Channel Surfing: Starz to Recast Spartacus, Warehouse 13 Renewed, Mad Men's John Slattery to 30 Rock, Glee, and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing.

It was only a matter of time, really. Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello (who is soon to depart the magazine/website) is reporting that Starz has begun the search for a replacement for Spartacus' Andy Whitfield, who was forced to drop out of the production due to a recurrence of cancer. "According to the just-released casting notice, producers are searching for a Caucasian male in his mid to late 30s to play the 'smart, intense, passionate' title role," writes Ausiello. "Interested parties must have an authentic British accent and be prepared to sign a three-year contract." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

The Hollywood Reporter's James Hibberd is reporting that Syfy has renewed Warehouse 13 for a third season, with 13 episodes on tap for next season. Additionally, Jack Kenny will remain aboard the series as the showrunner and has signed a development deal with the cable network. "Jack Kenny's superlative leadership and the incredible talent of his cast and crew delivered an outstanding second season of Warehouse 13," said Syfy's Mark Stern. "We're excited to see this successful series return next year and to developing our next hit with Jack." (Hollywood Reporter)

More 30 Rock/Mad Men crossover goodness. Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Mad Men's John Slattery will guest star in an upcoming episode of NBC's 30 Rock, where he will play "a candidate running for congress." Slattery is expected to appear in this season's seventh episode. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

TVGuide.com's Denise Martin has an interview with Glee co-creators Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan and Cory Monteith about tonight's spirituality-themed episode ("Grilled Cheesus"), in which the glee kids tackle the hot-button issue of religion. "I wish there had been something to launch conversations about feelings and emotions in my household when I was younger," Murphy told Martin about the potential of Glee to start conversations. "When the show is at its best, that is what I think we're doing." (TVGuide.com)

Elsewhere, Entertainment Weekly's Tim Stack has a brief chat with Murphy as well about tonight's episode. “I love when people see Jesus in bird droppings on the windows and then there are lines out the door and that seems to happen so often now,” said Murphy. “To me, it just shows everybody in our society, particularly young people, are just desperate to believe in something.” (Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch)

ABC is eyeing another scripted summer series, this time an untitled female-centric spy drama from writer Greg Poirier, director Steve Shill, and executive producers Grant Scharbo and Gina Matthews (The Gates) that is described as "Taken meets The Bourne Identity). (Deadline)

ABC Family has cancelled freshman drama series Huge and will not be ordering the back ten episodes of the first season. "First and foremost, we want to thank everyone who embraced Huge and supported it," said co-creator/executive producer Winnie Holzman. "While it's disappointing not to be able to go forward with the characters we love so much and had so many plans for, we're deeply grateful for this opportunity. Our goal was and is to create television of depth and complexity that inspires people to think and feel. We believe we accomplished that with Huge and can't wait to do it again." (Variety)

Lone Star may have tanked but the pilot director--Marc Webb--who also directed (500) Days of Summer, has already scored a new project at FOX: a single-camera workplace comedy entitled Battleground, which has a script order at the network. (Deadline)

The New York Times' Dave Itzkoff talks with the cast and crew of FOX's comedy Running Wilde, which is struggling to find an audience this season. "If we stay kind of where we are or even grow a little bit, we’re in good shape,” co-creator Mitch Hurwitz said of the series' chances. “If we continue to drop, anything can happen.” (New York Times)

Deadline's Tim Adler is reporting that Steve Coogan's Alan Partridge could be returning to television once more as Baby Cow will recut its series of Fosters-branded internet shorts as a new television series. "Until now Coogan’s cringingly-embarrassing TV chat show host and disc jockey has always aired on the BBC," writes Adler. "The new 6-part series could be sold to Channel 4 or digital comedy channel Dave, Baby Cow boss Henry Normal tells me." (Deadline)

TVGuide.com's Robyn Ross is reporting that Matthew Lawrence will guest-star alongside brother Joey on an upcoming episode of ABC Family comedy Melissa & Joey, slated to air November 2nd. (TVGuide.com)

Deadline's Nellie Andreeva is reporting that ABC is close to signing a deal to develop a US adaptation of Spanish series Aqui no hay quien viva (Or: I Hate This Place) from executive producers Ben Silverman and Sofia Vergara, with writer Craig Doyle attached to write the script. (Deadline)

Stay tuned.

Study in Bronze: An Advance Review of Season Two of Syfy's Warehouse 13

Syfy has had a lot of success of late with quirky, humorous dramedies where the science fiction often takes a backseat to the trappings of traditional drama. Think of them more as extraordinary dramas than say, purely speculative fiction.

This is particularly true with Syfy's original series Eureka and Warehouse 13, both of which return to the schedule this week with new seasons. In their own ways, both series have served to push the network further into the mainstream, fusing together the supernatural/speculative elements of the genre with mass appeal to create a new sub-genre that's heavy on the humor and light, well, in general.

While Eureka focuses on a town of super-scientists hidden in the Pacific Northwest, Warehouse 13 using somewhat similar trappings: a tiny town in the middle of nowhere hides a massive government-sponsored secret. In this case, that secret is the Warehouse itself, a depository of arcane and mysterious artifacts, each with their own abilities. It's up to the agents to safeguard these secrets, investigate mysterious phenomena, and file away any artifacts they acquire in the field.

It's the latter series that returns tonight with a new season that finds deliciously mismatched Warehouse 13 agents Myka Bering (Joanne Kelly) and Pete Lattimer (Eddie McClintock) attempting to grapple with assaults from numerous directions, while their shifty supervisor Artie (Saul Rubinek) attempts to track down the missing Claudia (Allison Scagliotti) after the events of last season's finale.

To say more than that would be give away quite a few plot points from the second season opener, "Time Will Tell," a fun installment that gives the series a global feel as Myka and Pete head to London and Artie trails Claudia to Switzerland. The chaos created by the nefarious MacPherson (Roger Rees) spills out of control here as his master plan is revealed.

Just what that is you'll have to wait to find out, but I will say that it's one hell of a bizarro mindtrip that involves a classic sci-fi author, bronze, and a potential new adversary for the gang at Warehouse 13, one that I hope sticks around all season long to make things very difficult for Myka and Eddie.

The second episode will be one that will have sci-fi fans buzzing about for some time to come, particularly as it features guest stars Jewel Staite and Sean Maher, who previously starred together in Joss Whedon's woefully short-lived Firefly. Here, the duo is involved in a series of inexplicable occurrences, one that seems to involve a vigilante battling criminals in a town beset by crime. But superheroes only exist in comic books, right? Hmmm...

Both episodes point towards why Warehouse 13 has won over viewers. It's got a slick combination of humor, heart, and frothy action that never veers too close to the darkness and keeps things humming along with a nice pace. During the hottest season of the year, that might just be the perfect television complement to a day beside the pool: it's familiar, cool, and--so long as you don't go looking for the deep end--there's no danger of drowning.

Season Two of Warehouse 13 begins tonight at 9 pm ET/PT on Syfy.

Channel Surfing: ABC to Revamp Edgar Floats, Undercovers Recasts, Weatherly to Return to NCIS, Criminal Minds Cuts Female Cast, and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing.

