Channel Surfing: Elijah Wood Pets FX's Willard, Larry King to Leave CNN, Nestor Carbonell Gets Psych, Doctor Who, and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing.

Elijah Wood (Lord of the Rings) will star opposite Jason Gann in the pilot for FX's US adaptation of Aussie comedy Wilfred, about a man and his talking dog, the latter of which will be voiced by Gann, the original creator of the series. Project hails from writer David Zuckerman (Family Guy) and director Randall Einhorn (The Office). Production is slated to begin this summer. (Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed)

Larry King will be hanging up his trademark suspenders this fall after 25 years as the host of Larry King Live in order to spend more time with his family. The Los Angeles Times' Matea Gold and Yvonne Villarreal have a fantastic interview with King about his decision to leave CNN. "I said, 'I can't top this,'" King told the Times on Tuesday. "I'm not getting younger. I want more time with other things. It's time to go... The daily grind is tough. And there are aspects of it, you know, when you've got to do tabloid shows, which is the nature of the business, you've got to do the girl that's missing in Aruba. It's hard to make the case that that is major news, but that's what news is today. And my curiosity runs to that, but not nightly." (Los Angeles Times)

Fancast's Matt Mitovich is reporting that Nestor Carbonell (Lost) will join the cast of USA's Psych for a multiple-episode story arc, where he will play Declan Rand, described as "a criminal profiler who over the course of two episodes will shape up to be Shawn’s professional – as well as romantic – rival." Season Five of Psych will launch July 14th on USA. (Fancast)

SPOILER! Doctor Who showrunner/head writer Steven Moffat has teased details about next season of the sci-fi drama, which stars Matt Smith and Karen Gillan. The secret behind just what that voice meant by "silence will fall" will be explored in the new season of Doctor Who, which will air in 2011 (after a Christmas Special, confirmed last weekend by BBC). "What is that, who is that, who are the silence, what's coming? The whole point of the silence is next series," Moffat told Doctor Who Confidential "Also, River Song... who is she really? That's what we're going to find out next year." (Digital Spy)

TVGuide.com's Adam Bryant has some details about the new season of AMC's Mad Men via an exclusive video that goes behind the scenes of the new promos to tease some precious morsels about what to expect during Season Four of the period drama. "I wanted to have a continuity of these characters and things that are happening to them ... and don't pretend like that they didn't happen," creator/executive producer Matthew Weiner said. "At the same time, be prepared for the fact that [for] a lot of the things that happened, you're going to have to watch and see how they worked out." (TVGuide.com)

Emily VanCamp has confirmed her departure from ABC's Brothers & Sisters via an exclusive interview with Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello. "It is true. I’m going to go back for a couple of episodes, which I’m really excited about," VanCamp told Ausiello. "I really feel like Rebecca has run her course. And the deal I was offered this year was for two more years and I just felt like since renegotiations were happening that maybe it would be the right time to move on. I’ve been doing this for a very long time and other opportunities have presented themselves that I haven’t been able to do. I’ve had such an amazing four years on the show and I felt like maybe it was time. It was a big risk but I’m really excited about it." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

It's official: after weeks of negotiations, A&E has ordered thirteen episodes of drama Breakout Kings, which had been previously set up at FOX. Production will begin this fall on the episodic commitment and will air in 2011 on the cabler. "We are thrilled to collaborate with accomplished talents such as Matt and Nick, as well as Peter Chernin and Katherine Pope; with phenomenal track records of success," said Bob DeBitetto, President and General Manager of A&E and BIO Channel, in a statement. "As soon as we screened the Breakout Kings pilot, it struck us as the perfect fit for A&E as the network of 'Real Life. Drama.'" Series stars Laz Alonso, Domeick Lombardozzi, Malcolm Goodwin, Jimmi Simpson, and Brooke Nevin. (via press release)

SPOILER! Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Mitch Pileggi will be returning for a multiple-episode story arc on the CW's Supernatural, where he will reprise his role as Sam and Dean's presumed dead grandfather. How is Gramps returning from the dead? “For one thing, he’s a Campbell — from Sam and Dean’s mom’s side of the family,which, unlike their dad’s, has actually been into hunting for a very long time,” executive producer Sera Gamble told Ausiello. "There’s a whole side of Sam and Dean’s history that they know nothing about. We’ll get to find out a bit about it this season." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Deadline's Nellie Andreeva is reporting that Claire Forlani and Peter Mooney have been cast in Starz's upcoming medieval drama Camelot from writers Michael Hurst and Chris Chibnall. Forlani will play Queen Igraine, the mother of Arthur (Jamie Campbell Bower), while Mooney will play Kay, Arthur's brother. [Editor: you might recall that Forlani was previously attached to Showtime's upcoming comedy Episodes but was replaced by Tamsin Greig.] The rest of the cast includes Joseph Fiennes, Eva Green, and Tamsin Egerton; Camelot is slated to launch in early 2011. (Deadline)

