Channel Surfing: Michael Phelps, Duchovny's "Californication" Problem, Pilot Casting, "Red Dwarf," and More

Good morning and welcome to your Friday television briefing. The weekend is just within our grasps now, so just a few more hours to go. I spent last night watching some pilots for ABC's recently announced series orders--including the Nathan Fillion-starring Castle and ensemble cop dramedy The Unusuals--so look for thoughts on those and more in the next few days.

Truth is sometimes just as strange as fiction: David Duchovny, who plays sex addict Hank Moody on Showtime's Californication, has entered a rehab facility to treat... sexual addiction. (People)

Shawn Hatosy (Public Enemies) has been cast in NBC's drama pilot LAPD opposite The OC's Benjamin McKenzie; he'll play Sammy, a newly married cop who is already having marriage problems. Elsewhere, Kristin Bauer (True Blood) has been added to the growing cast of HBO's one-hour comedy pilot Hung, opposite Thomas Jane and Jane Adams. (Hollywood Reporter)

In other casting news, Olympian Michael Phelps will follow his upcoming hosting duties on Saturday Night Live with a cameo on an episode of HBO's Entourage slated to air later this year. (I got the first two episodes of Entourage's upcoming fifth season--launching on September 7th--yesterday but won't get to watch until this weekend.) (Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider)

Ricky Schroeder, who recently appeared in A&E's miniseres The Andromeda Strain, will direct Sci Fi Channel telepic Hellhounds, about an ancient Greek warrior who battles the hellhounds of Hades in order to save his bride and bring her back from the Underworld. Pic will star Men in Trees' Scott Elrod and was written by Paul A. Birkett. It will be distributed by RHI. (Hollywood Reporter)

The cast of British cult comedy Red Dwarf will reunite for a series of four half-hour specials, according to a report, to be aired on digital channel Dave in 2009. (Digital Spy)

Vanessa Marcil (Las Vegas) has signed on to join the cast of NBC's Lipstick Jungle in a recurring capacity as Josie, an attractive music manager who offers Shane (Paul Blackthorne) a job scoring music on an indie film. And David Arquette has signed on to guest star on My Name is Earl as a stuntman whom Earl wants to cross off his list for sleeping with his girlfriend... but he suffers from short-term memory loss, which could be a problem for Earl. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

BBC drama head Jane Tranter is said to be in talks to move to Los Angeles in order to oversee a new BBC Worldwide West Coast drama production division in 2009. In her role at the Beeb, Tranter developed such hits as Life on Mars, Doctor Who, Spooks (a.k.a. MI-5) and Cranford. She could also take BBC Wales drama head Julie Gardner (who executive produces Doctor Who) with her to Los Angeles as well. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: NFL Football (CBS); America's Toughest Jobs (NBC); NFL Football; Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! (ABC; 8-10 pm); Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? (FOX; 8-10 pm)

9 pm: Dateline (NBC)

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

What I'll Be Watching

10 pm: Swingtown on CBS.

On this week's episode ("Surprise!"), Roger and Susan plan a surprise party for Janet but the celebration's results are more shocking than actually, you know, surprising.

Channel Surfing: "Lost" Premiere Title Revealed; ABC "Maid" to Order, "Friday Night Lights," and More

Good morning and welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. (Is it really Wednesday already? Wow.)

Doc Jensen has the scoop on the title of the fifth season premiere of Lost: "Because You Left." Wowsers, that's a fantastic title, no? You'll have to brave reading through Jeff's write-ups of the Lost panel at Comic-Con and the new Dharma Initiative-based ARG (along with an important message about the upcoming Stand Up 2 Cancer television special on September 5th) but it's right there at the very end of Doc's latest treatise on the ABC drama. (Entertainment Weekly)

Sigh. Yet another feature film en route to the small screen: ABC has given a put pilot commitment to a series adaptation of the 2002 Jennifer Lopez feature film Maid in Manhattan, about a maid--not the Jennifer Lopez character but a different maid--and single mother who works at a posh Manhattan hotel and falls for a politician who mistakes her for a guest. (I guess those new maid uniforms must be pretty darn chic these days.) Project will be written by Chad Hodge (Runaway) and will be executive produced by Jennifer Lopez, Joe Roth, Simon Fields, and Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas. (Hollywood Reporter)