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Rand Ravich's ABC drama pilot Edgar Floats, which recently received an order for six additional scripts, will be completely reconceived, with nearly all of the original cast--including series leads Tom Cavanagh and Alicia Witt and supporting players Derek Webster, Alex Solowitz, and Raoul Trujillo--getting the axe. (Only Robert Patrick will remain.) Deadline's Nellie Andreeva, meanwhile, has some further insight into the decision made by ABC. "People have been divided on Cavanagh's performance, while Patrick has been almost universally hailed as the pilot's scene stealer," she writes. "I hear ABC brass like the idea of Edgar Floats and the central character but the project is being re-conceived, with the six additional scripts still being written." [Editor: seeing as Edgar Floats was my favorite broadcast pilot of the development cycle, I'm gutted by this news.] (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files, Deadline)

Mekia Cox (90210) has been cast in JJ Abrams and Josh Reims' upcoming NBC drama series Undercovers, where she will play Lizzy, the sister of Gugu Mbatha-Raw's Samantha, who is unaware of her sister's professional capacity as a CIA agent. Cox replaces Jessica Parker Kennedy, who appeared in the role in the pilot. [Editor: while I have nothing against Kennedy, per se, I did think that Lizzy and the catering company was the weakest and most labored part of Undercovers pilot.] (Hollywood Reporter)

It's official: Michael Weatherly has closed his deal to return to CBS' NCIS next season, following a successful renegotiation for Season Eight of the crime procedural. Of the four actors who went into the summer without a deal in place--Pauley Perrette, David McCallum, Michael Weatherly, and Sean Murray--only Murray has yet to finish renegotiating, however, Deadline's Nellie Andreeva said that the two sides are "optimistic" that a deal can be reached. (Deadline, Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Deadline's Nellie Andreeva is reporting that CBS' Criminal Minds is gutting most of its female cast for financial reasons, opting not to pick up the option of series regular A.J. Cook, while Paget Brewster will be appearing in a "reduced number of episodes next season." Cook may reprise her role as Jennifer Jereau next season so that the writers can wrap up her storyline, though no deal has been made. Move means that Kristen Vangsness will be the only female cast member to appear in all episodes next season. (Deadline)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Adrianne Palicki and Taylor Kitsch have signed on to appear in multiple episodes of Season Five of Friday Night Lights. Ausiello, citing unnamed sources, writes that Palicki will guest star in the final two episodes of the season (likely the series' end), while Kitsch will appear in the final four. (Also set to return, at least for one episode: Scott Porter, Zach Gilford--who will be in four installments--and likely Jesse Plemons.) (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Brian Kirk (Dexter) will direct two episodes of HBO's upcoming fantasy drama Game of Thrones. Production is slated to begin July 26th in Northern Ireland. (Hollywood Reporter)

Christopher Eccleston has broken his silence about why he left Doctor Who after just one season in a new interview with Radio Times. "I was open-minded but I decided after my experience on the first series that I didn't want to do any more," said Eccleston. "I didn't enjoy the environment and the culture that we, the cast and crew, had to work in. I thought if I stay in this job, I'm going to have to blind myself to certain things that I thought were wrong." (BBC News)

SPOILER! TV Guide Magazine's Will Keck is reporting that Fringe producers are looking to cast the role of the mother of Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv), who would appear in a story arc that would last roughly three or four episodes next season. "The character is described as loving, stable and sweet," writes Keck. "She dotes on Olivia since her other daughter died at birth." [Editor: I would assume that this role would be taking place "over there," in the other dimension, since Olivia's sister Rachel is, uh, alive and well in "our" world.] (TV Guide Magazine)

Faran Tahir (Star Trek) is set to guest star in two episodes of Syfy's Warehouse 13 this summer, as the series returns for its second season. Tahir will play Regent Adwin Kosan, described as "one of the mysterious and powerful Regents, the shadowy governing body charged with keeping the Warehouse safe," who turns up at the Warehouse in the midst of a crisis. (via press release)

In other Warehouse 13-related news, TV Guide Magazine's Will Keck has more details about the role that former Bionic Woman Lindsay Wagner will be playing when she guest stars on the Syfy dramedy as Dr. Vanessa Calder. "She's the official doctor for Warehouse agents. She is quite worldly and knows lots of secrets," Wagner told Keck. (TV Guide Magazine)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Heigl Talks "Grey's" Departure, Carbonell On Eternal Life and "Lost" Love, Balfour Finds "Haven" at Syfy, "Warehouse 13," and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing.

Ahead of its publication, Entertainment Weekly has released some excerpts from Michael Ausiello's in-print Q&A with former Grey's Anatomy star Katherine Heigl, in which she dishes about why she left the ABC medical drama, Emmygate, Isiahgate, and, well, a heap of controversies. "Yeah, I think so," said Heigl when asked if the parting was amicable. "I think it was a little bit shocking for everybody, and a little bit like, 'Can’t we find a way to work it out?' And I really wanted to, but at the same time I just felt like I couldn’t sacrifice my relationship with my child. Naleigh and I will always be a little bit complicated. I really had to work on bonding with her because I was obsessed with her, but she could really do without me. [Laughs] It was really hard because she loved Josh so much but she just kind of tolerated me. And I want this child to know that she will forever have me in her corner and I don’t want to disappoint her. [Fighting back tears] And even though I know I’m disappointing the fans, and I know I’m disappointing the writers and my fellow cast members and the crew, I just had to make a choice. I hope I made the right one. It sucks. You wish you could have it all exactly the way you want it. But that’s not life. I had to try to find the courage to move on. And I am sad. And I’m scared. But I felt it was the right thing to do; we just didn’t quite know how to do it appropriately, gracefully, and respectfully to the audience. And I think we all felt it wasn’t respectful to the audience to bring [Izzie] back again and then have her [leave] again. We did it twice this season. It starts to feel a little manipulative." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Los Angeles Times' Maria Elena Fernandez has a fantastic interview with Lost star Nestor Carbonell about this week's Richard Alpert-centric episode of Lost, in which we learned about Richard's backstory and his tortured past. "He knows them pretty intimately," said Carbonell about Richard's relationship with Jacob and the Man in Black. "It’s an interesting dichotomy because on the one hand he has a sense of history of the island and the forces at play in the island but he’s been dumbfounded by other elements he wasn’t aware of -- like time travel and, obviously, he didn’t know about the loophole with the Smoke Monster becoming Locke. He was really blown away by that. So much of what is happening to him and around him is new to him. This season, his world has been rocked by Jacob’s death and everything he’s lived for in the last 100 years ago or so has been taken away from him or turned down upside down for him. He attempted suicide. He’s gone a little crazy. But we’ll see how he settles down now that he has a mission from his wife." (Los Angeles Times' Show Tracker)

The Wrap's Josef Adalian is reporting that Eric Balfour (24) Lucas Bryant (Queer as Folk) have been cast in Syfy's upcoming supernatural drama series Haven (based on a novella by Stephen King). Balfour will play Duke Crocker, described as a "charming yet mysterious jack of all trades" whose "mellow demeanor may conceal a much darker agenda." Bryant will play Nathan Wuornos, a local cop who becomes the partner to Emily Rose's FBI Agent Audrey Parker. Meanwhile, Gina Torres (Firefly) will guest star on Season Two of the cabler's drama series Warehouse 13, where she will play a new love interest for Eddie McClintock's Pete. [Editor: Warehouse 13 seems to be on a bit of a Firefly tear of late: Torres will join fellow former Browncoats Jewel Staite and Sean Maher this season.] (The Wrap's TVMoJoe)

Cheryl Hines (Curb Your Enthusiasm) and Carrie Fisher (30 Rock) will star opposite Debra Messing and Patrick Fugit in ABC single-camera comedy pilot Wright vs. Wrong, which revolves around Messing's Evelyn Wright, a political pundit whose life is decidedly less together than it appears on television. (Hollywood Reporter)

HBO has announced a premiere date for its telepic The Special Relationship, which recounts the alliance between President Bill Clinton (Dennis Quaid) and Prime Minister Tony Blair (Michael Sheen): May 29th. Project, written by Peter Morgan (The Queen) and directed by Richard Loncraine, also stars Hope Davis. (Variety)

CBS has ordered an undisclosed number of episodes for a US format of UK reality dance competition series Got to Dance, which will be produced by Reveille. Project--executive produced by Elisabeth Murdoch, Howard T. Owens, Mark Koops, and Robin Ashbrook--features dancers of all ages and all genres competing in front of a panel of judges, with the audience weighing in on later rounds. This being another as-yet-uncast reality series, the network is courting Paula Abdul to serve as one of the judges. (Hollywood Reporter)

