Channel Surfing: Dark Tower Comes to TV (And Cinemas), Chuck Lands Freddie Krueger, TNT Mines Dallas, The Event, and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing.

Deadline's Mike Fleming broke the news yesterday that Universal has landed the rights to Stephen King's massive multiple-novel series "The Dark Tower," and is developing an adaptation that will comprise both a feature film franchise as well as a television series element, an unprecedented use of the two platforms. Ron Howard will direct the first film as well as the first season of the television series that would follow on its heels; likewise both elements will be written by Akiva Goldsman, with Universal Media Studios attached as the studio. The first season of the series would use the same actors and focus on gunslinger Deschain after the events of the film, while the second season would revolve around Deschain's past. “What Peter [Jackson] did [with Lord of the Rings] was a feat, cinematic history,” Howard told Fleming. “The approach we’re taking also stands on its own, but it’s driven by the material. I love both, and like what’s going on in TV. With this story, if you dedicated to one medium or another, there’s the horrible risk of cheating material. The scope and scale call for a big screen budget. But if you committed only to films, you’d deny the audience the intimacy and nuance of some of these characters and a lot of cool twists and turns that make for jaw-dropping, compelling television. We’ve put some real time and deep thought into this, and a lot of conversations and analysis from a business standpoint, to get people to believe in this and take this leap with us. I hope audiences respond to it in a way that compels us to keep going after the first year or two of work. It’s fresh territory for me, as a filmmaker.” (Deadline)

[Meanwhile, JJ Abrams--who had previously been attached to The Dark Tower--is said to be shopping yet another television project, this time a crime thriller created by Jonah Nolan (The Dark Knight, The Prestige) that could start a bidding war at several networks, according to Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello.]

Is it just me or is the Chuck casting team on a roll this season? Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Freddy Kreuger himself--make that Robert Englund--is set to guest star on Chick's Halloween-themed episode, set to air in October. "Englund will play Dr. Stanley Wheelwright, an evil scientist who can make your waking life a nightmare," writes Ausiello. "He’ll appear in this season’s sixth episode, titled 'Chuck Versus Aisle of Terror.'" (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

TNT announced a slew of pilot pickups, including a remake of nighttime soap Dallas from writer Cynthia Cidre (Cane) and Warner Horizon that will focus on the rivalry between brothers J.R. and Bobby Ewing. Other projects include ABC Studios' Perception (formerly known as Proof), from writers Biller and Mike Sussman, about a neurosurgeon who solves crimes using his unique way of viewing the world and an untitled Allan Loeb drama from Lionsgate Television about a widowed cop whose partner has just gotten married (which is based on Marshall Karp's novel "The Rabbit Factory"). TBS, meanwhile, ordered a pilot for comedy Brain Trust, from Dean Devlin and Marco Schnabel, about a detective who gets a second shot at life. (via press release)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Hal Holbrook (Sons of Anarchy) has signed on to NBC's upcoming thriller The Event in a multiple-episode story arc, where he will play "a mysterious character by the name of Dempsey." A press release from NBC that hit the wire shortly thereafter expanded upon the description of Holbrook's character: "Holbrook will play Dempsey, a businessman with shadowy intentions, who will be revealed as an antagonist to President Martinez (Blair Underwood) beginning with his first scheduled appearance on October 11." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files, press release)

It's officially official: America's Got Talent judge Piers Morgan will headline his own talk show on CNN, replacing Larry King in the 9 pm timeslot beginning in January. (Variety)

Former Battlestar Galactica and 24 star Katee Sackhoff is finally heading to CBS' CSI three years after producers tried to cast her as Jorja Fox's replacement on the CBS crime procedural, according to Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello. Sackhoff has been cast in a "potentially recurring role" as Detective Reed, described as "a smart, tough, and feisty investigator with an acknowledged lack of sensitivity." She'll make her first appearance in November. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

There's still more Jersey Shore on tap for MTV: the cabler has ordered two specials that will air after the second season finale on October 21st; the first will be a reunion special slated to air a week later, while the second will be a behind-the-scenes special. No air date has been announced for the latter. Season Three of the reality juggernaut will air next year. (Hollywood Reporter)

Former House star Jennifer Morrison is said to be in the running to join the cast of CBS' How I Met Your Mother as a "major new love interest for Ted," according to Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello. She's not the only one, however, as Minka Kelly and Jacinda Barrett are also said to be in contention. "I don’t know if she’s the mother we’ve been waiting to meet," writes Ausiello. "However, I do know that the character—a quick-witted, rabble-rousing activist who initially clashes with Ted over the planned demolition of a historic New York hotel—will appear in as many as 13 episodes this season." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

The Watch with Kristin team at E! Online rounded up a ton of information about Season Two of FOX's Glee directly from the horse's mouth as it were, talking to the cast on the red carpet of the premiere party earlier this week and revealing information about duets, romances, Rocky Horror and more. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Deadline's Nellie Andreeva is reporting that Diane Farr and Peter Tolan have separately received script orders for two one-hour dramas at FOX. Farr's project, based on her upcoming semi-autobiographical novel "You Can't Love One of Them," is said to focus on "several interracial couples living in the South in a post-Obama world." Project, from 20th Century Fox Television and Generate, will be written and executive produced by Farr alongside Pete Aronson and Jordan Levin. Tolan, meanwhile, has sold a script for an untitled Glen Mazzara drama with Sony Pictures Television attached as the studio; it will revolve around "a burnt-out doctor who joins a neighborhood medical clinic." (Deadline)

Showtime has ordered a second season of The Green Room with Paul Provenza, with six episodes on tap for 2011. (via press release)

Epix has hired Jill Burkhart as the director of documentary development for the pay cabler. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: NBC Dumps Parks and Rec Repeats, Smallville Return, Creative Arts Emmy Winners, Grey's Closure and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing.

Good news for Community; bad news for Parks and Recreation. The Futon Critic is reporting that NBC has opted to forgo repeats of Season Two of Parks and Recreation for the remainder of the summer, instead using the Thursday 9:30 pm timeslot for a second round of Community repeats. [Editor: While I applaud NBC for recognizing the potential of Dan Harmon's Community, I wish it weren't at the expense of Parks and Rec, which won't even return for its third season until "midseason."] Planned repeats for August 26th and September 2nd will instead be filled by Community episodes... which means that the airwaves will be Pawnee-free until the series returns at a to-be-determined point later in the season. (Futon Critic)

SPOILER! Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that John Glover will return to the CW's Smallville to reprise his role as Lionel Luthor in a multiple-episode story arc on the tenth and final season. Glover is currently slated to appear in at least two episodes that will air in November, though it's unknown just how Lionel will be making his grand return as he was last seen plummeting to his death after being pushed out of a window by Michael Rosenbaum's Lex. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

HBO took home 17 statues on Saturday for the Creative Arts Emmys, followed closely by ABC with 15. [Editor: Congratulations to Ryan Case, who won an Emmy for Outstanding Picture Editing for a Comedy for Modern Family. Go Ryan!] A full list of all winners can be found here. (via press release)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Izzie's story is far from being done on ABC's Grey's Anatomy and talks to executive producer Shonda Rhimes about providing closure for Alex when the series returns this fall for its seventh season. "We’re talking about it [in the writers' room] obsessively and trying to figure it out,” Rhimes told Ausiello. “We’re approaching it pretty carefully... I want how ever we deal with Alex growing up and moving on and moving past that relationship to feel authentic and not to feel like something that’s patched together.” So might Katherine Heigl be dropping by Grey's, after all? "I don't know," said Rhimes. Hmmm... (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

In other Grey's Anatomy-related news, Diane Farr (Rescue Me) will guest star in an episode slated to air in October, according to Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello. Farr will play a patient with Huntington's Disease in the upcoming season's fourth episode. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos is reporting that Glee co-creator Ryan Murphy is not only developing a series vehicle for Kristin Chenoweth but is also looking to develop a project that would star John Stamos... and that the security on the set during Britney Spears' appearance was so tight that Murphy himself couldn't get on the set. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Murphy, meanwhile, hinted to Access Hollywood that Spears could end up making another appearance on Glee down the line. (Hollywood Reporter)

A happy ending for Bill and Sookie? Maybe not, but the actors who play them on HBO's vampire drama True Blood, Stephen Moyer and Anna Paquin, have tied the knot. The couple were married in Malibu on Saturday evening. Among the attendees: Carrie Preston, Michael Emerson, and Elijah Wood. (Hollywood Reporter, US Weekly)

SPOILER! Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello talks to 90210 showrunner Rebecca Sinclair about her decision to bring Trevor Donovan's Teddy out of the closet this fall on the CW teen soap. "[We wanted] to play a coming out story that features a kid we already knew," Sinclair told Ausiello about why they waited to delve into this storyline until this season. "Instead of his sexuality being the first and defining characteristic, we’ve already gotten a chance to know Teddy before he explores his sexuality. Teddy’s an athlete, he’s a famous guy’s son, he’s blonde and hunky and yes, he also has a sexual orientation and that’s a huge part of his life. In a lot of ways I think that’s more interesting than Teddy is a gay athlete, a gay famous guy’s son and a blonde and hunky gay gentleman." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

TV Guide Magazine's Will Keck is reporting that former House star Jennifer Morrison--who may or may not return to the FOX medical drama--will guest star on NBC's Chase this fall, where she will appear alongside current boyfriend Amaury Nolasco. Morrison is set to make an appearance in the sixth episode of the new procedural drama, where she will play Faith, described as "a single mother-turned-fugitive who embarks on a bloody killing spree across Texas with her innocent little daughter in tow." (TV Guide Magazine)

File this under sickening: The Hollywood Reporter's Leslie Bruce is reporting that Jersey Shore's The Situation (a.k.a. Mike Sorrentino) will make $5 million by the end of the year, according to an unnamed source familiar with the reality star's personal finances. "We are really excited about all the opportunities coming Mike's way," Sorrentino's manager, Mike Petolino of Gotham Entertainment, told THR. "He has been able to secure many endorsement deals, business opportunities and additional television offers based on the success of the show. Our goal has always been to try to build a brand if the situation presented itself." (Hollywood Reporter)

TV Guide Magazine's Will Keck is reporting that Tia Texada (Third Watch) will guest star on NBC's Chuck this season, where she will play Hortencia, the wife of Armand Assante's Costa Gravan Premier Alejandro Goya. "We'll meet Hortencia, who (no surprise) is harboring a secret," writes Keck, "when Chuck and the gang visit the Premier's beautiful island in his native Costa Gravas." Texada will appear in the fourth season's fourth episode. (TV Guide Magazine)

Worked for NBC? Anyone and everyone who worked for the Peacock at one time or another is eligible to attend the 15th Annual NBC Reunion Dinner, which will be held at the Lakeside Golf Club in Burbank on October 23rd, according to a Variety report. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Zach Gilford Goes Off the Map, Entourage to End Next Year, Fringe's Sebastian Roche to Supernatural, and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing.