IFC has acquired all three seasons of British comedy series The IT Crowd, which aired in Blighty on Channel 4. Move comes a year after NBC developed and then dumped (rather unceremoniously) a US adaptation of the hit series about two IT workers and their rather clueless female boss that starred the original's Richard Ayoade along with Joel McHale and Jessica St. Clair. Cabler plans to launch the original UK version of The IT Crowd on September 29th. Deal was brokered by distributor Fremantle, which has also sold BBC2 series Look Around You to Adult Swim/Cartoon Network and live-action/animated hybrid sketch comedy series Modern Toss to IFC. These deals make me wonder a little why these series aren't ending up on digital cabler BBC America, which clearly could use an influx of new comedy (besides for the upcoming--and rather fantastic--first season of Gavin and Stacey). (Variety)

NBC/DirecTV's drama Friday Night Lights, entering its third season in October, has found a new quarterback in the form of former Peter Pan/Clubhouse star Jeremy Sumpter, who will play J.D. McCoy, a freshman QB who moves to Dillon with his family and finds himself competing with Saracen (Zach Gilford) for the top spot on the team."J.D.’s a straight and narrow kid who’s been bred to be a football player by his father, and lives in the shadow of his father, who's a big personality," according to FNL executive producer Jason Katims. "There’s an interesting story about this kid feeling somewhat suffocated by his dad and starting to look more to Coach as a mentor." Casting comes on the heels of Janine Turner and D.W. Moffett joining the cast. (Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider)

And speaking of Saracen, Kim Dickens (Deadwood, Lost) has signed on to play Matt's never-bef0re-seen mother. (TV Guide)

HBO has cast Jane Adams (Frasier) as the female lead opposite Thomas Jane in the one-hour dramedy pilot Hung, to be directed by Alexander Payne (Election). Adams will play Tanya, a local poet who helps sad sack high school basketball coach Ray (Jane) market his, er, unique skills as he enters a more lucrative field of work. (Hollywood Reporter)

In other casting news, Cynthia Stevenson (Dead Like Me's superlative Joy) will star opposite Bob Saget in comedy series Surviving Suburbia, launching Sunday nights in September as part of the CW's Media Rights Capital-controlled programming block. (Hollywood Reporter)

Next season's edition of America's Next Top Model features yet another first as it welcomes its very first transgender competitor in the form of Maryland contestant Isis, a former receptionist. (US Weekly)

Remember when sitcoms were fueled by superstar standup comedians? No longer as more and more comedy series are being populated with serious actors. What caused this change? "The nature of television comedy has shifted," The Office's Rainn Wilson said in an interview. "Over the past five or 10 years, the phenomenon of standup actors getting development deals, centered on his brightly lit comic personality, is not happening as much.Today you have more interesting setups for comedy, so you need actors to fill that. What you have in sitcoms right now are very funny character actors. Even Alec Baldwin, for example, is just a funny character actor who for years was trapped in a leading man's body. Steve Carell can do it all, from Little Miss Sunshine to really broad stuff." Read Wilson's take on this fascinating trend. (Variety's Award Central)

Finally, HBO's comedy Entourage is now available to download for $1.99 a pop via Apple's iTunes store, which is offering all episodes of Seasons One and Two beginning today, with Season Three turning up on August 18th and Season Four on August 26th... the perfect time to catch up before Entourage's fifth season launches on September 7th on HBO. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

StrikeWatch: And... It's Over

It's official: the WGA strike, which began November 5th, has finally come to a close, following a member vote overwhelmingly in favor of ending the strike (92.5% to be precise) and getting back to work during the official ten-day ratification process.

You can literally hear the sound of relief echoing through Hollywood today as writers return to their keyboards to try to pound out as many scripts as possible in time to salvage the 2007-08 season.

