Channel Surfing: FOX Orders Six Scripts for "Bones," Rob Thomas Not Optimistic About "Veronica Mars" Movie, "Scrubs" Return Possible, and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing.

FOX inched its way closer to renewing drama Bones yesterday, ordering six scripts for the Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz-led series. While it's not a firm renewal yet for Bones, the script order does point favorably towards FOX picking up the series, which has improved the network's Thursday night timeslot by 43 percent since the series relocated there in January and has bested ABC's Ugly Betty and NBC's My Name is Earl. (TV Week)

Some bad news for Veronica Mars fans: don't hold your breath waiting for the feature film spin-off of the much missed sleuthing series. Creator Rob Thomas told The New York Post that a greenlight isn't looking likely, though he'll "drop whatever" he's doing in order to make it happen should it materialize. "While the pitch [to producer Joel Silver] went well and I don't think the movie's dead, right now it's looking depressing," said Thomas. "I think honestly if we would have had the pitch ready a year earlier, it would be a go project. The hope that we would get a quick greenlight didn't materialize. This is the least optimistic I've felt in a while." Fans curious to know some details about the potential Veronica Mars can take heart, however: "If we were going to do a movie, I would want to put Wallace and Logan and Mac and Weevil in it," said Thomas. "We would have picked up just prior to Veronica's graduation, it would have been the college years." (New York Post's Popwrap)

Former Monk co-star Bitty Schram has signed a deal that will have her reprise her role as Sharona in an upcoming episode on the eighth and final season of USA's Monk, according to Michael Ausiello. "We couldn't think of a better way to help wrap up the series than with the return of Bitty's character," said series star Tony Shalhoub. "Bringing some closure to Sharona is long overdue." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Could ABC renew Scrubs after all? It's looking possible, according to Zap2it's Korbi Ghosh, who has heard from several sources at the network that Steve McPherson indicated to series creator Bill Lawrence that he would be "happy to bring the show back for season nine. The only requirement? Zach Braff would have to do a handful of episodes. Seems the eight-year-old show is reeling in a nice young, male demo that doesn't normally watch ABC and that makes McPherson smiley." (Zap2it's Korbi TV)

Scott Caan (Ocean's Thirteen) has landed the lead role in FOX comedy pilot Cop House (also cast: Curtiss I'Cook); Michelle Trachtenberg (Gossip Girl) has joined the cast of NBC drama pilot Mercy; Josh Charles (In Treatment) will star in CBS drama pilot The Good Wife; Tom Riley (Lost in Austen) has joined the cast of ABC comedy pilot No Heroics; and Catherine Dent (The Shield) has joined the ensemble cast of NBC drama pilot Day One. (Hollywood Reporter)

Elsewhere, Colin Egglesfield (All My Children) and Stephanie Jacobsen (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) have been cast in CW's revival of Melrose Place. Egglesfield will Auggie, a sous chef who dreams of owning his own restaurant and is an avid surfer, while Jacobsen will play Lauren, a UCLA med student who is living a double life as a high-end call girl. (Hollywood Reporter)

HBO hasn't quite greenlit film The Special Relationship, about the unusual and sometimes fractuous relationship between President Bill Clinton and Prime Minister Tony Blair but the pieces are coming into place on the Peter Morgan-scripted drama. Dennis Quaid has signed on to star as President Clinton, with Michael Sheen once again reprising his role British Prime Minister Tony Blair (which he's played twice now in The Queen and The Deal), and Julianne Moore playing First Lady Hillary Clinton. Peter Morgan, who wrote the screenplay, is expected to direct what will likely be a co-production between HBO and BBC. (Variety)

ABC has stopped soliciting viewers for ideas for its new comedy series In the Motherhood, which launches tonight, after the WGA had an issue with the network's call for ideas, which are "not permissible" under the terms of the guild's deal with ABC. (Editor's note: I'm quoted in the article!) (New York Times)

USA is said to be extremely close to giving drama White Collar, starring Matthew Bomer, Tim DeKay, Tiffani Thiessen, Marsha Thomason, and Willie Garson, a series order. Move would mark the second pickup for USA this year, following the eleven-episode order for Royal Pains. (Hollywood Reporter)

George Lopez will host an untitled nightly talk show for TBS beginning in November. The hour-long series, which will feature celebrity guests and musical performances, will run Mondays through Thursdays and the cabler has ordered 34 episodes for the Warner Horizon and Telepictures-produced series. (Variety)

TLC has given a series order to docusoap Cake Boss that follows the Valastro family as they run Carlo's Bakery in Hoboken, New Jersey, which has designed cakes for celebrities such as Britney Spears and television series like The Sopranos. The cabler will air the pilot episode on April 19th, with the series set to debut in early June. (Hollywood Reporter)

Hallmark Channel has announced an aggressive slate of 35 original made-for-television movies for the 2009-10 season, all of which will debut in the Saturday 9-11 pm timeslot. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: "Chuck" On the Bubble for Renewal, "Seinfeld" Cast Members Reunite for "Curb," "Life on Mars" Will Get Different Ending, and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing.

