Channel Surfing: "Witches," "Heroes," Surfing Cops, Joss on Batman, and More

Good morning and welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing.

Remakes seem to be all the rage these days, with several US networks remaking not only UK scripted formats but also recycling old US dramas (ahem, Knight Rider) and feature films. So what's in the pipeline? Besides AMC's recent announcement that they are developing a series based on 1970s surveillance flick The Conversation, lots.

CBS is developing a series remake of Streets of San Francisco with Sheldon Turner and a remake of the long-running procedural cop drama Hawaii Five-O--which ran from 1968 to 1980 and introduced the catchphrase "Book 'em, Danno!"--with Criminal Minds executive producer/showrunner Ed Bernero attached to write. Updated version of Hawaii Five-O will follow the exploits of Chris McGarrett, the chief of the fictional Hawaiian state police department and son of the original's Steve McGarrett (Jack Lord). (Aside: Bernero is also working on another CBS project, Washington Field, following the agents and experts at the FBI's Washington Field Office who travel around the globe reponding to events that concern the US.) (Hollywood Reporter)

Speaking of remakes, ABC has issued a put pilot order to a series based on the 1987 feature film The Witches of Eastwick, with Maggie Friedman (Dawson's Creek) attached to write and executive produce. Eastwick, itself based on a John Updike novel, tells the story about three women who are drawn to witchcraft after losing the men in their lives and end up conjuring up a demonic fiend who seduces all of them. It's not the first time a network has tried to develop a series take on the feature: in 1992, Lost's Carlton Cuse and Jeffrey Boam developed a Witches of Eastwick drama pilot; in 2002, FOX and Warner Bros. Television developed another version--entitled Eastwick-- which focused on the teenage sons of the original witches, played by Lori Loughlin, Marcia Cross, and Kelly Rutherford. (Variety)

Wondering what some of the cast and crew of NBC's Saturday Night Live have been up to during their summer hiatus? Looks like many of them have been working on web series The Line, about fanboys waiting in a queue for eleven days for the premiere of a sci-fi flick. “We wanted to have an experience of shooting something on our own,” Bill Hader said in an interview about the process. “This is a good medium to do it in because it’s a very low-stakes medium.” (New York Times)

Colin Hanks guest stars in next week's episode of Mad Men on ABC; he'll play a young priest in three episodes of the period drama's sophomore season. And we all know who's been having a little problem of late with religion, sin, and her family, now don't we? Yes, Miss Peggy Olson, I am looking at you.

Michael Ausiello is reporting that Seth Green and Breckin Meyer are in talks with the producers of NBC's Heroes about joining the series for a multiple-episode story arc in which they would play comic book geeks who cross paths with one of the heroes. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Speaking of Heroes, LA Times' Show Tracker visits the set of the drama, entering its third season this fall and chats with Zachary Quinto and new cast member Brea Grant. (Los Angeles Times)

"Bergdorf Blondes" author Plum Sykes and The Comeback's Amy Harris are developing a half-hour comedy for NBC entitled Mogulettes, about high-flying twenty-something female moguls. Plot would follow Eva, the gorgeous and intelligent head of a cosmetics empire. Universal Media Studios will produce along with Original Media's Charlie Corwin, who has a deal with NBC Entertainment. (Variety)

Sundance Channel will air six-episode British comedy Pulling, about a bride-to-be who decides not to get married while partying at her hen party and instead moves in with her single friends. Series, which aired in the UK on BBC Three, is set to launch Stateside on October 19th, part of Sundance Channel's comedy block, kicking off on September 7th. (Hollywood Reporter)

Finally, have you ever wondered what TV god Joss Whedon would do if he got his hands on the Batman feature franchise? The Buffy creator spoke to MTV about his rejected plans for the Caped Crusader, before auteur Christopher Nolan got the gig. "In my version, there was actually a new [villain], it wasn’t one of the classics — which is probably why they didn’t use it,” Whedon told MTV. “It was more of a ‘Hannibal Lector’ type — he was somebody already in Arkham Asylum that Bruce went and sort of studied with. It was a whole thing — I get very emotional about it, I still love the story. Maybe I’ll get to do it as a comic one day." Sigh. We can only dream. (MTV Splash Page)

Stay tuned.

What's Going on with Joss Whedon's "Dollhouse"?

Whither Dollhouse?

