TCA Diary: FOX Executive Session

"I'd be heartbroken if it went away."

That's FOX President of Entertainment Kevin Reilly talking about sci-fi drama Fringe as the TCA Winter Press Tour rolls on, with FOX's Kevin Reilly and Peter Rice addressing the press.

One topic widely expected to be discussed was the fate of FOX's Fringe, which will move from Thursdays to Fridays later this month.

Among the other topics raised at the low-key (a change for FOX, given the previous years', uh, traditional hubbub) executive session: the future of Lie to Me, House, and Bones, Terra Nova, Lone Star, and more.

So what did the two have to say? Let's take a look.

Fringe: "I beg you not to write the eulogy prematurely," said Reilly. "It's been in a four-way scripted race. I want that audience to transfer to Fridays."

And just like many of us, Reilly seems to really like Fringe: "I'd be heartbroken if it went away."

Reilly said that, with the move to the Friday night slot, Fringe is now more free to play to its fans, rather than try to bring in new viewers on a weekly basis.

"If we just transfer the ratings we have to Friday nights, we have significantly increased our audience in terms of number and quality," he said. If they can keep up the numbers--and the DVR numbers as well--Fringe could stick around "for many years to come."

So... if you watched Fringe when it aired on Thursdays, please watch it on Fringe

Lie to Me: "[Lie to Me] has developed a very loyal audience, where ever we put it." While its fate is still undecided, it doesn't depend on just whether The Chicago Code succeeds or fails, but all of the other midseason shows as well.

House and Bones: Reilly said that he anticipates that both House and Bones will return next season. Some contract negotiations going on behind the scenes but both shows are creatively strong.

Locke & Key: Reilly said supernatural drama pilot Locke & Key was originally intended for summer but it's now being looked at for elsewhere. "It's in the hopper for May and we'll see."

Lone Star: "We could talk a long time about it. We made a show that we really loved... Not enough people showed up to watch it," said Rice. "The truth is it failed. It failed to meet expectations we had... I'd much rather fail w/a show that we're creatively proud of."

Reilly said that the remaining six episodes of Lone Star could still air, but... "I can get you a discount on the box set," said Reilly.

Terra Nova: Rice said that Terra Nova is "on budget" and denies there are budget overruns, while Reilly said that director Alex Graves came in "right on budget" whilst shooting the two-hour pilot in the Australian rainforest.

Running Wilde: "I think I watered down Mitch's vision," said Reilly, joking. "I think the show was struggling to find its legs." He went on to say that it was a case of too little, too late when the show found its feet.

Glee Redux: Reilly on competitors' efforts to replicate Glee: "It will just make #Glee look that much better."

Development: "There is a long-term focus on what our schedule should be," said Rice. Same amount of money was spent on development this year, maybe even more, he said.

And that's a wrap for the executive session.

Day of the Dead: Inside Torchwood: Miracle Day

On Friday, Russell T Davies, Eve Myles, Bill Pullman, and Mekhi Phifer gathered at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour to tease some details about Starz/BBC's upcoming Torchwood launch, which had been codenamed Torchwood: The New World.

Up until now, very little information had been available about the ten-episode project, which is set to air Stateside on Starz beginning July 1st, airing day-and-date with the United Kingdom. John Barrowman's Captain Jack and Eve Myles' Gwen Cooper were back, some new characters were in the mix (look for Pullman, Phifer, Dichen Lachman, and others), and the action would be split between Cardiff and the United States.

So just what is this new season about? And how is it connected to Torchwood: Children of Earth? Read on.

For one thing, the title isn't Torchwood: The New World, but rather Torchwood: Miracle Day and the plot revolves around a very strange set of circumstances that connect both to the fate of the planet and Captain Jack Harkness himself.

"The premise is a miracle that happens to the world," said Davies on Friday. "It’s as simple as this, that one day on Earth no one dies. Not a single person on Earth dies. The next day no one dies. The next day no one dies and on and on and on. Now, the sixth day, the old stay old and keep getting older. The dying keep dying, but no one quite dies. The possibility of death ceases to exist. Great news for some people, but globally? That’s what the whole show is about."

"It’s an instant overnight population boom where, suddenly, the Earth relies on people dying. That’s how the whole system works: the food, the room, the temperature. So, suddenly, you’ve got a crisis affecting everyone on the planet, and that’s where the Torchwood team and our brand-new characters come in."

While the action may have shifted to a more global approach and there are far more American accents in the mix than before, don't think that this Torchwood is an entirely new beast. The fourth season still has a strong inherent link to the plot that has come before and it's a continuation of the story of Jack and Gwen.

“Torchwood has a history, Captain Jack has a history," Davies said. "It’s very important to say that, in many ways, while loving and embracing everything we have done in the past, this is a new start for Torchwood.”

Part of that new beginning is the introduction of several new characters. Phifer will play Rex Matheson, a CIA agent.

"[He] is a CIA agent, who is trying to figure out what Torchwood is and what’s happening and why the Earth is being targeted," said Phifer. "So he goes on this whole investigative tirade, if you will. He’s sort of a cocky, arrogant kind of guy and a little full of himself at certain points... But when it all hits the fan, he is very dedicated, very focused and really wants to help find out what the hell is going on here."

Meanwhile, Pullman will play a very different sort of character than you'd normally expect the one-time Independence Day star to take on.

"I [play] a convicted murderer and a pedophile," said Pullman to a shocked room of journos. "I’m put through lethal injections to be executed, and I live. That’s the beginning."

Regarding the casting of Bill Pullman, Davies joked, "I thought, I’ll get Bill Pullman in. I just need to make room for him. Put him to the sword to get the man. Yeah. It’s
actually a feature of Torchwood that I think promises to hold back a lot of more straightforward science fiction shows on big networks in that you get a cast of 12, and they are all under contract for seven years. So they all stay with you for seven years. Torchwood was always at a high body count because I think it makes the story stronger and more dangerous and more frightening. You cannot guarantee who here will survive, and I think that raises the stakes for everyone."

(I'd actually agree with that assessment.)

And, as mentioned earlier, the plot of Torchwood: Miracle Day hits home for Jack Harkness, afflicted as he is with immortality. Just don't expect the Doctor to turn up any time soon.

"Captain Jack is an immortal, and what we are talking about is the world turns immortal," said Davies. "So there’s an awful lot of story packed into that... We honor and respect history. There’s no break in continuity. There’s no fracturing. There’s fewer references to [Doctor Who], let's be honest, because we are making a show out here, they are making a show in Britain. It’s quite difficult to coordinate any sort of crossover. Neither would you want to because both shows have a fantastic identity of their own. But for those fans who like that sort of stuff, it’s still absolutely faithful, and [if] you get the odd little moment it will satisfy on that level."

Finally, Davies applauded the series' new home on premium cable network Starz.

"We are talking premium cable," he said. "We are talking about a channel that is dedicated to bold ideas and exciting ideas and stuff that you won’t fit onto a network, and that’s always what BBC One has been back home. That’s always what Torchwood has been in its various guises. So it’s been a good fit. It’s been a wonderful fit, and we’ve learned a lot. And once we hit filming, we’ll learn an awful lot more."

Production began today on Torchwood: Miracle Day, which will launch July 1st on Starz and internationally on the same day.

Winter Is Coming April 17th: HBO Announces Start Date for Game of Thrones

The date we've been waiting for is finally here.

HBO today announced a launch date for Game of Thrones, its adaptation of George R.R. Martin's novels.

That date? April 17th at 9 pm ET/PT.

(The pay cable network also announced the start date for its upcoming Kate Winslet-led miniseries Mildred Pierce, which will air its first installment on March 27th. The sizzle reel they showed made the mini look insanely amazing.)

As for Game of Thrones, I watched the 15-minute clip reel that HBO assembled and think that it looks extraordinary. Entire scenes have been reshot since the original pilot I saw last summer and several roles (in addition to the two major ones) have been recast. I also sat down with George R.R. Martin and David Benioff and Dan Weiss earlier today as a few of us joined the author and the series' executive producers for a series of roundtable discussions. More on that to come!

Stay tuned.

TCA Winter Press Tour Starts Today

It's that time of year once again: the start of the twice-yearly Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour.

As always, I'll be attending the press tour--held once again in Pasadena--and will be reporting and live-tweeting from the press confab as well as conducting one-on-one interviews for use at a later date.

Among the series and their talent being brought over for the press tour: HBO's hotly anticipated Game of Thrones, AMC's superlative thriller The Killing, Starz's Torchwood and Camelot, Mildred Pierce, Upstairs Downstairs, The Good Wife, Falling Skies, Franklin and Bash, IFC's Portlandia, A&E's Breakout Kings, Off the Map, The Chicago Code, Terra Nova, The Borgias, Shameless, Justified, and dozens more.

But I'm sadly skipping the journey to Pasadena today as I need write two features for The Daily Beast and start on a third. Stay tuned.

TCA Diary: Game of Thrones to Launch Spring 2011 on HBO

HBO teased a fifteen-second clip of its upcoming George R.R. Martin series Game of Thrones to critics on the final day of the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour.

At the executive session earlier this afternoon, the pay cabler declined to name an exact launch date for Game of Thrones but indicated that it would premiere in Spring 2011, possibly as early as March.

"It's about a quest for power and a quest for the kingdom," said Michael Lombardo, HBO president of programming, about the series, which is based on Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series.

"It was an easy answer," said Richard Plepler about picking up the project to series, considering it's a genre that HBO isn't typically known for and which isn't usually a favorite of Plepler or Lombardo. "It wasn't the genre that we responded to, it was the storytelling," he continued.

