Channel Surfing: Comedy Central Resurrects "Futurama," Shawn Ryan Back at FX, "Mad Men" Returns (and Runs into 11 O'Clock Hour), and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing.

Who said dead means dead? Comedy Central has signed a deal with studio 20th Century Fox Television for twenty-six new episodes of long-dead series Futurama, which it will launch in 2010. "When we brought back Family Guy several years ago, everyone said that it was a once in a lifetime thing -- that canceled series stay canceled and cannot be revived," said 20th Century Fox TV Chairmen Gary Newman and Dana Walden in a joint statement. "But Futurama was another series that fans simply demanded we bring back, and we couldn’t have been happier when Matt and David agreed that there were many more stories yet to tell." Series, which features the voices of Billy West, Katey Sagal, and John DiMaggio, ended its run on FOX in 2003 and has since aired repeats on Comedy Central, as well as the DVD-based episodes. "It's sweet, and basically everybody who has worked on the show wants to come back," said co-creator Matt Groening. "I choose to believe it's more than the economic situation. People had a good time working on this show." And it's worth noting that the studio still has an option to license the new installments to a broadcast network... like FOX. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files, Variety)

FX has ordered a pilot for one-hour dramedy Terriers from writer/executive producer Ted Griffin (Ocean's Eleven) and executive producer Shawn Ryan (The Shield). Series, from Fox 21 and Ryan's MidKidd Prods., revolves around a former cop turned private eye who forms a partnership with a younger hotshot who "solve crimes while trying to avoid danger and responsibility." (Variety, Hollywood Reporter)

AMC will launch Season Three of award-winning period drama Mad Men on Sunday, August 16th at 10 pm ET/PT and the seaspm premiere will air with limited commercial interruptions. And the cabler has been able to reach a compromise with creator Matthew Weiner about the additional two minutes of commercial ad time they sought to include in Mad Men's upcoming season, with the episodes now slated to run over into the 11 pm hour in order to accommodate the additional ads. "It's wonderful to have partners who can respond to both a business and creative challenge in such a satisfying way," Weiner told Variety. "We're thrilled that we've crafted a way to maximize our business and at the same time meet everyone's demands -- those of our marketers and advertisers, those of our creative team and those of our viewers," said Joel Stillerman, SVP of original programming, production and digital content at AMC. (Variety)

Casting roundup: Michael Kenneth Williams (The Wire), Dabney Coleman (Heartland), and Paz de la Huerta (Amsterdam) have been cast in Martin Scorsese's HBO period drama pilot Boardwalk Empire, which started shooting yesterday. Elsewhere, Adam Jamal Craig (The Office) has come aboard CBS' upcoming drama series NCIS: Los Angeles as a regular; he'll play Dominic Vale, a new young agent at the Office of Special Projects. (Hollywood Reporter)

Showtime has renewed Nurse Jackie for a second season... just a day after launching the series to the highest rated premiere numbers in Showtime's history. (Televisionary)

Going to Comic-Con San Diego this year? E! Online's Watch with Kristin has an up-to-the-minute roundup of the TV-related panels that have so far leaked out ahead of the official announcement. They include panels for Psych on Thursday, The Big Bang Theory and Past Life on Friday, Chuck, Eastwick, V, Fringe, Human Target, Vampire Diaries, and MythBusters on Saturday, and Smallville and Supernatural on Sunday. There's also a Wednesday evening WB Pilot Preview Night planned. Still to come: days and times for such series as Dexter, Dollhouse, Flash Forward, Ghost Whisperer, Legend of the Seeker, Lost, and True Blood. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

ABC yesterday announced via press release premiere dates for their new and returning series this fall. They include:

Saturday, September 5
8-11:30 pm: Saturday Night Football

Friday, September 11
10-11 pm: 20/20

Monday, September 21
8-10 pm: Dancing with the Stars
10-11 pm: Castle

Tuesday, September 22
8-10 pm: Dancing with the Stars (special two-hour episode)
10-11 pm: The Forgotten

Wednesday, September 23
8-9 pm: Dancing with the Stars the Results Show (special day and time)
9-9:30 pm: Modern Family
9:30-10 pm: Cougar Town

Thursday, September 24
8-9 pm: FlashForward
9-10 pm: Grey’s Anatomy

Sunday, September 27
7-9 pm: Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (two-hour season premiere)
9-10 pm: Desperate Housewives

Tuesday, September 29
8-9 pm: Shark Tank
9-10 pm: Dancing with the Stars the Results Show (regular day & time period premiere)

Wednesday, September 30
8-8:30 pm: Hank
8:30-9 pm: The Middle

Sunday, October 4
7-8 pm: America’s Funniest Home Videos
8-9 pm: Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (regular time period premiere)

Friday, October 9
8-10 pm: Ugly Betty (two-hour season premiere)

Friday, October 16
8-9 pm: Supernanny
9-10 pm: Ugly Betty (regular time period premiere)

SAG members have ratified the two-year feature-primetime contract with an overwhelming vote of support of 78 percent in favor of the new deal. The announcement of the vote's outcome ends the year-long conflict between the guild and the studios. "This decisive vote gets our members back to work with immediate pay raises," said SAG intermin national executive director David White, "and puts SAG in a strong position for the future." (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Fuller Talks "Pushing Daisies" Comic, Cuoco Checks into Seattle Grace, Whedon on What Will Save "Dollhouse," and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing.

Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller has said that a comic book spin-off of the sadly demised series could be on sale via Marvel as early as this fall, should a deal with Warner Bros for the rights be closed in the next month or so. What should fans expect from the comic, which Fuller describes as Season Three of Pushing Daisies? "We're going to see a lot of exploration with Ned and his father, which we teased but were never able to make good on," Fuller told SCI FI Wire. "We had [Ned's father, played by] George Hamilton save Ned and Chuck, and by having Emerson and Dwight Dixon clean up the whole mess we're going to understand who Dwight was to Chuck and Ned's dad. Dwight will be making a return, and we'll be seeing the adult Eugene Mulchandani and Danny that involves helium smuggling. There's a lot of fun stuff woven into the series that we were intending to pay off that we can now do in the comic-book series. The fans of the show will see a lot of stuff come to fruition, but new fans will have a greater appreciation, too. Since it's Marvel, I would also love for the Pie Maker to touch Captain America." (SCI FI Wire)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that The Big Bang Theory's Kaley Cuoco will guest star on the upcoming season finale of ABC's Grey's Anatomy. "I am working on Grey's Anatomy next week," Cuoco told Ausiello. "It is a big ol' secret. I have no clue what I am doing. I swear on my life that I have no idea what I am playing because it is the finale and they are keeping it under wraps until the last possible moment. [...] My guess is that I will be a patient of some kind. I'm practicing my scared-sad-I'm-dying face." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Questioned about what it would take to get FOX to renew Dollhouse for a second season, creator Joss Whedon said it would take more than a fan-mounted campaign to innundate the network with letters. "I don't think it's a 'Save Dollhouse' campaign. Basically, we've got a few more times up at bat," said Whedon. "It's going to be up to the fans to be vocal in their own community to make sure people are watching, that we get those DVR numbers, that they don't slip. If they want to cold call executives, that's good too, I guess. Or Twitter. A lotta people are Twittering. Ultimately, it's just holding the course, because I honestly began to think that we were dead in the water, and the people at Fox made a point of calling me to say, 'That's not the case. We're still working it out. We're fans. We want this to work.'" (SCI FI Wire)

CBS has announced that it has renewed reality series The Amazing Race for a fifteenth cycle and made history by being the first television network to announce a series renewal via Twitter, confirming the news after host Phil Keoghan posted a tweet sharing news of the renewal. (Hollywood Reporter)

Michael Ausiello is reporting that Kathryn Erbe will fill in for Julianne Nicholson on USA's Law & Order: Criminal Intent while Nicholson temporarily leaves the series on maternity leave. According to Ausiello, "The move means that for the final four episodes of CI's current eighth season (premiering this Sunday on USA), Erbe will alternate between her current partner, Vincent D'Onofrio, and Nicholson's new partner, Jeff Goldblum." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

The New York Post talks to Grey's Anatomy's Chandra Wilson, who says that viewers should anticipate some major surprises in the series' season finale, which airs in May. "I've been told there are some life-changing things that happen to all of us," said Wilson. "I don't know what those things are that [show creator] Shonda Rhimes is talking about... so I don't know how Bailey's life is altered. But I would love to see that final episode!" Wilson also discusses the changes her character has undergone this season and offers a few tidbits about a certain wedding that's coming up on the series. (New York Post)

Elsewhere at the Post, Mary Louise Parker is allegedly thinking of leaving Showtime comedy Weeds after the sixth season when her contract ends. According to the paper's unnamed sources, if Parker does decide to leave the series, Showtime would cancel Weeds, which is slated to air its fifth season this summer. "We'd have to see if it made sense to continue, but we can't envision the show without her," said a Showtime insider quoted in the article. (New York Post)

YouTube has signed deals to offer full-length feature films and television episodes in a move to compete with NBC Universal/20th Century Fox-backed rival site Hulu. The site has signed deals with Sony, Lionsgate, BBC, Starz, Discovery, and National Geographic as well as Anime Network, Cinetic Rights Management, Current TV, Documentary Channel, First Look Studios, and IndieFlix. The content will be offered for free but will contain advertising during the commercial breaks in TV series' episodes; site may also eventually charge for premium content. (Variety)

Adrian Grenier (Entourage) is producing documentary Spin, which explores the relationship between technology and 21st century society. The doc, which is written and will be directed by Matthew Cooke, is being looked at as a made-for television documentary film or as the pilot for a thirteen-episode limited series. (Hollywood Reporter)

Comedy Central has signed a multi-platform output deal with Levity Entertainment Group, under which the cabler will produce 12 comedy standup specials, with half of those coming from such comedians as Christopher Titus, Gabriel Iglesias, Pablo Franscisco, Jim Breuer, Mitch Fatel, and Pete Correale. The cabler will all air all six specials this year, with another six planned for 2010, and eight of these specials will be released on DVD, under the terms of the deal. (Variety)

MTV has given a series order to Gone Too Far, a reality series hosted by DJ AM which will feature "tough-love interventions for young people whose lives have become unmanageable because of chemical dependence. Project, from Ish Entertainment and Gigantic Prods., will feature an addiction specialist as well as DJ AM, who has gone through his own battles with chemical dependency. (Hollywood Reporter)

USA Today's Gary Strauss alks to Stanley Burrell (a.k.a. MC Hammer) about his upcoming reality series, Hammertime, which is set to launch in June on A&E. "I get offers like this 10 times a year, but it wasn't something I was interested in," Burrell told the paper. "But in the last 18 months, I started thinking I might be able to bring something to the genre. There are not a lot of family-oriented shows that speak to the America we're in right now." (USA Today)

SAG's national board is due to sit this weekend in a two-day session in which they might approve the feature-primetime contract deal that's on the table. If the board does decide to approve the deal, which had been floated during back channel talks between SAG and CEOs, it could be sent to members and ratified before the end of May. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: ABC Slates "Pushing Daisies" End, Sydney Andrews Returns from Dead for "Melrose Place," John Simm Returns to "Doctor Who," and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing.