"Our membership has voted, and writers can go back to work," said WGA West President Patric Verrone in a statement. "This was not a strike we wanted, but one we had to conduct in order to win jurisdiction and establish appropriate residuals for writing in new media and on the Internet. Those advances now give us a foothold in the digital age. Rather than being shut out of the future of content creation and delivery, writers will lead the way as TV migrates to the Internet and platforms for new media are developed."

So what series will be the first to make it back on air? Most likely it will be NBC's Saturday Night Live, scheduled to return on February 23rd with 30 Rock's Tina Fey as the host (the following week brings Juno's Ellen Page).

As for dramas and comedies, don't expect to see any new episodes of series like Two and a Half Men, The Office, or Ugly Betty until mid-March (for multi-cam comedies) or April (for dramas and single-camera comedies).

As for how many episodes each series will be able to deliver, that depends entirely on the speed of the writing staff and the production schedule. The Office is expected to shoot six more episodes this year, possibly seven. The writing staff on that series had completed a script before the strike began (but were unable to film due to star Steve Carell joining the picket line) but will have to scrap another, a Christmas-themed episode, in an early stage.

"We're going to throw that one out," executive producer Greg Daniels told The New York Times as he explained how the writers would meet this week to plot out the series' storylines. "I'm tempted to just leap ahead to where we would have been."

Five episodes of 30 Rock are expected to be completed before May, depending on Alec Baldwin's availability; the star recently signed on to a feature film, making production slightly more difficult. (And yet something tells me it will all work out.)

The fates of ER and Scrubs are up in the air. It was widely thought that both NBC series would end at the end of this season but without filmed finales, one or both might head back to produce more episodes.... and ER could end up on the fall schedule again, should certain economic factors be worked out. As for Scrubs, NBC has not yet made a decision on the fate of those final six unproduced episodes.

CBS has handed out additional orders for two of its series, giving a six-episode order for comedy Rules of Engagement and four-episode order to Shark.

The network is also in discussions with Warner Bros. Television about restarting production on midseason comedy Old Christine, which was unable to fulfill its entire 13-episode order.

HBO will push the premieres of returning series Entourage and Big Love; Entourage is now expected to be shifted from summer to Fall 2008 while Big Love could launch in either fourth quarter or 2009.

For others, it's the end of the road. On the bubble for renewal (and not producing any further episodes this season): Journeyman, Bionic Woman, Cane, and Big Shots.

While ABC has not yet decided about ordering additional episodes of drama Women's Murder Club this season, if it does return, it will be without showrunners Sarah Fain and Elizabeth Craft and executive producer R. Scot Gemmill, who have all been let go from the series.

HBO's "Entourage" to Keep Irritating Me (But Not Enough To Get Me To Stop Watching) For Another 12 Episodes

It looks like Adrian Grenier will still be stopped by tourists thinking that Vincent Chase is a real person... at least for another year.

In case you still cared about the Hollywood exploits of Vincent Chase and his entourage of hangers on and sneaker fetishists, HBO has renewed the half-hour dramedy for a fourth season of tantrums, threesomes, and Y-chromosome preening.

The pay cabler has ordered twelve episodes of Entourage which are expected to air on HBO sometime early next year.

Despite a rather lackluster third season, I'll still be tuning in. I just wish that the series hadn't become the very thing it set out to satirize...

The Gold Standard: "Entourage" Returns to Its Roots

There's a new talent agency player in this town, as Miller-Gold (no, it's not a beer) opened its doors last night. Well, on Entourage anyway, which last night seemed to return to the pleasurably scathing Hollywood satire it once was.

The fictional agency, formed out of a partnership between Ari Gold and Barbara Miller (the silky-voiced Beverly D'Angelo), announced its intent to go independent, following a meeting of talent agency toppers that Ari likened to a "meeting of the five families." (I was rolling on the floor with laughter at the very bitter slap in the face afforded to, um, small fry agency APA, Agency for the Performing Arts.) With Ari's drive and ambition and Barbara's financing, it seems like Miller-Gold is poised to give ICM, CAA, William Morris et al a run for their money.

