Showtime Unveils Docuseries "Oliver Stone's Secret History of America"

Pay cabler Showtime has announced that it has pacted with filmmaker Oliver Stone on a new ten-episode documentary series that will air next year.

Entitled Oliver Stone's Secret History of America, the ten-hour docuseries--narrated by Stone himself--will investigate crucial human events that were "under-reported" at the time of their occurrence, with Stone and his team of researchers sifting through national archives of several countries in order to amass a more detailed view at certain events. Topics explored in the series will include the US bombing of Japan during WWII, the Cold War, America’s national security complex, the Kennedy administration, and the Vietnam War, among others.

"We are very happy that Oliver Stone has chosen Showtime as the home for his provocative series about key unknown moments of American history," said Showtime's President of Entertainment Robert Greenblatt. "Not only has his name become synonymous with visionary filmmaker, but Oliver is also a fascinating storyteller always striving to shed new light on the human experience. His continuing curiosity about real events of the 20th Century has now led him to a documentary series unlike any other, which is why it's perfect for our premium audience."

The full press release from Showtime, announcing the ten-episode documentary series, can be found below.

SHOWTIME AND OLIVER STONE UNCOVER
AMERICA’S SECRET HISTORY

New 10-Episode Documentary Series From Academy Award®-Winning Director Oliver Stone Entitled
OLIVER STONE’S SECRET HISTORY OF AMERICA
To Debut On SHOWTIME in 2010

LOS ANGELES, CA – (August 18, 2009) – As Americans, do we really know and understand our shared and complicated history? How do we recall the small details and forgotten players that influenced some of the biggest events from America’s past? Will our children actually get the “real” or whole story from reading history books? And how will it affect the future of our country?

Academy Award®-winning director Oliver Stone is creating and executive producing a new, ten episode documentary series entitled OLIVER STONE’S SECRET HISTORY OF AMERICA, which will premiere on SHOWTIME in 2010. The announcement was made today by Robert Greenblatt, President of Entertainment, Showtime Networks Inc.

"We are very happy that Oliver Stone has chosen SHOWTIME as the home for his provocative series about key unknown moments of American history,” said Greenblatt. “Not only has his name become synonymous with visionary filmmaker, but Oliver is also a fascinating storyteller always striving to shed new light on the human experience. His continuing curiosity about real events of the 20th Century has now led him to a documentary series unlike any other, which is why it's perfect for our premium audience."

Narrated by Stone, the new one-hour series will feature episodes that focus on human events, that at the time went under-reported, but crucially shaped America’s unique and complex history over the last 60 years. Stone and a small group of historians and archivists have meticulously combed through the national archives of the U.S., Russia, South Africa, England, and Japan in search of papers, letters, memoranda, film, and photographs to assist in their documentation of unknown historical figures and events that have rarely, if ever, been revealed. Topics range from President Harry Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan to the origins and reasons for the Cold War with the Soviet Union, to the fierce struggle between war and peace in America’s national security complex. Newly discovered facts and accounts from the Kennedy administration, the Vietnam War, and the great changes in America’s role in the world since the fall of Communism in the 1980s will be presented.

Oliver Stone, who has worked on the series for almost 2 years, said today, “Through this epic 10-hour series, which I feel is the deepest contribution I could ever make in film to my children and the next generation, I can only hope a change in our thinking will result.”

Channel Surfing: "Fire" Sale at ABC, Winslet Cops to "Mildred Pierce," Mr. Eko Wants to Get "Lost" Again, and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing.

ABC has given a script order with a sizable penalty to a contemporary series take on 1985 feature film St. Elmo's Fire. Project, which comes from Sony Pictures Television, will be written/executive produced by Dan Bucatinsky and executive produced by Topher Grace, Jamie Tarses, and Joel Schumacher. The series would revolve around a group of six friends--three men, three women--who hang out together at a Georgetown restaurant called St. Elmo's Bar & Grill. "I feel it is time to re-create Friends in the hourlong genre and feel like this is the perfect opportunity," said Bucatinsky. ""More than anything, the movie evokes a feeling that doesn't go away, the feeling of bonding with your friends who become your surrogate family." (Hollywood Reporter)

Could Kate Winslet be headed for the small screen? HBO is said to be in the running to pick up a mini-series adaptation of 1945 feature film Mildred Pierce that would star Kate Winslet (The Reader) and be written and directed by Todd Haynes (Far From Heaven). The original film, which starred Joan Crawford, revolved around a murder investigation that ensnares a bored housewife-turned-restaurant-mogul, her spoiled daughter, and her vicious husband. (Editor: I'm a huge fan of the original and would love to see Winslet and Haynes work their magic on a remake, which I hope would remain period-set.) (Variety)

Could Mr. Eko be returning to Lost? If actor Adawale Akinnuoye-Agbaj has his way, he will be. "I loved playing that character," Akinnuoye-Agbaj told Entertainment Weekly. "I loved working with that team and the reception I got from people was phenomenal. Even at Comic-Con this year I went to sign my action figure for G.I. Joe and people had tons of questions about Lost. It makes you feel good that you could be off a show for more than a year and still have people thinking about your character. It was a great part. I’m here for them. Adewale is open for business. We have had talks about some things they might do for the final season and there are other dead folks coming back allegedly but at the moment it is still a maybe. A strong maybe but I have not shot anything yet or signed any contracts. But I’m hoping." Lost's executive producers, meanwhile, declined to comment. (Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Reporter)

TNT has confirmed that drama series Saving Grace will wrap its run next summer with a final batch of nine episodes. According to the Hollywood Reporter's Nellie Andreeva, the cabler offered studio Fox Television Studios a full fourth season order, but the studio "declined to accept it for financial reasons." Instead, an additional three episodes have been tacked on to the six that were meant to run next year in an effort to tie up any dangling plot lines. "It's been a fantastic beacon for the network, which has both challenged and entertained viewers in ways few other shows on television ever dare," said TNT's programming czar Michael Wright. (Hollywood Reporter)

In other cancellation news, Comedy Central has confirmed that it has cancelled Reno 911! after six seasons. News of the axe was originally made by co-creator/star Thomas Lennon over Twitter. (Hollywood Reporter)

HBO has signed a deal with writer/producer Frank Spotnitz (The X-Files) to develop two new drama series. First up: Humanitas, a futuristic drama that Spotnitz has written and will executive produce with Gavin Polone, about a potentially threatening pandemic stemming from major advances in medical science and genetic manipulation. Spotnitz and co-writer Adam Rapp will also adapt Robert Silverberg's sci-fi novel "The World Inside," about a future where, following massive overpopulation, the planet's inhabitants live inside "carefully controlled urban centers where frustration and anger are eliminated, sex is rampant and fertility is the most prized human attribute." Meanwhile, Spotnitz is writing a drama pilot Arc for FX about a former spy who tries to leave behind the espionage game and settle into normal life. Based on a true story, it will be produced by Scott Free Prods. and CBS Television Studios. (Variety)

Reveille has acquired US remake rights for Italian drama series About My Brother, about a Manhattan lawyer who returns home to Italy and forms an unconventional partnership with his autistic brother, who has become a dogged investigator. (Hollywood Reporter)

Cartoon Network has ordered additional installments of animated series The Marvelous Adventures of Flapjack, which will now run throughout the remainder of 2009, and has ordered two new series: Regular Show, about groundskeepers and the animals who live on the ground who try to keep themselves busy, and Horrorbots, about two teenage robots who attend high school. (Variety)

A&E and Tony Danza (Who's the Boss) are developing reality series Teach, in which the actor would serve as a co-teacher of a 10th grade English class at a high school in Philadelphia. Production will commence if and when Philadelphia school board officials approve the cameras to enter the school. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: "The Walking Dead" at AMC, Jon Hamm on Season Three of "Mad Men," Paula Abdul Gets "Ugly," and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing.

