming on location a lot." Look for Nancy to move from pot into the hash business as well. (TV Guide Magazine)

ANOTHER SPOILER? Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello has some dish on the fifth season of HBO's Big Love. "The new season starts shooting July 13, and based on some fresh casting intel, we’ll be seeing a lotta fallout from the Henricksons’ 'outing' as polygamists’, especially at the elementary school some of the kids attend," writes Ausiello. "Maybe Bill will find a sympathetic ear in Richard Dwyer, the Majority Leader of the Utah State Senate and a new recurring character? On second thought, not likely, eh?" (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

The CW has announced its plans for fall, unveiling its autumn launch dates for new and returning series. Up first: America's Next Top Model, kicking off on Wednesday, September 8th, along with new drama Hellcats. The Vampire Diaries and Nikita kick off on Thursday, September 9th. 90210 and Gossip Girl return September 13th, One Tree Hill and Life Unexpected launch on Tuesday, September 14th, and Smallville and Supernatural return to the schedule on Friday, September 24th. (Variety)

SPOILER! TV Guide Magazine's Will Keck is reporting that Harriet Sansom Harris (Frasier) will reprise her role as Felicia Tilman on ABC's Desperate Housewives next season as part of the return of Mark Moses' character Paul to the series. "We are definitely going to show Harriet on the show," an unnamed source confirmed to Keck. "We will be using her to clarify how Paul got out of jail." Felicia, after all, had faked her own death in order to point the finger of suspicion on Paul as revenge for Paul's murder of her sister, Martha Huber. "I had lunch with (series creator) Mark Cherry who gave me an idea of some of the fun stuff he wants Paul to do," Moses told Keck. "It's going to be a great run and very interesting to see which of the housewives still think Paul's guilty and which won't. And just why is he coming back to Wisteria Lane?" (TV Guide Magazine)

Heidi Klum and reality shingle LMNO Productions have teamed up to produce family reality series Seriously Funny Kids, which will, per Variety's Michael Schneider, "go on location to where the kids are and document their reactions to various scenarios." Project will be pitched to networks very soon. (Variety)

E! Online's Megan Masters talks to Bristol Palin about her guest role on ABC Family's Secret Life of the American Teenager. "I was excited to work with the cast and just to contribute to this show's message," Palin told E! Online's Masters. "I feel obligated [to speak out] because I've lived through this experience...the more I talk about it and the more I can be hands on about it, the better I feel about myself...'m not an actress. I'll leave that up to the experts, but I had a great time here. I don't think I'll be doing any more acting in the future." (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared are coming back to television. Well, sort of. IFC has acquired syndication rights for the series, from executive producer Judd Apatow, and will begin airing Freaks and Geeks this Friday at 11 pm ET/PT (along with repeats on Sundays at 10 pm and Mondays at 11 pm), while Undeclared will bow in the fall. (IFC will also air a never-been-aired episode of Undeclared.) (Variety)

Following a successful grassroots campaign waged on Facebook, Travel Channel has saved reality series Three Sheets. The travel series, which follows Zane Lamprey on a beer quest, will shift from the now defunct Fine Living (which morphed into Cooking Channel) to Travel, which has acquired all back episodes and will begin screening new episodes as well. (Hollywood Reporter)

Sundance Channel has hired former Travel Channel executive Michael Klein as SVP of original programming and development. He'll report to Sarah Barnett and be based out of New York. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Cynthia Nixon Heads to The Big C, Glee Comic-Con Mystery, Entourage Cast Teases New Season, and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing.

Cynthia Nixon (Sex and the City) has signed on to appear in four episodes of Showtime's upcoming dark comedy The Big C, which stars Laura Linney as Cathy, a suburban teacher whose life is thrown off track by a terminal cancer diagnosis. Nixon will play Rebecca, Cathy's "flaky, long-lost college roommate who re-enters her life and shakes things up in a wild way," according to the official press release from Showtime. Nixon's casting follows on the heels of that of ex-Wire co-star Idris Elba. The series, created by Darlene Hunt, stars Linney, Oliver Platt, and Gabourey Sidibe. (via press release)