SPOILER! TV Guide Magazine's Will Keck is reporting that a new baddie is headed to Mystic Falls on the CW's Vampire Diaries next season and talks to executive producer Julie Plec about this mysterious addition to the Lockwood clan. "Our big new addition is Mason Lockwood, the mayor's much younger and cooler brother, who has been estranged from the family," Plec told Keck. "His return introduces a lot of questions about what is so special about that creepy Lockwood family." (TV Guide Magazine)

Nickelodeon's Nicktoons has ordered 22 episodes of animated series Rush Zone: Guardians of the Core, which is based on NFL's website NFLRush Zone and which will feature the voices of NFL players and coaches in segments approximately two to five minutes in length. (Variety)

UK viewers will get to see the revamped CBS drama Hawaii Five-O following a deal between CBS Television Studios and Virgin Media's Bravo, which secured pay television, Freeview, and digital rights to the Alex O'Loughlin starrer. (Broadcast)

Oxygen has snagged the off-network cable rights to FOX's Glee while USA has done the same for ABC comedy Modern Family; both series will debut on their respective channels beginning in 2013. As part of the Glee deal, Oxygen will also air an unscripted reality series that will depict the search for a new cast member, a series that was originally intended to air on FOX before the network scrapped it. According to Variety's Michael Schneider, "Oxygen is expected to produce the "Glee" reality show, with reality producers experienced in reality competitions likely to be hired." (Variety)

Elsewhere, Style has acquired rerun rights to Run's House and spinoff Daddy's Girls, the former of which will begin airing its second window beginning tonight. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Kevin Spacey Pitching Series, HBO Delves into Hemingway & Gellhorn, Ricky Gervais on His New Project, and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing.

Vulture's Josef Adalian is reporting that Kevin Spacey is in attached to star in Rod Lurie's drama pilot The Crux, about a charismatic cult leader, which is currently being pitched to various networks. (Should the project go forward, Spacey would executive produce with Lurie, Dana Brunetti, and Marc Frydman.) While Adalian reports that talks have begun between Spacey's camp and Showtime (as well as possibly HBO), Deadline's Nellie Adreeva adds that the project is currently being pitched to Showtime, HBO, FX, and Starz, with all four said to be in the running to land the much buzzed project from Lurie (Commander In Chief), who will write the script. Timing, however, may be a key factor. "One stumbling block could be Spacey's schedule," writes Adalian. "In addition to various film roles, a big chunk of Spacey's day planner is filled fulfilling (and tweeting about) his obligations as artistic director for London's Old Vic Theatre." (Vulture, Deadline)

Deadline's Nellie Andreeva is reporting that HBO has given an order to telepic Hemingway & Gellhorn, which will star Clive Owen and Nicole Kidman as literary couple Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn. Project, executive produced by James Gandolfini (along with Alex Ryan, Barbara Turner, Philip Kaufman, and Peter Kaufman), will be written by Barbara Turner and Jerry Stahl and directed by Philip Kaufman. Production on the telepic, which will follow the romance between Hemingway and Gellhorn as they meet in 1936 and later wed before traveling to report on the Spanish Civil War, is expected to get underway next year. (Deadline)

Ricky Gervais has offered some new details about his new BBC One pilot (co-created with Stephen Merchant) Life's Too Short, which will--hopefully!--be headed Stateside and appear on HBO. “It’s the funniest thing we’ve done,” Gervais said at the Banff World Television Festival of the series, which will star Warwick Davis as a show business dwarf and is based around many of the actor's own real-life experiences, although they transformed Warwick into a manipulative and seething character. "He runs this company called Dwarves For Hire but he’s stealing all the other dwarves’ jobs,” said Gervais. (The Globe & Mail)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Brian Benben will be promoted to series regular on ABC medical drama Private Practice. Benben has recurred on the series as resident psychiatrist Sheldon Wallace at Pacific Wellcare, the rival clinic to Oceanside. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

SPOILER! TVGuide.com's Natalie Abrams talks to True Blood's James Frain about his upcoming turn as vampire Franklin Mott on the HBO drama series. "Franklin Mott is a private eye," said Frain. "We learn later in the season that he works for Russell [Denis O'Hare], who is the King. He's been sent on a mission to dig up information on Bill. His attention is completely distracted by the charms of Tara [Rutina Wesley]." (TVGuide.com)

Bravo's The Real Housewives of D.C. will launch on August 5th... and will include notorious White House gate-crashers Michaele and Tareq Salahi among the cast. Bravo's Andy Cohen, meanwhile, defended the inclusion of the Sahalis in a post at The Huffington Post. "It is the job of the legal system to decide if and how the Salahis may have broken the law," wrote Cohen. "But our decision to include them in the series speaks to a very basic programming mandate, which is to present real people as they exist within their universe. Meaning, we do not editorialize on their actions, how they raise their kids, live their lives, spend their money or treat their friends. We show them as they are, with awareness but without judgment. We let them be themselves, and let the audience draw their own conclusions, and -- like with real relationships -- sometimes the way people feel about a Housewife changes throughout the season. Whatever the feeling, we leave it to the viewer to decide." (Los Angeles Times, Huffington Post)