In other HBO-related news:

• True Blood: Alan Ball's involvement in upcoming drama pilot All Signs of Death will not affect his role running True Blood. (Not that I ever thought it would.)
• Eastbound and Down: Season Two of Eastbound and Down seems like it's heading to Mexico...
• No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency: "We are talking to our friends at the Weinstein Company to do two movies." Project won't come back as a series but may be resurrected as a series of TV movies, if deals can be made and scheduling go through. [Editor: fingers crossed.]
• Mildred Pierce: The five-hour Mildred Pierce miniseries, which stars Kate Winslet, Evan Rachel Wood, and Guy Pearce, is based on the book rather than the film itself. There are narrative and stylistic differences.
• Curb Your Enthusiasm: "Whatever Larry David is happy to keep doing, we're happy to keep doing with Larry David," said Plepler. They're taking Curb season by season. But the upcoming season--filming in New York and airing in 2011--needn't be the final run.
• Entourage: Entourage will end after next season, which will likely be six episodes long. It may then segue into a film.

Stay tuned.

Damages Report: Televisionary Talks to Rose Byrne and Executive Producer Daniel Zelman About Season Four

I'm already getting excited about the fourth season of serpentine legal thriller Damages, which moves from FX to DirecTV next year, following a landmark deal that brought the series back from the brink of cancellation and guaranteed a fourth and fifth season.

Quite a lot has changed since I spoke to creators Daniel Zelman, Glenn Kessler, and Todd A. Kessler for my Season Three postmortem over at The Daily Beast, not least of which is that surprising (and very welcome) two-season pickup and the series' move to the satcaster's The 101 Network.

At last night's Sony Pictures Television party at the Beverly Hilton's Bar 210, I caught up with executive producer/co-creator Daniel Zelman and series lead (and Emmy Award nominee) Rose Byrne to discuss Season Four of Damages, why things always come back to the dock outside Patty's beach house, where we might find Ellen Parsons, whether we'll see Tom Shayes (Tate Donovan) again, why Ellen seems to have forgiven Patty for trying to kill her and much more.

What follows is a Q&A-style transcript of my conversation with Zelman and Byrne (sporting her natural Aussie accent) amid last night's revelry, held at the end of a full day of FX sessions at the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour.

Televisionary: Congratulations to both of you on the pickup of Seasons Four and Five of Damages. What was your initial reaction after became clear that the deal between Sony Pictures Television and DirecTV would take?

Daniel Zelman: Well, to be honest, I was a little bit shocked. It's always such a longshot when these things happen. For a show to be moved from network to network is such a rare thing, as you know. But at the same time, we knew it was a possibility for a long time so we were very pleased that we would have the opportunity to tell more stories and write more for Rose... and Glenn.

[Byrne laughs.]

Televisionary: And Glenn too, of course. Ellen Parsons is an amazing character and you've done an incredible amount of work with her over the past three seasons and it seemed like she had finally made a decision about her future at the end of last season. Now that you're committed to two more seasons as Ellen, where are you hoping that KZK can take the character? Here's your chance to tell Daniel.

Rose Byrne: [Laughs.] My initial feeling was that they had wrapped all the stories up [at the end of Season Three], so I was wondering what's going to happen and what they would do next. But they were all so relaxed about that! [Laughs.] It was not any worry for them at all.

But I'm excited. I love working with Glenn. She always raises the bar in every scene and she's so much fun to work with. I've really grown to love being on a series. There's something very intimate about it. It's like a family. I'm a big television-watcher myself so I love being part of that world. [As for Ellen], I think they're up for the challenge.

Zelman: She's leaving it in our hands.

Byrne: [Laughs.] I have no ideas! No ideas!

Televisionary: Can you give us any hints then about where you might take Ellen in Season Four?

Byrne [to Zelman]: What are you going to do? Have you thought about it yet?

Zelman: We've thought about it. As soon as we got the news, we started to get into the season. It's so hard with our show to give things away as the surprises are so much a part of it. The best I can say is that Patty and Ellen are a part of each other's lives for better or for worse, but their history will always come back. Wherever they go together, they will never outrun their pasts.

For us, that's what's interesting about their relationship: it's developed its own mythology. There are certain things that have happened between the two women...

Televisionary: I know whenever any one tries to kill me, I keep them in my life. You want to keep them close.

[Byrne laughs.]

Zelman: We get that question a lot. All we can say is that that will never go away and that the past is always present in their relationship. We will continue to explore that theme.

Televisionary: In Season Three, we saw an amazing transformation in that relationship, in that we saw Ellen go off to the D.A.'s office and try to live a life that was separate from Patty Hewes before she gets pulled back into Patty's orbit. You've been the student in that relationship, you've been the adversary, but in Season Three, it seemed like we reached a plateau of friendship or equality between them.

Byrne: Absolutely. She needs her help by the end and she needs someone on her side. Ellen chooses to help her for her own reasons. That final scene on the dock, it certainly felt like they were equals by the end.

Televisionary: It always comes back to that dock, though. There have been some amazing showdowns over the years at the dock at Patty's beach house.

Zelman: The dock is a symbol for something and, when I figure it out, I'll tell you what it is.

[Byrne and I laugh.]

Zelman: Sometimes things just happen. We found that location and it just has taken on a meaning of its own and a life of its own within the show. There is a certain gravity to the dock. Before every season begins, we always know what scene is going to take place at the dock. I'm sure we'll be back at the dock for one reason or another.

Televisionary: We've seen throughout the seasons that people tend to come and go and return, even when they're dead. Is there any chance that Tate Donovan could show up in some form as Tom Shayes next season?

Zelman: There's a very good chance that Tate will be back. There's a very good chance.

Byrne: Really? Oh, I'm excited about that!

Zelman: Yes, there's a very good chance. We love him and we love the character and we love the person. He really is part of the soul of the show; there's no question of that. We always want to bring the soul of the show back to the show if at all possible. Same goes for Zeljko Ivanek [who plays Ray Fiske]. He always tends to come back and it's not always the plan going in but there's a gravity he has when he comes back.

In terms of Patty of Ellen's relationship, a lot of people have asked us last season, how does Ellen get past the fact that she tried to kill her. In our minds, part of how Ellen takes control of that and lives with that is by saying, I'm going to move past and I'm going to have control over Patty precisely because I'm not going to show her that I'm affected by it. There's a certain amount of denial that comes into that as well. Listen to this, Rose. [Laughs.]

Byrne: She's very pathological! I don't think she's very healthy. It's not a healthy thing to do, is it?

Zelman: So it might be that Ellen's behavior last season is something she can hold together for a while but not forever. Her anger and resentment about that always threatens to bubble up. The question is what will she do, especially now that she has all of Patty's skills at the ready?

Televisionary: Well, we've all seen Ellen's shotgun fantasy dreams.

Zelman: Yes! Also Wes [Timothy Olyphant] taught her how to shoot. She knows how to shoot.

Byrne: She does. She's got a lot of skills, Ellen. And she's just as duplicitous as Patty, really.

Televisionary: Where might we find Ellen in a career sense when we pick up with her again? Have you decided that yet?

Zelman: We actually have decided that. Well, we have a very strong idea about that, but we always like to improvise, so that could change. I just don't want to give it away because tuning into the first episode, there's always that question of where we will find these characters. Are they going to be together? Is Ellen going to be living in the same country? It's part of the fabric of the show. Where did she go after she left the dock and didn't get an answer to her question?

Byrne: She didn't get an answer.

Televisionary: Well, she sort of got an answer by not getting an answer.

Byrne: I guess that's the answer.

Televisionary: When do you go back into production? And is there a launch date yet?

Zelman: January. [As for the launch date], that is still being figured out.

Season Four of Damages will air next year on DirecTV's 101 Network.

Press Release: FX ORDERS PILOT PRODUCTION OF ALABAMA

FX ORDERS PILOT PRODUCTION OF ALABAMA

Comedy Pilot Co-Created By and Starring
Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon

LOS ANGELES, August 3, 2010 – FX has ordered pilot production of Alabama, a half-hour comedy co-created by and starring Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon (creators and stars of Reno 911!), today announced John Landgraf, President and General Manager, FX Networks.

Alabama, written by Garant and Lennon, is a comedy set a thousand years in the future, aboard the United Nations peacekeeping spaceship: THE USS ALABAMA. The series begins six years into their seven year mission to maintain peace and enforce treaties between planets in their jurisdiction: Sector 187-G. The show will follow the heart- pounding action as our crew visits hostile planets, meets alien life-forms, and tries to have sex with each other in their tiny, metal bunk beds.

“Working as an Executive Producer of Reno 911! alongside Ben and Tom was one of the great professional experiences of my career,” said Landgraf. “These guys are extremely talented writer/actor/producers. This script is hysterical and I’m thrilled that they chose to bring it to FX.”

Garant and Lennon are executive producers along with Peter Principato and Paul Young. The pilot will be produced by FX Productions and it will be shot in the Los Angeles area in September.

FX Productions co-produces the Emmy® and Golden Globe® award-winning Damages and Justified (with Sony Pictures Television), the critically acclaimed hit drama series Sons of Anarchy (with Fox 21) and the upcoming drama series Lights Out (with Fox Television Studios) starring Holt McCallany. FX Productions is the sole production entity of FX comedy series It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The League, Archer and Louie.

FX is the flagship general entertainment basic cable network from Fox. Launched in June of 1994, FX is carried in more than 96 million homes. The diverse schedule includes a growing roster of critically acclaimed and award-winning original series, an established film library of acquired box-office hit movies, and an impressive lineup of acquired hit series.