TLC has won the bidding for the worldwide rights to eight-episode reality series Sarah Palin's Alaska, from executive producer Mark Burnett, which it will launch later this year. It's thought that the Discovery Communications-owned channel paid more than $1 million per episode. (Variety)

Pilot casting update: Lindsay Sloane (She's Out of My League) will star opposite Kyle Bornheimer on the untitled Bays/Thomas project (also known as Livin' on a Prayer); Melissa McCarthy (Samantha Who?) has scored one of the titular roles in Chuck Lorre's CBS comedy pilot Mike and Molly; Marisol Nichols (24) and Rhona Mitra (Stargate Universe) have been cast in ABC summer drama series The Gates, while Victoria Platt, Justin Miles, Travis Caldwell, Colton Haynes, and Skyler Samuels have also been cast. (Hollywood Reporter)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Jennifer Love Hewitt (Ghost Whisperer) has been cast as a guest star in NBC romantic dramedy pilot Love Bites, from writer/executive producer Cindy Chupack. "Details about her cameo are being kept under wraps, but a Peacock insider tells me that Hewitt will play herself," writes Ausiello. "My guess? One of the show’s lovelorn leads — portrayed by Ugly Betty’s Becki Newton and My Boys‘ Jordana Spiro — will meet Hewitt at a signing for her new memoir-slash-advice book, 'The Day I Shot Cupid.' But I’m just spitballing." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Elsewhere, Hewitt has been cast in Lifetime telepic The List, written by Suzanne Martin. She'll play a housewife and mother whose life is thrown into chaos after her husband becomes sidelined from his job due to an injury and she ends up taking a job at a massage parlor that's secretly a knocking shop. (Hollywood Reporter)

Sad but true: it's the end of the road for At the Movies, which will wrap its run on August 14th. Most recent iteration of the movie review series had been hosted by A.O. Scott and Michael Phillips, who took over the reins late last year from Ben Mankiewicz and Ben Lyons. (Variety)

Change is afoot behind the scenes at ABC's Private Practice following the departure of executive producers/showrunners Robert Rovner and Jon Cowan. The duo will not be immediately replaced as the remainder of this season's stories have already been broken. Shonda Rhimes, meanwhile, will continue to oversee creative and production on the spinoff series. While Private Practice has yet to be renewed for the 2010-11 season, it is expected to return next season. (Hollywood Reporter)

Nickelodeon has announced that it will air a telepic based on Internet series Fred, entitled Fred: The Movie, written by David Goodman and directed by Clay Weiner. The kids cabler also acquired the rights to ABC comedy My Wife and Kids, which it will air as part of its Nick at Nite programming block. (Variety)

NBC Entertainment has promoted Cathy Goldman to VP, brand strategy and Ken Grayson to VP, media. (Hollywood Reporter)

Chris Coelen, late of RDF USA, has launched his own shingle, Kinetic Content, and hired several executives, including Jennifer Danska, Gerald Massimei, Katie Griffin, and Matilda Zoltowski. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Sneak Peek: Next Week's Episode of "Warehouse 13"

Want a sneak peek at the new episode of Warehouse 13, which just happens to feature a very glam Agent Myka Bering (Joanne Kelly)?

On Tuesday evening's episode of Warehouse 13 ("Duped"), written by Benjamin Raab and Deric A. Hughes, Myka and Pete head to Las Vegas to retrieve an artifact from some gamblers and Myka finds herself accidentally trapped in author Lewis Carroll's mirror, unleashing a malevolent entity that was trapped inside.

And if that weren't enough incentive for you, Eureka's Erica Cerra and Niall Matter guest star as well as said Vegas gamblers.

But what are you waiting for? Head to Sin City, roll some dice, and take a look at a spoiler-filled episode clip and the network promo for Tuesday's episode of Warehouse 13 below.





Warehouse 13 airs Tuesday night at 9 pm ET/PT on Syfy.

Channel Surfing: "Parenthood" Pushed to Midseason, Michelle Forbes Talks "True Blood," Two More Move to Wisteria Lane, and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing.

Following an announcement that actress Maura Tierney would require an eight-week medical evaluation for an undisclosed condition, NBC has pushed the start of its drama Parenthood, which was slated to debut on September 23rd, to midseason. The Peacock will instead push up the launch of its midseason medical drama Mercy to the fall, although it is still unclear whether Mercy will inherit Parenthood's Wednesdays at 8 pm timeslot. The production shutdown on Parenthood, meanwhile, will give writers additional time to complete scripts. (Hollywood Reporter)

UPDATE: "In an effort to guard my privacy, it seems that the wording of NBC's press release has unfortunately caused some confusion and undue alarm about my health," said Maura Tierney in an official statement. "I have discovered a tumor in my breast which requires surgery. I will not know either my exact diagnosis or course of treatment until that surgery is performed. My doctors have all assured me this is a very treatable condition. I'm very optimistic as to the outcome and want to thank everyone who has sent positive thoughts and support. I look forward to going back to work soon." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

TVGuide.com talks with True Blood's Michelle Forbes about Maryann, the shaking, the pig, and Maryann's interest in Tara. Of the latter, Forbes said, "Tara is just the one of the moment, the conduit into this town. Before her, it was Eggs. Before Eggs, it was someone else. After Tara, it will be someone else. The goal is much larger. Tara is just the most vulnerable and the most susceptible right now." As for the vibrations, Forbes says they "are very integral to who she is. She thrives off the energy of the people around her. When they are in a place of ecstasy, that feeds her. Her appetite is fed off the appetite of others." Hmmm... (TVGuide.com)

Jeffrey Nordling (24) and Beau Mirchoff (The Grudge 3) have been cast in Season Six of ABC's Desperate Housewives as series regulars. Nordling will play a landscape designer who relocates from New York to Wisteria Lane with his wife (Drea de Matteo) and their "tightly wound, sexy and intense son (Mirchoff)." (Hollywood Reporter)

Showtime is said to be developing drama series Revelation, from Dirty Sexy Money creator Craig Wright and executive producer David Janollari. Project, from CBS TV Studios, follows the lives of an "unconventional minister who moves to a Texas church with his two teens after his wife suddenly dies." (Variety)

Eric McCormack (Will & Grace) has joined the cast of CBS' The New Adventures of Old Christine in a recurring role. He'll play a therapist and a potential love interest for Julia Louis-Dreyfus' Christine Campbell. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Sci Fi UK has picked up first run rights to Syfy's newest drama series Warehouse 13, securing both standard definition and HD rights to the series from NBC Universal International Television Distribution. The channel plans to launch the series this autumn. "There was a tremendous buzz ahead of its launch in the US and the first night ratings are testament to what a fantastic show it is," said NBCU Global Network's head of channels. "The special effects and exciting plot twists make it a real gem for our autumn schedule."(Broadcast)

Not unsurprisingly, ShineReveille has acquired worldwide distribution rights to NBC's documentary series The Wanted, which features terrorism experts attempting to track down terrorism suspects around the world. ShineReveille intents to shop the series to outlets around the globe. (Variety)

The New York Times' Bill Carter takes a look at the ratings success that is HBO's True Blood, which has come at a time when the pay cabler desperately needed a hit series following the end of such network-defining series such as The Sopranos and Sex and the City. (New York Times)

TNT has moved its reality series Wedding Day once more, after slotting it in a Tuesday evening timeslot for its series premiere and then shifting it to Thursdays. Wedding Day will now air Saturday mornings at 9 am ET/PT. In other scheduling news, Bravo has announced that it will air yet another Real Housewives special on Thursday, July 23rd, this time for The Real Housewives of Atlanta featuring "lost footage," that will lead into the season finale of The Fashion Show and will air a week ahead of the second season premiere of The Real Housewives of Atlanta. (Futon Critic)

PBS will begin stripping its new reinvention of classic kids' series The Electric Company across weekdays on September 7th. It had previously aired the series in a weekly format, so far airing sixteen of the thirty-five installments it shot in 2008. (Variety)

Lastly, a look at the trailer for ABC's drama acquisition Defying Gravity, courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed:



Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Jon Heder Lands Comedy Central Series, ABC Drops "Gravity" in August, Gregory Smith Mines "Copper," and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. I was lucky enough to see an advance screening of upcoming film Julie & Julia last night and urge all you film-loving foodies to head out and watch it when it's released. Just make sure you eat beforehand!

