Channel Surfing: Mystery Men Back on "Lost," "Rex" Not Dead at NBC, Slew of Guest Stars for "30 Rock," "Mad" Man to Wisteria Lane, and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing.

Looks like the Final Battle isn't over yet. The Hollywood Reporter's Nellie Andreeva is reporting that Titus Welliver (The Good Wife) and Mark Pellegrino (Supernatural) will return for Season Six of Lost. Welliver will reprise his role as the mysterious man in black during the second half of Lost's final season while Pellegrino will return as Jacob in at least six episodes of Season Six of Lost. (Hollywood Reporter)

[Editor: Meanwhile, also be sure to check out Part Two of Maureen Ryan's fantastic and in-depth Q&A with Lost showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse here.]

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that NBC has yet to make a decision about the fate of legal drama pilot Rex Is Not Your Lawyer, starring David Tennant (Doctor Who). But while the pilot's sets are being dismantled this week, the project isn't dead. "The sets are on fold-and-hold," an unnamed insider told Ausiello. "They will still be available if the show is picked up for the fall." And it's still possible that Rex will make it to air, as that same source told Ausiello that the project is still under consideration for a fall slot on the schedule. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

TV Guide Magazine's William Keck is reporting that a bevy of male stars are being lined up to guest star in 30 Rock's Valentine's Day episode, shooting this week. Among the eligible bachelors reuniting with Tina Fey's Liz Lemon: Jon Bon Jovi, Dean Winters, Jason Sudeikis, and Jon Hamm. But it's Sudeikis' Floyd who might have gotten under Liz's skin the most. "Liz is upset to learn Floyd is not only getting married, but is competing to get a free wedding on The Today Show," Fey told Keck backstage at the SAG Awards. (TV Guide Magazine)

Mad Men's Sam Page is heading to ABC Desperate Housewives, reports Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello. Page has signed on for a multiple-episode story arc on the ABC drama series, where he will play Jeremy, described as "a well-trained cook who idolizes Bree (Marcia Cross) and her old-fashioned values." His first episode is slated to air in late February. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

How I Met Your Mother creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas have signed a three-year overall deal with 20th Century Fox Television said to be in the eight-figures range. Under the terms of the deal, the duo will remain on board HIMYM as executive producers through an eighth season (should one be ordered by CBS) and develop new series projects for the studio. The first project under their new deal will be an untitled comedy from writers Kourtney Kang and Joe Kelly about a Pittsburgh couple who are considering taking their relationship to the next level. (Variety)

Joanna Garcia (Privileged) has been cast in ABC's untitled Shana Goldberg-Meehan multi-camera comedy about two sisters, one of whom is unmarried but in a long-term relationship and one who finds herself pregnant and marries her boyfriend. Garcia will play the latter. Elsewhere, Steve Hawey, Shanola Hampton, and Jeremy White have been cast in Showtime's American adaptation of British drama Shameless. (Hollywood Reporter)

Pilot order alert! FOX has given a greenlight to drama Breakout Kings, from Prison Break's Matt Olmstead, director Gavin Hood (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) and Nick Santora and 20th Century Fox Television; series follows a group of US Marshals who team up with former convicts to track down escaped prisoners. FOX also ordered pilots for comedies Traffic Light, based on an Israeli scripted format about three male friends, each in various stages of romantic relationships, from writer Bob Fisher; and Most Likely to Succeed, about a "group of friends who were superstars growing up and are now dealing with the reality of adulthood," from writer Dave Walpert (Scrubs), who will executive produce with David Nevins and Brian Grazer. The latter hails from 20th Century Fox TV and Imagine TV. Elsewhere, ABC scored a pilot pickup for drama Edgar Floats, from Warner Bros. Television and executive producers Rand Ravich and Far Shariat, about a police psychologist turned bounty hunter. NBC ordered two comedies as well: Nathan vs. Nurture, from Moses Port and David Guarascio (Aliens in America) and Sony Pictures Television, about a cardio surgeon who reunites with his biological father and brothers 35 years he was given up for adoption; and This Little Piggy, from writers Stephen Cragg and Brian Bradley (Scrubs), about a married guy whose comfortable family life is turned into chaos when his adult siblings move in with them. (Variety)

SPOILER! Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Melinda Clarke has signed on for a multiple-episode story arc on the CW's Vampire Diaries, where she will play Matt's trashy mother Kelly... who will soon become involved with Ian Somerhalder's Damon. "If I didn’t have Kelly and Damon hook up there would be no God,” executive producer Kevin Williamson told Ausiello. "What’s the point of doing TV if you’re not going to put those two characters together? That’s going to be a fun relationship to explore... We’ll reveal that she was friends with Sheriff [Elizabeth] and Elena’s mother. The three of them were really tight friends back in the day. Sheriff and Kelly, in particular, have ongoing issues to deal with." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

FOX has moved up the launch date for supernatural drama Past Life to Tuesday, February 9th at 9 pm ET/PT, directly behind American Idol. The series will then settle into its regular timeslot on Thursdays at 9 pm ET/PT on February 11th. (Futon Critic)

Alan Cumming is set to guest star on CBS' The Good Wife later this season. According to TV Guide Magazine's Will Keck, Cumming will play an image consultant named Eli Gold hired to help Chris Noth's Peter makeover his image. (TV Guide Magazine)

Does Chloe (Mary Lynn Rajskub) know something about Katee Sackhoff's Dana Walsh? TVGuide.com's Natalie Abrams caught up with Rajskub to find out. "It's just getting really interesting," said Rajskub about Sackhoff's story arc this season on 24. "In the next few episodes, there's going to be some pretty twisted stuff happening. Honestly, you can't really grasp what's going on with her for many episodes, and we're all just trying to do our own stuff. Although I give her a look and we suspect [something], it doesn't really come out for a while." (TVGuide.com)

TVGuide.com's Natalie Abrams has an interview with Life Unexpected creator/executive producer Liz Tigelaar, who said that viewers shouldn't think of Cate (Shiri Appleby) and Baze (Kristoffer Polaha), the biological parents of Brittany Robertson's Lux who slept together in the pilot, as soulmates. "Obviously when something big happens like that in the pilot, with two characters carrying a significant secret, you're waiting for it to come out," Tigelaar told Abrams. "That will definitely happen, and as most secrets do, they come out at an inopportune time. In terms of Cate and Baze's relationship, these are two people who have to really reconcile what their feelings are about each other. Because of TV, we're trained to think that Cate and Baze belong together. But there's a good question in there: 'Really? You're the soul mate of the guy who knocked you up in high school in the back of a minivan? Really?' Logic says that's ridiculous." (TVGuide.com)

TVGuide.com is reporting that Odessa Rae (Leverage) has been cast in the CW's Smallville, where she will play Siobhan McDougal, a.k.a. the Silver Banshee, described as "a vengeful spirit of a fallen Gaelic heroine [who is] accidentally released from the underworld, and takes out her vengeance at an unassuming country bed and breakfast." (TVGuide.com)

Debmar-Mercury and ITV Studios have teamed up to bring British daytime talk show host Jeremy Kyle to the US, launching relationship/lifestyle series The Jeremy Kyle Show in a test run this summer during daytime first-run syndication. "We believe there's a market for it if he can hit the right tone for this country," said Debmar-Mercury's Mort Marcus. "It's so rare that you get to try out a new show with somebody who has done this kind of TV a thousand times before." (Variety)

Former Universal Cable Prods. executive Nikki Reed has been hired as VP of original series at Disney Channel and Disney XD. Reporting to Adam Bonnett, Reed will oversee the development of live-action programming at both cable networks. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Reincarnation Sleuths, Child Geniuses, and Show Choristers: FOX Announces Midseason Schedule

FOX today announced their midseason plans for 2009-2010, unveiling a lineup that includes giving reincarnation drama Past Life the post-Bones slot on Thursday evenings (current occupant Fringe will be going on a prolonged hiatus for seven weeks), bringing Kitchen Nightmares back (on Friday nights this time around) and giving the post-American Idol slot to new reality series Our Little Genius.

MONDAYS: The network announced that it had given a full season pickup to drama series Lie to Me, though the Shawn Ryan-produced series will take a breather on Mondays, which will be taken over by House and 24 come January. There's no return date yet for Lie to Me but the pickup ensures that the series will eventually return to the schedule at some point during the season.

TUESDAYS: Which brings us to Glee. We all knew that the musical comedy would go on hiatus after its initial thirteen-episode commitment and that there would need to be some time for scripting and production and that it would get a post-Idol slot. Glee will shift to Tuesday nights beginning April 13th (following the conclusion of Our Little Genius), where it will do battle with ABC's Lost, entering its sixth and final season. (As I mentioned on Twitter, if I am forced to choose between the two, Lost wins with no contest.)

WEDNESDAYS: The Idol juggernaut continues on Wednesdays, where it will lead into new unscripted series Our Little Genius beginning January 13th for a week before moving to Tuesdays and giving the timeslot to new action drama Human Target. (I wasn't crazy at all about the pilot for Human Target and, unless the producers have completely altered the format and structure of the series, I won't be tuning in.)

THURSDAYS: The biggest headscratcher is why FOX wouldn't move the struggling sophomore drama series Fringe off of Thursdays. Fringe will instead have its "winter finale" on February 4th and will return seven weeks later with new episodes on April 1st. In between those dates, FOX will give over the timeslot to Past Life. Having seen the pilot for the reincarnation drama, I would be amazed if FOX kept it around for all eight episodes. (FOX will launch the series with a two-hour premiere on February 11th.)

FRIDAYS: Kitchen Nightmares returns in midseason and lands the Friday night at 9 pm timeslot, taking over for the cancelled Dollhouse, which wraps up its run on January 22nd. However, it's likely a good thing that FOX is choosing to rest Hell's Kitchen for the time being. I assume they'll wait to bring the format back until summertime and I hear that they have two cycles of the reality competition cycle already in the can.

SUNDAYS: Sunday nights remain more or less intact after the start of 24's two-night launch on January 17th, with The Simpsons, The Cleveland Show, Family Guy, and American Dad remaining as is from the current schedule. Come March 14th, new live-action comedy Sons of Tucson will take over the 8:30 pm slot and The Cleveland Show will shift to 9:30 pm for the remainder of the season.

And, oh, FOX was generous enough to make sure we all knew that unkillable comedy 'Til Death would return to the schedule at "a later date."

The full press release from FOX announcing their midseason lineup and the night-by-night schedule (with launch dates) can be found below.