That seems to be the big question today following news that television auteur Joss Whedon would be retooling the pilot for his midseason action drama Dollhouse, starring Eliza Dushku, Tahmoh Penikett, Amy Acker, Harry Lennix, Olivia Williams, Fran Kranz, Reed Diamond, and a host of others. (You can read my early review of the pilot script for Dollhouse here.)

Early reports seemed to indicate that Whedon had made the decision to scrap the pilot in favor of reshooting an introductory episode that was less noir and had more of the "visceral pop" that was promised in the pilot script and that the decision was not one handed down to him from FOX.

According to Whedon in a post on Whedonesque: "The fact is, I’m very proud of the ep we shot and the series is making me crazy with the excitement. But I tend to come at things sideways, and there were a few clarity issues for some viewers. There were also some slight issues with tone – I was in a dark, noir kind of place (where, as many of you know, I make my home), and didn’t bring the visceral pop the network had expected from the script. The network was cool about it, but not sure how to come out of the gate with the ep."

It's now been clarified that the recently completed Dollhouse pilot itself won't be reshot, as many news outlets seemed to indicate, but will instead become the series' second episode, with the planned second outing being reconfigured to act as the premiere installment, a move Whedon refers to as a "preemptive strike." Still with me?

“Joss came to the realization that there was a better way to start the show,” a Twentieth Century Fox Television spokesman told Variety. “After he wrote episode two, he asked the network to use that as episode one.”

The move, which at least seems to have originated from Whedon himself and not the network, doesn't exactly make me rest easy; if you remember, airing episodes out of order was exactly what signaled the beginning of the end for Whedon's other FOX series Firefly.

Let's take a look at Whedon talking to The Hollywood Reporter about the decision from the TCA:



I'm not entirely sure how this new introductory episode will work as the pilot as the original perfectly set up the world of the Dollhouse, including the central conceit (memories and abilities can be downloaded into template-like humans) and the exploration of Echo and her companions, enemies, employers, and possible allies.

But as Whedon himself notes, the development of a television series is often met with peril and the product that appears on screen is the result of a collaborative process between the creator, the studio, and the network. He's quick to point out that FOX isn't the villain here ("it's a whole new crew") and that he isn't working with the same development/current team as when the network aired Firefly, which showed signs of the "frisson" between his creative vision and the network's.

Let's hope that this is the only occasion that Dollhouse gets shown out of order, rather than the first in a growing pattern of structural decisions. After all, January is still a long way off and I don't want to lose my faith in what promises to be a daring and thought-provoking series.

Playing with Dolls: An Advance Look at Joss Whedon's "Dollhouse" Pilot Script

I am still trying to catch my breath.

I'm talking about my reaction last night after reading Joss Whedon's brilliantly evocative script for his new seven-episode drama series for FOX, Dollhouse.

If there's one thing that Dollhouse has been this development season in Hollywood, it's been THE script to try to get your hands on. After weeks of conniving, begging, and bartering, I finally managed to get my greedy mitts on the script and hungrily devoured the 54-page script in about fifteen minutes, seemingly without pausing to breathe.

While I had extremely high expectations for Dollhouse (I always trust in the Joss), I was worried that, after all of the hype and hoopla, it wouldn't quite live up to my preconceived notions about the project. I am happy to say that not only were those expectations matched but they were exceeded. This isn't latter-day Alias by any stretch of the imagination: while there are still costume changes and choreographed fight sequences, it delves into bigger issues of morality and mortality and asks hard questions about the ethical ramifications of science and technology.

Yes, there is much more to Dollhouse than meets the eye and Whedon succeeds here by filling his script with a multitude of morally grey characters engaged in one of the most sickening and intriguing displays of human trafficking ever devised. I don't want to spoil anything but I will say that there there's an unexplained back story (referred to as Alpha) that will likely come into play down the line and the power structure within the Dollhouse is a fluctuating, living thing unto itself. As for the Dollhouse itself, it certainly didn't "look" anything like I expected it to based on the information that was trickling out during casting: it's not a draconian prison nor an icy SD-6-type operations hub; instead it's more like a serene, Japanese-influenced, high-tech spa for the Actives.

But there's a real undercurrent of danger lurking here and the staffers--from jokey and amoral tech Topher and gruff handler Boyd to the physically scarred Dr. Claire Saunders and manipulative overseer Adelle DeWitt--engage in a high-stakes game of human chess, with the Actives little more than expendable pawns. Or, well, dolls.