Fitting too then that things seem to be falling into place for the other members of this Hollywood entourage. Turtle's music managing career is ready to take off, with rapper Saigon about to break big. Following a threesome, Eric was tempted by the beautiful best friend (The Comeback's Baby Girl, Malin Akerman) of his girlfriend Sloane (Emmanuel Chriqui), but remained the good Catholic boy we know and love by refusing to give into temptation (yet, anyway). But the biggest news is that struggling actor Drama may have finally landed his big break, landing a role in a pilot directed by (guest star) Ed Burns. Johnny and Ed have a history together -- Johnny turned down the lead in The Brothers McMullen for a three-episode stint on 90210 as Tori Spelling's sexual harasser -- and things have finally come full circle for the lovable scamp.

But this wouldn't be Entourage if there weren't some drama and with everything going SO well for the gang, someone had to come along and knock down the house of cards they were building. I'm happy to say that the someone is Vince, who in recent weeks has become little too much of the golden boy, breaking box office records and cruising through his career with nary so much as a speedbump. (Even getting fired off of Aquaman 2 hasn't exactly fazed him.)

On last night's episode ("The Release"), Entourage finally answered a long burning question of mine by picking up the story threads revolving around Vince's arthouse pic, Queens Boulevard. (I couldn't for the life of me remember a few weeks ago whether or not Queens had ever been released.) In the hands of the studio, the gritty black and white arthouse film has become a hypersaturated, bubble gummy mess of a film, set to be released on 1200 screens nationally. (The Sundance favorite originally supposed to play on 4 screens.) The pristine monochromatic images have been infused with the paintbrush of Batman & Robin-era Joel Schumacher and the effect is all overblown reds and greens ("Aquaman-ized"); the film's one-sheet poster is all purple; and is that My Name Is Earl's Randy (Ethan Suplee) in that shot?

Leave it to Vince to get his head turned by Queens Boulevard's eccentric director Billy Walsh (Rhys Coiro), who wants Vince to sign an injunction preventing the film from being released. And Vince chooses the worst possible moment to announce his intentions: at a press conference for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, where he belittles and castigates the studio for butchering the brilliance of Boulevard.

Like I said, things were going far too well for this gang and someone had to bring it down. My only hope is that Vince has pissed off yet another studio (after the Aquaman fiasco) and his career goes into an entirely unexpected direction (more art films, less fluff) while it's up to Turtle and Drama to bring home the bacon for a change. Will Vince bring down Eric and Ari just when things have started to fall into place? Will Vince drown his sorrows by going on a coke-fueled hooker binge? Will Drama actually become, you know, successful? And will Turtle ever stop wearing those damn track suits?

All I know is that Entourage finally feels like it's back to the basics again (that pitch perfect blend of satire and struggle) and it's about bloody time.

"Entourage" airs Sunday evenings at 10 pm ET/PT on HBO.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: The King of Queens/How I Met Your Mother (CBS); Star Tomorrow (NBC); 7th Heaven (WB); Wife Swap (ABC); Hell's Kitchen (FOX); One on One/All of Us (UPN)

9 pm: Two and a Half Men/How I Met Your Mother (CBS); Treasure Hunters (NBC); 7th Heaven (WB); Supernanny (ABC); Hell's Kitchen (FOX); Girlfriends/Half and Half (UPN)

10 pm: CSI: Miami (CBS); Medium (NBC); One Ocean View (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

8 pm: Spaced on BBC America.

If you missed Friday's Stateside airing of the hilarious and surreal 1999 sitcom Spaced (starring Shaun of the Dead's Simon Pegg), here's your chance to catch the season finale. On tonight's episode ("Ends"), Tim's ex-girlfriend Sarah (Monarch of the Glen's Anna Wilson-Jones) wants to give their failed relationship a second chance, but Daisy and Mike are less thrilled by the news than Tim is. Meanwhile, Mike is re-evaluated for the territorial army.

8:30- 9:30 pm: Peep Show on BBC America.

On tonight's special hour-long season finale of this deliciously twisted Britcom, Jeremy and his girlfriend Nancy (Rachel Blanchard) are planning on getting married so Nancy can get a visa, but Mark will do anything to prevent them from walking down the aisle.