Variety's Michael Schneider takes a look at the current batch of network series that are on the bubble for renewal next season, including NBC's Chuck and Life and FOX's Lie to Me and Dollhouse. Chuck co-creator Josh Schwartz is pitching a "game-changing" season finale to NBC execs in the next few weeks but its chances for renewal will "mostly be up to how well those shows perform during the final weeks of the season -- and how all those pilots look once the nets head into the screening room." Complicating matters for Chuck is the reduction of primetime real estate at the network, with The Jay Leno Show taking five of its primetime hours this fall. (Variety)

This, that, and the other: The cast of Seinfeld--Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander, and Michael Richards--appear with co-creator Larry David in a multiple-episode story arc on Curb Your Enthusiasm's seventh season, expected to air this fall on HBO. The reunion marks the first time that all four Seinfeld actors have appeared together on a scripted series since the end of Seinfeld. (Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider)

The executive producers of ABC's canceled Life on Mars are fortunate to have the opportunity to have some closure on the series, which will end its run after 17 episodes, and are said to be "determined" to provide a satisfying wrap-up to the series... one that won't be the same as the original BBC version. "We’ve felt from the beginning that if the show wasn’t going to get its legs for a second season, nothing would have been more of a gift from the network and the studio than to give us the opportunity to find the creative closure a lot of shows don’t get," said executive producer Andre Nemec. "It’s all a bit sad, but it doesn’t come without its closure and its finality." (Los Angeles Times)

Jackie Earle Haley (Watchmen) and Chi McBride (Pushing Daisies) have been cast in FOX drama pilot Human Target opposite Mark Valley. Pilot, from Warner Bros. Television, follows a mysterious security freelancer named Christopher Chance (Valley) who assumes the identities of people in danger. Haley will play Chance's intelligence source; McBride will play Chance's friend and business partner. (Hollywood Reporter)

Julianna Margulies (Canterbury's Law) has been cast as the lead in CBS drama pilot The Good Wife, where she will play the wife of a politician who decides to embark on a career as a defense attorney. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Pilot casting alert: Erika Christensen (Six Degrees) has been cast in NBC drama pilot Parenthood; Madchen Amick (My Own Worst Enemy) and Ryan Devlin (Big Shots) will star opposite Cedric the Enterainer in ABC comedy pilot The Law; Stuart Townsend (Night Stalker) has been cast in FOX drama pilot Maggie Hill, where he will play the imaginary boyfriend of a surgeon with schizoprenia (Christina Cole); and Josh Hopkins (Swingtown) and Ian Gomez (Felicity) have joined the cast of ABC comedy pilot Cougar Town. (Hollywood Reporter)

Elsewhere, Andrew McCarthy (Lipstick Jungle) has joined the cast of CW's untitled Gossip Girl spin-off. He'll play Rick Rhodes, the father of a teenage Lily (Brittany Snow), a music company executive, and will appear in the backdoor pilot episode on May 11th. And Tim Matheson (The West Wing) has been cast in political drama pilot Body Politic, where he will play a charismatic senator. (Hollywood Reporter)

Sex and the City creator Darren Star has signed a two-year first-look deal with HBO, under which he will develop comedy and drama series for the pay cabler and oversee projects written by other scribes. "They say you can never go home again, but with this deal at HBO, I feel I am," said Star. "I can say from my fortunate experience that there is nothing in the world quite like having a series on HBO." (Hollywood Reporter)

Michael Ausiello has some hints about what Season Four of NBC's Heroes could be about, should the Peacock renew the series for a fourth season. "Basically, the last act of episode 25, similar to what's been done in the past, opens up a new chapter of Heroes," consulting producer Bryan Fuller told Ausiello. "It sets up arcs for a variety of characters." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

BBC One has confirmed that it has commissioned a third season of Bill Gallagher's period drama Lark Rise to Candleford, which will shoot this summer and air in 2010. (BBC)

Pilot season is back on track after being derailed following the WGA strike and the push towards year-round development... but that's not necessarily a good thing. "What struck me the most is how much things are exactly the same," said an unnamed top studio executive. "We're still producing the same pilots, seeking the same talent and going through that lemming-style behavior. The process is so tiring." (Hollywood Reporter)

Bravo has renewed reality competition series Shear Genius for a third season and has ordered reality series Double Exposure, which follows photographers Markus Klinko and Indrani as they shoot celebrity and fashion clients. (Variety)

ABC has acquired US rights to four-hour German disaster mini-series Impact, from Tandem Communications, Jaffe/Braunstein Entertainment, and Muse Entertainment. Sci Fi Channel has secured second-window rights to the mini, about a meteor that strikes the moon and sends it on a crash course with Earth. Impact stars David James Elliott, Natasha Henstridge, Steven Culp, and James Cromwell. (Hollywood Reporter)

USA Today talks to Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston just a few days before the launch of Season Two on AMC. "I wanted to go in a different direction," said Cranston of his flawed character, Walter White. "This was fantastically written, nuanced, just beautifully sculpted. You have a character who has troubles, he's trying, but his inability to function in certain areas is very honest, very human." (USA Today)

A&E ordered 13 episodes of reality series Tattoo Highway, following Inked's Thomas Pendelton and his wife Monica, as they travel the country in a mobile tattoo parlor, making stops in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake City. Cabler plans to launch the series, from executive producer Bob Horowitz, later this spring. (Hollywood Reporter)

Comedy Central handed out a series order to Tosh.0, a weekly comedy series that will feature comedian Daniel Tosh offering blistering criticism of blogs and other Internet destinations. Cabler ordered ten episodes of the series, executive produced by Tosh and Mike Gibbons, which it plans to launch in June. The cabler also parterned with Paramount Vantage to acquire rights to Trey Hamburger's "Ghosts/Aliens" novel, which will be separately developed as a pilot, to be written by Phil Johnston, and a feature film. (Variety)

TBS has canceled Frank Caliendo's sketch comedy series Frank TV. (Broadcasting & Cable)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: ABC Family Cancels "Kyle XY," At Odds with Parents Television Council, Adam Baldwin, ABC Pilot News Bonanza, and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. I hope everyone's now well rested from Super Bowl weekend and a slew of first-run series programming. Let's dive into the headlines.

