Talk Back: TNT's "Hawthorne" and "Wedding Day"

Just curious, how many of you tuned in last night to watch the launches for TNT's newest series, medical drama Hawthorne and wedding-themed reality series Wedding Day?

You read my advance review of Hawthorne, which stars Jada Pinkett Smith and Michael Vartan, but now I am curious to see what you thought of the series premiere. Did you find it as tired and predictable as I did? Did you find yourselves comparing it unfavorably to Showtime's Nurse Jackie? Did you like the chemistry between Pinkett Smith and Vartan?

Conversely, did you find Wedding Day inspirational and touching... or as absolutely cloying as I did?

And most importantly, will you be tuning in again next week to watch either of these series?

Talk back here.

Nursing a Broken Heart: An Advance Review of TNT's "Hawthorne"

Probably not the best time to launch a medical drama based around a plucky and opinionated nurse.

After all, Showtime just last week launched Nurse Jackie, its own series about, you got it, a plucky and opinionated nurse in a comedy series that's intelligent, gripping, and utterly unforgettable.

The same, sadly, can't be said for TNT's Hawthorne (I flat out refuse to capitalize the RN--for registered nurse, natch--in the series' title), which launches tonight on the cabler. Created by John Masius (St. Elsewhere, Dead Like Me), Hawthorne pales in comparison to the similarly-themed Nurse Jackie. It also tries to take a more serious tack with its handling of professional nurses than the Edie Falco-led Showtime series and yet feels all the more tired and staid as a result.

Jada Pinkett Smith (The Matrix) stars here as Christina Hawthorne, the widowed Chief Nursing Officer at Richmond Trinity hospital who has to contend with a headstrong daughter (Hannah Hodson), a brutal mother-in-law (Six Feet Under's Joanna Cassidy), and a slew of medical crises while also not being taken seriously by the hospital's doctors, even though she knows more about the patients than they do. In other words: we've seen all of this before.

Much of the pilot episode's conflict stems from the fact that Hawthorne and her daughter are trying to cope with the one-year anniversary of her husband David's death from cancer. And Hawthorne can't forget how things played out, especially given that she has to work each day right next to his oncologist Dr. Tom Wakefield (Alias' Michael Vartan), who serves as the Chief of Surgery at the hospital. Complicating things further are the fact that her husband's mother Amanda (Cassidy) is on the board of the hospital and she and Hawthorne agreed to exchange David's ashes on the one-year anniversary of his death... and David's terminally ill friend tries to kill himself by jumping off the hospital's roof.

While Hawthorne's personal life is falling apart at the seams, she strives to run her nurses with a firm but fair hand. Bobbie Jackson (Men in Trees's Suleka Mathew) is Hawthorne's closest friend who conceals a prosthetic leg underneath her scrubs; Ray Stein (David Julian Hirsh) attempts to rise above the constant derision he receives for being a male nurse; and Candy Sullivan (90210's Christina Moore) likes to give her patients--especially the good-looking ones, a little extra TLC.

Hawthorne herself is brittle and abrasive and given to overwrought internal narration as well as petty acts of rebellion. (See what she does with some of David's ashes for an example.) Yet as much as Pinkett Smith tries to make her sympathetic and driven, Hawthorne seems like any number of other TV nurses: determined, overworked, and underpaid. Not to mention in touch with the humanity of her patients, which is something that the hospital's doctors have forgotten in an age of profits and bottom lines.

The result is overly earnest without breaking any new ground. Hawthorne feels like a zillion other medical series that have come and gone and its "time heals all wounds" message feels greeting-card faux-heavy in a genre that has new competition from the aforementioned Nurse Jackie. Ultimately, this is a summer series that definitely can be skipped despite its efforts to inject heart into the medical drama.



Hawthorne premieres tonight at 9 pm ET/PT on TNT.

Extreme Makeover: Wedding Edition: An Advance Review of TNT's "Wedding Day"

I had a hard time reconciling the fact that reality series Wedding Day was airing on TNT... much less in primetime.

If anything, the Mark Burnett-produced reality series, which throws elaborate "dream" weddings for deserving couples, feels more suited for a daytime slot on Lifetime or TLC. There's a softness that seems completely out of touch with the high-stakes drama that has become the network's bread and butter, with series like The Closer, Leverage, or Saving Grace.

I had the opportunity a few weeks ago to watch the first three episodes of Wedding Day and was shocked to discover that it was executive produced by Mark Burnett; it's certainly a departure from the producer's fast-paced reality series like Survivor and The Apprentice. Granted, this isn't a reality competition series but a feel-good wedding-themed series but it could have used some of the polish and smoothness of Burnett's other series.

I feel bad criticizing Wedding Day because they are rewarding some very deserving people with the wedding of their dreams with an inspirational focus that's akin to something like Extreme Makeover: Wedding Edition.

But there's a glacial slowness and a cheesiness to Wedding Day that prevents it from truly being inspirational. I tried to care about these couples but some awkward hosting and some strange format choices--with the opening scenes each week consisting of stilted talking heads--make it difficult to forge a connection with the individual couples in each episode.

Ultimately, I understand why TNT would want to be in business with Mark Burnett but the ordering of Wedding Day is a bit of a head-scratcher as it's so different from TNT's brand and core audience. As much as these couples deserve their perfect day, I couldn't care less about attending these weddings.



Wedding Day premieres tonight at 8 pm ET/PT on TNT.

Channel Surfing: Neil Patrick Harris Sings Again as "Batman" Villain, Spielberg Woos Wyle for TNT Sci-Fi Pilot, Mohinder Heads to "Psych," and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing.

Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother) won't be reprising his role from Joss Whedon's Dr. Horrible but he will be singing in an upcoming episode of Cartoon Network's Batman: The Brave and the Bold slated to air this fall. In the episode, Harris will play villain The Music Meister who "has the power to create song wherever he goes, and he’s trying to dominate the world," according to series executive producer James Tucker. Fans looking to catch an animated glimpse at Harris as the Music Meister should attend the Batman: Brave and the Bold panel at Comic-Con next month, where the entire "Mayhem of the Music Meister!" episode will be screened. (TV Guide)

Steven Spielberg is said to be wooing Noah Wyle (ER) to star in his untitled TNT sci-fi pilot, which, according to Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello, "takes place six months after evil extra terrestrials decimate mankind." If a deal is reached, Wyle would star in the untitled pilot as "the leader of a ragtag group of citizens who try to bring down the aggressors." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

E! Online's Watch with Kristin is reporting that Heroes' Sendhil Ramamurthy will guest star on an upcoming episode of USA's Psych, set to air in August, which will be directed by Jay Chandrasekhar, who is not only Ramamurthy's cousin but will also appear in the episode himself. Ramamurthy will play Raj, "a young man who believes that the firstborn in each generation of his family is cursed—a belief reinforced by the fact that bad things keep happening to all of his girlfriends. Jay, meanwhile, plays Jay, Raj's cousin who is directing a Bollywood-style play at the local theater and engaged to be married." Look for the Psych theme song to possibly get a Bollywood makeover for this episode. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

FOX has announced premiere dates for its new and returning series this fall, with the week of September 16th alone seeing the launch of Glee and the return of such drama series as Fringe, Bones, and Joss Whedon's Dollhouse, and a two-hour season opener of House (directed by executive producer Katie Jacobs) airing on September 21st, the first official day of the fall season. (Televisionary)

Meanwhile, the Futon Critic broke down the baseball pre-emptions facing FOX this fall, with every night of the week affected at least once by baseball-based pre-emotions, with Thursdays and Saturdays landing up to three possible pre-emptions this fall. (Futon Critic)

Former companion Freema Agyeman has expressed her approval of the casting of Karen Gillan as the new companion on Season Five of Doctor Who. "I think she looks great!" Agyeman told Digital Spy. "You know what? She's like an amalgamation of all of us: she's rocking the Rose look, she's got the Catherine hair, she's Scottish like David, and we share a story - she had a small part in the series before she becomes companion, and I had a small part in the series before I became companion too. She's a marriage of us all and we love her! Well, I love her and I'm sure the others love her too because she's part of the family now!" (Digital Spy)

It's official: A&E has now confirmed that it has canceled drama series The Beast, which starred Patrick Swayze and Travis Fimmel. A&E president Bob DeBitetto said the series was "a labor of love" for the network. (Hollywood Reporter)

And UK network ITV officially confirmed the rumor that it had axed sci-fi series Primeval. (The Guardian)

The CW is developing unscripted pilot I Pledge, based on Katalyst's online series The Presidential Pledge, which featured celebrities committing to community service during 2009. The potential series would follow those stars "as they highlight causes they believe in, and help solve a problem in the process." Pilot will be executive produced by Ashton Kutcher, Jason Goldberg, and Karey Burke. (Variety)

MTV Networks' Brian Graden will leave the company when his contract expires. He's expected to transition to a production deal with the Viacom-owned owned cable group. (Hollywood Reporter)

NBC Universal has appointed Cory Shields to a newly created post of EVP, global policy strategies and alliances. He'll report to NBC Universal president/CEO Jeff Zucker and EVP/general counsel Rick Cotton. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Whedon Talks "Dollhouse" Season Two, "My Name is Earl" Officially Dead, Middleton Talks "Sarah Connor," and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing.

