Channel Surfing: Sheen Could Leave "Men," "Modern Family" iPad Love, S. Epatha Merkerson to Leave "Law & Order," Sidibe to Host "SNL," and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing.

Charlie Sheen might just walk away from his role on CBS' Two and a Half Men. Citing a People report, The Hollywood Reporter's James Hibberd is reporting that Sheen has rejected a contract renewal offer and is looking to leave the CBS comedy series, which is produced by Warner Bros. Television. "This report came as news to CBS and studio Warner Bros., with some insiders thinking the news might simply be a negotiation tactic," writes Hibberd. "Yet sources tell THR that the People report is no April Fools joke and that Sheen is indeed serious about currently wanting to leave." (Hollywood Reporter)

Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed has the scoop from Modern Family co-creator Christopher Lloyd about why the ABC comedy series' use of the iPad this week wasn't product placement but was in fact just a story-driven plotline. "In fact, there was no product placement," Lloyd explained. "This was widely assumed, and everybody was wrong. We wanted to do a show about Phil getting very excited about a new product and it seemed the perfect one to use, since it was debuting [April 1]. We approached Apple about getting their cooperation (using the product, for example, and they are notoriously secretive about their products prior to their being launched) and they agreed and gave us a few other small concessions. But there were no stipulations as with normal product placement, i.e. we give you X dollars and you have to feature our product such-and-such a way and say such-and-such nice things about it. We are not angels -- we have made those agreements with other companies. But that was not the deal with Apple. It was all story-driven." (Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed)

Meanwhile, The Wrap's Josef Adalian calls for an end to the Modern Family "non-troversy" over the iPad inclusion, following several attacks on the series by CNET and the Hollywood Reporter, among others. "Dudes: Chill!" writes Adalian. "It's one thing to find a plotline unfunny or subpar. There's also nothing wrong with making note of the timing of the episode, or of raising the question of whether a company paid to have its product integrated into a show. Hot TV shows generate buzz, both positive and negative. We get it -- and we're not trying to condemn anyone for identifying something interesting about a show. But until somebody uncovers evidence to the contrary, this was simply a case of writers trying to make a 2010 half-hour comedy relevant to a sophisticated audience." [Editor: amen.] (The Wrap's TVMoJoe)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that S. Epatha Merkerson will depart Law & Order after a staggering 16 years and talks to the actress about her decision to leave the Dick Wolf-executive produced procedural at the end of the current season. "It’s a graceful way to go," Merkerson told Ausiello. "It’s the end of my contract this year, and the storyline has been so perfect. I’ve given it my best for 16 years. It’s time to move on. I’m doing other things and this will be a great way to leave what has been an extraordinary gig." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Precious star Gabourey Sidibe is among the hosts on tap for Saturday Night Live this month. Also taking to the historic stage during the month of April: Tina Fey, who will be joined by musical guest Justin Bieber, Ryan Phillippe (with Ke$ha), and Sidibe, who will host with musical guest MGMT on April 24th. (Variety)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello has gotten a hold of some of the casting notices for Season Four of AMC's Mad Men, including three potentially recurring roles. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

E! Online's Megan Masters has an exclusive look at Showtime's upcoming reality series The Real L Word and breaks down the real-life lesbians who have been assembled in Showtime's "rare, fly-on-the-wall look into the lives of attractive and successful L.A. lesbians." The series is set to launch on Sunday, June 20th at 10 pm on Showtime. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Casting update: Chad Lowe (24) has been cast in ABC Family's upcoming drama series Pretty Little Liars, where he will replace Alexis Denisof, who played the role in the pilot; Gina Torres has signed on to play Dr. Dorothy Rand in ABC Family's other upcoming series, Huge; Riki Lindhome (Gilmore Girls) will star opposite Jack Carpenter and Kristin Kreuk in Josh Schwartz and Matt Miller's CBS comedy pilot Hitched; Greg Germann (Ally McBeal) and Damon Gupton (Deadline) have come on board FOX comedy pilot Strange Brew; and Robbie Jones (One Tree Hill) and Heather Hemmens (The Candy Shop) have joined the cast of the CW's Hellcats. (Hollywood Reporter)

SPOILER! TV Guide Magazine's Will Keck is reporting that Season Six of FX's It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia will feature a storyline involving Dennis (Glenn Howerton) getting married... and divorced. (TV Guide Magazine)

Julie Gonzalo has been cast as a guest star in a May sweep episode of ABC's Castle, where she will play "a beautiful and dynamic restaurateur who finds herself mixed up in [a] murder investigation" that takes revolves around the contestants of a Top Chef-esque culinary competition series. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

CONFIRMED: Syfy has announced that Robert Knepper (Heroes) and Julie McNiven (Mad Men) have joined the cast of the cabler's Stargate Universe for its second season. Knepper will appear in six episodes as Simeon, described as a "member of the Lucian Alliance," while McNiven has joined the cast in a five-episode story arc where she will play Ginn, also a member of the Lucian Alliance. The second half of SGU's freshman season premieres tonight on Syfy. (via press release)

ABC shows are heading to the iPad. Disney has signed a deal with Apple to create an application that will stream--for free--full-length episodes of series from ABC, ESPN, and Disney. (Variety)

NBC series, meanwhile, will NOT be heading to the iPad as NBC executives have opted to "prohibit iPad viewing of full episodes at this time," according to The New York Times' Brian Stelter. (New York Times' Media Decoder)

USA has announced return dates for two of its original series, with Burn Notice and Royal Pains returning to the schedule on Thursday, June 3rd, when they will air back-to-back beginning at 9 pm ET/PT. July, meanwhile, will bring the return of White Collar and Psych and the launch of Covert Affairs. (Broadcasting & Cable)

E1 Entertainment and Tijuana Entertainment have teamed up to develop reality series They Call Me Crazy, featuring NBA player Ron Artest that will enable him to "make amends for past transgressions," and help struggling musicians through his music label. Series will be executive produced by Artest, along with John Moryaniss, Tara Long, Troy Searer, and John Foy. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Knepper to "SGU," Schwartz and Savage Set up Shop, "Chuck," Knighton FlashForwards to "Happy Endings," Spacek to CBS, and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing.

Robert Knepper (Heroes, Prison Break) has reportedly been cast in a villainous recurring role on Season Two of Syfy's Stargate Universe. Citing internet reports, several sites are reporting that Knepper will play Simeon, a mysterious member of the Lucian Alliance, and will appear in a multiple-episode story arc to last between six to seven episodes. (via TV Squad)

Producing partners Josh Schwartz (Chuck) and Stephanie Savage (Gossip Girl) have signed a multi-year deal with Warner Bros. Television and have set up their own shingle, Fake Empire, which will be based at the studio. Pod will develop projects for television, film, digital, videogames, music, and publishing. (Variety)

The Wrap's Josef Adalian, meanwhile, has an interview with Schwartz and Savage, who jointly answered Adalian's questions via email. [Editor: The duo answered the question I had, which was whether Chuck would fall under the Fake Empire umbrella. Answer: it won't.] (The Wrap's TVMoJoe)

SPOILER! Speaking of Chuck, Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello has some major spoilers for the third season finale of NBC's Chuck. You can read them but I am keeping my eyes and ears pure as I don't want to be spoiled about any of the plot twists ahead. Don't say I didn't warn you! (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