Bad news for the belly button-less: ABC Family has canceled teen sci-fi drama Kyle XY. The cabler did however renew Greek, Lincoln Heights, and The Secret Life of the American Teenager for additional seasons and handed out ten episode orders for new series Ruby and the Rockits, Perfect 10, and 10 Things I Hate About You. (Variety)

NBC announced that it will stream both the 3D and 3D versions of tonight's episode of Chuck live at NBC.com starting at 5 am PT tomorrow. Viewers will also be able to choose between watching the 3D installment in either HD or standard definition, with or without closed caption subtitles, and stream while chatting using NBC.com's Viewing Party function. (via press release)

The New York Times profiles Chuck's Adam Baldwin, who returns to the airwaves tonight with the NBC series. “The guy does more with a grunt than most actors could do with a monologue,” said Chuck executive producer Josh Schwartz. “You totally believe him as this N.S.A. agent who’s happy to torture and kill people, but he’s also really, really funny. He gets the comedy without ever breaking character. And his preparation is astounding. Adam really relishes all these details: How does Casey sharpen his knife and fork before he eats? He’s worked all that stuff out.” (New York Times)

ABC ordered an untitled pilot from executive producer Jerry Bruckheimer and writer Mark Friedman that will be directed by Danny Cannon (CSI). Project, from Warner Bros. TV and Bruckheimer TV, will follow a team of amateur crimefighters who solve crimes against unidentified victims. (It's known informally around town as The Unknown.) Also getting pilot orders late Friday: high school musical drama Limelight, from writer K.J. Steinberg (Gossip Girl), executive producer McG, director/EXP David Semel, and Warner Bros Television and Wonderland TV, about the teachers and students of an NYC performing arts college and is loosely based on the life of the Neptunes' Pharrel Williams; and Empire State, a modern day Romeo and Juliet story from executive producers Mark Gordon and Deb Spera, writer Michael Seitzman and ABC Studios, about two families--one blue-collar and the other wealthy real estate moguls--who crash into one another in a star-struck romance. (Variety)

Twilight's Jackson Rathbone has been cast in an upcoming episode of CBS' Criminal Minds, where he will play a college student on spring break who could be the target of a serial killer. Episode, to be directed by Jason Alexander, is scheduled to air in April. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

NBC has once again changed the title of Amy Poehler's new comedy, launching in April. Previously known as Public Service, the comedy--which stars Poehler, Rashida Jones, and Aziz Ansari--has undergone another name change and will now be known as Parks and Recreation.

NBC medical drama pilot Trauma will be directed by Jeff Reiner (Friday Night Lights, Caprica), in a move that removes the contingency to be lifted from the project. Also signing on to helm pilots: Simon West (Revolution) will direct FOX drama pilot Human Target; Deran Sarafian (K-Ville) will direct FOX's untitled reincarnation project (informally referred to as The Reincarnationist around town). (Hollywood Reporter)

The Los Angeles Times discusses the monstrously large set of FOX's Dollhouse, a "5,000-square-foot, two-story structure, unusually elaborate for a TV production, sits 10 stories below a Los Angeles high-rise," desgined by Stuart Blatt. (Los Angeles Times)

CBS given a series order to unscripted docusoap Arranged Marriage, from Magical Elves' Jane Lipsitz and Dan Cutforth, the executive producers of Bravo's Top Chef. Series will follow four adults who are married off by their friends and family to a stranger and then, after they exchange vows, follow the newlyweds as they begin married life together. (Hollywood Reporter)

Parents Television Council's latest target? ABC Family's name, which the organization feels is misrepresentative of the material it airs given the word "family" in the network's name. "It's kind of a misnomer to call ABC Family a family channel," said Michelle MacNeal, the head of a local branch of PTC. "When you call something 'family,' it gives the impression that it's safe for all members of the family, even young children." (Los Angeles Times)

Nikki Finke is reporting that George Lopez may land a latenight talkshow at cabler TBS to air at either 11 or 11:30 pm. (Deadline Hollywood Daily)

Universal Cable Prods. has signed a two-year overall deal with writer/executive producer Steve Franks (Psych) that will keep him on as showrunner on Psych for Seasons Four and Five and a one-year first-look deal with director Jace Alexander (Burn Notice), under which Alexander will develop projects for the cable group. (Hollywood Reporter)

BET has acquired off-net rerun rights to CW's comedy The Game and will beginning airing episodes from the series' first two seasons in February. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Nets Order Slew of Pilots, Kristen Johnson Could Be "AbFab," "Chuck" to End Season in April, and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing.

ABC ordered three drama pilots yesterday: Inside the Box, about a female news producer in a Washington network news bureau from writer Richard E. Robbins and executive producers Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers (Grey's Anatomy); I, Claudia, about a young prosecuting attorney who is unaware that in the future she will be a contender to be the first female president of the US, from writer/executive producer John Scott Shepherd (The Days); and an untitled US adaptation of Argentinian series Brothers & Detectives, about a detective who discovers that he has a brilliant 11-year-old brother after the death of his estranged father, from Daniel Cerone (Dexter). (Hollywood Reporter)

NBC has ordered a pilot for futuristic drama Day One from writer/executive producer Jesse A. Alexander (Heroes) about "the aftermath of a global event that devastates the world's infrastructures when a small band of survivors strive to rebuild society and unravel the mysteries of why the event took place and what the future has in store." Project, produced by Universal Media Studios, should not be confused with CBS' Jericho, seemingly about the same subject matter... (Hollywood Reporter)