Wondering what Joss Whedon has in store for Season Two of Dollhouse, which returns to FOX this fall? Entertainment Weekly's Mandi Bierly caught up with the Dollhouse creator to find out what to expect. "About two hours after starting to talk to the writers about story, I was back with such a vengeance, and so energized and so pumped because we really understand the show now," said Whedon. "We understand what works, and what didn't work so well or what we weren't so thrilled about. We don't have the onus of trying to be a big hit sitting on our shoulders. We can just be ourselves. And so the stories we're breaking are pure, and exciting, and everybody's on-board in the room, and it's never flowed better." Look for Echo to use that final word of Season One as a springboard for her second season mission. ""Echo wants to find not just Caroline, but what's going on behind everything," said Whedon. "She doesn't have all of the skills. [Laughs] But she does have this weird super power of becoming a different person all the time, so she might start using that more specifically to find out who Caroline was and what happened to her and why this place exists." (Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch)

My Name is Earl has officially been killed, following talks between studio 20th Century Fox Television and cabler TBS about picking up new installments of the comedy series. The studio released a statement yesterday that talks between the two sides had broken off after they were unable to reach an agreement. "While we had hoped to find a way to produce additional episodes for TBS, in the final analysis we simply could not make the economics work without seriously undermining the artistic integrity of the series," said the studio in a statement. "As none of us, [creator Greg Garcia] included, want the show to go out on anything but a high note, we regret that we must put to rest any speculation that Earl will continue." (Variety)

SCI FI Wire catches up with James Middleton, the executive producer of FOX's canceled Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles to find out what would have happened in the series' third season, had it continued. "By jumping into this future, [John] has erased his existence in a certain way, and we see that. We see that nobody recognizes him," said Middleton. "We would have to have explored that if we did get a third season. If we had gotten a third season, I should say, we definitely would have explored what it all meant, but I think there's a great moment where we see Allison [Summer Glau], and John's look to her is very meaningful. I think that also would have been a great thing in terms of dramatic potential. Like I said, the show has ended, and it would all be speculation, and I really don't want to raise anybody's expectations." (SCI FI Wire)

Eric Roberts has joined the cast of Starz drama Crash, where he will play "an entrepreneur hoping to bring a professional football team to L.A." Other new cast members for Season Two, which launches on September 18th, include Dana Ashbrook (yes, Twin Peaks' Bobby Briggs himself!), Linda Park, Jake McLaughlin, Tess Harper, and Julie Warner. (Variety)

The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan is reporting that Comic-Con's Dollhouse panel next month will be two-hours long and will feature a screening of the unaired thirteenth episode, entitled "Epitaph One" and a discussion with Joss Whedon and series star Eliza Dushku. The two-hour session, according to a 20th Century Fox Television source, will take place on Friday, July 24th. (Chicago Tribune's The Watcher)

Meanwhile, Ryan is also reporting that there won't be a Heroes panel this year at Comic-Con. "According to a representative from Universal Media Studios, which makes the show," writes Ryan, "Heroes will "have a presence" at Comic-Con in various ways, but that presence will not involve the typical panel discussion that is a staple of Comic-Con." What that presence is remains to be seen but Ryan implies that it will involve a Season Four sneak peek in some form. (Chicago Tribune's The Watcher)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Stephanie March will be staying put on NBC's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and will appear in at least ten episodes next season. "The show is expected to introduce one or possibly two new characters to fill the ADA void when Cabot isn't around," writes Ausiello. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

CBS Television Studios has signed a two-year overall deal with CSI: NY executive producer Peter Lenkov. Under the terms of the deal, Lenkov will remain on board CSI: NY next season, where he teases fans will see ""Much more character. The mystery and the science are important, but people are just as important." (Hollywood Reporter)

Discovery has given a ten-episode series order to Garage Wars, in which mechanics will be pitted against each other to determine the best garage in America; two teams will be given a box with the same parts and must build the best vehicle from them in just four days. Series, from A. Smith and Co., is currently on the lookout for two car experts to serve as hosts. (Variety)

Outbound News Corp. president/COO Peter Chernin and Katherine Pope are said to have already begun taking meetings at the town's top talent agencies and inviting them to begin pitching projects. The duo are launching a new production company as part of Chenin's exit from News Corp that is said to operate under a similar deal as David E. Kelley's former arrangement. (Hollywood Reporter)

Chuck's Sarah Lancaster will guest star in an upcoming episode of TNT's medical drama Hawthorne, where she will play the girlfriend of a horrific motorcycle accident victim (My Boys' Reid Scott). (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Reveille has picked up US remake rights for Icelandic workplace comedy The Nightshift, about three graveyard shift workers at a gas station who try to remain motivated after dealings with eccentric customers. "The Nightshift is that rare international format that has American sensibility, and we're eager to tackle another workplace comedy after the success of The Office," said Reveille's managing director Howard Owens. "The show has a smart, ironic point of view, which we know will translate well in the U.S." (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: "Chuck" Trio to Return for Season Three, Acevedo Let Go From FOX's "Fringe," Diamantopoulos Counts Down for "24," and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing.

Wondering just what Season Three of NBC's Chuck will be like? For one thing the series' core trio isn't going anywhere. "Yes. Chuck, Sarah, and Casey are in all episodes," said Chuck co-creator/executive producer Josh Schwartz. Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello catches up with Schwartz to find out about Season Three, budget cuts, Subway, returning supporting cast members ("We have plans for Anna to return"), and about being off the air for ten months. "It was really a tough choice that the network faced: Put us on Friday or [hold us until] midseason," said Schwartz. "I really believe Chuck is the little show that could. Our fans are clearly passionate, clearly loyal, and hopefully all we'll do is get them more and more [excited] for our return. And we'll come up with fun ways of stoking the fans throughout the fall. We also have something very, very fun planned for Comic-Con this year." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

One cast member who won't be returning for Season Two of FOX drama Fringe is Kirk Acevedo, who played FBI Agent Charlie Francis. Acevedo announced that he had been let go from the drama (due to budgetary cuts) via his Facebook profile status update, writing, "WELL BOYS AND GIRLS THEY DONE DID YER BOY WRONG! THEY FIRED ME OFF OF FRINGE, AND IVE NEVER BEEN FIRED IN MY LIFE!!!!" Series writer/producer Brad Caleb Kane confirmed the news via Twitter, saying: "They fired Kirk Acevedo? WTF?" Meanwhile, blog Oh No They Didn't has information on a casting call for Season Two of Fringe: "MID TO LATE TWENTIES. FBI AGENT SHE IS ATTRACTIVE, BRASH, OUTSPOKEN,QUICK-WITTED AND CAPABLE. CATHERINE HAS A STRONG PERSONAL CENTER THAT COMES FROM A DEEP CORE BELIEF IN THE WONDERS OF THE UNIVERSE. (RECURRING WITH POSSIBLE OPTION FOR SR) PLEASE SUBMIT ALL ETHNICITIES"

Chris Diamantopoulos (The Starter Wife) has been cast as a series regular on Day Eight of FOX's 24. He'll play Rob Weiss, the "argumentative and tough new Chief of Staff to President Allison Taylor (Cherry Jones)," replacing Ethan Kanin (Bob Gunton), President Taylor's current Chief of Staff on 24. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Sarah Chalke likely won't be returning to Scrubs full-time next season. "I would've had Sarah in a heartbeat," Scrubs creator/executive producer Bill Lawrence told Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello. "I think she's got enough going on in her career [right now]. I'd say it's 50-50 she's in some episodes. I know she'll at least be in one or two." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Producers of Bravo's reality hit The Real Housewives of New York City are reportedly negotiating deals with six replacements who could become the stars of the series' third season, should the network not be able to reach an agreement with the series' current stars, who are allegedly asking for additional compensation for their participation on Housewives. It is still possible, however, that all six women from the first two seasons could return for Season Three. (New York Post)

TNT unveiled a slew of series in development at yesterday's upfront presentation, including an untitled alien invasion drama pilot from executive producer Steven Spielberg and writer Robert Rodat about a group of everyday men and women who battle the invading aliens, legal drama Class Action from executive producers Steven Bochco and Stephen Godchaux about an unlucky attorney who fights the good fight for the disenfranchised, drama Zapata, Texas from executive producer Kyra Sedgwick and executive producer/director Kevin Bacon about the new sheriff of a small Texas border town, an untitled family drama from Roseanne creator Matt Williams about a middle American family, an untitled period noir drama from writer Daniel Pyne about a private detective in 1954 Los Angeles, Pastor Jazz, starring Charles S. Dutton as a minister who uses music to touch the hearts of his congregation, Macalister, about a professor at a school for boys that serves the wealthy and privileged, and Proof, about an eccentric neuroscientist who uses his expertise to help law enforcement solve tough cases. (Variety)

The New York Times' Bill Carter takes a look at why several networks are extending the life of canceled series by picking them up from their rivals, such as CBS' decision to pick up Medium after NBC passed on the series. Carter points to a worrying trend that has networks making programming decisions based on syndication money or DVD sales for their studio side. "The conflict over Medium was emblematic of what transpired at every network this week, when money and ownership were major factors in scheduling decisions," writes Carter. "CBS had no trouble committing to ordering a full season of Medium, which NBC had resisted, because as owner of the show it will benefit financially from the future sale of the episodes of the show produced for the coming season." (New York Times)

MTV will launch Season Twenty-Two of The Real World, set in Cancun, on June 24th. (Variety)

Wondering what Georgina's statement at the end of the season finale of Gossip Girl meant now that actress Michelle Trachtenberg's new medical series Mercy was picked up by NBC? Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello says that Gossip Girl producers "thought ahead and made sure Trachtenberg negotiated a three-episode Gossip Girl 'out' in her Mercy contract. You didn't really think the Georgina-Blair roommate thing would last longer than that, did you?" (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

National Geographic will launch Hooked as an ongoing series beginning June 29th. Series, hosted by Zeb Hogan, explores how various cultures "approach fishing (and underwater conservation) while highlighting the most dramatic catches." Cabler will also return series World's Toughest Fixes on June 4th and Locked Up Abroad on July 15th. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: J.J. Abrams Compares "Lost" to Dickens, Emily Deschanel Dishes on "Bones" Action, "Cold Case" Unearths Ratings Surge, and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing.

