Channel Surfing: Shawn Ryan Details What Might Have Been on "The Unit," FX Circles "Louie," "House" Romance Detour, and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. I'm still recovering from way too good of a time at last night's fantastic FOX party at Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour, so luckily just a few headlines to get through today.

Shawn Ryan has told Futon Critic's Brian Ford Sullivan what might have happened next season on military drama The Unit had the series continued on CBS. "[David] Mamet and I and our writers, we came up with a lot of great stuff," Ryan told Sullivan. "It was going to be a whole new show in the sense that we were going to be training some young people, Bob was going to be training some people for a whole new organization. Jonas was finally going to be seeing his run end. The final season was going to be, I figured the fifth season was going to be the last... It was going to be a long, sort of final mission for Jonas. He's not medically cleared, Mac has to go in and sort of change the medical records so that Jonas can keep on [going on missions]. We had a whole thing planned, it was going to be good." Alas... Ryan, meanwhile, is now the showrunner on FOX's Lie to Me and has a pilot, Terriers, in contention at FX. (Futon Critic)

Just a day after it was announced that Louis C.K. would recur on NBC's Parks and Recreation, FX revealed that they had secretly shot a half-hour comedy pilot (tentatively titled Louie) with the comedian. Format will be a mix of stand-up comedy and vignette-style sketches, with actors playing Louis' ex-wife, children, and friends. The cabler, which is looking to find a timeslot companion for comedy It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, will make a decision about Louie and its other comedy pilot The League within the next ten days or so. (Variety)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that House creator David Shore has indicated that next season will pull back on the House/Cuddy relationship. "We’re stepping back from it a little bit," said Shore. "We’re not ignoring it. We have to carry forward... It’s going to go someplace eventually. But the beginning of this season is primarily focused on House trying to find some semblance of sanity, and not completely succeeding." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

So You Think You Can Dance executive producer Nigel Lythgoe raised some eyebrows yesterday at the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour when he said that he was in talks with Paula Abdul about coming on board So You Think You Can Dance next season as a judge. "There's no question," said Lythgoe, that he would be interested in bringing her to So You Think You Can Dance with FOX Entertainment Chairman Peter Rice's blessing; Lythgoe indicated that talks had already begun. "I don’t know anybody that’s had her experience of being a dancer, of being a choreographer and of being a judge," said Lythgoe. (Variety)

Rumors are swirling that The Streets singer Mike Skinner is set to appear on the fifth season of Doctor Who, which will launch next year with new lead Matt Smith replacing David Tennant as the Doctor. Skinner announced the news via his Twitter feed, saying "You wouldn't believe the week I've had. I can't talk about it but let's just say I got a part in Doctor Who," but then mysteriously deleted the message shortly thereafter. Hmmm... (Digital Spy)

Criminal Minds showrunner Ed Bernero has signed a two-year overall deal with ABC Studios, under which he will establish a production company--Bernero Prods.--as well as remain on Criminal Minds as an executive producer/showrunner and develop new series projects for the studio. (Hollywood Reporter)

NBC has protested CBS' decision to start airing repeats of its newly acquired series Medium, insisting that the Peacock still has exclusive rights in primetime to the series until September and demanding that CBS pay them for the right to air the repeat installments. (Variety)

Cartoon Network has cast Kevin G. Schmidt (Princess Protection Program), Jordan Gavaris (Degrassi: The Next Generation) and Italia Ricci (Greek) in their one-hour live-action drama pilot Unnatural History, about a teen (Schmidt) who has traveled the globe with his anthropologist parents and returns to the States where he attend a very strange high school. Project, from Warner Horizon, is written by Mike Werb. (Hollywood Reporter)

MTV has ordered an untitled variety/comedy project from actor and dancer Robert Hoffman that will be a blend of hidden camera, dance, and comedy. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Monaghan Gets "Lost" for Three Episodes, Joey Lauren Adams Falls for "Tara," "Ugly" Betty's New Look Focus-Grouped, and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing.

E! Online's Watch with Kristin is reporting that Dominic Monaghan will reprise his role as rocker Charlie Pace on ABC's Lost next season for three episodes. "Sources tell us exclusively that, yes, Dom's deal to reappear on Lost is done and that the original castmember is set to appear in three episodes in Season Six," writes Jennifer Godwin. "No word yet on the answer to the big question: Is Charlie alive? We'll have to wait until Lost returns to ABC in January 2010 to find out." (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Joey Lauren Adams (Party Down) has joined the cast of Showtime's United States of Tara for the series' second season. Adams will play Pammy, a barmaid who "has a history of picking the wrong guys," writes Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello. "Her luck changes the day she meets 'Buck' and falls head over heels in love." She'll appear in at least three episodes next season. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that ABC executives are testing scenes of Ugly Betty featuring America Ferrara's Betty rocking her new glam makeover. "Based on ABC’s questions to the panel, the suits appear most concerned about whether fans of the show will deem Betty’s transformation appropriate, given her four-year journey from flunky to editor, or whether the changes are too drastic and compromise the essence of the Everygal," writes Ausiello. "They’re also asking for opinions about Betty’s new hair, styled eyebrows, and makeup." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

TLC still has thirty episodes remaining on its deal for unscripted family series Jon and Kate Plus 8 and said that the family--whose behind-the-scenes drama has become headline news--isn't hesitating about continuing on. "It's the family's decision to be involved in the show," said TLC president Eileen O'Neill said. "We want to stay with them as long as they want to stay with us." The series, however, will change, with the emphasis placed more squarely on the children that their parents' dating lives. (Variety)

Amy Poehler is set to return to her Weekend Update anchor roots during September, when she will rejoin Seth Meyers on the Weekend Update desk for Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday on September 17th and September 24th. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Shingle Ish Entertainment has several projects in development, including Bayside Boys, from writer/director/star Ed Burns, about a group of twenty-something male friends from Bayside, Queens. Project is being shopped to cable nets. Elsewhere, the company has Comedy Central male comedy Gnarly, about two thirty-somethings who travel back in time to their high-school selves to determine what made them so unattractive to the opposite sex. Other projects include MTV pilot Bridge and Tunnel, about students on Staten Island; dramedy One if by Land from Hitch writer Kevin Bisch, about a cafe in New York where couples get married, which has been bought as a script at CBS; and a slew of others. (Hollywood Reporter)

BBC One Daytime has commissioned a second season of drama Moving On, ordering ten stand-alone episodes that will be filmed on location in and nearby Liverpool. Series, from a group of writers who were mentored by Jimmy McGovern, is a loose narrative about people each coming to grips with how best to move on in life. The original season featured such actors as Shelia Hancock, Richard Armitage, Lesley Sharp, Mark Womack, Dervla Kerwin, and Ian Hart. (BBC)

FOX has added two encore airings of its new unscripted dating series More to Love, with repeats slated to air tonight at 8 pm ET/PT and Monday, August 3rd at 9 pm. (Futon Critic)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Zuniga Returns to "Melrose Place," Pileggi and Plimpton on Call for "Grey's," Eliza Coupe "Scrubs" In as Regular, and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing.

Daphne Zuniga (One Tree Hill) will reprise her role as photographer Jo Reynolds in the CW's relaunch of soap Melrose Place in at least two episodes. Zuniga will join several other cast members from the original Melrose Place on the CW series this fall, including Thomas Calabro, Josie Bissett, and Laura Leighton. (Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider)

Martha Plimpton (ER) has been cast in a multiple-episode story arc next season on ABC's Grey's Anatomy, where she will play the mother of a young patient at Seattle Grace. Her first appearance is set for the sixth season premiere, slated to air September 24th. In other Grey's casting news, Mitch Pileggi (Stargate: Atlantis) will reprise his role as Larry Jennings, the chairman of Seattle Grace's board of directors, in the sixth season premiere. (Hollywood Reporter, TVGuide.com)

Eliza Coupe has been upgraded to series regular on Scrubs next season, which sees the series reboot after the departure of several regulars from the cast. Coupe will reprise her role as hyper-insensitive intern Denise on the ABC Studios-produced series, alongside returning regulars Donald Faison and John C. McGinley. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

NBC has handed out a script order with a sizable penalty to family comedy Nathan vs. Nature, about a heart surgeon who tracks down his birth parents and discovers that, after giving him up for adoption, the couple had three more children that they kept and forms a bond with his newly discovered slacker siblings. Project, from Sony Pictures Television, is written and executive produced by David Guarascio and Moses Port (Just Shoot Me). (Variety)

FX has ordered semi-improvised half-hour comedy pilot The League, about a married man debating fatherhood and his fellow members of a fantasy football league in suburban Chicago, from Curb Your Enthusiasm executive producer Jeff Schaffer and wife Jackie Marcus Schaffer. Project stars Mark Duplass (Humpday), Nick Kroll (I Love You Man), Steve Rannazzisi (Paul Blart: Mall Cop),Katie Aselton (The Puffy Chair), Nadine Velazquez (My Name is Earl), Paul Scheer (Human Giant), Jon Lajoie, and Alina Foley. Leslie Bibb (Iron Man) will guest star. (Hollywood Reporter, Variety)

TBS has ordered ten episodes of new comedy series Are We There Yet?, based on the 2005 feature film of the same name about a single man who starts dating a woman with two kids. Terry Crews (Everybody Hates Chris) will star. Ali LeRoi (Everybody Hates Chris) will write and executive produce the series, which has an option for ninety additional episodes. Series, from Debmar-Mercury and Cube Vision and executive producers Joe Roth, Ice Cube, and Matt Alvarez, is expected to debut in June 2010. (Variety)

Keegan Michael Key (MADtv) has been cast as a series regular for the second season of CBS' comedy Gary Unmarried, where he will play Clean, a high school friend of Gary (Jay Mohr) whose minor-league baseball career was cut short by a knee injury. (Hollywood Reporter)

ABC Studios has signed a first-look deal with Jennifer Garner's Vandalia Films, which intends to develop female-driven projects for the studio. Shingle is run by Garner and Juliana Janes and the company has a first-look deal with Warner Bros. for features. (Variety)

Despite the recent death of Billy Mays, Discovery Channel has ordered a second season of unscripted series Pitchmen. The cabler is said to be developing the format of the second season with Anthony Sullivan, Billy Mays III, and Thom Beers of Original Productions. No air date was announced. (via press release)

Disney Channel has found its lead for its newest comedy: 16-year-old Bridgit Mendler (Jonas), who will play the lead in Good Luck Charlie, about a girl and her brother Casey (Jason Dolley) who must care for their baby sister Charlie after their parents both go back to work full-time. Series is expected to launch early next year. (Hollywood Reporter)

Russell Brand will host MTV's 2009 Video Music Awards for MTV, following his hosting duties last year at the VMAs. (Broadcasting & Cable)

In other awards news, Kathy Griffin will host the Creative Arts Emmy Awards on September 12th. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Jon Heder Lands Comedy Central Series, ABC Drops "Gravity" in August, Gregory Smith Mines "Copper," and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. I was lucky enough to see an advance screening of upcoming film Julie & Julia last night and urge all you film-loving foodies to head out and watch it when it's released. Just make sure you eat beforehand!

