Channel Surfing: Jason Lee Mired in "Delta Blues," Fred Willard Drops By "Modern Family," Gretchen Mol Strolls on HBO's "Boardwalk," and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing.

Jason Lee (My Name is Earl) has been cast as the lead in TNT drama pilot Delta Blues, where he will play Dwight Hendricks, a Memphis cop who moonlights as an Elvis impersonator and lives with his mother. Pilot, from Warner Horizon and Smokehouse Pictures, is written by Liz M. Garcia and Joshua Harto and will be directed by Clark Johnson, who will executive produce with George Clooney and Grant Heslov. (Hollywood Reporter)

Proving that the series' casting directors have inherited the comedy casting mantle from Arrested Development and 30 Rock, Fred Willard (Back to You) has signed on to guest star on an upcoming episode of ABC's Modern Family, where he will play the father to Ty Burrell's Phil. [Editor: look for Willard to turn up, oh, before the end of the calendar year.] (Fancast)

Gretchen Mol (Life on Mars) has joined the cast of HBO's upcoming period drama Boardwalk Empire in the recurring role of Gillian, a showgirl in 1920s Prohibition-era Atlantic City. Elsewhere, Sarah Burns (I Love You, Man) will star opposite Laura Dern in HBO's untitled Mike White comedy pilot, where she will play a workplace friend to Dern's Amy, described as "a self-destructive woman who has a spiritual awakening and becomes determined to live an enlightened life, creating havoc at home and work." (Hollywood Reporter)

Pilot casting alert: Amaury Nolasco (Prison Break) will star opposite Radha Mitchell in A&E drama pilot The Quickening, where he will play a homicide detective who was married to Mitchell's bipolar detective Maggie Bird. Elsewhere, Ethan Embry (Vacancy) has joined the cast of USA legal drama pilot Facing Kate, where he will play the brother to Sarah Shahi's Kate who gave up a promising legal career to be a stay-at-home dad. (Hollywood Reporter)

Will Arnett will guest star on NBC's Parks and Recreation later this season. (Televisionary)

Syfy has quietly announced that it will air direct-to-DVD film Battlestar Galactica: The Plan on Sunday, January 10th at 9 pm ET/PT. And the cabler has confirmed that Caprica will be airing in the Friday at 9 pm ET/PT timeslot, followed by repeats of Warehouse 13 at 10 pm. (Futon Critic)

E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos is reporting that, unless the series sees a ratings spike by the spring, it seems likely that this will be the last season for ABC's Ugly Betty. Citing an unnamed mole within the production, Dos Santos writes, "The writers have accepted that this season may be the last and are brainstorming endings now, just in case. The big question is: Who will Betty end up with? The writers room is deeply divided." Those three candidates include Freddy Rodriguez's Gio, Eric Mabius' Daniel, or Chris Gorham's Henry. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Daniel Radcliffe will lend his voice to The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror XXI, where he will play Edmund, a child vampire that Lisa falls in love with in a parody of the Twilight franchise. (Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider)

E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos is reporting that four former cast members of Melrose Place will reunite later this season on the CW revival series, with Heather Locklear, Josie Bissett, Daphne Zuniga, and Thomas Calabro set to appear in a scene together at the iconic apartment complex. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

ITV has announced the cast for the latest adaptation of Agatha Christie's Poirot, once again starring David Suchet as the titular Belgian detective. Joining him in the adaptation of Christie's Murder on the Orient Express will be Dame Eileen Atkins, Barbara Hershey, Hugh Bonneville, and Samuel West. No airdate has been given for the telepic, but it will follow the four upcoming Poirot films Appointment with Death, The Clocks, Three Act Tragedy, and Hallowe'en Party. (BBC News)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that the two-part Justice Society storyline on the CW's Smallville has now been combined into a seamless two-hour event movie entitled Smallville: Absolute Justice, which will air on February 5th. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

CTV has renewed supernatural drama The Listener for a second season, despite the Canadian series' cancellation at NBC. Series, produced by Shaftesbury Films, will air in Canada on CTV and Spaced and internationally on Fox International Channels but currently has no US outlet. (Variety)

Jeri Ryan (Leverage) and Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Without a Trace) have been cast in Lifetime Movie Networks horror telepic Secrets in the Walls, about a woman who discovers that her dream house in the suburbs is haunted. (Variety)

Graham King has launched a television division of his GK films shingle and hired former Lionsgate TV international executive Craig Cegielski as president of the new GK-TV division, which will "focus on programming with strong international appeal in an effort to capitalize on the growing appetite at U.S. nets for international co-production and co-financing deals." [Editor: Congrats, Craig!] (Variety)

The Wendy Williams Show has been renewed for two more seasons on Fox TV stations, keeping the syndicated talker on the air through the 2011-12 season. (Hollywood Reporter)

MTV has acquired domestic television rights to the Michael Jackson documentary This Is It, following a deal with Sony Pictures Television under which the cabler and its channel siblings will be able to air the film in 2011 in a six-year window. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Little Grey Cells: An Advance Review of PBS' "Poirot: Cat Among the Pigeons" and "Poirot: Mrs. McGinty's Dead"

Fans of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot, the funny little Belgian detective famed as much for his fastidiousness as the fact that he's the self-proclaimed most famous detective in the world, have long waited for actor David Suchet to slip back into the role.