Former Friday Night Lights star Zach Gilford has joined the cast of ABC's midseason medical drama Off the Map, from executive producers Shonda Rhimes and Jenna Bans. TVGuide.com's Natalie Abrams reports that Gilford will play Tommy, a physician who travels to a remote medical clinic in South America along with fellow doctors Lily (Caroline Dhavernas) and Mina (Mamie Gummer). (The series' other stars include Martin Henderson, Jason George, and Valerie Cruz.) Gilford's casting comes on the heels of the hiring of Rachelle Lefevre as a regular and the departure of Enrique Murciano, though ABC was quick to point out that Gilford won't be playing the same role that Murciano did, a spoiled and uptight plastic surgeon. [Editor: I'm chuffed to see Gilford--who we all know best as Saracen--head back to primetime.] (TVGuide.com)

Not a moment too soon: HBO's long-running comedy Entourage will end next year, according to HBO Co-President Richard Plepler, speaking at Saturday's Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour session for the pay cabler. "The plan right now is to finish up this season and we're not clear exactly how many [episodes], we'll do a shorter order next season to finish up," said Plepler on Saturday. "We had talked about six [episodes]... [Creator Doug Ellin] wants to write [an Entourage] film but he also wants to do it so the storytelling makes sense... But Entourage next summer will definitely be the final season." To parse the meaning of Plepler's words: Entourage has got one more brief season left it in--likely six episodes or so--before it ends and there could be a movie but it's not certain yet. [Editor: Whew.]

Fancast's Matt Mitovich is reporting that Sebastian Roche (who recurred this season on FOX's Fringe as Thomas Jerome Newton) has ben cast on the CW's Supernatural, which returns this fall for its sixth season. Roche will play Balthazar, an angelic friend of Misha Collin's Castiel, in the season premiere ("The Third Man"). “Remember when Cass was dragged back to Heaven as a prisoner? Balthazar was actually the only friend who stood up for him,” executive producer Sera Gamble told Mitovich. “During the Apocalypse, Balthazar went AWOL, and Cass thought he was dead. Turns out… not so much.” Meanwhile, Roche will also be back on Fringe this fall as Newton hasn't quite finished with the Fringe team. (Fancast)

Time for the dance of joy? TV Guide Magazine's Will Keck is reporting that former Perfect Strangers star Bronson Pinchot will guest star on NBC's Chuck this fall. Pinchot--who is slated to appear in the second episode of Chuck's fourth season--will play Victor, described as "a tacky and audacious wannabe-matchmaker Chuck (Zachary Levi) meets at Milan's Fashion Week." Keck also reports that Armand Assante will reprise his role as Goya in the fourth episode of the season when the gang visits him on the island that he inhabits. (TV Guide Magazine)

FOX has pushed back the launch date for Season Two of Human Target, which will now kick off on Friday, October 1st at 8 pm ET/PT. Here's how FOX describes the season opener: "Picking up from the heart-pounding first season cliffhanger, Season Two of HUMAN TARGET kicks off with a bang as CHANCE (Mark Valley) and GUERRERO (Jackie Earle Haley) race to rescue their kidnapped associate, WINSTON (Chi McBride). Vowing to retire from the security business, Chance is lured back to work by billionaire philanthropist ILSA PUCCI (new series regular Indira Varma), who needs his protection after the mysterious murder of her husband. While on assignment, the team encounters AMES (new cast member Janet Montgomery), a beautiful, chameleon-like thief who has a past connection to Winston." (via press release)

Serinda Swan (Smallville) has been cast in A&E's upcoming drama series Breakout Kings, where she will be Erica Reed, described as "an expert at finding people who don't want to be found -- then killing them." Swan has been contracted as a series regular for the thirteen episodes that A&E ordered earlier this summer after FOX passed on the procedural drama. (Hollywood Reporter)

Deadline's Nellie Andreeva is reporting that Megan Boone (HMS) has been cast in NBC's upcoming Law & Order iteration, Law & Order: Los Angeles, where she will play Laura Gardner, the DDA for Terence Howard's ADA. Regina Hall, meanwhile, will play the DDA for Alfred Molina's ADA. Series also stars Skeet Ulrich, Corey Stoll, and Wanda De Jesus. (Deadline)

A&E has ordered a pilot for supernatural docuseries The Unexplained from executive producers Doug Liman, Russ Stratton, Robert Sharenow, and Elaine Frontain Bryant. Pilot, according to Variety's Stuart Levine, investigates a "five-year-old boy talks about his previous life experiences and claims he was actor George Raft, a movie star from 1930s." (Variety)

Brigid Brannagh (Army Wives) and Sean Patrick Flanery (The Dead Zone) have been cast in Hallmark Channel original telepic Mystery Girl, which will air next year on the cable channel. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Breaking Bad Won't Return Until July 2011, Nigel Lythgoe Closes Idol Deal, Zombies Vs. Vampires at NBC, and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing.

Could it be almost a year before Breaking Bad heads back to AMC? According to a Deadline interview with series lead Bryan Cranston, Season Four of Breaking Bad may not launch until July 2011, over a year after the end of last season. "I think what AMC is thinking here is there will be less competition for us -- particularly from the broadcast networks -- if we launch our season during the summer than if we come back again like we did this time in March," said Cranston. However, AMC and Sony Pictures Television will produce 3-4 minute mini-episodes of Breaking Bad that will run on AMC's website during the break. "The idea is to keep people aware and interested in the show during the long time away,” Cranston told Deadline. “But I, for one, am eager to make these little interstitials important. I don’t want them to be simply filler or recap, but something that actually moves the storyline forward. If we’re going to do it, it ought to be a real part of the larger show." (Deadline)

Well, at least FOX confirmed something: former American Idol executive producer Nigel Lythgoe will return to the musical competition series, where he will serve alongside Simon Fuller Cecile Frot-Coutaz, and Ken Warwick for Season Ten of Idol, which launches in January. "Since we launched the original Pop Idol in England, I’ve remained close with Simon Fuller," said Lythgoe in a statement. "Working as executive producer on American Idol for its first seven years not only was an inspirational journey into the heart of American pop culture, it opened my eyes to the untapped potential of the incredibly dynamic young people in this world. I have been able to continue discovering raw talent on So You Think You Can Dance, which I co-created with Simon. American Idol became a juggernaut of epic proportions, but to me it was always like home. I am elated and honored to be rejoining childhood friend and fellow executive producer Ken Warwick, and look forward to creating more magic." (Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider)

Variety's Michael Schneider has a Q&A with Lythgoe about his return to American Idol in which they discuss his return to the series and his criticisms of the musical competition series. "I think some of my concerns were that over the last couple of years we've lost sight of the fact that the most important people in the production are the young artists," Lythgoe told Schneider. "And it's revolved around the judges, it's revolved around Kara coming in to make four judges, which often left them no time for them to talk at any great length. Certainly there are times I watched the show where Simon didn't even get a chance to say anything. Then it was about Paula leaving. Then it was all about Ellen joining. And somewhere in all of that muddle of judges the show was losing sight of the actual contestants. And I think we were also losing chemistry between the judges. And I will go back now and hopefully point out now that it isn't about stars, or what people did in the past of might do in the future that makes a good judge. It's about chemistry and it's about a team." (Variety's On the Air)

Could NBC be taking a page from AMC's playbook and going after the zombie-loving crowd? Deadline's Nellie Andreeva is reporting that NBC has signed a script deal for Austin Winsberg's spec script Zombies Vs. Vampires, described as a "fun buddy cop procedural" with supernatural overtones. Project, produced by Warner Bros. Television and Wonderland, is executive produced by McG, Peter Johnson, and Winsberg. "It is set in a world where zombies are a part of society, controllable with medication," writes Andreeva. "The show's two leads (one secretly a vampire) are cops assigned to a squad specifically formed to deal with 'zombie crime.'" (Deadline)

E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos has a series of video interviews with Chuck's Zachary Levi and the rest of the cast in which they tease details about Season Four, including the return of Nicole Ritchie, the casting of Linda Hamilton, Chuck and Sarah's relationship, and much more. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

AMC is said to be thisclose to handing out a series order to crime drama The Killing, based on the Danish series Forbrydelsen. (The US version is written by Veena Sud and directed by Patty Jenkins.) Project, from Fox Television Studios, stars Mireille Enos, Billy Campbell, Michelle Forbes, Brent Sexton, Kristin Lehman, Eric Ladin, Jamie Anne Allman, and Joel Kinnaman. [Editor: I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this pans out as I loved the pilot script and would watch Enos in anything.] (Deadline)

MAJOR SPOILER! Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello has details on just who Timothy Olyphant (FX's Justified) will be playing on NBC's The Office when he drops by Scranton next year. Ausiello reports that Olyphant will be playing "a rival paper salesman with a deep, dark secret: He used to date Pam!" Watch out, Jim... (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Variety's Michael Schneider is reporting that former United States of Tara showrunner Jill Soloway has signed on to executive produce Zooey Deschanel's HBO comedy I'm With the Band, as well as Season Two of How to Make It in America. (Variety)

Russell Brand will play himself on the upcoming season of The Simpsons, reports TV Guide Magazine's Will Keck. Brand's episode, entitled "Angry Dad -- The Movie," is slated to air in early 2011 and will see him join Halle Berry and Ricky Gervais in the installment, which will feature "Bart and Homer [heading] to Los Angeles after they're nominated for an Academy Award for their animated short based on Bart's cartoon webseries, Angry Dad." (TV Guide Magazine)

NBC has pulled its self-help reality series Breakthrough with Tony Robbins from the schedule, effective immediately. The network will slate repeats of Minute to Win It in the timeslot. (Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed)

Warner Bros. Television International has signed a package deal with UK's Five, under which the channel will receive exclusive terrestrial and digital right to Season Three of The Mentalist, while Five USA gets rights to Dark Blue and Blade, and Fiver gets Human Target. (Variety)

In other news, the studio is also set to acquire indie production company Shed Media (the makers of Supernanny and The Choir), in a deal said to be worth nearly £100 million. (Broadcast)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Fringe Fest, Diablo Cody Targets FOX, Carol Burnett to Be Sue's Mom on Glee, Ferrigno to Torment Chuck, and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing.