Lost co-creator J.J. Abrams tells The Guardian that the writing staff on the ABC series, which airs its fifth season finale next week, approach the series a bit like Charles Dickens approached his own serialized storytelling. "It's a leap of faith doing any serialized storytelling," said Abrams in a new interview. "We had an idea early on, but certain things we thought would work well didn't. We couldn't have told you which characters would be in which seasons. We couldn't tell you who would even survive. You feel that electricity. It's almost like live TV. We don't quite know what might happen. I'm sure when Charles Dickens was writing, he had a sense of where he was going - but he would make adjustments as he went along. You jump into it, knowing there's something great out there to find." (Guardian)

(SPOILER) Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello talks with Bones star Emily Deschanel about next week's Brennan and Booth-based plot twist on netx week's episode of the FOX drama. "It definitely changes the dynamic between the characters," said Deschanel of the hook-up between Booth and Brennan. "But it's done in a very clever way. [Series creator] Hart Hanson wrote the episode in a way that gets these two characters together -- which a lot of the audience was waiting for -- but doesn't dissipate the sexual tension between them and, therefore, ruin the show... Let's just say there's definitely a twist. It's not a dream, but there are twists. And there are [other] twists at the end of the episode that will be shocking as well. [...] It's not a matter of life or death, but it's kind of huge. There's a cliffhanger and it has to do with Booth and Brennan's relationship. It puts their relationship in jeopardy." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Things are looking up for CBS' Cold Case, currently on the bubble for a renewal for next season. Sunday night's episode showed a 38 percent uptick in the ratings with 12.9 million viewers overall, the series' best performance in six weeks. No decision has yet been made about Cold Case's ultimate fate but the ratings surge does point strongly in its favor and rumors are swirling that the crime procedural will get another shot next season. (Hollywood Reporter)

Adult Swim has given a nine-episode order to stop-motion animated comedy Titan Maximum from executive producers Tom Root, Matthew Seinreich, and Seth Green, creators of the network's Robot Chicken. Titan Maximum, which will feature the voices of Green, Breckin Meyer, Rachael Leigh Cook, Dan Milano, and Eden Espinosa, will parody 1980s Japanese animated series such as Voltron as it follows a group of fighter pilots whose spaceships combine to form a gigantic robot named... Titan Maximum. Additionally, "because of budget cuts, the team has been disbanded but must hastily reassemble when a former team member turns rogue and tries to conquer the solar system." The writing staff is said to include comic book writers Geoff Johns and Zeb Wells. (Hollywood Reporter)

Dominic West (The Wire) will star opposite Joe Armstrong (Robin Hood), Denis Lawson (Jekyll), and John Sessions (Oliver Twist) in BBC Four drama Breaking the Mould, which recounts the true story of Professor Howard Florey who, along with his team of researchers at Oxford University, were behind the discovery of penicillin during WWII. (BBC)

Kiefer Sutherland's latest brush with the law could find him in violation of his parole... and delay production on Day Eight of FOX's 24, set to begin filming at the end of the month. The latest charges stem from an altercation on Monday evening in which Sutherland allegely head-butted a fashion designer while Sutherland was talking with actress Brooke Shields at an event. Whether Sutherland was intoxicated at the time of the altercation may effect any parole violation discussions and could land the actor back in jail or performing community service. (Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed)

Nicktoons has ordered 26 additional episodes of animated series Wolverine and the X-Men from Marvel Animation, bringing the series' episodic total to 52 installments. New episodes of the series will kick off on Nicktoons on May 22nd. (Hollywood Reporter)

Tribune Broadcasting stations have purchased off-network syndication rights to HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm and Entourage from HBO and will begin airing episodes of both series in fall 2010, when it will be able to broadcast repeats between 4:30 pm and 12:30 am Monday to Friday, along with one weekend slot. Content will be edited for language and content. (Variety)

TNT has confirmed earlier reports about its summer lineup, with Mondays playing host to The Closer and Raising the Bar beginning June 8th, Tuesdays the home of Wedding Day, Hawthorne, and Saving Grace beginning June 16th, and Wednesdays the berth for Leverage and Dark Blue starting July 15th. (via press release)

Lauren Holly and Rob Lowe will star in Lifetime Movie Network telepic Too Late to Say Goodbye, based on Ann Rule's novel about a woman who discovers her husband's infidelity and has an affair with a man she meets online and then turns up dead, the victim of an apparent suicide. Holly will play the woman's sister, who believes that she was murdered and that her husband (Lowe) is the prime suspect. (Hollywood Reporter)

Zoo Prods. is developing an untitled docusoap based on the live of Larry Ramos Gomez, a 31-year-old man who suffers from "wolfman syndrome" (hypertrichosis) as he looks for love. Executive producers Amy Rosenblum, Barry Poznick, and Charles Steenveld will pitch the project to networks next week. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: "Chuck" Tops Save Our Shows Poll, Adult Swim Hires UK "Office," Shonda Rhimes Talks Denny, "Grey's Anatomy," and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing.

Not unsurprisingly, NBC's Chuck has topped USA Today's Save Our Show poll, scoring 54 percent of the 43,000 viewers who cast their votes in the ten-day online poll. The Warner Bros Television-produced series scored the top spot overall as well and was the most favored choice among men, teens and twenty-somethings, thirty-somethings, forty-somethings, whites, Asians, Hispanics, Westerners, Southerners, Northeasterners, and Midwesterners and the fourth favored choice among women as well. (If that's not cross-cultural appeal, I don't know what is.) (USA Today)

Adult Swim has acquired rights to the original UK series The Office, starring Ricky Gervais, from BBC Worldwide and will air both seasons as well as the Christmas special (which marked the series finale) this summer. Move marks the second deal between Adult Swim and BBC Worldwide, which previously sold rights to comedy The Mighty Boosh to the cabler, which launched the series on March 29th. (via press release)

As production on ABC's Grey's Anatomy approaches the 100th episode, creator Shonda Rhimes talks to USA Today's Bill Keveney about the ABC drama, Denny, spin-off Private Practice, and her new pilot Inside the Box. "We're heading on a journey," said Rhimes about Grey's Anatomy's use of Izzie's dead lover Denny. "[Viewers] are in the middle and don't have a map, so they can feel lost. But I know where we're going. For me, it's about looking at the larger picture. [...] What I thought was interesting was that anybody who knew anything about our show would think we had a ghost on our show. In the world in which our show operates, there is a way things happen, and clearly we don't do ghosts." (USA Today)

Disney has announced that it has joined NBC Universal and News Corp as a joint venture partner and equity owner of Hulu. Under the deal, Hulu will now be able to offer full-length episodes of current and library titles from Disney such as Lost, Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty, Private Practice, and Scrubs, among many others. "From our landmark iTunes deal to our pioneering decision to stream ad-supported shows on our ABC.com player, Disney has sought to meet the constantly evolving viewing habits of our consumers, and today's Hulu announcement is the next important step in that ongoing journey," said Robert Iger, President/CEO of The Walt Disney Co. (Hollywood Reporter)

Jon Gosselin, star of TLC's reality series Jon & Kate Plus 8 has issued a statement to Entertainment Weekly after US Weekly published a photo of him leaving a club at 2 am with a female friend. "Like most people, I have male and female friends and I'm not going to end my friendships just because I'm on TV," said Gosselin in an exclusive statement. "However, being out...late at night showed poor judgment on my part. What makes me sick is that my careless behavior has put my family in this uncomfortable position. My family is the most important thing in my life and it kills me that these allegations have hurt them." (Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider)

ABC Family has officially cancelled freshman comedy Roommates. The writing was on the wall when the basic cabler opted to burn off the final eight episodes of the series over two consecutive Monday evenings, with the final four episodes to air in a two-hour block this coming Monday night. (Hollywood Reporter)

Entertainment Weekly's Marc Bernardin wonders why viewers seemingly don't want science fiction on television anymore, with most recent sci fi series--Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Dollhouse, Chuck, Life on Mars, and Pushing Daisies--either canceled or on the bubble for next year. "Have we, as a society," writes Bernardin, "just become too -- gulp -- stupid for science fiction?" (Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch)

NBC has renewed reality series Celebrity Apprentice for another season and plans to air the next cycle in spring 2010. "It's a valuable franchise and proven competitor," said NBC Universal's alternative topper Paul Telegdy. [Editor: meanwhile, there's still no news of a possible Chuck renewal. Sigh.] (Variety)

TNT will expand its original programming to three nights a week this summer, with Mondays playing host to The Closer and Raising the Bar beginning June 8th, Tuesdays the home of Wedding Day, HawthoRNe, and Saving Grace beginning June 16th, and Wednesdays the berth for Leverage and Dark Blue starting July 15th. (Futon Critic)