Comedy Central has ordered ten episodes of an untitled multi-camera comedy series starring Jon Heder (Blades of Glory, Napoleon Dynamite). Project, about an unemployed IT specialist who returns to his smalltown to move in with his parents and younger brother, will be written by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, and Chris Henchy. Series hails from Debmar-Mercury and Gary Sanchez and will have an initial run on Comedy Central; if it scores with audiences, another 90 installments will be automatically picked up with Comedy Central having the first window while Debmar-Mercury will sell the series into first-run syndication at the same time. (Variety)

ABC has announced that it will launch FTVS' internationally produced drama series Defying Gravity, which it acquired last week, on August 2nd at 9 pm with a two-hour premiere. The week after, Defying Gravity will move into its regular timeslot Sundays at 10 pm ET/PT. Series, which stars Ron Livingston, Laura Harris, Malik Yoba, Christina Cox, Florentine Lahme, Paula Garces, Eyal Podell, Dylan Taylor, Andrew Airlie, Karen LeBlanc, Zahf Paroo, and Maxim Roy, revolves around four male and four female astronauts from five countries who are on a mysterious six-year international space mission. Action will flash between their current mission and their rigorous training in the past. (via press release, Variety)

Gregory Smith (Everwood) will star opposite Missy Peregrym in Canadian police drama Copper, which will air Stateside on ABC. Smith will play Dov, a recent graduate from the police academy who attempts to make his way as a rookie cop. Elsewhere, Taylor Kinney (Fashion Show) has been cast as a regular on NBC's medical drama Trauma, where he will play Glen, an EMT that joins the rapid response team. (Hollywood Reporter)

SPOILER: Production on Season Four of HBO's sensational drama series Big Love begins August 13th and producers are on the hunt for two new recurring roles next season. Producers are looking to cast the roles Christie, the problem child daughter of Barb's sister Cindy who has been sent to Mormon Disciplinary Camp several times and who finds a seething jealousy towards new cousin Cara Lynn, and Dale, an closeted gay Mormon who is a partner at a big eight accounting firm and who becomes the new trustee of the Juniper Creek assets. (Spoiler TV)

The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan has a absolutely fantastic piece on the power of San Diego Comic-Con and its enduring appeal. (Chicago Tribune's The Watcher)

MTV has given a series order to teen comedy Hard Times, which revolves around an unpopular fifteen year old whose, er, endowment is revealed in front of the whole school during a prank and instantly finds popularity. Project, written and executive produced by David Katzenberg and Seth Grahame-Smith, is being compared to a teen version of HBO's similarly-themed Hung. (Hollywood Reporter)

Syfy's launch for drama series Warehouse 13 drew 3.5 million viewers, making it the third most watched network series debut behind Stargate Atlantis (4.2 million) and Eureka (4.1 million). (Broadcasting & Cable)

E! Online's Watch with Kristin is reporting that Catherine Bell isn't leaving Lifetime's Army Wives anytime soon. "I'll tell you this. I'm still in South Carolina, and I was filming the show this morning," said Bell via telephone. "Frank and Denise struggle for a while. It's not over. There are some really, really wonderful scenes coming—there's going to be some more communication about this... There's some really cool stuff coming up where you see a different side of him and their relationship. There's some positive stuff. He's a big teddy bear, and Frank adores Denise. He's going to change a bit this season. You're going to see a different side of him, that's very exciting." (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: AMC Orders "Rubicon" to Series, Callum Blue Takes on Zod for "Smallville," Eve Finds "Glee," and More

Welcome to your Wednesday television briefing.

AMC has handed out a twelve-episode series order to political thriller Rubicon, starring James Badge Dale, Miranda Richardson, Lili Taylor, Dallas Roberts, and Peter Gerety. Series, from Warner Horizon, writer/executive producer Jason Horwitch (Medical Investigation), and director Allen Coulter (Six Feet Under), revolves around an analyst (Dale) of a top-secret government think tank "whose work leads him to uncover a clue that points him toward an unfolding global conspiracy." Series, which will be shot in New York, is expected to launch in 2010. "The pilot is beautifully done and we are very, very excited to move forward with the series," said Joel Stillerman, SVP of programming and production at AMC. "It's a major challenge to find the right balance to take that into a serialized drama format, where you have to pose more questions than are answered but do it in a way that is still satisfying to the audience. Jason and Allen did a phenomenal job on the pilot, and the cast is first class." (Variety)

Callum Blue (Secret Diary of a Call Girl) has been cast as a regular on CW's Smallville, where he will play Superman villain General Zod in the series' ninth season. The role was previously performed by Terence Stamp in 1980's Superman II. (Hollywood Reporter)

Eve will guest star in two episodes of FOX's Glee this fall, where she will play a "no-nonsense girls' choir director from a rival school," according to Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello, who writes that producers had made overtures to Whitney Huston, who turned down the role. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Meghan Markle (90210) has been cast in a recurring role on FOX's Fringe, which returns for a second season this fall. Markle will play "an attractive, brash and quick-witted junior FBI agent." (Hollywood Reporter)

Adrianne Palicki will reprise her role as Jessica on CW's Supernatural next season in one episode. "Details regarding Palicki's return engagement," writes Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello, "are being kept under lock and key." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

ABC has given a six-episode series order to relationship-based unscripted series Find My Family, which tracks people desperate to locate a missing relative or friend. Series, based on Dutch format Lost Without a Trace, hails from RelativityReal and RDF USA. Tim Green and Lisa Joyner will host. (Variety)

MTV has ordered an untitled docusoap pilot following The Hills' Audrina Patridge which will be executive produced by Mark Burnett. The cabler also unveiled a host of projects in development including a "reinvention" of 1980s feature film Teen Wolf; animated comedy The Awesomes from executive producer Seth Meyers; puppet-based reality series Warren the Ape; a US adaptation of Argentinian teen drama Patito Feo; comedy Hard Times; and an untitled sketch comedy starring Jamie Foxx. MTV also announced a first-look deal with actress Emma Roberts. (Hollywood Reporter)

Meanwhile, MTV Networks will layoff one percent of its workforce, or about 50 employees, that will "significantly affect development and programming at its various channels, though the company does plan to hire some replacements in reconfigured positions." (Variety)

Richard Loncraine (My House in Umbria) has replaced Peter Morgan (The Queen) as director on HBO telepic The Special Relationship, which details the often fractious relationship between Tony Blair and Bill Clinton. The project stars Dennis Quaid, Michael Sheen, Julianne Moore, and Helen McCrory. Morgan--who wrote the screenplays for The Queen and Frost/Nixon--was meant to have made his directorial debut on the project and will remain on board as an executive producer. Meanwhile, Morgan will be co-writing the next James Bond feature film. (Variety)

NBC's Ben Silverman is said to be on a shortlist for possible candidates for ITV's CEO position, along with Mike Volpi of Joost, former ProSiebenSat1 head Guillaume de Posch, and former Channel 4 topper Michael Jackson. Silverman had no comment. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Matthew Fox Talks "Lost" Final Season, "Reaper" Creators Check into "Dollhouse," Buckley Replaces Green on "One Tree Hill," and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing.

E! Online caught up with Lost star Matthew Fox in Monte Carlo, where he was on hand to attend the Monte Carlo Television Festival, and got the actor to tease some details about Lost's sixth and final season. Fox, who said that Lost will end with "an incredibly powerful, very sad and beautiful way," went on to say " "I think it is going to be very satisfying and cathartic and redemptive and beautiful. I've talked to Damon pretty extensively and every time I talk to him it's sort of surprising how moving it is just to talk about it." As for the beginning of Season Six, look for the action to begin with the reveal of just what happened after Juliet seemed to detonate the hydrogen bomb, with Fox teasing, "It's very surprising and probably fairly confusing initially to the audience... Like a third of the way in [to the season] I would guess we are going to [settle] in one time frame and it will be very linear—no more flashbacks, nothing. It will be on the island and sort of a final conflict to the end." Very interesting... (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Reaper creators Michelle Fazekas and Tara Butters have joined the writing staff of FOX drama Dollhouse, which returns for its second season this fall. The news was announced by Dollhouse writer Maurissa Tancharoen on her Twitter feed. Fazekas and Butters, described by Tancharoen as "awesome," recently signed an overall deal with studio 20th Century Fox Television. (Twitter)

Robert Buckley (Lipstick Jungle) has signed on to CW's One Tree Hill as a series regular next season, where he will replace Brian Austin Green, who has dropped out of the series after a deal couldn't be reached. He'll play Clayton, described as "a brash young sports agent who represents Nathan Scott (James Lafferty) and has become a close friend, ally, business partner and advisor to him while also enjoying the spoils that come from being a wealthy, handsome single guy." (Hollywood Reporter)

ABC has ordered five episodes of comedic dance competition series Let's Dance, which will feature celebrities learning to react famous dance routines, such as Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey's dance in Dirty Dancing, etc. Episodes will air live, with viewers asked to vote on their favorite performers, who will return for a final round. Series, based on a UK format that aired on BBC One earlier this year, will be produced by FremantleMedia North America and Whizz Kid. (Variety)

E! Online's Watch with Kristin catch up with True Blood stars Alexander Skarsgard and Stephen Moyer in a series of video interviews in which the duo spill a few details about Season Two of the HBO vampire drama. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Jonathan Sadowski (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles), Keir O'Donnell (Sons of Anarchy), Rebecca Wisocky (Bones), and Kaylee DeFer (The War at Home) have been cast in Comedy Central's live-action comedy pilot Ghosts/Aliens, written by Phil Johnson and based on Trey Hamburger's novel. (Hollywood Reporter)

The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan is reporting that Battlestar Galactica: The Plan is slated to air on Sci Fi (or Syfy as it will be known by then) in November and BSG spin-off series Caprica will launch in January 2010, according to Sci Fi president Dave Howe. Also potentially on tap: a BSG feature film, possible three or five years down the line. (The Chicago Tribune's The Watcher)

Universal Media Studios has signed two-year overall deals with Heroes writers Aron Coleite and Joe Pakaski. Under the separate deals, the duo will continue to write for Heroes, entering its fourth season this fall, and develop series projects for the studio as well. (Variety)

Viola Davis (Doubt) will guest star on the second season of Showtime's comedy series The United States of Tara. Davis, who is slated to appear in seven episodes of the Diablo Cody-created series, will play Lynda B. Dozier, described as "an uncoventional artist who plays a significant role in Tara (Toni Collette) and her daughter Kate's (Brie Larson) lives." (via press release)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that the season premiere of House has been expanded to two hours and will be directed by executive producer Katie Jacobs. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

MTV will begin shooting Season Twenty-Three of its venerable reality franchise The Real World this summer in Washington D.C. The cabler, which will premiere the current Cancun-set season on June 24th, will launch the Washington season in 2010. (Hollywood Reporter)

Warner Bros. Television has hired former NBC executive Erin Gough Wehrenberg as SVP of comedy development. She will report to Len Goldstein and will work closely with Lisa Lang and Wendy Steinhoff-Baldikoski. (Variety)

Poppy Montgomery (Without a Trace) will star in Lifetime Movie Network telepic Cinderella Pact, about a magazine editor with an alter ego as a reclusive columnist whose latest column about weight loss inspires her overweight co-workers to band together to shed pounds by following her advice. (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: "Chuck" and "Dollhouse" Still Bubbling Away, FOX and NBC Close to Locking Schedules, "Reaper" Not Dead Yet, and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing.