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello caught up with Fringe star Jasika Nicole to get some information about Season Three of Fringe, kicking off this fall, and a "groundbreaking and mind-blowing" twist. "She is indeed," said Nicole when asked if Astrid would get more to do in Season Three. "And that's due to the fact that there are now two of her that I get to play, which is awesome. [For the first half] of the season, we're alternating episodes, so we've got one in the alternate universe and one in the present universe, so if you were to only [watch] every other episode, you would only see the story happening in one universe." Nicole told Ausiello that the two storylines will converge into a single stream where "everyone's world will be turned upside down." Wowsers. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Diablo Cody is heading to FOX. The network signed a put-pilot deal with the Juno creator--who is the executive producer of Showtime's multiple-personality comedy United States of Tara--for comedy The Breadwinner, which will be produced by Warner Bros. Television, should FOX opt to order a pilot. Details on the plot of the project, which Cody will executive produce with Mason Novick, are being kept tightly under wraps. It's not the first time that Cody has sought to work with the network; she previously developed comedy Sydney Dare at FOX back in 2009. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stop the presses: Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that legendary comedienne Carol Burnett has been cast as the Nazi-hunting mother of Jane Lynch's Sue Sylvester on Glee. While details of her arrival at William McKinley High are being kept secret (for now, anyway), it's expected that Burnett will make her appearance in an October or November episode of Glee's second season and Ausiello also indicates that she will be turning up without Sue's father. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

In other casting news, Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that former Incredible Hulk star (and motivated home seller in I Love You, Man) Lou Ferrigno will guest star on Chuck this fall. Ferrigno, who is set to appear in the second episode of Season Four, will play "the bodyguard of an evil spy model (ex-Victoria's Secret Angel Karolina Kurkova." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos has two video interviews with the stars of FOX's Bones, Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz, in which the two talk about the power shift when Deschanel directs an episode of Bones this season and jokingly vows to make Boreanaz "pay." Plus, the duo tease details of the next season of Bones, including--SPOILER ALERT!--a potential death, a new love interest for Booth named Hannah, and much more. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Sorry sci-fi fans: it turns out that Sky1 has dropped its plan to resurrect classic sci-fi series Blake's 7, created by Terry Nation, after announcing its plans to develop an update back in 2008. "Following the development process we have decided not to produce Blake's 7," said a Sky1 spokesperson. "However, Sky continues to invest heavily in original drama and it remains at the heart of our plans. We have just announced an extended run for the second series of Chris Ryan's Strike Back and we'll soon be unveiling a new long-running series for prime time." The satcaster will also not proceed with a spy drama that was to star Gillian Anderson (The X-Files). But the production company behind the resurrected Blake's 7 plans to shop the series elsewhere. "Sky's deciding to not proceed with the planned TV revival of Blake's 7 is obviously disappointing, but the development process has resulted in the dynamic reinvention of this 'branded' series ... There is a huge opportunity for investment in a TV series that is fully developed, has genuine global appeal and has exciting 360-degree exploitation opportunities," said a B7 Productions spokesperson. "With much praised scripts from lead writers Richard Kurti and Bev Doyle (Going Postal) and 60% of the finance already in place, by anyone's standard we have pulled together a compelling package. We are confident that this reboot of Blake's 7 has the creative and commercial credentials that will enable us to find a partner with the vision to recognise the strength and enduring appeal of the show and the opportunity it represents to produce a bold new drama series with significant international appeal." (Guardian)

Dallas Roberts (Rubicon) has been cast in a potentially recurring role on CBS' The Good Wife, where he will play Owen, Alicia's gay brother, according to Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello. But don't look for the series to make a big deal out of the University of Oregon professor's sexual orientation. "“We just thought [it would be interesting] if it didn’t matter. Everybody around them thinks it’s an issue between them, but there’s no issue,” said executive producer Robert King. “We kind of like that it voids expectations of what will happen between them." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

TVGuide.com's Gina DiNunno has some further details about Roberts' Good Wife character and talks to executive producer David W. Zucker about Owen. "I think [creators and executive producers] Robert and Michelle [King] came up with a very sort of compelling and surprising way to introduce her brother into the world that immediately impacts [her] and Peter, and then gets us to explore a little bit of what their history was and how it pertains to their future," said Zucker. "What about Alicia's own familial experience informed the way she handled [the] with situation with Peter, and her vigilance about protecting the children and the family first and foremost? We were really interested in trying to start exploring, for Peter and Alicia, what that greater world is, especially as Peter is coming to the public eye in a different way now." (TVGuide.com)

So it turns out that Lost's enigmatic Man in Black does have a name. Sort of. TVOvermind has confirmed that Titus Welliver's character was named Samuel. Or, was on the back of his director's chair, anyway. The news doesn't exactly send ripples through the Lost community, but it does lay to rest one dangling plot thread. (via Blastr)

Jeff Goldblum will be departing Law & Order: Criminal Intent after only two seasons, citing uncertainty "surrounding the show's future." (Ahem.) News comes on the heels of the order for Law & Order: Los Angeles and the cancellation of the flagship Law & Order. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Courtney Ford (Dexter) is heading to the CW's Vampire Diaries, according to Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello, who reports that Ford will potentially recur as Vanessa, described as "a grad student at Duke who helps Damon, Alaric, and Elena go through Isobel’s old research." But Vanessa might be more than she seems as she's concealing a secret or two... (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Deadline's Nellie Andreeva is reporting that Colm Meaney (Get Him to the Greek) will star opposite Anson Mount, Dominique McElligott, and Common in AMC period drama pilot Hell of Wheels, about the building of the Transcontinental Railroad. Meaney will play Thomas "Doc" Durant, described as "a businessman determined to make his fortune building the transcontinental railroad, a man of vision and a self-serving opportunist who is capable of 'creative financing.'" (Deadline)

Sherry Stringfield has landed the lead in Josh Berman's new untitled Lifetime drama pilot, where she will play San Diego police detective Molly Collins, described as a "married mother of two on the verge of divorce, who, along with her partner Brooke Kross, investigate the city’s most high-profile crimes while navigating their divergent personal lives." (Deadline)

Disney Channel has assembled the cast for its upcoming original musical movie franchise, Lemonade Mouth, which follows a group of high school students who meet in detention and start a band. (Deadline)

Stay tuned.

Bad Romance: Chuck Takes Comic-Con By Storm

One of the most indelible--and therefore indescribable--moments of this weekend's San Diego Comic-Con was the Chuck panel, which debuted a brand-new music video from the international smash hit Jeffster!

Performing a hysterical rendition of Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance," the music video (entitled "Jeffster Dance Video Take 73") served not only as a truly memorable introduction to the panel itself but also segued into the appearance of the cast en masse to the tune as Vik Sahay and Scott Krinsky led the cast in a bit of impromptu dancing as they made their way onto the massive stage of Ballroom 20 on Saturday. (A clip of the Chuck crew dancing their way to massive cheers--seriously, turn down your volume if you watch--can be found below.)

The big news of course coming out of the Chuck panel was that Linda Hamilton--yes, she of the rippling physique from T2: Judgment Day has been cast as the mysterious and missing Mary Bartowski, mother to Chuck and Ellie, who ran out on the family years ago and was glimpsed in the season finale as some sort of, well, we're not entirely sure what's going on with Mary other than she has a pretty major role in the spy game herself.

The casting of Hamilton--itself suggested by fans--was met with huge fanfare among the 2000-plus attendees of the Chuck panel, though I do wish that Hamilton had been able to join the cast on stage in person. (Though the clip package's use of T2 footage was hilarious and apt in and of itself.)

What else did we learn during the sadly truncated panel? Let's discuss.



Nicole Richie, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Olivia Munn, Dolph Lundgren, Isaiah Mustafa--yes, the Old Spice Guy himself--will be guest starring on Season Four of Chuck. The Buy More will now be owned and operated by the CIA and function as a convenient cover for Chuck after the explosion and seeming destruction of the Burbank Buy More.

Olivia Munn's character, Greta, will be first Buy More employee, a trained CIA agent who is set to appear in the first episode. Each episode will feature a new "Greta" and, yes, all of them will be called Greta. (Seriously.)

"He was a great villain," said Josh Schwartz of Brandon Routh's Daniel Shaw. "Chuck and Sarah have amazing chemistry and it was hard to replicate that."

But that's not all: "Chuck and Sarah are a couple this year. We've learned about putting people between them."

"The search for Chuck's mom... will inform a lot of the season," said Schwartz. Additionally, the search for Mama Bartowski will affect Chuck's relationship with Sarah and the Buy More as well. (But don't worry: they're still a couple. See above.)

Chuck and Morgan will be the best worst best worst spy team ever.

"It was more than awesome," said Ryan McPartlin about the Season Four renewal.

Season Four of Chuck begins this fall on NBC.

Channel Surfing: Linda Hamilton Ups Chuck, Alfred Molina to Law & Order: LA, Felicia Day Gets Eureka, Burn Notice, and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. It's the brief calm between the dual storms of Comic-Con and the TCA Summer Press Tour and there oh so much to do. Let's hit the headlines.

Chuck's executive producers Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak stunned audiences at San Diego Comic-Con this weekend by announcing that Linda Hamilton (Terminator 2: Judgment Day) would be playing Chuck's mama Mary Bartowski, the oft-mentioned missing mother of the Bartowski siblings who was briefly glimpsed in the season finale. Hamilton will recur throughout Season Four of Chuck, though producers are being cagey about saying just what Mary has been up to since she walked out on her family, though they do admit that espionage runs in the family. "Hamilton will appear throughout the season, leading Chuck to discover that her life was shrouded in secrets," said Warner Bros. Television in an official press release about the casting. "She was a spy, a CIA agent ... and that's just the beginning. Who is she today? One thing is certain: She's not the soccer mom who left her children so many years ago." (via press release)

[In other Chuck news, composer Tim Jones will take over scoring FOX action drama series Human Target for its second season, which launches this fall. Jones will replace Bear McCreary, who will himself move over to AMC's The Walking Dead, while--fret not!--Jones will also continue on Chuck as well.)