AMC is reportedly close to signing a deal with Frank Darabont (The Green Mile) to write and direct an adaptation of Robert Kirkman's comic series "The Walking Dead" for the cabler. Potential series, about a group of people who have survived a zombie apocalypse who search for a safe place to call their home, will be executive produced by Gale Anne Hurd and David Alpert. No studio is currently attached. "This is not about zombies popping out of closets," said AMC's SVP of programming Joel Stillerman. "This is a story about survival, and the dynamics of what happens when a group is forced to survive under these circumstances. The world is portrayed in a smart, sophisticated way." (Variety)

The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan has a fantastic, insightful, and lengthy interview with Mad Men star Jon Hamm, in which he talks about Season Three of the AMC period drama. "What I think is important to understand about Don is that this guy is pretty significantly damaged goods," said Hamm about his character, Don Draper. "You know, [he had] an unbelievably bad family upbringing, very little education. Completely surviving on his wiles, his street smarts, whatever, and kind of manipulating people -- that’s the bad spin... So he’s kind of, in blunt terms, he’s [expletived] up. And that comes out in his dealings with people that try to get close to him. So this is not a guy who’s big on being vulnerable. And that is a big part of loving relationships -- being comfortable enough to be vulnerable. And I think that this guy might not have the capacity for that. He might. But it’s going to take a lot more work than he seems to be willing to give and I think that’s where he keeps running up against the wall with Betty.'I’m going to give you this much, and if you want more than that, I’m not going to do it.' And that’s where a lot of his bad behavior, comes out. Because the new girl doesn’t ask for that. They just want [Don] to be handsome, charming and exciting and new. So, when all that comes back on top of him, at the end of Season 2, he realizes that, as he says in his letter, 'I know that if I lose you, you’ll find somebody else, but I’ll be alone.'" (The Chicago Tribune's The Watcher)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that former American Idol judge Paula Abdul is in discussions to guest star on ABC's Ugly Betty, where she would play a new temp at Mode magazine who forms a friendship with Becki Newton's Amanda. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

CBS has given a pilot script order to a US version of British crime drama series Wire in the Blood and has brought on board Ildy Modrovich (CSI: Miami) to write the pilot script and Terry McDonough (Breaking Bad) to direct. Original series starred Robson Green as a clinical psychologist who teamed up with a female police detective to solve brutal murders. Project will be produced via CBS Television Studios and DreamWorks. (The Wrap)

Ernie Hudson (Oz) has joined the cast of NBC's Heroes in a recurring role next season, where he will play Baltimore detective Captain Lubbock who is attempting to track down his quarry, as yet unrevealed. (Hollywood Reporter)

Scott Foley (The Unit) will guest star in an upcoming episode of NBC's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit this fall, where he will appear in the season's fourth episode as a real estate agent enmeshed in a murder investigation. “I’ve been a fan of the show for a long time,” Foley told Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello. “And the character was fully developed with addictions and problems both personally and professionally. Plus... it’s SVU, come on!” (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

MTV has ordered five new series for 2010: live-action comedy Hard Times, reality competition series American Idiots, docusoap Downtown Girls, reality series Megadrive, and an untitled reality/comedy/dance series featuring Robert Hoffman. Additionally, the cabler picked up additional seasons of Silent Library, Teen Cribs, and Is She Really Going Out with Him? (Variety)

America's Next Top Model runner-up Yaya Dacosta has been cast on ABC's Ugly Betty, where she will play Wilhelmina's unruly daughter Nico next season. Dacosta replaces Jowharah Jones, who originated the character in Season One of the ABC dramedy. According to Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello, Nico "resurfaces in the Oct. 9 season premiere and promptly gets caught up in one of the show’s new mysteries." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

The Paley Center for Media has announced the lineup for its Fall TV Preview Parties, which kick off on September 9th with FOX (Glee, The Cleveland Show, Brothers). Subsequent evenings feature NBC on September 10th (Community, Trauma, Mercy), CBS on September 11th (Accidentally on Purpose, The Good Wife, NCIS: Los Angeles, Three Rivers), CW on September 12th (Melrose Place, Vampire Diaries, The Beautiful Life), and ABC on September 15th (FlashForward, Hank, The Middle, Modern Family, Cougar Town). (Variety)

Courtesy of co-creator Sam Bain, Broadcast has an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the upcoming sixth season of British comedy Peep Show via a series of candid photographs taken on the set by Bain. (Broadcast)

Eric Close (Without a Trace), Dreama Walker (Gossip Girl), Rachel Melvin (Days of Our Lives), Jared Keeso (The Guard), Emma Lahana (The Guard), Greyston Holt (Durham County) and Steven Grayhm (Taken) have been cast in Lifetime Movie Network's four-hour mini-series Seven Deadly Sins, based on the mystery novel series by Robin Wasserman. Project, from SDS Films and executive producer Barbara Lieberman, is slated to air in 2010. (Hollywood Reporter)

Kath & Kim creators/stars Gina Riley and Jane Turner are said to be in talks with Australia's Channel 7 about a fifth season of their series Kath & Kim... or a spin-off starring their characters Prue and Trude, described as "toffy-nosed shop assistants" as they live a life of luxury among the world's best hotels "while battling the harsh economic climate." (Broadcast)

Jay Leno has been cleared of a charges of violating WGA's strike regulations during the 100-day writers strike. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

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: Grant Show Open to "Melrose" Return, Ehle Plays "Game of Thrones," Third Season of "Inbetweeners" on Tap, and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing.

Grant Show, set to star on CBS comedy Accidentally on Purpose this fall, has said that he's open to appearing on the CW's revival of Melrose Place. "We've been talking, but nothing solid," Show says. "I'm not opposed to it... They haven't come up with the writing for me yet. I'm not sure they're even going to need me this year — maybe next year." Should Show close a deal to return to the series, he'll join original stars Josie Bissett, Thomas Calabro, Laura Leighton, and Daphne Zuniga as those who have turned up on Melrose 2.0. (TVGuide.com)

Jennifer Ehle (Possession) has joined the cast for the HBO fantasy drama pilot Game of Thrones, where she will play Catelyn Stark, the wife of Sean Bean's Ned Stark. Ehle's character was originally promised to Ned's older brother who was killed before they could marry; she then "fulfilled her duty by marrying Ned and securing the alliance between their two houses." Ehle joins a cast that includes Bean, Mark Addy, Peter Dinklage, Jack Gleeson, Kit Harrington, and Harry Lloyd. In other casting news, Swoosie Kurtz (Pushing Daisies) has joined the cast of Lifetime's comedy series Rita Rocks in a recurring capacity, where she will play the mother of Nicole Sullivan's character, and Brenda Vaccaro (Nip/Tuck) has will star in HBO Film's Jack Kevorkian biopic You Don't Know Jack, directed by Barry Levinson. (Hollywood Reporter)

E4 has announced that it has recommissioned comedy series The Inbetweeners for a third season. The Bwark-produced comedy created by Iain Morris and Damon Beesley, stars Simon Bird, James Buckley, Blake Harrison, and Joe Thomas. It has already aired two seasons on Channel 4 digital sibling E4 and is set to air Stateside this fall on BBC America. According to E4 head Angela Jain, The Inbetweeners had "some of the most beautifully crafted puerile and funny jokes ever seen on British television but also moments of crushing heartbreak, which are all testament to the brilliance of the writing and acting." [Editor: I totally agree! Congrats, Iain and Damon!] (Broadcast)

FOX has announced that American Idol judge Kara DioGuardi will be returning to the reality competition series next season following the conclusion of her contract negotiation. "Kara's spitfire personality and sharp musical sensibility infused American Idol with a new energy last year," said FOX president of alternative Mike Darnell. "She clearly has a keen eye for talent -- spotting Adam Lambert's superstar quality early on last season -- and her performance on the Season Eight finale was one of the most memorable in recent Idol history." (Hollywood Reporter)

Slight changes afoot at Bravo, which announced that it had changed timeslots and launch dates for its returning programs Flipping Out and The Rachel Zoe Project. Flipping Out will now air Tuesdays at 10 pm ET/PT beginning August 18th, while The Rachel Zoe Project will air Mondays at 10 pm ET/PT beginning August 24th. (Futon Critic)

As expected, Greg Meidel has been named president of Twentieth TV, following Bob Cook's decision to leave the position. Meidel, who will continue to oversee MyNetworkTV, will assume oversight of Twentieth TV's programming and distribution. (Variety)

At yesterday's TCA session for CBS, entertainment topper Nina Tassler hit back at outbound NBC Entertainment chairman Ben Silverman. Asked to comment about his departure from NBC, Tassler declined to comment, saying rather cheekily, "I’m really just a D-girl," referring sarcastically to an off-hand remark Silverman made of her early on during his tenture at NBC. Touché! (Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider)

TruTV has ordered seven episodes of unscripted series Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura, in which the former Minnesota governor will "investigate controversial plots and schemes that have been circulating in the news for many years and have piqued the public's interest." Project, from A. Smith and Co., will launch later this year. (Variety)

Bashar Rahal (War, Inc.) has been cast a multiple-episode story arc in Day Eight of 24, where he will play a general from the Islamic Republic of Kamistan who is enmeshed in a conspiracy involving President Hassan (Anil Kapoor). (Hollywood Reporter)

E! has ordered eight episodes of unscripted half-hour spoof series Reality Hell, in which actors attempt to persuade a person that he or she is appearing on a new reality series. Series, which launches August 16th, is executive produced by Peter M. Cohen. (Variety)

WE has ordered six episodes of two new series, a one-hour unscripted series Girl Meets Gown, in which brides look for their dream wedding dress; and Jilted, in which "women give their boyfriends ultimatums." Both will launch next year. The cabler also renewed The Locator, Little Miss Perfect, and High School Confidential, all of which will return to the schedule in 2010. (Variety)

More than 100 showrunners and executive producers have formally signed a protest against the changes planned for the Emmy telecast by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, which seeks to exclude several categories from the live telecast next month. "We, the undersigned showrunners and executive producers of television's current line-up of programs, oppose the Academy of Television Arts and Science's decision to remove writing awards from the live telecast," said the protesters in a prepared statement. "This decision conveys a fundamental understatement of the importance of writers in the creation of television programming and a symbolic attack on the primacy of writing in our industry. We implore ATAS to restore these awards to their rightful place in the live telecast of the 2009 Emmy Awards." (via press release)

Meanwhile, the Emmy telecast producer Don Mischer said at a TCA panel yesterday that the TV Academy could become irrelevant, unless they make certain changes. "We are trying to keep the Emmys alive as a major television event," said Mischer. "It may come to that... The writing is on the wall, and every other award show knows it." Among the changes necessary for the awards show to stay alive, Misher said, was presenting series that mainstream viewers can recognize and not featuring narrow series that have niche appeal. We're going to have to connect the show to the big picture of television," said Mischer. "Its high points and memorable moments... We want to maintain a major profile. This is broadcasting, not netcasting." (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Christopher Gorham Embroiled in "Covert Affairs," Franka Potente Moves into "House," NBC to Revive "Rockford Files," and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing.