The Pie Maker returns to ABC! Pushing Daisies fans will finally be able to catch the final three episodes of the prematurely canceled series. ABC is expected to officially announce that it will air the final three episodes of Pushing Daisies on Saturday evenings at 10 pm ET/PT beginning May 30th. (Sadly, still no news for when or if Dirty Sexy Money or Eli Stone will return to the lineup to burn off their remaining installments.)

Also on tap for May on ABC: four-hour mini-series Diamonds, starring Judy Davis and James Purefoy, on May 24th and 26th; the launch of The Bachelorette on May 18th; the return of reality competition series Opportunity Knocks on May 26th; Wipeout returns on May 27th; and comedy The Goode Family will kick off on May 27th. (Futon Critic)

Despite her character seemingly dying in the fifth season finale of Melrose Place (where she was run over on her wedding day), Laura Leighton will reprise her role as the manipulative Sydney Andrews in the CW's revival of soap Melrose Place. (Look for the series' writers to say that she managed to survive the near-fatal car accident.) Leighton's Sydney, who will be recurring, will be the landlord of the famed apartment complex, where a new crop of LA wannabes will be living. So far, Leighton's casting marks the first deal for a cast member from the original Melrose Place to reprise their role on the new project. (Hollywood Reporter)

Meanwhile, Shark's Shaun Sipos has also been cast in Melrose Place, where he will play David Patterson, the son of original series' Jake Hansen (Grant Show), described as a "bad boy with smoldering good looks who grew up as a rich kid but has been cut off from his family money." (Hollywood Reporter)

Confirming an earlier story that John Simm would reprise his role as The Master in the series of David Tennant's farewell specials of Doctor Who, Simm has been spotted on the set of the series' Christmas special, which--along with another installment slated to air a week later on New Year's Day--mark the end of Tennant's tenure on the series as the time-traveling Doctor. Matt Smith will take over the role with Season Five of Doctor Who, slated to air next year. (Wired)

Jason Katims (Friday Night Lights) has been hired by NBC as a non-writing executive producer on drama pilot Dorothy Gale, a modern-day retelling of "The Wizard of Oz," about Kansas native Dorothy who moves to Manhattan and deals with her wickedly witchy boss in the art world. Project, written by Bridget Carpenter (Bionic Woman), will be executive produced by Carpenter, Katims, and Meryl Poster. Katims, meanwhile, is attached this season to NBC drama pilot Parenthood, in addition to duties on Friday Night Lights. (Variety)

NBC has renewed Law & Order: Special Victims Unit for an eleventh season but while the deal covers the majority of the cast, it doesn't cover series leads Mariska Hargitay and Chris Meloni. The network is said to have already begun contract negotiations with both actors. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Doctor Who's Freema Agyeman, who played Martha Jones on the series, has offered her support for inbound series lead Matt Smith taking over as the Doctor. "He's great. I can imagine there must have been a fair few people up for that role and for the producers to have such confidence in him, he must clearly have blown them away," Agyeman told Digital Spy. "He looks absolutely fantastic. He's a really good actor in all the other things he's done. I think he's going to be outstanding." (Digital Spy)

Anil Kapoor (Slumdog Millionaire) has joined the day of FOX's 24, where he will play a Middle Eastern leader who arrives in the US on a peacekeeping mission in Day Eight of the series, which is expected to bow in January 2010 on the network. (Hollywood Reporter)

Sky One has acquired UK rights to Sci Fi's new Stargate series SGU: Stargate Universe, which it plans to launch this fall. (Variety)

Reaper creators/executive producers Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters have signed a two-year overall deal with studio 20th Century Fox Television, under which they will develop series for the studio and join the writing staff of a 20th Century Fox Television series. Their exclusive deal all but makes a cancellation for CW's Reaper, produced by ABC Studios, a certainty. (Hollywood Reporter)

Creator/showrunner Mara Brock Akil is hoping to save her single-camera half-hour comedy series The Game from cancellation at the the CW by pitching the series to network executives as a reformatted one-hour dramedy. (Hollywood Reporter)

FOX has announced that it will launch overweight dating series More to Love on Tuesday, July 28th at 9 pm and delay the launch of scripted drama Mental by a week; the latter series will now debut on May 29th. (Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed)

SAG and the AMPTP are said to be moving towards a tentative agreement on the feature-primetime contract, which would expire in 2011, and the SAG netotiating committee is set to meet on Tuesday following several recent informal talks between the two sides, brokered by Peter Chernin and Bob Iger. But there's no deal just yet. "Any report of a tentative agreement on any aspect of our TV/Theatrical negotiations is premature," said SAG spokesperson Pamela Greenwalt. "SAG's leadership remains engaged in ongoing efforts to secure a fair deal for SAG members." (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Alex O'Loughlin Dips Toe into "Three Rivers," Season Three is Last of "Gavin & Stacey," No Ricky Gervais on "The Office," and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing on a glorious day that sees the premiere of an all-new episode of ABC's Lost tonight. (I can't wait!)

Former Moonlight star Alex O'Loughlin is said to be in talks to topline CBS medical drama pilot Three Rivers, told from the multiple POVs of transplant doctors, organ donors, and organ recipients. Project, from CBS Paramount Network Television, is written/executive produced by Carol Barbee (Jericho) and executive produced by Curtis Hanson and Carol Fenelon. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Co-creator/star James Corden has said that Gavin & Stacey's upcoming third season, set to air in the UK later this year, will be the series' last. "This is it. This will definitely be the last series," said Corden of the series' third season, set to film this summer. "We have a point to which we are working to and that will be the end. It will be sad but it has been a great time for everyone involved." Corden also indicated that any future specials, like 2008's Christmas Special, are highly unlikely. (Sky News, Digital Spy)

Don't get excited about those rumors that The Office creator Ricky Gervais would be making a cameo in the season finale... because they're not true. "We love Ricky, but have not had any discussions about an appearance on the U.S. show," executive producer Paul Lieberstein told E! Online's Kristin dos Santos. "And we haven't given any thought to the final show because it is probably a zillion episodes away." However, Amy Ryan and Idris Elba are slated to appear in the episode. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Jessica Lucas (Cloverfield) has been cast in CW's revival of Melrose Place, where she will play Riley Richmond, a 24-year-old inner-city elementary school teacher from a wealthy family who is engaged to Jonah (Michael Rady) but has cold feet. She joins the already cast Ashlee Simpson-Wentz and Katie Cassidy. (Hollywood Reporter)

Pilot casting alert: Melinda McGraw (Mad Men) has snagged the female lead opposite Kelsey Grammer in his untitled ABC comedy pilot; Alfre Woodard (My Own Worst Enemy) has been cast in FOX drama pilot Maggie Hill; Kyle Bornheimer (Worst Week) will play one of the leads on the untitled Ricky Blitt comedy pilot for ABC opposite Eric Christian Olsen and Alyssa Milano (also cast: Kelly Stables and Brad Small); Reiko Aylesworth (Lost) has joined the cast of ABC's untitled Jerry Bruckheimer drama; Jon Foster (Windfall) will star opposite Jenna Elfman in ABC comedy pilot Accidentally on Purpose; Arielle Kebbel (The Uninvited) will star in ABC comedy pilot No Heroics, a US remake of the UK series; Katherine Moennig (The L Word) and Daniel Henney (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) will star in CBS medical drama pilot Three Rivers; Elisabeth Harnois (One Tree Hill) will star in CBS medical drama pilot, Miami Trauma; DB Woodside (24) has landed a role in CBS drama pilot Back; and Gail O'Grady (Hidden Palms) has been added to the cast of ABC drama pilot Empire State. (Hollywood Reporter)

Nikki Finke is reporting that Ben Silverman's predecessor at NBC, Kevin Reilly (now the president of entertainment at FOX) passed on new drama series Kings, which allegedly cost a whopping $10 million to produce the pilot and a staggering $4 million price tag per additional episode. It's particularly shocking given the low ratings that Kings managed in its first outing, luring only 6 million viewers overall and a 1.6/4 in adults 18-49. "I hear that Ben Silverman was hands-on," writes Finke. "Remember, please, that Ben's predecessor at NBC Entertainment, Kevin Reilly, passed on it. But Ben picked up the script and ran with it. Some thought it should have been a mini-series, but Ben said no. Others thought the modernized Bible retelling should have had more backstory, and at one point Silverman ordered the writers to make it 'more real world.' So he told them to work up a cockamamie scenario whereby the Allies never won World War II, and America went bankrupt afterwards, which meant no oil out of the Middle East, so Mexico got rich, and then..." (Deadline Hollywood Daily)

Gloria LeRoy (All in the Family) is set to join the cast of ABC's Desperate Housewives, around the time that Nicholette Sheridan departs the series. The 77-year-old LeRoy will play Rose. Michael Ausiello has learned from an unknown source that Rose " will figure into Edie's exit in a surprising way" and Ausiello says it's "one that involves an increasingly cuckoo Orson, a violent act, and a touch of dementia. And not necessarily in that order." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

NBC is said to be close to a deal with Hat Trick Productions to develop a US format of UK news panel series Have I Got News For You. According to TV Week's Josef Adalian, the Peacock is said to be in advance talks for a pilot, in which "two teams of celebrities and newsmakers humorously [try] to answer questions about current events and politics." (TV Week)

The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan cornered Paula Malcolmson about her new series, Caprica, the Battlestar Galactica prequel series that is slated to air on Sci Fi (or, rather Syfy) in 2010. "Battlestar has “come to an end, and it’s a beautiful end and [fans] should mourn that show," Malcolmson told Ryan. "You can’t just come along with another show that’s going to replicate it. That’s not what we want to do, we want to give them something else." Co-star Esai Morales said that Caprica is "about what it is to be human." In other news, the BSG telepic The Plan is likely airing on Sci Fi this fall, around November. (Chicago Tribune's The Watcher)

SCI FI Wire also spoke to Paula Malcomson. "It's a complicated show," Malcolmson told SCI FI Wire. "It's hard to describe in a couple of sentences. It's about a couple of families that are in the wake of a tragedy and are sort of dealing with their lives. A lot of the technology, the sci-fi stuff comes in, and it's [about] how that can be a good or a bad thing." (SCI FI Wire)

FOX has pulled reality competition series Hole in the Wall yet again and will fill the series' Sunday 7 pm ET/PT timeslot with repeats of American Dad and King of the Hill effective immediately. Meanwhile, the network has shaved down variety series Osbournes: Reloaded from a one-hour debut to a 40-minute installment on March 31st now that it has expanded American Idol to an 80 minute edition. (Futon Critic)

Reality production company 495 Prods., which produces A Shot at Love, has renewed its deal with MTV, under which the cabler has committed to three new series from the company. (Variety)

Elsewhere at MTV, Audrina Patridge will leave The Hills after its upcoming fifth season and has signed a deal with Mark Burnett Prods. for an untitled docusoap series that will track Patridge's professional and personal life. The series will be pitched to networks beginning next week.
"We are truly pleased to have the chance to work with Audrina," said Mark Burnett. "She has already proved her star quality, and we can't wait to show her fans worldwide the next stage of her life and career." (Hollywood Reporter)

UK residents will be able to catch CBS procedural drama Eleventh Hour, from Warner Bros. Television, later this year. Living has acquired rights to the series and plans to launch it sometime in 2009. "Strong, compelling with hard hitting story lines and a great cast, including an amazing performance from Rufus Sewell, Eleventh Hour is a great addition to Living's drama line up," said Amy Barham, Virgin's head of acquisitions. (The Guardian)

While there are no dates set for SAG to begin official negotiating sessions with AMPTP, national interim exec director David White is trying to reassure guild members that progress is being made. "Our negotiators are active behind the scenes," wrote White in a message to members. "While the rigorous confidentiality required in negotiation settings prevents me from providing a full update here, I want to assure you that we are working deliberately, and with as much haste as possible, to conclude our talks and bring to you, the members, a deal for your ratification." (Variety)

Some bad news on the commercial contract negotation front, however: SAG and AFTRA leaders are said to be mulling whether to mail out strike-authorization ballots if negotiations with advertisers don't improve quickly. Issues on the table right now stem from ad industry asking for rollbacks, including ending the traditional pay structure on national ads and a proposal to increase the standard work day from eight to ten hours in order to reduce overtime. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Delany Wonders Who Will Be Next to Leave Wisteria Lane, CW Orders "Melrose Place," Starz Renews "Crash," and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing.