Kristen Johnson (3rd Rock from the Sun) is said to be in talks to star as Eddy in FOX pilot Absolutely Fabulous, a US remake of the BBC comedy created by Jennifer Saunders. Johnson appeared at the table-read of the pilot script on Friday; also participating in the read: Kathryn Hahn (Revolutionary Road). (Variety)

Elsewhere at FOX, the network has given a pilot greenlight to drama Masterwork from Prison Break creator Paul Scheuring. Project, from 20th Century Fox Television, is a globe-spanning adventure in recover artifacts and is said to be in the same vein as National Treasure or The Da Vinci Code. (Hollywood Reporter)

TV Guide has a look at the best of Sawyer's constant stream of sobriquets on Lost. Any you would have added in the mix? (TV Guide)

NBC has announced that it will launch unscripted celebrity genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are, based on the BBC series, on April 20th. Series, which will feature such celebs as Lisa Kudrow, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Susan Sarandon, will take over the Monday night at 8 pm timeslot currently home to Chuck, as "slot occupant Chuck will have finished its season run by then." Is anyone else troubled that Chuck will wrap in April and not May? (Variety)

Bonnie Sommerville (Cashmere Mafia) has been cast in NBC comedy pilot Off Duty, opposite Bradley Whitford (The West Wing) and Romany Malco (Weeds), about a decorated detective on his way out (Whitford) who is assigned a new partner (Malco) who is a straight arrow both on the job and off. Sommerville will play Malco's wife. Also cast: Capethia Jenkins as the police district chief. Elsewhere, Jesse Tyler Ferguson (The Class) has been cast in ABC comedy pilot An American Family, from Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd and 20th Century Fox Television, where he will play one of the neighborhoods' gay dads. (Hollywood Reporter)

Unnamed SAG board members, speaking on condition of anonymity, claim that talks between the guild and the AMPTP could begin as early as next week, following the ousting of chief negotiator Doug Allen. Meanwhile, the board has also voted to remove president Alan Rosenberg's ability to speak to the press on behalf of the guild. Another sign of things to come? (New York Times)

TNT's launch for scripted drama Trust Me scored not such great numbers, capturing only 3.4 million viewers and 1.3 million adults between 18-49, significantly less than its launch for Leverage, which bowed with 5 million viewers without support from a lead-in from The Closer, and Raising the Bar, which launched with 7.7 million viewers. (Variety)

Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick (Quarterlife) have sold a drama pilot script to CBS about a "marriage that works." Relationship dramas are no strangers to Hershovitz and Zwick, who also created Once and Again and thirtysomething. (Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider)

UK's Channel 4 has acquired rights to two HBO series: True Blood and Generation Kill. (Variety)

Noel Clarke, who played Mickey on Doctor Who, has said that he would love to return to the series. "Who would turn down a return to Doctor Who?" said Clarke in an interview with The Sun. "I love the show and have always supported it. I was there from day one when nobody was sure if it was going to be a hit. But the show moves on. Who knows? Whatever happens, happens." (Digital Spy)

Generate has signed a multiple-year overall deal with 2oth Century Fox Television to develop and produced scripted series for broadcast and cable networks and will grant a first look to the studio for its alternative and reality projects. (Variety)

Style has acquired exclusive off-network rights to all seasons of ABC's Supernanny, which it will launch in the fall. (Hollywood Reporter)

TBS has ordered 80 additional episodes of Tyler Perry comedy series Meet the Browns, which is currently in the middle of a ten-episode test run that started January 7th. Order pattern closely follows that of Perry's other TBS series House of Payne, which launched with ten episodes and went on to receive an order for 90 additional installments. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: NBC Gives Primetime Timeslot to Jay Leno, Scandal du Jour at "Grey's Anatomy," and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing.

The news that everyone is talking about since yesterday afternoon is that NBC has handed over its 10 pm timeslot Mondays through Thursdays to Jay Leno, beginning Fall 2009. This has been rumored for the last few months but I don't think even NBC was prepared to make it fact until the recent economic (and ratings) downturn of recent times. First, it solves two issues: keeping Leno--who is losing his 11:35 timeslot to Conan O'Brien (while Jimmy Fallon will take over his old digs)--at NBC and thus out of the grabs of rival networks such as ABC and FOX; and allows the Peacock to continue programming the 10 pm hour instead of handing it back to the local affiliates. (Something, believe it or not, that was also widely discussed.) (Variety)

Which means that scripted television has just taken another hard-to-handle blow. If NBC goes ahead with its plans for a Leno talk/variety series at 10 pm weeknights and has Sunday Night Football and repeats on Saturday, that leaves just ten hours of programming remaining. Given NBC's propensity for reality franchises (Biggest Loser, Apprentice), expect to see even less comedy and drama at NBC next season.

Granted, NBC hasn't had a lot of success with its 10 pm series lately; one need only look at the floundering series My Own Worst Enemy and Lipstick Jungle for examples, while ER closes its doors this season and Law & Order: SVU represents really the only shot at success in the timeslot.

Does this decision make sense financially? You bet it does: NBC will be able to save a hell of a lot of coin producing a Leno-based "live" series than it would a scripted drama in that hour. But it does smart, just a little. Jeff Zucker claims that they aren't "retrenching" or "throwing in the towel" but it does seem like they are giving up on scripted programming five hours a week. And that makes me sad.