9 pm: Hell's Kitchen.

On tonight's installment of the FOX culinary competition show ("4 Chefs"), it's down to the final four chefs, one of whom will actually win their very own restaurant at the Red Rocks Resort in Las Vegas (yes, one of these, er, impressive people will have their own eatery). While the final four manage to impress Gordon at the beginning of dinner service, things take a nasty turn. Well, it wouldn't be Hell's Kitchen if they didn't...

10 pm: Life on Mars on BBC America.

It's the second episode of this brilliant (and British) mind-bending mystery series that stars State of Play's John Simm as Detective Sam Tyler, a modern-day copper who wakes up in 1973. On tonight's episode, the series' second, Tyler decides that, even if he doesn't completely believe that what he's experiencing is real, he decides to accept that this is 1973 and commits himself to the job at hand, only to find that he disagrees with one of his colleague's crime-solving techniques.

"Entourage" to Reach Overexposure on Mobile Platforms Everywhere

In a move that smacks of overkill, mobile service provider Cingular has pacted with HBO to release mobile episodes of Entourage featuring D-Lister Johnny Drama (Kevin Dillon).

The mini-episodes will only be made available to Cingular customers who also subscribe to HBO Mobile and will be written by Entourage's writers. (In another deal, Cingular customers will be able download full-length episodes of HBO's Entourage, Dane Cook's Tourgasm, Sex and the City, and Curb Your Enthusiasm.)

According to Cingular's official press release, there will actually be a so-called story going on in these mini-installments:

“The premise of the made-for-mobile Entourage story is (appropriately): Johnny Drama makes a “cellivision” show. Customers can view a series of short vignettes based on this premise as they continue to enjoy the adventures of the friends from Queens on the Hollywood road to fame and fortune.”

Could this be the big break that Johnny Drama has been working for all of his life? Will he finally get out of the shadow cast by his far more successful brother Vincent Chase (whose record Aquaman box office take was sadly bested by Pirates of Caribbeanbean 2, or at least according to CNBC)? Will the term "cellivision" catch on? I sincerely hope not.

(Thanks to Ted of Big Screen Little Screen for the tip.)

In other mini-episode news, today marks the launch of the very first two webisodes ("The Books Don't Balance" and "Phyllis") of The Office: The Accountants starring Dunder-Mifflin's accounting department -- that would be Angela, Kevin, and Oscar -- on the hunt for some missing cash. Check it out at The Office's official home at NBC. I'm already loving these nugget-sized Office eps.

Four Is the Perfect Number After All: HBO's "Entourage"

I'm really not sure about Entourage's new character Dom.

After all, it's taken me this long to stop getting annoyed every time that Turtle appears on-screen. But Entourage's producers have seen it fit to introduce a fifth wheel into the Entourage gang (not counting Ari, of course): namely ex-felon Dom (guest star Domenick Lombardozzi of The Wire), who made his first appearance in Sunday night's episode ("Dominated"). Whether Dom will be staying permanently is anybody's guess, but Vince has already given him the illustrious job of head of security... despite the fact that he's the biggest security risk since that loon Chapman wandered up to the Dakota.

I get the fact that Dom is supposed to invite trouble and shake things up for Vince and the boys, but, at the same time, I can only really handle one annoying Entourage player at a time and that role has been filled by Turtle since the very beginning. That said, it was amusing to see Eric, Drama, and Turtle all get bent out of shape about Dom usurping their roles within the group. Drama is the chef, Turtle the driver, and Eric the confidante; Dom is just... baggage. Baggage with a criminal record and a penchant for walking around the Beverly Hills manse in the nude.

To me, Entourage has always been more about the relationship(s) between these four guys than the guest star of the week. Plus, I'd much rather that any conflicts come from within the group itself, rather than from an outsider who has wandered onto the series. While that doesn't mean that the show can't include characters from their pasts resurfacing and stirring things up, the inclusion of Dom just felt a little too... "tv-ish" for lack of a better word. We'd never heard of the guy and suddenly he's broken into Vince's home and is watching porn on his sofa. (Did it strike anyone else as a too convenient and a little too scripted?)