Dana Delany admitted that none of Wisteria Lane's residents feel exactly safe these days, following the announcement that Nicollette Sheridan will leave Desperate Housewives. "Everyone is vulnerable on Wisteria Lane -- any of us could go," said Delany. "Every single person in that cast feels like their days are numbered. I think [Marc Cherry] likes to keep people on their toes." An upcoming storyline will find Delany's Katherine in potential jeopardy. "It's good," said Delany of the upcoming plot, "because that sense of not knowing keeps the actors on their toes and it keeps the audience anticipating." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Pilot helmer alert: The CW has given an official pilot order to Melrose Place, an update of the soap to be overseen by Darren Swimmer and Todd Slavkin (Smallville). Pilot, from CBS Paramount Network Television, will be directed by Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth, 24) and will focus on the residents of a trendy Los Angeles neighborhood. Elsewhere, Jeffrey Nachmanoff (Traitor) will direct FOX drama pilot Masterwork, from writer/executive producer Paul Scheuring (Prison Break).

And on the casting front, Zosia Mamet (The Unit) and Toni Trucks (Barbershop) have been cast in FOX comedy pilot Ab Fab as Eddie's daughter Saffron and her assistant; Diego Klattenhoff (Men in Trees) will co-star in NBC drama pilot Mercy; and Jason George (Eli Stone) and Sarah Drew (Everwood) have been cast in ABC drama pilot Inside the Box. (Hollywood Reporter)

Meanwhile, the recession has wrought some very noticeable changes this pilot season as the networks are funding more in-house production and are shooting more pilot presentations than full-out pilots. The networks, as seen by recent developments, also seem willing to cut and run from a project if the right combination of casting, director, and showrunner don't materialize. (Variety)

Tamara Feldman (Dirty Sexy Money) will appear in a four-episode story arc later this season on CW's Gossip Girl, where she will reprise her role as Manhattan socialite Poppy Lifton. (Variety)

Patrick Dempsey won't be leaving Grey's Anatomy, but Michael Ausiello has a scoop on McDreamy's status at Seattle Grace in an upcoming story arc on the ABC drama. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Starz has renewed drama series Crash for a second season of thirteen episodes but the Lionsgate-produced drama will bring in a new creative team for the series, to be overseen by Ira Steven Behr (The 4400), who will serve as executive producer. He'll be joined on the series by James DeMonaco and Todd Harthan (The Kill Point) while creator/executive producer Glen Mazzara will serve as a consulting producer. "About half of the story lines in the first season will continue into Season 2," writes the Hollywood Reporter's Nellie Andreeva. "Roughly half of the cast, including star Dennis Hopper, will stay on." (Hollywood Reporter)

CW's America's Next Top Model is set to start casting its thirteenth cycle later this week with one noticeable change: for the first time in the series' history, applicants need to be 5'7" and under. "There have been top supermodels in the past that weren't as tall as the industry demands, like fashion icon Kate Moss," said series co-creator/host Tyra Banks. "So we are changing up Top Model for cycle 13 and making it a year for the shorter model!" Gee, something tells me these girls will be highly prized in the cutthroat modeling world and not just one of Tyra's latest "causes." (via press release)

Katelynn Pippy has been bumped to series regular on Lifetime's drama series Army Wives; she plays the daughter of Kim Delaney's Claudia. (Variety)

Fox Reality Channel has renewed docudrama The Academy for a third season, which will focus on firefighter recruits. The Academy: Orange County Fire is executive produced by Scott Sternberg. (Hollywood Reporter)

Jennifer Aspen (Family Man) has been cast in FOX musical comedy series Glee, where she will play the role of Kendra. (Variety)

Following several weeks of speculation, Peter Chernin will leave News Corp after twenty years and will be "taking up the opportunity to start a new motion picture and television production venture with Fox," according to a memo issued by Rupert Murdoch which confirms that Chernin will not be renewing his contract. So what can Chernin's departure mean for the company? "There will be a streamlined management structure between our Los Angeles-based business units and the rest of the company," writes Murdoch. "Peter and I will be communicating more on this over the next few months. For the time being, of course, the talented executive team at the Fox Group will continue to report to Peter." (Los Angeles Times)

Meanwhile, Nikki Finke claims that former BSkyB executive James Murdoch, Rupert Murdoch's youngest son, may eventually replace Chernin, following a period in which News Corp division heads report directly to Rupert Murdoch. (Deadline Hollywood Daily)

SAG and AMPTP may need some intervention from a mediator in order to end the latest standoff between the guild and the studios. It's hoped the CAA head Richard Lovett will step in and mediate, as he did during the dispute between WGA and the majors last year. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: "Fringe" to Move Production to Canada, "Dollhouse" Drops in Second Week, Pilot Castings, and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. Hopefully everyone is recovered from Oscar weekend and perhaps some of you even made some quick cash from some Oscar pools.

FOX drama Fringe will move its production from New York City, where it has shot its first season, to Vancouver, Canada, should the series be renewed for a second season. The decision, made by studio Warner Bros. Television, is said to have been made because of the likelihood that New York State's film/TV production tax incentive initiative funds, which have run out of coin, will not be replenished. "In this challenging and uncertain economic environment, we have made the very difficult decision to move," said Warner Bros. in a statement. "We did not come to this conclusion easily, but economic and practical imperatives dictated that this decision be made in a timely manner." (Entertainment Weekly)

In its second outing, FOX's Dollhouse fell fifteen percent in the ratings on Friday, placing second behind ABC's Supernanny, despite decreased competition from CBS. The second installment of Dollhouse, created by Joss Whedon, lured 4.2 million viewers overall and scored a 1.7/7 share among adults 18-49. This is a sharp contrast to lead-in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles which remained "roughly steady" with its numbers last week, only dropping one-tenth of a rating point. "Given it's a Friday night, neither Terminator or Dollhouse pop out as a jarringly low rating on the grid," writes James Hibberd. "But Fox's shows are relatively expensive scripted dramas that typically require higher numbers than a competitor's repeats or newsmagazines such as Dateline and 20/20, regardless of what night they're on." (Hollywood Reporter's Live Feed)

The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan talks to Jane Espenson, who wrote Friday's episode of Battlestar Galactica ("Deadlock"). "I believe that Saul really loves Caprica," said Espenson. "But not more than he loves Ellen. I don't even think Ellen *really* believes that. But it's clearly more than a casual relationship, and Cylon beliefs about pregnancy and love seem to confirm her fears. And remember that the "thousands of years" is said whimsically -- they didn't perceive it as nearly that long. (Chicago Tribune's The Watcher)

CBS has given a pilot order to comedy pilot Ace in the Hole, starring Adam Carolla as a husband and father who supports his family by working as a driving instructor. Project, from CBS Paramount Network Television, BermanBraun, and Jackhole Prods., is written/executive produced by Carolla and Kevin Hench and executive produced by Gail Berman, Lloyd Braun, Jimmy Kimmel, Daniel Kellison, and Jamex Dixon. (Variety)

Pilot casting news: Jimmy Wolk (Front of the Class) to star in ABC's untitled Daniel Cerone drama pilot (formerly known as Brothers & Detectives), about a detective (Wolk) who uses his 11-year-old brother to solve crimes; Joel McHale (The Soup) to star in NBC comedy pilot Community, where he will play Jeff, a lawyer who returns to community college after his degree is found to be invalid; Jaime Ray Newman (Veronica Mars) to star in ABC drama pilot Eastwick, where she will play Kat, a good-natured nurse; Marc Blucas (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Liza Lapira (21) will star opposite Amy Smart in ABC drama pilot See Cate Run (formerly known as I, Claudia); Dean Winters (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) will star in ABC supernatural mystery drama Happy Town, Aimee Garcia (George Lopez) cast in NBC drama pilot Trauma; and Matthew Yang King (NUMB3RS) has been cast in CBS drama pilot Washington Field. (Hollywood Reporter)

CBS has announced that it has putting cast-contingent drama pilot Confessions of a Contractor, from executive producers Shawn Ryan, Richard Murphy, and Jeff Okin, on hold after they failed to find a suitable lead actor. Elsewhere, ABC has pushed director- and showrunner-contingent comedy pilot Funny in Farsi and cast-contingent comedy Planet Lucy into the next development cycle. (Variety, Hollywood Reporter)

John Sayles (Lone Star) will write HBO drama series Scar Tissue, based on the childhood of Antony Kiedis, following the future Red Hot Chili Peppers singer as he grows up in 1970s West Hollywood with his father, a drug dealer who hung out with rock stars on the Sunset Strip. Project is executive produced by Kiedis, Marc Abrams, and Michael Benson. (Variety)

Clay Aiken will appear on the April 8th episode of CW's America's Next Top Model, where he will serve as a guest judge. (Hollywood Reporter)

SAG rejected AMPTP's "last, best, and final offer" on Saturday, voting 73 percent to 27 percent to reject the offer. However, despite nearly 75 percent of the board vetoing AMPTP's offer, it's still not thought likely that SAG will issue a strike authorization vote, as it would require 75 percent approval rating in order to pass. Among the issues preventing SAG from signing: a new contract expiration of spring 2012 and the fact that the contract would go into effect upon ratification rather than retroactively. "The AMPTP's last-minute, surprise demand for a new term of agreement extending to 2012 is regressive and damaging and clearly signals the employers' unwillingness to agree to the deal they established with other entertainment unions," said SAG in a statement. "What management presented as a compromise is, in fact, an attempt to separate Screen Actors Guild from other industry unions. By attempting to extend our contract expiration one year beyond the other entertainment unions, the AMPTP intends to de-leverage our bargaining position from this point forward." (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: ABC Family Fires "Middleman," Jenna Elfman and Amy Smart Land Pilots, Sean Gets a Brother on "Nip/Tuck," and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing.