Christopher Gorham (Harper's Island) will star opposite Piper Perabo in USA's spy thriller pilot Covert Affairs. Gorham's attachment would seemingly lift the casting contingency on the project, which follows Annie Walker, a polyglot CIA trainee (Perabo) whose relationship with an enigmatic ex-boyfriend makes her of interest to the agency. Gorham will play Auggie Anderson, a blinded CIA military intelligence operative who helps Walker. (Hollywood Reporter)

Franka Potente (The Bourne Identity) will guest star in the season premiere of House this fall, where she will play a mystery character that Gregory House encounters in the mental hospital. What's unclear is whether Potente will be playing a doctor, a patient, or a figment of House's imagination. Hmmmm.... (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

House creator David Shore has come on board to oversee a remake of private eye drama The Rockford Files with NBC, Universal Media Studios, and Steve Carell's Carousel Television. "It's one of the shows that made me want to become a writer," said Shore. "I had no interest in adapting any old stuff, but this was the one exception." Like the original, the update will likely focus on an LA private investigator who is trying to make a living solving cases. NBC apparently wanted to fast-track this for mid-season but Angela Bromstad now tells Variety's Cynthia Littleton that they will "take our time and get it right." (Variety)

Marti Noxon and Dawn Parouse Olmstead's Grady Twin Prods. have set up several projects in development around town. Diane Keaton is now attached to the duo's untitled comedy project at HBO about a feminist icon who starts a porn magazine for women. Noxon will write the pilot script. Elsewhere, the duo have teamed up with Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan on an adaptation of their horror novel series The Strain, which they plan to shop to networks as a three-season arc. (Variety)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that FOX is "toying with the idea of staging a crossover next season that would find [Bones'] Booth and Brennan working on a case with Tim Roth’s Lie to Me doc Lightman," citing an unnamed insider who warns Ausiello that plans are still in the early stages and "may not even happen." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Donal Logue (Life) has been cast as the lead in FX's gumshoe drama pilot Terriers, from Shawn Ryan (The Shield) and Ted Griffin (Ocean's Eleven). Logue will play ex-cop Hank, who teams up with his best friend to start a private investigation firm where the "duo, both with maturity issues, solve crimes while trying to avoid danger and responsibility.... Hank is an affable, talkative fellow who's not always the best liar but is adept at adopting different personas to find out information. He is alarmed by what he perceives as signs of his encroaching senility." Project hails from fox21. (Hollywood Reporter)

TLC has renewed unscripted series Cake Boss, which follows the staff of a family-run bakery in New Jersey, for a second season. (Variety)

Mike Soccio (The King of Queens) will write and executive produce an untitled single-camera comedy about a modern interracial couple in LA. Project will be executive produced by Martin Lawrence, Robert Lawrence, and Darice Rollins. (Hollywood Reporter)

Cabler G4 has ordered a spin-off of its imported series Ninja Warrior, entitled American Ninja Warrior, which will be executive produced by Craig Piligian and is set to launch this fall. Series, according to Broadcasting & Cable's Alex Weprin, "will chronicle the search to find10 American competitors to send to Japan and tackle the original series' obstacle course. The challenger who completes all four stages the fastest will be crowned the American Ninja Warrior." (Broadcasting & Cable)

Across the Pond, BSkyB has announced that it will be the first European broadcaster to offer 3D television when it launches the UK's first strictly 3D channel in 2010. Customers will need a 3D ready television set in order to watch the channel, which will offer a mix of movies, entertainment, and sporting events. (Broadcast)

UK satellite network Sky1 has ordered eight episodes of Just Dance, an X-Factor style dancing competition series that will replace outbound unscripted series Don't Forget the Lyrics. Series, from Shine and Princess Prods., will launch in January 2010. (Broadcast)

TruTV has ordered a second season of reality series Black Gold, which follows Texan oil rig crews. Season Two is said to include "Rooster" McConaughey, the brother of actor Matthew McConaughey. (Hollywood Reporter)

Syfy has hired Andrew Plotkin as SVP of original programming. Plotkin, who was a former Warner Bros. Television executive, will be based in Los Angeles and will report to Mark Stern and will work alongside SVP Erik Storey. Plotkin replaces Tony Optican, who now runs FremantleMedia North America's scripted division. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Elizabeth Mitchell Talks "Lost" and "V," Gabrielle Union Gets "FlashForward," USA Renews "Burn" and "Pains," and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. I had an amazing time at the Mighty Boosh's secret show at the Roxy last night and found myself singing "Nanageddon" as I tried to go to sleep.

E! Online's Watch with Kristin has an exclusive interview with Lost star Elizabeth Mitchell, who toplines the upcoming remake of V on ABC. Describing her character on V, Mitchell said: "Erica is a federal agent doing counter-terrorism. She deals with finding sleeper cells and basically eradicating them as much as possible. She's smart and intelligent and all the things that you would want someone who is protecting our country to be. I must have a hero complex—I keep gravitating toward these roles. She has a son, and she's in love with her son, and her son is in love with the Visitors. She has to deal with the fact that she has to save him for the most part. Her husband just left her, so she's a brokenhearted counterterrorist detective." Mitchell also discusses the final season of Lost, Juliet's relationship with Sawyer, and what her V role means for Juliet's presence on Lost's sixth season. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Gabrielle Union (Ugly Betty) has been cast on ABC's fall drama series FlashForward in the recurring role of Zoey, described in press materials as "a criminal defense attorney who will have a romantic arc" on the series' freshman season. "We're thrilled that Gabrielle is joining our cast," said FlashForward executive producer David S. Goyer. "When we met with her, we immediately knew she was our Zoey. She's witty, soulful and beautiful. I've been wanting to work with her for a long time." (via press release)

In a move that will surprise no one, USA has renewed summer drama series Burn Notice and Royal Pains, with Burn Notice getting a fourth season order and Royal Pains getting a sophomore season. Both series landed in the top 20 programs on ad-supported cable for the month of July. (Hollywood Reporter)

Alfre Woodard (Desperate Housewives) has joined the cast of CBS' medical drama Three Rivers, where she will play female lead Sophia Jordan, the head of surgery at Three Rivers Hospital, a role originally played by Julia Ormond in the original pilot. In other recasting news, Heather Stephens (Saved) has replaced Reiko Aylesworth in ABC drama series The Forgotten, where she will play Lindsay, an amateur sleuth whose husband is jailed for unknown crimes and who must care for her baby on her own. (Hollywood Reporter)

FX has given a thirteen-episode series order to Lawman, starring Timothy Olyphant. Series, from Sony Pictures Television and FX, is based on an Elmore Leonard short story and is written and executive produced by Graham Yost (Boomtown). Series is expected to launch in spring 2010. (Televisionary)

Robert Knepper (Prison Break) has been promoted to series regular on NBC's Heroes, where next season he plays Samuel, the "charismatic but evil Earth-moving ringleader of a traveling carnival who recruits people with special powers for a mysterious purpose." (Hollywood Reporter)

Starz has ordered ten episodes of half-hour dark comedy Failure to Fly from Eric Schaeffer (Starved) and Jill Franklyn (Seinfeld) about a support group for people who once tried to kill themselves but are now relishing their second chance at life. Schaeffer will star and executive produce in the series, which is expected to launch in spring 2010. Also on tap at Starz: one-hour coming-of-age drama Waterloo from writer/executive producer Rob Thomas (Veronica Mars) about a rock band; Jonah and the Whale, from executive producers Matthew McConaughey, Mark Gustawes, and Chad Mountain, about a man's efforts to find his own life outside the shadow of his famous and disapproving father; an untitled interracial romance from executive producer Martin Lawrence and writer Michael Scoccio; and an untitled drama about a female fashion photographer from executive producers Chris Albrect and Rob Lee. (Variety)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello talks with CSI executive producers Carol Mendelsohn and Naren Shankar about the previously reported return of Jorja Fox to the seires for five episodes next season. "We had several major characters departing over the last year and a half, and it felt like the family had disintegrated a little bit," said Shankar. "We had people off in their own bubbles, and that suggested a theme for this season, which is really about family. We wanted to restore that balance of the family. And that initial creative impulse led to the notion of Jorja coming back and helping to assist with that." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

TBS has announced that George Lopez' latenight talk show Lopez Tonight will launch on November 9th at 11 pm ET/PT. (Variety)

The Beautiful Life's Elle Macpherson and Corbin Bleu have been upped to series regulars on the CW fall drama after they guest starred in the pilot episode in recurring roles; Macpherson played a former supermodel who now owns a top agency in Manhattan while Bleu played a male model. (Hollywood Reporter)

Animal Planet is launching a series of quarterly-scheduled investigative documentaries that explore controversial animal-related issues. First up is Dogfighting: An Animal Investigates Special that will launch in January; future installments will explore animal testing, exotic pets, gang dogs, cloning, and slaughterhouses. (Variety)

TV Guide Network has hired Carrie Ann Inaba (Dancing with the Stars) and Chris Harrison (The Bachelor) as their on-air red-carpet correspondents, replacing Lisa Rinna and Joey Fatone. Their first appearance is set for the Primetime Emmy Awards on September 20th. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Tin Star: FX Orders Elmore Leonard Project "Lawman" to Series

A little over a week before its TCA Summer Press Tour session, cabler FX has announced that it has ordered thirteen episodes of drama series Lawman, based on the Elmore Leonard short story "Fire in the Hole." The project, from Sony Pictures Television and FX Productions, is written and executive produced by Graham Yost (Boomtown).