As for Dollhouse's lead character Echo, this is quite a role that Whedon has written for Eliza Dushku, allowing her to play a variety of personalities and moods in a single episode. In fact, we get to see Echo in no less than five (off the top of my head anyway) identities in the pilot episode alone. As we all know, Echo is struggling with self-awareness, as she begins remembering things from her previous "engagements" that she shouldn't, things that should have been wiped clean from her memory by Topher. Things that her "captors" don't want her to remember.

So is it an action-adventure yarn? A story of science gone mad? A tale about a cop determined to get at the truth no matter what the cost? Or a metaphysical drama about the nature of memory and identity? Why can't it be all of the above?

In the gifted hands of Joss Whedon, Dollhouse is a beautiful enigma wrapped in a riddle, a gripping conspiracy story for the ages filled with urban legends, memory tampering, and long-buried secrets coming to the fore. It's a Shakespearean story of hubris and likely vengeance, filled with sound and fury and signifying, well, lots.

I'm hungry for more.

Joss Whedon's seven-episode drama Dollhouse launches this fall on FOX.

What Ever Happened to Joss Whedon's "Ripper"?

I woke up this morning with a singular thought: what ever happened to that planned Buffy spinoff Ripper?

If you remember back nearly a year ago, the internet was abuzz with the news coming out of San Diego Comic-Con: Joss Whedon had announced plans to go ahead with Ripper, the proposed Buffy the Vampire Slayer spinoff centering on Watcher Rupert Giles (Anthony Stewart Head).

Fanboys (and girls) everywhere were proclaiming it to be a very happy day indeed, what with Whedon returning to the franchise with Ripper and the then-upcoming Buffy Season Eight comic book. (Shame on you, if you're not reading it!)

Since then, a lot has happened, both here in Hollywood and specifically to Whedon himself. Joss ended up selling a seven-episode drama series called Dollhouse--starring former Buffy staple Eliza Dushku and BSG's Tahmoh Penikett--to FOX; pre-production is currently underway for a spring shoot and Dollhouse has been slated to air this fall. (I, meanwhile, have been hard at work trying to get my grubby hands on the script.)

Additionally, the writers strike had a hand in shelving or delaying many projects in the meantime. (Joss himself is also currently writing the tail ends of his sadly much-delayed stints on Astonishing X-Men and Runaways.)

When Whedon announced the Ripper project--then incarnated as a possible 90-minute television movie at the BBC (with no US broadcaster mentioned)--he said he was thisclose to signing a deal with the BBC.

But a few months later, Whedon gave an interview to TV Week's James Hibberd (who has since moved onto The Hollywood Reporter) and was surprisingly non-committal about Ripper:

TVWeek: Is there anything new with "Buffy" spinoff "Ripper"? [Whedon previously announced he’s trying to set up that show at the BBC.]

Whedon: There isn’t anything new. It might become too problematic. The rights issue with "Ripper" becomes complicated. There are other characters in the woods. We may have to do some fancy footwork. Obviously I’m committed to ["Dollhouse"], but that does not mean I’m not doing "Ripper."

Which means it's still possible that Ripper might work out... but not all that probable, especially given Whedon's involvement in Dollhouse, especially if the project is picked up to a full season.

And sadly, Buffy spin-off projects--Buffy the Animated Series, Faith the Vampire Slayer, the Spike telefilm, Slayer School--have a tendency to, well, not see the light of day, which perhaps is only fitting for a franchise that lurks in the shadows.

Stay tuned.

Joss Whedon's "Dollhouse" Gets Two Creative Denizens

It's rather like a high-stakes game of musical chairs these days around the studio lots, what with numerous behind-the-scenes changes on some of your favorite series.

The latest news: Sarah Fain and Elizabeth Craft, late of ABC's Women's Murder Club (until they were let go just the other day, that is), have already been hired. Their new home? Why, none other than the new drama project, Dollhouse, from Fain and Craft's former boss, Mr. Joss Whedon.

Let's just say it was an offer they couldn't refuse. Craft and Fain, who cut their teeth as story editors on Whedon's Angel, got the gig two days after getting the boot from Women's Murder Club when Whedon offered them staff writer gigs on Dollhouse.

“Joss emailed and said ‘I’m really sorry — and is it too soon to ask you to work on Dollhouse?’” Fain told TV Barn's Aaron Barnhart.