IFC has announced a slew of new programming for the 2009-10 season, including Chris Kattan-led three-part comedy Bollywood Hero, airing August 6-8th, Food Party, launching June 9th, which features a "surreal mixture of puppets, weird special effects and cooking hosted by [Tru] Tran," six-part series Monty Python: Almost the Truth (The Lawyer's Cut), which features interviews with the surviving members of the comedy troupe, telefilm Laurel K. Hamilton's Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter, which will debut in 2010, and Dinner with the Band. The cabler also announced that it has acquired BBC comedy series Ideal and Wrong Door and Canadian series The Jon Dore Television Show and renewed Z-Roc and The Whitest Kids U Know. (Hollywood Reporter)

Discovery and Hasbo have closed a deal for a joint venture that will encompass a television network and a website which are dedicated to family-based entertainment. Discovery will receive $300 million for the entertainment assets of its Discovery Kids Network in the US which will be rebranded next year and will feature series from Discovery's library of educational programming as well as series based on Hasbro properties including G.I. Joe, Transformers, Romper Room, Trival Pursuit, Cranium, and My Little Pony. (Hollywood Reporter)

Reveille has announced that it has teamed up with publisher Rodale to develop a reality series based on David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding's best-selling non-fiction book "Eat This, Not That!" (via press release)

Nikki Finke is reporting that, in light of the recent approved merger between William Morris Agency and Endeavor, that the majority of the TV reality department, including Mark Itkin, John Ferriter, and Colin Reno, have decided to leave and set up camp at CAA while talent agent Dana Simms asked to be released from her contract. (Deadline Hollywood Daily)

CMT has picked up musical series The Singing Bee, which aired its first season on NBC last year, and will launch the series' second season on June 16th. So far the series, which is produced by Gurin Co. and Juma Entertainment, has no host but the producers say that they are close to closing a deal on that front. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: TNT Cans "Trust Me," Showtime Passes on All Pilots, Adam Scott and Zak Orth Get "Wonderful" for HBO, and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing.

TNT has officially canceled freshman drama Trust Me, starring Eric McCormack and Tom Cavanagh. The Warner Horizon-produced series, which launched with 3.4 million viewers and quickly lost much of that viewership, will not be returning for a second season. McCormack himself has already signed on to another project, ABC's untitled Tad Quill comedy pilot. The cabler, meanwhile, has three new series in the works: Ray Romano dramedy Men of a Certain Age, medical drama Hawthorne (formerly known as Time Heals), and Deep Blue (formerly known as The Line). (Hollywood Reporter)

Showtime is now zero for four. The pay cabler has now opted not to order any of its four pilots to series in the last month, deciding over the weekend not to hand out a series order to Tim Robbins-created drama Possible Side Effects, staring Josh Lucas as a pharmaceuticals family scion. Previously, the network had shelved pilots Ronna and Beverly, The L Word spin-off The Farm, and The End of Steve. (Variety)

Adam Scott (Party Down) and Zak Orth (Vicky Cristina Barcelona) will star opposite Sarah Michelle Gellar, Molly Parker, and Nate Corddry in HBO single-camera comedy pilot The Wonderful Maladays. Orth will play the playwright husband of Mary (Parker) who is described as "the confident moral center of the family." Scott, meanwhile, will play the businessman ex of Alice (Gellar). (Hollywood Reporter)

Elsewhere at HBO, Lake Bell (Boston Legal) has joined the cast of comedy series How to Make It in America, starring Bryan Greenberg and Victor Rasuk, as a series regular. And Ed Quinn (Eureka) will recur on Season Two of HBO drama series True Blood, where he will play Stan, a powerful Texan vampire. (Hollywood Reporter)

FX president John Landgraf told TV Week's Jon Lafayette that he believes that cablers are developing too many original series and ultimately the quality will suffer. "I’m of a different opinion than some of my competitors, in that I think that if you try to compete with them in terms of volume, you’re inevitably going to suffer erosion in terms of quality," said Landgraf. "When was the last time you had a broadcast network that had eight original dramas on the air and you thought they were all good? If a broadcast network can’t do it, then I think a basic-cable network’s never going to be able to do it." (TV Week)

Ashes to Ashes star Philip Glenister has hit out at critics of his co-star Keeley Hawes, whom he believes has suffered undue nastiness on the part of critics. "What I objected to most was the personal nature of some of the attacks and the utter lack of appreciation of what a fine actress Keeley is, a woman with this incredibly impressive range of emotions and almost uncanny ability to cry on cue," said Glenister in an interview with The Daily Record. "Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I actually thought some of the remarks made about Keeley, and her acting, were utterly inexcusable. What I objected to most was this idea, this totally bogus idea, that she was somehow lightweight, that she wasn't a key part of the show. She was central to it. There wouldn't have been an Ashes To Ashes without her. So, this time round, I hope that the comments about Keeley's contribution are a little more considered." (The Daily Record)

E! Online's Natalie Abrams talks to 90210 showrunner Rebecca Rand Kirschner Sinclair about what to expect at the end of the freshman season, including some tather tantalizing tidbits about "sex, drugs, alcohol, and murder," which co-star Rob Estes teased at last week's Paley Festival panel. "There are some rash actions at the end of the season, where one of the characters makes some decisions that may have very serious consequences, life and death consequences, if you will," said Kirschner Sinclair. "A lot of stuff happens during prom. There's love that's finally fulfilled and yet, because of various circumstances, potentially destroyed forever. There's love, there's death, there's heartache, heartbreak." (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Food Network has ordered eight episodes of culinary/travel series Extreme Cuisine With Jeff Corwin, which will follow Corwin as he travels the world in search of exotic foods and local culture. Series is expected to launch this fall on the basic cabler. (Hollywood Reporter)

Keith Allen will not be returning for Season Four of BBC One drama Robin Hood (which airs in the States on BBC America), should the network decide to order another season of the drama. "I doubt I'll go back for a fourth series if they do one," Allen told The South Wales Evening Post, "it's boring to work on now. I've done three series, and I'd like to move on to something else." Series star Jonas Armstrong had already made it clear that the current season would be his last. (Digital Spy)

Spike has ordered a pilot for docuseries Pirate Hunters: USN, which will follow the members of the U.S. Navy's anti-piracy unit in the Gulf of Aden. Project, from 44 Blue Prods. and executive producers Rasha Drachkovitch and Adam Friedman, will focus on the same region where Somali pirates took American sea captain Richard Phillips hostage and commandeered his cargo ship. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Elizabeth Mitchell, Alan Tudyk, and Laura Vandervoort Spell "V," Mary McDonnell Heads to "The Closer," and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing.

Elizabeth Mitchell (Lost) has been cast in ABC drama pilot V, a retelling of the cult 1980s sci-fi series. But before we start to mourn the passing of Juliet, it's worth noting that Mitchell will guest star in the sci fi pilot, from Warner Bros. Television, and not star in it, according to Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files) Meanwhile, Visitorsite.net has confirmed that Mitchell will play Erica Evans, a single mother and an FBI Counter-Terrorism agent. (Visitorsite)

Editor's note: Having read the script, I can say with all authority that Erica is far from being a "guest star" in the pilot; in fact she's one of the lead roles and as intrinsic to the plot of the pilot episode as Jacqueline McKenzie's Diana Skouris was to The 4400. In fact, she's the very first character we meet in the draft of the script I read... What this truly means for Elizabeth Mitchell's Juliet remains to be seen, but given that Lost is heading into its final season next season and Juliet doesn't appear in every single scene, it's likely a good thing that Mitchell is exploring her long-term options. (Translation: let's not get hysterical yet.)

Also cast in the sci-fi drama pilot: Alan Tudyk (Firefly), who will play FBI Agent Dale Maddox, and Smallville star Laura Vandervoort, who will play Visitor Lisa, a flirty tour guide aboard the Los Angeles Visitor mothership. They join the previously cast Joel Gretsch, Morena Baccarin, Morris Chestnut, Scott Wolf, and David Richmond-Peck. (Visitorsite)

Mary McDonnell (Battlestar Galactica) has been cast in a multiple-episode story arc on TNT's The Closer, where she will play Christina Hatcher, a police captain who runs the department's Force Investigation unit, and causes problems for Kyra Sedgwick's Brenda. Her first episode is expected to air early in the fifth season of The Closer. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Pilot casting alert: Jeffrey Tambor (Arrested Development) has been cast in ABC comedy pilot The Bridget Show opposite Lauren Graham; Julia Ormond (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) has been tapped as a lead on CBS medical drama pilot Three Rivers, where she will play the head of surgery at Three Rivers Hospital; Matthew Davis (Damages) has scored the male lead in ABC drama pilot Limelight, where he will play the interim artistic director of the performing arts academy; Gabrielle Union (Night Stalker), Brian Austin Green (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles), Jay Hernandez (Six Degrees), and Jenny Wade (Reaper) will star in the CW's drama pilot Body Politic; Majandra Delfino (Roswell) has been cast as one of the three leads in ABC comedy pilot Pulling (based on the UK series); Grant Show (Swingtown) and Lennon Parham (Confessions of a Shopaholic) have been cast in CBS comedy pilot Accidentally on Purpose; Yvette Nicole Brown (Drake and Josh) and Gillian Jacobs (The Book of Daniel) have been added to the cast of NBC comedy pilot Community; and Nat Faxon (Happy Hour) and Kelen Coleman (CSI: New York) have been cast in CBS comedy pilot Big D. (Hollywood Reporter)