Comedy Central has ordered ten episodes of an untitled multi-camera comedy series starring Jon Heder (Blades of Glory, Napoleon Dynamite). Project, about an unemployed IT specialist who returns to his smalltown to move in with his parents and younger brother, will be written by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, and Chris Henchy. Series hails from Debmar-Mercury and Gary Sanchez and will have an initial run on Comedy Central; if it scores with audiences, another 90 installments will be automatically picked up with Comedy Central having the first window while Debmar-Mercury will sell the series into first-run syndication at the same time. (Variety)

ABC has announced that it will launch FTVS' internationally produced drama series Defying Gravity, which it acquired last week, on August 2nd at 9 pm with a two-hour premiere. The week after, Defying Gravity will move into its regular timeslot Sundays at 10 pm ET/PT. Series, which stars Ron Livingston, Laura Harris, Malik Yoba, Christina Cox, Florentine Lahme, Paula Garces, Eyal Podell, Dylan Taylor, Andrew Airlie, Karen LeBlanc, Zahf Paroo, and Maxim Roy, revolves around four male and four female astronauts from five countries who are on a mysterious six-year international space mission. Action will flash between their current mission and their rigorous training in the past. (via press release, Variety)

Gregory Smith (Everwood) will star opposite Missy Peregrym in Canadian police drama Copper, which will air Stateside on ABC. Smith will play Dov, a recent graduate from the police academy who attempts to make his way as a rookie cop. Elsewhere, Taylor Kinney (Fashion Show) has been cast as a regular on NBC's medical drama Trauma, where he will play Glen, an EMT that joins the rapid response team. (Hollywood Reporter)

SPOILER: Production on Season Four of HBO's sensational drama series Big Love begins August 13th and producers are on the hunt for two new recurring roles next season. Producers are looking to cast the roles Christie, the problem child daughter of Barb's sister Cindy who has been sent to Mormon Disciplinary Camp several times and who finds a seething jealousy towards new cousin Cara Lynn, and Dale, an closeted gay Mormon who is a partner at a big eight accounting firm and who becomes the new trustee of the Juniper Creek assets. (Spoiler TV)

The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan has a absolutely fantastic piece on the power of San Diego Comic-Con and its enduring appeal. (Chicago Tribune's The Watcher)

MTV has given a series order to teen comedy Hard Times, which revolves around an unpopular fifteen year old whose, er, endowment is revealed in front of the whole school during a prank and instantly finds popularity. Project, written and executive produced by David Katzenberg and Seth Grahame-Smith, is being compared to a teen version of HBO's similarly-themed Hung. (Hollywood Reporter)

Syfy's launch for drama series Warehouse 13 drew 3.5 million viewers, making it the third most watched network series debut behind Stargate Atlantis (4.2 million) and Eureka (4.1 million). (Broadcasting & Cable)

E! Online's Watch with Kristin is reporting that Catherine Bell isn't leaving Lifetime's Army Wives anytime soon. "I'll tell you this. I'm still in South Carolina, and I was filming the show this morning," said Bell via telephone. "Frank and Denise struggle for a while. It's not over. There are some really, really wonderful scenes coming—there's going to be some more communication about this... There's some really cool stuff coming up where you see a different side of him and their relationship. There's some positive stuff. He's a big teddy bear, and Frank adores Denise. He's going to change a bit this season. You're going to see a different side of him, that's very exciting." (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Stay tuned.

Talk Back: Syfy's "Warehouse 13"

Enchanted combs. Houdini's wallet. A warehouse filled with arcane objects with mysterious power.

I'm talking of course of Syfy's new series Warehouse 13, which kicked off last night amidst the network's metamorphosis from Sci Fi to, well, Syfy.

You read my advance review of the two-hour pilot of Syfy's Warehouse 13 but, now that it's aired, I am curious to hear what you think. (Missed the two-hour pilot? You can watch the whole thing over at Hulu or after the jump.)

What did you think of the partnership between Eddie McClintock and Joanne Kelly's mismatched Secret Service agents Pete Lattimer and Myka Bering? Was it more Philadelphia Story than X-Files? Were you intrigued by the sci fi-lite plot that had these two becoming custodians for a repository of powerful objects with seemingly supernatural abilities? Or were you turned off by the glacial pacing? Are you enamored with Saul Rubinek's manic Artie? Did you find the concept refreshing or repetitive?

And, most importantly, will you tune in again next week to watch?

Talk back here.



Next week on Warehouse 13 ("Resonance"), Pete (Eddie McClintock) and Myka (Joanne Kelly) must team up with an FBI agent (guest star Tricia Helfter) in order to stop a team of bank robbers who have an unusual weapon: a LP record of an unreleased pop song written by a music genius that causes instant bliss in those who hear it, allowing the thieves to take what they want. Back at the Warehouse, Artie (Saul Rubinek) pinpoints the breach and heads to Washington.

Secret Agents, Screwball, and Pseudo-Science: An Advance Review of Syfy's "Warehouse 13"

Tomorrow Sci Fi will morph into Syfy, dropping its generic name in favor of a unique term that can be trademarked globally as the channel rolls out its brand to territories around the world.

The metamorphosis of the channel--at least in terms of its name--will coincide with the launch of dramedy series Warehouse 13, which stars Joanne Kelley (Vanished), Eddie McClintock (Bones), and Saul Rubinek (Frasier).

Warehouse 13, executive produced by Jack Kenny and David Simkins, isn't your conventional sci-fi series, but rather a sci-fi-tinged screwball dramedy about two very mismatched Secret Service agents who are forced to work together after they are transferred to a mysterious South Dakota warehouse.

Said warehouse houses all manner of dangerous artifacts and powerful items that are best kept under lock and key. Overseen by punctilious caretaker Artie Nielsen (Rubinek), the Warehouse contains an arsenal of arcane objects that could wreak chaos in the wrong hands. It's his job--and now that of Agents Pete Lattimer (McClintock) and Myka Bering (Kelly)--to safeguard these objects, investigate cases involving possible use of relics, and bring them back to the Warehouse for safekeeping.

McClintock and Kelly are well cast as diametrically opposed Secret Service agents in the style of The X-Files' Mulder and Scully or indeed any of the screwball romantic leads of any George Cukor or Howard Hawks films. McClintock's Pete Lattimer is a guy's guy who tends to shoot first and ask questions later; he's guided by an intuition that approaches something vaguely resembling precognition or clairvoyance. He can seemingly anticipate trouble before it strikes and his investigations tend to go on gut instinct rather than brainy analysis.

His new partner, Myka Bering (Kelly), is his polar opposite. Still reeling from a scandal-inducing battle in Denver that left one agent dead (with whom, shall we say, Myka was intimate) and Myka dealing with the political and emotional fallout, Myka is all icy cold logic, as tightly wound as a clock spring. Her strength and weakness are often one and the same: precise analysis that precludes any navel-gazing.

Intuition, meet rationality.

These two mismatched partners are in fact perfectly matched in every sense of the word. There's a nice spark between McClintock's Pete and Kelly's Myka that sets them up neatly as the ideal sparring partners. But for now, their relationship is strictly professional and they fall into a pattern of wary trust with one another.