Just what will happen with bubble series like Chuck and Dollhouse? It looks like the fate of many of this year's bubble series, including those and such series as Cold Case, The Unit, My Name is Earl, Scrubs, Gary Unmarried, and Old Christine, will come down to the wire. "Negotiations continue on fan favorites Chuck and Dollhouse, with the shows facing cost-cutting requests from their respective networks, NBC and Fox, and their pickup odds seeming to shift from moment to moment," writes Hollywood Reporter's James Hibberd. "Both could go down to the wire." (Hollywood Reporter)

FOX and NBC are close to locking their fall schedules and will do so by tomorrow. FOX is said to be considering ordering a sixth season of reality series So You Think You Can Dance to air this fall, immediately after the fifth season runs this summer. Other possibilities include overweight dating series The Fatchelor, which was originally expected to air this summer, or another cycle of Hell's Kitchen. Lie to Me, which was renewed for 13 episodes, is expected to launch in midseason rather than fall and the network has series like Glee, Fringe, Sons of Tucson, Human Target, House, Bones, Cleveland, and others to play around with. (Dollhouse is still said to be in contention as well.) NBC, meanwhile, is mulling splitting The Biggest Loser's two-hour weekly run into two one-hour installments and it's thought likely that the Peacock will bring back Medium, Law & Order, and--yes--Chuck, which appeared on some leaked potential schedules yesterday. (Variety)

ABC Studios is reportedly shopping dramedy Reaper to CW affiliate stations as a syndicated series for Sunday evenings (which are now under control of the affiliates rather than the netlet) or on cable. Several problems, however, make either scenario a bit of a longshot. For one, series co-star Tyler Labine is set to star in FOX comedy series Sons of Tucson next season (though there are discussions about whether he might be contractually obligated to return to Reaper) and Reaper creators Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters have been signed to an overall deal at rival studio 20th Century Fox Television. (Hollywood Reporter)

Entertainment Weekly has confirmed that Kristin Cavallari will replace Lauren Conrad on MTV's The Hills next season. She'll first appear in the May 31st season finale and will appear in ten episodes of The Hills next season, which kicks off in the fall. "I’m a completely different person than Lauren," said Cavallari about how the series will be different with her. "I have a lot more energy. I’m more outgoing. I’m a little more spontaneous. And she has a boyfriend so she’s not dating on the show. I’m very open to dating and finding a guy." (Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider)

Nikki Finke is reporting that FOX has passed on comedy pilots AbFab and Two Dollar Beer and drama pilot Eva Adams. (Deadline Hollywood Daily)

Meanwhile in other pilot-related news, ABC is said to be high on dramas Happy Town, Eastwick, and The Forgotten, while Empire State and Inside the Box remain in contention and V could bow as a midseason series as well as being high on comedies Cougar Town, The Middle, Romantically Challenged, and The Law. FOX is said to be strongly favoring comedy Brothers and wavering on drama Past Life. Melrose Place and Vampire Diaries are considered locks for the CW's fall schedule, with the last remaining spot going to either Privileged, Life Unexpected (formerly known as Light Years), or The Beautiful Life. CBS is said to be strong on Accidentally on Purpose and Waiting to Die as well as Happiness Isn't Everything, which could launch in midseason. On the drama side, it's the untitled NCIS spin-off, Three Rivers, and The Good Wife looking the most certain for series orders. (Hollywood Reporter)

Say goodbye to Remote Free TV. Yes, FOX has decided to put the initiative, which saw the network air fewer ads during series Fringe and Dollhouse at a higher premium, out to pasture. Next season Fringe will decrease its content time and typically run a more normal batch of commercials. (Wall Street Journal)

Doctor Who's David Tennant has been hired as the new host of PBS' Masterpiece Contemporary. His first appearance on the revamped anthology series will take place this fall. (Televisionary)

The CW has confirmed that Paulina Porizkova is no longer a judge on reality staple America's Next Top Model. Porizkova broke the news herself during an appearance on CBS' Late Late Show, in which she said that the network had fired her. "Do you know why I'm in Los Angeles?" she asked Ferguson. "... Because I'm looking for a job, because I was fired by America's Next Top Model -- on my birthday." The CW gave no explanation for her dismissal but Porizkova contends that it was a financial decision and that the series had to reduce its budget, dismissing any claims of friction between her and Tyra Banks. (Zap2it)

Los Angeles Times' Joe Flint takes a look at the scaleback facing this year's upfront presentations, with many networks scaling back on lavish parties and overt signs of excess. CBS has moved its post-upfront party from Tavern on the Green to the more sedate Terminal Five, William Morris Agency has cancelled its annual upfront shindig after 25 years, and ABC's party is at an undisclosed location and only open to media buyers. (Los Angeles Times)

Nickelodeon has ordered an animated series from Dreamworks Animation based on the feature film Kung Fu Panda, following the success of the studio's The Penguins of Madagascar on the channel. The series, which is expected to launch in 2010, will follows the adventures of Po, the martial arts master panda. Just don't expect Jack Black to reprise his role as Po here (though he will in a feature-based Kung Fu Panda sequel to be released in 2011); sound-a-likes will be used in the animated series. (New York Times)

Susan Levison, the head of comedy development at FOX, is expected to announce her departure from the network soon. Following her departure, the department will be overseed by VPs of comedy development Suzanna Makkos and Marcus Wiley, who will serve as co-heads and report to Matt Cherniss. (Variety)

The Wire's Clarke Peters will appear in an upcoming storyline on BBC One drama Holby City, where he will play Derek Newman, the father of Donna Jackson (Jaye Jacobs), who is admitted to the hospital and learns that he has "cancer of the splenic flexure, pancreas and abdominal wall." It soon falls to Ric Griffin (Hugh Quarshie) to save his life. Peters' first appearance on Holby City is scheduled to air July 14th. (BBC)

Teri Weinberg has hired former NBC manager of comedy programming Rachel Israel to be her VP of programming at Weinberg's new production company Yellow Brick Road. The two have worked together since 2004, when they were both at Reveille, where Israel worked as an intern and Weinberg's assistant. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Jared Harris Suits Up for Season Three of "Mad Men," ABC Offers "Christine" a Fallback, FOX Renews "Fringe," NBC Infront, and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing.

Jared Harris (Fringe's David Robert Jones) has been cast in a ten-episode story arc on Season Three of AMC's period drama Mad Men, which is expected to launch in August. Harris will play Lane Pryce, the financial officer of Sterling Cooper Advertising Agency, in the series, which stars Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss, January Jones, Vincent Kartheiser, Christina Hendricks, and "guest star" John Slattery. (Hollywood Reporter)

Should CBS opt not to renew comedy The New Adventures of Old Christine for a fifth season, ABC is willing to give the Warner Bros. Television-produced series, which stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus, a bailout, guaranteeing it a full 22-episode season on ABC. Move marks the second time ABC has organized a deal like this on behalf of Old Christine (network head Steve McPherson is said to be a huge fan), but it's thought rather likely that CBS will renew it in the end. (Hollywood Reporter)

FOX has officially renewed sci-fi drama series Fringe, from Warner Bros. Television, for a second season. (Televisionary)

NBC unveiled some of its plans for the 2009-10 season to advertisers yesterday, which include new programs such as Parenthood, "event" series Day One, Mercy, Trauma, and comedies 100 Questions and Community. Still no official word, however, about the fate of Chuck, My Name is Earl, Medium, or Law & Order, though the Peacock will make further announcements and share its primetime schedule on May 19th. (Televisionary)

... And NBC also shared the fact that it had canceled crime drama Life and would not be bringing it back for a third season. (Televisionary)

SCI FI Wire talks to Fringe co-star Jasika Nicole, who plays Agent Astrid Farnsworth on the FOX sci-fi drama. Nicole promises that the writers will explore Astrid's past, just not this season. "They've been working on that for a really long time, and they want to make sure that it's perfect," Nicole told SCI FI Wire. "That's why we haven't seen it yet. So I'm hoping that it's going to come in Season Two. We will not get that episode in Season One, but I'm pretty sure that it will happen in Season Two, and I can't wait to find out what's in it, let me tell you." (SCI FI Wire)

Once again, CW is looking to get out of programming Sunday evenings, traditionally the netlet's lowest rated night of the week. At this time last year, the netlet had unveiled an unconventional plan to hand over its Sunday night block to Media Rights Capital, a deal which did not work out. Now CW is said to be in discussions with its affiliates to give up five hours of network time on Sundays so that it can focus on programming the rest of the week. Most of these affiliates are rumored to be talking with MGM about a movie package "on a barter advertising basis." (Variety)

SPOILER: Many Heroes fans are wondering whether Zachary Quinto will be leaving the ensemble drama now that he's donned those rubber ears to play Spock in J.J. Abrams' new Star Trek. Rest assured though that Sylar isn't going anywhere. "We can absolutely assure you that Zachary Quinto is coming back next season," writes Team Watch with Kristin. "We're hearing that Sylar is present in what's described as 'a very Fight Club-esque way.' Care to interpret what that means?" (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Paul Iacono (Human Giant) has been cast as the lead in MTV comedy pilot Hard Times, about a well-endowed geek who becomes popular after accidentally exposing himself during a sporting event. Pilot is written by Seth Grahame-Smith and will be directed/produced by David Katzenberg. (Hollywood Reporter)

Lionsgate Television has tapped Amazing Race creators Bertram Van Munster and Elise Doganieri to serve as executive producers on its new reality series Instantly Rich, described as "a lottery-style game show in which contestants enter to play via text message," which is being pitched to networks now as a one-hour primetime reality series. (Broadcasting & Cable)

Spike has now closed a deal for off-network rights to all 78 episodes so far of HBO's Entourage, as well as the sixth and any future seasons of the series for roughly $600,000 per episode. The cabler also negotiated the right to create a second window for the series on a sister network, most likely Comedy Central. (Hollywood Reporter)

Six Fox Television Stations will offer an eight-week test-run of half-hour reality series Beyond Twisted, a user generated content series from Telepictures Prods. and Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution that will feature commentary from the series' production staff. Unlike the studio's TMZ, it will steer away from celebrity-based clips. (Variety)

Mark Burnett has signed a deal to create programming based on the iconic Hollywood Walk of Fame. The first project under the deal will be a special celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Hollywood institution, which will be pitched to networks very soon. Burnett, meanwhile, is getting his own star on the Walk of Fame later this year. (Hollywood Reporter)

Disney XD has renewed action series Aaron Stone for a second season and handed out a series order to live-action comedy Viper Slap, starring Logan Miller as a teen who gets to lives his dream when he lands a gig as the new lead guitarist of his favorite 80s band and helps them step back into the spotlight. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Team Darlton Talk "Lost" Series Finale, Pasdar Says Quinto Not Going Anywhere, Shenkman Joins Cast of "Burn Notice," and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing.

With the 100th episode of Lost set to air tonight on ABC, many are already looking to the series' next milestone: the all-important series finale, set for May, 2010, and viewers are bound to have high expectations when creators Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse wrap up the series. "We can't let those expectations terrify us," said Lindelof in an interview with Variety's Shawn Malcom. "The reality is, we've known what the series finale is going to be for a while now." In fact, the real variable is how the series' characters wind up at the end point charted by Lindelof and Cuse. "The path that we take to the end still has some room for surprises and changes and discoveries along the way (in terms of) the characters' journeys and how their relationships evolve," said Cuse. While the duo wouldn't reveal any specifics about the finale, they did say that fans will be left wanting more. "When we say more, we don't mean answers," said Lindelof, "because hopefully, the show will wrap up in an incredibly satisfying way, both mythologically and emotionally." (Variety)

Wondering if Zachary Quinto will be sticking around NBC's Heroes next season? "Zach [Quinto]'s not done. There's Nathan, there's Sylar, and there's the point of view that you have to factor in. If I look up into the mirror, who would I see?" said Heroes' Adrian Pasdar, who teased an epic battle between Nathan and Sylar in Season Four of the series. "Who's going to be able to control the actions of the body? Like one of those computers that self-teaches, the longer he stays in my body and the longer he assimilates my physical structure and DNA, the more control I get. So it becomes a battle of who's in charge." (TVGuide.com)

Ben Shenkman (Grey's Anatomy) has been cast in at least four episodes of Season Three of USA's Burn Notice. Shenkman will play Tom Strickler, a "smooth-talking, gregarious freelance spy broker who offers to cancel Michael's (Jeffrey Donovan) burn notice in exchange for an unspecified -- and potentially lethal -- job." Look for Shenkman to first turn up about halfway through the season. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Sasha Roiz (Unthinkable), who played the brother of Joseph Adama (Esai Morales) in the backdoor pilot for Sci Fi's Caprica as a guest star, has been upgraded to series regular on the series. Elsewhere, Callard Harris (Roommates) has joined the cast of FX's Sons of Anarchy, where he will play an Irish gun trafficker in the second season of the drama series. (Hollywood Reporter)

Former General Hospital actor and "Jesse's Girl" singer Rick Springfield will play himself in four episodes of the upcoming third season of Showtime's Calfornication. Springfield was cast on the series after producers posted a casting call looking for "an actor who experienced huge fame in the 80's to play themselves as a now down-on his-luck-ex-celebrity waiting tables to get by." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Looking for more Lost goodies on the day of the 100th episode? Variety takes you behind the scenes of the writers' room in Burbank, far away from the lush jungles of the series' set in Oahu, Hawaii. The Hollywood Reporter offers a look back at journey of Lost over the last 100 episodes, offering a timeline of the series's real-life history and discussing making the original pilot. ("The fact that no one believed 'Lost' was going to be successful in the beginning was enormously liberating," Cuse says. "So we set out to make 12 episodes of what we thought was the coolest TV show we could come up with and in so doing we violated a lot of the traditional rules of television narrative. We had characters who were murderers and had done very bad things. We had incredibly complex serialized storytelling. We had lots of intentional ambiguity, leaving the audience lots of room for interpretation and those things that sort of violated the rules of television were the very things that the audience ended up responding to.") Variety also talks to script coordinator Gregg Nations, who maintains the series' gargantuan bible.