Holt McCallany (Heroes) been cast as the lead in FX drama pilot Lights Out, about a former heavyweight boxing champ who is diagnosed with pugilistic dementia, a neurological disorder that affects boxers who receive multiple blows to the head," and has to find another way to support his wife and three daughters. Clark Johnson (The Wire) will direct the pilot, which was written by Justin Zackham and Phillip Noyce (The Bucket List). Production is expected to begin next month in New Jersey. (Hollywood Reporter)

Is NBC bracing for problems with new comedy series Parks and Recreation, from executive producers Greg Daniels and Michael Schur? Nikki Finke has obtained a copy of a "Consumer And Market Intelligence Research Summary" (read: focus group report) from the rough cut of the pilot episode. Finke has some exerpts from the 12-page report that point to some potential problems within the episode. (Deadline Hollywood Daily)

Speaking of Daniels and Schur, Upright Citizen's Brigade member Ellie Kemper has been cast on NBC's The Office, where she will play the new Dunder Mifflin receptionist. What this means for Jenna Fischer's Pam remains to be seen. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

SCI FI Wire has an interview with Battlestar Galactica executive producer Ronald D. Moore, who says that he is "very satisfied" with the series finale, which aired Friday evening. As for the controversial fate of Kara Thrace, Moore said: "You can certainly say that she's an angel or a demon or some other form of life. We know from the show that she died a mortal death, she was brought back to life in some way, and then she fulfilled a certain destiny and guided them all to Earth. What does that mean? And who is she really? It was a conscious creative decision to say, "This is as much as we're going to tell you, and she's connected to some greater truth." The more we try to answer what that greater truth is, the less interesting it becomes, and we just decided to leave it more of a mystery. I am sure that there will be a cadre of people who are angry that they never got a more definitive answer, but we just decided not to do that." (SCI FI Wire)

Roseanne Barr is said to be developing a family comedy pilot for FOX in which she would play the family's matriarch. Project, written by Jim Vallely (Arrested Development), will be executive produced by Barr, Caryn Mandabach, and Maggie Rowe. (Hollywood Reporter)

DirecTV's 101 Network will air three canceled Warner Bros. Television series from the mid-2000s. A deal between the satellite platform and Warner Bros. Domestic TV Distribution will see Smith, The Nine, and Eyes air on the 101 Network, including episodes that were never aired on broadcast television. Smith will launch on Wednesday, April 8th at 10 pm; The Nine will premiere May 27th, and Eyes will debut in July. All three series will air in high definition without commercial interruption. (Variety)

Executive producer/showrunner Alexa Junge has left Showtime's comedy series United States of Tara, which was recently picked up for a second season. No reason was given for Junge's decision not to continue with the Diablo Cody-created series and a search is currently underway to find her replacement. (Hollywood Reporter)

Sci Fi UK has acquired UK rights to 20th Century Fox Television's Dollhouse, from Buffy creator Joss Whedon, and NBC Universal's Knight Rider. "We're dedicated to offering our audience the most exciting content available and are thrilled to become the UK home for two such highly anticipated series," said Jon Farrar, programming director for NBC Universal Global Networks, in a statement. "Knight Rider and Dollhouse both hail from fine pedigrees, clearly reflected in their superior production values. "The special effects in both series are genuinely show-stopping and likely to be the subject of many water-cooler moments for fans, who have the added choice of watching in either standard or high definition." (The Guardian)

Back in the States, Sci Fi has ordered three four-hour mini-series from RHI, including two that will serve as backdoor "pilots" for potential series. The cabler has ordered a modern re-imagining of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, from writer/director Tim Willing (Tin Man) that is expected ti air this winter; a new take on classic comic-book hero The Phantom; and Riverworld, based on a series of Philip Jose Farmer fantasy novels that follow a photojournalist who is transported to a strange world inhabited by everyone who has ever lived on Earth. The latter two are expected to air in 2010. (Hollywood Reporter)

Ventriloquist Jeff Dunham has signed an "all-encompassing" deal with Comedy Central that will include six episodes of a new series to star Dunham (and his puppets) that will begin shooting this summer and will air next year. (Variety)

FOX has ordered another season of Gordon Ramsay's reality series Kitchen Nightmares, which will air next season. The network is also expected to shortly announce that the new cycle of Hell's Kitchen will air this summer. (Hollywood Reporter)

Nikki Finke is reporting that ABC/ABC Media Studios will begin pinkslipping employees next week in the wake of the merger between the network and studio sides of their business. Finke claims that Steve McPherson won't be around when the axe falls as he's due to meet with the NYC-based sales team and many believe that he's "getting out of town when the ax comes down in order to avoid witnessing the bloodbath he created," writes Finke. "Which would be contemptible enough even if he hadn't publicly scolded Ben Silverman to 'be a man' when their mutual friend Kevin Reilly was fired at NBC Entertainment with no advance warning." Ouch. (Deadline Hollywood Daily)

Travel Channel has ordered twelve episodes of reality series Worldwide Tribe, which follows tattooing practices around the world, from Nepal and Japan to Israel and Spain. Series, from Alchemy Reality and executive producers Mike Beale, Adena Chawke, Craig Borders, Elizabeth Browde, will be hosted by tattoo artists Chris Nunez and Ami James (who will also executive produce) and "apprentice" Yoji Harada. (Variety)

Courtney Thorne-Smith (According to Jim), Lucy Hale (Privileged), and Faith Ford (Carpoolers) will star in Lifetime telepic Sorority Wars, about a freshman who finds herself immersed in a "full-blown sorority war" when she snubs the sorority founded by her mother. Project is written by Michelle Lovretta (To Be Fat Like Me) and will be directed by James Hayman (Ugly Betty). (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Michael Vartan Scrubs In for TNT, "Breaking Bad" Gets Webisodes, Marvel Hatches Cartoon Network Series, and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. I hope everyone had a very happy three-day weekend. (I know I did.) A few headlines on yet another rain-soaked day in Los Angeles...

Former Alias star Michael Vartan has joined the cast of TNT drama series Time Heals, where he will replace Jeffrey Nordling in the role of Tom Wakefield, the director of medicine at the hospital where Christina Hawthorne (Jada Pinkett Smith) is the director of nursing. Nordling played the part in the series' original pilot. Move marks Vartan's return to series television since he last starred in ABC's short-lived drama Big Shots. (Hollywood Reporter)

TV Guide's Mickey O'Connor offers up some solutions to save CW's Gossip Girl, which he believes is creatively "starting to stink like so much day-old smoked salmon." Among the series' problems that O'Connor points out needs addressing: Serena and Dan's on-again-off-again relationship, the under-utilization of Zuzanna Szadkowski's Dorota, Chuck being portrayed as a "38-year-old lothario celebrating his latest divorce," Chace Crawford's snooze-inducing performance as Nate, a lack of focus on Jenny, and too much meanness towards Brooklyn. Do you agree? (TV Guide)

Geoff Stults (October Road) has been cast in ABC drama pilot Happy Town, from creators Josh Appelbaum, Andre Nemec, and Scott Rosenberg, where he will play Tommy, Haplin's newly appointed sheriff who has to solve a grisly murder case, the town's first such crime in seven years, after his father is removed from office. Elsewhere at ABC, Kiwi actor Martin Henderson (Smokin' Aces) has been the first actor cast in Shonda Rhimes' drama pilot Inside the Box, about reporters at a Washington news bureau who "[pursue] 'the story' at all costs while juggling their personal animosities and crises of conscience." Henderson will play Jake, the right-hand man to Catherine, an ultra-ambitious news producer, with whom he shares more than a little bit of chemistry. (Hollywood Reporter)

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, which launches in less than a month, has hired A.D. Miles to serve as its head writer. Miles will work closely with executive producer Lorne Michaels and showrunner Michael Shoemaker. (Variety)

CBS has ordered a pilot presentation for unscripted series Thunder Road, in which two teams must drive a racing course filled with obstacles a la ABC's Wipeout. Project, from Warner Horizon and Wonderland, is executive produced by McG, Scott Messick, and Justin Hochberg. (Hollywood Reporter)

Cartoon Network has ordered 26 episodes of animated series Marvel Super Hero Squad, in which heroes Captain America, Hulk, Wolverine, Iron Man and Silver Surfer team up to battle crime. Series, executive produced by Alan Fine, Simon Phillips, and Eric S. Rollman, will debut in late 2009 on the cabler. (Meanwhile, I can't help but think that it's not quite The Avengers but not quite The Defenders?) (Variety)

SCI FI Wire talks to Fringe's Joshua Jackson about what to expect when the series returns in April with new episodes as Peter struggles with his relationship with his father and Olivia discovers some long-buried secrets about The Pattern. (SCI FI Wire)

AMC and Sony have launched online webisodes for drama series Breaking Bad, which returns with its second season next month. Five standalone installments will launch beginning today on AMC's website and Crackle.com. (Hollywood Reporter)

Sci Fi will launch four-hour miniseries Knight of Bloodsteel, starring David James Elliott, Natassia Malthe, and Christopher Lloyd, on Sunday, April 19th. The second part of the mini, originally titled Mirabilis, will air the following night. (Futon Critic)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Kranz Talks "Dollhouse" Attic, Zahn and Dickens Circle HBO's "Treme," Faux Peacock Fall Schedule, and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing.