FlashForward's Zachary Knighton has been cast opposite Elisha Cuthbert in ABC comedy pilot Happy Endings, where he will play Dave, half of a couple that split up at the altar and must decide how to maintain their friendships afterwards. Project, from ABC Studios and Sony Pictures Television, is written by David Caspe and directed by Anthony and Joe Russo. Knighton's participation is said to be in second position to FlashForward, but Hollywood Reporter's Nellie Andreeva states that the latter's "chances for renewal are slim." (Hollywood Reporter)

Academy Award winner Sissy Spacek--who just completed a story arc on HBO's Big Love--has been cast in CBS' untitled Hannah Shakespeare medical drama from executive producer John Wells. Spacek will play Adrianne, a driven visionary who heads up a mobile medical team that travels the country providing care for the less fortunate and who grapples with her own cancer diagnosis and regular chemotherapy. (She's also the mother to Rachelle Lefevre's character, also a doctor.) Spacek's role was, like several others this season, originally written as a man. (Hollywood Reporter)

Jaime Pressly (My Name is Earl) has been cast as one of the leads in CBS' untitled Carter Bays/Craig Thomas multi-camera comedy pilot (also known as Livin' on a Prayer) from writers Kourtney Kang and Joe Kelly. Pressly will play a veterinarian who works with her best friend Tommy (Kyle Bornheimer) at the local zoo. (Hollywood Reporter)

Pilot casting update: Michael Rapaport (The War at Home) will star opposite Dylan Walsh in ABC cop drama pilot The Line (also known as ATF); Will Estes (Reunion) and Bridget Moynahan (Six Degrees) have been cast opposite Tom Selleck, Donny Wahlberg, and Len Cariou in CBS' untitled Burgess/Green drama pilot (a.k.a. Reagan's Law); Amy Landecker (A Serious Man) has landed the female lead opposite Paul Reiser in NBC comedy pilot Next; Kurt Fuller (Supernatural) has been cast in ABC's untitled Shana Goldberg-Meehan comedy pilot; and Kevin Rahm (Desperate Housewives) has come aboard CBS comedy pilot Open Books. (Hollywood Reporter)

TV Guide Magazine's Will Keck is reporting that Scott Porter will likely be heading back to Friday Night Lights for the series' fifth and final season, following a conversation Porter had with the series' producers, in which they indicated that they would like him to reprise his role as paraplegic Jason Street. "I’m hoping it turns into a definite because I’d love to go back," Porter told Keck. "I’m hoping he could repay his debts – particularly to Riggins for everything he did for Street." (TV Guide Magazine)

The Los Angeles Times' Maria Elena Fernandez has an profile of Justified co-star Walton Goggins (The Shield), who plays the sadistic white supremacist Boyd Crowder on the FX drama series... and whose character was meant to be killed off at the end of the pilot episode. "The greatest part about it," Goggins told Fernandez about Boyd's alleged religious epiphany in tonight's episode, "is that you will think you know by the end of the first season if the change is real, but no one knows. This is Boyd seeing God for the first time. What's so interesting about it is that while his actions may not be different, his motivations are different. And that's really important at the conclusion of the first season. What happens to this guy and this friendship when many things are called into question?"(Los Angeles Times)

Nikki Blonsky (Hairspray), Hayley Hasselhoff, Andrew Caldwell, and Zander Eckhouse have been cast in ABC Family's upcoming ten-episode drama series Huge, which revolves around the teenagers and staffers of Wellness Canyon, a weight-loss camp. (Hollywood Reporter)

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has named January 16th as the date for the 68th Annual Golden Globe Awards, which will once again air live coast to coast on NBC. (Variety)

Those tears that Peter Facinelli's Dr. Fitch Cooper let flow in last night's season premiere of Showtime's Nurse Jackie? Absolutely real and completely not pre-meditated, according to Facinelli. "I started venting, and all of a sudden, tears sprung from my eyes and I couldn't stop crying. Basically, I had a physical meltdown," Facinelli told E! Online. "I was traveling back and forth from Vancouver to New York, and I was shooting Nurse Jackie and Eclipse at the same time. I think I was emotionally exhausted. The writers loved it! They thought I planned it, and I really didn't. Just know that those are real tears." (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

HBO has given a greenlight to telepic Cinema Verite, a dramatization of the behind-the-scenes events during the making of the landmark reality television series An American Family, which premiered in 1973 and focused on the Loud family. Telepic, executive produced by Gavin Polone, will be written by David Seltzer and directed by Shari Springer Berman and Bob Pulcini. (Hollywood Reporter)

TLC has ordered twelve episodes of spinoff reality series Say Yes to the Dress: Atlanta, which will launch in July. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: "Dexter" Season Finale Postmortem, Syfy Renews "Stargate Universe" and "Sanctuary," "Lost" Season Six Photos, and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing.

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello has an interview with Dexter executive producer Clyde Phillips about last night's season finale of the Showtime serial killer drama. One very interesting tidbit: when asked about when the decision was made about pulling the trigger on the episode's final scene, Phillips said, "I would say we made the decision pretty late in the season. We didn’t quite know what we were going to do [in the finale]." As for when Deb (Jennifer Carpenter) will find out about Dexter's true nature, don't hold your breath. "We’ve bounced that around the [writers] room," Phillips told Ausiello. "But once we do that... want to talk about game-changers? Once we do that, the game is changed in a way that we just don’t know how to anticipate just yet." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Syfy has given series renewals to Stargate Universe and Sanctuary, picking up both series for additional twenty-episode runs that will begin next fall on the cabler. Stargate Universe, which recently aired its midseason finale, will return with the second half of its freshman season in April. "We're dealing with 15 seasons of expectations with a certain fanbase," executive producer Robert Cooper told Hollywood Reporter's James Hibberd when asked about fan reaction. "Hopefully, as the show goes on, people will appreciate Universe for being its own thing." Fans should look for an alien race to show up in the second half of the season, more scenes set aboard the ship, and a storyline involving Rush (Robert Carlyle). (Hollywood Reporter)

New York Post's PopWrap has a look at the newly released promotional photos for Season Six of ABC's Lost, which launches on February 2nd. While the gallery shots reveal absolutely nothing in an of themselves (they feature the regulars against a grey backdrop), PopWrap's Jarett Wieselman notes, "it's interesting that although Boone, Charlie and a whole host of dead Losties will be returning, Miles, Lapidus and Ilana are integral enough to... Lost's endgame to warrant series regular status over characters like Desmond!" (New York Post's PopWrap)

Changes are afoot at the CW's Gossip Girl, according to executive producer Josh Schwartz, who promises that Taylor Momsen's Jenny is going to become a lightning rod for controversy. "You're really going to see a real emotional arc from Chuck [Ed Westwick]," Schwartz tells TVGuide.com's Natalie Abrams. "I think Jenny [Taylor Momsen] and Chuck are really going to be driving a lot of story as we move into the back half of the season." (TVGuide.com)

History has ordered eight-hour scripted miniseries The Kennedys from writer Stephen Kronish, director Jon Cassar, and executive producer Joel Surnow (all of whom worked together on FOX's 24). Production on the miniseries, which will track the famed political dynasty between the 1960 presidential election and John F. Kennedy's 1968 assassination (and flashback, as well, to earlier times), is slated to begin this spring for a 2011 premiere. "I didn't want this miniseries to be a Valentine -- there have been plenty of them -- neither did I wanted it to be a hatchet job," said Kronish. "I think it is a fairly even-handed look at people who achieved big things at amazingly early ages. We're really trying to see them as people and to strip away some of the patina that has attached itself to them because of their early deaths and to show them, warts and all." (Hollywood Reporter)