Press Release: FX LIKES LOUIE

FX LIKES LOUIE

Network Orders Second Season of Comedy Series Starring Louis C.K.
Seven All New Episodes Remain in Season One, Tuesdays at 11 PM ET/PT
With Season One Finishing with Two All New Back-to-Back Episodes Airing September 7

LOS ANGELES, August 3, 2010 – FX has ordered another season of its newest critically acclaimed comedy series Louie, starring actor/comedian Louis C.K., picking up a 13-episode second season, today announced John Landgraf, President and General Manager of FX Networks.

Seven all new episodes of Louie remain in season one, airing Tuesdays at 11 PM ET/PT, with the two final episodes airing back-to-back on September 7 at 11:00 PM and 11:30 PM behind the season three premier of Sons of Anarchy at 10:00 PM.

“Louis has made a truly original series – a comedy unlike anything on television, but perfect for his unique voice,” said Landgraf. “We are very happy with the show's performance and critical acclaim, and are delighted to move forward with a second season. With the pick up of Louie, FX has renewed all three new original comedies that the channel debuted over the last year.”

Louie is a comedy filtered through the observational humor of Louis C.K. Each episode puts a spotlight on Louis’ hectic life as a successful stand-up comedian and newly single father raising his two daughters. The single-camera comedy is a mix of Louis C.K.’s stand-up comedy and scripted stories. Louis C.K. serves as executive producer, writer and director, and Dave Becky and 3 Arts Entertainment are executive producers. FX has ordered 13 episodes of the series which is produced by FX Productions.

Through six episodes, on a first-run basis Louie is averaging 1 million total viewers and 727,000 Adults 18-49 (most current). On a weekly four-run telecast basis, with three episodes of complete data, Louie is averaging 2.5 million total viewers and 1.7 million Adults 18-49 (Live+7). On a Live+7 basis, with four episodes of data recorded, first-run episodes of Louie are averaging 1.2 million total viewers and 819,000 Adults 18-49. (Source: The Nielsen Company)

FX Productions co-produces the Emmy® and Golden Globe® award-winning Damages and Justified (with Sony Pictures Television), the critically acclaimed hit drama series Sons of Anarchy (with Fox 21) and the upcoming drama series Lights Out (with Fox Television Studios) starring Holt McCallany. FX Productions is the sole production entity of FX comedy series It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The League, Archer and Louie.

FX is the flagship general entertainment basic cable network from Fox. Launched in June of 1994, FX is carried in more than 96 million homes. The diverse schedule includes a growing roster of critically acclaimed and award-winning original series, an established film library of acquired box-office hit movies, and an impressive lineup of acquired hit series.

TCA Diary: FOX's Lone Star Session

FOX began its full slate of TCA programming this morning with a session for its new fall drama series, Lone Star, which revolves around a charismatic con man who is married to two very different women in two very different Texas towns.

Cast members James Wolk, Adrianne Palicki, Jon Voight, David Keith, Eloise Mumford, Mark Deklin, and Bryce Johnson joined executive producers Amy Lippman, Kyle Killen, Peter Horton, Kerry Kohansky, Chris Keyser, and director Marc Webb on stage to answer critics' questions about the drama series.

"I think the show will need to reinvent itself periodically and our challenge is to keep it going and keep it fresh and not to replay the same dynamic over and over again," said executive producer Amy Lippman. "We certainly have an understanding of where we are going it with it this season."

Should the series be renewed for a second season, Lippman says that the writers would look to turn the overall premise in a new way. There will also be numerous cons that will play through the season as well, said Chris Keyser, as well as the main con that Robert Allen is perpetrating. However, it will be set against the backdrop of a soap that enmeshes two families.

Series lead James Wolk has always loved acting, though admitted that his mother was an artist and his father a women's shoe salesman. Despite my own feelings about his performance in Lone Star's pilot, Wolk came across as charismatic and unerringly likable on the panel, though the creators did admit that they had originally envisioned his character, con man Robert/Bob Adler, as older. (As did I when I read the pilot script last winter.)

"Casting is a little bit [of a mystery]," said Chris Keyser. "We had originally thought of Bob as older."

The casting of Wolk led Keyser and the other executive producers to consider making Robert younger than they had originally intended and felt it opened up story possibilities about the time he spent with his father, etc.

But all of the producers underlined the fact that this will be a very aggressive series when it comes to plotting.

"We want to err on the side of being aggressive with plot," said creator Kyle Killen. "The things that you are interested in having answered, we want to be aggressive about taking them on... But it's not just about the Swiss watch mechanism of it all, it's about the characters and the situations that they approach they do as real people would."

"We want it to feel grounded and real," he continued. "And the bind that he's in to feel real."

And, like real people, Lone Star's characters aren't black and white when it comes to their actions.

"They are not all good and they are not all bad," said Lippman about the characters. "It is not all about the acquisition of money and power."

"I [sold] it as Dallas without the cheese," said Killen said of the pitch. "I like to think we’ll go a couple of seasons without hair-pulling cat fights."

"I have no idea if this is a good idea for a network show," he admitted. "If it's a failure, it's going to be a spectacular failure."

Killen says that Breaking Bad and Mad Men are "dirty words" in pitch meetings because they represent a small percentage of viewers.

"When he's present with us, he's so present and in the moment that there's no reason why either of us would assume he had another life," said Adrianne Palicki, who also told the audience that she will be appearing in the final two episodes of Friday Night Lights' fifth season, about her character's relationship with Robert.

"He honestly believes that we are his soul mates," said Eloise Mumford. "That's so sad, it's like we're split souls."

Meanwhile, Lippman said that viewers should expect surprises from the first batch of episodes. There will be at least two episodes among Lone Star's first seven eps that "feel different" to the others, said Lippman.



Lone Star premieres Monday, September 20th on FOX.

FOX Bumps Terra Nova to Fall 2011, Slates Sneak Peek for May

As expected, FOX has delayed launching time travel drama Terra Nova--from executive producers Steven Spielberg, Peter Chernin, Brannon Braga, David Fury, Jon Cassar, Aaron Kaplan, Katherine Pope, Justin Falvey, Darryl Frank, Craig Silverstein and Kelly Marcel--until fall of 2011.

The series, which stars Jason O'Mara (Life on Mars), will have a Glee-style preview next May before the official series launch later in the year. The pilot, which will be screened at that time, will be directed by Alex Graves, who previously helmed the pilots for Journeyman and Fringe.

The full press release from FOX about the scheduling can be found below.

NEW EPIC FAMILY ADVENTURE “TERRA NOVA” TO PREVIEW IN MAY
PRIOR TO PREMIERING ON FOX IN FALL 2011

Series Executive-Produced by Steven Spielberg, Peter Chernin,
Brannon Braga, David Fury, Jon Cassar, Aaron Kaplan, Katherine Pope,
Justin Falvey, Darryl Frank, Craig Silverstein and Kelly Marcel

Alex Graves To Direct Pilot Episode
With Series Set to Film On Location in Australia

Jason O’Mara Confirmed in Lead Role
TERRA NOVA, the new family adventure drama series executive-produced by Steven Spielberg, Peter Chernin, Brannon Braga and David Fury, will preview in May 2011 on FOX prior to its series premiere in the fall.

Jason O’Mara (“Life on Mars”) has been cast in the lead role of JIM SHANNON, the patriarch of the show’s central family. As previously announced, Emmy Award winner Alex Graves (FRINGE) will direct the pilot, and Emmy Award-winning executive producer and director Jon Cassar (“24”) has joined the series as an executive producer and series director.

“TERRA NOVA will be one of the most visually stimulating and dramatically grand series to air on network television,” said Kevin Reilly, President of Entertainment, Fox Broadcasting Company. “It deserves to have an equally unique launch to distinguish that the show is unlike any other, and the spring promotional platform will give us the perfect opportunity to introduce this bold show to audiences.”

TERRA NOVA, an epic family adventure 85 million years in the making, follows an ordinary family embarking on an incredible journey back in time to prehistoric Earth as a small part of a massive experiment to save the human race. In the year 2149 the world is dying. The planet is overdeveloped, overcrowded and overpolluted. Knowing there is no way to reverse the damage to the planet, a coalition of scientists has managed to open up a fracture in the space-time continuum, creating a portal to prehistoric Earth. This doorway leads to an amazing world, one that allows for a last-ditch effort to save the human race…possibly changing the future by correcting the mistakes of the past.

The series centers on the Shannon family as they join the tenth pilgrimage of settlers to TERRA NOVA, the first colony of humans in this second chance for civilization. JIM SHANNON (O’Mara), a devoted father with a checkered past, guides his family – wife ELISABETH and children JOSH and MADDY – through this new land of limitless beauty, mystery and terror. In addition to blue skies, rolling rivers and lush vegetation, TERRA NOVA offers new opportunities and fresh beginnings to its recent arrivals, but the Shannons have brought with them a familial secret that may threaten their citizenship in this utopia. These adventurers soon discover that this healthy, vibrant world is not as idyllic as it initially appears. The areas surrounding TERRA NOVA are filled with dangerous dinosaurs and other prehistoric threats, as well as external forces that may be intent on destroying this new world before it begins.

TERRA NOVA is produced by 20th Century Fox Television, DreamWorks Television, Kapital Entertainment and Chernin Entertainment. Steven Spielberg, Peter Chernin, Brannon Braga, David Fury, Jon Cassar, Aaron Kaplan, Katherine Pope, Justin Falvey, Darryl Frank, Craig Silverstein and Kelly Marcel serve as executive producers. Alex Graves will direct the pilot episode.