Wondering why none of the main cast members of FOX's Glee will be heading to Comic-Con next month despite 20th Century Fox Television's announcement that there will be a Glee panel at San Diego Comic-Con? Entertainment Weekly's Andy Patrick is reporting that half of the Glee cast wasn't asked to participate, as they had already journey down to the con last year. Last year, we brought down Lea Michele, Cory Monteith, Matthew Morrison, and Dianna Agron," said an unnamed studio spokesperson. "Because we have such a large cast and we can’t bring everyone every year, this year we decided to bring down some of the cast who didn’t get to go last summer. So this year, Chris Colfer, Amber Riley, Jenna Ushkowitz, Kevin McHale, Mark Salling, Heather Morris, and Naya Rivera will get to experience the convention, as well as co-creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk." [Editor: Weakest. Excuse. Ever.] Meanwhile, Jane Lynch reportedly had a scheduling conflict, so she too will not be appearing at the convention, despite her character--Sue Sylvester--being one of breakout stars of Glee. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

E! Online's Megan Masters talks to the cast of HBO's Entourage about what lays ahead for Vince and Co. during Season Seven of the Hollywood-set comedy series. "Vince has always been a very even-keeled guy, but that doesn't mean there's not a lot going on underneath," said Adrian Grenier. "It's been a great season for me as an actor because Vince is getting into trouble. He needs help. Like there's an emotional side to Vince that comes out with a fury." The cast also has some dish on complications for Eric and Sloan this season, as well as Ari and Mrs. Ari, Turtle's new love interest (played by former Heroes star Dania Ramirez), and Drama. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Paula Patton (Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire) is in talks to join the cast of NBC's Law & Order: SVU as the new ADA, replacing Sharon Stone who last held the position for a four-episode story arc this spring. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

NBC's new thriller The Event is heading to Comic-Con next month and the Saturday, July 24th panel--which will feature stars Jason Ritter, Blair Underwood, Laura Innes, Zeljko Ivanek and Ian Anthony Dale, and producers Evan Katz, Steve Stark, Jeffrey Reiner, Nick Wauters, and Jim Wong--will be moderated by E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Lifetime has ordered three new cop drama pilots, including Jeff Bell's Exit 19 (which had been shot as a pilot presentation at CBS during the 2008-09 season), an untitled drama from Josh Berman (Drop Dead Diva) about a female police detective who may have to raise her two children on her own, and Against the Wall, from Annie Brunner (Huff), about a female cop who is placed in the internal affairs division of the Chicago PD, a fact that doesn't sit right with her two cop brothers. (Variety)

AMC is said to nearing a deal to develop drama The Wreck, from writers Graham Gordy and Michael Fuller and executive producer John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side), which would revolve around the head coach of a struggling college football team who is given one last chance to turn the team's fortunes around. (Hollywood Reporter)

The Futon Critic is reporting that NBC will swap the timeslots of Persons Unknown and Last Comic Standing, effective immediately. The former, produced by Fox Television Studios, will move to 9 pm ET/PT for at least the next two weeks. (Futon Critic)

Syfy has unveiled the cast for its latest Saturday night creature feature, Mega Python vs. Gatoroid and it's... Debbie Gibson and Tiffany?!? Yes, the former 1980s pop icons will star in the project, from writer Naomi Selfman and director Mary Lambert, which is slated to air next year on the cabler. "Gibson will play a fanatical animal-rights activist who frees illegally imported exotic snakes from pet stores, sending them into the Everglades, where they grow to mega sizes," writes The Hollywood Reporter's James Hibberd. "Tiffany will play an overzealous park ranger who uses dangerous methods to save endangered alligators. In the script, the pair brawl at a party, then take matters outside into the swamp." [Editor: Just... wow.] (Hollywood Reporter)

ABC Studios has signed a new overall deal with Jessika Borsiczky (FlashForward), under which she will develop new programming for the studio and may join the staff of a new or existing ABC series. Elsewhere, the producer has set up single-camera comedy House of Lies at Showtime; project, from writer Matt Carnahan, "looks at the woes of corporate America." (Variety)