Lawman stars Timothy Olyphant (Damages) as U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, described in press materials as "a modern day 19th century-style lawman, enforcing his brand of justice in a way that puts a target on his back with criminals and places him at odds with his bosses in the Marshal service." Givens is reassigned to the district where he grew up in rural Kentucky with an outlaw father.

"FX has been fortunate to employ some of the finest writers working in television and we’re lucky to add an outstanding talent like Graham Yost to that growing list," said FX President/General Manager John Landgraf in a statement. "Graham began with a memorable character from one of America’s foremost crime novelists, Elmore Leonard, and we scored the hat trick signing Tim Olyphant who is absolutely pitch-perfect in the role of Raylan Givens."

Production on Lawman begins this fall for a premiere in Spring 2010.

The full press release from FX, announcing the series pickup, can be found below.

FX CALLS LAWMAN

Drama Series from Graham Yost Based on Elmore Leonard Character
Stars Timothy Olyphant

FX Orders 13 Episodes from Sony Pictures Television and FX Productions
Premieres Spring 2010

LOS ANGELES, July 28, 2009 – FX has placed a 13-episode order for its next original drama series, Lawman, which was developed by Graham Yost (Boomtown, Speed) and stars Timothy Olyphant (Damages, Deadwood), announced John Landgraf, President and General Manager, FX Networks. Lawman will premiere on FX in spring of 2010.

Produced by Sony Pictures Television and FX Productions, Lawman is based on the popular Elmore Leonard character “Raylan Givens” featured in his short story Fire in the Hole. Yost, who created and produced the critically acclaimed NBC drama Boomtown, wrote the pilot and will serve as Executive Producer/Writer on the series. Leonard (Cuba Libre, Rum Punch, Get Shorty) will serve as an Executive Producer on the series along with Sarah Timberman (Kidnapped), Carl Beverly (Kidnapped) and Michael Dinner (Karen Sisco), who directed the pilot episode. The pilot was shot in Pittsburgh and Miami, and series production will take place in Southern California beginning this fall.

“FX has been fortunate to employ some of the finest writers working in television and we’re lucky to add an outstanding talent like Graham Yost to that growing list,” said Landgraf. “Graham began with a memorable character from one of America’s foremost crime novelists, Elmore Leonard, and we scored the hat trick signing Tim Olyphant who is absolutely pitch-perfect in the role of Raylan Givens.”

“Like the other shows we’ve partnered on with FX – The Shield, Rescue Me and Damages – the pedigree of talent behind and in front of the camera on Lawman is outstanding,” said Zack Van Amburg, President, Programming, Sony Pictures Television. “This gripping narrative of justice being served has such universal themes, it’s sure to resonate with FX’s viewers.”

Olyphant stars in the lead role of U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens. Givens is a modern day 19th century-style lawman, enforcing his brand of justice in a way that puts a target on his back with criminals and places him at odds with his bosses in the Marshal service. That conflict results in a reassignment for Givens to the U.S. District covering the town where he grew up. He is an anachronism – a tough, soft spoken gentleman who finds his quarry fascinating, but never gives an inch. Dig under his placid skin and you’ll find an angry man who grew up hard in rural Kentucky, with an outlaw father, who knows a lot more about who he doesn’t want to be than who he really is.

Olyphant starred in HBO’s award-winning drama Deadwood, and he co-starred FX’s award-winning drama series Damages last season. Some of his feature films credits include Live Free or Die Hard, Hitman and The Girl Next Door.

The series co-stars Nick Searcy (CSI) as Givens longtime friend and boss “Art Mullen,” and Jacob Pitts (21) and Erica Tazel (Life) as Deputy Marshals “Tim Gutterson” and “Rachel Dupree.” Guest stars include Walton Goggins (The Shield), Joelle Carter (CSI: Miami) and Natalie Zea (Dirty Sexy Money). Lawman is produced by FX Productions, Timberman-Beverly Productions, Nemo Films and Rooney McP Productions, Inc in association with Sony Pictures Television.

For FX, Lawman is the tenth drama series ordered by the network since its rollout of scripted dramas in March of 2002. Other drama series include Emmy® and Golden Globe® award winners The Shield and Nip/Tuck; Emmy and Golden Globe nominated Rescue Me; Over There; Emmy Award winner Thief (received a limited series six-episode order); Dirt; Emmy and Golden Globe nominated The Riches; and Emmy and Golden Globe award winner Damages, starring Glenn Close, and Sons of Anarchy which returns for its second season on September 8.

Lawman is the seventh show produced under the FX Productions banner – Sons of Anarchy (co-produced with Fox 21), Damages (co-produced with Sony Pictures Television), The Riches (co-produced with Fox Television Studios), Dirt (co-produced with ABC Television Studios), It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and 30 Days.

FX is the flagship general entertainment basic cable network from the Fox Networks Group. Launched in June of 1994, FX is carried in more than 95 million homes. The diverse schedule includes a growing roster of critically acclaimed and award-winning original series; an established film library with box-office hits from 20th Century Fox and other studios; and an impressive roster of acquired hit series. For more information about FX, visit our web site at www.FXnetworks.com

Lawman premieres Spring 2010 on FX.

Channel Surfing: Silverman to Leave NBC, Monaghan to "FlashForward," Somerhalder Gets "Lost," Acker Returns to "Dollhouse," and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing.

Ben Silverman has stepped down as Co-Chairman of NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios; he'll remain on board for several weeks to help transition and oversee the launch of NBC's fall schedule. Silverman will then segue into a new company financed by Barry Diller's AIC which Silverman will run; company's mission is to "unite producers, creators, advertisers and distributors under one roof." Meanwhile, Jeff Gaspin has been named Chairman, NBC Universal Television Entertainment, effective immediately. In this role, Gaspin will have oversight of NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios as well as retain his current responsibilities over USA, Syfy, Bravo, Oxygen, Sleuth, Chiller, and Universal HD. Marc Graboff will continue as chairman, NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios, reporting to Gaspin. "Ben Silverman has many exciting things he wants to accomplish and we applaud him as he sets off on his new endeavors," said NBC Universal president/CEO Jeff Zucker in a statement. "Ben brought us tremendous new thinking in this changing media age, and we're grateful for that. Now, we look forward to working with him in his new venture." (via press release, Hollywood Reporter)

As expected, Dominic Monaghan (Lost) has been cast in ABC's fall drama series FlashForward. The Alphabet let the cat out of the bag a while back by featuring Monaghan in an on-air brand spot where he was seen with other ABC series stars; FlashForward seemed the logical placement for the actor, who guest-starred on Chuck last season. Details about Monaghan's character Simon are under wraps but Monaghan himself said of Simon, "I can't tell you too much. I play a guy called Simon and as I'm sure you saw from that tiny little teaser: he's a snappy dresser, he's a cocky guy, he's not scared of anything or anyone and he's very smart." (via press release)

Ian Somerhalder is returning to Lost next season. Appearing at Comic-Con to promote his new CW series Vampire Diaries, Somerhalder stunned the crowd by acknowledging that he would be reprising his role as Boone Carlyle on ABC's Lost. "I think it’s safe to say... we sort of discussed that... it’s truly incredible that... I am going to be coming back." Later, Somerhalder told Entertainment Weekly that Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse only informed him thirty minutes before the panel for Vampire Diaries that he would be returning to Lost. "It’s not clear yet" when he'll shoot his scenes but "it’ll be very soon... It’s just a matter of timing and getting me down there. It’s all good." (Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Amy Acker has signed a deal to return to FOX's Dollhouse next season for three episodes, via official confirmation from Joss Whedon himself. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Pilot casting alert: Moon Bloodgood (Burn Notice), Jessy Schram (Crash), Seychelle Gabriel (Weeds), and Maxim Knight will star opposite Noah Wyle in TNT and executive producer Steven Spielberg's untitled alien invasion pilot. Project is written by Robert Rodat (from a story created by Rodat and Spielberg) and will be directed by Carl Franklin. (Hollywood Reporter)

The New York Times' Brooks Barnes has a fantastic look behind the scenes at the amount of preparation and effort that went into Lost's appearance at Comic-Con this weekend. Far from covering the panel itself, the Times goes one step further and covers the lead-up to the panel, crystallizing the amount of love and energy that Damon Lindelof, Carlton Cuse, the writers, and the cast put into their appearance this year. (New York Times)

GSN has ordered 65 episodes of a relaunch of vintage reality series The Newlywed Game, produced by Embassy Row and Sony Pictures Television. Shingle is also awaiting decisions on The $25,000 Pyramid and The Dating Game at CBS. Other series in development at Embassy Row include Celebrity Mr. and Mrs. and Make My Day for TV Land and National Bible Champs at CMT, not to mention the 10th anniversary relaunch of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire at ABC. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Jennie Garth Returns to "90210," Kelly Carlson Works Black Book for "Melrose," Erika Christensen Offers "Lie" to FOX, and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing.