In a surprising twist, Alfred Molina has joined the cast of NBC's Law & Order: Los Angeles, where he will play a deputy district attorney on the latest incarnation of the long-running procedural, set in the City of Angels this time around. Molina is the second actor to join the production and will star alongside Skeet Ulrich in the Universal Media Studios-produced series, which launches September 22nd. (Hollywood Reporter)

Felicia Day (Dollhouse) has signed on to appear in ten episodes of Eureka, while Caprica's Polly Walker will appear on two episodes of Syfy's Sanctuary, where she will play Ranna, described as "a powerful foe who faces Helen Magnus (Amanda Tapping) after the team encounters her in the show's mid-season cliffhanger." No details of just who or what Day will be playing on Eureka were immediately available and the network seems to be keeping the lid on such details for now. [Editor: could it be that they're saving something for TCA? Hmm...] (Hollywood Reporter)

USA has ordered a telepic for its action series Burn Notice that will serve as a prequel focusing on Sam Axe (Bruce Campbell) in his final assignment as a Navy SEAL. No writer or director have been announced for the project, which will be shot between the fourth and fifth seasons of Burn Notice, nor were any other actors announced for the two-hour film. (Variety)

Deadline's Nellie Andreeva is reporting that Melora Hardin (The Office) has signed on to recur on NBC's legal drama Outlaw, where she will play Claire Sax, described as "a powerful senior partner in an elite law firm and love interest to Garza." She replaces Gina Gershon, who played the role in the original pilot. Hardin has also signed on to appear in a multiple-episode story arc on The Office, where she will turn up once again as Jan Levinson for Steve Carell's potentially final season on the comedy series. (Deadline)

Elsewhere, Andreeva is also reporting that British actor Ben Whishaw (Brideshead Revisited) has been cast as the lead of Alan Ball's new HBO drama pilot All Signs of Death, based on Charlie Huston's novel "The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death." Whishaw will play Webster Filmore Goodhue, described as "an inveterate twenty-something slacker who stumbles into a career as a crime scene cleaner, only to find himself entangled with a murder mystery, a femme fatale and the loose ends of his own past." (Deadline)

Indira Varma--most recently seen in BBC One's Luther--has joined the cast of FOX's Human Target as a series regular. Varma, best known for her roles on HBO's Rome and BBC's Torchwood, will play Ilsa, a wealthy widow who purchases the protection service company run by Mark Valley's Christopher Chance and becomes their new boss. (Hollywood Reporter)

E! Online has a full recap of yesterday's Glee panel at San Diego Comic-Con, including news that the series will feature a Rocky Horror Picture Show-inspired episode this season, there will be new love triangles (including an Artie-Tina-Mike Chang one), the Britney Spears episode will air in September, Idina Menzel will return, and more. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Jonathan Sadowski (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) will replace Ryan Devlin on CBS' $#*! My Dad Says and will star opposite William Shatner in the Warner Bros. Television-produced comedy series. (Variety)

Sarah Carter (Dirty Sexy Money) has joined the cast of TNT's upcoming alien invasion drama Falling Skies, according to Deadline's Nellie Andreeva. Carter will star opposite Noah Wylie and Moon Bloodgood, and will play a member of a motorcycle gang who helps the heroes escape the aliens. (Deadline)

The Futon Critic is reporting that Stargate Universe and Sanctuary will move to Tuesday nights beginning in September. Both series will return with new seasons on September 28th. (Futon Critic)

The New York Times' Sarah Lyall has a great feature on Showtime/BBC's new comedy series Episodes, which stars Matt LeBlanc, Tamsin Greig, and Stephen Mangan. "It takes the whole Joey persona that I have and meets it head-on," LeBlanc told Lyall. "It’s really liberating. When you get pigeonholed as one character, people tend to think, 'That’s all he can do.' [...] The Matt LeBlanc in the show uses the fact that people assume I’m dumb because I played the dumb guy on Friends — he uses that to manipulate situations to his advantage. He manipulates the writers so that the show is more the way he wants it to be. Not that he’s right, but it exposes his insecurities about his ability." (New York Times)

Nickelodeon is transitioning animated series The Fairly OddParents into a live-action telepic to star Drake Bell, Cheryl Hines, and Jason Alexander next year. Pic, entitled A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner, will also feature Steven Weber and Daniella Monet. (Variety)

Producer Francie Calfo will succeed David Nevins as the president of Imagine Television. (Nevins has left to take over as entertainment president of pay cabler Showtime.) Calfo will report to Brian Grazer and will step into the role within the next fortnight. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

The Daily Beast: "Angelina Jolie & Other Nerd Bait at Comic-Con"

San Diego Comic-Con is upon us.

Over at The Daily Beast, you can check out my latest feature, entitled "Angelina Jolie & Other Nerd Bait at Comic-Con," which rounds-up the 14 most anticipated--and thus buzzy--panels from both film and television.

Among the standouts that are sure to be action-packed this year: Salt, True Blood, Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World, Green Lantern, The Expendables, Being Human, Red, The Walking Dead, Tron: Legacy, Thor, Let Me In, Paul, all of WBTV's many shows, and the J.J. Abrams/Joss Whedon Visionaries panel, presented by Entertainment Weekly, among others.

What are you most looking forward to and what panels do you think will live up to the hype? Head to the comments section to discuss.

Channel Surfing: Olivia Munn Tackles Chuck, Scott Porter Investigates The Good Wife, Chris Isaak Could Replace Simon, and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. A few things to get through before I hit the road for San Diego and Comic-Con.

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Olivia Munn (the newly minted Daily Show correspondent) will guest star on NBC's Chuck this fall when the series returns for its fourth season on September 20th. Munn, who is a series regular on NBC's midseason comedy Perfect Couples, will play "an impossibly cool, smart, and pretty CIA agent who intimidates and schools Chuck and Morgan" in the same installment that features Dolph Lundgren. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

In other scoop, Ausiello writes that former Friday Night Lights star Scott Porter will be joining the cast of CBS' The Good Wife this fall. Porter, whose CW pilot Nomads was not ordered to series, will play Blake, described as "Kalinda’s private-eye counterpart at the D.C. firm that’s merging with Lockhart & Gardner" who "offsets his cynical attitude with lots of hidden humor and sexual charisma. He is disguised as a landlord when he first encounters Kalinda, who doesn’t appreciate being taken in by this ‘master of disguise.’ However, underneath their fractious interactions, there’s definite chemistry between these two." Porter is expected to appear in at least ten episodes of The Good Wife's second season. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Wicked Game? Singer Chris Issak is among the frontrunners to replace Simon Cowell on FOX's American Idol, as is Harry Connick Jr. while Bret Michaels and Donald Trump have each lobbied to replace Cowell for the tenth season of Idol. "The network is determined to land a widely known music industry figure for the post, and THR has learned that singer Chris Isaak has met twice with the network," write James Hibberd and Kim Masters. "Also, at least one desirable candidate has set off a tug-of-war between Idol executive producer Simon Fuller and Cowell -- whose upcoming Fox singing competition The X Factor is similarly seeking judges." Hmmm... (Hollywood Reporter)

Syfy has announced that the back half of Season One of Caprica will not air until January 2011, a sizable delay given that the first half of the season wrapped in the end of March. Here's how Syfy is positioning the remainder of the season: "In season 1.5, the once idyllic world of Caprica – as well as life across the colonies – falls prey to an explosive chain reaction of consequences set off by the characters’ many questionable actions in the season’s first half. Tensions rise, power shifts and the line between reality and the virtual world becomes increasingly blurred as everyone struggles to learn – and conquer – the stakes in this volatile setting. As the season races towards its stunning conclusion, events of each episode lay the framework for the inevitable (and brutal) clash between the newly-created Cylon race and their human creators." (via press release)

Universal Media Studios has signed a deal with The Office writer/co-star B.J. Novak that will keep him aboard the NBC comedy series for two more seasons and will be bumped to an executive producer title halfway through the series' upcoming seventh season. He'll also develop new projects for the studio as well. "B.J. has been an integral part of The Office since the launch of the show," said Angela Bromstad, NBC's president of primetime entertainment. "Whether he's in the writing room or appearing on screen, we always get the smart, sophisticated, ridiculously funny humor from him that the fans have come to love." (Variety)

Mark your calendars: HBO has announced that Bored to Death and Eastbound and Down will return for their second seasons on Sunday, September 26th at 10 pm and 10:30 pm ET/PT respectively. (via press release)

TVGuide.com's Denise Martin is reporting that Katherine Moenning (The L Word) will guest star in the upcoming season of Showtime's serial killer drama Dexter, where she will play a tattoo artist appearing in one episode. "How she'll become embroiled in the serial killer's world remains unknown," writes Martin. The fifth season of Dexter launches Sunday, September 26th at 9 pm ET/PT. (TVGuide.com)

Doris Roberts (Everybody Loves Raymond) will be dropping by ABC's The Middle for the second season premiere, airing September 22nd. She'll play a new teacher for Brick who is "an intimidating force to be reckoned with" and "'strong' opinions about Frankie's parenting methods." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

File under strange but true: CBS' drama pilot Chaos, the subject of a lively back and forth between the network and studio 20th Century Fox Television, is allegedly alive again, according to Deadline's Nellie Andreeva. "The resurrection process took a step forward yesterday when CBS' entertainment president Nina Tassler had lunch with 20th TV chairmen Dana Walden and Gary Newman to discuss the matter," writes Andreeva. "I hear the Brett Ratner-directed Chaos is now back on track for a midseason series order at CBS, possibly as a co-production between 20th TV and CBS TV Studios. The only major obstacle is bringing back the cast, led by Freddy Rodriguez, which was released on June 30 when the actors' options expired. I hear the actors have been approached about returning and things look optimistic on that front." (Deadline)

If you were worried that the cast of MTV's Jersey Shore wouldn't be back for a third season, you can rest easy today: the entire cast has renegotiated their contracts and will be approximately $30,000 per episode for Season Three. [Editor: the sound you hear? Me gagging.] (The Wrap)

ABC Family is launching new comedy Melissa & Joey on Tuesday, August 17th, with two back-to-back episodes at 8 and 8:30 pm ET/PT. (via press release)

Cinemax is resurrecting the thriller anthology genre with a new latenight series Femme Fatales, based on the magazine. Format will be a half-hour anthology, airing in a latenight slot with a narrator introducing short-form thrillers. Project, which has received a series order, is executive produced by Mark A. Altman and Steve Kriozere. (Hollywood Reporter)

Bert Salke will replace Chris Carlisle as the president of Fox21, the subdivision of 20th Century Fox Television that specializes in cable and reality programming. He is expected to start in August and will report to Dana Walden and Gary Newman. (Deadline)

FremantleMedia has teamed up with Mark Sennett Entertainment and Headline Pictures to develop period racing drama The Drivers, which will be based on Wallace A. Wyss' book, "Shelby: The Man, the Cars, the Legend." Series will revolve around a group of drivers from US and Europe who race for the top prize at Le Mans and will be set in either the 1950s or 1960s. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: James Tupper Heads to Grey's Anatomy, Game of Thrones, Tammy Blanchard Gets The Good Wife, Michael Emerson, and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing.