Dollhouse, of course, already has a seven episode order from FOX. It stars another Whedonverse alum, Eliza Dushku, as Echo, a member of an elite team of secret agents, each of whom has the ability to be imprinted with various personalities and abilities; those gifts are cruelly stolen back by the facility--nicknamed the Dollhouse--when they return from their missions.

Echo slowly becomes aware of her situation, causing some massive problems for the overseers of the facility.

Yes, before you ask, I am trying my damnest to get my hands on the treatment Joss wrote and the script... once it's written.

Stay tuned.

PaleyWatch: SMG Confirmed for "Buffy" Reunion, Tickets

The big news yesterday was, of course, that Sarah Michelle Gellar would join creator Joss Whedon and the cast for a Buffy the Vampire Slayer reunion at this year's William S. Paley Festival, to be held at the Cinerama Dome at the Arclight in Hollywood.

I'm hoping that Gellar's presence on the guest list spurs hold-outs Anthony Head and Alyson Hannigan to join up with the rest of the crew, which currently includes Amber Benson, Nicholas Brendan, Emma Caulfield, Eliza Dushku, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Seth Green, James Marsters, and Michelle Trachtenberg. (I'm also hoping they lure former writers Jane Espenson, David Fury, and Doug Petry to the event.)

As for me, I've already gotten my tickets so I'll be there (as well as at a bunch of other panels) with bells on. Great big, vampire-repellent bells on. Let's just hope they do something fun and make the pre-panel screening interesting and intriguing: the pilot perhaps? Or "Once More with Feeling"?

But I am curious: who among you is planning to go? Who has tickets already and who is planning to do whatever it takes in order to make it to this landmark event? Discuss.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: CBS News Coverage of Primaries (CBS; 8-10 pm); Biggest Loser (NBC; 8-10 pm); Reaper (CW); Super Tuesday--Showdown: Coast to Coast (ABC; 8-10 pm); American Idol (FOX)

9 pm: One Tree Hill (CW); House (FOX)

10 pm: NCIS (CBS); NBC News--Super Tuesday Special (NBC); Election Coverage (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

10 pm: Doctor Who on BBC America.

Missed Season Three of Brit import Doctor Who or itching for another go-around with the Doctor and new companion Martha Jones? You're in luck as BBC America is airing the series' third season. Tonight's episode: "The Shakespeare Code," in which the Doctor and his new traveling companion, Martha Jones, are the victims of some witches' spell and end up face to face with the Bard himself.

Welcome to the "Dollhouse": Joss Whedon Returns to Television

You read that headline correct. I think I just wet my pants with excitement.

Joss Whedon is making his return to network television, with an original drama series entitled Dollhouse. Series, which will reunite Whedon with former Buffy the Vampire Slayer co-star Eliza Dushku (who will star and produce Dollhouse), has received a seven episode commitment from FOX.

Dushku will star as Echo, a member of an elite team of secret agents each of whom, according to James Hibberd at TV Week, has "the ability to be imprinted with custom personalities and abilities for special assignments. When they return, their newly acquired memories are wiped. The show follows Echo as she takes on a variety of assignments—some romantic, some adventurous, some uplifting, some illegal—and gains awareness of her role and confinement."

The idea for the series was hatched by Whedon at a lunch with Dushku, who was allegedly instrumental in bringing Whedon back to network television. The series concept was sold to FOX a week later.

For an interview with Whedon, check out Hibberd's Q&A at TV Week, in which the auteur talks about the potential WGA strike, returning to FOX, the future of that Ripper spin-off, and whether Nathan Fillion will pop up on Dollhouse.

More details emerging about Dollhouse, this time from Variety:

"Beyond Dushku's character, the show will also revolve around the people who run the mysterious "dollhouse" [the lab] and two other "dolls," a man and woman who are friendly with Echo. Then there's the federal agent who has heard an urban myth about the dolls, and is trying to investigate their existence.

Whedon admitted there's a little dose of The Matrix in the plot -- "I do have that entire movie tattooed on my brain" -- and said Dollhouse will enable him and Dushku to explore some political and social issues."

Dollhouse is expected to launch sometime in 2008, with production beginning as early as the spring, thanks to in-depth episodic outlines for all seven episodes written by Whedon.