Stargate Universe co-creator Robert C. Cooper has confirmed that the upcoming Sci Fi series is influenced by Joss Whedon's short-lived FOX drama Firefly. "The concept is that we wanted to shoot this a little bit like a documentary crew would shoot a ride-along to a space ship out in the universe - that maybe we could get audiences to embrace the science fiction elements and the characters in a realistic way if we shot the show using the 'language' of documentary and reality," Cooper told crowds gathered at this weekend's Stargate convention. "It's not intended to be style for style's sake, or to emulate any other show. Although, to be honest with you, one of the shows we love that we did look at and say, 'That's a style we would love to try and approach' is Firefly. That's how Firefly was shot. There's a lot of handheld stuff. Cameras were placed in places that were non-traditional or [not] typical of filmmaking." (Gateworld)

MTV will be continuing docusoap The Hills without Lauren Conrad. The cabler ordered a ninth season of the reality hit, which will air new episodes this fall. While Conrad is departing the series, fans can expect to see more of Heidi, Audrina, Spencer, Brody, Stephanie, Lo, and Justin Bobby this fall. MTV also announced a slew of new series including The Alexa Chung Show, The Buried Life, DJ and the Fro, The Stylist, Ultimate Parkour Challenge, Pranked, Popzilla, Gone Too Far, and Disaster Date. (via press release)

NBC has given a seven-episode series order to Steve Schirripa-hosted reality series Face the Ace, in which contestants--who are found via an online search--battle it out against poker players in Las Vegas. Series, from Poker Prods., will launch on August 1st at 9 pm and, after two airings, will then run during Saturday afternoons in September. (Variety)

Eighteen years after seminal drama series thirtysomething went off the air, fans will finally get to purchase the DVD of the first season of Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick's series. Season One will be available for purchase on August 25th, with a new DVD volume planned for the series every six months after that. The delay was once again caused by expensive music clearances but Garson Foos, president of Shout! Factory, now says, "It doesn't look like we'll be cutting any music from the show." (Los Angeles Times)

RDF USA has hired former E! staffer Jennifer Danska as SVP of development and current, named former Painless Prods. exec Kevin Shinnick as VP of production, promoted Andy Lennon to CFO, and promoted Miranda Wang to VP of business and legal affairs. (Variety)

Elisabeth Murdoch's Shine Group has purchased Nordic production company Metronome Film & Television AB for approximately $88 million. "It has always been my intention to expand the existing Shine Group companies with the finest creative and entrepreneurial minds from the key markets we have identified, and each Metronome company more than meets this criteria," said Murdoch. "Their addition gives us an unrivalled presence in a market with a well-earned reputation as the birthplace of so many successful international formats." (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Olyphant to Star in Elmore Leonard Pilot for FX, Sneak Peek at 100th Episode of "Lost," Enver Gjokaj Talks "Dollhouse," and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing.

Timothy Olyphant (Damages) has been cast in FX's untitled Elmore Leonard project, which is based on a short story by Leonard entitled "Fire in the Hole." Olyphant will play U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens who returns to his hometown in Kentucky. "He has a certain jaggedness, but he also loves his job," said creator/executive producer Graham Yost. "He is like an anachronism: He wears a hat, cowboy boots and a holster on his hip. It's a little bit like he was born 100 years too late." Project, from Sony Pictures Television and Timberman/Beverly Prods., will be directed by Michael Dinner and will start shooting at the end of May. (Hollywood Reporter)

The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan has a sneak peek at three scenes from Wednesday evening's 100th episode of ABC's Lost, entitled "The Variable." (Gee, does that title remind you of another famous installment?) All I can say is that this episode looks to pack quite a punch. (Chicago Tribune's The Watcher)

Dollhouse star Enver Gjokaj talks to E! Online's Jennifer Godwin about his character, Victor, and about what's coming up on the FOX drama, created by Joss Whedon. "We know he has a military background and that something bad happened," said Gjokaj about Victor. "Joss and I have talked briefly about that, but nothing is official." As for why Victor and Sierra (Dichen Lachman) seem to be propelled towards each other, Gjokaj said, "Pheromones? I'm not sure, but we know it's something deeper, more instinctual than liking her personality, because we don't really have those as dolls. I personally think Joss is asking, "What if there is such a thing as true love?" Something more than a pat psychological answer. What if two souls are attracted to each other even in the absence of memory?" (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Pamela Adelon (Californication) will star opposite Adam Carolla in CBS comedy pilot Ace in the Hole, where she will play the wife of Carolla's character, a nurse and mother of two. Should Ace in the Hole be picked up to series, Adelon would depart Showtime's Californication. Meanwhile, Leslie Bibb (Iron Man) has left NBC's untitled Justin Adler comedy pilot, following a creative shakeup that also saw Adler, the pilot's writer leave the project. Bibb's role is currently being recast. (Hollywood Reporter)

ABC announced several additions to its summer schedule, including three installments of news magazine Primetime, Primetime: Family Secrets, Primetime: Crime, and Primetime: The Outsiders, while Primetime: What Would You Do will return for another run. Series will air on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 10 pm ET/PT throughout the summer. The network also has four-hour mini-series Diamonds and Impact, special J.K. Rowling: A Year in the Life, and a slew of reality series, including Great American Road Trip, which will now air Tuesdays at 8 pm beginning July 7th, and America's Got Talent, which will kick off with a two-hour opener on June 23rd. (Variety)

Spike is said to be close to signing a deal to acquire off-network cable rights to HBO comedy Entourage, possibly in conjunction with another channel in MTV Networks' stable, likely Comedy Central. Series will become available in 2010. (Broadcasting & Cable)

AMC's Mad Men took home the top prize yesterday at the BAFTA TV awards in London, where it won the trophy for best international series, beating out fellow nominees The Wire, Dexter, and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, while Kenneth Branagh drama Wallander beat out Doctor Who, Shameless, and Spooks for the continuing drama prize. (Variety)

The New York Times talks to King of the Hill creator Mike Judge about the long-running FOX animated series wrapping its run after 13 seasons. Judge, who says that he wanted to stop working on the series six or seven years ago, says that there won't be a finale per se. "I’m not sure there will be a final episode this time around," he told the Times' Kathryn Shattuck. We did a final episode back in the first year we thought we were canceled. I was really proud of that last episode, and then when we didn’t get canceled, we had to kind of tweak it and do these different things to make it not seem so final. And I’m not sure there will be any kind of story arc. The thing I think we do well is kind of keeping it the same. I’m a big fan of just classic TV — the old Bob Newhart Show, Leave It to Beaver, The Andy Griffith Show. There was something kind of comforting in that, episode after episode, they didn’t change that much." (New York Times)

NBC is bringing back axed reality competition series The Chopping Block to the schedule. The series, which was pulled from the Peacock's lineup last month, will return on Friday, June 19th at 8 pm and air the five remaining episodes of the series. (Futon Critic)

Jon Hamm (Mad Men) and Jennifer Westfeldt (Kissing Jessica Stein) have set up production company Points West Pictures, which they hope will develop projects that will place them in front of and behind the camera. Company is in development on three projects, two of which are being written by Westfeldt. (Hollywood Reporter)

William Morris Agency and Endeavor are expected to vote today on a potential merger that would create a major new player on the talent representation scene. The combined joint entity, WME Entertainment, would offer 300 agents, one of the top client rosters, and an annual revenue of roughly $325 million. "The deal could trigger a new wave of consolidation, putting pressure on other smaller agencies to combine or find larger partners," writes The Los Angeles Times' Dawn C. Chmielewski and Meg James. "The last significant talent agency merger was in 2006 when International Creative Management bought the smaller Broder Webb Chervin Silbermann Agency in a move to inject new life into ICM's television business." (Los Angeles Times)

ABC Family has yanked freshman comedy Sophie off of its schedule effective immediately. The cabler will air back-to-back new episodes of fellow first-year comedy Roommates in the 9 pm hour and 10 pm hours on Monday nights beginning tonight, wrapping up its run now on May 4th, rather than June 15th. (Futon Critic)

MTV has given a series order to reality competition series The Stylist, which will pit fashion stylists against one another for a contract with a major agency, from Bunim-Murray. The cabler also ordered 80 additional episodes of dating series Parental Control, bringing the series' six season total to 200 installments. (Hollywood Reporter)

Style has renewed eight series, including Ruby, The Dish, How Do I Look?, Clean House, Split Ends, Clean House Comes Clean, Dress My Nest, and Whose Wedding Is It Anyway. The cabler has several new series in the pipeline including Mothers and Daughters of Dallas and Guiliana & Bill, a docusoap following former Apprentice winner Bill Rancic and his wife Guiliana, an anchor on E! (TV Week)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Gillian Anderson Tackling "Doctor Who," USA Books "White Collar," Kaley Cuoco Not Checking In to "Grey's Anatomy," and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing.

Former X-Files star Gillian Anderson is said to be in talks to guest star in an episode of Doctor Who, set to air on BBC One next year, opposite the Eleventh Doctor, played by Matt Smith. Anderson would play "the renegade Time Lady, The Rani, a glamorous but evil scientific genius previously played in the series by Kate O'Mara in the 80s," who is an archenemy of the Doctor. "Gillian obviously has a massive sci-fi following following and it's felt it would be a major coup to have her appear in Doctor Who," an anonymous source told The Daily Express. "The team behind the show are keen for the next Doctor to have lots of new enemies and Gillian would be a glamorous and impressive addition to the list. The Rani would be a perfect role for her as the character used to be regarded as one of the Doctor's most deadly opponents." (Daily Telegraph)

USA has ordered drama White Collar, starring Matthew Bomer (Chuck), Tim DeKay (Carnivale), Tiffani Thiessen (Fastlane), and Wille Garson (Sex and the City), to series, ordering 13 one-hour installments in addition to its 90-minute pilot. Bomer will play a professional thief who breaks out of prison and is forced to work with the FBI to track down criminals who have eluded capture. No official launch date has been announced but it's believed that White Collar will kick off this fall. (Variety)

The Big Bang Theory's Kaley Cuoco will now not be appearing on the season finale of ABC's Grey's Anatomy after all, due to a publicity commitment. A Big Bang Theory spokesperson announced yesterday that "due to unforeseen scheduling conflicts on behalf of The Big Bang Theory, Kaley Cuoco regrettably will be unable to guest star on the season finale of Grey’s Anatomy. Kaley is a big fan of Grey’s Anatomy and hopes to work with them in the future." Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello did some more digging and learned that it was CBS who axed Cuoco's guest turn on Grey's. "An Eye spokesperson couldn't be reached for comment, but as one insider explains, 'They didn't want one of their biggest stars appearing on one of ABC's biggest shows.'" Meanwhile, Shannon Lucio (The O.C.) will replace Cuoco on the May 14th season finale of Grey's Anatomy. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