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that James Tupper (Mercy) has joined the cast of ABC's Grey's Anatomy, where he is set to recur as trauma counselor Andrew Perkins, who is "brought in to help Seattle Grace recover from that nightmarish season-ending bloodbath" and who will appear in at least two episodes next season. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan has some dish on the casting--and recasting--going on at HBO's upcoming fantasy drama Game of Thrones. "Varys, the calculating spymaster for the king of Westeros, will be played by UK actor Conleth Hill," writes Ryan. "The role of Waymar Royce has been recast due to a scheduling issue. Jamie Campbell-Bower had played the role in the pilot but when the producers decided to do reshoots of his scenes, Campbell-Bower was unavailable. The role of Royce will now be played by Rob Ostlere." (Chicago Tribune's The Watcher)

Tammy Blanchard (Guiding Light) has been cast in a recurring role on Season Two of CBS' The Good Wife, according to Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello. Blanchard will play a "fair-minded assistant state’s attorney who looks more like an indie-band drummer than a lawyer,” and who will serve as "one of Glen Childs’ underlings and a confidante to Cary (Matt Czuchry)." Meanwhile, Chris Saradon (Judging Amy) has been cast as Judge Goode; he'll recur throughout the season. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

E! Online's Megan Masters talks to former Lost star Michael Emerson about his desire to appear on HBO's True Blood, alongside his real life wife Carrie Preston. "When I see Alan, he always says 'We have to find something for you.' I'm delighted to hear him say it," said Emerson, who said he'd be up for anything on the vampire drama. "Yes, some new kind of supernatural creature," he tells us. "Or [I could play] just an everyday humanoid. I could be a pizza delivery man who's torn apart by werewolves... I would be more than happy to do something on that show if they have the right part and I'm available. It would be a treat." (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

NBC yesterday announced their fall launch dates for new and returning series and you know what that means: we've got a return date for Chuck! Yes, Team Bartowski returns to the Peacock on Monday, September 20th at 8 pm ET/PT, joined by new dramas The Event and Chase, launching the same evening. The next night brings the returns of The Biggest Loser and Parenthood; Wednesday, September 22nd will see the launch of JJ Abrams' Undercovers as as well as Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Law & Order: Los Angeles. Thursday, September 23rd brings Community, 30 Rock, The Office, Outsourced and The Apprentice. (Parks and Recreation sadly won't return until midseason.) Finally, on Friday, September 24th, it's School Pride, Dateline, and Outlaw's turn. (via press release)

Deadline's Nellie Andreeva is reporting that Criminal Minds's Kirsten Vangsness may pull double-duty and appear on the Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior spinoff in either a regular or recurring capacity, following a similar trend to Rocky Carroll on NCIS and NCIS: Los Angeles. Vangsness would bring her Penelope Garcia to a cast that also includes Forest Whittaker and Janeane Garofalo. (Deadline)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello talks to Supernatural creator (and former showrunner) Eric Kripke about why he stepped down from overseeing the CW drama, which returns for a sixth season this fall, and what's coming up for the Winchester boys. "We were reaching the end of this five-year story line [so] I thought the timing was right," said Kripke of his decision. "I knew that we were closing this chapter and opening a new one. It felt like it was the right time to take a step back and focus on new projects, but still keep my grubby little mitts in the show. It was a lot about Sera and her enthusiasm and her ambition. I really think after five years of all of my crap, to have someone who has a fresh perspective and a fresh energy on these characters and this universe is healthy for the show. Supernatural has always been a show about reinvention. We try really hard not to do the same thing. I thought that Sera’s [increased] involvement really helped guarantee that this season is going to feel a little different, a little fresher. She has a different sensibility." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

FX has announced its fall launch dates: Season Three of Sons of Anarchy begins Tuesday, September 7th at 10 pm ET/PT, Shawn Ryan's dramedy Terriers launches Wednesday, September 8th at 10 pm ET/PT, Season Six of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia launches Thursday, September 16th at 10 pm, followed by the Season Two opener of The League at 10:30 pm. (via press release)

The Guardian's Data Blog has a breakdown of every Doctor Who villain the Time Lord has ever faced since 1963. A must see for Who fans. (The Guardian, h/t Dave Izkoff)

Good news for Mad Men fans who also happen to be AT&T U-Verse cable subscribers: Raindbow Media--which owns AMC, IFC, and WEtv--has successfully concluded a carriage deal with AT&T U-Verse to keep their channels on the cable provider's lineup. "We are happy to report that AMC, IFC and WE tv will remain on AT&T U-verse(R) TV," said AT&T in an official statement. "We're very satisfied that we were able to reach the fair deal we wanted for our customers - one that includes the right content, across platforms, at prices that are in line with the marketplace, and that helps us with important strategic content initiatives. We are very grateful to our customers for their support." (via press release)

Production has been pushed by roughly a week and a half on the start of NBC's Law & Order: Los Angeles, according to Deadline's Nellie Andreeva, who reports that producers need additional time to continue casting the project. At press time, there was only one talent attachment on the series as Skeet Ulrich signed on to play Detective Rex Winters, though four series regular roles remain uncast. (Deadline)

Veronica Mars, Pushing Daisies, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Nip/Tuck are all heading to Netflix Instant, following a streaming rights deal between Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and Netflix. Separately, Nip/Tuck will also go into off-net syndication on MTV's Logo. (Variety)

Broadcasting & Cable's Andrea Domanick has a great recap of the session for CBS' The Good Wife at NATPE's recent LATV Festival earlier this week. (Broadcasting & Cable)

Remember how the CW shut down its comedy department a while back? While they're not reopening the shuttered development division, the netlet has dipped its toe back in the comedy game, acquiring US rights to Canadian single-camera comedy 18 to Life, which will air Tuesdays at 9 pm this summer, beginning August 3rd. Project, created by Derek Schreyer and Karen Troubetzkoy, revolves around two eighteen-year-olds who get married. (It was originally a CBC-ABC co-production but ABC dropped out ahead of production.) Move comes as the CW looks for ways to slot first-run programming on during the summer and the series will join reality show Plain Jane on the lineup. (Variety)

EVP of current programming Marcy Ross is staying put at FOX, signing a deal that will keep her at the network for three more years... and seems to point towards the fact that FOX is committed to keeping its current programming department, unlike other networks, which have in recent years merged theirs with development. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Amber Tamblin Checks Into House, Betty White Heads to Community, Dolph Lundgren Vs. Chuck, Luck, and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing.

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello and Andy Patrick are reporting that Amber Tamblyn (The Unusuals) will join the cast of FOX's House while Olivia Wilde is shooting feature film Cowboys and Aliens for Universal. Tamblyn has signed on to appear in a multiple-episode story arc where she will play " a whip-smart med student House (Hugh Laurie) recruits for his diagnostic team — despite the fact that she isn’t yet 100 percent qualified to treat patients" who will "have to find a way to adjust to her new mentor’s unique bedside manner." [Editor: as someone still mourning the loss of ABC's The Unusuals, I'm glad to see Tamblyn heading back to network television.] (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Is there anything Betty White can't do? The octogenarian actress, hot off a streak that includes hosting Saturday Night Live, a slew of films, and a new sitcom (Hot in Cleveland) for TV Land, White will guest star on NBC's Community this fall, where she will play June Bauer, described as "an esteemed, albeit slightly unhinged, anthropology professor," when the series returns for its second season, appearing in the season opener. (Hollywood Reporter)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Dolph Lundgren (Rocky IV) will be heading to NBC's Chuck next season, appearing in a guest starring capacity in the Season Four opener, entitled "Chuck Versus the Anniversary." No details were immediately available about just who--or what--Lundgren will be playing, other than the fact that he'll face off with our own Chuck Bartowski. (Executive producer Josh Schwartz tweeted that Lundgren will "try and 'break' Chuck in Season 4 premiere.") But Lundgren isn't the only guest star confirmed for the season premiere: Ausiello also reports that Big Love baddie Harry Dean Stanton will also guest star. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

HBO yesterday announced that it had given a series order to horseracing drama Luck, from executive producers David Milch and Michael Mann, which stars Dennis Hoffman, Dennis Farina, John Ortiz, Kevin Dunn, Richard Kind, Jason Gedrick, Ritchie Coster, Ian Hart, Tom Payne, Kerry Condon, Gary Stevens, and Nick Nolte and features Jill Hennessy. "Michael Mann delivered a pilot from David Milch's brilliant script that took our breath away," said HBO programming president Michael Lombardo. "We are truly excited that these two artists, and our extraordinary cast headed by Dustin Hoffman, will be bringing Luck to life." (Variety)

TV Guide Magazine's Will Keck is reporting that George Eads has signed a new deal which will keep him aboard CBS' CSI: Crime Scene Investigation as Nick Stokes, citing reports from Eads' reps. Additionally, Keck said that Eads' Nick will be getting a new partner on the series, "a bombs expert named Kacey Monohan, who will be Nick's new partner on the Vegas streets." (TV Guide Magazine)

More details emerging about Piers Morgan's potential deal at CNN to replace Larry King. The America's Got Talent judge is said to be thisclose to signing a deal that will see him take over CNN's 9 pm timeslot and rake in $5-6 million per year as well as keep his position on AGT as well. (Hollywood Reporter)

As of press time, AT&T U-Verse hadn't removed Rainbow Media's cable channels--including AMC, IFC, and We--from its lineup, despite the expiration of their carriage agreement and a threat that the cable provider would ditch the channels if a deal couldn't be reached in time. (Variety)

E! Online's Watch With Kristin collects a whole bunch of tweets from the stars of CW dramas Vampire Diaries, 90210, and One Tree Hill, looking to parse some meaning--or spoilers--from the tweets that emerged this week as all three went back into production. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Nascent pay cabler Epix has hired producer Maureen Taran as VP of original programming, live events, where she will report to Laverne McKinnon. (Hollywood Reporter)

David Weintraub--who starred on A&E's unscripted series Sons of Hollywood--has been hired as VP of series development at Stone and Co., reporting to Scott Stone. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

San Diego Comic-Con 2010: WBTV Announces Full Programming Slate

Warner Bros. Television today announced their full programming slate for San Diego Comic-Con 2010, taking place in just a few weeks now.

Among the offerings, Warner Bros. Television will host panels for The Big Bang Theory, Chuck, Fringe, Human Target, Nikita, Smallville, Supernatural, V (which I'll be moderating, in fact), The Vampire Diaries, Children's Hospital, Unnatural History, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, MAD, and Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated. (Whew.)