Otherwise, Entourage's third season has been a fantastic ride (except for a little awkwardness in the premiere episode, but then again, all of their season premieres have been stilted) and I'm happy to see that supporting players Shauna (Debi Mazar) and Mrs. Ari (Perrey Reeves) seem to be getting some character development. While I love the guys, it's great to see the show continue to invest as much time into the people around them as the foursome themselves (which is why I'd rather not have a brand new character in the mix).

Additionally, it's fantastic to see Vince (Adrian Grenier) suddenly become the biggest star in the world after the box office success of his James Cameron-directed feature Aquaman, but I hope that Vince doesn't become too big for his britches. That said, I'd prefer Entourage stick to the insider's perspective of the industry and leave Dom's soap operatics to other series. It's far more interesting to see the gang negotiate the trecherous waters of Hollywood life than negotiate with a naked felon.

Let's hope that something--other than the Dominator--comes along to trip up the Golden Boys a little, because we don't want this entourage turning into an actual success story. At least, not quite yet. After all, it took Entourage exec producer Mark Wahlberg a while to ditch the Funky Bunch and score an Italian Job.

"Entourage" airs Sunday evenings at 10 pm ET/PT on HBO; episodes are also available on HBO On Demand.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Gameshow Marathon (CBS); My Name is Earl/The Office (NBC); Smallville (WB); Master of Champions (ABC); That '70s Show/That '70s Show (FOX); Everybody Hates Chris/Love, Inc. (UPN)

9 pm: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS); My Name is Earl/The Office (NBC); Supernatural (WB); Primetime (ABC; 9-11 pm); So You Think You Can Dance (FOX); Eve/Cuts (UPN)

10 pm: Without a Trace (CBS); Windfall (NBC)

What I'll Be Watching

7 pm: Hex on BBC America. (10 pm ET)

Still rather unimpressed by Hex but there's little else on at this time. On tonight's episode ("The Release"), Azazeal's plans for Cassie become clear. And let's just be clear, they don't include marriage, right? Right?

8-9 pm: My Name is Earl/The Office.

On tonight's repeat episode ("Stole a Badge"), Earl attempts to return a police badge he had stolen years earlier. Then on a repeat of The Office ("Christmas Party"), an office tradition of Secret Santa turns bitter when Michael suggests a game of Yankee Swap instead.

9-10 pm: My Name is Earl/The Office.

An hour later, it's the same tasty combo again. On another repeat episode of Earl ("BB"), Earl tries to reunite a former flame with her estranged father. And then it's my very favorite episode of The Office ("The Injury"), in which Michael injures his foot on a George Foreman grill and disrupts the entire office, while Dwight has a personality change from a car accident. If you didn't download the episode from iTunes (thanks to a rather nifty free download card in Variety), here's your chance to put this on your TiVo until the DVD comes out in September.

10 pm: 5 Takes: Pacific Rim on the Travel Channel.

On tonight's installment of 5 Takes: Pacific Rim ("Vote: Thailand or Cambodia"), the reality/travel show I just can't say enough about, the gang sets off--depending on the results of the viewer poll--for either Thailand or Cambodia, their final destination before heading home. I'm getting sad just thinking about this wonderful series coming to an end as we say goodbye to Gabe, Renee, Tony, Tiffany, and Josh. I'm going to miss you guys...

James Cameron's "Aquaman" Reels In Record Opening

James Cameron has another mega-sized hit on his hands, landing the "biggest box office splash in history!"

HBO, the network behind Hollywood insider comedy Entourage, has taken out a two-page splash in today's Variety "announcing" the $116,844,114 weekend box office for the series' fictional feature film Aquaman, which stars Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) as the underwater superhero.

While it's hard to believe that the three-day box office managed to top that of fellow superhero Spiderman's mammoth bow (despite, um, rolling blackouts in the Valley and the Westside), it's good to know the Titanic director isn't above boasting about a HUGE opening weekend, even if it is for a fictional film.

You've got to love meta-theatrical twists. Especially when they find their way into cleverly disguised trade publication advertising.