NBC's untitled Justin Adler comedy pilot will now no longer have Justin Adler. The writer/executive producer of the untitled multi-camera pilot, produced by Tannenbaum Co. and Sony Pictures Television, has left the project ahead of next week's reshoots. Moses Port and David Guarascio have been tapped to replace Adler on the pilot, which is being directed by Anthony and Joe Russo. (Hollywood Reporter)

ABC announced early pick-ups for the 2009-10 season of dramas Brothers & Sisters, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, Lost, Private Practice, and Ugly Betty, as well as reality series America's Funniest Home Videos, The Bachelor, Dancing with the Stars, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Supernanny, and Wife Swap. (Televisionary)

The Los Angeles Times' Maria Elena Fernandez takes a look at the promotional machine in place for the launch of FOX's Glee, which will air its pilot next month before officially bowing in the fall. FOX will make the pilot episode available for sale this summer on iTunes and will air a different version of the opening installment this fall. "From Day One, I've had so much support from the studio and network," said creator Ryan Murphy. "I think they are all wanting to break out of the box: What is network television? What can it be? Every once in a while, something comes along that's just different. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I think we're all on the same page that it's great to attempt it. The scripts are written as though the kids are underdogs and I tell the actors all the time, this show feels like an underdog." (Los Angeles Times)

Casting updates: Jane Lynch (Party Down) has been promoted to a series regular on FOX's Glee, where she plays caustic cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester; Austin Nichols (The Informers) has been bumped up to series regular on the CW drama One Tree Hill; and Eddie Jemison (Waitress) has been made a series regular on HBO comedy Hung, which will also see the addition of Alanna Ubach (Eli Stone) to the cast as recurring. (Hollywood Reporter)

BBC America has announced the return of Primeval to its schedule, which will see the launch of Season Three on May 14th. Unfortunately, the network has also bumped Season Two of Life on Mars spin-off Ashes to Ashes, meant to launch next Saturday, off the schedule for the foreseeable future to make room for Primeval. Ashes to Ashes is now expected to return later this year. (Televisionary)

The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan has a first look at the musical guest stars turning up on the May 14th season finale of NBC's 30 Rock, which will feature such guests as Sheryl Crow, Elvis Costello, Mary J. Blige, Clay Aiken, Adam Levine, and Rhett Miller. And Alan Alda will also guest star in the episode, which sees the return of Chris Parnell's Dr. Leo Spaceman. (Chicago Tribune's The Watcher)

Look for some last-minute scheduling changes next week as sweeps kicks off and President Obama has asked the networks for airtime on Wednesday. The broadcast networks have yet to agree to the request (though it's believed they all will) and will likely have to shift some programming around to accomodate President Obama's news conference. (TV Week)

Filmmaker Pedro Almodovar will oversee a television adaptation of his 1988 feature film Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown for Fox Television Studios. Almodovar will executive produce along with Mimi Schmir (Grey's Anatomy), who will write the pilot script, which she says will be "a suburban drama about a group of women who have known each other for a long time, perhaps from college, who are in the middle of their lives and looking at the second half of their lives." Project will be developed for the international market and could end up being a co-production a la the studio's own Mental, Defying Gravity, and Persons Unknown. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stephen Baldwin has joined the cast of NBC's upcoming reality competition series I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!, along with Janice Dickinson, Heidi Montag, Spencer Pratt, and Sanjaya Malakar, among others. Meanwhile, disgraced former Illinois governor Rob Blagojevich will also fly to Los Angeles to participate in today's NBC press day, saying "Perhaps I can play some other role in the show." (TV Week)

Meanwhile, the series' producers, Granada America, have signed a deal with MTV to repurpose episodes of NBC's I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!, in a second window on MTV, though the cabler will also play a role in determining creative for the series and will cross-promote the NBC broadcasts. NBC plans to air the episodes four nights a week beginning June 1st, while MTV will offer a marathon of the previous week's episodes on Sundays starting June 7th. (Variety)

HBO's Jada Miranda and Mike Garcia have left their development posts at the pay cabler. Miranda will remain at the network as a producer with a multiple-year development deal and will join the staff of upcoming comedy How to Make It in America as an executive producer, while Garcia will leave to pursue other opportunities. (Hollywood Reporter)

Former FOX business affairs/alternative production executive Donna Redier Link has been hired as the COO, a newly created position, at Fremantle North America, where she will report to Cecile Frot-Coutaz. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Fuller Talks "Pushing Daisies" Comic, Cuoco Checks into Seattle Grace, Whedon on What Will Save "Dollhouse," and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing.

Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller has said that a comic book spin-off of the sadly demised series could be on sale via Marvel as early as this fall, should a deal with Warner Bros for the rights be closed in the next month or so. What should fans expect from the comic, which Fuller describes as Season Three of Pushing Daisies? "We're going to see a lot of exploration with Ned and his father, which we teased but were never able to make good on," Fuller told SCI FI Wire. "We had [Ned's father, played by] George Hamilton save Ned and Chuck, and by having Emerson and Dwight Dixon clean up the whole mess we're going to understand who Dwight was to Chuck and Ned's dad. Dwight will be making a return, and we'll be seeing the adult Eugene Mulchandani and Danny that involves helium smuggling. There's a lot of fun stuff woven into the series that we were intending to pay off that we can now do in the comic-book series. The fans of the show will see a lot of stuff come to fruition, but new fans will have a greater appreciation, too. Since it's Marvel, I would also love for the Pie Maker to touch Captain America." (SCI FI Wire)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that The Big Bang Theory's Kaley Cuoco will guest star on the upcoming season finale of ABC's Grey's Anatomy. "I am working on Grey's Anatomy next week," Cuoco told Ausiello. "It is a big ol' secret. I have no clue what I am doing. I swear on my life that I have no idea what I am playing because it is the finale and they are keeping it under wraps until the last possible moment. [...] My guess is that I will be a patient of some kind. I'm practicing my scared-sad-I'm-dying face." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Questioned about what it would take to get FOX to renew Dollhouse for a second season, creator Joss Whedon said it would take more than a fan-mounted campaign to innundate the network with letters. "I don't think it's a 'Save Dollhouse' campaign. Basically, we've got a few more times up at bat," said Whedon. "It's going to be up to the fans to be vocal in their own community to make sure people are watching, that we get those DVR numbers, that they don't slip. If they want to cold call executives, that's good too, I guess. Or Twitter. A lotta people are Twittering. Ultimately, it's just holding the course, because I honestly began to think that we were dead in the water, and the people at Fox made a point of calling me to say, 'That's not the case. We're still working it out. We're fans. We want this to work.'" (SCI FI Wire)

CBS has announced that it has renewed reality series The Amazing Race for a fifteenth cycle and made history by being the first television network to announce a series renewal via Twitter, confirming the news after host Phil Keoghan posted a tweet sharing news of the renewal. (Hollywood Reporter)

Michael Ausiello is reporting that Kathryn Erbe will fill in for Julianne Nicholson on USA's Law & Order: Criminal Intent while Nicholson temporarily leaves the series on maternity leave. According to Ausiello, "The move means that for the final four episodes of CI's current eighth season (premiering this Sunday on USA), Erbe will alternate between her current partner, Vincent D'Onofrio, and Nicholson's new partner, Jeff Goldblum." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

The New York Post talks to Grey's Anatomy's Chandra Wilson, who says that viewers should anticipate some major surprises in the series' season finale, which airs in May. "I've been told there are some life-changing things that happen to all of us," said Wilson. "I don't know what those things are that [show creator] Shonda Rhimes is talking about... so I don't know how Bailey's life is altered. But I would love to see that final episode!" Wilson also discusses the changes her character has undergone this season and offers a few tidbits about a certain wedding that's coming up on the series. (New York Post)

Elsewhere at the Post, Mary Louise Parker is allegedly thinking of leaving Showtime comedy Weeds after the sixth season when her contract ends. According to the paper's unnamed sources, if Parker does decide to leave the series, Showtime would cancel Weeds, which is slated to air its fifth season this summer. "We'd have to see if it made sense to continue, but we can't envision the show without her," said a Showtime insider quoted in the article. (New York Post)

YouTube has signed deals to offer full-length feature films and television episodes in a move to compete with NBC Universal/20th Century Fox-backed rival site Hulu. The site has signed deals with Sony, Lionsgate, BBC, Starz, Discovery, and National Geographic as well as Anime Network, Cinetic Rights Management, Current TV, Documentary Channel, First Look Studios, and IndieFlix. The content will be offered for free but will contain advertising during the commercial breaks in TV series' episodes; site may also eventually charge for premium content. (Variety)

Adrian Grenier (Entourage) is producing documentary Spin, which explores the relationship between technology and 21st century society. The doc, which is written and will be directed by Matthew Cooke, is being looked at as a made-for television documentary film or as the pilot for a thirteen-episode limited series. (Hollywood Reporter)

Comedy Central has signed a multi-platform output deal with Levity Entertainment Group, under which the cabler will produce 12 comedy standup specials, with half of those coming from such comedians as Christopher Titus, Gabriel Iglesias, Pablo Franscisco, Jim Breuer, Mitch Fatel, and Pete Correale. The cabler will all air all six specials this year, with another six planned for 2010, and eight of these specials will be released on DVD, under the terms of the deal. (Variety)

MTV has given a series order to Gone Too Far, a reality series hosted by DJ AM which will feature "tough-love interventions for young people whose lives have become unmanageable because of chemical dependence. Project, from Ish Entertainment and Gigantic Prods., will feature an addiction specialist as well as DJ AM, who has gone through his own battles with chemical dependency. (Hollywood Reporter)

USA Today's Gary Strauss alks to Stanley Burrell (a.k.a. MC Hammer) about his upcoming reality series, Hammertime, which is set to launch in June on A&E. "I get offers like this 10 times a year, but it wasn't something I was interested in," Burrell told the paper. "But in the last 18 months, I started thinking I might be able to bring something to the genre. There are not a lot of family-oriented shows that speak to the America we're in right now." (USA Today)

SAG's national board is due to sit this weekend in a two-day session in which they might approve the feature-primetime contract deal that's on the table. If the board does decide to approve the deal, which had been floated during back channel talks between SAG and CEOs, it could be sent to members and ratified before the end of May. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: NBC Exiles "Kings" to Saturday Nights, Thomas Calabro Returns to "Melrose Place," Liza Weil and Debra Mooney on "Grey's," and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing.