Scott Patterson (Gilmore Girls) has been cast in the CW's 90210, where he is expected to appear in at least two episodes as the biological father of Matt Lanter's Liam. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Tyler Posey (Lincoln Heights), Tyler Hoechlin (7th Heaven), Crystal Reed (Hard Times), and Dylan O'Brien have joined the cast of MTV's werewolf pilot presentation Teen Wolf, which has been reimagined as "a dramatic thriller with a buddy-comedy element at the center and a romantic plot line." (Hollywood Reporter)

NBC Universal has renewed its overall deal with indie production shingle BermanBraun for another three years. Under the terms of the deal, BermanBraun will continue to function as a fully independent production entity within the studio, with NBC Universal's broadcast and cable networks retaining a first-look on all of BermanBraun's projects. The shingle's current projects include Mercy for NBC and Accidentally on Purpose and pilots such as NBC's Rex Is Not Your Lawyer and Alphas for Syfy. (Variety)

TNT has secured off-network rights to the CW's drama series Supernatural and will launch repeats of the series weekdays at 10 am ET/PT beginning Monday, January 4th. (Futon Critic)

Thomas Haden Church has been cast in FearNet's six-episode short-form series Zombie Roadkill, about a park ranger who forms a partnership with a teenager (David Dorfman) "to escape a portion of highway where roadkill is resurrected as flesh-eating zombie animals." Each episode will last between four and five minutes and the series, written by Henry Gayden and directed by David Green, will be available on FearNet.com and on its On Demand VOD network. (Variety)

Syndicated daytime medical series The Doctors has been renewed through the 2011-12 season, the series' fourth. (Broadcasting & Cable)

Disney XD will launch musical comedy I'm in the Band, about a teenager who joins a once-hot band and sets out to orchestrate its comeback, on January 18th at 7 pm ET/PT. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Expansion and Contraction: An Advance Review of Syfy's "Stargate Universe"

Confession: I've never watched Stargate SG-1 or Stargate Atlantis, other than a few episodes here or there.

So it wasn't with any real familiarity with the Stargate, er, universe (other than vague reminiscences of the Kurt Russell/James Spader feature film) that I watched the gloomy three-hour series premiere of Stargate Universe, the newest iteration in the fifteen-year-old franchise which seems hell-bent on being as broadly accessible to the mainstream population as possible.

Taking some visual clues from the darker Battlestar Galactica, Stargate Universe tells the story of a disparate band of survivors who are thrust through one of the titular gateways and discover themselves trapped on an ancient spaceship on a course to some distant location among the stars. While searching for a way home (said ship is on a one-way course that can't be changed), they must band together to find a way to survive and create a new home for themselves under some remarkable and unexpected circumstances.

If that sounds a bit like the original logline for ABC's Lost, you'd be correct. There's definitely the sense that the series' creators, Robert Cooper and Brad Wright, were looking to imbue this series with the feeling of Lost in space. There's the group of strangers thrust together, several life-threatening situations (they must quickly find a way to fix the air system aboard the Ancient vessel), and a good deal of death straight off the bat. And, yes, it does recall the situation at the very start of Syfy (or Sci Fi as it was known back then) series Battlestar Galactica. Like BSG, Stargate Universe is a series with a dark color palette and a ship that's filled with shadows and sharp angles.

But the similarities really end there. Battlestar Galactica used the genre to make clear political statements about everything from terrorism, genocide, war crimes, identity, gender, sexuality, and the occupation of Iraq, holding up a dark mirror to our own society and offering some gripping metaphors for the issues we face today. The series also featured some memorably flawed and original characters who were immediately recognizable as more than just stereotypical ciphers.

The same, sadly, can't be said for Stargate Universe. Or at least, its opening installments anyway. For the most part, the survivors of the nebulous attack on the Icarus base who find themselves aboard the spaceship are rather one-dimensional. Even after three hours, it's hard to have any real sense of the characters in terms of anything deeper than: hero, hotshot, or hottie. The third hour, which airs on October 9th, attempts to graft a backstory onto the action for Brian J. Smith's Matthew Scott but the result is a bit of a muddled attempt to introduce religion into the mix as well as offer a seemingly divine solution to their current plight. The rest of the characters don't even have the benefit of this ham-fisted backstory; after three hours, I don't yet even have a grasp of their names or purposes, much less any defining characteristics.

Note that I said "for the most part" earlier. Robert Carlyle turns in a gripping performance as the enigmatic Dr. Nicholas Rush, an expert in all things Ancient who seems to have a shadowy agenda that's vastly different than the rest of the group. He's imperious, cutthroat, and seems to stand apart from the fray while calculating just how expendable each of them is. In a series that's attempting to be gritty, he's the one character that lives up to those efforts, a complex puzzle of a man, haunted by his past and willing to make the unpopular choices that no one else dare make.

Meanwhile, David Blue is perfectly cast as computer geek Eli Wallace, a civilian drafted into this mission after he correctly solves an otherworldly mathematical proof that unlocks the stargate's mythic ninth chevron. As Eli, Blue brings some levity to the situation and is clearly set up as the audience's entry point to the action and the franchise as a whole.

But the duo are the notable exceptions rather than the rule on the series. Not helping matters is some flat dialogue and a bizarre decision on the part of the writers to enable the survivors to communicate with Earth by having some out-of-body experiences that allow them to control people back on Earth via some Ancient technology. It's a bit of an easy way out in my opinion and seems there for the sole purpose of allowing some familiar faces in the Stargate franchise to interact with the survivors and shift some of the action out of space and back to the more relatable planet Earth.

Ultimately, Stargate Universe is gloomy without being truly gritty; rather than being hard-hitting, it looks to eject some of the campy, humor-based tone of its predecessors and instead infuse it with some faux seriousness. Fans of the franchise might just lap this up but for someone who's always been a bit wary of the Stargate franchise, I find myself less than captivated with the initial blast-off into space.



Stargate Universe kicks off on Friday evening at 9 pm ET/PT on Syfy.

Surviving in the Dark: "Stargate Universe" Cast and Crew Discuss the Future of the Franchise

Proving that it's possible to kickstart a franchise after fifteen years on the air, Stargate Universe creators Brad Wright and Robert Cooper and stars Robert Carlyle, Elyse Levesque, Ming-Na, Brian J. Smith, David Blue, Alaina Huffman, and Jamil Walker Smith appeared at San Diego Comic-Con this weekend to talk up the newest addition to the Stargate franchise, which launches this October.

After screening an intense and gripping trailer for Stargate Universe (see below, though the music is slightly different than what screened at SDCC), the cast and creators took to the stage to discuss the impetus behind the darker, more verite Stargate Universe, why it's accessible to new viewers and old alike, and what to expect from the first season.

"We really had to keep the franchise going and make sure that Stargate fans have something to watch," said co-creator Robert Cooper. "It is quite a different feel. It will reintroduce what a Stargate is. It will give you a whole new sense of what Stargate is in an introductory sense that is quite clever, but it will very much reward the SG-1 and Atlantis viewers."

Helping make this transition is former Stargate: SG-1 star Richard Dean Anderson, who will recur throughout the first season of Stargate Universe, along with Amanda Tapping, another familiar face to fans of the franchise who will appear in the pilot episode.