Other networks have said they are not looking to make schedule cutbacks at this time and one unnamed insider said that NBC's logic could be perceived as "counterproductive" because "it's like the automakers shutting down plants: It saves some money short-term, but it also prevents an opportunity to make any." (Hollywood Reporter)

And NBC also made headlines yesterday afternoon for its massive corporate restructuring, which saw the layoffs of drama EVP Katie O'Connell, UMS comedy head Erin Gough Wehrenberg, UMS drama head Elisa Roth, programming EVP Ted Frank, and casting veteran Marc Hirschfeld, among many others. Layoffs come on the heels of the announcement Friday that Teri Weinberg, Katherine Pope, and Craig Plestis would exit. NBC Universal will instead launch a new merged network/studio arrangement, to be overseen by Angela Bromstad, recalled from her London-based position for NBC Universal International. Bromstad will now serve as president of primetime for NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios while former BBC Worldwide executive Paul Telegdy will oversee alternative programming for NBC and Universal Media Studios. (Variety)

Rumors are swirling that Grey's Anatomy's T.R. Knight has quit the ABC drama series. However an ABC publicist attempted to put the lid on such allegations by telling TV Guide that "T.R. has never walked off set in the middle of filming. He attended the table read [on Monday] and will be shooting this week, like any other week of production." Hmmm. (TV Guide)

UPDATE: Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello says that "multiple sources" have confirmed to him that T.R. Knight has been asked to be cut loose from his contract and that Shonda Rhimes and the ABC executives are willing to fulfill his request, according to one source. ("They're working out the details now.") (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

ABC will attempt to counter-program NBC's Super Bowl with a football-themed special episode of reality competition series Wipeout to air during the halftime concert by Bruce Springstein. Immediately following the Super Bowl telecast, ABC will air another special episode of Wipeout, in which cheerleaders compete against male "couch potato" sports fans, opposite NBC's hour-long The Office event. Strategy represents one of the most ambitious Super Bowl Sunday plans to date. (Hollywood Reporter)

Bravo has renewed unscripted series Flipping Out and Million Dollar Listing for third seasons. Also on tap for 2009: new seasons of The Rachel Zoe Project and Tabatha's Salon Takeover. (Variety)

Lauren London (Entourage) has been cast as bisexual cheerleader Christina Worthy on CW's 90210; she was seen in the November 18th episode attempting to flirt with Dixon (Tristan Wilds) but we'll soon learn that Christina has a girlfriend when the series returns on January 6th. (TV Guide)

TBS has ordered a pilot presentation for Frat House, a late night series from Bunim-Murray that will follow three comedians--Bret Ernest (Weeds), Theo Von (America's Prom Queen), and Bert Kreischer (Reality Bites Back)--as they push a group of guys at an impasse in their lives back into the simpler days of frat life. (Hollywood Reporter)

David E. Kelley is said to be "satisfied" with the series finale of his five-season-long drama Boston Legal, which wrapped up last night. However, he did have some parting words for ABC. "ABC didn't want us back," said Kelley. "It's as simple as that. They didn't even want us back for this year at all. We had to fight to get back on with 13. It's not a product they care to market." (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Talpa and Endemol have dissolved their joint venture, under which Endemol had exclusive right to distribute Talpa's formats, by "mutual consent." (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: CW to Spin Off "Gossip Girl" for 2009-10 Season; Fiennes and Cho Look to "Flash Forward at ABC," "Lost," and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. I'm now seriously behind on my telly-viewing as I was out last night at the West 3rd Street Holiday Walk, where I bumped into Anne Hathaway and Alan Rickman, but I did manage to watch The Office and 30 Rock, naturally.

Today's biggest headline is that CW has announced that it will pursue developing a spin-off of teen-centric drama Gossip Girl. Rather than shoot a pilot, however, the CW will use an upcoming episode of Gossip Girl to function as a backdoor pilot in order to save costs and test the concept before committing to a series order. One caveat: the untitled spin-off will not be an adaptation of novel series "The It Girl" and will not focus on Jenny Humphrey.

So who could be the focus of said spin-off? It's likely that producers would select one of Gossip Girl's main cast members to spin-off but it's difficult to figure out who the most likely candidate would be. Or producers could introduce a new character altogether later this season. Hmmm...

Of course, with the kids of Constance Billard heading off to college next season, it's possible that one of them won't attend the same school (let's be honest, most of them will be staying put in Manhattan and attending NYU or Columbia rather than Yale), thus providing the CW with an instant new focus for a new series, set somewhere other than Manhattan. Thoughts? (Variety)

Joseph Fiennes--who recently starred in FX's drama pilot Pretty/Handsome--and John Cho (Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay) will star in ABC drama pilot Flash Forward, opposite previously announced cast members Jack Davenport and Courtney B. Vance. Project, from Brandon Braga, David S. Goyer, and ABC Studios, recounts the chaos that ensues after the entire world blacks out for two minutes and seventeen seconds and awakens with a terrifying vision of the future.

Fiennes will star as FBI Agent Mark Banford who is "patching up his life and his marriage after winning a long struggle with the bottle. Disturbed by the harrowing premonition during his blackout, he races to unravel the mystery, fearful of the murky future that might spell disaster for himself and his loved ones." Cho will play Dominic Witten, Mark's FBI partner and friend who believes he might be murdered as he did not receive a vision of the future. (Hollywood Reporter)

Expect big changes for Lost in its upcoming fifth season, according to executive producers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof. Just don't accuse of them of jumping the shark. "We actually try and jump the shark all the time," joked Cuse. "The last thing we want to do is feel like the show is falling into a tired paradigm. In fact, this season we start out with a new narrative approach. Not the now traditional flashbacks or flash-forwards. We always are trying to keep the storytelling surprising." (Sci Fi Wire)

Florence Henderson (The Brady Bunch) will guest star on a January episode of ABC's Samantha Who, where she will play Sam's grandmother in the episode that will also feature Christine Ebersole as Samantha's aunt. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

TBS has ordered a half-hour late-night vaudeville pilot to be hosted by Harland Williams that is tentatively entitled The TBS Comedy Roadshow. Series, from executive producers Paige Hurwitz and Javier Winnik and TBS Prods., would travel around the country to showcase regional talent, "including a mix of stand-up comedy, novelty acts, musical acts, short films and animated shorts," and shoot in historically significant vaudeville theatres. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Thanksgiving Edition

Happy Thanksgiving and welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing.