Looks like Kelly isn't going anywhere. Jennie Garth has signed a deal to reprise her role as Kelly Taylor on Season Two of the CW's 90210, where she will appear in multiple episodes, according to Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello. "Garth reappears in episode 3," writes Ausiello, "when Kelly gives Harry advice on how to deal with his, ahem, situation with Annie." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Elsewhere at the CW,Melrose Place continues to get more and more crowded. Nip/Tuck's Kelly Carlson (yes, Kimber!) has signed on to join the cast of Melrose Place this fall, where she will play a madam who "eventually entices Lauren (Stephanie Jacobson) to work for her as part of her prostitution ring." (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Parenthood's Erika Christensen has booked a guest starring role on Season Two of FOX's Lie to Me this fall. Christensen will play Tricia, a woman who turns to Cal Lightman (Tim Roth) for help when she experiences a vision of a murder and Lightman uncovers that Tricia is actually a woman with multiple personalities. Lie to Me returns on September 28th with Christensen's episode. [Editor: New showrunner Shawn Ryan had teased the casting last week via Twitter.] (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Melanie Nicholls King (Law and Order), Enuka Okumu (24), Travis Milne (Bionic Woman), Ben Bass (Bury the Lead), Eric Johnson (Smallville), Matt Gordon (The Dresden Files), Noam Jenkins (The State Within), and Aidan Devine (A History of Violence) have all be added to the cast of the Canadian drama Copper, which will air Stateside on ABC. Project is shooting in Toronto and will wrap production in November. (Hollywood Reporter)

Producers on the CW's upcoming fall drama series The Beautiful Life are said to have come up with a contingency plan should Mischa Barton not be able to return to work when production on the series begins, according to unnamed sources cited by Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello. "Said plan involves the addition of a new female character to fill the void left by Barton," writes Ausiello. "While not a direct recast, the new recurring character -- tentatively named Jane -- would bear a striking resemblance to Barton's experienced supermodel, Sonja Stone. Casting is underway." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Syfy has announced that Stargate Universe will launch with a two-hour premiere on Friday, October 2nd at 9 pm ET/PT and Sanctuary will launch its second season the following week on October 9th at 10 pm. The cabler also slated telepic Open Graves, starring Eliza Dushku, for September 9th and a remake of Children of the Corn for September 26th and renewed Destination Truth for a third season, kicking off on September 9th while Scare Tactics returns on October 6th. (Variety)

John Schneider (Smallville) has joined the cast of the CW's 90210, where he will recur throughout the second season as the step-father of Matt Lanter's bad boy Liam. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Writer Matt Tarses (Worst Week) has signed a two-year overall deal with Sony Pictures Television, under which he will develop new half-hour comedy projects for the studio and will take the first project out to networks in the next few weeks rather than be immediately assigned to an existing Sony Pictures TV series. (Variety)

ABC has ordered reality series Shaq Vs., featuring Shaquille O'Neal as he competes against athletes at their own sports specialty. Series, from Media Rights Capital and Dick Clark Prods., will launch August 18th. (Hollywood Reporter)

Lifetime has cast Daniel Sunjata, Andie MacDowell, Diahann Carroll, Annabeth Gish, and Ashley Williams in telepics At Risk and The Front, both based on Patricia Cornwell novels. Both projects are written by John Pielmeier and will be directed by Tom McLoughlin. (Variety)

20th Century Fox Television has announced a corporate restructuring that will see marketing and communications split into two separate teams. Chris Alexander will oversee publicity and talent relations under the new organizational structure while Mark Pearson will head up marketing and research. Both report to Gary Newman and Dana Walden. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: NBC Silences "The Listener," "Top Chef: Las Vegas" Premiere Moved Up, More on Acevedo's Cut from "Fringe", and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. I'm still recovering from a very late night involving French cuisine, wine and port, a 1 am viewing of last night's episode of Top Chef Masters, and an early rise for the Emmy nominations. Fortunately, just a few headlines to get through this morning....

NBC confirmed that it will end the run of Canadian drama series The Listener on Thursday, July 23rd and replace the series with repeats of Law & Order beginning July 30th. The remaining five unaired episodes of The Listener will be streamed over NBC.com. (Futon Critic)

Bravo has announced that it has moved the premiere of Top Chef: Las Vegas forward a week. The season premiere will now air August 19th at 9 pm ET/PT followed by the season finale of Top Chef Masters. (Twitter)

More on the reasons behind Kirk Acevedo's departure from FOX's Fringe, courtesy of Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello. "Storyline dictated," wrote Ausiello. "Charlie wasn't going to have much to do this season, and rather than waste Kirk's time, they cut him loose. But as I teased last week, we haven't seen the last of him." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

NBC announced that, after shifting Parenthood back to midseason (due to actress Maura Tierney's medical condition), the Peacock will now launch medical drama Mercy on Wednesday, September 23rd at 8 pm ET/PT. Parenthood will now launch at a later date. (via press release)

Fox Television Studios has signed a first-look deal with Odenkirk Provissiero Entertainment, a comedy production/management shingle that reps the likes of Jenna Ficher, Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, and writers on several comedies including Ugly Betty, The Cleveland Show, and Cougar Town. Deal will likely focus on low-cost animated comedies. "We're starting to feel that there are opportunities both in cable and in the international market for comedy," said Fox TV Studios EVP David Madden. "We decided we wanted to figure out a way to get into edgier, less broadcast-oriented comedy. Something more adventurous. That's when Marc [Provissiero] and Naomi [Odenkirk] approached us." (Variety)

Peter Bowker (Blackpool, Occupation) will write a one-off 90-minute biopic about the lives of comedic duo Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise for BBC One. Bowker told Broadcast that Morecambe and Wise were "true British legends." "The comedy style at the time was very much about making gags to the audience, but Morecambe and Wise realised quite early on that they could be funny by talking to each other as well," said Bowker. "I’ve written quite a lot of extremely dark scripts lately so it was incredibly refreshing to be writing some comedy for a change." (Broadcast)

TLC has ordered eight episodes of reality competition series Ultimate Cake Off, in which three cake artists will create cakes head-to-head with a winner named in each installment. Series will debut on August 3rd with its premiere installment and then return on August 31st. (Variety)

RDF USA EVP of development and current Greg Goldberg has left the company in order to set up Blackbird Television and become an independent producer, signing a one-year first-look deal with RDF USA. (Hollywood Reporter)

Cox Communications might be looking to sell cabler Travel Channel, despite only acquiring the network two years ago, according to reports. "We have received unsolicited inquiries regarding Travel Channel Media," said Cox in a statement. "Our advisers will help us to better understand our options." (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Mystery Man in Black from "Lost" Talks, FX Aims for Hit with "Archer," "Harper's Island" Doomed, and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing.

TVGuide.com talks to Lost's Titus Welliver, who played the mysterious man in black seen in the fifth season finale (that many of us are referring to as Esau). "The way that I interpreted it, on a biblical level, is that it's a sort of Cain-and-Abel scenario," said Welliver of the showdown between Jacob and his character. "So by destroying Jacob, what does that prove — that [the man in black] can ultimately have power over the island? Do the castaways become solely his playthings? And why was it so important that he find the loophole to be able to kill Jacob? That moved me in the direction of thinking that if he needs this loophole, there's a greater power than the two of them that they're answering to." (TVGuide.com)

FX has ordered six episodes of animated comedy Archer (working title), about the eccentric employees of an international spy agency, from writer/executive producer Adam Reed. Project, which will launch this fall and be paired with It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, features the voices of Jon Benjamin, Jessica Walter, Chris Parnell, Aisha Tyler, and Judy Greer. Says Variety's Michael Schneider, "Benjamin plays Sterling Archer, a suave spy who goes by the code name Duchess. Walter plays his mother, while Tyler is his ex-girlfriend, Agent Lana Kane. Greer plays his secretary; Parnell is the spy agency’s comptroller." (Variety)

Entertainment Weekly's Lynette Rice is reporting that there's no hope for CBS' Harper's Island, citing unnamed insiders who "insist" that there won't be a second season of the serialized slasher series. CBS, meanwhile, wouldn't comment officially on the likelihood of a cancellation. Series was originally intended to be an ongoing franchise where each season would introduce a new killer and a new batch of victims. (Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider)