"We've already tried to acknowledge what came before and never reset back to zero in an episode, so we didn't undo things, but we wanted the casual viewer to access the show," explained co-creator Brad Wright. "It's difficult when you get too serialized. There's no question that it does have a broader, more continuing storyline. It will reward any viewer that turns on episode five, but please start from [episode] one." He described the production as having "a different energy... It's much more hand-held and dynamic."

"It had gotten to the point where everyone was a superhero and a genius," said Cooper of the previous series in the Stargate franchise. "[SGU] is trying to make the characters identifiable" and put them through some major challenges early on. But it's not all doom and gloom as Cooper promised "humor and hope" among the narrative elements.

Still don't blink during the opening episodes of Stargate Universe. "Big things are going to happen very quickly," promised Cooper. "In terms of what happens and what unfolds in the show, even in the first 10 episodes. You're going to find if you do skip an episode, you might miss something huge. There may be major revelations with what's going on with the characters and the storyline."

And the characters themselves will prove to have moralities that are surprisingly like quicksilver. "In Universe, all of our characters are both heroes and villains," explained Wright, "and remarkably have the ability to slip in and out of the skin of both."

For Scottish actor Robert Carlyle, Stargate Universe offered the opportunity to sign on to for a long-term engagement on an American television series. Asked if he prefers to do film or television, Carlyle stated, "I don't think it's the actor's place to define between genres. It's about the part and the people you're working with. [Universe is] a very easy, very welcome platform to express myself."

His character, widowed scientist Dr. Nicholas Rush, was described by producers as being able to "make dislikable things likable." (Hmmm...)

David Blue, who plays genius civilian Eli Wallace, is also Universe's resident franchise fan. Blue said he had "pride to be a part of [the Stargate franchise]" but that there was also "pressure to make it great for you [the viewers]." Blue has seen every episode of SG-1 and Atlantis as well as "pretty much every sci-fi show out there." Wright kidded that with Blue they landed both an actor and a technical adviser.

As for the other characters, a fan stunned the female members of the panel by implying that they didn't seem like "strong, intelligent, beautiful" women, an assertion which the producers--and the actors themselves--were quick to refute:

• "T.J. is a strong intelligent woman," said Alaina Huffman, whose character Tamara Johansen is a military lieutenant. "They're great at developing these strong women that I think are great role models and carry themselves very well. They have their flaws and their moments."
• "Camille Wray is a strong, intelligent lesbian," joked Ming-Na, who plays an IOA accountant.
• "Not to sound redundant, but Chloe is also strong in the physical sense and an intelligent young woman," said Elyse Levesque who plays Chloe Amstrong, the daughter of a prominent US senator. She went on to say the way that Chloe and the other characters "band together makes them who they are."

What else was revealed about Stargate Universe?

Wright said enigmatically that "none of these characters are supposed to be there." The trailer indicates that they flee through a Stargate when their base is under attack by unseen forces... and end up billions of light years away from Earth on an Ancient ship.

SPOILER ALERT! Those worried about the high body count for doctors in the Stargate franchise series shouldn't get attached to Universe's resident physician. Said Cooper: "We kill the doctor right away in this one." (And it doesn't seem like he's kidding.)

Finally, questioned about whether viewers will learn about the mythical ninth chevron on Stargate Universe, Cooper offered a single-word answer: "Maybe."

Stargate fans, read that as a yes.

Stargate Universe: Comic-Con 2009 Preview:



Stargate Universe launches in October on Syfy.

Channel Surfing: Jennie Garth Returns to "90210," Kelly Carlson Works Black Book for "Melrose," Erika Christensen Offers "Lie" to FOX, and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing.

Looks like Kelly isn't going anywhere. Jennie Garth has signed a deal to reprise her role as Kelly Taylor on Season Two of the CW's 90210, where she will appear in multiple episodes, according to Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello. "Garth reappears in episode 3," writes Ausiello, "when Kelly gives Harry advice on how to deal with his, ahem, situation with Annie." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Elsewhere at the CW,Melrose Place continues to get more and more crowded. Nip/Tuck's Kelly Carlson (yes, Kimber!) has signed on to join the cast of Melrose Place this fall, where she will play a madam who "eventually entices Lauren (Stephanie Jacobson) to work for her as part of her prostitution ring." (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Parenthood's Erika Christensen has booked a guest starring role on Season Two of FOX's Lie to Me this fall. Christensen will play Tricia, a woman who turns to Cal Lightman (Tim Roth) for help when she experiences a vision of a murder and Lightman uncovers that Tricia is actually a woman with multiple personalities. Lie to Me returns on September 28th with Christensen's episode. [Editor: New showrunner Shawn Ryan had teased the casting last week via Twitter.] (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Melanie Nicholls King (Law and Order), Enuka Okumu (24), Travis Milne (Bionic Woman), Ben Bass (Bury the Lead), Eric Johnson (Smallville), Matt Gordon (The Dresden Files), Noam Jenkins (The State Within), and Aidan Devine (A History of Violence) have all be added to the cast of the Canadian drama Copper, which will air Stateside on ABC. Project is shooting in Toronto and will wrap production in November. (Hollywood Reporter)

Producers on the CW's upcoming fall drama series The Beautiful Life are said to have come up with a contingency plan should Mischa Barton not be able to return to work when production on the series begins, according to unnamed sources cited by Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello. "Said plan involves the addition of a new female character to fill the void left by Barton," writes Ausiello. "While not a direct recast, the new recurring character -- tentatively named Jane -- would bear a striking resemblance to Barton's experienced supermodel, Sonja Stone. Casting is underway." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Syfy has announced that Stargate Universe will launch with a two-hour premiere on Friday, October 2nd at 9 pm ET/PT and Sanctuary will launch its second season the following week on October 9th at 10 pm. The cabler also slated telepic Open Graves, starring Eliza Dushku, for September 9th and a remake of Children of the Corn for September 26th and renewed Destination Truth for a third season, kicking off on September 9th while Scare Tactics returns on October 6th. (Variety)

John Schneider (Smallville) has joined the cast of the CW's 90210, where he will recur throughout the second season as the step-father of Matt Lanter's bad boy Liam. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Writer Matt Tarses (Worst Week) has signed a two-year overall deal with Sony Pictures Television, under which he will develop new half-hour comedy projects for the studio and will take the first project out to networks in the next few weeks rather than be immediately assigned to an existing Sony Pictures TV series. (Variety)

ABC has ordered reality series Shaq Vs., featuring Shaquille O'Neal as he competes against athletes at their own sports specialty. Series, from Media Rights Capital and Dick Clark Prods., will launch August 18th. (Hollywood Reporter)

Lifetime has cast Daniel Sunjata, Andie MacDowell, Diahann Carroll, Annabeth Gish, and Ashley Williams in telepics At Risk and The Front, both based on Patricia Cornwell novels. Both projects are written by John Pielmeier and will be directed by Tom McLoughlin. (Variety)

20th Century Fox Television has announced a corporate restructuring that will see marketing and communications split into two separate teams. Chris Alexander will oversee publicity and talent relations under the new organizational structure while Mark Pearson will head up marketing and research. Both report to Gary Newman and Dana Walden. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Comic-Con Update: Syfy Announces Panels, Talent For SDCC Next Month

After weeks of anticipation (and speculation), Syfy has finally announced which series they will be bringing down to San Diego Comic-Con next month.

The cabler will be offering panels based around Caprica and telepic Battlestar Galactica: The Plan, Eureka, Sanctuary, Warehouse 13, and Stargate Universe.