While there's not much television-related news today (this being a national holiday and all), I did want to just share a few tidbits that are floating out there.

Ari Graynor (Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist) has been cast in a multiple-episode story arc on FOX's Fringe, where she will play the younger sister of Agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) in at least three episodes. Graynor's first appearance is scheduled for early January and she will turn up unannounced in Boston at Olivia's flat with her young daughter in tow, supposedly looking for some place to crash after man troubles. Could it be that Little Sis has an ulterior motive? Hmmm. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

James Hibberd talks to The Mentalist creator Bruno Heller about the hit CBS freshman procedural drama. Among the topics under discussion: where the idea for The Mentalist came from, when to expect a resolution to the Red John storyline (hint: the series finale), and the danger in turning Jane into too much of a superhero. (Hollywood Reporter)

ABC is said to be focus group-testing that romance between Grey's Anatomy's Izzie and her dead boyfriend Denny. However, the good news, according to EW is that "Rhimes hasn’t given up on girl-on-girl love, as bisexual Callie is about to start canoodling with new intern Sadie (Melissa George). McSteamy (Eric Dane) may end up doing the dirty with little Grey, Lexie, played by Chyler Leigh (anything’s better than watching her pine over the oblivious George), and fan favorite Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh) will show up for a special crossover episode with Private Practice in February. The bad news is that Jeffrey Dean Morgan is slated to appear at least through February." (Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider)

Tyler Perry has settled his contract dispute with the WGA and writers on his TBS series House of Payne. (Variety)

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: Robin Takes Flight at CW, "Partridge" Lands at NBC, Norman Lear, "Sarah Connor" Woes, and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. I suffered through some sweltering heat here in Los Angeles last night and watched the latest lackluster episode of 90210 and a fantastically taut episode of Fringe (more on that in a bit).

CW has given a put pilot commitment to drama The Graysons, based on the pre-Boy Wonder life of Batman sidekick Robin before he dons the mask and cape (a la Smallville). Drama, from Smallville executive producers Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson and Chuck/Supernatural executive producer McG, will follow Dick "DJ" Grayson in a new take on the iconic character. (In the original comics, Robin was the orphaned son of a high-flying trapeze artist family who was taken in by Bruce Wayne and trained to be Batman's sidekick.) Series is viewed as a potential replacement for Smallville, should this be final season, or as a companion piece if Smallville is renewed. Studio Warner Bros. Television also hopes to use this development to prove that the netlet isn't in any serious jeopardy. But they're really going to call Robin "DJ"? Ick. (Variety)

Could Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles be canceled in an effort to save the ratings of FOX's Prison Break? That's what one network source has said as the axe could come swinging down on ratings-starved Terminator as early as this week. "All I can say is that production will likely stop," said the unnamed source, "and I would think that Fox might try to air some of the episodes already in the can. But I don't know. They don't want to lose Prison Break, so there could be some schedule shuffling in the future."(SyFy Portal)

Television icon Norman Lear is developing Everybody Hurts, a drama series following a pro-wrestling business in 1970s New York, at HBO. Project is written by Aaron Blitzstein (The Riches) and will be executive produced by Lear and Lara Bergthold. (Hollywood Reporter)

The revamped single-camera comedy pilot The Partridge Family has landed at NBC. This version, from Reveille, Geffen Records, and Sony Pictures Television, will have a struggling single mom "pimping her kids in order to create a wholesome-slash-sexy cash cow." Pilot will be written by Jeff Rake, who also serves as executive producer. (Hollywood Reporter)

Rake has also teamed with Arrested Development creator Mitch Hurwitz on an untitled action dramedy pilot about ""a Pentagon-based inventor who decided he couldn't live another day standing on the sidelines while Rome burns and accordingly set out [to] put his inventions to very real use, behind the back of friends, family and the entire U.S. government," according to Rake. Arrested Development pilot helmers Anthony and Joe Russo are attached to direct the project, which has been set up at FOX. (Hollywood Reporter)

CBS and CBS Paramount Network Television have signed a talent deal with Cole Hauser (K-Ville), who recently starred in drama pilot The Tower for the network and studio. (I actually quite liked the journalism drama pilot, which also starred Rosamund Pike, Marcia Gay Harden, Denis O'Hare, and CCH Pounder.) (Variety)

Fred Willard will guest star in two episodes of CBS' comedy series Worst Week. The former Back to You star and Connie Ray (Thank You for Smoking) will play the parents of hapless Sam (Kyle Bornheimer) in two installments set to air later this fall. (Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider)

Cory Monteith (Kaya) has joined the cast of FOX's Ryan Murphy pilot Glee, opposite Jayma Mays and Matthew Morrison. He'll play Finn, a football player who is coerced into joining the high school glee club by its new advisor. (Hollywood Reporter)

Valerie Bertinelli just got some company on her untitled TBS comedy: Nadia Dajani (Emily's Reasons Why Not), Kevin G. Schmidt (Cheaper by the Dozen), and Dean Collins (The War at Home) have joined the cast of Dave Caplan's comedy pilot about a woman whose husband leaves her to deal with their kids, his struggling lumber business, and life in general on her own. Already cast: Juliette Goglia and Anjelah Johnson. (Hollywood Reporter)

Vanessa Marcil (Las Vegas) will serve as the host for Lifetime's upcoming reality competition series Blush: The Search for the Next Makeup Artist alongside judges Hal Rubenstein and Joanna Schlip and mentor Charlie Green. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: "Dollhouse" Shut Down, "90210" Casting, "Doctor Who," "Fringe" Ratings, and More

Good morning and welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. I ended up making it a fashion-fueled night last night with new episodes of Top Model and Project Runway and threw on the ABC pilot Single with Parents (starring Alyssa Milano) just for good measure.