The Los Angeles Times has an interesting and revealing Q&A with Dollhouse's Fran Kranz, who plays techie Topher on the FOX drama, which launches next Friday. Kranz reveals, "There is a place in the Dollhouse called the Attic that stores failed Dolls and personalities. There’s like a whole warehouse where actual bodies are kept." As for the, uh, unconvention post-order redevelopment surrounding Dollhouse, Kranz is forthcoming. "I’ve read things where Joss has said that... Fox wanted to cut to the chase," he said. "They thought there was too much on the characters within the Dollhouse and the conflict and mythology of the Dollhouse, as opposed to seeing what the Dollhouse does on a day-to-day basis. In one sense, I think it’s a good thing. I think it’s important for the audience to define the Dollhouse before they’re introduced to the rest of the conflicts and stories." (Los Angeles Times)

Steve Zahn (Sunshine Cleaning) is in talks to star in HBO's drama pilot Treme, from creator David Simon (The Wire); he would play Davis Rogan, a radio DJ, musician, and New Orleans native with anger management issues. Meanwhile, Kim Dickens (Deadwood) has joined the cast, where she will play a chef and restarateur involved in an strained relationship with Zahn's Davis. Already cast in the project: Clark Peters, Wendell Pierce, and Khandi Alexander. (Hollywood Reporter)

ABC has cut the episodic order for its midseason drama Cupid to seven episodes. (Televisionary)

The Jonas Brothers will host a night of CW programming including 90210 and Privileged on Tuesday, February 10th that will also offer a sneak peek of their new film Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience. They'll be joined on screen by 90210's Jessica Lowndes. (via press release)

Sofia Vergara (Dirty Sexy Money) will co-star in ABC comedy pilot An American Family, which will be directed by Jason Winer (This Might Hurt) and Stephen Graham (Gangs of New York) has been cast in Martin Scorsese's HBO drama pilot Boardwalk Empire, where he will play a young Al Capone. Elsewhere, Yves Simoneau (The 4400) will direct ABC sci-fi pilot V, Dean Parisot will direct ABC's I, Claudia; Jeremy Podeswa (The Pacific) will direct ABC drama pilot Empire State; and Eden Sher (Weeds) has been cast in ABC comedy pilot The Middle. (Hollywood Reporter)

Sarah Shahi's pregnancy will impact the plot on her NBC drama Life, according to Kristin Dos Santos. Showrunner Rand Ravich has told her that Shahi's Dani Reese and Charlie Crews (Damian Lewis) will be split up when Reese gets a new job on an FBI-LAPD joint task force. "[Sarah's pregnancy] is a challenge," said Ravich. "Episodic television is a grueling schedule, and Sarah and Damian were practically in every scene together, and we certainly can't expect Sarah to work 15-hour days... So we were able to carve Sarah out of the main story a little bit—keeping her always related to Crews and always involved with Crews—and just give her some relief as well." (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Nikki Finke has a sneak peek at Vanity Fair's upcoming Hollywood Issue, which has a tongue-in-cheek look at a possible Fall 2009 NBC schedule. My favorites: the combo of A Bunch of Universal Pictures Trailers and JetBlue's Snack-Options Screen on Wednesdays and Weak Link Sitcom T.B.A on after My Name is Earl on Thursdays. (Deadline Hollywood Daily)

Chef and frequent Top Chef guest judge Eric Ripert has landed his own ten-episode series, Avec Eric, which will air nationwide on PBS stations this fall. (Hollywood Reporter)

E! has ordered eight episodes of Kendra, a docusoap spin-off of Girls Next Door which will focus on Kendra Wilkinson's life after she left the Playboy Mansion and got engaged to Eagles receiver Hank Baskett. The cabler plans to launch the series this summer and has also ordered another season of Girls Next Door, which it plans to air this fall. (Variety)

Season Two of Mad Men will launch on BBC Four on Tuesday, February 10th. (BBC)

The second episode of TNT's new drama series Trust Me landed only 1.9 million viewers, representing an audience loss of 65 percent of lead-in The Closer. The ratings also showed a staggering drop from the premiere episode's 3.4 million viewers. Elsewhere, HBO's Big Love increased its viewership by 29 percent of the season premiere up against the Super Bowl. (Variety)

Lifetime has renewed weight-loss reality series DietTribe for a second season, with eight episodes slated to air this summer. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Applying Pressure: TNT Renews "Leverage" for Second Season

TNT has renewed freshman drama Leverage for a second season.

The cabler announced today that it will launch Season Two of action drama Leverage, which stars Timothy Hutton (Nero Wolfe), Gina Bellman (Coupling), Christian Kane (Into the West), Beth Riesgraf (Without a Trace), and Aldis Hodge (Friday Night Lights), later this year.

TNT has ordered fifteen new installments of the series for its sophomore season.

“We’re thrilled that audiences and critics have responded so positively to Leverage and made the show a solid hit,” said Michael Wright, executive vice president of TNT, in a statement. “We look forward to another great season of fun and exciting storylines brought to life by the outstanding cast, led by Timothy Hutton, and the incredible production team, headed up by executive producers Dean Devlin and John Rogers.”

“We had an amazing experience shooting the first season of Leverage with such a talented cast and crew and with the full support of TNT behind us,” said executive producer Dean Devlin. “We can’t wait to get to work on season two and take viewers on another adventure with Nate and his team.”

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: ABC Tells Lauren Graham to "Let It Go," CBS Picks Up Three Pilots, Layoffs Announced at Disney-ABC, and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. I'm currently drowning in pilot scripts and hoping to use this weekend to get through a bunch of must-read scripts. Fingers crossed.

ABC handed out a pilot order to comedy Let It Go, starring Lauren Graham (Gilmore Girls), about a self-help guru whose teaching mantra to women is to let it go, but she can't quite follow her own advice when her seemingly perfect boyfriend dumps her. Project, written by Alex Herschlag (Will & Grace) and executive produced by Hersclag, Mitch Hurwitz, Eric Tannenbaum, and Kim Tannenbaum, will be produced by Sony Pictures Television and Tantamount. Also on order at the Alphabet: an untitled multi-camera comedy from writer/executive producer Tad Quiller (Scrubs) about two forty-something friends who face different challenges when one has a baby and the other deals with a suddenly empty nest. (Hollywood Reporter)

CBS finally announced some pilot orders, handing out pilot pickups to three drama projects, all from CBS Paramount Network Television: an untitled US Attorney legal drama from writer/executive producer Frank Military (The Unit) about a group of federal prosecutors in Manhattan; mystery drama Back, from writer Dean Widenmann (Bones) and executive producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, about a man who returns home to his family to discover that he had been reported missing eight years earlier after September 11th and must find a way to reconnect with his family; and procedural drama Washington Field, about the FBI's National Capital Response Squad, an elite team of experts that travel the globe responding to threats to the country's national interests, from writer/executive producer Ed Bernero (Criminal Minds) and writers Tim and Jim Clemente. (Variety)

Nikki Finke says that Ben Silverman is holding a corporate meeting at his home for top executives. "Its purpose is to ask 'Can't we all get along?' and then 'Hug it out,' says my source," according to Finke. "(Remember, Ben did a cameo on Entourage last season, ergo Ari Gold's phrasing.) 'And then to figure out what to do with the network.' Oh yeah, that." (Deadline Hollywood Daily)

TNT is launching the encore run of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which launched on Cartoon Network in October, with two back-to-back episodes on February 14th at 11 pm. The following week, the series will move into its regular timeslot of Wednesdays at 10 pm. (Hollywood Reporter)

Doctor Who's Easter Special ("Planet of the Dead") will reportedly have the Doctor face off against a new alien race called the Tritovore, a half-man, half-fly-like creature. (Digital Spy)

NBC has ordered an additional twelve episodes of unscripted series Howie Do It, which has seen gains for the network in the Friday at 8 pm timeslot, previously home to Crusoe. (Variety)

Elsewhere at the Peacock, NBC confirmed the episodic orders for its other current series this season, with Heroes (26 episodes), The Office (29 half-hour episodes plus one hour on May 14th), and My Name is Earl (26 episodes) all coming in above the traditional 22-episode season. Chuck, 30 Rock, Law & Order, and Law & Order: SVU will air 22 episodes this season, while Medium will air 19 episodes. (Futon Critic)

Michael Ausiello talks to Prison Break's Robert Knepper about T-Bag's endgame and whether the writers will find a way to redeem his psychopathic character. (Hint: they won't.) (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

The networks quietly unveiled their May Upfront plans yesterday, expected to be another low-key affair given the state of the economy. CBS will make its presentation on Wednesday, May 20th without a post-upfront party; ABC will announce their schedule on May 19th (no party there either); FOX will move its presentation to Monday, May 18th, in order to use NBC's absence from the day they traditionally announced; CW will stick to Thursday, May 21st but will present in mid-morning; NBC will once again host "in-fronts" with advertisers in April. (Variety)

A&E has ordered eleven episode docuseries Obsessed, which follows the lives of people who have obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, and other generalized phobias. Network plans to launch the series in the second half of 2009. (Hollywood Reporter)

Former MTV executive Christina Norman has been named CEO of Oprah Winfrey's OWN network, where she will work closely with president Robin Schwartz; network is slated to launch either later this year or in 2010. (Variety)

The US Senate unanimously passed a bill that would extend the DTV switch-over from February 17th to June 12th. (TV Week)

Disney-ABC Television Group will eliminate 400 jobs across the board, an estimate of about five percent of its total workforce, with layoffs expected for about 200 employees and the culling of 200 additional open positions that had been frozen several months ago. "After months of making hard decisions across our businesses to help us adjust to a weakening economy, we're now faced with the harsh reality of having to eliminate jobs in some areas," said president Anne Sweeney in a letter to staffers. "This was not an easy decision, nor one made lightly." (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.