TCA Diary: Eric Stonestreet Talks Season Two of Modern Family, Emmy Nominations, Wedding Bells?

At the arranged coffee break with the cast and creators of ABC's Modern Family, Eric Stonestreet--nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Emmy Award for his star-making turn as Cameron--expressed far too much modesty when discussing his nomination for an actor who is so perfectly cast in a breakout role.

"To actually have people nominate me is beyond my comprehension," said Stonestreet about the Emmy nomination. "I think Ty [Burell] has a great shot at it. I told him from basically episode three that he was going to win the Emmy... But I just want to keep it in the family. I just hope that one of us is fortunate enough to be able to win."

Stonestreet said that he has saved a voicemail message from his father in which tearfully reacted to news of the nomination. "It says everything a 68-year-old Kansas man can say in three words: "Congratulations, Eric. Con-grat-u-lations.' And it's all through tears."

Just don't expect Stonestreet to parade naked down Sunset waving, if he wins the Emmy. "I don't think anybody wants to see me naked," said Stonestreet. "We've created too much fun of a character for us to ever see Cameron's back hair. I don't think anybody ever needs to see that."

"Our first episode is entitled 'Earthquake,'" teased Stonestreet about the second season. "It's a little rumbler that turns into different things for each of the three families."

"I wouldn't say [Cameron] takes it all in stride," said Stonestreet, chuckling. "I think he's a little shaken. It catapults us into something for sure."

Stonestreet said that he's looking forward to getting to know more about Cameron's life in Kansas and his family.

"I'm excited to meet Cam's mom and family," he said. "That's going to be great. I originally wanted Kathy Bates [to play Cam's mom] but with her on The Office, I don't think it was that interesting for her to be on another [comedy]. Then I've thrown out Delta Burke as an idea. I just want someone loving and sweet. Who helped Cameron bloom into the guy that he is is someone down home and loving and fun, like my mom in real life. Maybe she could audition for the part."

Any chance of wedding bells ringing out for Cameron and Mitchell?

"I think that's going to happen," said Stonesteet. "Maybe not with the current legality about it or if that would be a destination, like maybe us going somewhere where gay marriage is legal. But, yeah, in the arc of the show, there's no doubt that that's going to happen but they have to save these great things for another time... There have to be moments [withheld until later] because we want to be on the air for seven years."

"We will get there eventually," he continued. "I just love how they've created Cameron and Mitchell. I'm real proud of the characters."

So how is Stonestreet handling being a cult hero among the gay community?

"I love it," said Stonestreet. "I just always as an actor wanted to play a character and the fact that this character is what people are getting to know me for and how much people have responded to Jesse [Tyler Ferguson] and me and the show is just a lot. To me, it just opened up another area of fans. I have female fans and mom and dad fans and a whole new genre of fans. I get lots of hugs and 'I can't believe you're straight' comments and 'Would you turn gay for me for an hour' kind of things. I'm flattered by all of it."

Then again, Stonestreet said he's just happy to have a job with some security.

"All I've ever wanted was a job," he said. "A job that I knew I could have for more than a day or more than three days. That's been my career for 14 years. Anything on top of having a job, of it being a good show, of it being a critically acclaimed show, being a nominated show, fans, is all icing on the cake. It's just awesome."

"I'm surprised by how much this show means to people," he continued. "Every person in the cast would tell you... we've had crying, heartfelt, emotional moments of 'you are my connection to happiness.' I've literally had a person tell me that she was having an awful year and that our show and me personally were her connection to happiness. That's a really powerful thing to be told. I take that with a great deal of responsibility."

So what's his take on Cameron? "I like to think of Cameron as 'floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee,'" he said. "Like Mohammed Ali-esque in a few ways. I want him to be an expressive person with his body. The shirts, all that stuff helps. I get the opportunity to say the words but I tell our whole crew--the hair, makeup, and costume [departments]--that you have the really awesome opportunity and burden to help bring my character to life because I rely on how my shoes feel when I'm Cameron."

"I get to help pick fabrics and stuff," he continued. "I said from the beginning that I wanted Cameron to be the type of housewife or househusband, if you will, [in this way]. There are housewives across America who wake up and keep their sweatpants and bedclothes on and take care of their kids and then there are housewives who, while their husbands are still home, go curl their hair and put on their makeup. Cameron curls his hair and puts on his makeup. He definitely takes the time to get himself ready so that if anything happens he is ready to go out into the world and be presentable."

Season Two of Modern Family launches this fall on ABC.

TCA Diary: Modern Family Co-Creator Steve Levitan on Steve McPherson's Departure

ABC took a break from their marathon of sessions today at the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour to offer a much needed coffee break with the creators and cast of the ABC hit comedy Modern Family, nominated for 14 Emmy Awards.

The series, produced by 20th Century Fox Television, was one of the bright spots this past season on ABC's schedule and was championed by ABC Entertainment president Steve McPherson, who resigned from the network last week amid allegations of an internal probe.

Steve Levitan, co-creator of Modern Family and a long-time friend to McPherson offered a few words about McPherson's departure and his own personal reactions during an informal interview with me and a group of other reporters in the foyer of the ballroom.

"My genuine reaction was, uh, that sucks," he said in regard to McPherson's departure from ABC last week. "I'm sorry to hear it."

"We've had the best of Steve on our show," he continued. "He's a long-time friend. He was a mid-level network executive on Just Shoot Me. We go way back. We took Modern Family to ABC in large part because of Steve and because of that relationship and because he promised us that he would launch us well, which he did."

"He's always been a straight-shooter. While I hear wonderful things about Paul Lee, certainly I'm very sorry, on a personal level, to see Steve go. I like people who shoot from the hip and you knew where you stood with Steve and I respect that."

Meanwhile, Levitan also revealed that Nathan Lane will guest star on Season Two of Modern Family, where he will play the often-mentioned-but-never-seen Pepper, one of Mitchell and Cam's friends.

Season Two of Modern Family launches this fall on ABC.

Elephant in the Room: ABC Executive Session with Paul Lee

Appearing at the start of ABC's day on the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour, Steven Brockman walked on the stage with a large pink elephant before saying of Steve McPherson, "Tuesday's statement still holds. It is literally all we are going to say on the subject."

It was perhaps an effort to address the elephant in the room--the sudden resignation of entertainment president Steve McPherson from the network last week amid allegations of an internal probe--but critics were already baying for blood.

The network's sacrificial lamb--newly installed ABC entertainment president Paul Lee--took to the stage after a session for ABC's new cop drama Detroit 1-8-7 was braced for an onslaught of questions about McPherson's resignation and that alleged probe.

"Really, this is my first course of duty," said Lee. "I've been on the job 36 hours."

But the Brit--an Oxford graduate who previously held positions at BBC One and Two, BBC America, and ABC Family--firmly refused to answer questions about Steve McPherson, instead attempting to disarm the crowd with his laid-back style, cut-glass accent, and polite deflection.

"I am, as you can guess, super unprepared," said Lee, after removing his suit jacket and addressing the crowd in his shirt-sleeves. The one thing he is sure about at this point? "I know that Modern Family should win the Emmy for best comedy this year."

Lee's presence on the stage today was a trial by fire for the executive who faced a ballroom filled with critics and reporters, each extremely curious about just what is going down at the Alphabet.

"There's a lot more people here than when we were launching Wildfire on ABC Family," he joked.

"I am a big fan of the network," said Lee, who said that he was already familiar with the network's programming and pilots from his role at ABC Family, given the cross-network promotional support that ABC series receive on the cabler.

"I've just been on vacation," said Lee, laughing genially. "I'm not answering your question! I've been dealing with my family. I can't really answer that." As for where Lee was on vacation--it had been widely reported he was in London--Lee was furtive about revealing details, other than saying alternately he was "on the beach," "a drive away," and "up the coast," before demurring that his wife would be angry if he revealed more. (His Irish wife, meanwhile, provided a convenient callback throughout the executive session.)

"I was very honored to be offered the job by Anne and to take it, but I can't talk about what happened with Steve," said Lee when pressed about the issue of his predecessor at the network.

"Quality storytelling is what it's all about," said Lee, naming a long list of ABC series that he admires, from comedies like Modern Family and dramas like Grey's Anatomy to reality programming like The Bachelor. "I think there's a whole lot of grand equity there."

His mission at ABC? "[To] take some risks, make some great shows, and still have some surprises... it's going to be great fun."

He also praised the quality of talent at the network, both in front of the camera and in the writers rooms. "There's an amazingly talented group of showrunners that go through the shows here... I think we've got a very strong lineup coming in."

Would Lee, following his experiences at ABC Family, look to rebuild TGIF or shift any specific programming from ABC Family? "They're different audiences... We went out of our way to identify a millennial audience and [ABC] is a key 18-49 demo... They are very different networks."

On testing: "I remember when we tested the British Office, it was the worst tested show I have ever seen in my whole career but that was because it took risks."

No Ordinary Family: "Genre shows over the history of broadcast have done extremely well... This is a family show. There are entry points for people of all ages."

"There's no question that this is a more difficult job than running ABC Family... We are all slaves to ratings," admits Paul Lee. "I had a show called Middleman that I loved. I adored that show. It was the wrong show for the network."

As for adding a second night of comedy to the lineup, it's not out of the question but won't be something htat will happen overnight. "I'd love to be in a position to add a second night [of comedy] but it's too soon," said Lee.