In other deal-related news, Denis Leary and Jim Serpico's Apostle shingle has signed a two-year overall deal with Fox Television Studios, under which they will develop new cable programming for the studio, while in talks with CBS Television Studios about a separate deal that would have them developing for broadcast networks, according to Deadline's Nellie Andreeva. Apostle was previously based at Sony Pictures Television, until the studio opted not to renew its deal (along with several other high-profile pod deals). (Deadline)

Broadcasting & Cable's Paige Albiniak is reporting that CBS is developing Say It Now, a live daily daytime talk show to possibly fill the void left in the schedule by the cancellation of long-running soap As the World Turns that features actress Valerie Bertinelli (Hot in Cleveland) and Aussie talk show host Rove McManus. Other contenders to take the timeslot include game shows Pyramid and Password and a female-skewing talk show a la The View that would star Julie Chen, Sharon Osbourne, Holly Robinson Peete, and Leah Remini. (Broadcasting & Cable)

Disney Junior has started production on animated series Doc McStuffins, which will revolve around a "6-year-old girl who communicates with and heals stuffed animals and toys." Project, from creator/executive producer Chris Nee, will launch in 2011 on the Dinsey Channel. (Variety)

AMC has hired Marci Wiseman as SVP of business affairs. She will be based in Los Angeles and will report to Charlie Collier. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Ghost Town: An Advance Review of NBC's Persons Unknown

There's a term in mystery writing called a "locked room mystery." You know the sort, a crime--typically a murder--is discovered in which the deed occurred behind a locked door. Unless the killer is still in the room, there is seemingly no means of egress from this chamber, resulting in a baffling and impossible situation.

NBC's new summertime mystery-drama series Persons Unknown, from executive producers Chrisopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects), Heather McQuarrie, and Remi Aubuchon, aims to be the television version of such a locked room mystery, revolving not around a singular crime but rather a central mystery: how did a group of seven strangers find themselves taken from their ordinary lives and deposited into a seemingly deserted town? And why is it impossible to leave this place?

The premise alone warrants comparisons both to Lost and to the seminal 1960s British television series The Prisoner, with its use of inescapable and remote scenery, head-scratching laws of reality/society, and the sort of disorientation experienced by the characters.

However, the comparisons end there, really. Despite the presence of creator McQuarrie, Persons Unknown isn't as groundbreaking or memorable as either series. Nor is it as clever.

Part of that, I would suspect, would come to the production model itself. Produced by Fox Television Studios as an international co-production, Persons Unknown feels a bit like a hodgepodge of elements, a shadow version of a first-run broadcast program. The writing seems a bit stilted and weak (a surprise given McQuarrie's involvement), and the performances flabby as well. (The one stand out is the always fantastic Alan Ruck, here a full head and shoulders above the rest of the cast.)

It's hard to become invested in the first hour due to these elements, despite some of the mind-bending elements contained within the series, including an unseen organization that is monitoring the kidnap victims via a series of ominous and ubiquitous video cameras that are set up all over the town (itself a sort of anachronistic place that has the local hotel at the epicenter), a Chinese restaurant that functions as the main dining establishment (just don't ask any questions), suspiciously accurate fortune cookies, and implanted devices that can sedate the victim if they get, well, antsy.

Like Lost, the series attempts to mine the characters' backstories as well. Just why was single mom Janet (Daisy Betts) plucked from her life (leaving behind a scared little girl on a public playground)? Just who is the enigmatic Joe (Jason Wiles) and what was he before he arrived in this place? What connects these individuals? The rest of the characters are made up of paper-thin archetypes--spoiled party girl, gruff solider, angry man, crazy woman--that we've seen done many times before.

Meanwhile, the producers hope to eat their cake and have too by introducing a haggard journalist named Renbe (Gerald Kyd), who is investigating Janet's disappearance and who will likely begin to uncover the truth behind the town and the people running it... that is, unless he ends up there himself. The effect is a clear attempt to offer the best of both words: the high-stakes mystery of this inexplicable town and the outside world, where other events are unfolding. The problem is that they often seem like they're occurring two different series altogether, neither of which is particularly engaging.

Ultimately, Persons Unknown manages to successfully create an aura of doom and mystery, but there's precious little else going for it as NBC burns off its thirteen episodes this summer. While there's perhaps hope for some sort of narrative resolution as a result, I'm not sure too many viewers--known or unknown--will be sticking around that long.