Truth (and Lies) in Advertising: An Advance Review of TNT's "Trust Me"

It's rather easy at first glance to draw comparisons between TNT's new drama series Trust Me, which launches tonight, and AMC's award-winning period drama Mad Men.

Though Trust Me is set in the present day, both series are set in advertising agencies and seek to capture a photograph of the society in which they inhabit. After all, advertising needs to speak to its buyers and what better way than by reflecting people's dreams, fears, hopes, and excesses?

Unlike Mad Men, Trust Me, created by The Closer's Hunt Baldwin and John Covent, attempts to take a more humorous approach and seeks to mine its agency setting to maximum comic effect.

While it's essentially an ensemble piece about the employees of Chicago's Rothman, Greene & Moore agency, the real heart of the series is the relationship between a pair of best friends and partners, mature and level-headed Mason McGuire (Eric McCormack) and creative manboy Conner (Tom Cavanagh) as they pitch, whine, fight, make up, and scheme.

Sadly, these two are less than convincingly drawn. Conner is especially irritating at times, particularly in the pilot episode, and one can't help but feel that we've seen Cavanagh essentially play the same immature, self-absorbed character several times before on other series. When Mason is picked for promotion by boss Tony Mink (Griffin Dunne) after the death of the comically irate Stu (Jason O'Mara), Conner goes on the warpath and calls their partnership quits... but we are never really privy to any displays of why Conner thinks he would be worthy of advancement or his genius skills as an ad writer. Indeed, he's portrayed as a shallow buffoon who happens to come up with some fairly decent copy... often during sex.

Adding to the characters' lack of sympathy is Monica Potter's Sarah Krajicek-Hunter, a completely unlikeable award-winning copywriter who joins the firm from one of their rivals and drones on endlessly about her lack of a window office, as she's forced to sit in a cubicle. (Given the nation's mounting unemployment rate, this doesn't paint her in a particularly sympathetic light these days.) She's also irritatingly dour, has an aversion to working on shampoo ads, and we're told by her old boss (Adam Scott) that she believes every man is hitting on her. Yep, that's about as deep as her characterization goes, except for the fact that her old boss hates her. I'm glad to see that he's not the only one.

In the two episodes provided for review, the series comes off as about half as clever as it thinks it is. The ads that Conner and Mason concoct are really not that intelligent and when Mason saves the day at a client meeting with a brainstorm of an idea, it's actually quite a terrible ad that he's envisioned. (I was hoping that this scene would have been reworked when the producers recut the original pilot and altered the opening.) And Mason's input of a tagline--What can you do with one hand?--for a mobile phone company was slightly amusing for its sophomoric double entendre... until the second episode when it becomes clear that no one--not Mason, not Conner, not the client--never noticed that it could be a barely concealed reference to self-love.

Seriously?

If Trust Me is going to work as a dramedy series, it needs to find a way to make these characters far more intelligent and three-dimensional than they're initially presented and find a way to really mine their situation and environment for outrageous and unexpected humor. As it is, Trust Me plays it way too safe and doesn't, as that very same client sadly tells Mason, make me at all nervous in a good way.

Trust Me launches tonight at 10 pm ET/PT on TNT.

Channel Surfing: "Lost" Clues, Barrowman Pens "Torchwood" Comic, Detmer Heads to "Private Practice," and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. I'm off in a bit to FOX's panel for the Television Critics Association, but here are a few headlines first.

Torchwood's John Barrowman will collaborate with artist Tommy Lee Edwards on an original comic strip entitled "Captain Jack and the Selkie," which will run in the fourteen issue of the bi-monthly Torchwood magazine. The strip will feature a story in which Jack faces" a deadly threat on a remote Scottish island, where people are disappearing one by one... To his horror, Jack starts to suspect he may know who – or perhaps more specifically what – is responsible." (via press release)

Entertainment Weekly's Doc Jensen offers some clues to understanding Season Five of Lost, which premieres Wednesday, January 21st, and recommends five previous episodes for essential viewing before the season premiere, including "There's No Place Like Home (Parts 2 & 3)," "Flashes Before Your Eyes," "The Constant," and "Cabin Fever." (Having seen the first two episodes myself, I have to agree.) FYI, you can catch that first recommendation tomorrow night on ABC. (Entertainment Weekly)

Following last week's pick ups for The Line and Time Heals, TNT has ordered ten episodes of drama Men of a Certain Age, which stars Ray Romano, Andre Braugher, and Scott Bakula as three 40-something friends who try to come to terms with middle-age. Project, from executive producers Romano, Mike Royce, Rory Rosegarten, and Cary Hoffman, will be produced by TNT Original Prods. (Variety)

E! Online's Kristin dos Santos claims that two cast members will be leaving ABC's Ugly Betty at the end of the season, one of whom will be Ashley Jensen, who has asked to be released from her contract on the series. Jensen is not expected to be back as a series regular when Ugly Betty returns for a fourth season this fall. As for the second characters, allegedly it's a newer actor that only recently joined the series. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Amanda Detmer (What About Brian) will join the cast of ABC's Private Practice in a four-episode story arc slated to air in March. Detmer will play one of Addison's patients but their relationship shifts from professional to personal when they form a friendship. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

In other Grey's Anatomy-related news, Melissa George will leave the series; her final day of shooting on Shonda Rhimes' drama is today. According to the actress, who played the self-mutilating and sexually ambiguous Sadie this season, she is leaving the series on good terms in order to "do something else." However, Michael Ausiello has also learned that the desire for George to exit were mutual, despite her initial deal which had her appearing in 8-11 episodes with an option to become a series regular. "She was very difficult to root for," said one source. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner says that the fate of his Golden Globe-winning drama series is "unknowable" due to prolonged contract renegotiations between him, studio Lionsgate Television, and cabler AMC. "I don't know anything about next season," Weiner told Kristin dos Santos, "I don't even know if it's happening." That doesn't sound promising, but AMC is optimistic that Weiner will return for Season Three and it will launch said season this summer. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

TV Guide talks to Scrubs star Donald Faison about the series' move from NBC to ABC, working with Glynn Turman and Courteney Cox, and playing Turk. (TV Guide)

Michael Ausiello talks with House executive producers Katie Jacobs and David Shore about the Thirteen controversy, Chase and Cameron, and House and Cuddy's relationship. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

SAG national executive director Doug Allen is on the way out as the guild's chief negotiator, a move which seems to decrease the likelihood of a SAG strike. (Hollywood Reporter)

Animal Planet announced three new series for 2009: Animal Armageddon, River Monsters, and Beverly Hills Groomer. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Donna Martin Graduates to "90210," ABC Lands Gaghan Pilot, Stolz Talks "Grey's" Killer, and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. I spent last night fully immersed in television, watching screeners of the Season Three premiere of Skins, Lost in Austen, and Mistresses, before indulging in this week's episode of Bravo's Top Chef.

Tori Spelling is in "final negotiations" to reprise her role as Donna Martin in the CW's 90210 in multiple episodes this season. One major point holding up the deal previously was allegedly Spelling's fear or running into Shannen Doherty on the set, but Doherty has now wrapped her role for the season. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Oscar winner Stephen Gaghan (Traffic) was recently the subject of a bidding war between ABC and FOX, with ABC landing the writer with a seven-figure blind put pilot commitment. Under the terms of the deal, Gaghan--who previously wrote for The Practice and NYPD Blue--will write and executive produce a one-hour drama pilot for the network and is attached to direct the potential pilot, should his schedule allow. No studio is currently attached to the project, though both ABC Studios and Sony are said to be in the running. (Hollywood Reporter)

TV Guide chatted with Eric Stoltz, set to appear in Sci Fi's Battlestar Galactica prequel series Caprica, about his upcoming role as a serial killer on ABC's Grey's Anatomy, ethical decisions at Seattle Grace, and MerDer. "I certainly insinuate myself into their relationship," said Stolz, "and am the source of not a little strife." (TV Guide)

In an effort to transform into a network offering original series five nights a week, cabler TNT has ordered drama pilots The Line and Time Heals to series. The Line, from Warner Horizon and executive producers Jerry Bruckheimer, Danny Cannon, Jonathan Littman, and Doug Jung, stars Dylan McDermott (The Practice), Logan Marshall Green (The OC), Omari Hardwick (Saved) and Nicki Avcox (Supernatural) and follows the lives of an undercover crime-fighting unit so hidden that some of its operatives don't even realize they are involved. Time Heals, from Sony Pictures TV, follows the doctors, administrators, and colleagues at a Charlotte, North Carolina hospital; it stars Jada Pinkett Smith, David Hirsh (Lovebites), Laura Kenly, Christina Moore (90210), and Suleka Mathew (Men in Trees). Both series are set to launch later this year. Still under consideration for series order: Ray Romano's Men of a Certain Age. Thought to be dead: crime drama Night and Day, from executive producer Michael Mann. (Hollywood Reporter)