The wild card in their midst is, of course, Rubinek's manic Artie, the keeper of secrets who knows the Warehouse like the back of his hand yet still must answer to a mysterious group of overseers, embodied in the pilot episode by Mrs. Frederic (The Shield's CCH Pounder), a woman who seems to move like a wisp of smoke.

The result is something akin to a lighter version of FOX's Fringe, a series that deals with scientific advances and crimes stemming from the use of some rather strange (and often creepy) artifacts of its own, and also recalls the network's own limited series The Lost Room, which also dealt with the collection of arcane objects.

Warehouse 13 takes a more comedic tack, employing some screwball humor and fast-paced banter. It's a warmer series, in every sense of the word, and doesn't have the same bleak worldview or intensely overarching yet strangely localized mythology that Fringe does. (Although, it's worth noting that Warehouse 13 does have a mythology of its own, which will be parceled out over time, and its concept allows the team to travel to various locations each week.) And yet one can't help but want a little more oomph in the plotting, a little of Fringe's wow factor, and a sense of wonderment that's only tangentially touched upon in the opener.

Frustratingly, Warehouse 13's two-hour pilot, directed by Burn Notice's Jace Alexander, often drags at times (sometimes frustratingly so) and the initial case that Myka and Pete find themselves investigating is both confusing and unoriginal. Had it unfolded over the course of a normal-length episode, the effect may not have been the same but a far too long two-hour opener drags out the action past the breaking point.

However, there is the potential for an intriguing series to be found here. The series' subsequent episode--which runs a more typical forty-odd minutes--picks up the pace and softens Myka a little as well. She's not unlikeable in the pilot but she's also got a hell of a lot of jagged edges to her and the series's second episode ("Resonance"), which also features Battlestar Galactica's Tricia Helfer, goes a long way to establishing Myka as a more sympathetic and multi-layered character.

That second episode also helps the series find its footing a bit more easily. It's easy to see the sticky fingerprints of multiple writers (including Brent Mote, Jane Espenson, and David Simkins) all over the pilot episode but the second installment shows the series channeling its own distinctive voice and tone, balancing scientific elements, crime-solving, and inter-character dynamics with equal weight as well as jettisoning the somewhat sluggish pace that characterized the series opener and introducing a mystery element that will likely be solved in subsequent episodes.

I hope that the series' writers explore the unnamed town that sits nearby the Warehouse, an unincorporated settlement that's as creepily off-putting as it is semi-deserted. We're introduced to local boarding house owner Leena (Genelle Williams), a woman seemingly gifted with the ability to read people's auras, in the pilot and I'm hoping that later episodes give Pete and Myka the chance to get to know some of the other locals as well.

Ultimately, Warehouse 13 feels very much like a work in progress, a barely stitched together Houdini's wallet that could in time find its magic but right now seems to need some stronger thread. I'm buoyed by the fact that the second installment is a significantly more enjoyable outing than the first and I'm hoping that the series can bring forth the wow factor that's lost somewhere in the warehouse's vast panoply of shelves.



Warehouse 13 launches with a two-hour pilot tomorrow night at 9 pm ET/PT on Syfy.

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

Warehouse Party: David Simkins, Jack Kenny, Joanne Kelly, and Eddie McClintock Talk "Warehouse 13"

“IMAGINATION, n. A warehouse of facts, with poet and liar in joint ownership.” - Ambrose Bierce

Sci Fi--or Syfy as it will be known then--will next month launch its newest drama, Warehouse 13, which stars Joanne Kelly (Vanished), Eddie McClintock (Bones), and Saul Rubinek (Leverage). As executive producer Jack Kenny describes it, Warehouse 13 is an "action adventure proceduromedy."

Kelly plays Myka Bering, an analytical secret service agent whose cool head keeps her above the fray, while McClintock is Agent Pete Lattimer, who's more used to using brawn over brains to get out of scrapes. Both are transferred rather unexpectedly to their new assignment: Warehouse 13, a top-secret government warehouse in the middle of South Dakota that houses arcane and dangerous artifacts. Brainy logic meets brawny cocksure attitude. (Or as McClintock succinctly put it, "That’s why Joanne and I are so like suited for our characters because it’s true. She is the mathematician and I’m the bullet-diver.")

Kelly and McClintock, along with Warehouse 13's executive producers Jack Kenny and David Simkins, participated in a press call last week where they discuss how similar they are to their characters, what's in store for the series, its underlying mythology, and upcoming guest stars.

So grab a cookie, get out your Farnsworth device, and let's find out what the gang from Warehouse 13 had to say about their upcoming Syfy series.

Throughout its development process, Warehouse 13 had a rather unusual turn of events that led up to it getting ordered to series. Several writers had a crack at the pilot script, including Battlestar Galactica's Jane Espenson and Ronald D. Moore and Farscape's Rockne O'Bannon. So how did McClintock and Kelly end up on this crazy ride?

"I was coming off my sixth or seventh test refusal and basically I was in tears in the waiting room and Joanne kind of talked me down off the ledge and this is right before she and I went in together," explained McClintock. "So when we went in together [and] to me it was like I’ve known Joanne for years. We just kind of hit it off and this was before we had even started to read together. So I think that there was just a natural chemistry that came across in the room, at least that’s how I felt."

"Yeah, I screwed up a line and he started making fun of me in the audition and I stopped them and tried to restart the audition again and those were the two characters," Kelly chimed in. "I mean, it was kind of right on the money."

"Yeah, Joanne/Myka taking control and Pete/Eddie McClintock acting a fool basically," joked McClintock. "And as far as what attracted me to the role, it was definitely the money. They said, you know, you’ll make a bunch of money and I was like I’m in. No, for me, the Pete character kind of encompassed all the things that in one character that I’d always wanted to play. I’ve been able to play pieces of this character at different times but Pete kind of gets to do everything. He gets to be smart and funny and he gets to be heroic and to me that’s the dream job. So I love the character."

"There’s not a lot of women characters that are written as dynamically as Myka is," said Kelly. "And I was so excited that she was so smart and has a history and a past and is vulnerable at times and strong at others and funny and dramatic and sad. I mean, it really is such a round role and I was so drawn to it when I read the script right off the bat so I’m quite pleased with myself at this point."

For executive producers Jack Kenny and David Simkins, what were the inherent challenges with getting the series off the ground?

"Any new series involves similar challenges: where are we going to go, are we going to arc out the first season or is each episode going to be individual? What we’re learning about these characters and these people," said Kenny. "One of the things we did was we brought Saul and Jo and Eddie into the writers' room and we all sat together and we had a session. And we talked about the characters and let them talk about the characters, we talked about them personally, what do they like, what do they do, what are their hobbies, do any of them speak languages or play instruments. You know, what are their relationships with family members and things so that we could sort of mine who they were as individuals."

"Because my approach has always been that; every show I’ve ever done is a family show whether it’s a workplace comedy or an actual family show," continued Kenny. "And so in building this family of this brother and sister and father team that we’ve got going we wanted to sort of bring who they were to the roles. Because once you cast an actor in a part, once an actor takes on a role, they bring who they are to it so you want to mold that role to them. And we were all very fortunate in that these guys were so much like these characters to start with and David in crafting the pilot I think really made it a nice fit for Jo and Eddie to slip into these parts and Saul as well."

"So our challenges were finding the directions to take these characters in where they could grow and learn about each other and the relationships could deepen," he went on. "And then also of course we wanted to - I’m starting to call this show so many things. Now I think I’m calling it an action adventure proceduromedy."