That wait is over as PBS' Masterpiece Mystery will this month offer the US premiere of two new Poirot mysteries starring Suchet as part of its "Six by Agatha" season, which features not only two feature-length Poirot mysteries but also four Miss Marple whodunits, starring Julia McKenzie (Cranford) as Miss Marple herself.

The two mysteries, entitled "Cat Among the Pigeons" and "Mrs. McGinty's Dead," will seriously put Hercule Poirot's famed "little grey cells" to the test as he must contend with two very different murder scenarios. In the first, "Cat Among the Pigeons," the Belgian detective goes undercover at the Meadowbank School for Girls, where he encounters not only murder and missing foreign princesses, but hidden rubies and kidnapping, all of which strive to disrupt the school term. The following week, in "Mrs. McGinty's Dead," the investigation of the murder of an elderly charwoman--an effort to free a wrongfully accused man from swinging at the gallows--results in Poirot uncovering the truth about a pair of decades-old homicides and their connection to the present day.

Of the two new mysteries, both of which are making their US premiere here after airing in the UK last year, the first is far more successful in terms of its plotting and tension. Breathtakingly directed by James Kent (Margaret), "Cat Among the Pigeons" is classic Christie at its very best: a series of red herrings, bait-and-switches, and intelligent detection on the part of Poirot with the deft skill of a chess master. The atmosphere at the Meadowbank School for Girls is filled with claustrophobia and paranoia and Poirot discovers himself entering the world of high-stakes international espionage as he uncovers various connections to a coup in the Middle Eastern region of Ramat and some spies coming in from the cold.

It's as gripping and tense as any of Christie's finest work and the cast, which includes Atonement's Harriet Walter, Miss Potter's Anton Lesser, Vanity Fair's Natasha Little, Bridget Jones' Diary's Claire Skinner, Harry Potter's Katie Leung, EastEnders' Adam Croasdell, Spooks' Miranda Raison, Green Wing's Pippa Haywood, and The Jewel in the Crown's Susan Wooldridge (along with, of course, David Suchet as Poirot) are all top-notch giving the piece an aura of timelessness as well as menace.

Someone stalks the corridors of this venerable educational institution and Poirot will not only meet an adversary worthy of his time and intuitive and deductive reasoning but will also encounter a kindred spirit in a young girl who proves herself to be a protege worthy of the master himself.

The second Poirot mystery, "Mrs. McGinty's Dead," feels a little tired in comparison. The fault doesn't lie with the actors or the sensational direction--this time from Afterlife's Ashley Pearce--but rather with an over the top and oftentimes baffling plot from Christie herself, which isn't helped by a confusing screenplay from Nick Dear.

In this case, Poirot reluctantly agrees to look into the death of an elderly charwoman in the small town of Broadhinney in order to free an man whom the prosecution believes may in fact be innocent of the crime for which he's been accused. This investigation stirs up some long-buried secrets as Poirot attempts to unmask Mrs. McGinty's true killer and in turn ends up exposing several people's concealed pasts.

The cast includes Zoe Wanamaker (My Family) as Poirot's confidante Ariadne Oliver, a detective novelist believed to have been modeled on Christie herself, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall's James Bentley, The Shellseekers' Richard Hope, The Forsyte Saga's Amanda Root, Gallowglass' Paul Rhys, Ivanhoe's Sian Philips, and Peak Practice's Simon Shepherd.

"Mrs. McGinty's Dead" isn't bad television and it isn't bad Poirot either; rather, it pales in comparison to the deftness and complexity of "Cat Among the Pigeons." Here, there are so many suspects and so many needlessly confusing elements--such as the newspaper report of two murder cold cases from decades earlier--that it's hard to become invested in the plot at hand with the same glee and abandon as one does with the first installment.

Still, it's a real treat to once again see Suchet step into Poirot's spats and ingeniously solve two cases by using his smarts rather than his fists. The wit is as pointed as Hercules' trademark mustache and these two mysteries offer the perfect antidote to a sweltering summer evening.

Poirot returns with two new mysteries, "Cat Among the Pigeons" and "Mrs. McGinty's Dead," on Sunday, June 21st and Sunday, June 28th at 9 pm ET/PT. Check your local listings for details