A little Halloween treat for you all. Me, I'm already drooling with anticipation.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Survivor: China (CBS); My Name is Earl (NBC); Smallville (CW); Ugly Betty (ABC); Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? (FOX; 8-10 pm)

9 pm: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS); The Office/Scrubs (NBC); Supernatural (CW); Grey's Anatomy (ABC)

10 pm: Without a Trace (CBS); ER (NBC); Big Shots (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

8 pm: Ugly Betty.

On tonight's episode ("Something Wicked This Way Comes"): Henry and Betty plan a secret rendezvous at the musical Wicked but run into problems from Daniel who, thinking she's taking Gio, surprise the pair of them with tickets but Gio won't give his up. Meanwhile, Daniel woos an advertiser (guest star Marlo Thomas) with a taste for younger men.

9 pm: The Office.

The disastrous one-hour installments of The Office are finally over so we can get back to the half-hour format we all know and love. On tonight's episode ("Branch Wars"), Karen (Rashida Jones) returns when she tries to woo Stanley from Scranton to the Utica branch, leading Michael to launch an all-out war and drag Jim into the battle, while Dunder-Mifflin Scranton is perturbed by the creation of a "Finer Things Club."

10-11 pm: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia on FX.

FX's hilariously subversive comedy It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia continues tonight. On tonight's episode ("The Gang Gets Whacked"), thanks to a misunderstanding over some speakers, the gang finds themselves in debt to the mob and Dennis must become a male, er, escort in order to save them from getting, well, whacked.

Joss Whedon Confirms "Ripper" Happening

Better sharpen those stakes.

In a surprise Comic-Con announcement, Joss Whedon has confirmed that the long-gestating Buffy the Vampire Slayer spin-off, entitled Ripper, finally looks like it's going forward.

Whedon says that he's thisclose to signing a deal with the BBC to finance a 90-minute telepic that will star Buffy's Anthony Stewart Head as former Watcher Rupert Giles as he combats the things that go bump in the night sans Slayer.

The deal hasn't been signed yet, so anything can happen, but Whedon was quick to say that no US distribution has been decided. Meaning that it's still a bit soon to circle a launch date on your calendar or break open the bubbly.

Meanwhile, Whedon has launched a non-Buffy-related online comic called Sugar Shock with Dark Horse (the publishers of the Buffy Season Eight comic). It's free, it's online, and it might just tide you over until Ripper... or the next issue of the Buffy comic.

Joss Whedon Talks About Directing This Week's Episode of "The Office"

Want a sneak peak at Joss Whedon talking about his experiences directing this week's episode of The Office ("Business School")? Look no further than the NBC-packaged clip below.



No, the irony that Joss would be directing an Office episode about bats, vampires, and the pasty undead (sorry, Dwight) isn't lost on me.

Is it Thursday night yet?

Casting Couch: Amy Acker Takes a "Drive" with FOX

Looks like the Whedon-verse is starting to come together again. Sort of.

Actress Amy Acker, best known for her roles as scientist-turned-monster hunter Winifred "Fred" Burkle and monster hunter-turned-ancient goddess Illyria on Angel (and a recurring stint on the final season of Alias), has joined the cast of FOX's midseason drama Drive.

Drive, of course, is the brainchild of Tim Minear, who created Firefly with Joss Whedon. Whedon is himself currently shooting an episode of NBC's The Office to air during February sweeps. (Here's hoping that Pam's ex-fiance Roy, ably played by David Denman, will have a part to play in the episode. After all, he did recur as the demon Skip on Whedon's Angel.)

Still with me? Here's the best bit: Acker will play Kathryn, the wife of landscaper Alex Tully, whose kidnapping by a shadowy syndicate forces Alex into the illegal (and very dangerous) underground race that propels the plot of Drive. And Alex is played by none other than Captain Tightpants himself, better known as Nathan Fillion, who starred on Whedon and Minear's Firefly and recurred in the final season of Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Whew.

TimMinear.net has listed the rest of the reconstituted cast assembled in Drive, which kicks off on FOX in March, and includes: Kristin Lehman, Melanie Lynskey, Dylan Baker, Emma Stone, Kevin Alejandro, J.D. Pardo, Riley Smith, Mircea Monroe, Taryn Manning, Michael Hyatt, Rochelle Aytes, Charles Martin Smith, Brian Bloom, Richard Brooks, Wayne Grace, and K Callan.