Still, there will be no changes prior to premiere week, as the ABC schedule is already "locked and loaded."

As for the state of ABC at the moment, here's what Lee had to say: "The reality is that we have had some real defining brands over the years, we have a really strong slate coming up... We do have our work cut out to do a lot. Everybody who sits in these jobs has to do that... I do think there's work."

"A deep gut is critical to this job. It's all about stories. And stories are about emotions."

While it can't have been easy for Lee to stare down the circling lions in the room, I do have to say that he acquitted himself quite handily, charming the audience with witty banter, an easy approachability, and casual savoir-faire. I'm curious to see just how Lee will put his own imprint on ABC in the months to come.

TCA Diary: Season Five of Dexter About "Atonement"

At today's Dexter session at the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour, the cast and crew of the Showtime serial killer drama united on stage--a week after appearing in San Diego to promote the series--to discuss the fifth season, how Julie Benz's Rita fits into the overarching storyline, whether there will be another season-long big bag, and other bloody good fun coming up on the series.

Joining the panel: Michael C. Hall, Jennifer Carpenter, James Remar, C.S. Lee, executive producers Sara Colleton and John Goldwyn and newly minted showrunner Chip Johannessen, who took to the stage after a teaser trailer that showed the bloody aftermath of the carnage in the fourth season finale.

"No," said Sara Colleton answering a question as to whether Seasons Four and Five were planned in concert with one another. "We rarely go beyond one year because we have to have a season arc that has a beginning and a finish... At the end of Season Four, it quickly became clear to us what Season Five was about... The audience had to see what the blowback would be for his culpability in Rita's death. To cheat that would be to cheat our audience."

Will Vince Masuka (Lee) gain any insight about Dexter's secret this season?

"I certainly think it’s a possibility," said Lee. "He works in close proximity with Dexter, and we share labs. That certainly can happen. I certainly hope he doesn’t get too close to that. He will have to be the next one to go."

So will Dexter reveal himself to anyone else in the department?

"The short answer would be no," said Hall. "I think Dexter relishes opportunities to reveal himself covertly and say things that are true on one level but only experiences true on another level by whoever he’s talking to. But, no, I don’t think so. I certainly hope not."

Other than Dexter, Carpenter's Deb had the craziest story arc in Season Four. Carpenter herself agreed.

"I think her arc has been extreme," she said. "I spend a lot of time justifying how she’s not in a straitjacket at this point, and what I’m learning is that life on this show happens not only in TV time, but also in Dexter time. So the healing process is really rapid, and it’s hard to not — because I am so much more emotional than Dexter is, it’s hard to not carry pieces of that into every scene."

"How it unfolds this year, I look at the other cops in the bull pen, and I’m one of them now. Like, they all have this sort of wretched experience they walk around with. And I think she’s sort of playing the game. It’s a new strength, but it’s also just compartmentalizing in a way that she hasn’t before."

This season, the task force gets closer than ever to catching Dexter. How often can the producers go to that well and have him slip away?

"The last time it happened, there was, on the one hand, the big investigation, but there was also the personal version of that, which was the character Doakes, who was going after Dexter, but he wasn’t armed up with a lot of information,
right?" asked Johannessen. "He just had a sense that this guy was bad. [The task force is] going to be spearheaded by Quinn in some form this year, and it’s really going to
look a lot different because, first of all, he’s going to have more actual information. He’s not going to be this bull in a china shop just going after Dexter. And the other thing is, because he isn’t the bull in a china shop, this sort of outsider in the bull pen, Quinn has found a home there, which is one of the nice things about this show, that there’s this kind of work environment that feels very family-like. He’s going to have a much, much more difficult time eventually pushing forward with this investigation as kind of the personal relationships around him weigh on him. So it’s going to look a lot different."

"I guess anybody could find out [about Dexter], but the one that really, really matters, I think, is Deb, the one that matters to all of us emotionally," he said. "So
that’s the important person to track, I think, in terms of finding out more about him, having suspicions about him."

As for the change at Dexter's helm, the producers were quick to play up the seamlessness of the handover between Clyde Phillips and Chip Johannessen.

"Clyde was a fabulous addition and will always be sort of part of the emeritus part of the Dexter family," said Sara Colleton. "He was our showrunner, and now we have Chip. And it has been about as seamless as these things go because we have the remaining pillars in the writing room. And the central idea of Dexter is so strong and so provocative, and we feel that as long as every year we feel there is a new human territory to push Dexter through that mine field, rather than is he going to get caught, is really what brings our audience to us, and so — and particularly after the season arc last year. It was the perfect time, after four years, to bring a fresh view and some new blood. So it’s been about as seamless as it can be."

"The one thing I want to add to that, to Sara, is we were very lucky to get Chip because Chip was a fan, and so he knew the show well," added John Goldwyn. "He knew all of the intimate aspects of the characters, and so he came to it with this wealth of knowledge about Dexter and about all of the characters in the show and the important themes and that sense of discovery that Dexter goes through in every season. So we weren’t starting off with somebody who didn’t have an intimate knowledge of the show and real appreciation, but we were very lucky in that regard."

The producers weren't, however, so keen to offer information about who the huge guest cast will be playing this upcoming season, other than Katherine Moennig, who will play Masuka's friend Debra.

"She plays a tattoo artist, and I take Debra to meet her," said Lee. "We just shot it yesterday, and she’s a wonderful actor and we had a good time."

"Because there’s a tattoo that is a part of the big crime that Miami Metro is solving this year," added Colleton, "Deb has found a clue and so they need to go
to a tattoo artist to get more information."

Meanwhile, Peter Weller's character was actually informed by, er, Peter Weller himself.

"Well, Peter Weller was part of the original pitch to Showtime," said Johannessen. "He’s going to be a big problem for Dexter, especially in the back parlor. We called him Weller when we originally conceived him, and then we had to change the name once we got the guy we had actually wanted. So he’s kind of an ex-cop, a kind of Cocaine Cowboys-era guy who gets into some trouble with the corruption thing and ends up kind of posing a problem for Dexter."

"One of the things to help you understand, we are taking a break this year from what has been the way we’ve plotted out our seasons in the past four years, which is to have one, sort of, season-long adversary for Dexter," added Coletton. "And we thought this was the perfect year, because of what Dexter has gone through, to take a break from that. And so, as he’s going through different stages of his grief, really, even
though, for Dexter, it’s completely unarticulated and it’s a range of human emotion that he doesn’t know what he’s feeling, but as he goes through different stages,
there will be different characters who will come in, who will interact. And so, as the season progresses, some of these characters interlock, but the through line is, this year, Dexter’s atonement, and different people help him along the way in different
capacities. And that’s why we have a very interesting array of new actors."

(So no details there.)

"We have an ensemble this year with Johnny Lee Miller and obviously Julia Stiles and others that help illuminate what Sara is talking about, which is this
discovery of atonement," said Goldwyn.

"One of the things we wanted to do this year was shake up that single big bad, especially in the wake of John Lithgow, and it did seem like the thing to do was try to top the baroque serial killer thing," said Johannessen. "And also, given where Dexter was coming from, it does become a series about atonement. He’s not a character who experiences guilt or grief like any of us would. So it’s not his intention starting out, but the season kind of becomes about this as he slides into it. As Michael sometimes says, he trips into it, this kind of oddly human experience, at a time where he just feels that everything that he has done that had to do with connecting with humanity has melted down in this horrible, horrible way. And the last thing he wants to do is be involved with people, and yet part of the amazing thing about this character, who is so outside of everybody and so alienated, is that he keeps trying to claw his way back in. In the wake of Rita’s death, you see that over the course, really, of the whole season."

Hall said that he did tried to approach what was coming without advance knowledge of Rita's death at the end of last season.

"I really tried, while I consciously knew that’s where things were headed — I really tried to approach everything that led up to it without that foreknowledge and decided I’d just cross that acting bridge when it revealed itself," Hall said. "But what’s
interesting is this idea of atonement, this idea that Dexter is forced, through what’s written, into those situations where he has to step into waters that he never anticipated stepping in, and it starts out subterranean, but there is some sort of appetite to address his maybe not even consciously acknowledged sense of guilt or remorse or need for atonement, and the circumstances of his life sort of manifest an
opportunity to do that in a way that he doesn’t create consciously."

Just don't expect Dexter to lose his hold on his sanity this season.

"No," said Colleton. "Don’t forget he’s now a single dad, so he has some responsibilities that are really serious. And like all single dads, they don’t know until the wife is gone just how much that means."

"I think one of the things that Dexter is examining this season, though, is his involvement in some way, or perhaps even a little bit his culpability, in the death of Rita," said Goldwyn, "which leads to what Sara mentioned earlier which is the theme of atonement, which is illuminated and dramatized over the course of this year."

"The forum that Dexter takes to achieve atonement is not in a forum that is conventional by any means," added Colleton, "and it will be through the very unique prism of Dexter’s special needs, and that’s what makes it very original."

"[Dexter] saw his mother sawed up in front of him in this container," said Johannessen. "He was born in blood. He now has this adult origin story in a way in the way he brought his own life into this horrible mess that it’s turned into, which is very relatable the way we all kind of melt down our existences, so we’re trying to give it kind of the huge cosmic space it deserves, which is this is almost like a second origin thing in his life and that event at the end of Season Four will kind of... filter through it in the same way that his original story filtered through Season One."

So how will Rita be appearing in Season Five? Will she be handled in the same way that Dexter's dad (Remar) is?

"In this show Harry serves a very unique purpose," said Colleton, "and to dilute that in any way would, I think, fundamentally harm the DNA of our show."