NBC has exiled struggling freshman drama Kings to the dire Saturday night at 8 pm timeslot, where the network will burn off the remaining installments beginning April 18th. In its former Sunday night slot, the Peacock will air two-hour episodes of Dateline NBC from 7-9 pm ET/PT. In its last outing, Kings captures a lowly 1.1/3 among adults 18-49 and 3.6 million viewers overall. (Variety)

Thomas Calabro will reprise his role as Dr. Michael Mancini in the CW's revival of Melrose Place in a recurring capacity. Casting marks the second former cast member from the original FOX series joining the cast of the updated Melrose Place as he'll join Laura Leighton, who will reprise her role as Sydney Andrews. Could these two have ended up unhappily-ever-after, after all? (Entertainment Weekly)

Liza Weil (Gilmore Girls) and Debra Mooney (Everwood) will guest star in Grey's Anatomy's two-hour season finale, set to air on ABC on May 14th. Weil, best known for her role as Paris Gellar on Gilmore Girls, will play "a cancer patient who crosses paths with Izzie," while Mooney will play the mother to Kevin McKidd's Owen. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Pilot casting alert: Leah Remini (The King of Queens) will star in ABC comedy pilot Don't Try This at Home (formerly known as the untitled Jeff Strauss comedy), where she will play a newspaper editor married to Matthew Lillard's character with three kids. Elsewhere at ABC, Rebecca Creskoff (Mad Men) been cast as one of the leads in comedy pilot This Little Piggy, and Spencer Breslin (Center of the Universe) has joined the cast of the untitled Anita Renfroe comedy pilot. (Hollywood Reporter)

FOX has ordered reality series Someone's Gotta Go, in which real businesses facing layoffs will let the employees decide who will get pink-slipped. Project, from Endemol USA, could be on the network's schedule by late summer or early fall. "It's Survivor meets The Office," said FOX reality chief Mike Darnell. "When someone is arbitrarily let go the first reaction usually is 'How come that person was fired when another idiot is still here?' This finally gives employees a chance to make that decision instead of a boss." (Variety)

Bravo has announced that the ten-episode culinary competition series Top Chef Masters will kick off on Wednesday, June 10th at 10 pm ET/PT. Series will be hosted by food journalist Kelly Choi and regular judges will include New York Magazine food critic Gael Greene, James Oseland, the editor-in-chief of Saveur, and British journalist Jay Rayner. 24 master chefs (including several that have appeared as guest judges on Top Chef) will compete to win $100,000 in money for charity in a format that resembles Top Chef's weekly Quickfire and Elimination Challenges. Guest judges for the season include Lost executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, How I Met Your Mother's Neil Patrick Harris, Zooey Deschanel, and Flipping Out's Jeff Lewis. (via press release)

Elsewhere at Bravo, the cabler will launch docusoap NY Prep, described as a real-life Gossip Girl, on Tuesday, June 16th, following the season finale of The Real Housewives of New Jersey. (Futon Critic)

ABC Family announced several new series debuts, including drama Make It or Break It launching June 22nd; half-hour comedy 10 Things I Hate About You launching July 7th; and half-hour multi-camera comedy Ruby and the Rockits on July 21. The Secret Life of the American Teenager will return with its second season on June 22nd; Lincoln Heights kicks off its fourth season on August 14th; and Season Three of Greek will debut on September 14th. (Variety)

ITV director of acquisitions Jay Kandola will step down from her position at the broadcaster in June following a corporate restructuring that saw the loss of hundreds of jobs and a refocusing of the network's acquisitions priorities, which will see US series as less of a priority. (Hollywood Reporter)

Michael Shanks will reprise his role as Daniel Jackson in a cameo appearance in the upcoming series premiere episode of Stargate Universe on Sci Fi, according to consulting producer Joseph Mallozzi. Also returning in some form to reprise their roles: Richard Dean Anderson and Gary Jones. (Digital Spy)

Nickelodeon has ordered two live-action pilots, including an untitled surfing single-camera comedy, from executive producer Tommy Lynch and writers Boyce Bugliari and Jamie McLaughlin (Quintuplets), about two high school surfers looking for the perfect wave and Telepathic, a multi-camera comedy, from executive producer Conan O'Brien and writer Darin Henry (The War at Home), about three teenage misfits who navigate the treacherous waters of high school aided by telepathic powers. (Hollywood Reporter)

The New York Post is reporting that MTV is looking at Washington D.C. as a locale for an upcoming season of its reality franchise The Real World and has placed an ad looking for an accountant for a 20-week shoot in the nation's capital. (New York Post)

A&E has ordered nine episodes of The Fugitive Chronicles," a hybrid docu-drama series that will recount some of the most memorable captures of fugitives over the last twenty years and present these stories in dramatized verite-style re-enactments told from the point of view of both law enforcement and the fugitive. Project, from RDF USA, will premiere later this year. (Hollywood Reporter)

Planet Green has renewed five series for second seasons, including: Emeril Green, Focus Earth with Bob Woodruff, Greensburg, Renovation Nation, and Wa$ted! All are expected to premiere new episodes during the week of April 19th-25th in celebration of Earth Day. (Broadcasting & Cable)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: "Friday Night Lights" Renewed for Two Seasons, Lucy Lawless Dons Sandals for "Spartacus," Dustin Milligan to Leave "90210," and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing.

NBC and DirecTV have reached a deal to renew drama series Friday Night Lights for two more seasons of 13 episodes each. Following the same model as the air structure this season, DirecTV will get the first window of the fourth and fifth seasons of Friday Night Lights before NBC airs them. Look for current cast members Taylor Kitsch, Matt Gilford, and Adrianne Palicki, who all play seniors, to potentially leave the series but the trio may reprise their roles on a recurring basis in order to wrap up their characters' storylines. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files, E! Online)

Lucy Lawless will star in Starz' upcoming gladiator series Spactacus: Blood and Sand, from executive producers Rob Tapert, Sam Raimi, and Josh Donen. She'll play gladiator camp owner Lucretia, opposite Aussie series lead Andy Whitfield (The Strip). Project, which start shooting next month, is expected to air in January 2010. (Variety, Entertainment Weekly)

Dustin Milligan, who plays jock Ethan, won't be returning as a series regular for Season Two of CW's 90210, reports Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello. Milligan's option for a second season has not been picked up but there is a possibility that he could reprise his role to wrap up some storylines this fall. Conversely, Matt Lanter--who plays bad boy Liam--has been upgraded to series regular next season. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Pilot casting alert: James D'Arcy (Virtuality) will star in CBS drama pilot The Eastmans; Nick Kroll (Cavemen) and Nora Zehetner (Heroes) have joined the cast of FOX comedy pilot Cop House; and Scott Porter (Friday Night Lights) will co-star in FOX drama pilot Masterwork, where he will play an FBI agent on the trail of some international art thieves who works closely with Matt Passmore's character. (Hollywood Reporter)

E! Online's Watch with Kristin has a first look at Season Two of HBO's True Blood, which kicks off on June 14th and will follow the second Sookie Stackhouse novel by Charlaine Harris and feature vampiric Viking Eric. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

MTV has renewed reality mainstay Real World for another four cycles, bringing the total number of seasons that the series has aired to a staggering 26. The cabler also ordered another four cycles of reality competition series Real World/Road Rules Challenge, bringing that series' total to 21 cycles. "MTV is proud to continue our relationship with Bunim-Murray that stretches back over 15 years," said MTV programming president Tony DiSanto. "With each new season, the Real World franchise continues to evolve and captivate our ever-changing audience." (Hollywood Reporter)

Former Angel star Andy Hallett, who played Lorne on the WB series, passed away Sunday evening in Los Angeles after a five-year-long battle with heart disease. He was 33 years old. (E! Online)

Mark Burnett Prods. and Lionsgate TV will team up to produce a US version of Italian reality format Parenti talenti, which pits family against one another as they perform song and dance numbers and comedy sketches after spending a week with pro coaches. The companies will jointly pitch the project to networks, while Lionsgate will retain format rights in English-language territories and distribute the US version worldwide. (Variety)

ABC has acquired mini-series Diamonds, starring Judy Davis, James Purefoy, Derek Jacobi, Louise Rose, and Joanne Kelly, from Alchemy TV and Films and plans to air the project, originally developed and produced for CBC, in May. (Variety)

Nikki Finke is reporting that CBS has allegedly "demanded that each existing TV show -- even the hit ones -- reduce their budgets for next year, if renewed." Which she believes could lead to smaller writing staffs next season. (Deadline Hollywood Daily)

Sony Pictures Television has signed a deal with RelativityReal, the reality television arm of Ryan Kavanaugh's Relativity, to co-distribute projects from the shingle, said to have 20 series and pilots in development, outside of the US. (Variety)

44 Blue is development a reality series following party planner Jes Gordon, whose clients include the likes of the Golden Globes, Sting, and Bono, as she puts together successful soirees. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: ABC Cuts Back "In the Motherhood" to Seven Eps, Alicia Witt Scores "The Mentalist," NBC Cancels "Lipstick Jungle," and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing.

After airing just one episode, ABC has cut its episodic commitment for midseason comedy In the Motherhood from thirteen episodes to seven, just slightly more than half of its original order. The network had ordered the comedy, based on a web series, during the writers strike. (Los Angeles Times' Show Tracker)

Alicia Witt (Law & Order: Criminal Intent) will guest star in the season finale of CBS' The Mentalist, where she will play pianist Rosalind Harker, a woman who used to date serial killer Red John, the enigmatic serial killer who killed Jane's family. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

E! Online has confirmed that NBC has canceled drama series Lipstick Jungle, after all. "It was going to stay and we just were officially told it's finally not coming back," series star Brooke Shield told E! Online's Cristina Gibson. "It's very sad. I think a lot of people were really sad, but I think we hung on a really long time. It was three great years that we've been working on it." (E! Online)

Pilot casting alert: T.J. Miller (Cloverfield) and Nick Thune (Knocked Up) have been cast as the leads in CBS comedy pilot Waiting to Die; Leslie Bibb (Confessions of a Shopaholic, Crossing Jordan) and John Michael Higgins (Kath & Kim) will star in NBC's untitled Justin Adler comedy pilot; Ryan Stiles (Two and a Half Men) will star opposite Anita Renfroe in her untitled comedy presentation at ABC; Skylar Astin (Hamlet 2) and Darien Provost (Sanctuary) will star opposite Adam Carolla in CBS comedy pilot Ace in the Hole; and Bobby Lee (MADtv) has joined the cast of NBC comedy pilot State of Romance. (Hollywood Reporter)

Elsewhere, Mary Steenburgen (Four Christmases) will star opposite Jason Biggs and Richard Dreyfuss in CBS comedy pilot Happiness Isn't Everything, where she will play Audrey, Dreyfuss' "unbelievably sensitive" wife and the mother of Jason Biggs' character. (Hollywood Reporter)

New York Post's Popwrap has a first look at Kristen Bell's upcoming guest star role on Starz's Party Down, from executive producer Rob Thomas. The site talks to Thomas about his on-screen reunion with his former Veronica Mars lead, who will play the leader of a rival catering team called Valhalla Catering. And, no worries, Ryan Hansen fans: he'll be back for Season Two of Party Down, should the series be renewed, regardless of his role--which is only recurring--on the Gossip Girl spinoff. (New York Post's Popwrap)

The New York Times talks to Amy Poehler, star of NBC's upcoming comedy series Parks and Recreation, where she plays Leslie Knope, the deputy parks director of Pawnee, Indiana. "She’s naïve and narcissistic, completely deluded and completely out of touch with reality," said Poehler of Leslie. "I think we’ll be the first TV show to win an Academy Award. And the Nobel Peace Prize." (New York Times)

ABC has ordered seven episodes of reality competition series Shark Tank, a US adaptation of British series Dragon's Den, in which "eager entrepreneurs pitch their business ventures to five multimillionaire tycoons." Series, executive produced by Mark Burnett, is expected to air sometime next season. "We have made bigger deals and more deals in our pilot than [other versions] make all season," said Burnett of the changes to the format. "What country on earth is more entrepreneurial and risk taking than the United States of America? Here we have businesses and jobs being created, and it's a great feeling." (Hollywood Reporter)

Michael Ausiello is reporting that Kathleen Turner has joined the cast of Showtime dramedy Californication for a multiple-episode story arc in the series' third season, expected to air next fall. Turner will play "the ball-breaking, foul-mouthed, outrageous boss of Evan Handler's literary agent." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Fremantle has signed first-look deals with such producers as Paul Abbot (State of Play), Bob Cooper (Mr. Woodcock), Mike Tollin (Smallville), Irwin and David Winkler (Rocky Balboa), and Kiwi producer Roger Simpson (Satisfaction). Under the terms of the deals, Fremantle will provide overhead in exchange for having a first crack at any projects developed by the producers, which would then be pitched to US cable outlets. (Variety)

Could Katherine Heigl be sticking around on ABC's Grey's Anatomy after all? The actress, who plays Dr. Izzie Stevens, says she doesn't know whether her character lives or dies, though she did say "I'm there," should Izzie make it through her medical crisis. "I'm more than happy to make that compromise. As my agent likes to say, 'High-class problems,'" said Heigl of being willing to balance her feature work with her role on Grey's Anatomy. "I don't know if I want to continue for five years working 12 months a year, but I can take at least another year or two." (Associated Press)

FOX has ordered reality competition series More to Love, featuring overweight contestants looking for love. Series, executive produced by Mike Fleiss, will feature a format similar to The Bachelor, where a group of women will compete for a single man. "This show is going to get a lot of people talking," said Mike Darnell, president of alternative at FOX. "It may be a little controversial, but I think it will mostly be positive. This is so simple and so obvious, yet it has never been done." (Hollywood Reporter)

MTV has today launched AMTV, a six-hour block of music videos that will air from 3-9 am Monday through Thursday and will feature "music videos, news, interviews and performances, harking back to the network’s origins as a 24-hour home for music videos." (New York Times)

Discovery has ordered thirteen episodes of real-life crime series On the Case With Paula Zahn, in which the former CNN anchor will pursue in-depth investigations of real-life mysteries and interview those closest to the case. (Hollywood Reporter)

Daytime continues to get hit: CBS may opt to cancel long-running soap Guiding Light, as the network's deal with the daytime drama ends in September. The network is said to be looking at possibilities for new programming in the series' afternoon timeslot, such as game shows or a talk show. Guiding Light is the lowest-rated daytime network soap series currently on the air. (TV Week)

Scandinavia's Nordisk Film TV World signed a slew of format deals with US production companies this weekend at MipTV, pacting with Reveille on dating series Don't Date Him Girl, Renegade on Construction Nightmares, Scott Stone on Celebrity Devil Race, Phil Gurin's Gurin Company on music format Melody Challenge, and Dave Broom's 25/7 on 71 Degrees North. Sales mark first US format deals for the company. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Alex O'Loughlin Dips Toe into "Three Rivers," Season Three is Last of "Gavin & Stacey," No Ricky Gervais on "The Office," and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing on a glorious day that sees the premiere of an all-new episode of ABC's Lost tonight. (I can't wait!)