Meanwhile, FOX unveiled its midseason schedule today, which includes a two-night, 3-hour launch for Drive, beginning Sunday, April 15th.

The series will air in its normal Mondays at 8 pm timeslot, once its been vacated by Prison Break (which wraps its second season a bit earlier than expected), beginning April 16th.

While I was a little less than impressed by the original pilot of Drive (shot last year with Ivan Sergei in the Nathan Fillion role), I'm really looking forward to seeing the new version, with its new cast and a slightly altered direction.

Stay tuned as I try to get my greedy little mitts on the premiere episode.

Entertainment Weekly Confirms Televisionary Scoop: Joss Whedon IS Directing "The Office"

It's hard not to brag sometimes. Especially when you're the one who broke arguably one of the biggest TV geek stories in recent memory.

For those of you not aware: Televisionary first broke the story in the wee hours of Monday morning that Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, and all things good and right with television) would be directing an upcoming episode of my comedy obsession The Office.

Furthermore, I went on to recount that Joss would be directing the episode immediately preceding that directed by fellow TV god J.J. Abrams (of Lost, Alias, and Felicity fame, not to mention a little movie called Mission Impossible 3).

Guess what, boys and girls? Entertainment Weekly has confirmed my original story (found here) with this little doozy:

"UPDATE: Awesome! NBC Universal has confirmed to EW's Dan Snierson that Whedon and Abrams are indeed both directing episodes of The Office. Watch for them to air around late February."

Naysayers, I'll be expecting your letters of apology on my desk by tomorrow morning. Or at the very least some hastily constructed Dunder-Mifflin stationery.

UPDATED: "Office" Gossip: Joss Whedon Faces His Scariest Demon Yet... Michael Scott

Pam Beesly the Vampire Slayer? Well, not exactly.

Rumor has it that Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator and TV ubergod Joss Whedon will return to television to direct an upcoming episode of NBC's hit sitcom (and Televisionary obsession) The Office.

The move marks Whedon's first return to the small screen since the release of Firefly feature film spinoff Serenity. Before that, the prolific creator wrote and directed a number of episodes on Buffy, Angel, and Firely (and wrote his fair share of Roseanne scripts as well).

But what really gets my geek blood going is that Whedon's Office episode will be followed by J.J. Abrams' Office installment. Whedon and Abrams on The Office? The creators of Buffy and Lost and Steve Carell??? Somewhere the stars collided... or I'm dreaming.

Pinch me.

Look for Whedon's take on Michael Scott and the gang at Dunder-Mifflin to air sometime in the spring.

And, in the meantime, let's just hope there isn't a Hellmouth under Scranton.

UPDATE: Entertainment Weekly has confirmed my scoop:

"Awesome! NBC Universal has confirmed to EW's Dan Snierson that Whedon and Abrams are indeed both directing episodes of The Office. Watch for them to air around late February."

And... scene.

You Can't Take the Sky From Me: Joss Whedon's "Firefly" to Return as Online Game

Dust off your Browncoats, true believers.

Despite getting unceremoniously cancelled by Fox four years ago (and spawning a kick-ass feature film adaptation that sadly only grossed $25 million at the box office), Joss Whedon's space western opus Firefly is returning in a new and shiny incarnation, this time as an online game, set to hit, er, the internet in 2008.

20th Century Fox, the studio behind Firefly, has announced that it has licensed the rights to Firefly to video game tech company Multiverse, which plans to turn the series into an online multi-player game, part of a push to develop a huge online portal with online games featuring a number of properties.

Company will hire a developer to create a game around Firefly and its band of renegade outlaws (headed up by Captain Tightpants, himself, Mal Reynolds). While no deals are currently in place, Multiverse hopes to have some input from series creator Joss Whedon and utilize voice talent from some of the series' actors.

Personally, I think it's great that this property, like Serenity itself, keeps on flying and I'd love to return to Firefly's war-torn future and grey morality. Plus, who can say no to the thought of Zoe (Gina Torres) kicking some Reaver keister?

Let the countdown begin.

Channel Surfing: 8.2.06

Fox Chases "Gilmore" Girl

Only a few weeks after leaving the series, outbound Gilmore Girls creator Amy Sherman Palladino has set up her next series project at Fox, according to a report filed by Variety.

The project, written by Sherman-Palladino (who may also direct the pilot), is a half-hour dramedy that will focus on two estranged sisters who come together when one agrees to carry the other's baby.