What's up first today? Dollhouse, natch. Everyone is talking about the production shutdown on the set of the new Joss Whedon action drama, slated to kick off in January 2009. 20th Century Fox Television has shut down shooting on Dollhouse beginning tomorrow through September 25th so that Whedon can oversee a rewrite of the fourth script and get ahead on the next few scripts. News comes after FOX rejiggered the running order in July: Dollhouse's originally filmed pilot will now bow second, after a newly constructed pilot episode (which I hope to see soon). Does this bode ill for the series? No one can say but it does at least point to the reassuring fact that Whedon does seem to be involved with the decisions and agreed with the studio that the script "needed work." (Variety)

Catherine Zeta-Jones, Doctor's companion? Doctor Who executive producer/head writer Russell T. Davies, who is overseeing the four feature-length specials that will air in 2009 before handing over the reins to inbound head writer Steven Moffat, has indicated that he wants Zeta-Jones to play one of the Doctor's companions in a spin-off feature film version of the franchise. "Being from Wales myself," said Davies, "I would love to have Catherine Zeta-Jones as a companion for The Doctor." And it appears that the rumors of David Tennant signing on for such a feature may have merit. "To have anyone else [playing the Doctor] would be inconceivable," said Davies. (Digital Spy)

90210 fans, get your Brenda fix while you still can. While producers have signed Jennie Garth for another five episodes (in addition to the six episodes she was initially contracted to do), Shannen Doherty's run on 90210 will--at least for the time being, anyway--be reserved to the four episodes she had originally shot. "They asked me to do a lot more," said Doherty. "I'm in the middle of pitching a show, [so] I couldn't commit to more than [I did]." The CW drama, meanwhile, lost roughly 1.4 million viewers between the premiere and this week's episode. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

In other ratings news, FOX's launch for J.J. Abrams drama series Fringe garnered the top spot in the key adults 18-49 demo but underwhelmed with 9 million total viewers, finishing behind America's Got Talent (11.6 million). (New York Times)

Speaking of Fringe, The Los Angeles Times' Patrick Kevin Day offers up five tips to the makers of Fringe, including: (1) Give us a great villain; (2) Avoid the kissing stuff; (3) Develop the side characters; (4) Get gross; and (5) Have a plan. Do you agree with his assessment? (Los Angeles Times)

VH1 has ordered an untitled unscripted series from Ish Entertainment that will follow Antonio Sabato Jr. as he looks for the perfect woman. Series will be shot "like a soap opera" and will follow Sabato as he puts the female contestants through their paces with challenges "such as recreating a steamy love scene or skydiving in a gown." (Variety)

Lost's Tania Raymonde--you know her best as Ben's murdered adopted daughter Alex on the hit ABC series--has signed on to join the cast of Cold Case as Frankie Rafferty, a funky lab tech and potential love interest for the significantly older Danny Pino's Valens. Raymonde's first episode will air in November. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Production is gearing up in Mexico City on Fox TV Studio's Persons Unknown--from creator/executive producer Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects)--about seven strangers who are taken from their everyday lives and wake up in a deserted town, where they are watched by security cameras and quickly realize that there is no escape. The cast so far includes Alan Ruck, Chadwick Boseman, Gerald Kyd, and Kate Lang Johnson and the series will be executive produced by McQuarrie, Heather McQuarrie, and Remi Aubuchon (Caprica).

TBS has ordered a third season of comedy The Bill Engvall Show, with ten episodes to bow next summer. (Variety)

Bravo is developing an untitled docusoap based around "hip and stylish" 18-25 year-olds in Orange County. The cabler hopes to start shooting this fall. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Big Brother 10 (CBS); My Name is Earl/America's Got Talent (NBC); Smallville (CW); Ugly Betty (ABC); Hole in the Wall (FOX)

9 pm: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS); The Office/The Office (NBC); Grey's Anatomy (ABC); Kitchen Nightmares (FOX)

10 pm: Flashpoint (CBS); 30 Rock/The Office (NBC); Private Practice (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching:

9 pm: Kitchen Nightmares.

Missing the softer side of Gordon Ramsay? Tune in to the US version of his reality series in which he pull back struggling restaurants from the brink of closure. On tonight's episode ("Handlebar"), Ramsay visits the Handlebar Restaurant & Lounge in Mount Sinai, New York, where the owners don't seem to have realized that the 1980s came and went a long time ago.

10 pm: Tabatha's Salon Takeover on Bravo.

Yes, it's a complete and utter retread of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares with salons subbing in for restaurants, but there's absolutely nothing else on tonight to watch, so here goes. On this week's episode ("Images Salon: Oyster Bay, NY"), Tabatha Coffey tries to save another struggling hair salon, this time a Long Island strip mall hair salon, where styling skills and customer service aren't the watchwords of this business.