Former Moonlight star Alex O'Loughlin is said to be in talks to topline CBS medical drama pilot Three Rivers, told from the multiple POVs of transplant doctors, organ donors, and organ recipients. Project, from CBS Paramount Network Television, is written/executive produced by Carol Barbee (Jericho) and executive produced by Curtis Hanson and Carol Fenelon. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Co-creator/star James Corden has said that Gavin & Stacey's upcoming third season, set to air in the UK later this year, will be the series' last. "This is it. This will definitely be the last series," said Corden of the series' third season, set to film this summer. "We have a point to which we are working to and that will be the end. It will be sad but it has been a great time for everyone involved." Corden also indicated that any future specials, like 2008's Christmas Special, are highly unlikely. (Sky News, Digital Spy)

Don't get excited about those rumors that The Office creator Ricky Gervais would be making a cameo in the season finale... because they're not true. "We love Ricky, but have not had any discussions about an appearance on the U.S. show," executive producer Paul Lieberstein told E! Online's Kristin dos Santos. "And we haven't given any thought to the final show because it is probably a zillion episodes away." However, Amy Ryan and Idris Elba are slated to appear in the episode. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Jessica Lucas (Cloverfield) has been cast in CW's revival of Melrose Place, where she will play Riley Richmond, a 24-year-old inner-city elementary school teacher from a wealthy family who is engaged to Jonah (Michael Rady) but has cold feet. She joins the already cast Ashlee Simpson-Wentz and Katie Cassidy. (Hollywood Reporter)

Pilot casting alert: Melinda McGraw (Mad Men) has snagged the female lead opposite Kelsey Grammer in his untitled ABC comedy pilot; Alfre Woodard (My Own Worst Enemy) has been cast in FOX drama pilot Maggie Hill; Kyle Bornheimer (Worst Week) will play one of the leads on the untitled Ricky Blitt comedy pilot for ABC opposite Eric Christian Olsen and Alyssa Milano (also cast: Kelly Stables and Brad Small); Reiko Aylesworth (Lost) has joined the cast of ABC's untitled Jerry Bruckheimer drama; Jon Foster (Windfall) will star opposite Jenna Elfman in ABC comedy pilot Accidentally on Purpose; Arielle Kebbel (The Uninvited) will star in ABC comedy pilot No Heroics, a US remake of the UK series; Katherine Moennig (The L Word) and Daniel Henney (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) will star in CBS medical drama pilot Three Rivers; Elisabeth Harnois (One Tree Hill) will star in CBS medical drama pilot, Miami Trauma; DB Woodside (24) has landed a role in CBS drama pilot Back; and Gail O'Grady (Hidden Palms) has been added to the cast of ABC drama pilot Empire State. (Hollywood Reporter)

Nikki Finke is reporting that Ben Silverman's predecessor at NBC, Kevin Reilly (now the president of entertainment at FOX) passed on new drama series Kings, which allegedly cost a whopping $10 million to produce the pilot and a staggering $4 million price tag per additional episode. It's particularly shocking given the low ratings that Kings managed in its first outing, luring only 6 million viewers overall and a 1.6/4 in adults 18-49. "I hear that Ben Silverman was hands-on," writes Finke. "Remember, please, that Ben's predecessor at NBC Entertainment, Kevin Reilly, passed on it. But Ben picked up the script and ran with it. Some thought it should have been a mini-series, but Ben said no. Others thought the modernized Bible retelling should have had more backstory, and at one point Silverman ordered the writers to make it 'more real world.' So he told them to work up a cockamamie scenario whereby the Allies never won World War II, and America went bankrupt afterwards, which meant no oil out of the Middle East, so Mexico got rich, and then..." (Deadline Hollywood Daily)

Gloria LeRoy (All in the Family) is set to join the cast of ABC's Desperate Housewives, around the time that Nicholette Sheridan departs the series. The 77-year-old LeRoy will play Rose. Michael Ausiello has learned from an unknown source that Rose " will figure into Edie's exit in a surprising way" and Ausiello says it's "one that involves an increasingly cuckoo Orson, a violent act, and a touch of dementia. And not necessarily in that order." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

NBC is said to be close to a deal with Hat Trick Productions to develop a US format of UK news panel series Have I Got News For You. According to TV Week's Josef Adalian, the Peacock is said to be in advance talks for a pilot, in which "two teams of celebrities and newsmakers humorously [try] to answer questions about current events and politics." (TV Week)

The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan cornered Paula Malcolmson about her new series, Caprica, the Battlestar Galactica prequel series that is slated to air on Sci Fi (or, rather Syfy) in 2010. "Battlestar has “come to an end, and it’s a beautiful end and [fans] should mourn that show," Malcolmson told Ryan. "You can’t just come along with another show that’s going to replicate it. That’s not what we want to do, we want to give them something else." Co-star Esai Morales said that Caprica is "about what it is to be human." In other news, the BSG telepic The Plan is likely airing on Sci Fi this fall, around November. (Chicago Tribune's The Watcher)

SCI FI Wire also spoke to Paula Malcomson. "It's a complicated show," Malcolmson told SCI FI Wire. "It's hard to describe in a couple of sentences. It's about a couple of families that are in the wake of a tragedy and are sort of dealing with their lives. A lot of the technology, the sci-fi stuff comes in, and it's [about] how that can be a good or a bad thing." (SCI FI Wire)

FOX has pulled reality competition series Hole in the Wall yet again and will fill the series' Sunday 7 pm ET/PT timeslot with repeats of American Dad and King of the Hill effective immediately. Meanwhile, the network has shaved down variety series Osbournes: Reloaded from a one-hour debut to a 40-minute installment on March 31st now that it has expanded American Idol to an 80 minute edition. (Futon Critic)

Reality production company 495 Prods., which produces A Shot at Love, has renewed its deal with MTV, under which the cabler has committed to three new series from the company. (Variety)

Elsewhere at MTV, Audrina Patridge will leave The Hills after its upcoming fifth season and has signed a deal with Mark Burnett Prods. for an untitled docusoap series that will track Patridge's professional and personal life. The series will be pitched to networks beginning next week.
"We are truly pleased to have the chance to work with Audrina," said Mark Burnett. "She has already proved her star quality, and we can't wait to show her fans worldwide the next stage of her life and career." (Hollywood Reporter)

UK residents will be able to catch CBS procedural drama Eleventh Hour, from Warner Bros. Television, later this year. Living has acquired rights to the series and plans to launch it sometime in 2009. "Strong, compelling with hard hitting story lines and a great cast, including an amazing performance from Rufus Sewell, Eleventh Hour is a great addition to Living's drama line up," said Amy Barham, Virgin's head of acquisitions. (The Guardian)

While there are no dates set for SAG to begin official negotiating sessions with AMPTP, national interim exec director David White is trying to reassure guild members that progress is being made. "Our negotiators are active behind the scenes," wrote White in a message to members. "While the rigorous confidentiality required in negotiation settings prevents me from providing a full update here, I want to assure you that we are working deliberately, and with as much haste as possible, to conclude our talks and bring to you, the members, a deal for your ratification." (Variety)

Some bad news on the commercial contract negotation front, however: SAG and AFTRA leaders are said to be mulling whether to mail out strike-authorization ballots if negotiations with advertisers don't improve quickly. Issues on the table right now stem from ad industry asking for rollbacks, including ending the traditional pay structure on national ads and a proposal to increase the standard work day from eight to ten hours in order to reduce overtime. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: FOX Gets "Mental," HBO Defends "Big Love" Controversy, BBC to Dine Again at Blanc's "Restaurant," and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing.

FOX has acquired US rights to FTVS' thirteen-episode medical drama Mental, starring Chris Vance (Prison Break), Annabella Sciorra (The Sopranos), and Jacqueline McKenzie (The 4400), which it plans to air this summer. Series, created by Deborah Joy LeVine and Dan Levine. Project, from Fox Television Studios and Fox International Channels, was shot last year in Bogota, Colombia as part of a international co-production business model that produces fare internationally and then sells it back into the US market. (Variety)

HBO has defended its plans to air a March 15th episode of drama Big Love, which features a sacred Mormon endowment ritual, despite encountering criticism from Church of Latter Day Saints officials who claimed to be "offended" by the inclusion of such a ceremony, said to be viewable only by LDS church members in good standing. "Obviously, it was not our intention to do anything disrespectful to the church, but to those who may be offended, we offer our sincere apology," said HBO in a statement. Series creators Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer, meanwhile, said that the ceremony was vetted by experts for accuracy. "In approaching the dramatization of the endowment ceremony, we knew we had a responsibility to be completely accurate and to show the ceremony in the proper context and with respect," said Olsen and Scheffer in a separate statement. "We therefore took great pains to depict the ceremony with the dignity and reverence it is due." (Hollywood Reporter)

BBC has commissioned a third season of culinary competition series The Restaurant (which airs Stateside on BBC America as Last Restaurant Standing) and plans to air the third season later this year. Raymond Blanc and his two inspectors, Sarah Willingham and David Moore, will return for a third season, which will see nine couples compete for their own restaurant. "This year will be survival of the fittest," said Blanc. "I am not looking for dreamers, I want to see couples with fresh ideas and a partnership that will flourish under pressure." (BBC)

Pilot casting alert: Tyler Labine (Reaper) has been cast as the lead in FOX comedy pilot Sons of Tucson; Natalie Dormer (The Tudors) has snagged the female lead on FOX drama pilot Masterwork, from Prison Break creator Paul Scheuring; Sara Rue (Less Than Perfect) has been cast in ABC's drama pilot Eastwick, Drake Bell (Drake and Josh) will star in CBS comedy pilot The Fish Tank; Eion Bailey (ER) and Kristin Bauer (True Blood) have joined CBS drama pilot House Rules; and Richard Schiff (The West Wing) has been cast in FOX drama pilot The Reincarnationist. (Hollywood Reporter)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello has a sneak peek at two clips from this Thursday's return of Smallville on the CW. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

NBC has ordered eight episodes of reality competition series Great American Road Trip, in which seven families will drive cross-country to various well-known US landmarks and compete in challenges against the other families until only one remains. Series, from BBC Worldwide, will launch this summer. (Hollywood Reporter)