FOX ANNOUNCES 2009-2010 MIDSEASON SCHEDULE

“AMERICAN IDOL” RETURNS WITH TWO-NIGHT SEASON PREMIERE
TUESDAY, JAN. 12 AND WEDNESDAY, JAN. 13

NEW UNSCRIPTED SERIES “OUR LITTLE GENIUS” DEBUTS
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 13

NEW ACTION DRAMA “HUMAN TARGET” PREVIEWS
DURING EXTENDED PRIMETIME SUNDAY, JAN. 17 AND
MAKES ITS SERIES PREMIERE WEDNESDAY, JAN. 20

“24” STARTS THE CLOCK DURING TWO-NIGHT, FOUR-HOUR EVENT
SUNDAY, JAN. 17 AND MONDAY, JAN. 18

CELEBRATE THE “BEST. 20 YEARS. EVER.” OF “THE SIMPSONS”
WITH “THE SIMPSONS 20TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL: IN 3-D! ON ICE!”
AND MILESTONE 450TH EPISODE SUNDAY, JAN. 10

GORDON RAMSAY’S “KITCHEN NIGHTMARES” TURNS UP THE HEAT
FRIDAY, JAN. 29

NEW THRILLER “PAST LIFE” EMERGES THURSDAY, FEB. 11
AND NEW COMEDY “SONS OF TUCSON” DEBUTS SUNDAY, MARCH 14

“GLEE” ROCKS ITS FALL FINALE WEDNESDAY, DEC. 9
AND RETURNS WITH ALL-NEW EPISODES TUESDAY, APRIL 13

“FRINGE” AIRS WINTER FINALE THURSDAY, FEB. 4
AND RESURFACES WITH ALL-NEW EPISODES THURSDAY, APRIL 1

“LIE TO ME” PICKED UP FOR THE BACK NINE EPISODES BRINGING
THE ORDER TO A FULL SEASON

FOX is announcing premiere dates of new and returning series as well as revisions to its 2009-2010 midseason schedule. FOX also has ordered a full season of the sophomore drama LIE TO ME.

January starts off on a high note when the ninth season of AMERICAN IDOL, television’s No. 1 series, begins with a two-night premiere Tuesday, Jan. 12 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) and Wednesday, Jan. 13 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT). Immediately following AMERICAN IDOL on Jan. 13 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT), FOX unveils the not-to-be-missed series debut of OUR LITTLE GENIUS, a new unscripted series that features America’s most gifted kids as they are tested with some of the most challenging and difficult questions that only a remarkable little genius could answer.

A special extended primetime event on Sunday, Jan. 17 kicks off with the NFC DIVISIONAL PLAYOFF (4:00 PM-CC ET live/1:00 PM-CC PT live), which leads into the explosive series preview of HUMAN TARGET (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT), the new full-throttle, action-packed drama about a unique private contractor (Mark Valley) who will stop at nothing – even if it means becoming a human target – to save his clients. The special primetime event concludes with the first installment of the pulse-pounding two-night, four-hour premiere of 24 (9:00-11:00 PM ET/PT). The season premiere of 24 clocks in for two more hours of action Monday, Jan. 18 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT), and the season premiere of HUMAN TARGET airs Wednesday, Jan. 20 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) following AMERICAN IDOL (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT).

On Sunday, Jan. 10, FOX presents a special SIMPSONS event beginning with the animated series’ milestone 450th episode, “Once Upon a Time in Springfield” (8:00-8:30 PM ET/PT), in which BART (Nancy Cartwright) and MILHOUSE (Pamela Hayden) try to help KRUSTY (Dan Castellaneta) regain his popularity after network executives force him to restructure the format of his television show by hiring a female sidekick, PRINCESS PENELOPE (guest voice Anne Hathaway). Then, Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Morgan Spurlock (“Super Size Me,” “30 Days”) will present THE SIMPSONS 20TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL: IN 3-D! ON ICE! (8:30-9:30 PM ET/PT). The documentary special examines the global phenomenon that is THE SIMPSONS and serves as the momentous conclusion to the “Best. 20 Years. Ever.,” a year-long global celebration of THE SIMPSONS that launched in January 2009.

Chef Gordon Ramsay steps out of his own kitchen to serve up a new season of KITCHEN NIGHTMARES on Friday, Jan. 29 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT). Each week, Chef Ramsay will try to help turn around some of the most unsanitary and unsuccessful restaurants in New York, New Jersey, Florida and California on the verge of closing their doors forever.

PAST LIFE, a new drama series inspired by the book “The Reincarnationist” about detectives who investigate the world of the unexplained, will bow with a two-hour series premiere Thursday, Feb. 11 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) and will make its time period premiere Thursday, Feb. 18 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT).

SONS OF TUCSON, the new family comedy from Emmy Award winner Todd Holland (“Wonderfalls”) about three young brothers who hire a charming, wayward schemer to stand in as their father when their real one goes to prison, debuts Sunday, March 14 (8:30-9:00 PM ET/PT).

AMERICAN IDOL sings on Tuesdays (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) when it makes its time period premiere Jan. 19 followed by the time period premiere of OUR LITTLE GENIUS (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT), and 24 syncs up for its time period premiere Monday, Jan. 25 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT).

After its fall finale Wednesday, Dec. 9 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT), GLEE returns from its interlude with a score of all-new episodes on a new night beginning Tuesday, April 13 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT). FRINGE delves into its winter finale Thursday, Feb. 4 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) and then resurfaces with new cases beginning Thursday, April 1 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT). Joss Whedon’s DOLLHOUSE goes out with a bang with its series finale Friday, Jan. 22 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT).

RECAP – FOX 2009-2010 MIDSEASON SCHEDULE
(All times ET/PT except as noted)

MONDAY
Monday, Jan. 4:
7:30 PM-CC ET TOSTITOS FIESTA BOWL (LIVE)

Monday, Jan. 18:
8:00-10:00 PM 24 (2-Night / 4-Hour Season Premiere, Part 2)

Mondays, beginning Jan. 25:
8:00-9:00 PM HOUSE
9:00-10:00 PM 24 (Time Period Premiere)

****************************

TUESDAY
Tuesday, Jan. 5:
7:30 PM-CC ET FEDEX ORANGE BOWL (LIVE)

Tuesday, Jan. 12:
8:00-10:00 PM AMERICAN IDOL (Season Premiere, Part 1)

Tuesdays, beginning Jan. 19:
8:00-9:00 PM AMERICAN IDOL (Time Period Premiere)
9:00-10:00 PM OUR LITTLE GENIUS (Time Period Premiere)

Tuesdays, beginning April 13:
8:00-9:00 PM AMERICAN IDOL
9:00-10:00 PM GLEE (Time Period Premiere)

***************************

WEDNESDAY
Wednesday, Jan. 13:
8:00-9:00 PM AMERICAN IDOL (Season Premiere, Part 2)
9:00-10:00 PM OUR LITTLE GENIUS (Series Premiere)


Wednesdays, beginning Jan. 20:
8:00-9:00 PM AMERICAN IDOL
9:00-10:00 PM HUMAN TARGET (Series Premiere)

***************************

THURSDAY
Thursdays, beginning Jan. 14 (no change to lineup):
8:00-9:00 PM BONES (All-New Episodes)
9:00-10:00 PM FRINGE (All-New Episodes)

Thursday, Feb. 4:
8:00-9:00 PM BONES
9:00-10:00 PM FRINGE (Winter Finale)

Thursday, Feb. 11:
8:00-10:00 PM PAST LIFE (Two-Hour Series Premiere)

Thursdays, beginning Feb. 18:
8:00-9:00 PM BONES
9:00-10:00 PM PAST LIFE (Time Period Premiere)

Thursdays, beginning April 1:
8:00-9:00 PM BONES
9:00-10:00 PM FRINGE (Time Period Premiere)

***************************

FRIDAY
Friday, Jan. 1:
8:00 PM-CC ET ALLSTATE SUGAR BOWL (LIVE)

Fridays, beginning Jan. 8:
8:00-9:00 PM BONES (Encore Episodes)
9:00-10:00 PM DOLLHOUSE (All-New Episodes)

Friday, Jan. 22:
8:00-9:00 PM BONES (Encore Episode)
9:00-10:00 PM DOLLHOUSE (Series Finale)

Fridays, beginning Jan. 29:
8:00-9:00 PM HOUSE (Encore Episodes)
9:00-10:00 PM KITCHEN NIGHTMARES (Season Premiere)

**************************

SATURDAY
Saturdays (no change to lineup):
8:00-8:30 PM COPS
8:30-9:00 PM COPS
9:00-10:00 PM AMERICA’S MOST WANTED
11:00 PM-Midnight THE WANDA SYKES SHOW
Midnight-12:30 AM SIT DOWN, SHUT UP

***************************

SUNDAY
Sunday, Jan. 10:
8:00-8:30 PM THE SIMPSONS (450th Milestone Episode)
8:30-9:30 PM THE SIMPSONS 20TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL: IN 3-D! ON ICE!
9:30-10:00 PM THE CLEVELAND SHOW

Sunday, Jan. 17:
4:00 PM-CC ET NFC DIVISIONAL PLAYOFF (LIVE)
8:00-9:00 PM HUMAN TARGET (Series Preview)
9:00-11:00 PM 24 (2-Night / 4-Hour Season Premiere, Part 1)

Sunday, Jan. 24:
6:00 PM-CC ET NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME (LIVE)

Sundays, beginning Jan. 31 (no change to lineup):
8:00-8:30 PM THE SIMPSONS (All-New Episodes)
8:30-9:00 PM THE CLEVELAND SHOW (All-New Episodes)
9:00-9:30 PM FAMILY GUY (All-New Episodes)
9:30-10:00 PM AMERICAN DAD (All-New Episodes)

Sunday, March 14:
8:00-8:30 PM THE SIMPSONS
8:30-9:00 PM SONS OF TUCSON (Series Premiere)
9:00-9:30 PM FAMILY GUY
9:30-10:00 PM THE CLEVELAND SHOW (Time Period Premiere)

[EDITOR’S NOTE 1: LIE TO ME will return to the schedule in the late spring, and ‘TIL DEATH will return to the schedule at a later date.]

[EDITOR’S NOTE 2: THE CLEVELAND SHOW takes over the timeslot previously held by AMERICAN DAD, which will return to the schedule at a later date.]

[EDITOR’S NOTE 3: THE SIMPSONS milestone 450th episode and THE SIMPSONS 20TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL: IN 3-D! ON ICE! special, which were previously announced to air Thursday, Jan. 14, are now scheduled for Sunday, Jan. 10.]

Channel Surfing: Elizabeth Mitchell Talks "Lost" Fate, Itzin to Return to "24," TNT Locks Up "Southland," and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing.

Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch has an interview with Elizabeth Mitchell and Lost executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse about the ultimate fate of Mitchell's Juliet, last seen detonating the hydrogen bomb that may or may not have caused The Incident at the end of Season Five. While Mitchell is set to reprise her role as Juliet Burke on Season Six of Lost, it's been confirmed that Juliet is definitely dead. Still, there are still some mysteries about the good (or not so good?) doctor that still need to be resolved. "There’s still something very significant that we have not yet learned about the character," according to Cuse. (Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch)

Gregory Itzin (The Mentalist) will return to FOX's 24 in a multiple-episode story arc that finds him reprising his role as villainous former President Charles Logan, who was last seen being stabbed by his wife Martha (Jean Smart) during Day Six. The Wrap's Josef Adalian is reporting that Logan will return in Day Eight in order to help Allison Taylor (Cherry Jones) deal with a diplomatic crisis. (The Wrap's TVMoJoe)

It's official! TNT has picked up the axed Southland in a deal with Warner Bros. Television that gives the cable exclusive rights to the six unaired episdoes produced for NBC, which TNT will air as well as the series' seven-episode first season. Southland will debut on TNT on Tuesday, January 12th at 10 pm ET/PT. (Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed)

NBC has given a script order to hostage crisis drama Zeroes, which depicts the final hour of a hostage crisis. Project, from Universal Media Studios and BermanBraun, will be written by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, who are attached to direct should the project be ordered to series. (Hollywood Reporter)

David Tennant said that he's jealous of incoming Doctor Who star Matt Smith, who replaces Tennant in the role of the Doctor next year. "I'm really excited for him but I remember how exciting it was starting out on this kind of a journey - and nervewracking and a bit overwhelming but just such a kick," said Tennant. "So I'm jealous he's going through that now, but [it's] brilliant and it couldn't happen to a nicer chap." (BBC Newsbeat)

Ghost Whisperer executive producers Ian Sander and Kim Moses have three projects in development at ABC via their overall deal with ABC Studios, including legal drama Jane and Dick, about an all-female law firm and its newest partner whose life is sent spinning when she crosses paths with her high school boyfriend from writers Jennifer Weiner and Michael Reisz; Police Surgeon, about a female cop who also happens to be a medical surgeon in Chicago, from writer Lance Gentile; and Ghost World, about a male ghost who solves crimes with a female police detective with the hopes of solving his own death, from writer Daniel Taplitz. (Variety)

Scott Foley (The Unit) has been cast in three episodes of ABC's Cougar Town, where he will play a businessman who is shown several homes by Courteney Cox's Jules and who might just be a potential love interest for Jules. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Anthony Michael Hall is set to guest star in the December 10th episode of NBC's Community, where he will play a bully who challenges Joel McHale's Jeff to a fight in the series' Christmas-themed episode. (TV Guide)

Variety's Michael Schneider talks to original V creator Kenneth Johnson about ABC's reimagination, which launches on Tuesday, and his efforts to get a big-screen remake off the ground. "If the show succeeds, it gives us an opportunity to go out with a one sheet that says, 'You like the show, now see the original classic reborn,'"Johnson told Schneider. "And if the show doesn't do well, we can always say, 'Here is the V you've been waiting for.'" (Variety)

Fox21 and Plantinum Studios are developing a drama series based on graphic novel "Gunplay," about "a buffalo soldier condemned to roam the Old West with a hellish curse slung at his waist: a demonic shooting iron that forces him to kill once a day or suffer soul-searing pain." Project will be adapted by Glen Morgan (The X-Files). (Hollywood Reporter)

Ian McKellan will star in half-hour mockumentary series The Academy, where he will play his own fictional brother, the headmaster of a decrepit drama school. Project, written and directed by Peter Hinton, will also star Jonathan Hyde, Sylvester McCoy, and Frances Barber. Production company DLT Entertainment is shopping the series to buyers on both sides of the pond. (Variety)

Warner Bros. Pictures have stepped in as the sole sponsors of FOX's November 8th Seth MacFarlane primetime variety special (Family Guy Presents: Seth and Alex’s Almost Live Comedy Show), after Microsoft pulled out of the special last week. The studio will air an extended trailer for Sherlock Holmes during the special. (Variety)

Rena Sofer (24) has been cast on CBS' NCIS, where she will play "a no-nonsense attorney with mysterious motives" in a potentially recurring role. (Hollywood Reporter)

Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio has been cast in USA's Law & Order: Criminal Intent, where she will play the team's new captain, replacing Eric Bogosian's character. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Has ABC ordered more episodes of its reality series Shark Tank? Not according to an ABC spokesperson. But it's a different story with regard to one of the series' sharks, Robert Herjavec, who announced that the network had ordered additional episodes of Shark Tank via Twitter. (The Wrap's TV MoJoe)

Former Comcast executive Allan Singer has been hired as EVP of distribution and strategy at OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network. He'll report to CEO Christina Norman. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

First Look: Day Eight of FOX's "24"

FOX has unveiled their first official promo for Day Eight of 24, which launches in January.

The 45-second promo clip for Day Eight, which can be viewed below, doesn't focus on the new characters played by Katee Sackhoff and Freddie Prinze Jr. next season, instead placing the emphasis squarely on Kiefer Sutherland's Jack Bauer and Elisha Cuthbert's Kim (sans cougar, natch).

Will Jack ever get a chance to settle into the quiet comfort of grandparenthood and time with his family? Not this day, anyway, as Jack is once again called upon to save the nation.



Are you excited about Day Eight? Curious about the new characters? And wondering whether Jack will make it through the season alive? Discuss.

Day Eight of 24 is scheduled to launch on Monday, January 17th on FOX.

Channel Surfing: TNT Close to Deal for "Southland," Bravo Hungry for "Top Chef: Just Desserts," "24," NBC Picks Up Three Series, and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing.

The Hollywood Reporter's Nellie Andreeva is reporting that TNT is very close to a deal with Warner Bros. Television to acquire cancelled NBC cop drama Southland. The deal, which is now said to appear "likely," would save the series--which produced six new installments for a second season at NBC--from cancellation, after NBC axed the series before launching the series' second season. (Hollywood Reporter)

Bravo has ordered a spinoff of its culinary competition series Top Chef entitled Top Chef: Just Desserts, which will air next year and focus on a showdown between pastry chefs in a weekly competition. Top Chef producers Magical Elves are on board for the spinoff, which will begin casting this week. No host or judges have been determined yet for the series, which will air in between cycles of Top Chef and Top Chef Masters. (Variety)

The Wrap's Josef Adalian takes a look at what appear to be the first two promos for Day Eight of FOX's 24, which have been leaked onto the internet. (The Wrap's TVMoJoe)

NBC has given full-season pickups to comedies Community and Parks and Recreation and drama series Mercy, bumping the episodic total to 22 installments for the trio this season. (Televisionary)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello talks to incoming Grey's Anatomy actress Kim Raver about her upcoming multiple-episode story arc on the ABC medical drama. "She was in Iraq with Owen," Raver told Ausiello about her character, Teddy. "She’s a cardiac surgeon. She’s really good at what she does. There’ll be some interesting stuff between Teddy, Cristina and Owen." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

NBC is developing two new projects, including drama Nola Rising, about the unlikely partnership between a struggling private investigator and a charismatic ex-con who is a spiritual medium as they "help solve the problems of New Orleans citizens, living or dead." Project, from Universal Media Studios and Yellow Brick Road, is written by Medium's Diane Ademu-John and executive produced by Teri Weinberg. The Peacock is also developing hybrid comedy Ordinary People, about a twenty-something African-American married couple who are "fast-tracked professionals with four kids," whose lives are changed when the husband becomes a columnist for Rolling Stone and begins to work out of their house. Project, from Universal Media Studios, is executive produced by Kenya Barris and Scott Stuber. (Hollywood Reporter)

Warner Bros. is in final talks to pick up an untitled animated comedy pitch about a peacock from writers Austin Winsberg and Heath Corson. The studio is keeping the plot firmly under wraps for the project, which will be executive produced by Underground Film & Television's Trevor Engelson and Nicholas Osborne. (Variety)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that David Costabile (Damages, Flight of the Conchords) has been cast in at least four episodes of Season Three of AMC's Breaking Bad, where he will play Gale, the new assistant of Bryan Cranston's Walt. "Described as an eager student and a brilliant chemist, Gale is the antithesis of Jessie (Aaron Paul) in that he’s more interested in the magic of chemistry than getting rich," writes Ausiello. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

HBO has renewed drama series In Treatment for a third season. (Televisionary)

FOX has given a script order to an untitled single-camera comedy about a team of twenty-something computer geniuses who crack computer security systems. Project, from Sony Pictures Television and Happy Madison, is written by Adam F. Goldberg (Four Christmases), who will executive produce with Seth Gordon, himself attached to direct should the project be ordered to pilot. (Variety)

TV Land has given cast-contingent pilot orders to two projects. The first, comedy Hot in Cleveland, revolves around three female friends from Los Angeles, each in her forties, who end up in Cleveland but decide to stay "when they realize the locals consider them glamorous." (Editor: Flashbacks to 30 Rock's "Cleveland" episode.) Project, written by Suzanne Martin (Frasier), will be executive produced by Hazy Mills Prods.' Sean Hayes and Todd Milliner. The second, Retired at 35, about a wealthy businessman who leaves Manhattan to settle in his parents' Florida retirement home. Project was written by Chris Case (Reba), who will executive produce with Mindy Schultheis and Michael Hanel. (Variety)

Mad Men's Sam Page has been cast in a recurring role on ABC Family's Greek, where he will play Joel, "a smart and accessible local campaign manager for a congresswoman" who worked on Capitol Hill with the father of Dilshad Vadaria's Rebecca. Page is set to appear in Season Four of Greek. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Fineman Entertainment, the shingle behind FX's upcoming drama series Lights Out, has hired former ABC executive Ray Ricord as VP of development. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Natalie Zea Tackles "Lawman," Armande Assante Targets "Chuck," CW Orders More Scripts for "Melrose" and "Diaries," and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing.

Former Dirty Sexy Money star Natalie Zea, who most recently recurred on HBO's Hung, has signed on a series regular on FX's drama Lawman, starring Timothy Olyphant. Zea, who appeared in Lawman's pilot, will reprise her role as the ex-wife of Olyphant's US Marshall Givens in the series. Project hails from Sony Pictures Television and FX Productions. (Hollywood Reporter)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Emmy winner Armand Assante has been cast as a guest star on NBC's Chuck, where he will play "a Castro-esque dictator who Casey has unsuccessfully tried to assassinate multiple times." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

The CW has given a full season order to veteran drama series One Tree Hill, which is currently in its seventh season. Initially, the netlet had only ordered 13 installments for this season but the order bumps the episode total to a full 22. Elsewhere, the CW ordered nine additional scripts for drama series Vampire Diaries and six more scripts for ratings-starved soap Melrose Place. (TVGuide.com, Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

NBC has given a script order to an untitled multi-camera comedy pilot starring former Saturday Night Live cast member Jim Breuer about a man who decides to stay at home to look after his three daughters and take care of his elderly parents at the same time. Project, from Sony Pictures Television and Varsity Pictures, will be written and executive produced by Wil Calhoun (Friends); Breuer, Brian Robbins, Judi Brown-Marmel and Sharla Sumpter. (Variety)

Stephen Root (True Blood) has been cast in a multiple-episode story arc on Day Eight of FOX's 24, where he will play Ben Prady, "an officer of the Department of Corrections looking into a parolee gone missing." (Hollywood Reporter)

E! Online's Watch with Kristin has the first official photograph of Charisma Carpenter on syndicated fantasy drama series Legend of the Seeker. Carpenter appears in the November 7th second season premiere, where she will play "Triana, one of the feisty Mord-Sith warrior women who regularly make Richard Cypher's life miserable—when they're not trying to sex him up, that is." (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Empire creator Tom Wheeler has set up two high-concept dramas at NBC and FOX, which have received script commitments with penalties attached. The NBC project, entitled The Cape, is about a former cop who, after being framed for a crime, becomes The Cape, a marked vigilante out to clear his name and reunite with his son in a city beset with corruption. Project, from Universal Media Studios and BermanBraun, will be executive produced by Wheeler, Lloyd Braun, and Gail Berman. FOX project, The Mysteries of Oak Island, is about a mother and daughter who inherit a 200-year-old lighthouse on a privately owned island off the coast of Nova Scotia where there are legends of buried treasure. That project, hails from Warner Bros. Television, and is described by Wheeler as "mixing Romancing the Stone and What Lies Beneath with a little bit of The Goonies thrown in. It's a family adventure but also about the adventure of being a family." (Hollywood Reporter)