ABC Family has canceled quirky dramedy The Middleman, with the cabler confirming that it has "decided not to renew the series for a second season." Fans looking for closure can keep their eyes open for a Season One DVD, slated to be released this summer, and a comic book written by creator Javier Grillo-Marxuach that will tell the story of the original season finale, which was scrapped for budgetary reasons. (New York Post)

Jason Clarke (Brotherhood) has been cast as the lead in CBS' untitled US attorney drama pilot from writer/executive producer Frank Military. Clarke will play "the powerful, charismatic section chief who oversees four lawyers and a handful of paralegals in their overlapping cases." Elsewhere, Jonathan Sadowski, Kevin Simpson, Noureen Dewulf, and Ricky Mabe been cast in FOX comedy pilot Two Dollar Beer and Nick Bishop, Kelli Giddish and Ravi Patel have all been cast in FOX's untitled reincarnation drama from writer/executive producer David Hudgins and Warner Bros Television. (Hollywood Reporter)

Jenna Elfman (Brothers & Sisters) will star in CBS comedy pilot Accidentally on Purpose, from CBS Paramount Network Television, BermanBraun, and writer Claudia Lonow. Elfman will play a movie critic who finds herself pregnant after a one-night-stand with a younger man and decides to raise the baby. (Variety)

Amy Smart (Smith) has been cast as the lead of ABC drama pilot See Cate Run (formerly known as I, Claudia), in which she'll play a prosecuting attorney who will one day be a serious contender for the US presidency. (Hollywood Reporter)

Following the success of Flashpoint, CBS has given a 13-episode order to Canadian drama The Bridge, which it will co-produce with CTV. Series, which stars Aaron Douglas (Battlestar Galactica), Paul Popowich, Inga Cadranel, Frank Cassini, Theresa Joy, Ona Grauer, Michael Murphy, and Stuart Margolin, is based on the life of a former Toronto police union head who must "battle criminals and fight his own bosses in order to protect other officers." The Bridge will air next season on CBS and CTV. (Variety)

Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch offers up five reasons why the CW should renew Privileged and keep on the schedule next season as the series is set to air its season finale on February 24th. Among the reasons: Joanna Garcia, The Gilmore Vibe, The Twins, Its Dark Side, and Underrated Actors. (Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch)

Bravo has announced the hosts and judges for its new sartorial competition series The Fashion Show, set to launch later this year. Isaac Mizrahi will host the series alongside Kelly Rowland and joining Mizrahi and Rowland as judges is frequent Project Runway guest judge Fern Mallis, the creator of New York Fashion Week. The Fashion Show follows professional designers as they compete for an opportunity to have their designs sold for the mass market. (via press release)

Neil Hopkins (Lost) has been cast in FX drama series Nip/Tuck where he will play Sean's long-lost brother Brendan, a recovering meth addict who has been living on a nature preserve. "Sean thought his brother had died," a source told Michael Ausiello. "So he's definitely surprised to see him." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Robert De Niro and Van Morrison will be among the first guests for Jimmy Fallon's debut as the host of Late Night, beginning March 2nd. Also slated to appear in the first week of Fallon's run: Tina Fey, Jon Bon Jovi, Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, Donald Trump, and Serena Williams. (Variety)

Fremantle has acquired a 75 percent stake in Thom Beers' Original Prods., which produces such reality hits as Deadliest Catch and Ice Road Truckers, among others. Beers will stay on as CEO and Philip Segal will remain president under the terms of the deal. (Hollywood Reporter)

AMPTP has offers a "last, best and final offer" to SAG that is said to contain a $250 million improvement over SAG's now-expired contract. SAG has 60 days to decide whether or not to accept the producers' offer, after which time AMPTP reserves the right to withdraw those terms. "The AMPTP made these enhancements in an effort to conclude the AMPTP's sixth major labor agreement in the past year," said the producers in a statement. "The terms in the offer are the best we can or will offer in light of the five other major industry labor deals negotiated over the past year and the extraordinary economic crisis gripping the world economy." (TV Week)

With the future of an AMPTP-SAG contract still up in the air, it's become clear that at least 50 of the planned 70+ pilots being produced this development season will be shot under AFTRA digital guidelines rather than SAG jurisdiction, a significant increase from the typically small number of pilots usually shot under the SAG rival. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stuart Murphy has been hired by British Sky Broadcasting as director of programs for Sky1. Most recently creative director at TwoFour, Murphy was previously a controller at BBC3, where he commissioned such hit comedies as Gavin & Stacey and Little Britain. He will replace outbound director of programs Richard Woolfe, who will be leaving Sky1 next month to oversee Five's programming. Murphy, who will oversee all three of Sky's general entertainment channels, is expected to begin his new post in May. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Kristin Bell to "Party Down" with Rob Thomas, Lindsay Duncan to Travel with the Doctor, "Project Runway" Wraps Season, and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. Just a few quick headlines to get through today on this rather quiet programming-news-related morning.

Looking for one more reason to turn into Starz's upcoming comedy series Party Down, from co-creator Rob Thomas (Veronica Mars)? Turns out that Veronica herself--Kristin Bell--will be appearing on the series, according to Kristin Dos Santos. "I'm about to guest star on Rob Thomas' new show, called Party Down," Bell told Dos Santos. "It's on Starz...a lot of old Veronica Mars people are on it and some really cool comedians like Adam Scott." Starz has confirmed the casting coup saying, "Kristen Bell will be appearing in our new original comedy series, Party Down, premiering on Friday, March 20." Bell's episode, the season finale, is slated to air May 22nd and it's thought that Bell will play Veronica Moon, a rival caterer. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Rome's Lindsay Duncan will guest star in this year's second Doctor Who special, where she will play a new companion for the Doctor (David Tennant) named Adelaide, described as one of the most strong-willed and intelligent companion the Doctor has had to date. The as-yet-untitled special will be filmed this spring and will later later this year on BBC One. (BBC News)

Project Runway will tape its season finale tomorrow at New York's Fashion Week... but it's still anybody's guess whether viewers will see the series' sixth season, currently the subject of a lawsuit between Bravo parent company NBC Universal and producer The Weinstein Company. NBC Universal successfully lobbied for an injunction which has prevented new network Lifetime from airing the series. "It's an absolutely fantastic season," said Tim Gunn. "There are opportunities located [in L.A.] that we don't have in New York. Here we have the Hudson River, there they have the Pacific Ocean... And nowhere has the red-carpet opportunities that L.A. has. I can't wait for you to see the show and see what we have." (Washington Post)

Former American Idol contestant Katherine McPhee will guest star in an April episode of CBS' CSI: NY, where she will play a singer. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

NBC's sci-fi pilot Day One, from Heroes writer/producer Jesse Alexander, is being rewritten as a two-hour pilot, according to Alexander, who is currently involved in casting sessions for the project. (via twitter)

Comedy Central has ordered seven half-hour episodes of sketch comedy series Michael and Michael Have Issues from creator/stars Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter, which will offer a mix of comic sketches starring the duo and a "behind-the-scenes cinema verite drama." Black and Showalter will executive produce with Jim Biederman and Lou Wallach. The cabler plans to launch the series in July. (Variety)

The Paley Center for Media has announced its lineup for PaleyFest09 and will host panels for such series as 90210, Battlestar Galactica and Caprica, The Big Bang Theory, Big Love, Desperate Housewives, Dollhouse, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, Fringe, The Hills, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The Mentalist, Swingtown, and True Blood. (Televisionary)

Producers of NBC's reality competition series The Biggest Loser have decided to return to a single-contestant format this fall and will cast contestants from cities that top a recent "Fattest Cities in America" list. The new season will explore just why these cities' populations are battling obesity in such large numbers and will empower competitors to return home and improve their cities. (Hollywood Reporter)

SAG and the AMPTP met again yesterday in renewed talks that went late into the night. The two sides are scheduled to meet again today at 1 pm. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Michael Emerson Talks Annie, Jacob on "Lost," Richard Hatch Pitching Docusoap, James Tupper Finds "Mercy" at NBC, and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing.

TV Guide has an interview with Lost's Michael Emerson, in which the actors teases some details about upcoming storylines on the ABC drama. My favorite bit? "I may go so far as to say we may already know Annie," said Emerson cryptically. "Have you considered that? I'm not speaking from knowledge of a script because that's not a thing that has been written, but stranger things have happened on the show. Everyone is more connected then they ever thought, and it's often by blood." Hmmm...

And, speaking about Jacob, the enigmatic leader of the Others, Emerson had this to say: "Jacob seems to have fallen away from our consciousness. The show is so much more wrapped up in intermediary leader figures. There seems to be a whole raft of people Ben must answer to, but they're not as high up as Jacob. Jacob seems to have receded into the mist again — sort of mysterious and godlike. He continues to be much talked about, and ultimately is the force behind the island. And the island is changing. We thought of it as a rock in the water, but now it appears to be more of a movable organism now. So to be in charge of such a thing — what does that mean? These are questions I ask myself." (TV Guide)

While the following article is actually about the potential rise of Canadian series on US broadcast networks, what struck me is that Battlestar Galactica's Richard Hatch has his own reality series entitled Who the FRAK is the REAL Richard Hatch, which is being shopped to US networks by Frogwater Media. Series would follow Hatch has he tries to score acting gigs, pitch projects to studios, and host the Galacticruise, a BSG-themed vacation cruise. What would Tom Zarek have to say about that? (Hollywood Reporter)

James Tupper (Men in Trees) has been cast in NBC drama pilot Mercy, about the friendship between three nurses at Mercy Hospital. Tupper will play Dr. Chris Sands, a new physician at the hospital who previously had an affair with one of the nurses while they were stationed in Iraq. Elsewhere, Pushing Daisies' Anna Friel and ER's Noah Wyle remain the most sought-after actors this pilot season, with each receiving about six pilot offers. Lizzy Caplan (Party Down) is also said to be in high demand, while Dirty Sexy Money's Peter Krause and Shopgirl's Claire Dane are said to be mulling returns to television. (Hollywood Reporter)

19 Entertainment, creators of American Idol, and ITV Studios, the production arm of ITV, have signed a co-production deal, under which they will jointly develop six unscripted formats for the international market. "I believe our combined talents will give us a real opportunity to develop some innovative and exciting exploitable formats together," said ITV Studios head Lee Bartlett. (Variety)

Charisma Carpenter (Angel) will guest star in an upcoming episode of CBS' CSI, where she will play a skydiver named Mink. (TV Guide)

A&E has ordered docusoap Hammertime, which will follow performer M.C. Hammer, his wife, and his five children. The cabler ordered eleven half-hour installments of the series, executive produced by J.D. Roth, Hammer, Robert Sharenow, Todd Nelson, Scott Lonker, and Stephen Harris, which it plans to launch later this year. (Hollywood Reporter)

SAG resumed talks with the AMPTP yesterday, marking the first time the two sides have spoke in three months. General thought around town is that a tentative deal will soon be formed, however there is a bit of bad news: if SAG and AMPTP don't reach an agreement before the end of this week, further talks would likely be delayed until March 1st, as the negotiation committee will begin a week of talks regarding their commercial contract. (Variety)

GSN has renewed game show Catch 21, hosted by Alfonso Ribeiro, for a second season, ordering 65 episodes which will launch on April 6th. Series will be paired with the debut of Michael Davies-executive produced revival of The Newlywed Game. (TV Week)

G4 has announced that it will now only produce four episodes a week of Attack of the Show! and only three episodes per week of X-Play, beginning March 2nd. Additionally, the Comcast-owned cabler will also scale back personnel in the face of these changes. "Savings resulting from this move will go directly toward producing more original programming in 2009," said G4 in a prepared statement. "This is not a budget cut. G4 remains dedicated to these core franchises." (Variety)

20th Century Fox Television has hired Sky1 acquisitions head David Smyth as VP of sales; Smyth will oversee sales of feature films and television series to European broadcasters and expand the studio's co-production initiatives. Smyth, who spearheaded Sky1's acquisitions of such US series as Lost, Prison Break, Eureka, and Bones, will report to Yoni Cohen. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: "Chuck" Plans Game Changer Finale, "Melrose Place" Character Breakdowns, Whedon Has His Fill of Vampires, Pilot Updates, and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing.