Additionally, Syfy will be taking over the Hard Rock Cafe and will re-brand the eatery as Eureka’s own “Cafe Diem” for entire breadth of the convention. Cafe Diem will be the focal point for many of Syfy's planned activities throughout the convention.

The full press release from Syfy can be be found below, along with dates and times (and descriptions) of each of their panels.

SCI FI FEATURES FAN FAVORITE SERIES AND STARS
AT COMIC-CON INTERNATIONAL 2009

New York, NY – June 30, 2009 – In keeping with its longstanding tradition of hosting some of Comic-Con’s most popular, crowd-pleasing events over the years, SCI FI Channel will once again feature some of its biggest hits – as well as its highly-anticipated new series – at this year’s Comic-Con International, held July 23-26 at the San Diego Convention Center. Fans will have the opportunity to see their favorite SCI FI stars and get the answers to all their burning questions at each of the Channel’s star-studded panels, including Warehouse 13, Eureka, Sanctuary, Stargate Universe, and Caprica/Battlestar Galactica: The Plan.

In addition, SCI FI will take over a restaurant at the Hard Rock Hotel, re-branding it as Eureka’s “Cafe Diem” for the duration of the convention. The fictional local hot spot heavily featured in the popular dramedy, Café Diem will be the hub of all SCI FI activities during the week.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Friday, July 24

10:30 AM-11:30 AM Stargate Universe
Ballroom 20
A new chapter of the Stargate saga begins with the all-new original series Stargate Universe. Join stars Robert Carlyle (Dr. Nicholas Rush), Brian J. Smith (1st Lt. Matthew Scott), Elyse Levesque (Chloe Armstrong), David Blue (Eli Wallace), Alaina Huffman (1st Lt. Tamara Johansen), Jamil Walker Smith (Master Sargeant Ronald Greer), and Ming-Na (Camile Wray) alongside Brad Wright (Series Co-Creator) and Robert Cooper (Series Co-Creator) as they take you through a gate you’ve never seen before.

11:45 AM-12:45 PM Caprica / Battlestar Galactica: The Plan
Ballroom 20
The present meets the past as the makers of Battlestar Galactica deliver the highly anticipated original series Caprica and the 2-hour event, Battlestar Galactica: The Plan, directed by Edward James Olmos. This is your chance to get the inside scoop on these exciting projects and see two generations of Adamas on stage together for the first time. Executive Producers Ronald D. Moore, David Eick and Jane Espenson sit down with Caprica star Esai Morales (Joseph Adama), and Battlestar Galactica’s Edward James Olmos (Admiral William Adama), director of The Plan, to reveal the truth about these two new chapters in the mythology of BSG. Moderated by Geoff Boucher, Los Angeles Times.

3:15 PM-4:15 PM Eureka
Room 6BCF
Eureka is back this summer with all new episodes, and Salli Richardson-Whitfield (Allison Blake), Erica Cerra (Jo Lupo), Neil Grayston (Douglas Fargo), and Jaime Paglia (Executive Producer/Co-Creator) are stopping by to let you in on the fun. Don’t miss your chance to see one of Comic Con’s most entertaining panels. Moderated by Josh Gates, Destination Truth.

8:30 PM-10:30 PM SCI FI Screening
Room 6DE
Warehouse 13 & Eureka will premiere every week this summer on SCI FI, but only Comic-Con fans can see them on the big screen. Join SCI FI for an exclusive screening of the next all-new episodes of the summer’s two hottest series, along with best of clips from Ghost Hunters.

Saturday, July 25

12:30 PM-1:30 PM Sanctuary
Bayside Hilton Indigo Room
Before Sanctuary returns for an all-new season, don’t miss your chance to go inside the action and behind the scenes. Join stars Amanda Tapping (Dr. Helen Magnus) and Robin Dunne (Dr. Will Zimmerman) as well as Martin Wood (Executive Producer) and Damian Kindler (Executive Producer) for an exclusive conversation about one of television’s most innovative shows. Moderated by Michael Logan, TV Guide.

2:15 PM-3:15 PM Warehouse 13
Room 6A
This summer, the unknown has an address in the new original series, Warehouse 13. Join stars Eddie McClintock (Pete Lattimer), Joanne Kelly (Myka Bering), Saul Rubinek (Artie Nielsen), Allison Scagliotti (Claudia Donovan), Jack Kenny (Executive Producer/Showrunner) and David Simkins (Executive Producer) as they reveal confidential information about America’s most classified secret. Moderated by Michael Logan, TV Guide.

Café Diem Hours of Operation:
Wednesday, July 22nd 6:30am-midnight
Thursday, July 23rd 6:30am-midnight
Friday, July 24th 6:30am-3am
Saturday, July 25th 6:30am-3am
Sunday, July 26th 6:30am-10pm

Channel Surfing: FOX Terminates "Sarah Connor," Amanda Tapping Reprises "Stargate" Role, "24" Moves to Manhattan, and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing.

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that FOX will not be renewing sophomore drama series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles for a third season. While the network has declined to comment on a cancellation, saying that they won't be announcing their fall schedule until May 18th, Ausiello has several unnamed insiders stating that the series is dead. "It's done," said one source. "Everyone has pretty much known for a couple of weeks." Ausiello was told by one network insider, "Consider it canceled." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

As previously reported, Richard Dean Anderson, Michael Shanks, and Gary Jones will reprise their roles from various Stargate franchise series in Sci Fi's upcoming series SGU: Stargate Universe. Also joining them in providing a guest starring role on the first season of the spin-off series is Amanda Tapping, who will reprise her role as astrophysicist Samantha Carter. Also on board for SGU are Christopher McDonald (The House Bunny) who will play Senator Alan Armstrong, the head of the International Oversight Committee and father of Chloe (Elyse Levesque); singer Janelle Monae will play herself and perform two songs; and Carlo Rota (24) will play Carl Strom, the head of the International Oversight Advisory. (Hollywood Reporter)

24's Day Eight will relocate its plot to New York City, after six seasons in Los Angeles and one based in Washington D.C. Day Eight also sees the return of CTU to the mix, with Mary Lynn Rajskub returning as Chloe and three new characters, as yet uncast, including CTU head Brian Hastings. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

HBO is developing comedy pilot Women's Studies, about a famous author who, after a turn as a feminist "it" girl, becomes a professor at a small liberal arts college. Project, which will be written by Theresa Rebeck (NYPD Blue), is being viewed as a potential vehicle for actress Julie White, who will co-write the story with Rebeck and Ben Karlin (The Daily Show). (Hollywood Reporter)

Nicolette Sheridan has lashed out at Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry following the demise of her character, Edie Blitt. "I think that whoever Edie represented in Marc’s life was somebody he didn’t like," Sheridan told TV Guide magazine. "And he had a very difficult time distinguishing between fact and fiction." To his defense, Cherry says that the decision to kill off Edie was story-based as well as financial. "There has been tremendous pressure put on me to find ways to cut costs," said Cherry. "The network is saying to all the shows: 'The company is really hurting financially. You must find a way to produce these shows more cheaply.'" (TV Guide)