Daniel Mays (The Street) has joined the cast of BBC One's time travel drama series Ashes to Ashes for its third and final season. Mays will play Jim Keats, a Discipline and Complaints Officer with the Metropolitan Police on the series, which returns to BBC One in 2010. "Series three of Ashes To Ashes will have the same combination of thrilling crime drama, outrageous '80s outfits and cutting one liners," said executive producer Piers Wenger. "We’ll be sad to see Gene and the gang go but the journey that will take us to that finale will be one of the most exciting, compelling and edge-of-your seat rides on TV!" (Digital Spy)

Allison Silverman (Colbert Report) has signed a blind script deal with Broadway Video to write a pilot. Word comes shortly after Silverman announced her intention to step down from Colbert Report. (Variety)

The Hollywood Reporter's Nellie Andreeva is reporting that Simon Cowell is talks to bring his British reality competition series The X Factor to FOX in a deal that would also extend his role on American Idol for two additional years, through the 2011-12 season. (Hollywood Reporter

UK fans will get to watch Glee after all. Digital channel E4, home to Skins and The Inbetweeners, has closed a deal with 20th Century Fox Television for the UK rights to Glee. No air date was announced. (Broadcast)

Looks like MTV will be airing the late DJ AM's intervention series Gone Too Far after all. According to the Hollywood Reporter's James Hibberd, a source close to the cabler has indicated that the network will be airing the series and has been in touch with Adam Goldstein's family to consult about the timing of the broadcast. MTV for its part has declined to comment. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Angie Harmon Targets "Chuck," Natalie Morales Tries On "White Collar," Richard Curtis to Pen "Doctor Who" Script, and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing, on this the first day back to work after the Labor Day three-day weekend.

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Angie Harmon (Women's Murder Club) has been cast as a guest star on NBC's Chuck. She'll appear in the third season's fourth episode--slated to air sometime around late March/early April--where she will play Sydney, a covert agent for the enigmatic organization The Ring who wants to eliminate Captain Awesome (Ryan McPartlin). (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Former Middleman star Natalie Morales has been promoted to a series regular on USA's upcoming crime dramedy White Collar, where she will play Lauren Cruz, described as "a smart junior FBI agent in the white-collar division who holds her own with her superiors and the master thieves she's investigating." Morales was originally meant to guest star in two episodes. Elsewhere at USA, Eric Lively (24: Redemption), Kari Matchett (Heartland), and Eion Bailey (ER) have been cast in USA's drama pilot Covert Affairs, with Lively and Matchett signed on as series regulars and Bailey as recurring. (Hollywood Reporter)

Richard Curtis (best known for Notting Hill, Love Actually, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Blackadder, and Vicar of Dibley) will reportedly write one of the upcoming scripts for Season Five of Doctor Who, which is expected to air next year on BBC One and BBC America. Season Five of the British sci-fi series stars Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor and will be overseen by new head writer/executive producer Steven Moffat. There will be a monster. And a famous historical figure will battle the monster," said Curtis of his script. ""It's tremendously good fun and a treat for my children," Curtis told today's Sun. "These days the things you can watch together as a family are much fewer so when you get something like Doctor Who or The X Factor it is such a pleasure to sit down as a family. I am very interested in time travel for some reason or other. I am writing a film about it but on a low budget with no spectacular special effects. Maybe it's a desire to get out of being old. Sometimes you do just love the idea that you could go back in time and change things." (Guardian)

Desperate Housewives creator Mark Cherry has produced eight 35-second commercials for ABC and Sprint that will offer viewers a glimpse into a "murderous love triangle" starring Rebecca Staab and David Chisum, who who will also appear on Desperate Housewives as "background extras." The ads, which will run over eight weeks during the Desperate timeslot, essentially work as pod-busters, forcing the viewer to stop rewinding and tune in to short-form content that's actually a cleverly disguised advertisement. The first segment will launch during the September 27th season premiere of Desperate Housewives. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

New York Magazine's Adam Sternberg profiles Jonathan Ames, author and creator of the new HBO comedy series Bored to Death. (New York Magazine)

Rami Malek (Night at the Museum), Julian Morris (ER), and Hrach Titizian (24) have been cast in multiple-episode story arcs on Day Eight of FOX's 24. Malek will play Marcos, an Arab-American wannabe suicide bomber; Morris will play a CTU SWAT agent; Titizian will play President Hassan's second-in-command. (Hollywood Reporter)

ABC has given a script order for multi-camera workplace comedy Family Business, about a highly dysfunctional family in the Midwest who attempt to keep their grocery store open after the family is shattered by divorce. Project, from ABC Studios, will be written by Sonny Lee and Patrick Walsh of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and executive produced by Mark Gordon. (Variety)

HBO has pacted with author Richard Russo to write the pilot script for an untitled drama series about the Catskills Gas Rush and its resulting class conflicts in upstate New York. Russo will write the script, based on a 2008 New York Magazine article, executive produce with Mark Johnson and Will Gluck. (Hollywood Reporter)

NBC has confirmed that Michaela Watkins and Casey Wilson will not be returning for the thirty-fifth season of Saturday Night Live, following the hiring of Jenny Slate and Nasim Pedrad, who have joined the cast. The move is surprising as Watkins had received favorable reviews for her many performances. (Variety)

Etienne de Villiers will step down from his post as chairman of BBC Worldwide at the end of the month. He's served in the role since January of 2006. (Variety)

Lifetime has ordered telepic Pregnancy Pact, inspired by a real life situation where seventeen teenage girls allegedly formed a pact to all get pregnant at the same time and did. Script will be written by Pam Davis and Teena Booth, with Frank Von Zerneck and Robert Sertner executive producing. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Zooey Deschanel Could Guest Star on "Bones," FOX Slates First "Glee" Soundtrack, NBC to Get "More Colorful," and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing.

It seems like the stars are finally aligning. Producers on FOX's Bones are in talks with Zooey Deschanel to guest star on the procedural crime drama in December as the cousin of real-life sister Emily Deschanel's Brennan, according to Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello. "We’ve been looking for an opportunity to get the Deschanel girls together," said Bones creator/executive producer Hart Hanson, "but Zooey’s rockin’ career kept getting in the way... We alluded to [her] having a cousin in Minnesota two seasons ago. I’d very much like to meet her in the Christmas episode." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

As previously reported on this site, 20th Century Fox Television is teaming up with Columbia Records on a series of soundtracks for FOX's upcoming series Glee. The first release, "Glee: The Music, Volume 1," will contain seventeen tracks from the series' first season (including Queen's "Somebody to Love," Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" and Kanye West's "Gold Digger") and will debut on November 3rd. (Hollywood Reporter)

NBC has unveiled its new marketing slogan, "more colorful," which is reportedly intended to "reference both NBC's Peacock heritage and the net's famous '60s-era bumpers, which promised 'the following program is brought to you in living color on NBC,'" according to Variety's Michael Schneider. The new tagline will launch on September 14th, the same day that the Peacock will premiere Jay Leno's new 10 pm weeknightly series. (Variety)

So Twitter. FOX will use Twitter later this week during repeat broadcasts of both Glee and Fringe, during which cast members and producers will use the social networking platform to tweet live updates during the telecasts that will be displayed on-air in a scroll at the bottom of the screen. Fringe's Joshua Jackson, John Noble, Jeff Pinkner, and J.H. Wyman will participate, while Glee's Lea Michele, Kevin McHale, Mark Salling, Cory Monteith, Amber Riley, and Chris Colfer are all set to join them when FOX repeats the pilot of Glee on Friday evening. (Variety)

Casting alert! Kate Mulgrew (Star Trek: Voyager) has been cast in NBC's medical drama Mercy, where she will play Jeannie Flanagan, the mother of Taylor Schilling's Veronica. Elsewhere, Jesse Williams (Greek) will appear in a multiple-episode story arc on ABC's Grey's Anatomy, though producers are keeping details about his character firmly under wraps. Matthew Levy will star opposite Tyler Labine in FOX's midseason comedy Sons of Tucson as the eldest of the three brothers, Joshua Leonard (Humpday) will recur on Season Two of Showtime's United States of Tara as "boho-trustifarian" Ricky, and Mido Hamada (Path to 9/11) will recur on FOX's 24 as "Mehran, the leader of a group of operatives in an Islamic country working against their president." (Hollywood Reporter)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Garret Dillahunt (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) will guest star in USA's Burn Notice, where he will play Simon, described by Ausiello as "a scary-smart new client of Michael’s (Jeffrey Donovan) — and perhaps the first person to outsmart him." Dillahunt's episode, which also features John Mahoney, is slated to air this winter. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Brenda Blethyn (Atonement) will star in Hidden Depths, a new murder mystery series on UK's ITV based on the novel by Ann Cleeves. Blethyn will play Vera Stanhope, a detective inspector in Northumberland who is on the trail of a murderer who left the bodies of two young people in the water. Project will be adapted by Paul Rutman and executive produced by kate Bartlett. (Guardian)

It's the end of the rainbow. PBS has announced that long-running children's series Reading Rainbow aired its final episode on Friday, after a run that began in 1983. (Hollywood Reporter)

Supernatural creator Eric Kripke told Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello that he is sticking to his five-year plan for the drama series and intends to wrap up the storyline at the end of next season. But there's a rather big catch. "I did set out [to] tell a five-season storyline," said Kripke. "Quite frankly, I never expected [the show] to make it to five years. But now that we’re in our fifth year, I have every intention of ending the story with a bang and not drawing it out or watering it down.... That having been said, I’m looking at this season as the last chapter in this particular story. That doesn’t mean there can’t be a new story. Buffy did it. The X-Files did it. You close a chapter on a big mythology storyline and then you begin a new one." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

ABC has given a script order to an untitled multi-camera comedy project from writer/executive producers Matt Williams (Roseanne), Carmen Finestra, and David McFadzean and ABC Studios about a sports psychologist who runs his practice out of his house and tries to juggle his career with his role as a father of three and a husband. (Hollywood Reporter)

BBC Three has announced three new commissions including drama Lip Service, about the "sex lives and love affairs of twenty-something lesbians living in contemporary Glasgow" from Harriet Braun (Mistresses), comedy Mouth to Mouth, about the "complicated and sometimes funny issues of personal identity, following the year-in-the-life story of six young people," and news-based entertainment series Russell Howard's Good News, in which Howard draws conclusions from the top news stories as well as smaller stories which may not have gotten any ink (digital or otherwise). (BBC)

TLC has ordered twelve episodes of docusoap King of the Crown, which will follow Cy Frakes, professional beauty queen coach as he trains his clients "how to perfect their walk, style hair, and smile on cue." The cabler will debut the series, from Five Five Prods. and Discovery Studios, on Wednesday, September 30th. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: David Anders Clocks in for "24," ABC Developing "Time Traveler's Wife" Series, Matt Lauria to Shine "Lights," and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing.