Chuck creators Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak said that this season's finale will be "game changing" for Chuck and his band of spies. "We're going to launch the show in a really exciting direction next year. We designed our season heading toward it," said Schwartz, appearing this weekend at New York Comic-Con. While Schwartz and Fedak are being tight-lipped, they did mention that Jordana Brewster will reprise her role as Chuck's deadly ex Jill in an upcoming episode. (TV Guide)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello has the character breakdowns for the CW's planned update of Melrose Place, including a character who is the son of the original's Jake (Grant Show), an omni-sexual PR maven, a wannabe filmmaker, a recovering alcoholic, a med student turning tricks to pay her tuition, and a teenage sex kitten. The pilot, produced by CBS Paramount Network Television, will be overseen by Smallville's Todd Slavkin and Darren Swimmer. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Joss Whedon has had his fill of vampires, as he tells TV Week's Josef Adalian in a new interview, in which he talks about Buffy, Dollhouse, and Dr. Horrible. (TV Week)

Elsewhere, Joss talks about Eliza Dushku, the possibility of a Buffy feature film, and what to expect to see in Season One of Dollhouse. (Televisionary)

NBC has given out a pilot order to single-camera comedy State of Romance, described as a modern take on Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" set in Chicago, from Universal Media Studios, and writer/executive producers Barbara Wallace and Tom Wolfe. (Hollywood Reporter)

CBS, meanwhile, picked up four pilots: dramas Three Rivers, from CBS Paramount, writer Carol Barbee (Jericho), and executive producers Curtis Hanson and Carol Fenelton, about organ transplants, and cast-contingent The Good Wife, about a politician's wife who goes back to work as a defense attorney from writer/executive producers Robert King and Michelle King (In Justice), CBS Paramount and Scott Free, and comedies Accidentally on Purpose (also cast-contingent), about a San Francisco movie critic who finds herself pregnant after a fling with a younger man from writer/executive producer Claudia Lonow, CBS Paramount and BermanBraun, and Waiting to Die, about two single guys happy with their lives, from writers Will Sasso and Chad Kultgen and Sony Pictures Television. The pickups join Jerry Bruckheimer-produced medical drama pilot Miami Trauma, about a team of trauma surgeons from writer Jeffrey Lieber (Family Practice) and Warner Bros. Television, which was also picked up on Friday. (Hollywood Reporter)

Variety discusses just what happened to primetime comedies (CW doesn't even bother to develop them anymore) and points to a possible re-emergence of the genre this midseason, with a slew of comedies being launched at the networks. (Variety)

Ed O'Neill (Married with Children) has been cast in ABC comedy pilot An American Family, where he will play a man who becomes a step-father after he marries a woman 30 years younger than him (Sofia Vergara). Also cast: Eric Stonestreet (This Might Hurt), who will play part of a gay couple (along with Jesse Tyler Ferguson) who adopt a Vietnamese baby. (Hollywood Reporter)

David Nutter (The Mentalist) will direct ABC drama pilot Eastwick, from Warner Bros. Television. Nutter has now gone 14-for-14 in directing pilots that have gone on to be picked up to series. "She has come up with an amazing starting-off point -- I can really see where the series is going to go," Nutter said of writer Maggie Friedman's script. "She's got a great bedrock of characters and a great mystery." (Variety)

Former Universal Media Studios president Katherine Pope has been hired as a consulting producer on FOX drama Lie to Me for the final four episodes of the series' 13-episode first season run. It is said that Pope will support showrunner Sam Baum "in a role similar to Katie Jacobs' duties on Fox's House alongside creator/exec producer/showrunner David Shore." (Hollywood Reporter)

FOX is developing a US remake of Argentinian teen telenovela The Rebels (Rebelde Way), about private school kids who form a pop band, with Jennifer Lopez and Simon Fields' Nuyorican Prods. on tap to produce. Script will be adapted by Duane Adler (Step Up). (Variety)

Maureen Ryan has a first look at a notable guest star appearing in Galactica's medical bay this week: The Daily Show's John Hodgman, who currently lends his voice to the feature film Coraline. He'll drop by to lend Doc Cottle a hand in Battlestar Galactica's February 13th episode, entitled "No Exit." (Chicago Tribune's The Watcher)

CBS Paramount Network Television has asked the stars of the majority of its produced dramas such as CSI, NCIS, and NUMB3RS, to waive their annual raises and keep their salaries at a plateau next season, as part of an overall cost-cutting measure. However, some argue that this could produce the opposite effect: stars who won't fall in line and accept a salary freeze. "If our lead doesn't accept the freeze, we will have no choice but to let one of our supporting actors go," says on CBS Paramount drama executive producer. "There's no question that it's the second-tier actors who are most vulnerable." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Julia Ormond (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) and Mahershalalhashbaz Ali (The 4400, Benjamin Button) have been cast in Lifetime Movie Network telepic The Wronged Man, based on a true story. Project, from Sony Pictures Television, is directed by Tom McLoughlin and written by Teena Booth. (Hollywood Reporter)

SAG has once again voted to remove Doug Allen as the guild's chief negotiator and has replaced the negotiating committee with a new task force. Move comes on the heels of president Allen Rosenberg's legal claims that the previous vote violated guild procedure. Talks between SAG and AMPTP are expected to begin on February 17th, following a more than two month silence between the two parties. (Los Angeles Times)

Jerry Springer will not return as the host of Season Four of NBC's America's Got Talent. The Peacock is currently on the hunt for a host to replace Springer, who dropped out due to time commitments with his syndicated talkshow and a stage production this summer. (Variety)

Syndicated talkshow The Steve Wilkos Show has been renewed for a third season, to run during the 2009-10 season. (TV Week)

However, syndicated court show Cristina's Court, produced by Twentieth Television, will not be renewed for a fouth season, though episodes will be produced through September. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: "Caprica" DVD Takes Off in March, Pay Raise for "Burn" Star, CW Takes Bite Out of "Vampire Diaries," Pilot News, and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing.

It looks like Caprica will be heading to our screens sooner than we originally thought... or the two-hour backdoor pilot will be, anyway. Sci Fi Channel announced that it will make Caprica's pilot available as a limited-edition DVD on April 21st with an uncut and unrated version, ahead of the series' 2010 broadcast launch. Additionally, the film will be available for digital download at select online destinations. (Having already seen the pilot, I can say that it will definitely please BSG fans while also offering a glimpse into a series that's vastly different than anything we've seen so far on Battlestar Galactica.)

"Ever since fans first caught wind of the Battlestar Galactica prequel Caprica, they have been eagerly following its development," said Mark Stern, Executive Vice President, Original Programming for SCI FI & Co-Head Original Content, Universal Cable Productions. "We wanted to give them a chance to see the pilot in its original form and experience the prequel to the BSG story while that series' finale was still ringing in their ears. It also affords the creative team an unprecedented chance to get viewers feedback before production on the Caprica series begins this summer." (via press release)

Jeffrey Donovan, the star of USA's Burn Notice, has renegotiated his contract with Fox Television Studios and secured a pay increase that sees his per-episode fee rise from $55,000 to $150,000. The cost of the increase will be shared between cabler USA and FTVS. (Hollywood Reporter)

CW has ordered a pilot for vampire drama Vampire Diaries, based on the Alloy series of books about a young woman who is caught between two vampire brothers--one good, the other evil--who are battleing for the souls of everyone in their small town. Project, from Alloy Entertainment and Warner Bros. TV, will be written and executive produced by Kevin Williamson (Dawson's Creek, Hidden Palms) and Julie Plec. Also on tap at the CW: political drama The Body Politic, about a group of young staffers working for a Washington-based senator. That project, from CBS Paramount Network Television, will be written by Jason Rothenberg and Bill Robinson and executive produced by Peter Horton. (Variety)

The untitled Gossip Girl spin-off has cast Krysten Ritter (Veronica Mars, Breaking Bad) in the pivotal role as Lily's troubled older sister Carol. "Described as sweet but a bit of a disaster, Carol is an actress who's constantly making bad decisions in life and work," says Michael Ausiello. "Lily ends up moving in with Carol after a falling out with mom and dad." Producers Stephanie Savage and Josh Schwartz are still casting the role of young Lily in the 1980s-set spin-off, which is expected to air as an episode of Gossip Girl on May 11th. (Entetainmetn Weekly's Ausiello Files)

CBS has handed out a pilot order to multi-camera comedy Big D, about a couple from New York who move to the husband's Dallas hometown, where his Southern belle mother makes life very difficult for his wife. Project, from Warner Bros. TV, is written and executive produced by Jackie Filgo and Jeff Filgo. (Hollywood Reporter)

Loretta Devine has been cast in David E. Kelley's NBC dramedy pilot Legally Mad, where she will play Jeanette, a lawyer at the firm who is always teetering on the edge of a nervous breakdown. Already cast in the pilot: Hugh Bonneville, Charity Wakefield, Kristin Chenoweth, Kurt Fuller, and Jon Seda. (Hollywood Reporter)

SCI FI Wire has a brief interview with Dollhouse star Dichen Lachman, in which she talks about the series' Sierra, engagements, and blank slates. (SCI FI Wire)

Christina Wayne, AMC's SVP of Scripted Series, has departed the network, effective immediately. No explanation was given as to the reason behind her departure nor where she will go next, though it's been rumored she will take a position at pay cabler Starz. (Televisionary)

NBC has pulled the plug on Sony-produced drama pilot Lost in the '80s, citing creative differences between the network's new management and the studio. (Hollywood Reporter)

Peter Bart and Peter Guber, hosts of AMC's Sunday morning series Shootout, will host a series of specials called StoryMakers, in which the duo will gather together top actors to discuss current entertainment topics. The first special is set to air February 18th at 8 pm. (Variety)

Trends to keep an eye on this development season: cops, docs, and lawyers, while serialized and complex stories are said to be out, according to Hollywood Reporter's James Hibberd. (How then to explain high-profile pilots like V, Day One, Happy Town, Unt. Jason Horwitch, Masterwork, etc.?) "Fox's freshman crime procedural dramas "Fringe" and "Lie to Me" also have performed well, further suggesting to networks that re-embracing traditional self-contained mysteries is the way to go," says Hibberd. "Nowhere is this trend more evident than at NBC, whose pilots include three crime dramas, two medical series and a lawyer show." (Hollywood Reporter)

Cheyenne Jackson (Life on Mars) will guest star on ABC's Ugly Betty, where he will play a gay dad in an upcoming storyline. (Variety)

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has denied SAG's request for an injunction to remove ousted chief negotiator Doug Allen. The move, spearheaded by SAG president Alan Rosenberg, led to the delay of the first talks between SAG and the AMPTP in over two months. Given the legal resolution, talks are expected once more to resume between the guild and the studios. (Hollywood Reporter)

ITV Studios and Elisabeth Murdoch's Shine have formed a co-production venture under which they will develop pilots for ITV and international outlets but not for other UK-based television networks. Move marks the first deal of its kind in the UK. (Variety)

Paige Davis (Trading Spaces) will host syndicated lifestyle series Life for Dummies, being developed by production company A. Smith and Co. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: "Reaper" To Return to Earth Early, "Torchwood" Sneak Peek on Thursday, CBS Eyes Pilots, "Greek," and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing.