Persons Unknown airs tonight at 10 pm ET/PT on NBC.

Channel Surfing: NBC Targets "Persons Unknown," Team Darlton "Shocked" By Nomination, Davies Has Ideas for Fourth Season of "Torchwood," and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing.

NBC has acquired Fox Television Studio's international co-production Persons Unknown, written and executive produced by Chris McQuarrie (Valkyrie). Series, which stars Jason Wiles (Zodiac), Chadwick Boseman (Lincoln Heights), Daisy Betts (Out of the Blue), Tina Holmes (Six Feet Under), and Alan Ruck (Drive), revolves around a group of strangers who are seemingly kidnapped and taken to a deserted ghost town from which they cannot leave and where they are watched by omnipresent security cameras. McQuarrie is executive producing with Remi Aubuchon and Heather McQuarrie. No US launch date was announced for Persons Unknown, which has already produced thirteen installments with Italy's RAI and Mexico's Televisa. (Variety)

Lost's Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse were surprised by the ABC drama series getting an outstanding drama series Emmy nod yesterday following this past season's heavily serialized time-travel story. "We are very happy, and we are kind of shocked," Cuse told TVGuide.com. "Doing the time travel-heavy genre, we did not have any expectations that we would get nominated." Especially considering that their fellow nominees in the category hail mostly from cable. "The idea that we made it into the mix with the limitations of broadcast is pretty exciting to us," said Lindelof. "Dexter, Big Love, Breaking Bad," added Cuse, "Those are shows we think are really well done." (TVGuide.com)

The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan talks with Torchwood: Children of Earth writer/executive producer Russell T. Davies about the groundbreaking five-episode event run (airing next week in the US). Of the possibility for a fourth season, Davies said, "I've got vague ideas. I know where to start. I know where the lead characters are. [...] But then, when the call comes, I shall be there. When Torchwood calls, you jump. Whether it is this format, whether they want a new format, whether they want the old format [I don't know]. I'll take on anything and make it work." (Chicago Tribune's The Watcher)

John Goodman will star in FOX comedy pilot The Station, about a group of subpar CIA agents at a secret South American outpost where their mission is to install a new dictator. Goodman will play Ted Gannon, the head of the CIA's Altamara Station. Already on board the 20th Century Fox Television and Red Hour production: Justin Bartha, Whitney Cummings, Rob Huebel, and Julio Oscar Mechoso. David Wain (Role Models) has been attached to direct the pilot. (Variety)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello congratulates How I Met Your Mother executive producer Craig Thomas about the comedy series' Emmy nomination yesterday and gets some scoop about Season Five of Mother. "For a long time the mother was in this big vast ocean of New York City; she could be anyone," said Thomas. "And we ended the season with Ted teaching at Columbia University -- literally in the same room as the mother. So that has added a great suspense element in the writing. We've gotten some great material out of that, including a whole story that plays almost like a horror movie. Suspenseful ominous music is playing and at any point Ted can round a corner and run into the mother. It's been a really nice engine for writing the season so far." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

E! Online's Jennifer Goodwin caught up with 30 Rock star Jack McBrayer, who landed a first-time nomination for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series and said that Tina Fey and the 30 Rock writers place their emphasis on the characters' dynamics, which for McBrayer's Kenneth is his relationship with Alec Baldwin's Jack Donaghy. "I could not be more honored to work with him," said McBrayer of Baldwin. "I swear to God. [Laughs.] First season we were all scared to death of him. But the second season, he was a little more relaxed, therefore we were more relaxed. This season was a breeze; I'm so looking forward to season four. He's so generous. He hosted Saturday Night Live back in February, and he had this idea to bring me up during his opening monologue. My parents were in town, and it was just a perfect storm of 'I can't believe this is my life right now.'" (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Sarah Carter (Shark) has landed a series regular role on CBS' CSI: NY, where she will play "a new clean-up tech who aspires to someday work in the crime lab. We'll find out later in the season that she's hiding a secret." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files,

John de Mol's Talpa Productions is said to be close to a deal to acquire reality shingle Bunim/Murray Prods., in deal said to be worth approximately $50-70 million. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Macaulay Culkin Heads to "Kings," Bravo Gets Stylish with "Fashion House," "Persons Unknown," and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. Just a few quick headlines this morning as I've been called to perform my civic duty today and have to drive downtown for jury duty.