Steven Weber (Brothers & Sisters) and newcomer Ben Schnetzer are in talks to come aboard ABC midseason drama series Happy Town, where they would respectively replace Dean Winters and John Patrick Amedori, who appeared in the original pilot. (Which I reviewed here.) Weber will play John Haplin, scion of the town's founding family who is distraught after the kidnapping years earlier of his daughter by the mysterious "Magic Man." Schnetzer will play John Haplin's son who is himself enmeshed in a star-crossed romance with a girl from the wrong side of the tracks. (Hollywood Reporter)

Modern Family director Jason Winer has signed a new multi-year overall deal with 20th Century Fox Television, under which he will remain on board ABC's single-camera comedy Modern Family as a director and co-executive producer. He'll direct six additional installments from the series' initial thirteen-episode commitment as well as develop new series for the studio with his writing partner Ryan Raddatz. (Variety)

The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan talks to Torchwood: Children of Earth star John Barrowman about the event season of the Doctor Who spin-off series. "I say this with my hand on my heart: If I were only asked to be Captain Jack for the next 10 years, I would do it," said Barrowman. "I'm definitely up for [Season] 4, 5, 6, whatever. For as long as they want to do it, I'm there." (Chicago Tribune's The Watcher)

Former Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Smallville scribe Drew Z. Greenberg has joined the writing staff of Syfy's Battlestar Galactica prequel series Caprica, according to showrunner Jane Espenson. (Twitter)

Ryan Seacrest has signed a new contract that will pay out $15 million a year for the next three years that will keep him on board as host of FOX's American Idol through 2012 and make him exclusive to 19 Entertainment/CKX. Simon Cowell is already in the midst of renegotiating his own contract and Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson, and Kara DioGuardi are all said to be "expected to ink new deals to return next year." (Variety)

Taryn Manning will guest star in the third episode of the CW's Melrose Place, where she will play a singer whose latest music video is directed by Jonah (Michael Rady). (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Los Angeles Times' Liesl Bradner profiles ubiquitous actor Patrick Fischler, who has appeared on the small screen this past year on such high-profile series as Lost, Mad Men, and Southland. "After Mad Men I got a lot of 'How dare you speak to Don Draper like that?'" Fischler said. "People -- mainly women -- were mad at me that I told Don off. I took it as a compliment." (Los Angeles Times)

Showtime has ordered six episodes of half-hour variety series Live Nude Comedy, described as a "mix of stand-up comedy and modern-day burlesque." Project, from Salient Media and The Collective and executive producers Gary Binkow and Michael Green, is hosted by Shannon Elizabeth and will launch on Thursday at midnight ET/PT on the pay cabler. Format will include an audience-participation sketch with Elizabeth, followed by two comedians and two dancers. (Variety)

E! Online's Watch with Kristin is reporting that Michelle Trachtenberg will fulfill her guest turn on the CW's Gossip Girl this fall, despite NBC shifting her midseason medical drama series Mercy to the fall. "Our sources tell us that Michelle Trachtenberg won't miss a beat of Gossip Girl," wrote Team Watch with Kristin. "She's doing everything she was expected to do as of last spring, and Georgina's episodes are good!" (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

HBO and Cinemax have joined Comcast's TV Everywhere initiative, allowing the cable operator to stream its series, movies, and other premium content to 5000 subscribers in the Philadelphia area in a pilot program to start in several weeks' times. The pay cablers join TNT, TBS, and Starz in the test program, which if it is successful, will be made available to Comcast subscribers around the country at no additional cost. (Hollywood Reporter)

It's official (finally!): CBS has announced that Neil Patrick Harris will host the 61st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, to be broadcast live on September 20th. (Variety's Emmy Central)

Cabler VH1 has ordered four episodes of concert series Live and Loud Fridays from Live Nation. Series, which will feature rock performances from venues around the country, will launch this week with Poison and Def Leppard. (Variety)

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: Christian Slater Gets "Forgotten," Emerson Says No Happy Ending for "Lost," Piper Perabo Engages in "Covert Affairs," and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing.

Christian Slater (My Own Worst Enemy) is in talks to topline ABC drama series The Forgotten, from Warner Bros. Television and executive producer Jerry Bruckheimer. If the deal closes, Slater would replace Rupert Penry-Jones, who appeared in the original pilot episode as a former cop whose daughter was kidnapped and went missing. Another role--that played in the pilot by Reiko Aylesworth--is also being recast. The series is set to launch Tuesday, September 22nd at 10 pm. (Hollywood Reporter)

Don't look for the series finale of Lost to feature a happy ending, according to series regular Michael Emerson. "I don't think Lost will have a happy ending," Emerson told Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello. "It's the end and I think we are going to start seeing more casualties. I would put money on major characters being killed. I believe it will be a sad ending to the show -- or at least bittersweet. I think it will definitely be a series finale for grownups." And Emerson is still trying to make sense of this season's finale. "I killed Jacob... maybe... probably," mused Emerson. "It isn't like we haven't seen plenty of other people be killed and somehow come back. And what does it mean if I did kill him? I Who the hell was he anyway? Obviously, Ben wanted a father. So much of our show is about bad fathers. It is one of our biggest themes. And Jacob disappointed in those final moments. And maybe Jacob made it easy for him. Maybe that was all meant to happen. Is it all ordained? Maybe. And for that matter, can Jacob even be killed? Stay tuned is my response." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Piper Perabo (Law & Order: Criminal Intent) has been cast as the lead in USA's espionage drama pilot Covert Affairs, which has yet to receive a firm greenlight from the cabler (though a pilot order is expected in the next few weeks). Perabo will play Annie Walker, a CIA trainee who joins the agency while still recovering from a relationship with an ex-boyfriend who is of special interest to her spymasters. The search is on to cast male lead Auggie Anderson, a blind tech expert. Project, written by Matt Corman and Chris Ord, comes from Universal Cable Prods. Perabo last year starred in ABC drama pilot The Prince of Motor City. (Hollywood Reporter)

The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan raves about BBC America's upcoming Torchwood: Children of Earth and talks with series creator Russell T. Davies about what viewers should expect from the five-episode third season "event" and promises more to come in the next few days. (Chicago Tribune's The Watcher)

Hilary Duff is joining the cast of CW's Gossip Girl next season in a multiple-episode story arc, where she will play Olivia, an incognito movie star who enrolls at NYU in order to live a simpler life and becomes Vanessa's roommate... and gets romantically entangled with Dan Humphrey. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin, Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother) is said to be in talks with CBS and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences to host the 61st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards in September. (Variety)

The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan is reporting that there will be not one but two Farscape panels at San Diego Comic-Con later this month. The first, scheduled for Friday, July 24th at 10:15 am, will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the series and will feature creator Rockne O'Bannon, executive producer Brian Henson, and stars Ben Browder and Claudia Black. The second will focus on the Farscape series of comic books. (Chicago Tribune's The Watcher)

Meanwhile, A&E Home Entertainment yesterday announced that they are releasing the entire series of Farscape as a repackaged "series megaset" featuring all four seasons of the series in November. (via press release)

ABC is developing reality competition series The Fast and the Funniest, which follows stand-up comedians as they travel around the country completing various tasks and performing at stops along the way. Series is described as a cross between "Last Comic Standing and The Amazing Race." Casting is underway on the series, which hails from Keep Calm Prods. and executive producers Page Hurwitz and Javier Winnik. (Variety)

Four pilots--ABC's Solving Charlie, This Little Piggy, and Romantically Challenged and CBS' House Rules--remain in contention for midseason slots on their respective schedules after cast options were extended on the pilots. Options on Alyssa Milano, Kyle Bornheimer, and Kelly Stables on Romantically Challenged have been extended; on Solving Charlie, Jimmy Wolk, Dakota Goyo, Brad Henke, and Dania Ramirez have stayed on; on This Little Piggy, only options on Andrea Parker and Rebecca Creskoff have been extended; and on House Rules, most of cast will remain on board, including Zoe McLellan, Eion Bailey, Kristin Bauer, Tawny Cypress, Anna Chlumsky, and Denzel Whitaker. (Hollywood Reporter)

Rocky Carroll will appear in both NCIS and upcoming spin-off NCIS: Los Angeles next season as NCIS director Leon Vance. Carroll is set to appear in at least six episodes of NCIS: Los Angeles' initial thirteen-episode commitment and remains a series regular on NCIS. (TVGuide.com)

NBC will air its two-episode docuseries The Wanted, which centers on "an elite team with intelligence, unconventional warfare and investigative journalism backgrounds as they hunt suspects such as Mullah Krekar, the founder of terrorist organization Ansar Al Islam," on Monday, July 20th and Monday, June 27th at 10 pm ET/PT. (Variety)

Seminal 1990s dramedy Ally McBeal is finally coming to DVD, according to Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch, who writes that both the first season and the entire series are available for pre-order at Amazon. (Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch)

Discovery Channel has given out a series order to unscripted series The Colony, in which ten strangers will spend two months inside an abandoned warehouse complex without electricity, running water, or contact with the outside world and must build a functioning society following a fictional major catastrophe. Series, from Thom Beers Original Productions, is set to launch Tuesday, July 21st at 10 pm. (Broadcasting & Cable)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Drea de Matteo Moves to Wisteria Lane, Meloni and Hargitay Return to "Law & Order: SVU," Showtime Axes "Brotherhood," and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing.