The CW has unveiled a scheduling shakeup that will feature the launch of Season Two of Reaper earlier than expected. Reaper will take over the Tuesdays at 8 pm timeslot--currently inhabited by 90210--on March 3rd and will air 13 episodes without interruption. 90210 will then move to 9 pm on Tuesdays, taking over Privileged's timeslot. So what happens to Privileged? That series will wrap its run February 14th, much earlier than originally planned after it aired fewer repeats. No decision has been made yet about a second season of Privileged. (Hollywood Reporter)

Torchwood fans should keep their eyes on the internet on Thursday as the 60-second trailer for the series' five-episode Season Three, entitled "Children of Earth," will be released... simultaneously around the world at 4 pm ET. Season Three is set to air later this year on BBC One and BBC America over five consecutive nights. (via press release)

Michael Ausiello has some dish on a certain Greek cast member who won't be returning for the just announced Season Three. Said actor may return as an occasional guest star but won't be featured as a series regular for the third season. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

CBS has handed out pilot orders to three projects: drama House Rules, from writer/executive producer Michael Seitzman, executive producers Mark Gordon and Deb Spera, and ABC Studios, about newly elected members of the House of Representatives in Washington; cast-contingent comedy The Fish Tank, from Cathy Yuspa and Josh Goldsmith (The King of Queens) and Sony Pictures Television, about a teenager who finds that he has his parents' house to himself five days a week; and relationship drama A Marriage, from thirtysomething creators Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick and Bedford Falls, about a "marriage that works." The latter project currently has no studio attachment. (Variety)

TNT has renewed action drama Leverage for a second season of 15 episodes. (Televisionary)

HBO has acquired rights to a nonfiction book by Joe Nocera and Bethany McLean about the financial crisis of 2008. Pay cabler plans to develop a series that will explore the causes of the financial meltdown and how Wall Street and Washington handled fallout from the recession. (Variety)

Yet another twist in the ongoing SAG negotiation drama. Set to begin talks with the AMPTP today, the guild has had to postpone talks due to a lawsuit from its own president Alan Rosenberg, who has launched an injunction against the talks and seeks to have ousted chief negotiator Doug Allen reinstated after he and the negotiating committee were replaced by a new task force. (Los Angeles Times)

CMT has ordered a second season of music competition series Can You Duet, with eight episodes expected to air in June. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Gordon Ramsay to Cook Live for FOX, Michael Shannon in "Boardwalk Empire," Olivia Wilde, SAG Negotiations to Restart, and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. I hope everyone is recovering from some truly fantastic installments of ABC's Lost and FX's Damages last night.

FOX has announced that it will air at least one live special with enfant terrible chef Gordon Ramsay, in which he teaches viewers at home how to make a three-course meal alongside him. Network will likely air the special, based on Ramsay's UK series Cook Along and part of Ramsay's overall deal with the network, in late spring or early fall. "My frustration is that most cooking shows don't really cook," said Ramsay. "Their ingredients are prepped earlier, that's not cooking... it's nice to show the journey from live ingredient to (finished meal)." (Hollywood Reporter)

Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road) has been cast as the lead in Terrence Winter and Martin Scorsese's HBO pilot Boardwalk Empire, where he will play Van Alden, a senior Treasury agent tasked with stamping out bootlegging in Prohibition era Atlantic City. Also cast: Vincent Piazza (The Sopranos), who will play a young Lucky Luciano. (Hollywood Reporter)

NBC has ordered a pilot for one-hour dramedy Parenthood, based on the film of the same name, which will be adapted by Jason Katims (Friday Night Lights). Katims will executive produce the Universal Media Studios project, along with Imagine's Brian Grazer and Ron Howard. Move marks the second time that Parenthood has been adapted for television; first was for a 12-episode series in the 1990s on which Joss Whedon was a staff writer. (Variety)

Billy Campbell (The 4400) will star in NBC dramedy Lost in the '80s, from Sony Pictures Television, about the suburban Mobley family as they deal with the ups and downs of life in the Reagan era. (Hollywood Reporter)

Ellen Barkin will star in an untitled comedy pilot for HBO about a woman who divorces her high-profile husband and returns to the dating scene, where she forms a "close, platonic bond with the 24-year-old son of her ex-husband." Script will be written by Shauna Cross (Whip It!) and the deal marks the first television series for Barkin. (Variety)

ABC has ordered a pilot for multi-camera comedy Threesome about a thirty-something guy in a state of arrested adolescence who finds himself caught between his needy best friend and his new girlfriend and her teenage kids. Project, from Warner Bros. Television, will be written/executive produced by Ricky Blitt (Family Guy). (Hollywood Reporter)

Olivia Wilde jokingly blames the backlash against her House character Thirteen on the fact that she had a gay sex scene earlier this season on the FOX drama. "I think it's because she had a gay sex scene [this season]," she joked to Michael Ausiello. "I've got to be honest with you, I think that's what it is." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

SAG representatives will meet with the AMPTP next week in order to resume contract negotiations. Talks will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday at the AMPTP's headquarters in Sherman Oaks; neither side would comment about the meeting. (TV Week)

ABC is said to be in talks to pick up Media Rights Capital's 13-episode comedy series Surviving Suburbia, starring Bob Saget, Cynthia Stevenson, Jared Kusnitz, G Hannelius, Jere Burns, and Lorna Scott, which was to air on MRC's Sunday night CW block beginning in March before the CW ended its deal with MRC in November. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Nets Order Slew of Pilots, Kristen Johnson Could Be "AbFab," "Chuck" to End Season in April, and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing.

ABC ordered three drama pilots yesterday: Inside the Box, about a female news producer in a Washington network news bureau from writer Richard E. Robbins and executive producers Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers (Grey's Anatomy); I, Claudia, about a young prosecuting attorney who is unaware that in the future she will be a contender to be the first female president of the US, from writer/executive producer John Scott Shepherd (The Days); and an untitled US adaptation of Argentinian series Brothers & Detectives, about a detective who discovers that he has a brilliant 11-year-old brother after the death of his estranged father, from Daniel Cerone (Dexter). (Hollywood Reporter)

NBC has ordered a pilot for futuristic drama Day One from writer/executive producer Jesse A. Alexander (Heroes) about "the aftermath of a global event that devastates the world's infrastructures when a small band of survivors strive to rebuild society and unravel the mysteries of why the event took place and what the future has in store." Project, produced by Universal Media Studios, should not be confused with CBS' Jericho, seemingly about the same subject matter... (Hollywood Reporter)

Kristen Johnson (3rd Rock from the Sun) is said to be in talks to star as Eddy in FOX pilot Absolutely Fabulous, a US remake of the BBC comedy created by Jennifer Saunders. Johnson appeared at the table-read of the pilot script on Friday; also participating in the read: Kathryn Hahn (Revolutionary Road). (Variety)

Elsewhere at FOX, the network has given a pilot greenlight to drama Masterwork from Prison Break creator Paul Scheuring. Project, from 20th Century Fox Television, is a globe-spanning adventure in recover artifacts and is said to be in the same vein as National Treasure or The Da Vinci Code. (Hollywood Reporter)

TV Guide has a look at the best of Sawyer's constant stream of sobriquets on Lost. Any you would have added in the mix? (TV Guide)

NBC has announced that it will launch unscripted celebrity genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are, based on the BBC series, on April 20th. Series, which will feature such celebs as Lisa Kudrow, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Susan Sarandon, will take over the Monday night at 8 pm timeslot currently home to Chuck, as "slot occupant Chuck will have finished its season run by then." Is anyone else troubled that Chuck will wrap in April and not May? (Variety)

Bonnie Sommerville (Cashmere Mafia) has been cast in NBC comedy pilot Off Duty, opposite Bradley Whitford (The West Wing) and Romany Malco (Weeds), about a decorated detective on his way out (Whitford) who is assigned a new partner (Malco) who is a straight arrow both on the job and off. Sommerville will play Malco's wife. Also cast: Capethia Jenkins as the police district chief. Elsewhere, Jesse Tyler Ferguson (The Class) has been cast in ABC comedy pilot An American Family, from Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd and 20th Century Fox Television, where he will play one of the neighborhoods' gay dads. (Hollywood Reporter)

Unnamed SAG board members, speaking on condition of anonymity, claim that talks between the guild and the AMPTP could begin as early as next week, following the ousting of chief negotiator Doug Allen. Meanwhile, the board has also voted to remove president Alan Rosenberg's ability to speak to the press on behalf of the guild. Another sign of things to come? (New York Times)

TNT's launch for scripted drama Trust Me scored not such great numbers, capturing only 3.4 million viewers and 1.3 million adults between 18-49, significantly less than its launch for Leverage, which bowed with 5 million viewers without support from a lead-in from The Closer, and Raising the Bar, which launched with 7.7 million viewers. (Variety)

Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick (Quarterlife) have sold a drama pilot script to CBS about a "marriage that works." Relationship dramas are no strangers to Hershovitz and Zwick, who also created Once and Again and thirtysomething. (Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider)

UK's Channel 4 has acquired rights to two HBO series: True Blood and Generation Kill. (Variety)

Noel Clarke, who played Mickey on Doctor Who, has said that he would love to return to the series. "Who would turn down a return to Doctor Who?" said Clarke in an interview with The Sun. "I love the show and have always supported it. I was there from day one when nobody was sure if it was going to be a hit. But the show moves on. Who knows? Whatever happens, happens." (Digital Spy)

Generate has signed a multiple-year overall deal with 2oth Century Fox Television to develop and produced scripted series for broadcast and cable networks and will grant a first look to the studio for its alternative and reality projects. (Variety)

Style has acquired exclusive off-network rights to all seasons of ABC's Supernanny, which it will launch in the fall. (Hollywood Reporter)

TBS has ordered 80 additional episodes of Tyler Perry comedy series Meet the Browns, which is currently in the middle of a ten-episode test run that started January 7th. Order pattern closely follows that of Perry's other TBS series House of Payne, which launched with ten episodes and went on to receive an order for 90 additional installments. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: "Lost" Clues, Barrowman Pens "Torchwood" Comic, Detmer Heads to "Private Practice," and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. I'm off in a bit to FOX's panel for the Television Critics Association, but here are a few headlines first.