David Anders (Alias, Heroes) has been cast in a recurring role on Day Eight of FOX's 24 and Zap2It's Rick Porter has managed to obtain some further information about Anders' villainous character. Anders, who is slated to appear in a handful of episodes next season, will play Josef Bazhaev, the son of an Eastern European mobster, who is described in casting breakdowns as being the "heir apparent to an Eastern Promises-style godfather. Josef is a dangerous man but is cautious and worries about things more than his father." (Zap2It)

Just a few days after the opening of feature film The Time Traveler's Wife, ABC has announced that it is teaming up with Friends creator Marta Kaufman and Warner Bros. Television to develop a drama series based around the film (itself an adaptation of Audrey Niffenegger's novel). Kaufman will write the pilot script and executive produce. "ABC executives believe the complex plot of the original novel will work well in series form," writes The Wrap's Joe Adalian, "since Kauffman will be able to explore the romantic relationship at the core of the story over the course of several seasons." However, the potential series won't strictly be serialized and will also be comprised of episodic storylines. (The Wrap)

Matt Lauria (Lipstick Jungle) has been cast as a series regular in Season Four of Friday Night Lights, where he will play Luke, described as "a charming yet cocky junior who reluctantly finds himself playing for Coach Taylor’s East Dillon squad," by Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello. Season Four of Friday Night Lights kicks off on October 28th on DirecTV before airing next summer on NBC. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Canadian viewers desperate to catch Season Three of period drama Mad Men will have to turn to iTunes for their next fix. Lionsgate Television via its affiliate Maple Pictures has made a deal with iTunes Canada to carry Season Three of Mad Men for download in both standard definition and HD. (Hollywood Reporter)

E! Online's Jennifer Godwin has a fantastic interview with Nurse Jackie's Merrit Wever, who plays innocently addled nurse Zoey on the Showtime dramedy series. "I think it would be a huge deal," said Wever when asked what Zoey's reaction would be upon learning about Jackie's darker side. "I could see Zoey staging an intervention, thinking she should take it upon herself to sober Jackie up. I could see her thinking this is why she was sent to the hospital. I think she would get all of the pamphlets and literature she could possibly find on drug addiction, and Zoey would annoy Jackie sober. And I say annoy lovingly. She would care Jackie sober, because she does think she's the best thing since sliced bread. Zoey adores Jackie. She thinks she's a great lady." (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Michael B. Jordan (The Wire) has been cast as a series regular in Season Four of Friday Night Lights, where he will play troublemaker Vince, who is described by Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello as "charming at times, the junior running back can be dangerous and menacing—a result of his crime-riddled upbringing. He quickly finds himself at odds with the team’s new pretty boy Luke." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

NBC has given a script order to an untitled multi-camera comedy project from writer/executive producer Gary Janetti (Will & Grace) about two men--one straight, the other gay--who are best friends. Project, from 20th Century Fox Television, "marks the first major deal between NBC and 20th TV since the network's May cancellation of the 20th TV-produced My Name Is Earl after four seasons," writes The Hollywood Reporter's Nellie Andreeva. (Hollywood Reporter)

BBC One have commissioned a 90-minute adaptation of Henry James' supernatural classic The Turn of the Screw. Adapted by Sandy Welch (Jane Eyre) and directed by Tim Fywell (The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency), the action of the spine-tingling novella is moved to post-WWI. The drama, which begins shooting later this month, will star Michelle Dockery (Cranford), Sue Johnston (Waking the Dead), and Mark Umbers (Mistresses). (BBC)

PBS will launch a new culinary-themed travel series Gourmet's Adventures with Ruth, which will follow Gourmet editor-in-chief and author Ruth Reichl as she travels the world visiting cooking schools with celebrities. The ten-episode series will debut on PBS on October 17th and will also be available via Gourmet's TiVo channel and on American Airlines flights. (Hollywood Reporter)

Cabler Style will begin airing repeats of ABC's Supernanny in September every evening at 7 pm ET/PT. (Variety)

Natasha Henstridge (Eli Stone) has been cast opposite Harry Hamlin in Hallmark Channel telepic Family Gathering, from writer Kevin Commins and director John Bradshaw. Pic is slated to air in 2010. (Hollywood Reporter)

Former CBS executive Lisa Leingang has been hired as SVP of original programming and development for Comedy Central's East Coast operations. She will report to Lauren Carrao. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Chase and Cameron Back in Center of "House," Callum Keith Rennie Clocks in for "24," Will Arnett Returns to FOX, and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing.

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that House's Jennifer Morrison and Jesse Spencer's Cameron and Chase will move back into their old jobs on the FOX medical drama following a staffing shakeup at Princeton Plainsboro during which Foreman takes over House's role. "They are both thrown back into their old jobs," Morrison told EW. "It’s been great actually. I have been working a lot and there are things that happen to House very early in the season that have a domino effect on all of the other characters... Cameron was always very close and protective of House. And to have her mentor be away in an asylum makes her contemplate life and career and him. Having him gone affects everyone he works with, personally and professionally." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Another Battlestar Galactica actor is heading to FOX's 24 next season. Callum Keith Rennie, who played Leoben on the Sci Fi series, has signed on to appear in a multiple-episode story arc in Day Eight of 24, where he will play Vladimir Laitanan, a "Russian syndicate mobster who debuts around Episode Six or Seven," according to TV Guide Magazine's Will Keck, who said that Rennie's character will be linked to Jurgen Prochnow's mobster Bazhaev. (TV Guide Magazine)

It's not quite Arrested Development but it's a reunion of sorts. FOX has given a script order to an untitled comedy pilot to be written by Will Arnett, Mitch Hurwitz, and Jim Vallely about a "rich Beverly Hills jackass who falls in love with a charitable tree-hugging woman who can't stand his lifestyle or values." Said man will be played by none other than Arnett himself, should the script get ordered to pilot. Project, from Sony Pictures Television and Tantamount, is executive produced by Hurwitz, Eric Tannenbaum, Kim Tannenbaum, Vallely, Peter Principato, and Paul Young. (Hollywood Reporter)

FOX has slated a two-hour Octomom documentary entitled Octomom: The Incredible Unseen Footage on August 19th. Footage, culled from six months' worth of shooting by RadarOnline.com reporters living with Nadya Suleman and her brood. Pilgrim Film and Television's Craig Piligian will be executive producing the documentary special, which won't have an on-air host. (Variety)

TNT has renewed medical drama Hawthorne for a second season of ten episodes, which will launch in 2010. (via press release)

Gabrielle Union, who is set to appear in a multiple-episode story arc on ABC's FlashForward next season, has signed on to star and executive produce Lifetime telepic The Vow, based on a Denene Millner novel about three women who attend a wedding and make a pact to all get engaged within the following year. Project, from Sony Pictures Television, is being adapted by Nzingha Stewart. (Variety)

Cabler Ovation TV has secured US broadcast premiere rights to the newest episodes of UK music series Later... with Jools Holland, which will air Thursday evenings at 8 pm, beginning September 10th with an episode featuring Kaiser Chiefs, The Streets, Seasick Steve, TV on the Radio, Little Jackie, and Boy George. (via press release)

HBO has acquired US television rights to Sundance award-winning documentary Afghan Star, about the lives of four finalists competing in an American Idol-type pop music showdown in Afghanistan. Doc will premiere on the pay cabler in 2010. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

War and Peace: Kiefer Sutherland, Mary-Lynn Rajskub, David Fury, Freddie Prinze Jr., Anil Kapoor Talk Day Eight in "24" Press Room

In the press room after the 24 panel at San Diego Comic-Con this weekend, David Fury tried to explain comments that fellow executive producer Howard Gordon made on the panel about the lack of female writers on the FOX series. Gordon had likened the dearth of women behind the scenes on 24 to the fact that the Rolling Stones didn't have any female members either.

"They call me the woman on staff because I've written female roles for several other shows," Fury told members of the press. "Do I miss having women on staff? I do. The women who have come on have not quite captured the show, I don't know why. There is a mentality that it's a men's show. I don't think it's a problem for the show not having female writers, the show has been through many different writers, very successful very good writers who have succeeded on other shows could not quite get through the mindset and for some reason a lot of writers have fallen by the wayside. There's a cigar room and I don't think a woman would like getting invited into that room except for Katee Sackhoff."

What other information did we glean from behind closed doors in the 24 press room? Let's discuss, though beware as there are SPOILERS for Day Eight ahead.

Kiefer Sutherland said that he believes Jack is "apolitical." Personally, he's absolutely against the death penalty and thinks it's morally reprehensible and is embarrassed it's still used, BUT he can't tell you what he'd do if someone ever harmed his child.

Sutherland said he has "absolutely no regrets" about playing Jack Bauer and really doesn't know if it's the last season. He always felt the show could go on without him, saying "The star of the show is the format and the idea. I remember I actually pitched Joel Surnow once in the very beginning of Season One. I said, You know, you could change it up every year. The next year could be the last 24 hours of Joan of Arc's life, the next year could be 24 hours in a firefighter's day, 24 hours of a woman who's pregnant whose car is broken down in a snowstorm and how she's going to save this baby. I mean, it was endless. The format was what was so intriguing so I've always felt that way."

Still, said Fury, there haven't been any decisions yet about whether this is the last season of 24. "There's no telling if this is the last season," he said. "Jack Bauer could die. Personally I don't think that's how you want to end Jack's story, but that doesn't mean he can't go out in a blaze of glory. We do know what Jack's journey will be this season."

So should viewers expect to see any familiar faces on Day Eight of 24 and could Mandy make a return engagement?

"We're only in first third of the season," said Fury. "We've been discussing characters who could return. Charles Logan? I helped champion keeping Tony alive last season. Tony could be pivotal. There's always Mandy... we talked about Mandy last year. There's a split in the writers' room with Mandy's character not being perceived as 24; she's sort of Alias. Tony's accomplice last season was Mandy at one point, but that went away."

"Renee will return within the first couple of nights," he said about Annie Wersching's FBI Agent Renee Walker. "She will be a different person than she was [last season]. Jack and she will be into the relationship we put forth in Season Seven; we'll follow through this season. The season begins with Jack in a happy place ready to start a new life and when Renee appears she's a damaged person. But she's someone he decides to be a part of his life. Jack is putting back together the life he had. The thing with 24 is when you put something together, invariably it's going to put it at risk and Renee is going to play a big part."

Viewers shouldn't expect to see Carlo Rota's Morris O'Brian. At least not at first anyway, said Mary Lynn Rajskub, who said that she hasn't seen any scenes with Morris in any of the scripts she's read so far. "Morris is somewhere but so far I don't see him in any scripts but he could come back at any moment," she said. "He's at home with the baby I think."

As for Chloe herself, Rajskub said that Day Eight finds her in some very different circumstances.

"Chloe is not up to speed in the new CTU, which is very different for her," explained Rajskub, who said that this pits Chloe against Katee Sackhoff's Dana Walsh, who is her new boss. "She kind of pats me on the shoulder and says, 'Don't worry, you'll catch up,' which is the worst moment for Chloe ever. Everything's changed at CTU and my bosses are looking at me like I'm not doing it right. But then something happens in the story where I think I know some information which puts me at odds with my bosses."