Macaulay Culkin will appear in a multiple-episode arc on NBC's midseason drama Kings, where he will play the nephew of King Silas Benjamin (Ian McShane) who has been exiled from the kingdom of Shiloh for mysterious reasons. Also slated to appear in the series: Miguel Ferrer (Crossing Jordan), Leslie Bibb (Popular), Michael Stahl-David (The Black Donnellys), and the previously reported Brian Cox. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

(Aside: I saw the pilot for Kings about two months back and while it was gorgeously directed, I thought that the pacing (it's currently scheduled to air as a two-hour) was glacially slow and could use significant tightening; I think it would be a hell of a lot more compelling at 60 or even 90 minutes.)

Could Bravo be readying a Project Runway clone? Sources say that the project Fashion House is remarkably similar to Project Runway, currently the subject of a lawsuit between NBC Universal and the Weinstein Company. One source went so far as to call Fashion House "a shameless copycat show" and is said to be using Runway's original production team, Magical Elves, on the new series. (New York Post)

CBS will give freshman comedy Gary Unmarried a shot in its Monday night lineup, reairing the pilot episode on Monday at 9:30 pm, replacing Worst Week. The move is said to be an attempt to get viewers to sample Gary Unmarried and it's thought that CBS will keep the series on Wednesdays for now. (Hollywood Reporter)

FOX has put reality competition series Hole in the Wall on hiatus and will fill the series' Thursdays at 8 pm timeslot with repeats of Kitchen Nightmares for the "foreseeable future." Yeah, it was only a matter of time before the death knell sounded for that one. (Futon Critic)

Gary Cole (Desperate Housewives) is set to join the cast of HBO's Entourage as a series regular next season; he'll play Hollywood agent Andrew Klein, one of Ari Gold's oldest friends in the business, and will be introduced during the current season in a three-episode arc to begin in November. (Hollywood Reporter)

Dan Byrd (Aliens in America) has joined the cast of Heroes, where he'll play David, a twisted compulsive liar who could potentially be an apprentice of Sylar (Zachary Quinto). Byrd will appear in at least three episodes of Heroes' Volume 4: Fugitives.(Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Fox TV Studios has hired Michael Rymer (Battlestar Galactica) to direct the first episode of its of Persons Unknown, a co-production with Mexico's Televisa and Italy's RAI, that is set to start shooting on Monday. (Series, which has an initial 13-episode order, does not yet have a home in the US.) Cast in the project, from creator Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects): Daisy Betts (Out of the Blue), Jason Wiles (Third Watch), Tina Holmes (Six Feet Under), Sean O'Bryan (Vantage Point), Lola Glaudini (Criminal Minds), Alan Ruck (Drive), Chadwick Boseman (Lincoln Heights), Gerald Kyd (Casualty), and Kate Lang Johnson (Days of Our Lives). (Variety)

In other casting news, Nathan Lane will play the gay brother to Brad Garrett's Eddie Stark in a November sweeps episode of FOX's 'Til Death. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

E! has renewed latenight talk show Chelsea Lately through 2009; series has seen a 21 perecent increase year to year. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: "Dollhouse" Shut Down, "90210" Casting, "Doctor Who," "Fringe" Ratings, and More

Good morning and welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. I ended up making it a fashion-fueled night last night with new episodes of Top Model and Project Runway and threw on the ABC pilot Single with Parents (starring Alyssa Milano) just for good measure.