No studio is currently attached to the project, which is a put pilot at Fox.

The news comes after Sherman-Palladino and her husband Daniel Palladino, a fellow Gilmore Girls scribe/producer, departed the series in April after failing to reach a deal with studio Warner Bros. Television. Sherman-Palladino's replacement as showrunner on the CW dramedy series is Gilmore Girls writer/producer David Rosenthal.

While I doubt that Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel will be playing those sisters (though wouldn't that be great?), I do suspect that the pilot will feature Sherman-Palladino's trademark whip-smart banter that we've grown to love from Gilmore Girls.

Best of luck, Amy!

Warren Ellis' "Dead Channel" and Others Fill AMC's Original Slate

Following the success of the channel's Robert Duvall-led Broken Trail, cabler AMC has announced its first development slate of original series, according to Variety.

Current projects in development at the net include an untitled "hybrid family-horror drama set in suburbia" from Adam and Seth Gross (DOA: Dead or Alive) and executive producer Richard Kelley (Donnie Darko), a noir-ish detective drama from Monster's Ball writer Will Rokos, and an American adaptation of British series My Life in Film from Boston Legal scribe Phoef Sutton.

Additionally, AMC has signed deals to develop a 1970s New York period drama from executive producer William Finkelstein (NYPD Blue), modern horror story a la Rosemary's Baby or The Shining from writer/exec producer Steven Katz (Shadow of the Vampire), a supernatural drama from Peter O'Fallon (Blade: The Series) and writer Dan Sinclair about "what happens with dreams and desires are fulfilled," and a sci-fi series set in the Midwest from Rohan Gavin (Company Man).

Also revealed is the title of the previously reported Warren Ellis-created half-hour dramedy Dead Channel, which is set in a fictional entertainment industry. (Given the horrors of what actually goes on in this industry, Ellis should have a veritable field day.)

The announcement comes as AMC has made particular strides into the scripted series world, acquiring and airing British drama series Hustle and co-producing the 1950s-set advertising drama Mad Men with the BBC. (Expect an imminent greenlight and an announcement regarding the U.S. studio behind the latter, although having seen the original pilot, I'm not all that impressed... but it is good to see Angel's Vincent Kartheiser in a more adult role.)

Missed Joss Whedon at San Diego?

The Comic News Insider's Joe and Jimmy have a podcast interview from San Diego's Comic Con with uber-writer Joss Whedon and his Astonishing X-Men penciller John Cassaday. (Also available via the Music Store on iTunes as well.)

Cue the podcast to around 24:30 to catch Messieurs Whedon and Cassaday at the "geek igloo" of the Marvel booth (though beware of the massive background noise) and catch a few tidbits about the status of Wonder Woman, Goners, the Buffy Season 8 comic, and the possibility of Joss returning to television. ("I'd love to do TV again, I miss it very much.")

Joss will write the first four-issue arc on the Buffy Season 8 comic and then oversee various writers from the series and other media on their individual arcs. The comic will follow the lives of Buffy and her friends "after she has made every potential slayer in the world a slayer and changed the rules... and changed the world literally and she has to deal with what comes next."

I'm so there.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Rock Star: Supernova (CBS); America's Got Talent (NBC; 8-10 pm); Blue Collar TV/Blue Collar TV (WB); George Lopex/George Lopez (ABC); House (FOX); America's Next Top Model (UPN)

9 pm: Criminal Minds (CBS); One Tree Hill (WB); Lost (ABC); So You Think You Can Dance (FOX); All of Us/Half and Half (UPN)

10 pm: CSI: New York (CBS); Law & Order (NBC); Primetime (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

10 pm: Project Runway on Bravo.

It's here, it's finally here! Tonight's episode of my new reality fix, Project Runway, features the dramatic booting of a would-be designer before the elimination challenge. Looks like someone bent (or broke) the rules and now Tim Gunn is swinging the axe. So who is it? As long as it's not Kayne or Michael or Allison, I'm okay.

Channel Surfing: 7.19.06

Covering "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" Season Eight

Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch column managed to score a first look at an image that many Buffy fans have been waiting an eternity for.

Dark Horse Comics has released the cover image of the new Buffy the Vampire Slayer comic book, which will envision what might have been had there been an eighth season of the supernatural drama.