So there's definitely a CTU then next season? (Yes, and you can read more about what Day Eight's CTU looks like here.) And what's the timeframe of when Day Eight is taking place?

"President Taylor reinstated CTU after last season," said Fury. "She feels the country needs people like Jack Bauer to ferret out the conspiracies... Not sure if they'll specify the time lapse between Season Seven and Eight. But it's probably eight to nine months."

And, as we all know, Los Angeles and Washington D.C. are out as locations this season, which shifts to New York City for Day Eight.

"New York will be very big," Fury explained. "A lot [of it is] taking place at the UN. We don't have a White House this year. Anil Kapoor's character's story takes place at the UN. We've digitally recreated New York. We faked New York and it looks fantastic. We have a helicopter taking off a field in Santa Clarita that's suddenly on Roosevelt Island and there's Manhattan in the background and you buy it. It's incredible, feels like we're there and it really makes a difference."

So who is Kapoor playing then?

"Anil [Kapoor] is President of the Republic of... Kamistan?" said Fury. "I want to make clear it's not Iran. The UN was not happy about us doing anything [involving the] Iranian people or the government might take offense to, so we came up with a country. It was Iran for a long time in the script, but we decided it can't be. I think the spelling is Kamistan."

For Slumdog Millionaire's Kapoor, who plays Omar Hassan, the president of Kamistan, wanted to make sure he wasn't typecast in 24. Kapoor said that he liked that he could play the President of a Middle Eastern country as it was completely opposite to what he did in Slumdog. Of Omar Hassan, Kapoor said that he's a president and a good guy who's come to the US on a peace mission. "He's a peacemaker," said Kapoor. It was that fact more than anything that sold him on playing the role.

Also joining the cast for Day Eight of 24 is Freddie Prinze Jr., who plays CTU agent Cole Ortiz. Prinze said that he was a huge fan of the series, which he said has "always been a very character driven show."

As for Cole, he has something in common with Jack Bauer. "He's an ex-marine and Jack's an ex-marine," said Prinze, "He's heading up field ops, Jack used to head up field ops for CTU and this character knows Jack by reputation."

"There's a dark side to this relationship that you find out fairly quickly," said Prinze, whose character is engaged to Katee Sackhoff's Dana Walsh. "For a character like Cole who's someone who's very disciplined and substituted a lot of feelings that he had post-9/11 for the qualities that define a Marine, like self-respect, and dignity and honor. For someone like that to go through what this character's going to go through it's really going to turn his world upside down as far as the relationship goes."

Prinze also said that Cole is a guy who has to keep his emotions in check and is very hot headed.

Finally, Prinze confessed that he can't imagine anyone else saying each episode's "the following takes place..." except Kiefer Sutherland's Jack Bauer.

You and me both, buddy.

24 kicks off Day Eight in January, 2010 on FOX.

Reporting by Lissette Lira

The Promise of Peace (And Some Explosions): "24" Panel at Comic-Con 2009

The big news coming out of the 24 panel at Comic-Con 2009: CTU is back in a major way, Jack is happy, and Katee Sackhoff slides into the action-adventure series like a glove. Just don't expect her character, Dana Walsh, to be anything like Starbuck.

Three of the series' newest cast members--Sackhoff, Freddie Prinze Jr., and Anil Kapoor--were on hand along with what seemed like a zillion writer/producer types on the series and Kiefer Sutherland and Mary Lynn Rajskub, of course.

Last season was about "getting Jack to a place where living mattered," said executive producer Howard Gordon. "Day Seven and Day Eight are probably, more than others, really connected together."

So where do we start on Day Eight?

Manny Coto joked that Day Eight takes place "30 years later." But really it starts with "Jack happy" with his daughter and granddaughter. But don't expect Jack to get all mushy. "It won't last," promised executive producer David Fury.

"There's a sense of reality that almost brings us back full circle to Season One," said Kiefer Sutherland, who later said that next season isn't all sunshine and roses. "We do still blow sh*t up."

Howard Gordon jokes that this season is about "more redemption." Rajskub jokes it's party and make lemonade.

So what brings Jack Bauer back into the fold?

The threat this year on 24 is set at a peace conference at the UN with the President of the United States and the President of Iran.

While an assassination attempt is more than likely, the possibility of peace hangs over Day Eight of 24, said Howard Gordon. But no worries about 24 taking a turn for the upbeat, as "it takes a lot to keep the peace."

For Prinze Jr., who plays CTU agent Cole Ortiz, the chance to join the cast of 24 was a dream come true as he's been a fan of the series since the very beginning. Recounting that he and his wife (that would be Sarah Michelle Gellar, natch) watched it together, Prinze was stunned by the eruption of applause at the mere mention of the former Buffy star. "I forgot she's big here," said Prinze downplaying the audience's excitement.

Sackhoff said that she called her manager and said, "get me on 24!" She's playing CTU analyst Dana Walsh (Sackhoff joked when asked about who she was playing: "I play Starbuck!") More serious, Sackhoff said that Dana is the "sweeter side" of herself "for a while" anyway, though she did admit to telling producers that she needed them to give Dana a gun.

Pressed for details, Sackhoff refused to say more as she joked that, with the high body count on 24, there's precious little job security on the series. "Seriously, I might be fired," she said. On 24, you have no job security. I might get my head cut off and put in a duffel bag for evidence!"

Sackhoff's Dana will be causing trouble for Rajskub's Chloe, as seen in the clip that the producers previewed for the crowd for Day Eight. Rajskub said that Day Eight finds Chloe a little bit behind, "if you can believe that for me being a genius," said Rajskub, who said that Chloe will have to "relearn stuff at CTU."

And then there's CTU itself.

The luscious clip that producers offered the assembled crowd not only showed Jack eliciting some crucial information out of a wounded man named Victor (The Shield's Benito Martinez) in his own inimitable way, Sackhoff's Dana and her fiance Cole (Prinze) discussing wedding plans, and Chloe getting fussy with her keyboard, but also gave us a glimpse at the new CTU: an ultra-modern, sleek structure made out of glass and steel that seems more like a downtown Manhattan luxury hotel than the dark CTU of older days.

Don't hold your breath waiting for Donald Sutherland to appear on the series, despite an aborted attempt--due to scheduling conflicts--to have Sutherland appear on the series during Day Six. "The man's been in over a hundred some odd movies, you can see him anytime you want," joked Sutherland.

And what about those persistent rumors about a 24 feature film?

"We are aware that there is some interest out there and we would love to make it," said Sutherland. However, there are still no firm plans to do anything of the sort.

Day Eight of 24 kicks off in January on FOX.

Channel Surfing: "Supernatural" Finds Its Lucifer with "Lost" Star, Peregrym Strikes "Copper," ABC's "Lost" to Run 18 Hours Next Season, and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing.

Mark Pellegrino (Lost) has been cast in CW's Supernatural next season, where he will play none other than Lucifer himself. Pellegrino, who will recur on Supernatural next season, is expected to first appear on the series' September 10th season premiere. Meanwhile, don't look for him to give up his other role: that of Jacob on ABC's Lost, which he could easily do as well given his recurring status on Supernatural. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Missy Peregrym (Reaper) has been cast as the lead in Canadian police drama Copper, which will air Stateside on ABC. Peregrym will play Andy McNally, "a newly minted cop fresh from the academy and the daughter of a homicide detective" who "is anxious about her first day on the job, which doesn't go as well as she had wished." Series is described as "Grey's Anatomy set in the world of rookie cops." ABC closed a deal to acquire 13 episodes of the series in April. (Hollywood Reporter)

Meanwhile, Lost is getting slightly longer next season. Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello announced via Twitter that the ABC drama will increase to 18 hours for its sixth and final season, including both a two-hour premiere and a two-hour finale. (Twitter)

Producer Craig Piligian (American Chopper) has snagged rights to the life of airplane repo man Nick Popovich, which he plans to develop into an unscripted series that he will shop to cable networks including Discovery Channel or Spike. Popovich travels the globe to repossess airplanes and other huge-ticket items from owners who have defaulted on their regular payments. ""Every case is different," Piligian told Variety. "Maybe it's a small airline in Scandinavia that bought a 747. He has to figure out how to get past airline security and grab the plane. He plans it like a military operation. Sometimes he's in disguise. Often it gets a little hairy." (Variety)

T.J. Ramini (Desperate Housewives) has been cast in Day Eight of FOX's 24, where he will play Tarin Karoush, an associate of the character played by Anil Kapoor. (Hollywood Reporter)

Australian residents will be able to watch the upcoming season of Torchwood, entitled Torchwood: Children of Earth, within a few hours of its broadcast in the UK. UKTV will be airing the five episodes over consecutive nights day-and-date with the BBC One broadcast in the UK beginning Monday, July 6th. Torchwood: Children of Earth will be airing Stateside on BBC America beginning July 20th. (Digital Spy)

NBC has secured the rights to an edited-down one-hour version of Martin Bashir's 2003 documentary Living with Michael Jackson, which it will air tonight as part of a Dateline NBC special. (Variety)

Charlie Siskel has been named executive producer/showrunner on Comedy Central's Important Things with Demetri Martin, where he replaces Beth McCarthy-Miller as the series' production relocates from New York to Los Angeles. Additionally, Siskel will serve as executive producer on Showtime's upcoming six-episode Marc Wootton sketch comedy series, which he will produce alongside Wootton (High Spirits with Shirley Ghostman). (Hollywood Reporter)

As you heard here last week, Hustle & Flow director Craig Brewer has signed on to direct the FX dramedy pilot Terriers. (Variety)

Lea Thompson (Caroline in the City) and director Howard Deutch (My Best Friend's Girl) are teaming to develop dramedy pilot A Town Called Malice, about a former rock star who returns to her hometown with her estranged teen daughter after her husband melts down on stage during a concert and the duo must rebuild their lives together. No network is attached. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Comic-Con Update: 20th Century Fox Announces Panels, Talent For SDCC Next Month

After weeks of anticipation (and speculation), 20th Century Fox has finally announced which series they will be bringing down to San Diego Comic-Con next month.

The unusual suspects--24, Bones, Dollhouse, The Simpsons--are all going to be on hand to present cast and producer panels throughout the weekend but the studio has also announced panels for Glee, Cleveland Show, American Dad, and Futurama to boot.

Meanwhile, such boldface names as Kiefer Sutherland, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Anil Kapoor, Freddie Prinze, Jr. Katee Sackhoff, Joss Whedon, Eliza Dushku, David Boreanaz, Emily Deschanel, Matt Groening, Seth MacFarlane, Seth Green, Mila Kunis, and the cast of Glee will be on hand as well.

The full press release from 20th Century Fox Television can be be found below, along with dates and times (and descriptions) of each of their panels.

TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX TELEVISION BRINGS NINE SHOWS TO COMIC-CON

Kiefer Sutherland, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Anil Kapoor, Freddie Prinze, Jr. Katee Sackhoff, Joss Whedon, Eliza Dushku, David Boreanaz, Emily Deschanel, Matt Groening, Seth MacFarlane, Seth Green, Mila Kunis, Stars of “Glee, ” “Futurama,” “Cleveland Show,” “American Dad” Among Those Scheduled To Appear

June 24, 2009, Hollywood, CA – Twentieth Century Fox Television will once again dominate the San Diego Comic-Con convention, with stars and creators of nine of its signature shows heading down to the world famous fan gathering next month for panels, autograph signings at the Fox booth and press appearances.

Descriptions, times and locations of the Fox panels follow:

FRIDAY, JULY 24:

2:15-3:00 P.M. Coming off its most critically acclaimed season in years, 24 stars Kiefer Sutherland, Mary Lynn Rajskub and new cast members Anil Kapoor, Freddie Prinze, Jr. and Katee Sackhoff join showrunnner Howard Gordon and the producers of the Emmy-winning series for a special sneak peek at the heart-stopping premiere episode of Season 8. Ballroom 20.

3-3:45 P.M. Bones showrunner Hart Hanson and stars David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel are on hand for a discussion of what’s on deck for Booth and Brennan, hot on the heels of this year's much talked-about season finale in which the pair finally wound up between the sheets. Ballroom 20.

4 P.M-6 P.M. Join Dollhouse creator Joss Whedon and star/producer Eliza Dushku for a no-holds-barred Q & A about what they have planned for season 2, after they unveil a special screening of the NEVER BEFORE SEEN “Epitaph One” episode of the Fox hit which releases on DVD just four days later. Ballroom 20.

SATURDAY, JULY 25:

11:15 A.M.-12 P.M Join Seth MacFarlane, Mila Kunis, Seth Green and the brilliant creative minds behind Family Guy for a raucous discussion of what goes on behind the scenes of tv's most subversive animated hit. They’ll also be offering a not-to-be-missed sneak peek at "Something, Something Dark Side," the Empire Strikes Back parody follow-up to Star Wars: Blue Harvest. Giggity! Ballroom 20.
12-12:45 P.M. Con fans will get the FIRST LOOK at The Cleveland Show, the wickedly funny new spin-off of Family Guy starring America's favorite beleaguered animated African American, Cleveland Brown. Co-creators Seth MacFarlane, Mike Henry and Rich Appel and voice cast Sana’a Lathan and Kevin Michael Richardson will all be on hand to discuss this new series premiering on Fox in the fall. Ballroom 20.

1-1:45 P.M. Futurama: Life or Death?! BE A PART OF SCI-FI HISTORY! Join Executive Producers Matt Groening and David X. Cohen, and stars Billy West, Katey Sagal, John DiMaggio and Maurice LaMarche for high-stakes thrills as a top-ranking Fox executive decides live, on stage, whether Futurama will make yet another triumphant return, or whether it is gone forever! The very fate of Futurama hangs in the balance! Paramedics will be standing by in case the intense excitement causes any panelists to collapse. Raucous celebration or abject despair to follow the news. Ballroom 20.

1:45-2:30 P.M. Now entering its record-breaking 21st season on the air, The Simpsons is the longest-running series in the history of American television, and a household name around the world. Get a behind-the-scenes look at what's coming up in the Simpsonverse, including never-before-seen highlights from the upcoming "Treehouse of Horror XX", with a panel including Simpsons Creator Matt Groening, Showrunner Al Jean, Executive Producer Matt Selman and Supervising Director Mike Anderson. Ballroom 20.

1:30-3 P.M. When Fox aired a special preview of its subversive new comedy musical series Glee after the American Idol finale, the response was through the roof and fans have hungered for another episode ever since. The wait is over! Join stars Matthew Morrison, Lea Michele and Cory Monteith and the producers of the Fox hit for a sneak preview screening of a never-before-broadcast episode with panel discussion to follow. Don’t Stop Believin’, Con fans! Glee is here! Indigo Room.

SUNDAY, JULY 26:

11:15 A.M.-12:15 P.M. American Dad showrunners Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman and stars Seth MacFarlane, Wendy Schall and Dee Bradley Baker are back to regale the fans with an insider’s look at how an episode of the hilarious Fox animated comedy is made, from table read to animatic to color. Don’t miss this one-of-a-kind Comic-con event. Ballroom 20.

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: Katee Sackhoff Clocks in for "24," Dominic Monaghan Presses "Flash Forward," "Earl" Could Live on TBS, and More

Welcome to your (very early) Tuesday morning television briefing.

In a rather major casting coup, FOX's 24 has cast former Battlestar Galactica star Katee Sackhoff as a series regular in Day Eight, where she will play Dana Walsh, a "highly respected and down-to-earth data analyst at the new and improved New York branch of CTU" who is romantically involved with Freddie Prinze Jr.'s Davis Cole and has a "skeleton in her closet she's trying desperately to keep hidden." Sackhoff joins such Day Eight players as Prinze, Mykelti Williamson, Jennifer Westfeldt, Chris Diamantopoulous, John Boyd, and Anil Kapoor. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

It's now believed that Lost's Dominic Monaghan will be joining the cast of ABC's Flash Forward this fall. IGN's Eric Goldman is reporting, citing reports from an undisclosed insider, that Monaghan will be joining Flash Forward and that the actor, who played Charlie Pace on Lost, will "likely have a major role" on the series. Still, ABC isn't commenting at this time. "There is a lot of speculation out there right now," said an ABC spokesperson, "but we're not confirming any casting at this point." (IGN)

Reports of My Name is Earl's demise may have been premature. Variety's Cynthia Littleton is reporting that studio 20th Century Fox Television is in discussions with cabler TBS about a possible thirteen-episode run. "The talks for new episodes are said to be in the very preliminary stages," writes Littleton, "and it's far from certain that a deal will be reached, insiders cautioned." (Variety)

Rufus Sewell (Eleventh Hour), Ian McShane (Kings), Matthew Macfadyen (Spooks), Sarah Parish (The Holiday), Eddie Redmayne (The Other Boleyn Girl), Hayley Atwell (Brideshead Revisited), and Donald Sutherland (Dirty Sexy Money) have signed on to star in Tandem and Muse's eight-hour international mini-series Pillars of the Earth, based on Ken Follett's novel of the same name. Shooting begins June 22nd for a launch date in the later part of 2010. So far, no US or UK broadcast networks have come on board to co-produce though the production has a US DVD sales deal with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. (Hollywood Reporter)

USA is launching Season Four of Psych and Season Eight of Monk (the series' last) on August 7th while Burn Notice will wrap the first half of its season on August 6th before returning in early 2010. (Futon Critic)

In other Burn Notice news, producers are trying to lure Sharon Gless' former Cagney & Lacey co-star Tyne Dale to guest star in an episode slated to air in early 2010, according to Michael Ausiello. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

David Letterman is said to be in talks about remaining at the helm of CBS' Late Show for three more years, through the 2011-12 season, though the series will see a reduction in license fee. (Variety, Hollywood Reporter)

Lifetime is launching original drama series Drop Dead Diva, starring Brooke Elliott, Margaret Cho, Jackson Hurst, Kate Levering, April Bowlby, and Josh Stamberg, on Sunday, July 12th at 9 pm ET/PT. Series, created/executive produced by Josh Berman (Bones), hails from Sony Pictures Television. (via press release)

More recasting on NBC's comedy series 100 Questions, which will see the roles played in the pilot by Elizabeth Ho and Joy Suprano recast. The news comes on the heels of the announcement that Amir Talai would be recast as well, which leaves only three of the series regulars--Sophie Winkleman, David Walton, and (creator) Christopher Moynihan--on board. Meanwhile, Alex Hardcastle (Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire) has come on board 100 Questions as the house director and will likely also retain some sort of producer credit. (Hollywood Reporter)

Daytime syndicated talk show Rachael Ray has been renewed through the 2011-12 season. (Hollywood Reporter)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that producers on CBS' Ghost Whisperer are considering moving the series's storyline five years in the future, in order to "introduce Jim and Melinda's son as a pre-schooler instead of as a newborn," said Ausiello, citing an unnamed insider. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Season Three of The Bill Engvall Show will kick off on Saturday, July 18th at 9 pm ET/PT. (via press release)

Former Crown Media Holdings President/CEO Henry Schleiff has been named president and general manager of fledgling cabler Investigation Discovery. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: "Better Off Ted" Returns This Summer, Mykelti Williamson Clocks in at "24," Guest Stars Galore for "Warehouse 13," and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing.

ABC is set to bring back Better Off Ted earlier than expected as the network has announced that it will air six unaired episodes from Ted's first season this summer before kicking off a second season of thirteen episodes in early 2010. Better Off Ted will return to ABC's schedule on June 23rd at 9 pm ET/PT, airing behind new reality competition series The Superstars. [Editor: that gleeful squealing sound you're hearing? It's me.] Meanwhile, ABC also announced that it had pulled comedy Surviving Suburbia from its lineup, instead airing back-to-back episodes of The Goode Family this week. (Variety)

Mykelti Williamson (Kidnapped) has joined the cast of Day Eight of FOX drama 24, where he will play the head of CTU New York, Brian Hastings, described as having "a razor-sharp intellect." Williamson, who will be a series regular next season, joins the recently announced Freddie Prinze Jr., Jennifer Westfeldt, John Boyd, and Chris Diamantopoulos. Also joining the 24 cast next season: Lost's Doug Hutchison (a.k.a. Horace Goodspeed), who will play a European terrorist named Davros in a recurring role. (Hollywood Reporter)

Sci Fi has confirmed guest stars for the first season of its upcoming drama series Warehouse 13, launching July 7th. Battlestar Galactica's Tricia Helfer will play FBI Agent Bonnie Belski who clashes with Myka (Joanne Kelly) and Pete (Eddie McClintock); Ivan Sergei (Crossing Jordan) will play an EMT named Ross when Myka and Pete investigate a case involving a local town expressing all of their subconscious desires; Stargate Atlantis' Joe Flanigan will play millionaire Jeff Weaver who is investigated by Myka and Pete when a sculpture he bid on at auction vanishes during a heist; Gossip Girl's James Naughton will play entrepreneur Gilbert Radburn who is investigated by Myka and Pete; Roger Rees (The West Wing) will play MacPherson, a former Warehouse colleague of Artie (Sam Rubinek) who has gone rogue and is now collecting dangerous objects for his own use; Eureka's Erica Cerra and Niall Matter will play Jillian and Gary Whitman, low-level Las Vegas thieves who discover a powerful artifact; Joe Morton (Eurkea) will play prison inmate John Hill, who has become a religious zealot; Battlestar Galactica's Michael Hogan will play Warren Bering, Myka's father, whose life is placed in danger when he receives a dangerous artifact in the mail, and Dollhouse's Mark Sheppard will play Mr. Valda, the "enigmatic representative of the Regents, the mysterious organization that controls Warehouse 13." (via press release)

David Tennant and Patrick Stewart will reunite for a television production of their recent Royal Shakespeare Company performance of "Hamlet," that will air on BBC Two later this year and in the US and Japan in 2010. (Variety)

Reports are swirling that couple Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag tried to quit NBC's reality competition series I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! the very first day they arrived in Costa Rica and allegedly refused to eat the same meals that had been prepared for the rest of the cast and complained about the caliber of their competitors. They wanted to be treated like stars," according to an unnamed source. "[Spencer] literally thought he and Heidi were staying in a Four Seasons, working out and getting a tan." (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

The Octomom, a.k.a. Nadya Suleman, has signed a deal for a reality television series with production company 3 Ball Prods. The series, which has yet to be sold to an American outlet, will document key moments in the lives of Suleman and her enormous brood and will be modeled after a Danish format that followed the lives of four children from birth to adulthood. (Hollywood Reporter)

DirecTV Group CEO Chase Carey is said to be in talks about replacing Peter Chernin as Rupert Murdoch's Number Two at News Corp. (Broadcasting & Cable)

Brillstein TV has hired former BermanBraum and Warner Bros. Television executive Rachel Kaplan as EVP, where she will work closely with Peter Traugott in developing scripted and unscripted projects for broadcast and cable. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: BBC America Snags Five "Doctor Who" Specials, Freddie Prinze Jr. on "24," Whedon Wants Summer Glau on "Dollhouse," and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing.