Torchwood's John Barrowman will collaborate with artist Tommy Lee Edwards on an original comic strip entitled "Captain Jack and the Selkie," which will run in the fourteen issue of the bi-monthly Torchwood magazine. The strip will feature a story in which Jack faces" a deadly threat on a remote Scottish island, where people are disappearing one by one... To his horror, Jack starts to suspect he may know who – or perhaps more specifically what – is responsible." (via press release)

Entertainment Weekly's Doc Jensen offers some clues to understanding Season Five of Lost, which premieres Wednesday, January 21st, and recommends five previous episodes for essential viewing before the season premiere, including "There's No Place Like Home (Parts 2 & 3)," "Flashes Before Your Eyes," "The Constant," and "Cabin Fever." (Having seen the first two episodes myself, I have to agree.) FYI, you can catch that first recommendation tomorrow night on ABC. (Entertainment Weekly)

Following last week's pick ups for The Line and Time Heals, TNT has ordered ten episodes of drama Men of a Certain Age, which stars Ray Romano, Andre Braugher, and Scott Bakula as three 40-something friends who try to come to terms with middle-age. Project, from executive producers Romano, Mike Royce, Rory Rosegarten, and Cary Hoffman, will be produced by TNT Original Prods. (Variety)

E! Online's Kristin dos Santos claims that two cast members will be leaving ABC's Ugly Betty at the end of the season, one of whom will be Ashley Jensen, who has asked to be released from her contract on the series. Jensen is not expected to be back as a series regular when Ugly Betty returns for a fourth season this fall. As for the second characters, allegedly it's a newer actor that only recently joined the series. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Amanda Detmer (What About Brian) will join the cast of ABC's Private Practice in a four-episode story arc slated to air in March. Detmer will play one of Addison's patients but their relationship shifts from professional to personal when they form a friendship. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

In other Grey's Anatomy-related news, Melissa George will leave the series; her final day of shooting on Shonda Rhimes' drama is today. According to the actress, who played the self-mutilating and sexually ambiguous Sadie this season, she is leaving the series on good terms in order to "do something else." However, Michael Ausiello has also learned that the desire for George to exit were mutual, despite her initial deal which had her appearing in 8-11 episodes with an option to become a series regular. "She was very difficult to root for," said one source. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner says that the fate of his Golden Globe-winning drama series is "unknowable" due to prolonged contract renegotiations between him, studio Lionsgate Television, and cabler AMC. "I don't know anything about next season," Weiner told Kristin dos Santos, "I don't even know if it's happening." That doesn't sound promising, but AMC is optimistic that Weiner will return for Season Three and it will launch said season this summer. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

TV Guide talks to Scrubs star Donald Faison about the series' move from NBC to ABC, working with Glynn Turman and Courteney Cox, and playing Turk. (TV Guide)

Michael Ausiello talks with House executive producers Katie Jacobs and David Shore about the Thirteen controversy, Chase and Cameron, and House and Cuddy's relationship. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

SAG national executive director Doug Allen is on the way out as the guild's chief negotiator, a move which seems to decrease the likelihood of a SAG strike. (Hollywood Reporter)

Animal Planet announced three new series for 2009: Animal Armageddon, River Monsters, and Beverly Hills Groomer. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: ABC Schedule Still Missing "Daisies," Whedon Talks "Dollhouse," Grammer Returns with New Pilot, and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing.

Still no word on when--if ever--ABC will air the three remaining installments of Pushing Daisies. "They are not scheduled to air right now," creator Bryan Fuller told Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello, "and that's all we know." Rest assured, I'm also trying to get to the bottom of this. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

The Futon Critic's Brian Ford Sullivan has a new interview with Joss Whedon about his upcoming FOX drama Dollhouse and Dr. Horrible, in which Whedon discusses the lure of television, the genesis of Dollhouse (over lunch with Eliza Dushku), and ditching the original pilot. "This won't be the second episode because this isn't what the network wants, this isn't the kind of show they want," says Whedon. "This is something you could do two years in when everybody's familiar with it and you don't have to explain it. I always hold to the premise that the first six episodes are the first six pilots. You have to be able to come in and just go, "Oh, okay. So that's the premise and here it is delivered in this fashion." And I did get a little turned around. There was times when I was like, wait a minute, are the things that I care about still in the show? [Laughs.] Because some things that I was interested in - the more twisted elements of the human psyche and some of the more quieter aspects of it, kind of got shunned to the side." (Futon Critic)

NBC and Warner Bros. Television have allegedly failed to reach a financial agreement on John Wells' latest project, Police (formerly known as LAPD). With ER wrapping up its 15-season run early this year and NBC eliminating the 10 pm weeknight timeslot (it will go to Jay Leno's new nightly talkshow), it appears that the writing was on the wall for Wells' latest. However, some say it's an end of an era as Wells bids adieu to NBC, home of not only ER but also Wells' The West Wing and Third Watch, among others. NBC, for their part, claims the deal is not dead. (Los Angeles Times)

CBS will swap out freshman comedy Worst Week, which wraps its run on February 9th, for the return of Rules of Engagement. No news on the fate of Worst Week, which has yet to be renewed for a second season. More likely to receive a renewal: fellow frosh comedy Gary Unmarried. (Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed)

ABC ordered an untitled comedy pilot starring Kelsey Grammer (Frasier) and written/executive produced by Tucker Cawley (Everybody Loves Raymond) about a Wall Street exec who loses his job and is forced to move back to his hometown with his wife and kids. Project, From Warner Bros. Television and Good Humor TV, will be executive produced by Grammer, Cawley, and Tom Werner. Project should not be confused with Jim Herzfeld's Changing Positions, a multi-camera comedy pilot at NBC about a Wall Street exec who loses his job and is forced to move back in with his sexually active parents with his wife and kids. I'm just saying... (Hollywood Reporter)

Showtime and executive producer Richard LaGravenese (The Bridges of Madison County) are developing a one-hour drama about a suburban couple who try to reinvigorate their relationship by having open marriage. LaGravenese will write the script and is attached to direct, should the project be ordered to pilot. (Variety)

Pay cabler HBO is developing one-hour drama Stud, set in the rarefied world of horse breeding, with Dexter writer James Manos attached to write and executive produce. Project, based on a non-fiction book by Kevin Conley and produced by Half-Shell, will look at the relationships among a family of horse breeders and tackle such diverse topics ranging from "immigration to relationships to performance-enhancing drugs as the family seeks to find the perfect breeding combinations." (Hollywood Reporter)

ABC has ordered six episodes of celebrity sports reality competition franchise Superstars (last seen in the US in 2002), in which eight male and female pro athletes will be paired with eight celebrities to compete in various sporting challenges including swimming, kayaking, and biking, with teams to be eliminated each week. Series, from Juma Entertainment and Blue Entertainment Sports TV, is expected to air this summer. (Variety)

Well, The Janitor is still getting work. Scrubs' Neil Flynn will star opposite Patricia Heaton in ABC's comedy pilot The Middle, where he will play the male half of a married Midwestern couple who cope with the highs and lows of raising three kids. (Hollywood Reporter)

TV Guide has some scoop on what to expect when Greek returns to ABC Family on March 30th at 8 pm, including guest turns by Ken Marino (Veronica Mars) and new cast members Jesse McCartney and Andrew West. (TV Guide)

Kate French (The L Word) will guest star on Gossip Girl as Elle, "a mysterious nanny who comes to town and gets involved with Ed Westwick’s Chuck Bass." (OK!)

SAG has told its members to continue working under its basic cable pact, despite the deal having expired three weeks ago. The guild has set to set a start date for negotiations with roughly 20 cable companies for their cable deal, which covers such series as The Closer and Monk. (Variety)

Sony has promoted Glenn Adilman and Sharon Hall to EVP of comedy and drama development respectively; both signed new multi-year deals with the studio. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: "Doctor Who" Lands Smith and Circles Allen, Wakefield and Seda Declared "Legally Mad," "Royal Pains" at USA, and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. While everyone seems to be returning to work today (darn the end of holidays!), I'm still drowning in a pile of screeners and scripts, but c'est la vie.

The big news this weekend, of course, was the announcement that 26-year-old Matt Smith (Ruby in the Smoke) would assume the mantle of the Eleventh Doctor in BBC's Doctor Who, replacing outbound series lead David Tennant, who will depart the series after appearing in four specials in 2009. (Televisionary)

Meanwhile, The Daily Telegraph has profiled Smith in an in-depth piece which ran today. Among the more interesting points: "Smith comes to the role without Tennant's in-depth knowledge of the series and describes the next six months as a "time to build this Time Lord…to learn the history of the show", which should give his interpretation freshness. His Doctor may also be boyishly mischievous – he spoke with relish of "the sense of mischief" he got when he knew he'd be the Doctor. He also spoke of the show's "magic". Smith is of the Harry Potter generation and so his Doctor Who may be full of the sense of myth and mystery found in the tales of the boy wizard – one quality that Tennant's Doctor maybe lacks." Hmmm.... (The Daily Telegraph)

In other Doctor Who-released news, Lily Allen is once again rumored to be in contention for the role of the Doctor's latest companion. Allen, who made headlines in 2007 when she was linked to the potential role (which was later filled by Catherine Tate), is said to be the "favorite" to take on the part, though Rachel Stevens and Kelly Brook are also under consideration.

However, the singer hasn't actually auditioned for the role. "Having got the casting of The Doctor out of the way, the companion role is where we will be looking next," said Doctor Who executive producer Piers Wenger. "Someone terribly exciting like Billie Piper, who was at the beginning of her acting career but who had a profile for other reasons, would be great. We are looking for someone whose light can burn brightly. We would never cast anyone on the basis of their celebrity, but if Lily wanted to audition we would be delighted. It would be a lot of fun." (Digital Spy)

USA has ordered eleven episodes (in addition to the two-hour pilot) for medical dramedy Royal Pains, starring Mark Feuerstein as an on-call doctor to the Hamptons set. Series is being thought of as a possible timeslot companion for the off-network repeats of House. (Hollywood Reporter)

Michelle Trachtenberg's Georgina is set to return to the CW's Gossip Girl in a multiple-episode story arc during the latter part of the second season. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

British actress Charity Wakefield (Sense and Sensibility) and Jon Seda (Homicide) have been cast to star opposite previously announced Kristin Chenoweth (Pushing Daisies) in David E. Kelley's new NBC legal drama pilot Legally Mad. Wakefield will play the series' lead, Brady Hamm, a twenty-something attorney who is holding together her father's crumbling law firm and is utterly devoted to her batty father. Seda will play Joe Matty, an argumentative attorney prone to picking fights (sometimes physical ones) with everyone. (Hollywood Reporter)

Lipstick Jungle's Robert Buckley will join the cast of CW's Privileged as the editor-in-chief of a magazine where Megan and Will are both vying for a position. His first appearance is set for the second to last episode of this season. (TV Guide)

Bill Lawrence talks about the possible series finale of Scrubs--now on ABC--that's planned for later this season, why it's strange to see promos for the long-ignored series, and the possibility of the series continuing on without him or lead Zach Braff. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

BBC One has acquired Season Two of FX's legal thriller Damages and will launch the sophomore season in February. (BBC)

Speaking of Damages, William Hurt--who joins the legal thriller in its sophomore season, kicking off on Wednesday evening--talks to The New York Times about his decision to do television, working with Glenn Close, whether Daniel Purcell will be sticking around for a third season, and how he wishes that, as an actor, he was a "repertory ensemble guy." (The New York Times)

The Los Angeles Times has criticized Shonda Rhimes' ABC series Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice, saying that the former "struggles with implausible plots and diminishing characters" and is now "floundering in its fifth season." They claim that perhaps Rhimes is "stretched too thin" and are quick to note that "[i]n truth, the show lost its mooring two years ago, after Meredith's near-death by drowning, but this season has been dizzying, careening like a pinball from one unlikely plot turn to the next, and the continued degradation of characters who, for years, had been etched with careful precision." (The Los Angeles Times)

Hollywood Reporter's James Hibberd takes a look at the ratings showdowns slated for later this season, including ABC's Lost versus FOX's Lie to Me versus CBS' Criminal Minds. (Hollywood Reporter)

The Daily Telegraph has a fantastic interview with Gavin & Stacey co-creator/star James Corden about what 2009 holds for him. Of the much beloved series, Corden says that the charm comes from "finding the extraordinary in the ordinary." I couldn't agree more. (The Daily Telegraph)

SAG national executive director Doug Allen has justified a strike in the latest letter sent to members on Friday, in which he argues that a strike authorization is justified even in times of economic crisis. “There is no good time to consider a strike,” said Allen. “Strikes are called only when management’s bargaining positions are intolerable and then only by a vote of the elected actors on the national board, if authorized by a membership referendum. But, tough economic times are when it is most necessary to be unified to resist the studios and networks effort to obliterate contract provisions in our future work.” (Variety)

Marla Sokoloff, Marion Ross, and Christina Pickles will star in wedding-themed telepic Flower Girl for Hallmark Channel. The telepic, written by Marjorie Sweeney and directed by Bradford May, will air in late 2009. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Third Season of "Gavin & Stacey" On Tap, "Doctor Who," SAG Delays Strike Authorization Vote, and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. This being a scant two days before Christmas, there aren't many television-related headlines to discuss but rest assured there are still quite a few.