"Because it’s got all these elements and so we didn’t want to do a strictly procedural show because there’s plenty of that on TV," Kenny explained. "And these actors are so much more interesting than just standing around with a notepad asking questions. So rather than have them investigate and just follow a trail, our challenge is to make them experience the adventure at the same time as we are. In other words, we don’t really want the audience to learn much about what’s going on ahead of when our characters do. We want our audience and our characters to be on the same ride. So that’s been something we wanted to do and we’ve done it kind of differently in every episode. Sometimes we know what an artifact is going into it, sometimes we don’t know what it is and we’ve got to find it, but we’ve always wanted to sort of go on the ride with them. And rather than a challenge, that’s just been a goal of ours to do."

How would the actors categorize the relationship between Myka and Pete? Is there a little bit of that Mulder and Scully chemistry there?

"I’ve kind of been describing our relationship as I’m kind of the younger brother who’s constantly pulling at her pigtails and she’s in turn always punching me in the armand it’s actually kind of how it goes minus the pigtails," joked McClintock. "I mean, if they did a gag reel of how many times Myka/Joanne punches Pete/Eddie in the stomach or in the arm or - I look at it right now in it’s kind of a brother/sister relationship. It’s still in its infancy, so where it will go from here it’s hard to say but I think we are a brother/sister/great friends who have a tremendous amount of respect for one another even though we constantly pick at one another. And so which makes it just a great, fun thing to play for me."

"Yeah, yeah, I think Eddie’s right on the nose, of course," agreed Kelly. "That is definitely our relationship. And the thing that I like about the way that it progresses is that there’s so much that these characters learn from one another, Pete and Myka. I mean, they’re so different and you see the gelling of two processes and the success that comes from that. And you see my character is very isolated at the beginning and his too is too in a way and you see these two people gradually open up to one another and I think that’s really special."

"And whether it be in a brother/sister way or a romantic way," she said, "you see these two people constantly learning more about the other and making fun of the other for it and helping the other. So it makes it very human and very real, I think."

"Just in terms of my observation of noticing the difference between Pete and Myka from Mulder and Scully," said Kenny, "the thing that I love about like the character of Indiana Jones is he always feels like he’s kind of not lost, but vulnerable. He never feels like he knows much more about the situation than you know as you’re watching him but he manages to get through and find his way. And that’s the sense I get with Pete and Myka. They’re sort of thrown into these situations, a different one every time. They don’t know what’s going to happen, they don’t know how an artifact works, they don’t know all the ramifications or possibilities what could happen but they’re getting through it anyway using their wits and their observation powers and all those things. And that to me feels more like an adventure than Mulder and Scully went on. That was a darker kind of a feel. This is more of an adventure for them."

But if it is such an adventure, then why doesn’t Myka realize that her new assignment with Warehouse 13 is significantly bigger than protecting a president?

"Well, I think when anyone is thrust into a situation where they’re not given the facts or the whole truth behind it, there is a bit of apprehension or reticence," explained Kelly. "You know, her journey opens up a lot more as the series progresses. But I think that in life when we are given a situation that is strange and at this point almost inconceivable, I mean, it’s pretty wild, it’s pretty out there, and this is somebody who thinks in black and white and she’s proven wrong by the Warehouse, by the very existence of it. I don’t think this is anything that she had even dreamt could be possible. And I think the lack of answers and the lack of factual documents or the lack of guidance affect her and makes her push against that idea. But I think that reaction as you’ll see in the series once it airs, it changes and it grows as she learns more and more about the Warehouse."

Some people have said that Myka and Pete's partnership in the pilot episode reminded them of Indiana Jones or Men in Black. Were either of those inspiration for Warehouse 13?

"I wouldn’t say so much inspiration as opposed to just touching upon cultural touchstones and dramatic touchstones and cinematic touchstones," said Simkins. "Jack and I in going back and sitting with the characters and with the characters in the writer’s room, we talk a lot about the Thin Man series, Myrna Loy, William Powell, we talk about Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy. It goes far beyond the more sort of recent [influences]. We’re really digging into those, past those, beyond those, and looking at real good basic storytelling archives that we can constantly sort of reflect on and occasionally use to help us tell our story."

"I think what you’re talking about though is in those kinds of relationships and those kind of settings is just the friction," continued Simkins. "The story to me with characters like Pete and Myka, the story of those characters always lives in the space between them: what they believe at a certain moment or a potential betrayal or a revelation of a hidden secret. Those things play in any relationship whether it be in Men in Black or Indie and Marion [in] Indiana Jones. They’re just really, really right avenues to explore."

"I wasn’t involved in the pilot but I have always been in favor of stealing from the best," said Kenny, tongue-in-cheek. "I thought it was really cool and I didn’t make the connection until somebody else brought it up. I thought it was a cool idea for a show."

So, have Simkins and Kenny or the writing staff thought up an artifact that was just too daunting to base an episode around?

"There is an artifact that we’ve been kicking around the writer’s room for quite a while: Hitler’s microphone," said Simkins.

"I knew you were going to say that!" chimed in Kenny. "I had a bug up my butt to do that one."

"And yeah, I’ve got to tell you, it’s a really interesting concept to sort of take something from history that we’re all very aware of and the incredible, tragic worldwide consequences of that," Simkins explained. "But what would happen if somebody got a hold of that microphone and it possessed some sort of ability or power to transfer the ability to convince people to do very, very wrong things? It was an artifact that circled the writer’s room quite a bit and I think it’s still circling."

"Well it’s an interesting debate because some people felt that they didn’t want to diminish the evil that was Adolph Hitler by saying that it was because of a microphone," said Kenny. "But then we said it wasn’t because of the microphone, it was that the microphone became imbued with the evil that was Adolph Hitler. But David’s right. We’re still circling it."

"And I have to say in terms of other artifacts, it’s when we’re sitting around in the room trying to land on something it really comes down to what artifacts can we explore that will reflect on our two characters in a really cool and interesting way," Simkins went on. "And I think part of Hitler’s microphone -- and this goes to other artifacts -- is that when the artifact begins to swamp or take over the characters or the story or the relationship we’re trying to explore, the artifact may get sort of pushed aside. If we can do an artifact that really sort of forces Pete and Myka to look at themselves or to look at the world around them a different way or to get the audience to sort of reconsider something, then we know we’ve landed on our artifact that we can probably run with. It really comes down to the artifact serving the story as opposed to letting the artifacts run the story."

McClintock, meanwhile, says his favorite artifact-related moments from the series are in an upcoming episode entitled "Breakdown," where Myka and Pete get trapped inside the Warehouse, and in "Burnout."

"That was a favorite for me because it was so much fun and we just had such a great time," said McClintock. "And there was a lot of physical stuff for me to do which is just stuff that I love to do. I love physical comedy. I love being able to do it and hopefully I do it well but I know that I have a great deal of fun doing it. And then there was 'Burnout,' where we discover this artifact called the Spine of Serafson... It was an episode for me where I really got to kind of explore where I am right now as an actor, who I am as an actor, and so that was kind of the biggest challenge. That was a great challenge for me, that episode. So those have been my two favorites."

"For me I would have to say that my favorite artifact so far has been Lewis Carroll’s mirror probably because it was the biggest acting challenge," said Kelly. "It was a huge challenge and it was a lot of fun. I got to kick up my heels a little bit. So that’s probably been my favorite along with the fact that I’m such a Lewis Carroll fan and have been for years and years. 'Alice Through the Looking Glass' and 'Alice in Wonderland' are two of my favorite books so that was really kind of special. That was my own special episode so far."

"That’s one of those things and I think you mentioned, Jo, in one of the first things we all had with you as actors you talked about being a Lewis Carroll fan," said Kenny. "And I don’t remember specifically but it may have been one of the impetuses for coming up with this Lewis Carroll story because it’s been our goal to design these episodes in their direction."

"Yeah, it’s very funny because you you’ll say something when Jack and David are around and you’ll get a script the next week and it will be in it," said Kelly. "It’s such a great thing and scary."

What guest stars can viewers look forward to in the first season of Warehouse 13?