BBC America has acquired the US premiere rights to five Doctor Who specials, featuring David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor, and plans to air "The Next Doctor," the 2008 Christmas Special, on June 27th at 9 pm ET/PT. The first of this year's specials, entitled "Planet of the Dead," will follow in July with the three others airing in late 2009 and early 2010. “The outstanding quality of the Doctor Who scripts from Russell T. Davies and the on-screen dynamic that David Tennant brings to the role are a magic combination for our viewers," said BBC Worldwide America president Garth Ancier. "Russell’s spin-off series Torchwood is already our highest rated show on the channel and I know the fans will follow these new specials with equal passion and support. We’re thrilled to bring this iconic show to BBC America, home of the best British sci-fi programming on television." Meanwhile, Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood will kick off its five-episode event third season (Torchwood: Children of Earth) in July. (via press release)

In an unexpected casting twist, Freddie Prinze Jr. (who recently shot the ABC comedy pilot No Heroics) has been cast in Day Eight of FOX's 24, where he will play Davis Cole, a "recently returned Marine who runs CTU Field Ops and wants to follow in Jack Bauer's (Kiefer Sutherland) footsteps." (Also on board: Nazneen Contractor, who will play the daughter of the Middle East leader played by Anil Kapoor.) The casting comes on the heels of that for Chris Diamantopoulos, John Boyd, and Jennifer Westfeldt. (Hollywood Reporter)

With FOX's Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles canceled, Joss Whedon hopes to bring former Terminator star Summer Glau over to his FOX drama series Dollhouse. "If anybody thinks [bringing Summer onto Dollhouse] hasn't occurred to me already then they have not met me. I mentioned it to her before [T:SCC] was canceled. I was like, 'You know, we should get you in the 'house.' But first we have to come up with something that works," Whedon told Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello. "Summer would be perfect to play an active, but she's done that [type of role] a lot. I'd rather see her play someone who talks too much. The most fun I have is when I get somebody who's good and comfortable at doing something, and then I make them do something else. Summer said to me, 'I would like to play a normal girl before I die of extreme old age.'" (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

The recasting is already beginning. Just the week after network upfronts, several series have already begun to quietly replace some of their lead actors. ABC's The Forgotten will recast the roles played by Rupert Penry-Jones and Reiko Aylesworth in the pilot episode, the biggest changes likely to be seen on any network project. Other projects that will see cast changes include CBS' NCIS: Los Angeles, which will see the the departure of Louise Lombard as the female lead (which will be recast); CBS' Three Rivers, which will see Julia Ormond not stay on past the pilot installment as the hospital's head of surgery (likewise, Joaquim De Almeida will not return); Richard Coyle's role on NBC's Trauma will be recast; Gillian Jacobs' role on CBS' The Good Wife will be recast now that the actress is booked on NBC's Community; and Amir Talai's role on NBC comedy 100 Questions is also being recast. (Hollywood Reporter)

John Lithgow has been cast in twelve episodes of Season Four of Showtime's Dexter, where he will play Walter Simmons, a.k.a. The Trinity Killer, one of America's deadliest murderers who kills in threes and masquerades as an "unassuming mild-mannered suburbanite." (Televisionary)

Kristin Chenoweth (Pushing Daisies) has been cast as the lead in Lifetime romantic comedy telepic Twelve Men of Christmas, based on Phillipa Ashley's novel "Decent Exposure," about a "down-on-her-luck PR exec (Chenoweth) who uses her media savvy to generate sizzle in a Montana town." (Hollywood Reporter)

Bravo is launching six-episode reality series Miami Social, following the lives of seven interconnected Miami socialites, on July 14th at 10 pm ET/PT. The Miami denizens depicted in the Pink Sneakers-produced series include former Apprentice contestant Katrina Campins and Big Brother contestant Hardy Hill. (Variety)

E! Online's Watch with Kristin catches up with Three Rivers star Alex O'Loughlin to talk about his new CBS medical drama series, launching this fall. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Following allegations that local AT&T employees offered Kris Allen fans free text-messaging services and may have demonstrated how to power vote (a practice strictly forbidden by American Idol voting regulations), FOX has issued a statement in which they stand by the results of the latest American Idol crowning. "Kris Allen is, without a doubt, the American Idol,” said FOX, FremantleMedia North America, and 19 Entertainment in a joint statement. "We have an independent third-party monitoring procedure in place to ensure the integrity of the voting process. In no way did any individuals unfairly influence the outcome of the competition." AT&T, meanwhile, said that the Arkansas employees' actions were not corporately mandated and that these individuals were "caught up in the enthusiasm of rooting for their hometown contestant." "Going forward we will make sure our employees understand our sponsorship celebrates the competition, not individual contestants," said AT&T in a statement. (New York Times)

RHI Entertainment has set up a Los Angeles office as it looks to embark on a push into primetime series. Tom Patricia and Elizabeth Stephens will oversee the Los Angeles office and report to Jeff Sagansky, the non-executive chairman of RHI. Patricia will serve as EVP of movies and miniseries, while Stephens has been named EVP of series. "We're a big company," said RHI founder Robert Halmi. "We see this as a great time to strike in this marketplace and take more market share from our competitors. Under Jeff's leadership, we expect to be a player in dramatic TV series." (Variety)

Granada America, the studio behind such hits as Hell's Kitchen, will rename itself ITV Studios, in order to "better reflect the nonscripted shingle's relationship with its U.K. parent." The studio is about to launch NBC's I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, which will be hosted by Damien Fahey and Myleene Klass. (Hollywood Reporter)

ABC movies and mini-series maven Quinn Taylor will see his oversight expand to include programming acquisitions, formats, as well as international co-productions that could be acquired and aired on ABC. (Variety)

Travel Channel president and general manager Patrick Younge will leave the channel in January in order to return to London to be with his family. "As tough as I will find it to leave my team at Travel Channel Media, I'm fulfilling a promise I made to my two children, who remained in the U.K. when I joined TCM in 2005," said Younge in a statement. "I have a terrific team here at TCM, and despite these unprecedented economic conditions we are enjoying record ratings, audience delivery and Web traffic. We are also recognized as leaders in social-media marketing, and through innovative programs like the Travel Channel Academy and mobile products like Travel Channel GO, we are extending our reach and revenue into new arenas." (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Westfeldt and Boyd Clock in for "24," Grillo-Marxuach Bound for "Day One," "Doctor Who" Feature in Development, "Buffy," and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing.

Jennifer Westfeldt (Grey's Anatomy) and John Boyd (The Notorious Bettie Page) have been cast in Day Eight of FOX drama series 24. Westfeldt will recur as journalist Meredith Reed, an ambitious writer who has ties to Middle East leader Arman Hashemi (Anil Kapoor), who arrives in the U.S. on a peacemaking mission. Boyd, meanwhile, will be a series regular and will play CTU analyst Jonah Schwartz. (Hollywood Reporter)

The Middleman creator Javier Grillo-Marxuach has joined the writing staff of NBC's upcoming sci-fi series Day One, where he will serve as writer/co-executive producer. Also joining the writing staff, according to series creator Jesse Alexander (who broke the news via Twitter): Kings' Erik Oleson, and Angela Kang. (io9)

BBC Films has confirmed that a big screen version of Doctor Who is being developed and that development of a script is currently underway. It's unclear whether inbound showrunner Steven Moffat or executive producer Russell T. Davies will write the feature film or if David Tennant or his replacement, Matt Smith, would play the Doctor. (Digital Spy)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello has contacted Joss Whedon for a reaction to the news that director/producer Fran Rubel Kuzui is planning a feature film reboot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Joss' noncommittal reply? "I hope it's cool," wrote Whedon via email. Ahem. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

HBO will launch comedy series Hung, starring Thomas Jane, Jane Adams, and Anne Heche, on June 28th at 10 pm ET/PT, following an episode of True Blood. The first episode of Hung runs a lengthy 45 minutes while the subsequent installments will each run 30 minutes. (Variety)

The Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed has a hysterical cartoon jokingly depicting FOX executives deciding the fate of on-the-bubble sci-fi series Dollhouse and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles at gunpoint. (The Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed)

BBC America will launch supernatural drama Being Human, about a werewolf, vampire, and ghost who live together, on Saturday, July 25th at 9 pm ET/PT. (Televisionary)

Bravo is developing reality spinoff The Real Housewives of Washington, D.C. and is said to be looking for "personalities who are among Washington, D.C.'s influential players, cultural connoisseurs, fashion sophisticates and philanthropic leaders -- the people who rub elbows with the most prominent people in the country," according to Bravo EVP/general manager Frances Berwick. Series, to be developed by Half Yard Productions, is expected to launch sometime in 2010. (via press release)

Al Pacino will star in an untitled HBO telepic about Dr. Jack Kevorkian. Set in the early 1990s, the film will follow Kevorkian (Pacino) as he creates the first assisted suicide machine and the resulting media frenzy. Project, written by Adam Mazer and based on Harry Wilie and Neal Nicol's biography "Between the Dying and the Dead," will be directed by Barry Levinson. (Variety)

ABC is following through on its plans to merge ABC Entertainment and ABC Studios into a single unit under president Steve McPherson. While the network is said to still be finalizing its "development chain of command," it's widely thought that Suzanne Patmore-Gibbs--who currently serves as EVP of drama development--would be promoted to become McPherson's second-in-command, leaving Channing Dungey to take over as the network's head of drama and Josh Barry to replace Dungey on the studio side. (Hollywood Reporter)

Carol Kane will reprise her Homicide: Life on the Street role as Gwen Munch, the ex-wife of Detective John Munch (Richard Belzer) in the June 2nd season finale of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. The episode will also feature Nick Stahl (Carnivale), who will play Peter Harrison, an artist turned killer who has set his sights on one of the SVU team after he succumbs to mental illness and Kane's Gwen will have to help her ex-husband track him down. (via press release)

RelativityReal, the reality/alternative arm of Relativity Media, has signed a three-year overall deal with Wilmer Valderrama, under which he will create, develop, and executive produce series for both broadcast and cable networks. Valderrama is currently developing a half-hour telenovela Brooklyn Sound at MTV. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

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

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stay tuned.