Bravo is developing two scripted original series, a first for the network, entitled Blueprint and 30 Under 30. Blueprint, from writer Laurence Andries (Six Feet Under) and Alloy Entertainment, is a serialized dramedy that follows the lives of two best friends--one straight, the other gay--who run an architecture and interior design firm in Manhattan. 30 Under 30, from executive producers Jonathan Prince (American Dreams) and Alana Sanko, follows twenty-something power players in Manhattan, including a gossip blogger, a real estate agent, and an artist. The cabler also unveiled a slew of new reality projects, including American Artist, Design Sixx, Kell on Earth, Launch My Line, and The Fashion Show. (Hollywood Reporter)

A&E has yet to renew drama series The Beast, which stars Patrick Swayze and Travis Fimmel, for a second season. While the cabler is waiting to see how the final two segments of the freshman season perform, A&E president Bob DeBitetto said much of the decision rests on Swayze's shoulders and if he is willing to reprise his role for another season. "As has been the case from day one, it is all about Patrick — in a lot of ways," said DeBitetto. "It is about his condition, and when and whether he would be up for another grueling production schedule." (USA Today)

BBC One has cast Leonora Crichlow (Being Human), Dervla Kirwan (Doctor Who), and Michael Landes (Love Soup) in new six-part romantic comedy series Material Girl, about "a young fashion designer battling an evil ex-boss, a sexy but devilish business partner and snobby fashionistas to get her break in work and love." Series, produced by Carnival Film and Television, is set to air on BBC One later this year. (BBC)

TBS has ordered ten episodes of animated comedy Neighbors From Hell, about a family from Hell who moves into a suburban neighborhood in order to prevent people from spending eternity among fire and brimstone. Project, written by Pam Brady (South Park) and executive produced by Brady, Mireille Soria, and Jeffrey Katzenberg, will be produced by 20th Century Fox Television and DreamWorks Animation. (Variety)

Sony Pictures Television has signed a blind script deal with Nick Bakay (Paul Blart: Mall Cop), under which he will develop and write a comedy pilot script that will be produced through Happy Madison. (Hollywood Reporter)

The Los Angeles Times' Scott Collins wonders if things have finally turned around for NBC, which last week saw successful launches for new series Parks and Recreation and John Wells' Southland. Collins says that the network has remained flat in terms of audience retention year to year (while other nets have all decreased) and the audience for NBC has gotten younger: to a median age of 47.2 this year. (Los Angeles Times' Show Tracker)

Disgraced former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich will participate on NBC's upcoming reality competition series I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!, though the network was waiting for the judge overseeing Blagojevich's case to loosen travel restrictions as the series will be shot in Costa Rica. (TV Week)

Jailed former NFL player Michael Vicks, serving time for dogfighting conspiracy, is said to be in talks with producers for a reality series that would follow him after his release from prison in July and show him "make amends for his past." As for where such a series could end up, the article points to several unnamed insiders who point towards A&E and Spike as logical first pitches. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: NBC Exiles "Kings" to Saturday Nights, Thomas Calabro Returns to "Melrose Place," Liza Weil and Debra Mooney on "Grey's," and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing.

NBC has exiled struggling freshman drama Kings to the dire Saturday night at 8 pm timeslot, where the network will burn off the remaining installments beginning April 18th. In its former Sunday night slot, the Peacock will air two-hour episodes of Dateline NBC from 7-9 pm ET/PT. In its last outing, Kings captures a lowly 1.1/3 among adults 18-49 and 3.6 million viewers overall. (Variety)

Thomas Calabro will reprise his role as Dr. Michael Mancini in the CW's revival of Melrose Place in a recurring capacity. Casting marks the second former cast member from the original FOX series joining the cast of the updated Melrose Place as he'll join Laura Leighton, who will reprise her role as Sydney Andrews. Could these two have ended up unhappily-ever-after, after all? (Entertainment Weekly)

Liza Weil (Gilmore Girls) and Debra Mooney (Everwood) will guest star in Grey's Anatomy's two-hour season finale, set to air on ABC on May 14th. Weil, best known for her role as Paris Gellar on Gilmore Girls, will play "a cancer patient who crosses paths with Izzie," while Mooney will play the mother to Kevin McKidd's Owen. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Pilot casting alert: Leah Remini (The King of Queens) will star in ABC comedy pilot Don't Try This at Home (formerly known as the untitled Jeff Strauss comedy), where she will play a newspaper editor married to Matthew Lillard's character with three kids. Elsewhere at ABC, Rebecca Creskoff (Mad Men) been cast as one of the leads in comedy pilot This Little Piggy, and Spencer Breslin (Center of the Universe) has joined the cast of the untitled Anita Renfroe comedy pilot. (Hollywood Reporter)

FOX has ordered reality series Someone's Gotta Go, in which real businesses facing layoffs will let the employees decide who will get pink-slipped. Project, from Endemol USA, could be on the network's schedule by late summer or early fall. "It's Survivor meets The Office," said FOX reality chief Mike Darnell. "When someone is arbitrarily let go the first reaction usually is 'How come that person was fired when another idiot is still here?' This finally gives employees a chance to make that decision instead of a boss." (Variety)

Bravo has announced that the ten-episode culinary competition series Top Chef Masters will kick off on Wednesday, June 10th at 10 pm ET/PT. Series will be hosted by food journalist Kelly Choi and regular judges will include New York Magazine food critic Gael Greene, James Oseland, the editor-in-chief of Saveur, and British journalist Jay Rayner. 24 master chefs (including several that have appeared as guest judges on Top Chef) will compete to win $100,000 in money for charity in a format that resembles Top Chef's weekly Quickfire and Elimination Challenges. Guest judges for the season include Lost executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, How I Met Your Mother's Neil Patrick Harris, Zooey Deschanel, and Flipping Out's Jeff Lewis. (via press release)

Elsewhere at Bravo, the cabler will launch docusoap NY Prep, described as a real-life Gossip Girl, on Tuesday, June 16th, following the season finale of The Real Housewives of New Jersey. (Futon Critic)

ABC Family announced several new series debuts, including drama Make It or Break It launching June 22nd; half-hour comedy 10 Things I Hate About You launching July 7th; and half-hour multi-camera comedy Ruby and the Rockits on July 21. The Secret Life of the American Teenager will return with its second season on June 22nd; Lincoln Heights kicks off its fourth season on August 14th; and Season Three of Greek will debut on September 14th. (Variety)

ITV director of acquisitions Jay Kandola will step down from her position at the broadcaster in June following a corporate restructuring that saw the loss of hundreds of jobs and a refocusing of the network's acquisitions priorities, which will see US series as less of a priority. (Hollywood Reporter)

Michael Shanks will reprise his role as Daniel Jackson in a cameo appearance in the upcoming series premiere episode of Stargate Universe on Sci Fi, according to consulting producer Joseph Mallozzi. Also returning in some form to reprise their roles: Richard Dean Anderson and Gary Jones. (Digital Spy)

Nickelodeon has ordered two live-action pilots, including an untitled surfing single-camera comedy, from executive producer Tommy Lynch and writers Boyce Bugliari and Jamie McLaughlin (Quintuplets), about two high school surfers looking for the perfect wave and Telepathic, a multi-camera comedy, from executive producer Conan O'Brien and writer Darin Henry (The War at Home), about three teenage misfits who navigate the treacherous waters of high school aided by telepathic powers. (Hollywood Reporter)

The New York Post is reporting that MTV is looking at Washington D.C. as a locale for an upcoming season of its reality franchise The Real World and has placed an ad looking for an accountant for a 20-week shoot in the nation's capital. (New York Post)

A&E has ordered nine episodes of The Fugitive Chronicles," a hybrid docu-drama series that will recount some of the most memorable captures of fugitives over the last twenty years and present these stories in dramatized verite-style re-enactments told from the point of view of both law enforcement and the fugitive. Project, from RDF USA, will premiere later this year. (Hollywood Reporter)

Planet Green has renewed five series for second seasons, including: Emeril Green, Focus Earth with Bob Woodruff, Greensburg, Renovation Nation, and Wa$ted! All are expected to premiere new episodes during the week of April 19th-25th in celebration of Earth Day. (Broadcasting & Cable)

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: Showtime Passes on "L Word" Spin-off, Peter Gallagher to Raise Eyebrows on "Californication," Anna Torv Talks "Fringe," and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing.