What's up first today? Dollhouse, natch. Everyone is talking about the production shutdown on the set of the new Joss Whedon action drama, slated to kick off in January 2009. 20th Century Fox Television has shut down shooting on Dollhouse beginning tomorrow through September 25th so that Whedon can oversee a rewrite of the fourth script and get ahead on the next few scripts. News comes after FOX rejiggered the running order in July: Dollhouse's originally filmed pilot will now bow second, after a newly constructed pilot episode (which I hope to see soon). Does this bode ill for the series? No one can say but it does at least point to the reassuring fact that Whedon does seem to be involved with the decisions and agreed with the studio that the script "needed work." (Variety)

Catherine Zeta-Jones, Doctor's companion? Doctor Who executive producer/head writer Russell T. Davies, who is overseeing the four feature-length specials that will air in 2009 before handing over the reins to inbound head writer Steven Moffat, has indicated that he wants Zeta-Jones to play one of the Doctor's companions in a spin-off feature film version of the franchise. "Being from Wales myself," said Davies, "I would love to have Catherine Zeta-Jones as a companion for The Doctor." And it appears that the rumors of David Tennant signing on for such a feature may have merit. "To have anyone else [playing the Doctor] would be inconceivable," said Davies. (Digital Spy)

90210 fans, get your Brenda fix while you still can. While producers have signed Jennie Garth for another five episodes (in addition to the six episodes she was initially contracted to do), Shannen Doherty's run on 90210 will--at least for the time being, anyway--be reserved to the four episodes she had originally shot. "They asked me to do a lot more," said Doherty. "I'm in the middle of pitching a show, [so] I couldn't commit to more than [I did]." The CW drama, meanwhile, lost roughly 1.4 million viewers between the premiere and this week's episode. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

In other ratings news, FOX's launch for J.J. Abrams drama series Fringe garnered the top spot in the key adults 18-49 demo but underwhelmed with 9 million total viewers, finishing behind America's Got Talent (11.6 million). (New York Times)

Speaking of Fringe, The Los Angeles Times' Patrick Kevin Day offers up five tips to the makers of Fringe, including: (1) Give us a great villain; (2) Avoid the kissing stuff; (3) Develop the side characters; (4) Get gross; and (5) Have a plan. Do you agree with his assessment? (Los Angeles Times)

VH1 has ordered an untitled unscripted series from Ish Entertainment that will follow Antonio Sabato Jr. as he looks for the perfect woman. Series will be shot "like a soap opera" and will follow Sabato as he puts the female contestants through their paces with challenges "such as recreating a steamy love scene or skydiving in a gown." (Variety)

Lost's Tania Raymonde--you know her best as Ben's murdered adopted daughter Alex on the hit ABC series--has signed on to join the cast of Cold Case as Frankie Rafferty, a funky lab tech and potential love interest for the significantly older Danny Pino's Valens. Raymonde's first episode will air in November. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Production is gearing up in Mexico City on Fox TV Studio's Persons Unknown--from creator/executive producer Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects)--about seven strangers who are taken from their everyday lives and wake up in a deserted town, where they are watched by security cameras and quickly realize that there is no escape. The cast so far includes Alan Ruck, Chadwick Boseman, Gerald Kyd, and Kate Lang Johnson and the series will be executive produced by McQuarrie, Heather McQuarrie, and Remi Aubuchon (Caprica).

TBS has ordered a third season of comedy The Bill Engvall Show, with ten episodes to bow next summer. (Variety)

Bravo is developing an untitled docusoap based around "hip and stylish" 18-25 year-olds in Orange County. The cabler hopes to start shooting this fall. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Big Brother 10 (CBS); My Name is Earl/America's Got Talent (NBC); Smallville (CW); Ugly Betty (ABC); Hole in the Wall (FOX)

9 pm: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS); The Office/The Office (NBC); Grey's Anatomy (ABC); Kitchen Nightmares (FOX)

10 pm: Flashpoint (CBS); 30 Rock/The Office (NBC); Private Practice (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching:

9 pm: Kitchen Nightmares.

Missing the softer side of Gordon Ramsay? Tune in to the US version of his reality series in which he pull back struggling restaurants from the brink of closure. On tonight's episode ("Handlebar"), Ramsay visits the Handlebar Restaurant & Lounge in Mount Sinai, New York, where the owners don't seem to have realized that the 1980s came and went a long time ago.

10 pm: Tabatha's Salon Takeover on Bravo.

Yes, it's a complete and utter retread of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares with salons subbing in for restaurants, but there's absolutely nothing else on tonight to watch, so here goes. On this week's episode ("Images Salon: Oyster Bay, NY"), Tabatha Coffey tries to save another struggling hair salon, this time a Long Island strip mall hair salon, where styling skills and customer service aren't the watchwords of this business.