I can also now officially announce that the V panel I'll be moderating--which will feature Elizabeth Mitchell, Morris Chestnut, Joel Gretsch, Logan Huffman, Laura Vandervoort, Charles Mesure, Morena Baccarin, Scott Wolf and executive producers Scott Rosenbaum and Steve Pearlman--will be taking place Saturday from 2:30-3:15 pm in Ballroom 20. (Hope to see you there!)

Earlier that day, be sure to stop by Ballroom 20 at 10 am for the Chuck panel, which will feature Josh Schwartz, Chris Fedak, Zachary Levi, Yvonne Strahovski, Joshua Gomez, Ryan McPartlin, Mark Christopher Lawrence, Vik Sahay, Scott Krinsky, Sarah Lancaster, and Adam Baldwin.

The full Warner Bros. Television Comic-Con 2010 lineup can be found below, along with panel descriptions and times/locations as well as talent participants.

WARNER BROS. TELEVISION GROUP MAKES COMIC-CON 2010 ITS
BIGGEST EVER, HEADING FOR SAN DIEGO WITH A
STUDIO-RECORD 14 SERIES

Stars and Producers of “The Big Bang Theory,” “Chuck,” “Fringe,”
“Human Target,” “Nikita,” “Smallville,” “Supernatural,” “V,”
“The Vampire Diaries,” “Childrens Hospital,” “Unnatural History,”
“Batman: The Brave and the Bold,” “MAD” and
“Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated” to Appear

Warner Bros. Entertainment’s Nearly 3,000-Square-Foot Booth to
Host Signings, Video Game Demos, Numerous Giveaways and
More During the Convention
BURBANK, Calif. (June 29, 2010) – Warner Bros. Television Group (WBTVG) is returning to Comic-Con International: San Diego in unprecedented fashion in 2010. A star-studded lineup of performers, producers and other members of the creative teams of a record 14 series from Warner Bros. Television, Warner Horizon Television and Warner Bros. Animation will be on-hand for panel sessions, screenings, media appearances and autograph signings. This will mark the largest contingent of talent from WBTVG ever assembled for the world’s leading pop culture convention. (In 2009, WBTVG featured 12 television series at Comic-Con.)

For continuing info on the Studio’s plans at Comic-Con, please follow us on Twitter @TheWBdotcom, hashtag #WBSDCC. For the second year in a row, WBTVG will also produce a Con-related online destination at www.thewb.com/comiccon, launching in mid-July. For a complete social media contact list, including official Facebook pages and Twitter feeds for WBTVG series, talent and producers, download the social media contacts page here: www.thewb.com/comiccon/2010WBTVGSocialMediaContacts

Series stars and creative teams scheduled to attend include:

“The Big Bang Theory”: Stars Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Simon Helberg and Kunal Nayyar join creators/executive producers Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady for a session moderated by Wil Wheaton

“Chuck”: Stars Zachary Levi, Yvonne Strahovski, Joshua Gomez, Ryan McPartlin, Mark Christopher Lawrence, Vik Sahay, Scott Krinsky, with Sarah Lancaster and Adam Baldwin join creators/executive producers Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak

“Fringe”: Stars Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, John Noble, Lance Reddick, Blair Brown and Jasika Nicole join executive producers Jeff Pinkner and J.H. Wyman

“Human Target”: Stars Mark Valley, Chi McBride and Jackie Earle Haley join executive producer Matthew Miller

“Nikita”: Stars Maggie Q (“Mission: Impossible III”), Shane West (“ER”) and Lyndsy Fonseca (“Kick-Ass”) join executive producer Craig Silverstein (“Bones”)

“Smallville”: Series stars to be announced join executive producers Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson

“Supernatural”: Series stars to be announced join executive producers Sera Gamble and Ben Edlund, and creator/executive producer Eric Kripke

“V”: Stars Elizabeth Mitchell, Morris Chestnut, Joel Gretsch, Logan Huffman, Laura Vandervoort, Charles Mesure, with Morena Baccarin and Scott Wolf join executive producers Scott Rosenbaum and Steve Pearlman

“The Vampire Diaries”: Stars Nina Dobrev, Paul Wesley, Ian Somerhalder, Michael Trevino and Matt Davis join executive producers/writers Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec

“Childrens Hospital”: Creator/executive producer/star Rob Corddry (“Hot Tub Time Machine,” “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”) and executive producer Jon Stern (“The Ten,” “Scotland, PA”) join series stars Lake Bell (“How to Make It in America”), Erinn Hayes (“Parenthood,” “Worst Week”) and Rob Huebel (“Human Giant”). A website for the series will go live July 6 here: www.adultswim.com/shows/childrenshospital

“Unnatural History”: Stars Kevin G. Schmidt (“Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel”), Jordan Gavaris (“Degrassi: The Next Generation”), Italia Ricci (“Greek”) and Martin Donovan (“Weeds”) join creator/executive producer Mike Werb

“Batman: The Brave and the Bold”: Voice of Batman Diedrich Bader joins executive producer Sam Register, producers James Tucker and Michael Jelenic, and voice director Andrea Romano

“MAD”: New “MAD” animated television series producer/story editor Kevin Shinick (“Robot Chicken”) and Warner Bros. Animation executive Peter Girardi join MAD Magazine editor John Ficarra, art director Sam Viviano, legendary artist Sergio Aragones and contemporary artist Tom Richmond

“Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated”: Supervising producers Spike Brandt and Tony Cervone join producer Mitch Watson and art director Dan Krall

WARNER BROS. TELEVISION GROUP
CONFIRMED COMIC-CON 2010
PANEL DESCRIPTIONS

WEDNESDAY, JULY 21, 2010

6:00–9:00 p.m. Special Sneak Peek Pilot Screenings – Comic-Con and Warner Bros. Television are proud to continue the tradition of presenting exclusive screenings of some of the most buzzed-about new television series of the upcoming season. For Comic-Con 2010, WBTV will offer multiple screenings of the premiere episode of the highly anticipated action hour Nikita, along with additional special video presentations. Ballroom 20

In the sexy and suspenseful series starring international action star Maggie Q (Mission: Impossible III) in the title role, Nikita has gone rogue. Division is an ultra-secret government agency whose operatives are recruited young people with severed ties to family, friends and society and who are trained to be invisible assassins. No one ever leaves Division – except the charming and deadly Nikita, who has managed to escape, making it her mission to undermine the now-corrupt organization. A force to be reckoned with, the rogue Nikita taunts Division, staying on their radar, but always one step ahead. Yet as determined as Nikita is to bring down her former agency, there are those just as determined to stop her, including Division's newest recruit Alex, a beautiful young woman who seems destined to replace Nikita as their next top operative.

In addition to Maggie Q, Nikita stars Lyndsy Fonseca (Kick-Ass), Shane West (ER), Aaron Stanford (X2: X-Men United), with Melinda Clarke (The O.C.) and Xander Berkeley (24). The executive producers are Craig Silverstein (Bones), Danny Cannon (the CSI series), McG (Supernatural) and Peter Johnson (Supernatural). From Wonderland Sound and Vision in association with Warner Bros. Television, Nikita will air Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW. Become a fan of the show on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nikita.


THURSDAY, JULY 22, 2010

5:00–6:00 p.m. Childrens Hospital Screening and Q&A – Check out the Childrens Hospital panel and hear from the show’s creative team led by Rob Corddry (Hot Tub Time Machine, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart) and Jon Stern (producer of The Ten and Scotland, PA). They will be joined by members of their ensemble cast of comedic heavyweights, including Lake Bell (How to Make It in America, It’s Complicated), Erinn Hayes (Parenthood, Worst Week) and Rob Huebel (I Love You Man, Human Giant). Childrens Hospital explores the emotional struggles and sexual politics of a group of doctors charged with healthy libidos. Their dedication to their personal lives is relentless, interrupted only by the occasional need to treat sick children. Room 25ABC

FRIDAY, JULY 23, 2010

10:30–11:30 a.m. Batman: The Brave and the Bold Screening and Q&A – The Caped Crusader swings back into San Diego as Batman: The Brave and the Bold returns to Comic-Con for its third consecutive year with an advance screening of an upcoming episode, as well as a lively discussion with voice of Batman Diedrich Bader (Surf's Up), executive producer Sam Register (Teen Titans), producers James Tucker (Justice League Unlimited) and Michael Jelenic (The Batman), and voice director Andrea Romano (Superman Doomsday). As a special bonus for fans, the panel will also screen the world-premiere trailer for the upcoming and highly anticipated Cartoon Network/Warner Bros. Animation series Young Justice. Don’t miss this Comic-Con exclusive. From Warner Bros. Animation, Batman: The Brave and the Bold airs Fridays at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT on Cartoon Network, and Batman: The Brave and the Bold – Season 1, Part 1 will be released on DVD August 17. Become a fan of the show on Facebook at www.facebook.com/batmanbraveandbold. Room 6A

12:45–1:45 p.m. The Big Bang Theory Screening and Q&A – It’s “Anything Can Happen Friday” at Comic-Con as The Big Bang Theory – which kicks off a new night of comedy on Thursdays for CBS this fall – returns to San Diego with a special screening and a Q&A featuring the show’s creators and stars. Resident Big Bang alum Wil Wheaton (Star Trek: The Next Generation) will moderate a lively discussion featuring executive producers Chuck Lorre (Two and a Half Men) and Bill Prady (Dharma & Greg), as well as series stars Johnny Galecki (Roseanne), Jim Parsons (Garden State), Kaley Cuoco (Charmed), Simon Helberg (Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story) and Kunal Nayyar (NCIS). From Chuck Lorre Productions, Inc. in association with Warner Bros. Television, The Big Bang Theory will air Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT this fall on the CBS Television Network, and The Big Bang Theory: The Complete Third Season will be released on Blu-ray™ and DVD on September 14. Become a fan of the show on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheBigBangTheory and follow The Big Bang Theory on Twitter at www.twitter.com/BigBang_CBS. Ballroom 20

SATURDAY, JULY 24, 2010

10:00–10:45 a.m. Chuck Screening and Q&A – Chuck returns to Comic-Con! Join executive producers and co-creators Josh Schwartz (Gossip Girl) and Chris Fedak, along with series stars Zachary Levi (Alvin and the Chipmunks), Yvonne Strahovski (upcoming The Killer Elite), Joshua Gomez (Without a Trace), Ryan McPartlin, Mark Christopher Lawrence (The Pursuit of Happyness), Vik Sahay (Good Will Hunting), Scott Krinsky (The O.C.) with Sarah Lancaster (upcoming The Good Doctor) and Adam Baldwin (Serenity) for their usual hijinks – a Q&A to discuss the upcoming season four (made possible by the devoted fanbase) and a special video presentation. Produced by Fake Empire, Wonderland Sound and Vision in association with Warner Bros. Television, Chuck airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC, and Chuck: The Complete Third Season will be released on Blu-ray™ and DVD on September 7. Become a fan of Chuck on Facebook at www.facebook.com/chuck and follow the show on Twitter at www.twitter.com/nbcchuck. Ballroom 20