"He’s the only one with keys to that room," added Hall.

"You’ll be seeing her more than dead in a bathtub, for sure," teased Johannessen.

Season Five of Dexter premieres Sunday, September 26th on Showtime.

Crossing the Pond: Showtime's Episodes Session at TCA

On the comedy front, if there's one series that I'm anxiously awaiting, it's Showtime's Episodes, co-produced with Auntie Beeb. The Hollywood skewering series--which stars Matt LeBlanc, Tamsin Greig, Stephen Mangan, John Pankow, Mircea Monroe, and Kathleen Perkins--was created by former Friends writer/producers David Crane and Jeffrey Klarik and executive produced by British television god Jimmy Mulville.

Episodes explores just what happens to a pair of British television creators when an American broadcast network brings them over to Los Angeles to create a US version of their hit show... and saddles them with Matt LeBlanc.

For LeBlanc, he maintains that he's not playing himself. At all.

"It's not really myself," said LeBlanc. "It's a character that David and Jeffrey wrote that happens to have the same name as me. There are some similarities. For the most part, it's a fictitious character."

"Things go from bad to worse," said Mulville about the journey that the fictitious producers go on when they arrive in Los Angeles. "I mean, the journey of taking an English hit show to America, believe or not, things can go
wrong."

"I think what happens to the couple is not about television," he continued. "This whole thing is about a triangle. Beverly and Sean come to Hollywood. He wants to go there. She’s reluctant, but she loves him. So she goes, and they try and make this work. Enter Matt LeBlanc. There the triangle is formed, and it’s about that, really. It’s about a comedy about these three people and the characters at the network, the brilliant characters very beautifully drawn at the network, and they all conspires to make a mess of these people’s lives. So a marriage goes through a real crisis, and the backdrop is this crazy world of network TV, which apparently Jeffrey and David know quite well."

But don't ask them about whether Hollywood-centric television shows have a tendency to crash and burn.

"How many seasons did Entourage go?" said Tamsin Greig (Black Books). "I mean that was a show about the business, and I think it was pretty successful."

"Generally, people think that the TV and film industry is right up its own ass, and, you know, rather like looking into a badly run crash, and who would be interested in that?" continued Greig. "But what part of life isn’t and doesn’t look like a badly run crash? Maybe that’s why it’s interesting and funny and dramatic."

After all, the show business aspect isn't the whole series, said the creators.

"It’s sort of about show business like I Love Lucy was about show business," said Jeffrey Klarik. "It’s really on the periphery of all of our stories. The story’s really about the three of them and their dynamic."

"Hopefully that’s what the audience will invest in because if it were just satire television, you’re right," David Crane chimed in. "Then after awhile, fine. But it’s really about what happens between the people."

Why did it take LeBlanc so long to get back on television post-Joey?

"There was a few network shows that came and went that crossed my desk, and I said no to," said LeBlanc. "I just took the time [off]. 12 years, every day, was a lot. It was a great time, but I wanted to take some time off and spend time with my daughter and just sort of take some time away from the business. It’s nice to be back now in something... with writing that I have real faith in, with a cast that’s really talented, and it was a lot of fun. It was a little different. This is single camera versus multi-camera in front of an audience. So when the punch lines come up and you say the punch line and there’s no crowd laughing, it’s a little unnerving. But aside from that, I think we had a really good time, and I think it shows."

LeBlanc isn't the only one a little out of his comfort zone. For Klarik and Crane, who co-created the short-lived CBS comedy The Class, it was disconcerting to contemplate going back to the television business.

"David was bored and wanted to go back to work, and I said, 'No,'" recalled Klarik. "I said the only way I’ll go back to work is if we can do it someplace where we’re under the radar and we don’t get pummeled like we did last time. The last time
I felt like a puppy in a dryer, in a clothes dryer. I mean, it was just torture. So I said, 'Okay. Let’s do this, but let’s go to England where they leave you alone and let you do what you want.' So we met Jimmy."

"It started out as a project for BBC, and then it became a project for both Showtime and the BBC," said Crane. "We never for a minute considered taking it to a network. What we were really looking for was a creative freedom, and it’s been amazing from both networks just how much they’ve let us do the show that we wanted to do. It’s been wonderful and a little scary."

Best line of the panel? LeBlanc on whether Klarik and Crane had him in mind when writing the series: "Schwimmer said, 'No.' So did Perry. So did Lisa."

Second best line? Mulville on the language barrier between the US and the UK. "We
had a very in-depth analytical conversation about whether p*ssy-whipped would play in the U.K., and we had to do a sort of round thing of the crew. Most of the crew had heard of the words 'p*ssy' and 'whipped,' but never together." Jeffrey Klarik's rejoinder? "They actually thought it was a dessert topping."

Asked whether the writers have, after seven episodes, hit upon why it's so difficult to translate English series for American television, Mulville had a lot to say.

"I think they’ve used that as a template. I think it’s about the crass interference in the creative process by people who are driven by forces not really concerned with what’s funny, but what’s going to play, what’s going to sell, what’s going to appeal," he said. "The character that John Pankow brilliantly plays as the head of network, he has an attention span of about 15 seconds. And all the work is done by his assistant, which is beautifully played by Kathleen [Perkins]. And between them they conspire to make each wrong decision. They make a wrong decision and then fix that decision by an even worse decision. We’re watching the edits, and we’re nodding away because that’s our experience too, is that you — part of producing is to get your baby through the labyrinth, without it being completely destroyed, and onto the air. And I think that the English experience of bringing an English show is just multiplied by ten. But you talk to any American writer about getting a show on the network, and they’ll say it’s a very similar thing. You don’t have to be English to have that experience. That’s a
pretty universal experience."

"But the truth is the heart of the show is not about the minutia of getting a show
onto TV. That’s just the thing that they happen to be doing whilst their marriage goes through an incredible crisis and while they’re dealing with the madness of being
in Hollywood as well, just going to parties and having to make nice and saying the right thing to the right people. It’s stressful. And she, in particular, doesn’t want to do it. She doesn’t want to play the game. And he’s more compliant and just wants to make things nice. And when you see it on screen, you see the chemistry between Stephen and Tamsin, who have huge reputations back in the UK — and I think they’re going to really break out in America here — and then you’ve got Matt in that, the playing with them. And then you add in the network... We've watched the scenes at the network, and we’re laughing and we’re chilled at the same time. When Julian, the knight of the theater, who’s been playing this role in Britain for five years to great acclaim, is made to audition for his own part because the head of the network can’t be bothered to watch the show and makes him audition because he wants him to audition, and he dies, he dies in the audition — we’re watching it again and again, and it’s chilling. I could pick up the chair with my buttocks and walk out."

Episodes will air next year on Showtime.

TCA Diary: Showtime's The Big C Session

Showtime kicked off the second official day of the TCA Summer Press Tour with a session for its upcoming comedy The Big C, which launches next month.

After screening a selection of scenes from the first few episodes, Laura Linney, Oliver Platt, Gabourey Sidibe, executive producer Jenny Bicks, creator Darlene Hunt, and executive producers Vivian Cannon and Neal Moritz took to the stage to answer questions about the series, which revolves around the life changes undertaken by a woman after receiving a terminal cancer diagnosis.

"When this script came to me, what hit me the most was the theme of time," said Linney about what attracted her most about the project. "What do you with time? What are the choices that we make, how we spend our time? How much time to we get? It's a privileged to grow old... It was meaningful to me."

"Everyone who shows up is so happy to be there," said Linney about shooting the series in Connecticut. "It was important to me that the show be shot on the East Coast in order to take advantage of the theatre community there."

The series has given Linney more than a little in-depth knowledge about melanoma.

"I certainly know a lot about melanoma at this point," admitted Linney. "There's that bit of research. I'm going on the journey with Cathy, actually. I'm at the age where relatives are growing older, friends are dying, sometimes in very unexpected ways... Every once in a while, I'll be filming and I shot a scene with Oliver... and something hit me in that scene and I started to [cry] because it hit me that she's really going to die."

"She's a woman who doesn't really know who she is and she gets the opportunity to find out," she said later. "She's been functioning really well but she hasn't been living. She has a huge growth spurt throughout this."

The early episodes focus on Linney's Cathy attempting to find a new outlook on the time that she has left as she connects--and reconnects--with various people in her life, from her immature husband, horrid son, homeless brother, and her misanthropic neighbor, Marlene. We'll learn more about Marlene and her own family as the season progresses.

"Marlene has two daughters," said Jenny Bicks. "One is a lesbian, the other lives with her 'Jewish white witch of a husband,' as Marlene calls him. They will be showing up and interacting with Cathy." (Bicks said that that two roles have been cast but declined to name who would be playing the daughers.)

Meanwhile, Cynthia Nixon will play Rebecca, who is "Cathy's best friend from college who shows up at a very specific moment for Cathy," according to Bicks. "She is a wild, loose woman who never grew up and will do the same for Cathy now."

"I did," said Linney when asked if she helped broker the deal with Liam Neeson, who will play a character called the beekeeper. "He's from the alternative medicine world. He's doing two days with us [though scenes will be limited to] one episode for now."

"This should not be your go-to-place if you have just been diagnosed with cancer and are looking for how to live," said creator Darlene Hunt in response to a question about whether people suffering from cancer should use the series as a handbook for living. "It's a show about living and not dying. It's a show for everyone because we are all living on borrowed time."

"Laura really is executive producing," said Bicks about Linney's involvement in the series. "She was showing up for conceptual meetings and production meetings long before her call... She wears many hats."