Oh, what's occurrin'? The big news is, of course, that Ruth Jones and James Corden have announced--from Barry Island, no less--that they will write a third season of their hit comedy Gavin & Stacey. The third season, which had been commissioned by the BBC earlier this year, had been in doubt when Jones and Corden said that their schedules were a bit too full at the moment to write the next season of the romantic comedy, which airs in the States on BBC America. While pesky details like actor availability still have to be worked out, it's fantastic news that we'll get to see more of Nessa and the gang from Barry and Essex before long. The Gavin & Stacey Christmas Special, meanwhile, will air tomorrow night on BBC1. (BBC News)

Doctor Who executive producer Russell T. Davies talks at length about this week's Doctor Who Christmas Special, entitled "The Next Doctor." While there's spoilers aplenty for those looking for that sort of thing, some of Davies' comments seem to echo my recent theory that David Morrissey, who co-stars with David Tennant in the special, will be named the Eleventh Doctor later this week... and that he isn't just a man claiming to be the Doctor in Dickensian London but he is the future incarnation of the Doctor crossing paths with his past self. "...this other Doctor isn't lying," says Davies. "He's not a con man. So we've got this story about how these two men can possibly be together. It's a buddy movie, in a way. I mean, two of the best actors in the land - how lucky are we?" Only time will tell... (The Daily Mail)

SAG has announced that it has postponed its controversial strike authorization vote for two weeks. The ballots, which were meant to be delivered on January 2nd, will be delayed until after January 13th following two days of talks among SAG's national board, which has remained split over the option of a strike. (Variety)

Los Angeles Times talks to FOX Entertainment Chairman Peter Liguori and FOX Entertainment President Kevin Reilly about the challenges for the network in the next few months, Dollhouse, moving Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles to Fridays, and American Idol. As for why the network scheduled Dollhouse on Fridays, Ligouri said: "It's a night where there's not a hell of a lot of competition. So we're able to get the show on there. We're able to allow the show to grow. The expectations may be slightly lower for its performance." Hmmm... (Los Angeles Times)

Aussie actor Damon Herriman (Cold Case) has been cast in NBC's drama pilot Lost & Found, opposite Katee Sackhoff, Josh Cooke, and Brian Cox. He'll play Anthony Yeckel, "an oddball civilian consultant to the police's lost-and-found department who has an obsessive love of old detective TV shows." (Hollywood Reporter)

Lost's Jeff Fahey will guest star in an episode of CBS' Cold Case, slated to air in early 2009. He'll play the owner of a "boutique motorcycle customization shop who has cleaned up from his early days as a biker." Elsewhere, rapper/actress/mogul Eve will guest star in an episode of CBS' NUMB3RS; Wes Brown (We Are Marshall) will appear in at least six episodes of HBO's True Blood as a Luke, a religious hunk who bonds with Jason at church camp; Dina Meyer (Birds of Prey) will play Michael's former fiancee on USA's Burn Notice in the Season Two finale airing on March 5th. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

TV Guide chats with Prison Break's Jodi Lyn O'Keefe about her long-running stint on the FOX thriller, whether or not we've seen the last of Gretchen, and the potential SAG strike. (<TV Guide)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Holiday Wishes from "Fringe," Fontana Returns to "Philanthropist," Budget Cuts at 20th TV, and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing.

20th Century Fox Television has slashed its production budgets across the board, joining a slew of entertainment companies including ABC Studios cutting budgets due to the economic downturn. All of 20th's producers have been told to reduce their budgets by two percent. The budget cuts will affect both existing series such as 24 as well as new productions, including Joss Whedon's Dollhouse for FOX and ABC's Life on Mars. (TV Week)

In yet another behind-the-scenes twist (each far more interesting than the series itself), Tom Fontana has returned to oversee NBC's midseason drama The Philanthropist, where he will replace David Eick (leaving to focus his attentions on Caprica)... who had replaced him as showrunner/executive producer on the project back in April. Creative differences between Fontana and Universal Media Studios have said to have been worked out and Fontana has returned to oversee writing on the eight-episode series, starring James Purefoy, Jesse L. Martin, and Neve Campbell. (Variety)

HBO has cast two actresses in True Blood's sophomore season: Anna Camp (Equus) will play Sarah, the wife of Steve Newlin, a series-regular role, while Ashley Jones (The Bold and the Beautiful) has come on board in a six-episode arc as Daphne, a new waitress at Merlotte's and a possible new love interest for Sam. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

More saber-rattling in the battle between the studios and SAG as the studios look to explore their options with AFTRA, with whom the AMPTP signed a primetime-film contract earlier this year, in light of stalled negotiations with SAG. 20th Century Fox Television is considering shooting all of its pilots under AFTRA rather than SAG (it reversed a previous statement that seemed to indicate it would move all productions under AFTRA) and has already shot two pilots--Boldly Going Nowhere and Better Off Ted--with AFTRA. Warners is said to be exploring working with AFTRA on digital productions; ABC Studios comedy In the Motherhood will be AFTRA-based; Universal Media Studios has two pilots--Off Duty and drama Lost & Found--under AFTRA. Sony typically works with AFTRA and has shot two pilots already with the union, including Eve Adams for FOX and ABC's The Unusuals. Any switch to AFTRA would only affect new pilots and series so current series would stay organized under their curent union deals. (Hollywood Reporter)

Bob Odenkirk (Mr. Show) will guest star in a five-episode story arc on Season Two of AMC's Breaking Bad, where he will play "a slippery, ambulance-chasing lawyer who winds up serving as consigliere to Walt (Bryan Cranston)." Also on tap for Season Two: a three-episode arc featuring Star Trek: The Next Generation's John de Lancie. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Cloris Leachman and Jessica Alba will guest star alongside the previously announced Jack Black in the post-Super Bowl episode of NBC's The Office, where they will play Hollywood stars in a film that appears on-screen on the series. (Zap2It)

Despite getting closure in the form of some additional scenes for the Pushing Daisies finale, creator Bryan Fuller does intend to keep the franchise going in comic book form. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Under SVP Jeremy Gold, Endemol USA has set up a dozen drama and comedy projects at various broadcast and cable networks, including Hell on Wheels, a Western drama at AMC about the building of the Transcontinental Railroad from writer/executive producers Tony and Joe Gayton; Manager/Husband, a family comedy at FOX about a talent manager and his 22-year-old pop singer wife from writer/executive producers Jim O'Doherty and David Israel and 20th Century Fox Television; It's Not You, It's Me, a single-camera female-driven comedy at HBO; animated series Joe Cartoon at Comedy Central; Julia's Tango, a US adaptation of a Dutch soap format for SoapNet; and an untitled project at CW about four Dallas-based nannies and the families they work for from Ugly Betty writers Veronica Becker and Sarah Kucserk and Warner Bros. TV. (Variety)

Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Films has left ABC for HBO, where it will develop scripted television series, telepics, and documentaries for the pay cabler. (Los Angeles Times)

Finally, the cast and crew of FOX's Fringe offered up the below holiday-themed video that also happens to recap most of the series' action so far.



Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Shawn Ryan Talks "Shield" Finale, "The Office," CBS Spins Off "NCIS," and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. I'm still trying to get the idea of hallucinatory killer butterflies out of my system after last night's episode of Fringe by thinking of tomorrow's turkey feast.

I'll keep the SPOILER ALERT on for the next few posts as not everyone may have seen last night's season finale of The Shield. Michael Ausiello chats with series creator Shawn Ryan about that ending, Shane and Vic's fates, Andre Benjamin's character attempting to run for mayor, and why Ryan knew there had to be a final confrontation between Claudette and Vic. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

TV Guide also talks with Ryan about his work on the series finale with some questions about justice, not knowing what the end of the series would be, what's next for the writer/producer, and Ryan's favorite TV series on the air at the moment. (Hint: Lost, Mad Men, and 30 Rock are some of them.) (TV Guide)

The Office's Mindy Kaling and B.J. Novak chat with The Boston Herald as the duo return to their respective home towns of Cambridge and Newton for Thanksgiving. "My character on the show is just an exaggerated version of myself... which is a little embarassing,” said Kaling. “Kelly isn’t a role model. She’s just sort of an idiot. It’s fun to play a character who’s not a forensics expert, or computer-science genius... the way other shows have Asian characters portrayed.” (The Boston Herald)

NBC is developing a procedural drama to star Gabrielle Union (Ugly Betty) from writer/executive producer Frank Spotnitz (The X-Files, Breaking Bad) and Universal Media Studios. The untitled project, based on an original idea deviced by Union and Spotnitz, is about a detective (Union) who has to race to save someone's life before she runs out of time. (Variety)

Speaking of NBC, the Peacock unveiled its January schedule, which is missing Chuck, Life, and Heroes. (Televisionary)

CBS is developing a spin-off of procedural drama NCIS, itself a spin-off--one can't help but remember--of JAG. Series would be based around a new team of naval investigators that will be introduced later this season on NCIS and could be launched as early as next fall and will likely cause the planned Criminal Minds spin-off to be placed on hold for now. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Among fears of a possible SAG strike early next year, studios are said to be talking to SAG's rival AFTRA about coverage on projects for pilot season. (Variety)

Looks like we'll be seeing more of Rickety Cricket and Artemis. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia recurring actors David Hornsby and Artemis Pebdani have been cast in the pilot for FOX space-set workplace comedy Boldly Going Nowhere, from the creators of Sunny, Rob McElhenney, Charlie Day, and Glenn Howerton. Hornsby will play Lt. Lance Grigsby, the captain's devoted second-in-command who supports his cheating wife back home. Pebdani will play Startemis, the ship's alien communications officer. (And, yes, the original script--which I read last winter--called for Startemis by name.) (Hollywood Reporter)

In other casting news, Jason Butler Harner (Fringe) has replaced Jason London in Showtime drama pilot Possible Side Effects about a family that runs a pharmaceutical company. Harner will play middle son Silas. (Hollywood Reporter)

TMZ has been renewed for two more seasons and will stay on the Fox Television Stations group through the 2010-11 season. (Variety)

Stay tuned.