Showtime has apparently passed on The L Word spin-off entitled The Farm, starring Leisha Hailey, and the Matthew Perry-led comedy The End of Steve. Neither pilot will be picked up to series, though the pay cabler has indicated that it is currently weighing fellow pilots Possible Side Effects, about a family-run pharmaceutical company from writer/executive producer Tim Robbins, and comedy Ronna and Beverly, from Jessica Chaffin, Jamie Denbo, and Jenji Kohan (Weeds). It's worth noting that Showtime has a whole slew of returning series including Californication, Dexter, The Tudors, Tracey Ullman's State of the Union, United States of Tara, Weeds, and Secret Diary of a Call, the latter two of which have already been renewed for two additional seasons, and is about to launch Edie Falco comedy Nurse Jackie. (Hollywood Reporter)

Peter Gallagher (The O.C.) has been cast in a multiple-episode story arc in Season Three of Showtime's Californication, where he will play a university dean who fights with David Duchovny's Hank. He joins the previously announced Kathleen Turner and Diane Farr. (Variety)

SCI FI Wire talks to Fringe's Anna Torv about the FOX series, slated to return with new episodes beginning next week. "We discover some things that happened to her when she was really little that she doesn't really remember," said Torv about the upcoming installments. "You start to see the stories, or the lives of Peter and Walter [John Noble] and Olivia kind of begin to interlace a little bit. And you sort of see how their paths have crossed before." (SCI FI Wire)

Kevin Rankin (Friday Night Lights) has been cast as one of the leads in NBC medical drama pilot Trauma, where he will play a paramedic. (Variety)

Gale Harold will return to ABC's Desperate Housewives on May 3rd, six months after being badly injured in a motorcycle accident. Executive producer Marc Cherry hasn't yet indicated whether Harold will return for Desperate Housewives' sixth season this fall but said that Harold's Jackson will turn up in May with a "very important question for Susan -- one that she's kind of stunned by." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Richard Dean Anderson (Stargate SG-1) will reprise his role as Jack O'Neil on Sci Fi's upcoming Stargate franchise spin-off series Stargate Universe. "Rick is doing episodes of Universe," said series co-creator Brad Wright. "He was just here yesterday shooting an episode of Universe with us. So that relationship is always on-going, and it’s good to have him back." (Gateworld)

Sony Pictures Television has extended an overall deal with Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan, under which he will remain on board AMC's Breaking Bad, which was recently renewed for a third season, as showrunner/executive producer while also developing new series projects for the studio. (Variety)

Also at the studio, ER executive producer/showrunner David Zabel has signed a two-script deal with Sony Pictures Television, under which Zabel will write two pilot scripts for the studio whose concepts are as yet undetermined. (Hollywood Reporter)

Oxygen has renewed reality series Bad Girls Club for a fourth season. (Variety)

Food Network has ordered six additional episodes of Daisy Martinez's Latin culinary series Viva Daisy! The episodes, produced by Watch Entertainment, will launch in July. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Season Five of "Lost" to Air Uninterrupted, "One Tree Hill" Creator to Pen "Melrose Place" Pilot, "NCIS" Spin-off Details, and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. I'm still in shock after last night's jaw-dropping episode of Skins on BBC America; fortunately, I've already got the season finale in my possession. Otherwise, I think I would explode from anticipation.

Lost fans can look forward to watching Season Five of the ABC hit without interruption, according to sources. However, the network has expressed some interest in stretching out the fifth season with one or two weeks off, in order to have the finale air closer to the end of May sweeps, so don't count this a done deal quite yet. (TV Guide)

It looks like One Tree Hill creator Mark Schwahn will write the script for the CW's update of Melrose Place, after all. That is, one a deal closes. Schwahn is currently under a deal at Warners, which produces One Tree Hill, and although he recently signed a deal with CBS Paramount Network Television, that deal does not start until June. Additionally, his current Warners deal calls for him to serve as an executive producer/showrunner on One Tree Hill, should the series be renewed for a seventh season. It's thought that Schwahn will write the script but not remain with Melrose Place past the pilot. (Hollywood Reporter)

ABC has ordered an untitled legal drama from Dave Hemingson. However, it's not quite the same pilot project that Hemingson shot earlier this year with 20th Century Fox Television about a law school grad (Matt Long) from a working class background who joins an LA law firm. ABC is said to be have liked the writing, the setting, and some of the cast (including Long) but wanted a project that was more dramatic than the untitled legal dramedy that Hemingson had created. While ABC had passed on the Hemingson project's previous incarnation in August, two other pilots are still said to be in contention for series orders, including Damon Wayans comedy Never Better and Warner Bros. fantasy Captain Cook's Extraordinary Atlas. (Hollywood Reporter)

TV Guide talks to Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles' Summer Glau about tonight's "midseason finale," in which some big surprises emerge, including a shocker about one character. Glau admits that she is hoping for a fight scene with Shirley Manson's character and says she has hopes that fans will follow them once the series moves to Fridays. (TV Guide)

Robert Carlyle (24: Redemption) has been cast as the lead in Sci Fi's new series Stargate Universe from Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis co-creators Brad Wright and Robert Cooper. The former Trainspotting star will play Dr. David Rush, the leader of a group of civilians "left to fend for themselves when forced through a Stargate after their hidden base comes under attack" who "emerge aboard an ancient ship missing in the far reaches of space." Rush works to unlock the ship's many mysteries and get the team home but he may have other motives as well. Sci Fi is expected to order 20 episodes of Stargate Universe. (Hollywood Reporter)

Michael Ausiello has scoop on character breakdowns for CBS' untitled NCIS spin-off series, which will shoot its pilot in late February. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

BBC One has ordered a second season of fantasy drama Merlin. Season Two will begin filming in 2009 on location in Wales and France. Other 2009 drama commissions for BBC One include new seasons of Spooks (a.k.a. MI-5), Ashes to Ashes, and Waking the Dead, along with new series Hope Springs and All the Small Things. (BBC)

Danny Comden (I'm With Her) will write and star in Temps, a multi-camera ABC comedy pilot from ABC studios that tracks the staff at a temp agency as they go out on various short-term jobs. Comden will play a 10-year temping veteran at the agency. (Hollywood Reporter)

NBC Universal has renewed daytime syndicated talkshow The Martha Stewart Show for a fifth season. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Sci Fi to Explore "Stargate Universe," Ben McKenzie Circles "LAPD," "Doctor Who," and More

Good morning and welcome to your Friday television briefing. I can't believe the weekend is finally here and I am definitely ready for some R&R over the next few days, though I am especially jealous that the Brits have off on Monday thanks to August Bank Holiday. (Lucky bastards!) I stayed in last night and watched the slightly soggy two-hour premiere of America's Next Top Model and now I can't get the incessant shrieking out of my head.