Showtime has ordered a pilot presentation for comedy Ronna and Beverly, with Weeds creator Jenji Kohan, Jessica Chaffin, and Jamie Denbo and Lionsgate Television attached. Project, based on a sketch created by Chaffin and Denbo, revolves around two middle-aged Boston women who decide to self-publish and promote and dating guide for Jewish singles entitled "You'll Do A Little Better Next Time." Chaffin and Denbo, who co-wrote the script with Kohan, will star in the pilot presentation, to be directed by Paul Feig (The Office). (Variety)

NBC has revealed the identities of the 16 celebrities competing in the second season of Celebrity Apprentice, launching March 1st. Clint Black, Andrew Dice Clay, Annie Duke, Tom Green, Natalie Gulbis, Scott Hamilton, Jesse James, Claudia Jordan, Khloe Kardashian, Brian McKnight, Joan Rivers, Melissa Rivers, Brande Roderick, Dennis Rodman, Herschel Walker, and Tionne Watkins will square off in the boardroom for charity. (via press release)

Jason Lewis (Sex and the City) will return to ABC's Brothers & Sisters, where he will reprise his role as Kevin's ex-boyfriend Chad, a closeted actor. Lewis is set to appear in one episode of the ABC drama, set to air in April. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

CBS has pulled gameshow Million Dollar Password from its schedule. (Futon Critic)

National Geographic will launch reality series Hard Time on February 23rd. The six-hour series, the result of a year of embedded filming by producers, follows the lives of inmates and officers in Georgia's state incarceration system. Set to return to the cabler in 2009: new seasons of Dogtown, Locked Up Abroad, World's Toughest Fixes, Naked Science, and Deadly Dozen. (Hollywood Reporter)

MuchMusic VJ Hannah Simone and Joel Gourdin of G4's Attack of the Show will host Sci Fi's eight-episode videogame competition series WCG Ultimate Gamer. Series, from executive producers Michael Agbabian and Dwight D. Smith, is set to launch in March. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Fresh Hamm on "30 Rock," NBC Finds "Soundtrack," HBO and John Wells are "Shameless," and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing.

The first appearance of Mad Men's Jon Hamm on NBC's 30 Rock is slated for February 5th. As previously reported, Hamm will join the cast of 30 Rock in a three-episode arc where he will play a new love interest for Liz Lemon (Tina Fey). Let's just hope their relationship goes a lot smoother than Don and Betty Drapers, huh? (The Chicago Tribune's The Watcher)

Holy British format import! HBO, Warner Bros TV, and writer/executive producer John Wells (ER) are developing a US version of Channel 4's Shameless, created by Paul Abbott (State of Play). Series follows the lives of the members of the rough-and-tumble Gallagher clan, headed up by lovable alcoholic/drug addict patriarch Frank, living on a public housing estate in Manchester. The sixth season of Shameless launches in the UK later this month; Season Seven is slated to air in 2010. (Variety)

NBC has ordered a script for one-hour music drama pilot Soundtrack from writer Jared Bush (Still Standing). Project, from Universal Media Studios and Mosaic TV, will follow the life of a man whose day-to-day interactions are accompanied by the music in his head, which begins after he loses his job and his ex-girlfriend gets engaged. (Variety)

Christine Lahti (Jack & Bobby) and Johnny Sneed (Unhitched) have been cast opposite Emily Roe in USA's 90-minute medical drama pilot Operating Instructions, to be directed by Andy Tennant (Hitch). Lahti will play Commander Helen Keller, the hospital's administrator who quickly clashes with Rachel (Rose); Sneed will play Captain Will McKay, the hospital chief's medical officer who may share a past with Rachel. Already cast: the previously reported Nick Zano and Diana Maria Riva. But, really, a character named Helen Keller? (Hollywood Reporter)

Cabler TNT is said to be close to making decisions on which pilots will be handed series orders, with one or two getting the greenlight. Men of a Certain Age, created by and starring Ray Romano, is said to be a top contender. Also in the running: Jerry Bruckheimer's cop drama The Line, starring Dylan McDermott, and medical drama Time Heals, starring Jada Pinkett Smith. (Variety)

TLC has given a series order to docusoap NASCAR Wives, following the lives of women who are married to famous NASCAR racing legends. Cabler will air a one-hour special of the series on January 24th, will a full season to follow in the spring. (Hollywood Reporter)

Lifetime has allegedly pulled the plug on The Amazing Mrs. Novak. The pilot of the US version of British mini The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard, which starred Amy Pietz and Kristin Dattilo, will not be ordered to series. Among the purported reasons for opting not to hand out a series order: John McCain and Sarah Palin's failed presidential bid and the scandal involving Illinois governor Rod Blagojivich. Governors are, apparently, personae non grata right now. (Variety)

Wes Chatham (Barbershop: The Series) has joined the cast of CBS' The Unit in a recurring role; he'll play Sam, a new recruit to the team who also happens to be its youngest member. Chatham's first episode is slated to air in March and it's said that Chatham will "find himself at the center of an intense Bourne/Bond-style action sequence." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Macrovision has agreed to sell its TV Guide assets--including the TV Guide Network and TVGuide.com--to Lionsgate for $255 million. Deal is likely to close by February 28th. (USA Today)

Stay tuned.

The Application of Force: An Early Look at TNT's "Leverage"

TNT's new drama Leverage has a winning premise: a good guy, betrayed by the company that employed him to capture criminals, puts together a team of baddies to rob from the rich and give to the poor, providing, as we're told in the epilogue, "leverage."

However, the series--from creators John Rogers and Dean Devlin--fails to live up to the promise of its premise, due to some muddying of its tone, a general flatness, and a lack of compelling humor and action. When faced with a series like NBC's Chuck, which does both well and in abundance on a weekly basis, Leverage seems like a tired rehash of action elements from the 1980s and lacks an overall freshness.

I had seen an early cut of the pilot back in the spring and little had changed between that rough cut and the finished product, one of two episodes supplied for review. In fact, the pilot ("The Nigerian Job")--which I only moderately liked at best--is far superior to the series' second episode ("The Homecoming Job"), which manages to be both predictable, ludicrous, and overly sentimental, none of which is particularly good for an action dramedy such as this.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Leverage seems to take a page from the book of 1971 action series The Persuaders, which featured two baddies (played by Roger Moore and Tony Curtis) forced to walk on the side of the angels. In this case, the criminals-turned-heroes are all thieves and con men assembled by former insurance investigator Nate Ford (Kidnapped's Timothy Hutton), who at one time or another worked to catch each of these operators. After Ford's son dies because the insurance company won't pony up the cash for an experimental treatment, Ford is hired by an aviation executive (guest star Saul Rubinek) to steal back designs that he claims were stolen from him by a rival firm... and placed on a team with those aforementioned crooks as the only honest man on a team of cheaters and liars.

Those thieves are, of course, a motley bunch. There's expert thief Parker (My Name is Earl's Beth Riesgraf), whose daring is exceeded only by her insanity; tech genius and geek king Alec Hardison (Friday Night Lights' Aldis Hodge); "retrieval specialist" Eliot Spencer (Angel's Christian Kane) who moves like the wind and can name a bullet caliber by the sound it makes; and con artist extraordinaire Sophie Devereaux (Coupling's Gina Bellman). None of them are particularly pleased to be working with Ford and none of them function well as a team, to say the least. But when they're double-crossed, they are forced to work together to get even.

The problems I had with Leverage weren't so much from the actors. In particular, I thought that Hutton and Bellman were fantastic and had a palpable chemistry together. Personally, I'd watch Bellman--who co-starred last year in BBC's Jekyll--read the phone book. (Hell, I even went so far as to nominate Bellman as one possible replacement for David Tennant on Doctor Who.) Her Sophie Devereaux is one of the more interesting characters on the series, a grifter with a shared past with Hutton's Nate Ford who dreams of becoming a legitmate actress but finds that the legit stage can't compete with the roles she plays in pursuit of crime. And Hutton's Ford seems like a man pushed over the brink into a neverending cycle of despair. After a lifetime of doing the right thing, he's lost his wife and son and any semblance of a normal life; he's turning to a life of crime in order to enact his own brand of justice for the little guy.

No, the problems I had (besides for Christian Kane's lanky, greasy hair, which irked to no end), were in the script stage. The series should be a hell of a lot smarter and far wittier than it is. While there's an obvious attempt to include humor here (rather than just make it an action-adventure yarn), most of the laughs fall flat and are far too telegraphed to make any real impact. Alec getting ribbed for living with his mother? Yawn. Sophie takes an audition for a soap commercial far too seriously? Double yawn. (Besides, David Cross' Tobias Funke did that far better with a fire sale audition years ago on Arrested Development.)

As for the plots of the first two episodes of Leverage, there's the expected number of double-crosses, betrayals, bizarro plot points (how does a military hospital accept stacks of stolen cash without attacting suspicion?), and bait-and-switches but without the energy or excitement of the aforementioned The Persuaders. While Danny Wilde and Lord Brett Sinclair lived the good life like high-flying playboys, the hero of Leverage seems destined to remain drinking alone in the dark. While death and divorce might make for a better backstory, it doesn't make us want to spend much time with Nate Ford, much less want to be him. And at the end of the day, isn't that usually the beauty of such escapist fare such as this?

Leverage premieres Sunday, December 7th at 10 pm ET/PT on TNT.