Like the series, which slayed its last vampire in 2003, the comic book will be written by Buffy mastermind Joss Whedon. Joss currently writes a little comic you may have heard of -- Astonishing X-Men -- and previously wrote a fantastic (if terminally delayed) Buffy comic spin-off called Fray and a three-issue mini-series that bridged the gap between his Firefly series and the Serenity feature. Pencils will be provided by Georges Jeanty, though I have to agree with Blog@Newsarama and say that the cover art looks suspiciously like the work of the talented Jo Chen (just check out the covers of Runaways).

Where did things leave off when Buffy left the airwaves? PopWatch offered the following precis:

"Well, you may recall the show ended with the creation of an army of Slayers. Now they're organized, and the tide has turned in favor of the good guys. Ah, but you know how much Whedon hates winners: Soon an 'old enemy' surfaces (Dark Horse is cagey on Big Bad's identity), and Dawn starts 'experiencing serious growing pains.'"

While the new Buffy series isn't slated for release until October, attendees at this weekend's Comic Con in San Diego (myself included) can pick up a copy of the first issue now.

Netflix Subscribers to Catch Sneak Peeks of NBC's "Kidnapped" and "Studio 60"

NBC announced today that it would offer a preview of the pilots of two of its fall drama pilots, Kidnapped (reviewed here) and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip to Netflix's 5 million subscribers.

The Peacock hopes to fan the flames of, er, fandom by getting a leap on their competitors and allowing the general public to catch a sneak peek of their series, in advance of the scheduled fall premiere dates.

Netflix subscribers will be able to view the pilot episodes to Kidnapped and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, as well as sample trailers from some of other NBC's fall offerings, on August 5th.

"Aquaman" to Sleep with the Fishes; Its Star to Take Aim at Green Arrow

The CW has confirmed once and for all that it will not be ordering its Aquaman pilot to series, either for the fall or midseason or... ever. The failed pilot (reviewed here), produced by the creators of Smallville, starred Justin Hartley and Ving Rhames. (What's most surprising to me is that I learned about two weeks ago that the network actually paid for the entire project to be completed in the last few weeks, including instrumental score, even though it had no intentions of ordering the series.)

But this isn't the last that Aquaman's Justin Harley has seen of the televised DC Universe, as Dark Horizons is reporting that the actor has been cast as Oliver Queen (a.k.a. Green Arrow) for a multiple-episode arc on Smallville. Hartley is expected to appear in more than seven episodes next season and joins new cast addition Aaron Ashmore (Veronica Mars) as The Daily Planet's Jimmy Olsen.

In an interview with the July 24th issue of TV Guide, Smallville and Aquaman co-creator Alfred Gough discusses the next season of Smallville and the character of Oliver Queen/Green Arrow:

"He will start to form the nascent Justice League. He's trying to find like-minded people with special powers and put a more formal structure in place. Ultimately Clark will see the value of what he is trying to do but as he's gotten older, Clark has become more cautious. He will always be there to help out, but he doesn't want to be part of a formalized organization."

Smallville will premiere on the new CW network on September 28th at 8 pm ET/PT.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Rock Star: Supernova (CBS; 8-9:30 pm); America's Got Talent (NBC; 8-10 pm); Blue Collar TV/Blue Collar TV (WB); The One: Making a Music Star (ABC; 8-10 pm); So You Think You Can Dance (FOX; 8-10 pm); America's Next Top Model (UPN)

9 pm: Criminal Minds (CBS); One Tree Hill (WB); Eve/Cuts (UPN)

10 pm: CSI: New York (CBS); Law & Order (NBC); The One: Making a Music Star (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

10 pm: Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares on BBC America (9 pm ET).

If you missed your Monday night fix of Gordon Ramsay, here's your chance to catch him again before this British import departs the U.S. airwaves (for now, anyway). On the season finale of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares ("La Gondola"), Gordon finds himself at the dreadful La Gondola restaurant, an Italian eatery trapped in the 1970s where the chef is one of the worst that Gordon has ever encountered. Seriously, after Hell's Kitchen, that's saying a lot.

10 pm: Project Runway on Bravo.

It might only be the second episode, but I am already obsessed with this reality show, hosted by Heidi Klum, the former object of desire of inbound Gilmore Girls showrunner David Rosenthal. I'm a little perturbed from what I heard about alleged fraud committed by one of the contestants but I'm dying to see what happens on tonight's episode.