"Well Joe Flanigan is going to join us," said Kenny. "It’s an episode where we’re chasing these four sculptures that create something and we don’t know what they create until the end. And Joe Flanigan is one of the guys chasing it, and James Naughton is kind of his nemesis also chasing them. And Pete and Myka are trying to figure out what they’re after and why they’re after them. And then also Roger Rees is going to be joining us for three episodes as Artie’s longtime nemesis, a former partner of Artie’s [who] sort of went bad about 15 years ago in the story [and] you’ll find out in the season finale. But he rears his head a couple of times in terms of the guy that is the competition, the warehouse competition, the guy who’s also looking for a lot of the same things and for an entirely different reason."

"And the super foxy, delicious Tricia Helfer," interrupted McClintock.

"Delicious, I like it," joked Kelly. "She was also like the nicest person ever in the world."

"She plays a hard core FBI agent that kind of gets under the skin of Myka but not so much Pete," explained McClintock. "Pete takes a bit of a shine to [her]."

"Yeah, Niall [Matter] and Erica [Cerra] from Eureka are joining us as a couple of con men that Pete and Myka stumble into in Las Vegas and Joe Morton is a prison preacher in an episode where things - nasty things are happening at a Florida state penitentiary," said Simkins.

How did Simkins and Kenny wind up getting on board Warehouse 13?

"The idea or the basis of these characters is something that Sci Fi had been sort of living with for a few years," said Simkins. "They’ve had this project in development for a long time and they were pretty clear about the kind of relationship they were looking for. And when I came in to work on the pilot it was just a matter of looking to them and then, you know, digging back into my own toolbox and pulling out as much of that stuff as I could."

"When Eddie and Joanne walked into the audition stage and sort of took over these characters, it was a real eye-opening experience because I think Sci Fi and I, we all thought we were on the right track, that where we were going with these two characters could definitely be done. And then when Eddie and Joanne took over the roles, Jack and I and the writers, we really--and we’ve said it before--just write into them. We write into their characters, into their speaking styles, into their attitudes. And it’s been, you know, I have to say writing for them has been one of the easiest things to do. It’s writing for the artifacts which is pretty difficult."

"It’s interesting too because to me the success of any pilot, 90% of the success is the casting, is finding the right people for the roles that are created," mused Kenny. "And then the success of a series, 90% of it is being able to write to those people you’ve cast because it’s one thing, you know, it becomes just a different challenge. We want to write to their strengths. We can hear their voices in our heads as we’re writing. That’s the challenge of every writing staff in town is to key into those people. I mean, and I think it always takes a couple of episodes to get a hold of it but we’ve really gotten into Saul and Eddie and Jo’s - their rhythms, their cadences, their strengths, their weaknesses, and everything we can find about them. And the same thing is true with CCH [Pounder] and with Allison Scagliotti who’s joining our series later in Episode 4 and Genelle [Williams] who plays Leena. Writing towards their strengths is what makes the series strong."

And is there an overarching mythology to the series?

"We just finished a document that sort of tracks the chronology of the Warehouses," said Simkins. "In our mythology, the first Warehouse was created by Alexander in an effort to keep hold of the artifacts that he collected on his wars. And it didn’t last long because Alexander died young but then the library at Alexandria was a warehouse too where research and development and things were stored and books. And so we’ve kind of tracked the chronology of empires and our feeling is that the Warehouse has moved from empire to empire throughout the ages, moving to the country that was best able to protect it. It was in the Western Roman Empire, the Hunnic Empire, the Byzantine Empire, all the way up through the Russian Empire, the British Empire, and then finally the United States. It was always located itself in the empire that was best able to protect it."

"And it was early on in one of the early Warehouses' iterations, it was established that a board of directors essentially would be in charge of it, an ever-changing sort of Supreme Court called the Regents," he continued. "And the Regents were in charge of deciding when and where to move the Warehouse. I think the longest it lasted was in the Western Roman Empire for about 500 years and the shortest was about 14 years in, I think it was the Khmer Empire. We’ve established this long history of the numbers of Warehouses that have gone through the ages and eventually when we get it all polished up it will maybe show up on the Website or something."

"The mythology of any series is more there for us than for you because it helps us feed stories, it helps us drop little hints of things," said Kenny. "It keeps us consistent with the background and the history of the characters and the place. But obviously every episode we deal with in the present day dynamic and we want to keep everything alive."

"[Sci Fi] have given us license to go out there, try things, try new stuff, don’t lock yourself into one certain place or one certain way of telling a story," continued Kenny. "We haven’t really found an absolute formula for the show yet and I think Saul [Rubinek] is very fond of saying we shouldn’t find a formula for the show. We should keep it lively and amorphous and flexible. And the way I think that you keep something flexible and alive is by understanding a really strong basis for it. I mean, the fact that we know the mythology of the Warehouse and the back story of all these characters will only allow us to go even further in exploring who they are and go out on a limb with them all in various ways."

Warehouse 13 launches Tuesday, July 7th at 9 pm ET/PT on Sci Fi.

Channel Surfing: Helfer, Hogan, Sheppard in "Warehouse 13," "Mad Men" Clashes with AMC Over Ad Break, "Cranford" Returns this Christmas, and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing.

Battlestar Galactica's Tricia Helfer, Michael Hogan, and Mark Sheppard have signed on to guest star in Syfy's upcoming series Warehouse 13, which launches July 7th. Helfer will play a Chicago-based FBI agent on the drama series, while Hogan has been cast as the father of Joanne Kelly's Myka, with her mother played by Hogan's real-life wife Susan Hogan. Finally, Sheppard will appear as an "enigmatic figure who represents the organization that controls the Warehouse." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Nikki Finke is reporting that cabler AMC has told producers of drama series Mad Men that they will have to shave off roughly two additional minutes of content per episode next season in order to insert more commercial ads, a decision which has angered some staffers on the drama series. "That might not sound like such a big deal, but it's galling given how well the show has done, how carefully it's put together, and how much money it's already making AMC," writes Finke, "and parent company Cablevision which recently announced a $20M 1st-quarter profit, while subsidiary Rainbow Media cited a 7.6% increase in ad sales." AMC executives, meanwhile, blamed the stumbling economy and said that Mad Men doesn't bring in enough revenue. (Deadline Hollywood Daily)

Award-winning period drama Cranford will return to BBC One this Christmas with a two-part special that will feature Dame Judi Dench, Imelda Staunton, Julia McKenzie, Deborah Findlay, Francesca Annis, and Barbara Flynn reprising their roles in a story set one year after the events of the original mini-series. Also set to appear in Cranford's Christmas specials are Jonathan Pryce, Celia Imrie, Lesley Sharp, Nicholas Le Prevost, Jodie Whittaker, Tom Hiddleston, Michelle Dockery, Matthew McNulty, and Rory Kinnear. Filming is set to begin in June. (BBC)

ABC's plans to burn off the remaining episodes of canceled comedy In the Motherhood beginning next week have changed, with the network now shifting the three-week run from Fridays at 9:30 pm ET/PT to Thursdays at 8:30 pm ET/PT starting June 25th. (Futon Critic)

TLC has given a series order to unscripted series Wedded to Perfection and give the series a sneak peek tonight. The series, from Peacock Productions, follows the professional lives of married couple Jung Lee and Josh Brooks, professional wedding planners who launch elaborate nuptials in Manhatan. (Hollywood Reporter)

Cabler TBS has ordered ten half-hour episodes of unscripted latenight series The Very Funny Show, which will feature host Tim Meadows overseeing a series of standup performances at Zanies Comedy Club in Chicago. The series, which will feature such comedians as Bob Marey, Dwight Slade, and Steve Byrne, is set to launch in November. (Variety)

Universal Media Studios has signed a two-year overall deal with writer/executive producer Liz Heldens (Mercy), under which she will remain on board NBC's midseason medical drama Mercy as showrunner and develop new projects for the studio. She was previously a co-executive producer on Friday Night Lights. (Variety)