Sons of Anarchy's Drea de Matteo (best known as The Sopranos' Adrianna) is joining the cast of ABC's Desperate Housewives next season as a series regular, reports Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello. De Matteo will play "the matriarch of a new Italian family," writes Ausiello. "Casting is underway for her landscape designer husband and their tightly wound son." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hargitay WILL be coming back to NBC's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit next season, after all. The duo have finally signed deals that will keep them in the lead roles on the NBC drama series for the next two seasons and will be paid just slightly less than $400,000 per episode. Neal Baer also closed a deal to remain on board the series as showrunner and Christine Lahti (Jack & Bobby) has signed on to guest star in the first four episodes of next season's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as an ADA, while Stephanie March will appear in at least ten episodes next season. (Variety, Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Showtime has confirmed to E! Online's Watch with Kristin that it has canceled drama series Brotherhood and will not be returning the series for a fourth season. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

My Name is Earl creator Greg Garcia has landed a put pilot deal at FOX for an untitled single-camera comedy about a 25-year-old man who has a one-night stand with a woman on death row for murder and then has to raise the resulting baby with his family. Project, from 20th Century Fox Television, will be written by Garcia. (Variety)

SCI FI Wire spoke to Edward James Olmos and Grace Park about what to viewers should expect from Battlestar Galactica prequel telepic The Plan, which Olmos directed. "What their plan was, I think that's a big surprise," said Olmos. "Finding out what the plan was and how it was structured and how close they were to completing it." Park said that there's more than meets the eye with The Plan. "[There is more than] the obvious, which is what was the Cylon perspective," said Park. "If they had a plan, what their plan was, what it entailed. I think besides that, [The Plan shows] probably how alike or unlike humans they really are." (SCI FI Wire)

CBS is launching seven-episode reality competition series There Goes the Neighborhood, in which eight suburban families are enclosed by a twenty-foot wall in compete for a cash prize of $250,000, on Sunday, August 9th. (via press release)

Chris Kattan (Saturday Night Live) has been upgraded from guest star to series regular on ABC comedy The Middle, where he plays car salesman Bob, a co-worker and friend to Frankie Heck (Patricia Heaton). He'll next be seen in IFC's three-part Bollywood Hero. (Hollywood Reporter)

SOAPNet has renewed Canadian drama Being Erica for a second season of twelve episodes that is slated to air early next year, according to Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider. "Sources say the next season will find Erica (Erin Karpluk) learning more about the dynamics of time travel," writes Jennifer Armstrong, "and will reveal more about her enigmatic psychiatrist, Dr. Tom (Michael Riley)." (Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider)

VH1 ordered three new series including an eight-episode untitled reality project starring Salt-N-Pepa's Sandra "Pepa" Denton as she looks for love after a "self-imposed romantic and sexual dormancy," an untitled eight-episode project starring TLC's Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas as she also looks for love, this time with the help of relationship expert Tionna Smalls, and an untitled ten-episode docusoap featuring Frank "the Entertainer" Moresco from I Love NY as he looks for love and tries to move out of his parents' basement. The cabler also renewed Celebrity Fit Club for a seventh season and Sober House with Dr. Drew for a second season. (Variety)

Danneel Harris will reprise her role as Rachel Gatina in at least seven episodes of the CW's One Tree Hill next season after she was written out of the series in Season Five. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

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: Bryan Fuller Leaves "Heroes" Again, Cross, Jonze, and Arnett Team Up, "Doctor Who," Justin Kirk Talks "Weeds," and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing.

Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller has left his position as consulting producer on NBC's Heroes, just a few months after he rejoined the writing staff of the NBC drama. The reason behind the departure: to focus on developing new series for the network (he has an overall deal with Universal Media Studios), rather than creative differences with Heroes creator Tim Kring. "I'm crafting two pilots right now and it's a lot of work," Fuller told Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello. "It was just too hard to [juggle] Heroes and my development; something had to give." Meanwhile, Fuller told Ain't It Cool News' Herc, ""Development was really starting to heat up, And it appears like I may be writing multiple pilots for NBC so that wasn't leaving a ton of room for Heroes, unfortunately. We crafted some really great arcs for the season that I'm excited to see come to fruition. I love that cast dearly and am sad to go, but the plate -- she was over-flowing." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files, Ain't It Cool News)

Holy comedy legends: David Cross has written a comedy pilot entitled The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret for UK's Channel 4 with Extras' Shaun Pye that will star Arrested Development's Will Arnett, Being Human's Russell Tovey, and director Spike Jonze (who appeared on-screen in feature film Three Kings). The pilot, produced by RDF Media, is slated to air this winter. "I shot a pilot for Channel 4," Cross told The Los Angeles Times. And it’ll air, I believe, in December. When we picture-lock on Friday, it will be almost two years to the day that I was first approached by those guys. The cast is a crazy dream team." As for the plot, here's the official description from the RDF Media site: "American Todd Margaret (David Cross) bluffs his way into an apparently great job opportunity, heading up the sales team in his employer’s London office. All he has to do is sell several thousand energy drinks before his boss visits him in a week. Simple. Apart from the fact that he knows nothing about British culture and nothing about sales. This is further complicated when he lies continuously to cover his ignorance and spectacularly fails to impress Alice the first beautiful girl he meets. Dave his British co-worker, soon takes full advantage of Todd’s situation and chaos ensues." (Los Angeles Times, via /Film)

BBC has denied reports made by British paper The Mirror, which claimed that the channel would air an "all-Doctors reunion" installment of Doctor Who during this year's Children in Need charity campaign. According to The Mirror, David Tennant would reprise his role as the Doctor and call upon every other incarnation of his character (including Matt Smith's upcoming Eleventh Doctor) in order to help him retrieve a missing piece of Time Lord paraphernalia... and that William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, and Jon Pertwee would also appear on the series via archival footage. (All three, who played the Doctor's first three incarnations are all deceased.) "Nothing has been finalised yet, although there is discussion of a Children in Need Doctor Who special," said a BBC spokesperson. "It is too early to say what." (Digital Spy)

Weeds' Justin Kirk dishes about Alanis Morrisette, Kate del Castillo, Andy's relationship with Nancy, and Jennifer Jason Leigh's Jill. And, oh, a familiar face from the past is set to return this season. (Hmmm.) "I don't know what's going to happen," said Kirk of Andy's relationship with Nancy (Mary-Louise Parker). "But I like exploring that world. I would like that relationship to go on. I think their relationship, whether it's consummated or not, remains to be seen. But it's one that is a lot of fun to do, and I like working with Mary-Louise, so I hope it goes on. Sometimes it's heartbreaking and sometimes it's funny." (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

USA's Burn Notice will definitely be having a presence at this year's Comic-Con next month, according to The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan. Executive producer Mikkel Bondesen announced that Burn Notice would be hosting a panel next month via Twitter that will include creator Matt Nix, though Ryan says that the network has confirmed the panel but hasn't yet confirmed the date. (Chicago Tribune's The Watcher)

VH1 has given a series order to RDF USA's docuseries The Price of Beauty, which will feature Jessica Simpson traveling the world "to meet every day women as well as some local pop culture icons" and "study local fashions, dietary fads and beauty regimes and even participate in some of the extreme practices she discovers." The series, which will begin shooting next month, is executive produced by Jessica Simpson, Joe Simpson, Chris Coelen, Claire O'Donohoe, Greg Goldman, Jeff Olde, Jill Holmes, Alex Demyanenko, and Sean Boyle. (Hollywood Reporter)

Bravo's weekly topical, interactive series Watch What Happens: Live, hosted by Andy Cohen, will launch on Thursday, July 16th at midnight ET/PT. The series will feature Cohen talking to guests from Bravo's stable of series as well as celebrities from other areas of entertainment to "chat about what has transpired on-air and in pop culture that week for a live half-hour full of viewer interaction." The network also promises that viewers will be able to interact "via email, phone, video, Twitter and Facebook." Series is produced by Embassy Row and executive producer Michael Davies. (via press release)

NBC's launch of British acquisition Merlin reached an average of five million viewers on Sunday, less than that for the US Open golfing championship but more than those who tuned in for ABC's mini-series Impact, which only garnered 4.7 million viewers. (New York Times)

Despite the announcement that series stars Jon and Kate Gosselin will be divorcing, TLC has confirmed that docusoap Jon & Kate Plus 8 will continue. "The show must go on," said Kate Gosselin on camera. (Variety)

Actress Kathryn Hahn is said to be developing a pilot script at Sony Pictures Television with her husband, writer Ethan Sandler, which will be a potential starring vehicle for Hahn. Details about the script's plot are being kept firmly under wraps. (Hollywood Reporter)

Robbie Coltrane, Helena Bonham Carter, Rob Brydon, James Corden, John Hurt, and Tom Wilkinson will lend their voices to one-off animated Christmas special The Gruffalo, based on Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler's children's book, which BBC One will air this winter. (BBC)

Former Dominant Pictures executive Ben Spector has been hired by Tollin Prods, as EVP of television, where he will develop scripted projects for the shingle, overseen by produced Mike Tollin. (Variety)

FOX has hired Ron Taylor as VP of diverse programming and content, where he will identify and develop scripts that contain diversity-based themes or are written by minorities, as well as advise producers of scripted projects at the network about how to "expand a diversity presence to those comedies and dramas." Taylor will report to Matt Cherniss. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Mary-Louise Parker to Keep Puffing on "Weeds," "Scrubs" Back to School, Meg Ryan to Guest Star on "Curb Your Enthusiasm," and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. I'm back from vacation so there's loads of television-related headlines to catch up on. Buckle your seatbelts; it's going to be a bumpy ride!