An earlier comment about New York actors seemed to rub one critic the wrong way. "They're not better," clarified Linney. "There's something about filming on the East Coast that was important for me to be a little removed from all of the business... during this first season, in an undertaking that is new and foreign to me," said Linney about New York actors vs. Los Angeles actors. "There is a depth of field in New York for actors, a generation of theatre actors that have never been on screen... There's a tremendous resource there that hasn't been taken advantage of on television."

So is there an inherent shelf life on the series, given the ticking clock on Cathy's condition?

"Every season is a season," explained executive producer Vivian Cannon. "In the pilot episode, it's the first day of summer so the first season of the show would be summer, the following would be fall, and so on."

"Six seasons of television would only equal 18 months of Cathy's life," added Hunt.

"Cathy has a very interesting, mysterious response to her diagnosis, in that she doesn't want to tell the people closest to her," said Oliver Platt, who plays Cathy's husband. "This goes on for a while... My hat's off to the writers to keep it going forward. To me, what I love about the show... this very modern relationship, when Cathy gets the diagnosis--like a lot of things in your life--you take a very stark look at your life and she decides that this relationship isn't what she wants in her life. How do we describe Paul? Emotional maturity might not be the top line of his resume but he grows up fast and what a smart thing to put him in a hole to begin with."

"Why do we start to live beautifully when we get a death sentence," pondered Platt. "It's remarkable. It's a very delicate bandwidth. The only person who is allowed to make a cancer joke is Cathy... It's got a very healthy sense of irony and the absurd. It's very truthful. Who knows how someone is going to behave when they get this kind of proclamation on their life?"

But the producers insist that the series won't be all doom and gloom nor will it be a sunny comedy. There's an inherent balance within The Big C when it comes to Cathy's life and her impending death.

"The thing that we wanted to do is just to be truthful about the disease and melanoma--Cathy has Stage-IV melanoma--there's a truth to how long you will live but there's been a huge amount of clinical trials," said Bicks, who herself survived cancer. "We're not so concerned about whether or not we're going to kill her. But we are not going to be afraid of it. The nice thing about being Showtime is that we don't have to sugar-coat it."

So does Linney expect that the writers will kill off Cathy at the end of the season? She's up for anything.

"The fullness of the time that she has is so wonderful," said Linney. "I'm sort of game for whatever happens, as long as it's honest."

Academy Award winner Gabourney Sidibe plays Andrea, one of Cathy's summer school students who she pays to lose weight. Despite the fact that Andrea is unaware of Cathy's condition, the sarcastic girl forms a strange sort of friendship with Cathy over the course of the summer.

Sidibe admitted that she's had quite a journey over the last year.

"It's been a strange year," said Gabourey Sidibe. "I thought I'd be a receptionist... I'm still very normal. I take the subway, I take the bus... It goes to show you that whatever plan you have for your life, you're wrong."

"The way that the writers handle the delicacy of this woman's life was so strong and so smart," said Sidibe about what lured her to the project. "I really wanted to be a part of it."

"I'm a selfish liver, I guess," said Sidibe. "My character doesn't know about Cathy's diagnosis at so, I wonder how many people in my life that I don't know are suffering."

"She's learning from the mistakes that she makes," said Linney about Cathy's journey. "More than having a bucket list, she's trying to figure out who she wants to be."

"Cathy will explore her options this season but we wanted it to be more about her being almost in a state of denial," said Bicks.

"We wanted to turn some expectations on their ear," said Hunt about how they handled Cathy's diagnosis. "Some things that we wanted to explore were, what would be a knee-jerk reaction to just wanting to feel good and live life differently?"

Showtime has scheduled The Big C with Weeds, which is also about a woman who makes some radical choices when faced with life's difficulties. How does Linney feel about being paired with the very differently toned Weeds?

"I'm thrilled," said Linney about being paired on Mondays with Weeds. I love Mary-Louise. We're friends. We shot some promos together and had a blast. I'm thrilled to be following Weeds... Our show is a really nice complement to their lineup and different."

You can watch the first episode of The Big C in full below:



The Big C launches August 16th at 10:30 pm ET/PT on Showtime.

TCA Diary: Showtime's Matt Blank Teases Upcoming Programming

Showtime's Matt Blank kicked off the festivities on Day Two of the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour by offering a look at what's coming up for their slate of original programming over the next six months or so.

"Showtime continues to thrive in every part of our business," said Blank. "We received more 2010 Emmy nominations for our original series than any other premium cable network."

Here are some highlights from the very brief session, during which Blank acknowledged the behind-the-scenes changes going on at the pay cabler, where Robert Greenblatt has stepped down and will be succeeded by David Nevins.

Weeds comes back in August. Guest stars this season will include Richard Dreyfus, Alanis Morrissette, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Linda Hamilton, and Peter Stomare.

The Big C, which launches on August 16th as well, will feature Idris Elba, Cynthia Nixon, and Liam Neeson, whose participation was announced earlier this week.

Dexter's latest season will feature Peter Weller, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Julia Stiles, Shawn Hatosy, Johnny Lee Miller, and more.

Showtime has renewed Nurse Jackie and United States of Tara for third seasons and Secret Diary of a Call Girl for a fourth and final season.

The American adaptation of UK drama Shameless is set for a January 9th launch. A promo package that was screened had very good response from the collective critics. [Editor: having scene the pilot three times now I can say that it's one of the few series that I feverishly anticipating. Amazing, amazing pilot.]

The network offered a look at period dram The Borgias, which stars Jeremy Irons as Rodrigo Borgia and hails from Neil Jordan, who serves as creator/writer/director/executive producer. The series premieres Spring 2011. Production begun last week in Budapest. The network is positioning the series, set in 15th century Rome, as "the original crime family."

TCA Report: CBS Executive Session with Nina Tassler

TCA's Summer Press Tour began this morning with CBS' executive session, featuring Nina Tassler, President of CBS Entertainment.

While there wasn't much news announced this morning, save the latest twist on Survivor--which will see 20 castaways split between two age groups: those over 40 and those under 30--and the companies participating in the next season of reality series Undercover Boss (DirecTV, NASCAR, Chiquita Brands International, and Great Wolf Resorts).

However, Tassler did take questions from the critics, answering queries about the GLAAD score for CBS, Hawaii Five-O, Bleep My Dad Says, The Good Wife, and more.

Tassler began by praising series from across the broadcast networks, saying that the 2009-10 season produced "one of the best freshman classes in years" and acknowledged that "all of the network shows are programming engines for all of the other platforms," including online, etc.

"It was a terrific year for us and we are restless and motivated--and I like to say--paranoid... [There] is a real diversity in terms of source material for shows." Those would include Twitter (Bleep My Dad Says), a reality show at FOX (The Defenders), a real-life mommy group (Sara Gilbert's daytime talk show), and more. "It really reflects a great diversity in source material," said Tassler.

Here's what else Tassler had to say:

Steve McPherson leaving ABC: "Stability is a good thing. As far as Steve goes, I said, damn it, he gets out of doing press tour... And I'd like a case of chardonnay for the holidays."

Hawaii Five-O: "We loved the pitch so much... We've reimagined it, we've deconstructed the elements of the orginal show... retooled it and [turned it into a] great, hip, smart character show... You'll find as the series moves forward that it's still a small island, everybody knows each other--good guys, bad guys--and those story engines are still there."

"It's a crime drama set in Hawaii," said Tassler, defending the tone of Hawaii Five-O. "I think the pilot has got a lot of beauty shots. I think it shows the brilliance and vibrant color of the island. It's got humor, the characters pop... How it opened, the tease, it certainly launches you into the show."

As for the show's violence, Tassler said, "It's a 10 o'clock show. It's monday night at 10 o'clock... I don't see it that way. Certainly for us and our network, we have standards... and we respect that process."

Additionally, the relationship between Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park provides an "emotional spine" for the show.

GLAAD: "We're adding a few characters this season... We're going to meet Alicia's brother on The Good Wife, a gay character." Additionally, Bleep My Dad Says will have a recurring gay character and other shows will feature homosexual characters as well. "Once you come out of your pilot season disappointed, you have to make changes in the regular season."

The same goes for female characters as well. "Going forward in a series, if we can add a female character, we will," said Tassler.

Undercover Boss: "People seeing cameras don't automatically think, oh, I'm on an episode of Undercover Boss... How they do it, the methods, I certainly don't want to reveal."

Pressed for more details, Tassler said, "Undercover Boss is cast like any other reality show... It's very standard."

Why CBS bought Mike & Molly: "I thought, it's Chuck Lorre," said Tassler about comedy Mike & Molly. "These are two people I relate to, these are two people I care about. It's a romantic comedy. It's charming, it has heart, and it was really funny... As I said before, it's Chuck Lorre."

The cancellation of The Bridge: "The show wasn't delivering the numbers we needed. Generally, our summer strategy works."

The fate of Flashpoint: "I haven't decided yet."

The Good Wife: "I think The Good Wife is a phenomenal show and has great story reveals coming up for next season... Certainly, we see that it's more competitive in that timeslot... and there is unbelievable story stuff coming up for that show."

On Kalinda's sexuality and whether it will be revealed, Tassler said, "I don't think you will in the first part of the season but you will later on... We don't want to spill the beans just yet."

Two and a Half Men: "No indication that there will be any delay" on delivery or production of Two and a Half Men, said Tassler.

Stay tuned for more coverage from TCA throughout the day and over the next week and a half.