Is the long-rumored Star Wars live action series finally in the works? Damages' Rose Byrne, promoting Knowing, her new film with Nicholas Cage, allegedly revealed that the series is currently casting. “A lot of my friends have been auditioning for it,” said Byrne of the series, which is said to focus on minor characters during the time period between Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars. (MTV Movies Blog)

Ousted NBC Universal executive Katherine Pope will oversee television operations for outgoing News Corp chairman Peter Chernin's new production company, says Deadline Hollywood Daily's Nikki Finke. (Deadline Hollywood Daily)

MTV has ordered 20 episodes of animated series DJ and the Fro, about two office workers who trade viral videos while chaos reigns around them, and has ordered five scripted pilots, said to be a mix of live-action and animated fare. Among them is Private High Musical, an adaptation of the web series that spoofed Disney Channel's High School Musical, Long Distance Relationship, about a couple who try to stay together when they attend different universities, and sketch comedy Popzilla. (Hollywood Reporter)

NBC Universal has signed a deal with Sony's PlayStation Network that will enable users to download its movies and television episodes on PlayStation 3 and PSP devices. Television episodes from such series as Battlestar Galactica, The Office, Heroes, 30 Rock, and Eureka will be available for download 24 hours after their linear transmission; both television and feature offerings will be made available in both high-definition and standard-definition options. (Variety)

The Hollywood Reporter's Steven Zeitchik looks at what the proposed and "nearly unpredecented" merger between William Morris Agency and Endeavor would mean for the industry and the shared appeal it has for both companies. However, given the current duplication of work at both companies, job cuts are to be expected following the merger. (Hollywood Reporter)

Following several cost-cutting measures, Sony Pictures Entertainment will layoff roughly 250 employees and cut another 100 open positions, reducing their overall workforce by five percent worldwide. (Hollywood Reporter)

Former Kaplan/Perrone talent manager Justin Killion has been hired as VP of development at Thom Beers' Original Prods., where he will oversee reality programming but also make a push for the company into scripted series. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: NBC Likely to Renew "Heroes," Chenoweth and Garber Find "Glee," No Gretchen-Based Spin-off for "Prison Break," and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing.

NBC will likely be renewing superhero drama Heroes for a fourth season. At least, according to NBC Entertainment President Angela Bromstad, who said that the series wasn't currently on the bubble for the next season and that the network was likely going to order 18-20 episodes for next season. One of the major factors is said to be NBC's sci-fi pilot Day One, from Heroes writer Jesse Alexander, which could air on Monday evenings. "Day One is a big event and we're looking at that to come into the Heroes spot," said Bromstad. "It's right now being looked at as a 13-episode run -- something people could commit to and we could make a big splash with." And the network is also said to have been privately discussing issuing an end date for Heroes, however " even if NBC ever made such a move, Bromstad said, they wouldn't want to make next season the conclusion." (Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed)

Kristin Chenoweth (Pushing Daisies) and Victor Garber (Eli Stone) have joined the cast of FOX musical dramedy Glee in recurring roles. Garber will play the father of Matthew Morris' character, while details of Chenoweth's character are being kept firmly under wraps. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Speaking of Glee, FOX has announced that it will air the pilot episode of Glee on Tuesday, May 19th, following an episode of American Idol. However, the drama series itself won't be launching until this fall. "An ambitious and unique show such as Glee deserves an ambitious and unique kick-off," said Peter Liguori, Chairman, Fox Broadcasting Company. "We also wanted to take advantage of the huge American Idol promotional platform to launch the marketing campaign in May." (via press release)

Indira Varma (Rome, Torchwood) has nabbed the lead role in ABC drama pilot Inside the Box, from executive producer Shonda Rhimes (Grey's Anatomy); she'll play Catherine, an uber-ambitious and tightly wound news producer who oversees the Washington D.C. network news bureau who believes she is finally getting a promotion but is mistaken. Pilot will be directed by Mark Tinker. Elsewhere, Gina Torres (Firefly) has joined the cast of CBS drama pilot Washington Field, where she will play a "rapid-deployment team coordinator and tactical pilot." And David Giuntoli (Privileged) will star as a wealthy young attorney on CBS' untitled US Attorney drama pilot from writer/EXP Frank Military. (Hollywood Reporter)

E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos is reporting that the final two episodes of FOX's Prison Break, which have yet to be shot will wrap up the series in a two-hour telepic that features "a self-contained Prison Break adventure in which Michael faces the most challenging break ever," rather than the basis for a spin-off to star Jodi Lyn O'Keefe's Gretchen. "Despite what many of you fans have emailed, Fox is not cooking up a show around Gretchen, nor is it working on a ladies-behind-bars spinoff," writes Dos Santos. "The Prison Break creative team is finally making that much-discussed two-hour wrap-up film." (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm will begin production next week in Los Angeles on a new season. Larry David's improvised comedy wrapped its previous season in November 2007. (New York Post)

FOX has announced that it will air Osbournes: Reloaded as a series of variety specials rather than an ongoing series. The first special is now set to air on Tuesday, March 31st at 9 pm, after an episode of American Idol, and will return at a later date with specials to air throughout the season. And Fringe fans, take note: Osbournes: Reloaded will pre-empt the series for a week; Fringe is now set to return on April 7th. (Variety)

ABC has given a pilot presentation to multi-camera comedy This Little Piggy, about two adult siblings who are forced to move back in with their older brother and his family in their childhood home when faced with the tough economic crisis. Project, from ABC Studios, is written/executive produced by Steven Cragg and Brian Bradley. (Hollywood Reporter)

MTV is said to be considering continuing "reality" series The Hills even if Lauren Conrad leaves at the end of next season, set to launch March 30th. Series would instead continue to follow the existing cast--without Conrad--of other well-heeled Angelenos, including Heidi, Spencer, Audrina, and Brody. (Los Angeles Times)

Sundance Channel has renewed musical series Live From Abbey Road for a third season. (Series airs in the UK on Channel 4.) The third season, consisting of 12 episodes, will feature such arists as James Taylor, Seal, Fleet Foxes, Keane, the Killers, and Sugarland. (Hollywood Reporter)

Sony Pictures Television has promoted Karen Glass to VP of development, where she will handle development and production for alternative series in New York. She reports to Holly Jacobs. (Variety)

RDF USA has hired British reality producer Claire O'Donohoe as an EVP, where she will oversee the nonscripted development team, developing projects for broadcast and cable. She will report to Chris Coelen. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Terry O'Quinn and Reiko Aylesworth Talk "Lost," Eddie Cibrian Suits Up for "Washington Field," Super Dave Returns, and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing.

The Los Angeles Times talks to Lost's Terry O'Quinn about the reveal that his character, John Locke, wasn't quite as dead as it initially seemed in a very interesting interview that peels back some of the layers of motivations behind the enigmatic character. "Well, it appears to be at least a version of living," admitted O'Quinn. "It's interesting that I find post-death Locke up to this point much more relaxed and confident. I guess dying does that to you. I don't think he's too worried anymore. I think he might believe that he has the answers he's been looking for." (Los Angeles Times)

In other Lost-related news, TV Guide talks to new cast member Reiko Aylesworth (24) about what to expect on this week's episode, entitled "LaFleur." "There are so many reveals in this [episode]," said Aylesworth. "This episode opens up many cans of worms... [and] leads into the whole shift in the storyline. But then the end is very cool, too. It widens the scope of the show even more, which is hard to believe! It's game-changing." (TV Guide)

Eddie Cibrian (Invasion) has been cast as the male lead in CBS drama pilot Washington Field, about a husband and wife pair of experts who travel the world responding to various crises as part of a FBI task force charged with safeguarding America's interests. Cibrian will play Tommy, the "evidence response team coordinator and hazmat expert" who is married to Teri Polo's character. Cibrian was most recently seen on ABC's Ugly Betty and USA's The Starter Wife. (Hollywood Reporter)

Elsewhere, Jennifer Finnigan (Close to Home) has been cast to star in ABC drama pilot Inside the Box, where she will play the new White House press secretary who has an affair with a news anchor (Jason George); Lucy Davis (The Office) has been cast opposite Lauren Graham in ABC comedy pilot The Bridget Show (formerly known as Let It Go); Jon Bernthal (The Class) and Johann Urb (Dirt) have joined the cast of ABC supernatural drama pilot Eastwick; and Morris Chestnut will star in sci-fi pilot V... where he will play Ryan, the boyfriend of a Homeland Security agent who is concealing a secret: that he's actually a member of the alien Visitors and a key member of a resistance force. [Editor's note: this would mean that Wolf will not be playing Ryan, as reported by Michael Ausiello, but will be playing a news anchor, indicated by the Hollywood Reporter.] (Hollywood Reporter)

CW pilot helmer alert: Christian Duguay (Coco Chanel) will direct drama pilot The Beautiful Life; Scott Winant (Californication) will direct drama pilot Body Politic; and Marcos Siega (Dexter) will direct supernatural drama pilot Vampire Diaries. (Hollywood Reporter)

USA released its summer programming plans, which includes the launch of Season Eight of Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Season Two of In Plain Sight on April 19th; new drama series Royal Pains will be paired with Burn Notice on Thursday nights beginning in June; and Monk and Psych will return on Friday nights, but the cabler did not release any premiere dates for the latter two series. (Variety)

The creators of How I Met Your Mother may just very well solve the mystery of the series' title by the end of the season, reports Michael Ausiello. "At the end of the season, we will address the title of our show," said Bays, who told Ausiello that the last four episodes will feature "big events in the lives of our characters -- specifically Ted (Josh Radnor). We're going to wrap up some things that have been left dangling... I will say at the very least that the season will end with a complete sentence. We've left some sentence fragments dangling in past seasons, but this year, there will either be a period, a question mark or an exclamation point. We will be giving the audience that." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Lifetime has ordered a pilot for an untitled multi-camera comedy about the life of comedian Sherri Shepherd (30 Rock), which had been previously developed at the CW during the 2007-08 season. Project, written by Dave Flebotte and executive produced by Nina Wass and Gene Stein, is about a woman who discovers her husband fathered a child with another woman and invites both the kid and his mom to move in with them. (Hollywood Reporter)

Following a standoff between MTV Networks and The Sarah Silverman Program executive producers, Comedy Central in partnership with sister cabler Logo have renewed the series for a third season. Under the terms of the co-financing agreement, the episodic budgets on The Sarah Silverman Program will actually increase, rather than suffer the twenty percent reduction that MTV had threatened. The third season is expected to launch on both Comedy Central and Logo in early 2010. (Hollywood Reporter)

Spike has ordered four half-hour episodes of mockumentary comedy Super Dave Osbourne to air this summer and creator Bob Einstein will write the scripts and executive produce with Lee Kernis and Alan Blythe. (Variety)

Should Warner Bros. Television be able to close the previously reported multi-year renewal deals with CBS for Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory, creator Chuck Lorre has said that all of his key cast members from each series will be returning. "It’s a remarkable thing to have happen," Lorre told TelevisionWeek. "Everyone involved in the show gets to think long-term as opposed to year-to-year. It allows people to plan a life when you get this kind of support." (TV Week)

MTV will launch six-episode reality competition series The Phone on April 21st at 10 pm ET/PT. The unscripted series, from Fremantle Media North America, follows four strangers who receive a phone call inviting them to participate in a game and then follows them as they embark on a series of mental and physical challenges in order to win a $50,000 cash prize each week. (via press release)

Disney Channel will begin production on High School Musical 4 later this year, with the telepic expected to air on the cabler in 2010. Story will follow a "love triangle set against the cross-town rivalry between the East High Wildcats and the West High Knights" and will feature a brand-new cast. (TV Week)

Sony Pictures Entertainment will eliminate roughly 300 jobs or four percent of its workforce through layoffs and the cutting of open positions. The workforce reductions could come as early as next week and is said to be related to "slumping DVD sales and a worsening economy." (Los Angeles Times)

Noah Oppenheim has been named head of unscripted development at Reveille after overseeing the development of a reality series starring self-help guru Tony Robbins for NBC. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.