Weeds star Mary-Louise Parker has put those rumors that she's leaving the Showtime comedy series to bed, stating that she's sticking around for quite some time. "Sometimes when I think about the show ending I get sad. I just can't imagine what it's going to be like," Parker told E! Online's Watch with Kristin. "We for sure have one more year, so I don't have to be sad yet. I can smile a little bit longer. I would stay on, but at a certain point it would get a little bit tired. It'd be like, we don't need to see Nancy and Andy running around in their 60s. I think it will depend on how this season goes, as to whether or not it will have a little velocity for staying around a little longer." (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

When Scrubs returns for a ninth season this fall, there will be more change than just some of the regular cast, with the focus of the series shifting from Sacred Heart Hospital to the classroom. "It'll be a lot like Paper Chase as a comedy," series creator Bill Lawrence told Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello. "It's going to be a different show. It'll still be life-and-death stakes, but if the show is just Scrubs again in the hospital with a different person's voiceover, it would be a disaster and people would be mad." But there will be some familiar faces, with Donald Faison and John C. McGinley on board as series regulars and Zach Braff, Sarah Chalke, Judy Reyes, and Ken Jenkins slated to make guest appearances when the medical students are working at Sacred Heart. "Med students in their first three years have to spend anywhere from 10 to 50 percent of their time at a hospital," said Lawrence. "And that's when you'll see some of the [original cast members]. Continuity-wise, Sacred Heart will still exist with those people still working there." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

I'll have what she's having: Meg Ryan will guest star on an upcoming episode of HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm. The former When Harry Met Sally star will appear early on in the series' seventh season, which returns to HBO in September. The season will also feature an ongoing storyline that will reunite Larry David with his Seinfeld cast. (Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider)

Confirmed: T.R. Knight won't be returning to ABC's Grey's Anatomy this fall following his request to be let out of his multi-year contract. "Leaving Grey's Anatomy was not an easy decision for me to make," said Knight in a statement. "I am extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to play this character and will miss my fellow cast and crew very much." Series creator/executive producer Shonda Rhimes, meanwhile, wished Knight "the best in his future endeavors" and said of the actor: ""He is an incredibly talented actor and a person whose strength of character is admired by all of us." (Variety)

Katherine Heigl, meanwhile, WILL be back next season on Grey's Anatomy, reprising her role as Izzie Stevens, despite a cliffhanger ending that made it seem as though Heigl was off the series for good. Sources close to the production have indicated that Heigl's option has been picked up and she will continue as a regular on the ABC medical drama series. (Hollywood Reporter, Entertainment Weekly)

Linda Hunt (The Year of Living Dangerously) has joined the cast of CBS' NCIS: Los Angeles as a series regular; she'll play "an efficient and hard-nosed former film industry technician who now oversees the 'backroom' support staff -- the folks tasked with providing everything from micro surveillance cameras to cars for the team," according to Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Clayne Crawford (Jericho) has joined the cast of Day Eight of FOX's 24, where he will play "a bad boy from Dana Walsh's (Katee Sackhoff) past." (Hollywood Reporter)

Showtime has renewed comedy series Tracey Ullman's State of the Union for a third season, with seven new installments set to debut in 2010. (Variety)

Battlestar Galactica's Rick Worthy is reportedly in talks to join the cast of NBC's Heroes, entering its fourth season this fall. If a deal is reached, Worthy will allegedly be playing a Los Angeles cop and the new partner for Greg Grunberg's Matt Parkman. (Digital Spy)

Musical chairs: The Primetime Emmy Awards telecast is back on September 20th, its original ceremony date. The move comes after CBS and the TV Academy moved the telecast to September 13th in order to avoid starting late due to NFL double-header overrun... but failed to take into account that the date clashed with MTV's Video Music Awards. So it's back to September 20th, after all. (Variety's Emmy Central)

Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane will recur on ABC's Flash Forward this fall, as will ER's Alex Kingston. MacFarlane plays an FBI agent in the David S. Goyer and Marc Guggenheim-overseen drama series. (Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed)

Reville has signed a talent holding deal with actor Bobb'e J. Thompson (30 Rock, Role Models) under which the company will develop a sitcom for the 13-year-old actor. (Variety)

The CW will begin rolling out its fall premieres on September 8th, which will see the second season premiere of 90210 and the series premiere of Melrose Place. Gossip Girl, meanwhile, will swap timeslots with One Tree Hill next season, with the former moving to the 9 pm timeslot; both series will launch their new seasons on September 14th. America's Next Top Model kicks off on September 9th, Vampire Diaries and Supernatural on September 10th, Beautiful Life on September 16th, and Smallville on September 25th. (Hollywood Reporter)

TLC has given a series order to Stager Invasion, which depicts professional stager Lisa Lynch giving frustrated home sellers tips on how to get their houses sold in difficult times. The twelve-episode series will launch June 30th at 8 pm ET/PT. (Variety)

Travel Channel has ordered reality competition series The Streets of America: The Search for America's Worst Driver, in which awful drivers are placed in a series of challenges in order to determine which is really the worst driver. Series, based on an international format and from A. Smith and Co. and Mentorn, will launch in the first quarter of 2010. (Variety)

USA Network has hired Spike executive Bill McGoldrick as SVP of original scripted programming; it's a return for McGoldrick who previously worked at USA. He will report to Jeff Wachtel. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: "Flash Forward" Will Tell Complete Story, Lafayette Speaks, "Lost" Spin-offs "Impossible," ITV Axes "Primeval," and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing.

Producers of ABC's upcoming sci-fi series Flash Forward say that the series will offer a complete plot in its first season and will reveal answers in the first season finale. "We know exactly ... what season one is, with great specificity, because at ... the outset, we had to plan the entire season," showrunner/executive producer Marc Guggenheim told SCI FI Wire. "The first season ends with our characters' catching up to their futures. So you can't do that on the fly. I mean, I suppose you could, but I don't think it would be a very satisfying viewing experience for anybody. We made the commitment at the outset [to] plan out the entire first season before we start breaking episode two. So the very first thing we did, apart from ... figuring out character backstories and [all] that—when the time came ... to actually start breaking story, it was, 'OK, how are we going to move the characters from where they are in episode one to where they are at the end of the season?'" (SCI FI Wire)

SPOILER! Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello catches up with True Blood's Nelsan Ellis, who plays charismatic and flamboyant Lafayette to discuss the character's fate, the reveal in the season premiere of the HBO drama, and what's to come. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Lost's Matthew Fox says that there won't be any spin-off series emanating from ABC's Lost once the series wraps its run next year. "I think the show will end in a way that there really cannot be any future of Lost," said Fox, shooting down dubious reports of a spin-off series. "I don't think the word Lost will come up at the end of the last [episode]. That's how much finality it will have. Unlike any other episode ever done on Lost, I think it will just go to black and that will be it." (Digital Spy)

Total Sci-Fi is reporting that UK broadcaster ITV has canceled sci-fi drama Primeval and won't be recommissioning it for a fourth season, despite ending the third season on a cliffhanger. "Obviously we're devastated that things should end this way with ITV," said an unnamed source close to the production. "But we're absolutely certain that although this stage of its evolution seems to be over, Primeval isn't dead. We're very proud of what we've achieved over the past three years and we have every intention of keeping Primeval alive in other ways." Those ways may include a possible US series or a feature film from Warner Bros. US fans may want to skip the spoiler-laden third paragraph, which contains spoilers for the third season finale. (Total Sci-Fi)

CBS has ordered three more installments of I Get That a Lot, a hidden-camera special in which celebrities work undercover at various run-of-the-mill jobs. The celebrities participating in the next batch of specials, from LMNO Entertainment and Magic Molehill, have yet to be named. (Variety)

TV Guide Channel is making some significant changes, beginning with the pink-slipping of 38 employees and programming downgrades. Weekly talk show TV Watercooler will be canceled as of June 22nd, while Hollywood 411, a daily entertainment news magazine, will become a weekly series and weekly series Infanity will become a series of specials. (Hollywood Reporter)

VH1 has given a series order to an untitled reality series which will focus on people afflicted with obsessive compulsive disorder. The series, from 3 Ball Prods. and executive producers JD Roth, Todd Nelson, Adam Greener, Matt Assmus, Jeff Olde, Jill Holmes, Alex Demyaneko, and Noah Pollack, will focus a group of OCD sufferers as they live together at a treatment facility and participate in group and solo treatment. (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.