TCA Award Nominees Announced: Modern Family, Glee, Mad Men, Lost, Parks and Recreation, Party Down Represented

The Television Critics Association today announced their short-list nominations for the 2010 TCA Awards, which will be handed out during TCA Summer Press Tour, which kicks off at the end of July.

Among the nominees for Program of the Year, such series as Breaking Bad, Friday Night Lights, Glee, Lost, and Modern Family. In the individual genre categories, Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Lost, Sons of Anarchy, and The Good Wife will compete for the top drama prize, while Glee, Modern Family, Parks and Recreation, Party Down, and The Big Bang Theory are up for comedy kudos and such talents as Eric Stonestreet, Jane Lynch, Aaron Paul, Katey Segal, Nick Offerman, and many others are up for individual honors.

I'm glad to see so many broadcast network series competing side by side with their cable brethren. It almost gives one hope that the network model isn't completely cracked.

Additionally, this year's TCA Awards is also the first time that I'll be voting, as a newly installed member of the Television Critics Association. I was extremely pleased to see so many of my own personal nominations make the list here and I've already gone ahead and cast my ballot. (You can guess who and what I voted for.)

The full list of nominees can be found below.

2010 TCA Award Nominees

Program of the Year:

"Breaking Bad" (AMC)
"Friday Night Lights" (DirecTV/NBC)
"Glee" (Fox)
"Lost" (ABC)
"Modern Family" (ABC)

Outstanding Drama Series:

"Breaking Bad" (AMC)
"Lost" (ABC)
"Mad Men" (AMC)
"Sons of Anarchy" (FX)
"The Good Wife" (CBS)

Outstanding Comedy Series:

"Glee" (Fox)
"Modern Family" (ABC)
"Parks and Recreation" (NBC)
"Party Down" (Starz)
"The Big Bang Theory" (CBS)

Individual Achievement in Drama:

Bryan Cranston ("Breaking Bad," AMC)
John Lithgow ("Dexter," Showtime)
Julianna Margulies ("The Good Wife," CBS)
Aaron Paul ("Breaking Bad," AMC)
Katey Sagal ("Sons of Anarchy," FX)

Individual Achievement in Comedy:

Ty Burrell ("Modern Family," ABC)
Jane Lynch ("Glee," Fox)
Nick Offerman ("Parks and Recreation," NBC)
Jim Parsons ("The Big Bang Theory," CBS)
Eric Stonestreet ("Modern Family," ABC)

Outstanding New Program:

"Glee" (Fox)
"Justified" (FX)
"Modern Family" (ABC)
"Parenthood" (NBC)
"The Good Wife" (CBS)

Outstanding Movie, Miniseries or Special:

"Life" (Discovery Channel)
"The Pacific" (HBO)
"Temple Grandin" (HBO)
"Torchwood: Children of Earth" (BBC America)
"You Don't Know Jack" (HBO)

Outstanding Achievement in News & Information:

"30 for 30" (ESPN)
"America: The Story of Us" (History Channel)
"Life" (Discovery Channel)
"The Daily Show" (Comedy Central)
"The Rachel Maddow Show" (MSNBC)

Outstanding Achievement in Youth Programming:

"Dinosaur Train" (PBS)
"iCarly" (Nickelodeon)
"Star Wars: The Clone Wars" (Cartoon Network)
"Word Girl" (PBS)
"Yo Gabba Gabba" (Nick Jr.)

Career Achievement:

James Garner
Bill Moyers
Sherwood Schwartz
William Shatner
Dick Wolf

Heritage Award:

"24"
"M*A*S*H"
"Law & Order"
"Lost"
"Twin Peaks"

Channel Surfing: "Lost" Star O'Quinn Shops Hitman Series, "Caprica" Cylon and Enforcer Speak, "Doctor Who," Farina and Oritz Find "Luck," and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing.

This is a series I want to watch: Locke and Ben as cutthroat buddies. Well, sort of, anyway. TV Guide Magazine's Will Keck is reporting that Lost's Terry O'Quinn is shopping a bible for a series that would star him and fellow Lost cast member Michael Emerson, in which the duo would play suburban hit men who must balance their work and home lives. "I really hope this works out because Michael would be in his prime in this," O'Quinn told Keck. "We’d play kind of awkward partners." Michael Emerson, meanwhile, is more than open to working alongside Quinn again. "It’s very sweet of him," Emerson told Keck. "I’m all in favor of it. Any reason to work with Terry again." (TV Guide Magazine)

The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan has an interview with Caprica stars Sasha Roiz and Alessandra Torresani about what's coming up on the series and how their characters fit into the larger themes and storylines that the series is weaving together. "You can see the attraction [STO] has for the younger generation, because you can see how the [adult] generation has gone off the rails, morally," said Sasha Roiz, who plays Tauron mob enforcer Sam Adama. "There's a whole movement by the younger generation to create a new world and a new moral code." Look, meanwhile, for Torresani's virtual Zoe to mature over the next batch of episodes. "She's her own person," Torresani told Ryan about the avatar Zoe. "That's what you learn. She really grows up a lot on the show, compared to how she was in the pilot." (Chicago Tribune's The Watcher)

BBC America has announced an April 17th launch date for Season Five of British sci-fi series Doctor Who, starring Matt Smith and Karen Gillan. Among the locales the Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond will be travelling to this season: "sixteenth century Venice, France during the 1890s and the United Kingdom in the far future, now an entire nation floating in space." (Televisionary)

Dennis Farina (Law & Order) and John Ortiz (Public Enemies) have been cast in David Milch and Michael Mann's HBO drama pilot Luck, set in the world of horse racing. Farina will play Gus Economou, the longtime chauffeur to Chester "Ace" Bernstain, a criminal who has his sights set on pulling off a complex plan involving the racetrack. Ortiz will play Turo Escalante, described as "a successful trainer with sordid reputation." Milch wrote the pilot script, which will be directed by Mann; they'll executive produce alongside Carolyn Strauss and Henry Bronchtein. (Hollywood Reporter)

Three former ER stars have landed projects this pilot season: David Lyons has been cast as the lead in NBC vigilante drama pilot The Cape, where he will play a disgraced cop who becomes a hero; Shane West will star opposite Maggie Q in the CW action drama pilot Nikita, where he will play the agent whose task is to apprehend the rogue Nikita; and Laura Innes has joined the cast of NBC drama pilot The Event. (Hollywood Reporter)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Jurnee Smollett (Friday Night Lights) has been cast in CBS legal drama pilot Defenders, where she will play new associate Lisa opposite Jim Belushi. "Smollett is expected to shoot the Defenders pilot before returning to Austin in April to begin work on FNL’s fifth and (sigh) final season," writes Ausiello. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Pilot casting roundup: Malcolm Barrett (Better Off Ted) has been cast as one of the leads in FOX comedy pilot Most Likely to Succeed; Ravi Patel (Past Life) has been cast as the lead in FOX comedy pilot Nirvana (formerly known as Nevermind Nirvana); Tommy Dewey (Roommates) and Suzy Nakamura (Men of a Certain Age) will star opposite Sarah Chalke in ABC comedy pilot Freshmen; Patti LuPone (Oz) has joined the cast of CBS comedy pilot Open Books; and Eloise Mumford (Crash) has been cast in FOX drama pilot Midland. (Hollywood Reporter)

Spike has renewed sports comedy Blue Mountain State for a second season of thirteen episodes. (Variety)

It's official: Starz has cancelled struggling drama series Crash. The announcement was made yesterday on a conference call with investors as Starz confirmed that they will not go ahead with the series due to disappointing ratings. (Hollywood Reporter)

There are other suitors in the mix to host Comic-Con, whose contract with the San Diego Convention Center ends in 2012. Among the cities vying for the hosting rights: Anaheim, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas, along with San Diego itself, which has submitted a proposal to keep the convention there through 2015. "They know what the concerns are, and each proposal really tries to address those," said David Glanzer, director of marketing and public relations for Comic-Con Intl. "It's not about how big we want to see it grow," Glanzer said. "We just want to accommodate those who want to attend." (Variety)

Broadcasting & Cable's Alex Weprin is reporting that Animal Planet has renewed docuseries Pit Boss for a second season of fourteen episodes, set to launch this summer. As with Season One, series will follow former felon "Shorty" Rossi as he dedicates his life to rescuing pit bulls. (Broadcasting & Cable)

Gillian Zinser has been promoted to series regular on the CW's 90210, where she plays tomboy Ivy Sullivan. (Hollywood Reporter)

Variety's Stuart Levine is reporting that the Television Critics Association has locked in its date for the 2010 TCA Summer Press Tour, which will be held at the Beverly Hilton. Tour begins July 27th with the broadcasters (NBC is up first) before cable takes over between August 6-8th. (Variety)

BBC is likely to cut its US acquisitions by a third, according to a report in today's Times following a strategic review of the broadcasting corporation. "Director-general Mark Thompson wants to cut the corp.'s annual acquisitions budget of around £100 million ($152 million) by 25%, according to the Times, which has clearly seen a leaked document relating to the review," writes Variety's Steve Clarke. "Currently the BBC gains a lot of credibility from upscale auds by showing such U.S. fare as The Wire, Heroes and Mad Men. But in an effort to appease commercial media companies that have been hit hard by the economic downturn and the emergence of digital media, the BBC topper wants to trim coin spent on U.S. imports and re-invest it in 'distinctive' British shows." (Variety)

TV Land has renewed Joan Rivers' How'd You Get So Rich for a second season of six episodes. Series, executive produced by Mark Burnett, Barry Poznick, and John Stevens, will launch on the cabler on May 5th. (Variety)

Stay tuned.