Speaking of the CW's launches, the netlet has bumped up the premiere of reality competition series Stylista by a week to October 22nd at 9 pm, directly behind a new episode of Top Model. The move comes shortly after the CW pushed the fashion competition series--from 10 by 10 Ent and Bankable--to October. I'm kind of curious to see Stylista's first episode and, based on the trailers and clips that I've seen, feel that this could be just the right sort of guilty pleasure to enjoy with Top Model. (TV Week)

Sci Fi giveth and it taketh away. The cabler, a day after announcing that the fifth season of Stargate Atlantis would be its last (plus a two-hour telepic in 2009), has finally unveiled the latest addition to the Stargate oeuvre in the form of new series Stargate Universe. New series, said to involve more "space-based action" than its predecessors and a "younger" vibe, will launch as a two-hour movie in early 2009 and then kick off as an ongoing series in Summer 2009. Plot revolves around a team of explorers who discover an unmanned ancient ship called the Destiny and must fend for themselves aboard the ship when they learn they cannot use it to return to Earth as it is on a pre-programmed course bound for the far reaches of the universe. Stargate Atlantis' Brad Wright and Robert Cooper will servce as co-creators/executive producers. (Hollywood Reporter)

David Anders (Alias) and Kandyse McClure (Battlestar Galactica) have been cast in Sci Fi's made-for-television remake of Children of the Corn, which will air next year. (Bloody Disgusting)

Travel Channel has acquired off-net cable rights to Seasons 12-14 of CBS' The Amazing Race, which it will air beginning September 3rd on Wednesdays at 8 pm. CBS is currently filming Season Thirteen of Amazing Race but Season Fourteen has yet to be officially greenlit. Could this mean that another season of TAR is all but guaranteed and we can take the series off of our perpetually on the bubble list? Only time will tell. (Variety)

Let's just hope there aren't any leather wristbands involved. Benjamin McKenzie (The O.C.) could be making a return to series television; he's said to be in talks with Warner Bros. Television, NBC, and John Wells Prods. about joining the cast of ensemble cop drama LAPD, about--you guessed it!--a group of police officers in Los Angeles on and off duty. Already cast in the project: Regina King (24), Kevin Alejandro (Shark), and Michael McGrady (Daybreak). (Hollywood Reporter)

John Hurt (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull), Cynthia Nixon (Sex and the City), Jonathan Tucker (The Black Donnellys), and Swoozie Kurtz (Pushing Daisies) cast in ITV drama An Englishman in New York, a followup to the 1975 telepic The Naked Civil Servant, about eccentric writer Quentin Crisp. Pic, produced for the British broadcaster by Leopard Films, is currently shooting in London and New York. (Variety)

Rupert Penry-Jones (Spooks) has been cast as the lead in telepic The 39 Steps, based on John Buchan's classic novel. He'll play Richard Hannay, who meets Scudder, a man who claims to be a British spy; but when Scudder ends up dead in Hannay's flat, he'll go on the run to to unmask a deadly conspiracy that threatens his life and the safety of Britain, teaming up with a feisty suffragette in order to stop an invasion. The 39 Steps will air at Christmas on BBC One. (BBC)

Finally, Catherine Tate has revealed that she is still holding out hope for the return of her character, Donna Noble, to Doctor Who, even after she had her memories erased at the end of Season Four. "I knew that there would definitely be an end to Donna, at the end of the series," Tate told Doctor Who magazine. "But had that not been the case, had it been open-ended, had there been potential for Donna to stay on for another series, I must confess that I'd have said 'yes' like a shot." While that might seem like a definitive answer, Tate isn't closing the door on a possible return. "Could Donna come back?" mused Tate. "Well, in science fiction, anything is possible." (Digital Spy)

Stay tuned.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Summer Olympics (NBC); Friday Night SmackDown (CW; 8-10 pm); Collateral (ABC; 8-10 pm); Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? (FOX)

9 pm: Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? (FOX)

10 pm: 20/20 (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

9:30 pm: Buffy the Vampire Slayer on HBO Zone.

No, I'm not talking about the brilliant Sarah Michelle Gellar-starring drama series that made us all fans of the genius Mr. Joss Whedon, but the original (and decidedly sub-par) film, which starred Kristy Swanson as the Slayer. And, yes, that is Paul Reubens.

Channel Surfing: "Stargate Atlantis" to End, Joel Silver Setting Up at HBO, "90210" Marathon, and More

Good morning one and all and welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. (Yes, the weekend is just within our grasp.)

Stargate Atlantis will wrap its run on Sci Fi when the fifth season concludes in January, but the cabler has ordered an untitled two-hour telepic that will air sometime in 2009, following the series finale. An official press release from Sci Fi is said to be forthcoming. (Multichannel News)

Joel Silver is back in television news headlines again (he's said to be in discussions with creator Rob Thomas and star Kristen Bell about a possible feature version of Veronica Mars): he's optioned Arthur T. Vanderbilt II's 1989 family history "Fortune's Children: The Fall of the House of Vanderbilt," about the famous clan's 20th century saga as they deal with "declining fortune, extravagances and social-climbing instincts." Silver plans to adapt the book into a possible series for pay cabler HBO; he and Jane Semel would executive produce the one-hour drama, with Jim Solomon (The Practice) writing and executive producing. (Variety)

ABC Studios has bought an autobiographical script from Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten "Kiwi" Smith (Legally Blonde, House Bunny) which it will develop with McCullah Lutz and Smith on board to write and executive produce, should the project get ordered to pilot. Deal came after a recent Los Angeles Times article detailed their work method, which can involve champagne and therapy, and pilot will revolve around their friendship, partnership, and adventures in Hollywood. (Hollywood Reporter)

Newsarama has sat down with Battlestar Galactica executive producer David Eick for a chat about what's to come for BSG and spin-off Caprica. And, yes, there will be more Battlestar webisodes. (Newsarama)

And, speaking of interviews, Joss talks Dollhouse, why the dolls' sleeping units shouldn't resemble coffins, and more. (Philadelphia Daily News)

Sophina Brown (Shark) has been cast as a series regular in CBS' crime procedural NUMB3RS, where she will play Nikki Betancourt, a street-savvy ex-LAPD officer with a law degree to boot who joins the team as their newest agent. (TV Guide)

And Battlestar Galactica's Mark Sheppard (whom you might also remember from Firefly) has confirmed that he will appear in several episodes of Dollhouse in early 2009. (SyFy Portal)

Cabler SOAPnet will be airing a 24-hour marathon of Beverly Hills 90210 starting at Midnight, Monday, September 1st, featuring 24 pivotal episodes of the series--including the pilot--in advance of the CW's launch of 90210 the following evening.

Lifetime has ordered six episodes of docuseries Blonde Charity Mafia, about three twenty-something socialities in Washington D.C. who are frequent faces on the fundraiser circuit. Series, produced by PB&J Television, is set to start production next month but the cabler has not issued an air date yet. (Variety)

Eddie Cibrian (Ugly Betty) has been cast in a three-episode arc on USA's The Starter Wife. Cibrian will play a detective investigating Molly (Debra Messing). No word on what this means about his role as Coach Diaz on Betty, though Cibrian was only secured to appear in four episodes this season... (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Finally, the New York Times has a fascinating article about diversity casting in television and how the Disney Channel and ABC (both owned by Disney) seem to be at the forefront of this trend. (New York Times)

Stay tuned.