Channel Surfing: "Lost" Resurrects a Dead Character; Some Life Still Left in Rob Thomas' "Good Behavior," and More

Good morning and welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing.

Everyone wanted to talk about yesterday's announcement that ABC had picked up five series (three dramas and two half-hour comedies) and had seemingly passed over Rob Thomas' Good Behavior (based on the Kiwi series Outrageous Fortune). But there's still hope for the Catherine O'Hara-led dramedy. ABC says that it hasn't yet made a decision on Good Behavior, half-hour comedy Never Better (starring Damon Wayans), or the untitled legal drama from David Hemingson (the script of which I quite enjoyed)... and it still has yet to screen Prince of Motor City and Captain Cook's Extraordinary Atlas. Keep your fingers crossed, Rob Thomas fans. (Variety)

SPOILER ALERT! Lost will resurrect--for one episode, anyway--one of its dead characters, likely as a flashback, vision, or ghostly apparition. And, no, it's not Artz. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Why does Battlestar Galactica seem to be gaining in viewer popularity even as its Nielsen ratings seem to be plummeting? (Associated Press)

Survivor fans will have to wait a week for the launch of Survivor: Gabon -- Earth's Last Eden. CBS has delayed the start of the latest Survivor iteration for a week, shifting the premiere to September 25th.

CTV has renewed cop drama Flashpoint--starring Enrico Colantoni, Hugh Dillon, and Amy Jo Johnson--with new episodes to appear sometime in 2009... but CBS, which airs the series in the States, has only committed to one season of the drama thus far. (The Globe and Mail)

A stack of casting notices: Megalyn Echikunwoke (The 4400) has been upped from recurring status to series regular on CBS' CSI: Miami, where she plays medical examiner Dr. Tara Price; Jill Flint (Six Degrees) has been cast in USA's dramedy pilot Royal Pains opposite Mark Feuerstein; Anjelah Johnson and Juliette Goglia will co-star in the untitled Dave Caplan comedy pilot for TBS with Valerie Bertinelli; and Jared Kusnitz and G Hannelius will appear in the CW's Media Rights Capital comedy Surviving Suburbia as the kids of Steve (Bob Saget) and Anne (Cynthia Stevenson). (Hollywood Reporter)

Marvel superheroes are hitting the small screen... in Japan, at least. The comic book publisher has signed a deal with Madhouse to create several series based on their popular stable of superheroes, the first four of which will launch in 2010. Characters, such as Wolverine and Iron Man, will be tweaked with new looks and histories that touch upon Japanese culture and history. (Variety)

Mario Lopez will host live music competition series MTV's Top Pop Group on, well, MTV. Series is set to launch on Thursday, September 11th, though you can catch a casting special on August 28th. (Futon Critic)

Lifetime has ordered three unscripted programs for daytime: 20-episode half-hour cooking series Mom's Cooking (launching in December as a strip); five half-hour episodes of Lisa Williams, featuring the famous psychic in a reformatted version of Lisa Williams: Life Among the Dead to launch as a week-long special event in October; and Fat Friends, a docuseries launching in January that follow a group of five California friends as they try to lose weight together before one of their number gets married. (Hollywood Reporter)

Fremantle has signed a two-year overall deal with America's Got Talent executive producer James Sunderland to continue in his current role on the NBC reality series and develop original series for the distributor. He's also developing the untitled Osbourne family variety series for FOX. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: NCIS (CBS); America's Got Talent (NBC; 8-10 pm); Smallville (CW); Wipeout (ABC); House (FOX)

9 pm: Big Brother 10 (CBS); Reaper (CW); Wanna Bet (ABC); House (FOX)

10 pm: CBS News: Democratic National Convention (CBS); Dateline (NBC); Vote 08 (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

8:40-9:20 pm: Gavin & Stacey on BBC America.

If my gushing review of this bittersweet (yes, it's literally bitter AND sweet) comedy wasn't enough, why not tune in yourself to see just how wonderful the brainchild of writer/co-stars Ruth Jones and James Corden really is? On tonight's series premiere, Gavin and Stacey finally plan to meet face to face in London after months of phone conversations and their best friends Smithy and Nessa tag along to provide moral support.

10 pm: Million Dollar Listing on Bravo.

I can't look away, no matter how hard I try...

"Boys" of Summer: TBS Orders Additional Episodes of Freshman Comedy

Looks like PJ will be hanging with her boys for some time to come.

Basic cabler TBS has ordered nine additional episodes of its freshman comedy My Boys, the network's first original series.

Series, from Sony Pictures Television and creator Betsy Thomas, will resume production after the New Year and the newly ordered episodes will air sometime during summer 2007.

The back nine order bumps My Boys' episode count to 22 episodes.

News comes as the original 13-episode order for My Boys wraps next week, with TBS scheduling no less than five original episodes just after Christmas Day. The series' ninth and tenth episodes will air back-to-back on Tuesday, December 26th at 10 pm ET/PT, with episodes 11 and 12 popping up on December 27th from 10-11 pm ET/PT, and the final episode will air the following night (that would be December 28th) at 10 pm.

For the uninitiated, My Boys follows the travails on tomboy PJ Franklin (Jordana Spiro), a sportswriter looking for romance, but she discovers that just being one of the guys has its downfalls: namely preventing her from achieving an actual love life. Series costars Jim Gaffigan (Ed) as PJ's married brother, Kyle Howard (Related, Grosse Point) as the object of PJ's affections, Reid Scott (American Dreams) as her best friend, Kellee Stewart (Guess Who?) as her only female friend, and Michael Bunin (Scrubs) and Jamie Kaler (The Family Stone).