Randall Einhorn (The Office) will direct his first pilot, FX comedy Wilfred, which is based on the Aussie comedy of the same name. (Deadline)

SPOILER! TV Guide Magazine's Will Keck is reporting that HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm will head to New York City for roughly half of its upcoming eighth season. Keck goes on to recount some of the colorful characters that Larry will be encountering over the course of his Manhattan-based misadventures. (TV Guide Magazine)

FOX has ordered a pilot for game show The Money Drop, based on British format The Million Pound Drop. Project, from Endemol USA, will revolve around a group of contestants who are "given a wad of cash and then asked a series of multiple-choice trivia questions. They then place their bets on a trap door that represents their choice. If their answer turns out to be wrong, the trap door opens -- and their money is gone. Contestants keep playing until all their money has fallen down the "drop." Contestants play through eight questions -- and get to keep whatever's left of their cash if they answer that final question right." No executive producer or host has been named; production is slated to get underway in August. (Variety)

Lawrence O'Donnell is set to host his own primetime weeknight show on MSNBC. The analyst and former West Wing writer had subbed in for Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann,, and Rachel Maddow in the past. No launch date was announced for his upcoming series. (Hollywood Reporter)

More details on the cast changes afoot at CBS' Criminal Minds. Deadline's Nellie Andreeva, who broke the story, is now reporting that the network made the decision to axe several female cast members because of creative, rather than financial, reasons, as an effort to "refresh a veteran drama." A new female series regular will be brought on the crime procedural. (Deadline)

Warner Bros. Television has promoted two key communications executives, Tammy Golihew and Scott Rowe. Golihew will move into SVP of publicity, reporting to Scott Rowe and Peter Roth. Rowe, meanwhile, will step into the newly created role of SVP of worldwide communications and report to Lisa Gregorian. [Editor: congratulations, Tammy!] (Hollywood Reporter, Variety)

Craig Ferguson will host Discovery Channel's programming pod, Shark Week, which launches on August 1st. (Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed)

Deadline's Nellie Andreeva is reporting that John Miller, the 28-year NBC marketing veteran, will step down from his post as chief marketing officer for NBC Universal Television Group at the end of the year. (Deadline)

The Hollywood Reporter's James Hibberd has an interview with Tony Robbins about his upcoming NBC primetime series, Breakthrough with Tony Robbins, which is set to launch on the Peacock on July 27th. "The reason I wanted to do something was all hell was breaking loose in the world, there was such enormous levels of stress. And when you go to reality shows, the majority of them are about humiliation," said Robbins. "I thought people need inspiration, but not fake inspiration. Watching real people in extremely stressful real life experiences and watching them over a period of time, 30 days, really transforming their life." (Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed)

Meredith Ahr has been promoted to SVP of alternative programming and development at NBC/Universal Media Studios. She will report to Paul Telegdy. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

FOX Announces Series Pickups, Renewals of Lie to Me and Human Target, FX Goes for Wilfred

Just a few days ahead of its upfront presentation to advertisers, FOX announced that it had ordered four pilots to series, adding two new dramas and two comedies, and has reportedly issued renewal notices to dramas Lie to Me and Human Target.

Shawn Ryan's cop drama Ridealong and bigamist con man drama Lone Star (formerly known as Midland) and comedies Traffic Light and Keep Hope Alive (from My Name is Earl creator Greg Garcia) have all been given greenlights and will be part of the scheduled unveiled officially on Monday by FOX brass at their upfront presentation, according to The Hollywood Reporter's James Hibberd.

Move marks the first official orders for the fall season from FOX. No word as of yet on some of the other buzz-worthy projects awaiting greenlights such as Terra Nova and Breakout Kings.

Meanwhile, the network surprised some by issuing reprieves for Lie to Me and Human Target, the former of which will continue without showrunner Shawn Ryan, departing to oversee his new Jennifer Beals-led cop drama Ridealong. Variety's Michael Schneider reports that both Lie to Me and Human Target will receive episodic orders of at least thirteen installments next season.

Elsewhere, FX has ordered a pilot for a US adaptation of Australian live-action comedy Wilfred, which will be adapted by Family Guy's David Zuckerman and will star Jason Gann, who co-created and starred in the original Aussie version. Zuckerman will executive produce with Rich Frank, Paul Frank, Jeff Kwatinetz, Joe Connor, and Ken Conner

“Wilfred is about a guy, the girl next door, and mixed-breed dog, Wilfred, who is part Labrador retriever and part Russell Crowe on a bender,” said Zuckerman in a statement. “Jason Gann is one of the funniest, most twisted minds I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with, despite being a foreigner and therefore untrustworthy. And I’m thrilled to be part of the FX family -- their support and enthusiasm has been extraordinary.”