ABC will launch seven-episode reality series Crash Course this summer, likely in August. Series, from executive producers Arthur Smith and Kent Weed, features five teams as they undertake four extreme driving challenges ranging from driving on two wheels to driving under intense weather conditions, with a team eliminated after each round. Commentary will be provided by Orlando Jones and Dan Cortese. (Hollywood Reporter)

NBC has partnered with reality production company Shed Media to produce the network's upcoming six-episode unscripted series The Marriage Ref with Jerry Seinfeld, slated to debut in midseason on Sunday nights. (Variety)

Showrunner Kevin Abbott (Surviving Suburbia, Roseanne) has sued 20th Century Fox Television, asserting that the studio owes him $1.38 million for "improperly withholding payments and suspending his overall deal during the 2007-08 WGA strike," according to the Hollywood Reporter. Abbot was released from his studio deal during the writers strike but claims that his deal "was markedly different from the contracts of many of his peers" and "specifically protected him from suspension or termination based solely upon a strike." The studio had no comment on the litigation. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: FX Cancels "The Riches," "Pushing Daisies," Ratings Dim for "Friday Night Lights," "Ashes to Ashes," and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. While everyone is buzzing about last night's presidential debate, there are more than a few television-related news tidbits to discuss as well.

Following several months of discussions, FX has confirmed that it will not be renewing drama series The Riches for a third season, due to falling ratings for the drama. In its second season, which was shortened to seven episodes due to the writers strike, viewers dropped 44 percent in the key 18-49 demo. The move is hardly a surprise: showrunner Dmitry Lipkin is currently working on his HBO pilot project Hung and I had assumed for a while now that The Riches would sadly not be returning to the cabler. (Variety)

TV Guide talks to Pushing Daisies star Lee Pace about what to expect for Season Two, a certain game of "slap jack" between Ned and Chuck that never made it to the screen, and the Pie Maker's family. (TV Guide)

Sadly, there might not have been a new episode of Fringe last night but you can still get some hints about The Pattern and what's going on with Walter, Olivia, and Peter in this handy video from Fringe's executive producers Alex Kurtzman, Jeff Pinkner, and Roberto Orci. (FOX)

Only 400,000 viewers tuned in to watch the third season opener of Friday Night Lights, which debuted on DirecTV's The 101; series will run exclusively on the satellite provider for four months before launching its third season on NBC in February. Granted, DirecTV only counts 17.1 million subscribers overall but that's still extremely low, as Friday Night Lights only ranked in 7th place among all basic cable programs available to its subscribers. (New York Times)

Writer/executive producer David E. Kelley and Warner Bros. are shopping a spec script for a new one-hour legal drama. CBS and NBC said to be extremely interesting in picking up the project, which is expected to land a significant commitment. (Hollywood Reporter)

Fire up the Quattro. Filming has begun on Season Two of BBC One's Life on Mars spinoff sequel Ashes to Ashes, which stars Keeley Hawes, Philip Glenister, Dean Andrews, Marshall Lancaster, and Montserrat Lombard. In the second season, Alex (Hawes) will discover that she may not be the only one in 1982 in her, uh, predicament. (BBC)

TBS has renewed comedy My Boys for a third season, with nine episodes set to air in early 2009. (Variety)

HBO has cast Bryan Greenberg (October Road) and Victor Rasuk (Stop-Loss) as the leads of its single-camera comedy pilot How to Make It in America, from writer Ian Edelman and executive producers Stephen Levinson and Mark Wahlberg. Project revolves around two twenty-something NYC hustlers who are determined to grab a slice of the American dream. Julian Farino (The Office) will direct the pilot. (Hollywood Reporter)

Jack Kenny (Book of Daniel) has joined the staff of Sci Fi's upcoming drama series Warehouse 13 as showrunner/executive producer, a move that reunites Kenny with his former Book of Daniel colleague David Simkins. Warehouse 13, which stars Eddie McClintock, Joanne Kelly, and Saul Rubinek, is set to launch in July 2009. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: ABC Finds Possible Companion for "Lost," Sci Fi Searches in "Warehouse 13," "Heroes," and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. I spent last night holding my sides from laughing so much during the season premiere of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (more on that in a bit) and was on the edge of my seat watching the much anticipated season premiere of The Amazing Race (which kicks off on CBS on September 28th).

Sci Fi has ordered 11 additional episodes of sci-fi dramedy Warehouse 13, which already shot a two-hour backdoor pilot earlier this year. Series, about Secret Service agents tasked with protecting a top secret South Dakota storage facility that contains a seemingly endless supply of supernatural artifacts (hint: like the TARDIS, the place is bigger on the inside), stars Eddie McClintock (Bones), Joanne Kelly (Vanished), CCH Pounder (The Shield), and Saul Rubinek (Blind Justice). Look for Warehouse 13--from writer/executive producer David Simkins, writers Brent Mote and Jane Espenson, and Universal Cable Prods.--to air in July 2009 as a companion series to the net's Eureka. (Variety)

ABC has found a possible companion for Lost in Threshold's David S. Goyer and Brannon Braga's spec script Flash Forward, about what happens after everyone in the world blacks out for two minutes and 17 seconds and experiences a vision of the world's future. Project, originally developed at HBO, is based on a Robert J. Sawyer novel. Goyer will direct the pilot and executive produce with Braga, Jessika Borsiczky Goyer, Vince Gerardis, and Ralph M. Vicinanza. ABC Studios is in negotiations to produce Flash Forward. (Hollywood Reporter)

Jonathan Goldstein (Old Christine) will serve as an executive producer on FOX's space-set single-camera comedy pilot Boldly Going Nowhere, from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia creators/stars Rob McElhenney, Glenn Howerton, and Charlie Day. Project is about the lazy crew of a wayward spaceship in the distant future. (Variety)

NBC has confirmed that Oprah Winfrey will appear in the November 6th episode of 30 Rock.

Heroes' Tim Kring admits that the downtime following the start of the writer's strike last year was a good thing for the series. "We don't really get a break," said Kring," so the time off creatively helped us." He admits that it allowed for the creative team to be reinvigotated and that Season Three may pacify fans frustrated with the twins storyline and Hiro being trapped in feudal Japan. What else should fans expect for Season Three? Find out here. (Associated Press)

In other FOX news, the network has given a cast-contingent pilot order to single-camera comedy Save Us Then the Whales from Sameer Asad Gardezi (Mind of Mencia) about a middle-aged nonprofit organization staffer who "approaches the world of fundraising as if he's bartering at a Moroccan bazaar," which irks the idealistic co-director of the organization. (Hollywood Reporter)

Wade Allain Marcus (The American Mall) has joined the cast of Gossip Girl as Max, a manipulative 19-year-old photographer with ties to Manhattan's fashion and art scenes. I can only venture a guess and say that he'll likely be a potential love interest for one Miss Jenny Humphrey though I wouldn't mind it if he manipulated Vanessa right off of the series. (Hollywood Reporter)

Sean Bean (The Lord of the Rings) will lead a cast that includes Andrew Garfield (Doctor Who), David Morrissey (State of Play), and Paddy Considine (Hot Fuzz) in Red Riding, a new three-part series for UK's Channel 4 that will adapt David Peace's novel trilogy about life--and its inherent struggles of morality and human nature--in Yorkshire in the 1970s and 1980s. (Digital Spy)

Stay tuned.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Ghost Whisperer (CBS); America's Toughest Jobs (NBC); Friday Night SmackDown! (CW; 8-10 pm); America's Funniest Home Videos (ABC; 8-10 pm); Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? (FOX)

9 pm: NUMB3RS (CBS); Dateline (NBC; 9-11 pm); Don't Forget the Lyrics (FOX)

10 pm: NUMB3RS (CBS); 20/20 (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

Um, I think I'll just go out instead...