10:00–11:00 a.m. Mad About MAD! – MAD Magazine has established itself as the original and most imitated and influential satirical publication across generations. This fall, MAD returns to TV screens with MAD, a new show for the next generation! Come join MAD Magazine editor John Ficarra, MAD art director Sam Viviano, legendary MAD artist Sergio Aragones, contemporary MAD artist Tom Richmond, MAD story editor/producer Kevin Shinick and the panel’s host, Peter Girardi (Senior Vice President, Series & Alternative Animation, at Warner Bros. Animation, the producers of the upcoming MAD animated television program), for a light-hearted look at the future of an American institution. Room 7AB

2:30–3:15 p.m. V Screening and Q&A – The cast and creative team behind this thrilling drama series about the world’s first alien encounter make their return to Comic-Con. V series stars Elizabeth Mitchell (Lost), Morris Chestnut (Boyz n the Hood), Joel Gretsch (The 4400), Logan Huffman (America), Laura Vandervoort (Smallville), Charles Mesure (Xena: Warrior Princess) with Morena Baccarin (Firefly) and Scott Wolf (Go) will join executive producers Scott Rosenbaum (Chuck, The Shield) and Steve Pearlman (Related) for a Q&A session with fans and to screen a special highlight reel from the show’s first season. From HDFilms in association with Warner Bros. Television, V will return midseason on ABC, and V: The Complete First Season will be released on Blu-ray™ and DVD this fall. Become a fan of V on Facebook at www.facebook.com/V and follow the show on Twitter at www.twitter.com/VonABC. Ballroom 20

3:15–4:00 p.m. Fringe Screening and Q&A – Fringe returns to Comic-Con as Lance Reddick and Blair Brown make their first appearance at the convention, joining fellow series stars Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, John Noble and Jasika Nicole, and executive producers Jeff Pinkner and J.H. Wyman for a Q&A with fans and an exclusive video presentation. Join the discussion of this critically acclaimed thriller, which explores the ever-blurring line between science fiction and reality, where hybrid monsters tear through sewers, thieves walk through walls and portals open to worlds unknown. From Bad Robot Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television, Fringe airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on FOX, and Fringe: The Complete Second Season will be released on Blu-ray™ and DVD on September 14. Become a fan of Fringe on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Fringe and follow the show on Twitter at www.twitter.com/FRINGEonFOX. Ballroom 20

4:15–5:00 p.m. The Vampire Diaries Screening and Q&A – The cast and creative team behind The Vampire Diaries return to take a bite out of Comic-Con! Series stars Nina Dobrev (Degrassi: The Next Generation), Paul Wesley (Roll Bounce), Ian Somerhalder (Lost), Michael Trevino (Cane) and Matt Davis (Blue Crush) join executive producers/writers Kevin Williamson (Scream) and Julie Plec (Kyle XY) to show fans a fang-tastic season one highlight reel, followed by a Q&A session. This edgy, romantic drama quickly became the number one series on The CW in its first season. The Vampire Diaries director/co-executive producer Marcos Siega (Dexter) will moderate the panel. From Bonanza Productions Inc., Outerbanks Entertainment and Alloy Entertainment in association with Warner Bros. Television and CBS Television Studios, The Vampire Diaries will return for its second season this fall, airing Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW, and The Vampire Diaries: The Complete First Season will be released on Blu-ray™ and DVD August 31. Become a fan of The Vampire Diaries on Facebook at www.facebook.com/thevampirediaries and follow the show on Twitter at www.twitter.com/CW_VampDiaries. Ballroom 20

5:15–6:15 p.m. Nikita Pilot Screening and Q&A – Comic-Con has gone rogue! International action star Maggie Q (Mission: Impossible III) stars in this sexy and suspenseful series as an agent who has escaped from the ultra-secretive and corrupt government agency that trained her to be an assassin … and then betrayed her. Come catch a sneak peek screening of this action-packed thriller, and join Maggie, series stars Shane West (ER) and Lyndsy Fonseca (Kick-Ass), and executive producer Craig Silverstein (Bones) for an inside look at one of the most anticipated new shows of the fall season. From Wonderland Sound and Vision in association with Warner Bros. Television, Nikita will air Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW. Become a fan of the show on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nikita. Room 6BCF

6:15–7 p.m. Human Target Screening and Q&A – Based upon the popular DC Comics title, Human Target is an action-packed thrill ride about a mysterious private contractor who will stop at nothing to keep his clients alive – even if it means literally becoming a “human target.” The series moves to a new night – Fridays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on FOX – this fall, and executive producer Matthew Miller (Chuck) will join series stars Mark Valley (Fringe), Chi McBride (Pushing Daisies) and Jackie Earle Haley (A Nightmare on Elm Street) for a Q&A with fans and to screen a special video presentation. Human Target is from Bonanza Productions Inc. in association with Wonderland Sound and Vision, DC Comics and Warner Bros. Television. Human Target: The Complete First Season will be released on Blu-ray™ and DVD September 21. Become a fan of Human Target on Facebook at www.facebook.com/humantarget and follow the show on Twitter at www.twitter.com/HumanTargetFOX. Room 6BCF

SUNDAY, JULY 25, 2010

10:00–11:00 a.m. Smallville Screening and Q&A – Comic-Con favorite Smallville returns for its last visit to Comic-Con in advance of the show’s 10th and final season. Series stars to be announced join executive producers Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson to talk about the year ahead, answer fan questions and give an exclusive sneak peek at clips from the final season. From Tollin/Robbins Productions, Millar/Gough Ink in association with Warner Bros. Television, Smallville airs Fridays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW. Smallville: The Complete Ninth Season will be released on Blu-ray™ and DVD on September 7. Become a fan of the show on Facebook at www.facebook.com/smallville. Ballroom 20

11:15 a.m.–12:15 p.m. Supernatural Screening and Q&A – Join Supernatural cast members to be announced, executive producers Sera Gamble (Eyes) and Ben Edlund (Angel), and creator/executive producer Eric Kripke (Boogeyman) for an exclusive sneak peek at footage from the highly anticipated sixth season of this thrill-ride series, which moves to a new day – Fridays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW – this fall. The panel will answer questions from the audience and also show a portion of the special features from the upcoming Supernatural: The Complete Fifth Season DVD and Blu-ray™ release, in stores September 7. Supernatural is produced by Wonderland Sound and Vision in association with Warner Bros. Television. Become a fan of the show on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Supernatural and follow Supernatural on Twitter at www.twitter.com/CW_Supernatural. Ballroom 20

1:00–2:00 p.m. Unnatural History Episode Screening and Q&A – Join the adventure! Cartoon Network’s first live-action mystery series, Unnatural History, journeys to San Diego for its Comic-Con debut. Unnatural History chronicles the adventures of Henry Griffin, a teenager with extraordinary skills acquired while traveling the world with his anthropologist parents. His unique abilities come in handy when he moves to Washington D.C. – and begins exploring the mysteries of a charter high school within the National Museum Complex. Fans will be treated to a premiere screening of a never-before-seen episode, as well as a Q&A with series stars Kevin G. Schmidt (Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel), Jordan Gavaris (Degrassi: The Next Generation), Italia Ricci (Greek) and Martin Donovan (Weeds) as well as creator/executive producer Mike Werb (The Mask, Face/Off). From Warner Horizon Television, Unnatural History airs Sunday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Cartoon Network. Become a fan of the show at www.facebook.com/UnnaturalHistory. Room 6BCF

2:15–3:15 p.m. Scooby-Doo Screening and Q&A – Those meddling teens are at it again! Find out what Shaggy, Fred, Daphne, Velma and, of course, Scooby-Doo are up to with a sneak peek at upcoming titles from this beloved family franchise. Join supervising producers Spike Brandt and Tony Cervone (both Duck Dodgers), producer Mitch Watson (Ben 10: Race Against Time) and art director Dan Krall (Coraline) as they screen a never-before-seen episode of the new Cartoon Network/Warner Bros. Animation series Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated (airing Mondays at 7 p.m. ET/PT on Cartoon Network) and take fan questions. Additionally, they will unveil the trailer to Warner Home Video’s upcoming all-new original animated movie Scooby-Doo! Camp Scare (release date: September 14) and will provide fans with a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment’s forthcoming Scooby-Doo! and the Spooky Swamp videogame, coming September 14. Panel attendees will be served a full course of all things Scooby-Doo, as they will also hear about additional upcoming Scooby-related projects from Warner Premiere and Warner Bros. Consumer Products. Room 6BCF

Channel Surfing: ABC Circles Alias Reboot, True Blood Werewolves, ABC Passes on Ghost Whisperer, Chuck, Doctor Who, and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing.

Could ABC be dipping its toes back in the Alias well? According to a story by E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos, ABC Studios is said to be considering a reboot of J.J. Abrams' Alias, which starred Jennifer Garner as superspy Sydney Bristow. "It's only very initial talk at this point, but I'm told that the development folks over at the Alphabet network are considering doing a new version of Alias that would borrow some elements of the original series," writes Dos Santos. "But the series would most likely not include any sort of complex mythological throughline such as the Rambaldi prophecy (a storyline that lost some of the fans). According to this source, ABC is hoping to hold onto its lost Lost audience with a re-envisioned J.J. Abrams series, in light of FlashForward not working out so well. (It was canceled last week.)" [Editor: Interestingly, ABC seems slow to get back into the superspy game, with NBC's Chuck already on the air and J.J. Abrams' own Undercovers heading to the network this fall. I also question the wiseness of rebooting a series that only ended a few seasons back and which is closely associated with a particular lead actress.] (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

UPDATE: The Wrap is reporting that the potential Alias reboot would be for first-run syndication (a la Legend of the Seeker) rather than for primetime broadcast on ABC. "Network stressed to TheWrap that the talks are in very early stages, and that Jennifer Garner would not be in any way involved," writes The Wrap's John Consoli. (The Wrap)

USA Today's Bill Keveney has an interview with the cast of HBO's True Blood about the third season of the vampire drama, which launches next month and brings a slew of werewolves to Bon Temps.It's just another element added to the supernatural craziness of it all," said Anna Paquin. "There's no way you can ever get bored on a show like this. When you think you've seen it all and done it all, something weirder and wilder comes out of the woodwork." (USA Today)

It's time for Ghost Whisperer to fade into the afterlife. Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that the CBS supernatural drama--which starred Jennifer Love Hewitt--will not be picked up by ABC. "After five wonderful seasons and over 100 episodes, we are disappointed to announce Ghost Whisperer will not be returning for a sixth season," said Ghost Whisperer executive producers Ian Sander and Kim Moses in a statement. "We’ve had an incredible experience and owe a debt of gratitude to everyone involved. We continue our relationship with ABC Studios and look forward to developing many more successful projects together in the future." ABC later confirmed the report via Variety's Michael Schneider. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files, Variety)

Jeffster! The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan has an exclusive full-length look at the latest music video from Chuck's Jeffster, their hilariously low-rent version of Jon Bon Jovi's "Blaze of Glory." (Chicago Tribune's The Watcher)

Doctor Who executive producer Steven Moffat has teased details about the two-part finale of his first season of Doctor Who to Doctor Who Magazine, which concludes with the provocatively titled two-parter "The Pandorica Opens"--which will feature a cliffhanger for the Time Lord (Matt Smith) and his latest traveling companion (Karen Gillan)--and "The Big Bang." "It's not just the cliffhanger for Episode 12," Moffat told Doctor Who Magazine. "It's like the cliffhanger for every single episode up until that point. This is where the wheels come off. Everything the Doctor is running from lands on his head today." (via Digital Spy)

Entertainment Weekly's Lynette Rice is reporting that Alex Graves (Fringe) has signed on to direct the pilot for FOX's upcoming time travel/prehistoric drama Terra Nova, from executive producers Brannon Braga, Peter Chernin, and Steven Spielberg. (Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider)

Little Britain creator/stars David Walliams and Matt Lucas are heading back to BBC One, with a new sketch comedy entitled Come Fly with Me, which will be set an airport and feature the comedy duo in a variety of guises. "It's thrilling that Matt and David's next big show will be on BBC One," said Jay Hunt, controller of BBC One. "They are uniquely talented comic writers and performers and Come Fly With Me is a wonderfully exciting idea." (BBC News)

Cartoon Network is prepping weekly animated series Green Lantern: The Animated Series. No information was immediately available other than the fact that the series will follow popular DC Comics character Green Lantern and will launch after this July's direct-to-DVD animated Green Lantern movie. (Hollywood Reporter)

Former Top Chef contestant Marcel Vigneron is heading to sci-fi territory. Syfy has announced that it has given series orders to three unscripted series, which it will launch later this year: Marcel's Quantum Kitchen, Paranormal Witness, and Face Off. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

The Daily Beast: "TV's Winners and Losers"

Where did the broadcasters go wrong this season, and what did they do right? Good question.

Head over to The Daily Beast, where you can read my latest piece, "TV's Winners and Losers," as I break down the network's performance in the 2009-10 season and (via a nifty gallery) take a look at the season's winners--including Modern Family, Chuck, Vampire Diaries, Fringe, Bones, Parenthood, NCIS (and NCIS: Los Angeles), The Good Wife, and others--and the losers (such as FlashForward, Heroes, Melrose Place and medical dramas in general, as well as the draws.

Where did your favorite series end up on the list? And what's your take on the 2009-10 season? Head to the comments section to discuss.

Channel Surfing: Lost DVD Epilogue, Diane Keaton and Ellen Page Land Tilda, Julia Stiles in Talks to Join Dexter, Skins, and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. (Is it just me or does it feel like this week will never end?)

E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos is reporting that there's still more Lost to come, including an epilogue that depicts the time that Hurley (Jorge Garcia) and Ben (Michael Emerson) spent on the island after the events of the series finale. Emerson spilled the dirt on the sequence on G4's Attack of the Show, where told Kevin Pereira about the bonus footage on the complete series DVD. "For those people that want to pony up and buy the complete Lost series, there is a bonus feature," said Emerson. "Which is um, you could call it an epilogue. A lost scene. It's a lot; it's 12 or 14 minutes that opens a window onto that gap of unknown time between Hurley (Jorge Garcia) becoming number one and the end of the series... It's self-contained. Although, it's a rich period in the show's mythology that‘s never been explored, so who knows what will come of it." Dos Santos, for her part, wonders if it's that sequence that will also connect to the producers' promises that we'd see the story of Walt (Malcolm David Kelley) resolved as well. "Whatcha wanna bet that during Hurley and Ben's adventures on the island, they run into Walt a few years into the future, when he's oh, 18 and looking just as Malcolm David Kelley looks now?" ponders Dos Santos. [Editor: Hmmm....] (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

It's official: Diane Keaton is heading to HBO, where she will topline the pay cabler's half-hour comedy pilot Tilda, which revolves around Tilda, a powerful Hollywood blogger. (You know, the one who may or may not be based on Nikki Finke.) Keaton will be joined by Ellen Page (Juno), who will play Carolyn, described as "a morally conflicted creative assistant caught between following the corporate culture of the studio she works for and following Tilda, who has taken a keen interest in her." Project is executive produced by Cynthia Mort (Tell Me You Love Me) and Bill Condon (Dreamgirls). (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Julia Stiles (The Bourne Ultimatum) is in talks to join the cast of Showtime's Dexter for its fifth season. Details on who Stiles would play, should a deal be reached, are remaining firmly under wraps, though Ausiello reports that it's unlikely that she would be the season's Big Bad, citing comments made by executive producer Chip Johannessen several weeks ago. "We’re not going to have a single Big Bad this season," Johannessen said at the time. "We don’t want to try and top John Lithgow, so we’re going to change up the forces that Dexter’s going to be dealing with." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

UK's Channel 4 and Film4 are moving ahead with a feature film version of teen drama Skins, which will be directed by Charles Martin and will feature characters from both "generations" of the hit series. No word yet on who those characters will be--although this editor is hoping for Sid and Cassie to be in the mix!--though production is slated to begin in September, with a Summer 2011 release being eyed. (Deadline)

Say goodbye to SOAPnet, soap fans. The cable-based soap network will go dark as Disney/ABC Television Group will use the network to instead launch pre-school-oriented cable network Disney Junior in 2012. "The launch of Disney Junior in the U.S. is the next step in our global preschool strategy, which began 10 years ago with the premiere of our first dedicated preschool channel in the UK," said Anne Sweeney, co-chair, Disney Media Networks and president, Disney/ABC Television Group, in a statement. "The decision to ultimately transition SOAPnet to accomplish this was not arrived at lightly. SOAPnet was created in 2000 to give daytime viewers the ability to watch time-shifted soaps, before multiplatform viewing and DVRs were part of our vocabulary. But today, as technology and our businesses evolve, it makes more sense to align this distribution with a preschool channel that builds on the core strengths of our company." (via press release)

I can now officially announce what I've known for quite some time: Chuck writer/producer Phil Klemmer will be working on NBC's new espionage dramedy Undercovers, from executive producers J.J. Abrams and Josh Reims, next season.

Deadline's Nellie Andreeva is reporting that CBS has offered drama pilot Chaos an eight-episode midseason order, but there is no guarantee that the series will ever make it air as talks continue between CBS and studio 20th Century Fox Television, the latter of which seems less than encouraged by the short-run and has not accepted the offer. Elsewhere, CBS is said to have passed on medical drama pilot Gimme Shelter (formerly known as Untitled Hannah Shakespeare Medical Drama), though they may revisit it, given the situation with Chaos. Creator Hannah Shakespeare, meanwhile, has signed on to ABC's drama series The Whole Truth, but it's said to be in second position to her CBS pilot. (Deadline)

BBC America has teamed up with ITV Studios American to produce ten episodes of a US version of hit British culinary competition series Come Dine with Me, which features New Yorkers "competing for the title of ultimate dinner party host, bringing together four amateur chefs who take turns cooking up their idea of the perfect evening." The series will debut in early 2011 on BBC America and around the world on various BBC lifestyle networks. Meanwhile, the digital cabler has also acquired the original UK format and will air 22 episodes of the series beginning in July on BBC America. (Hollywood Reporter)

USA has given a script order to half-hour comedy Driven, the first time in decades that the cabler has developed a half-hour comedy. Project, from Linda Bloodworth and Harry Thomason, will star Ron White as an unemployed Texan who starts a limousine business. (Variety)

E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos has a video interview up with the stars of the CW's Vampire Diaries, Paul Wesley, Nina Dobrev, and Ian Somerhalder, in which the trio discuss Season Two, love triangles, and more. "The dynamic is going to change between the three of us," said Somerhalder of Season Two of Vampire Diaries. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

TBS has announced an airdate of Sunday, June 27th for its upcoming special, Team Coco presents Conan's Writers Live, which will feature Andy Richter, Reggie Watts, and several of Conan O'Brien's writers. (via press release)

Lifetime is developing two new unscripted series that are connected to acquired reality franchise Project Runway. The first is an untitled makeover show, from executive producer Rich Bye, featuring former Runway contestants Santino Rice and Austin Scarlett as they travel the country and transform women. The other is an untitled unscripted series (working title: Love's Divine) featuring Heidi Klum and her husband Seal as they travel the country offering guidance and counseling to couples. (Variety)

RDF Rights has hired former Shine executive J.C. Mills as VP of US acquisitions. He will be based in Los Angeles and report to Jane Millichip. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Family Legacy: Secrets and Lies on the Season Finale of Chuck

"Maybe being a spy is in our blood."

Season Three of Chuck came to a close last night, with a fantastic two-hour installment that shook up the status quo of the NBC action-comedy in so many ways, introducing a number of possible new directions for Chuck and Company and tying up some of the dangling story threads from the third season.

For once, we're going into the long hiatus knowing that Chuck will be returning next season, which placed my mind at ease watching the two-part season finale ("Chuck Versus the Subway" and "Chuck Versus the Ring, Part II," written respectively by Ali Adler and Phil Klemmer and Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak (and directed by Matt Shakman and Robert Duncan McNeill), which offered the opportunity to clear the decks and go into the summer with a feeling of unpredictability about just what the future holds for Team Bartowski. (You can read what Fedak had to say about the finale in an interview he did with Hitfix's Alan Sepinwall here.)

While the two episodes did bleed into one another in terms of plot, I have to say that the first half of the finale ("Chuck Versus the Subway") was stronger than the back half. Perhaps that was due to the importance of the B-Team here, which stepped into action and made the choice to cross over from civilians into spies, or the emotional stakes of the familial relationships here. As opposed to the second half, whose flashbacks to Young Chuck and Young Ellie were a little shaky and the Buy More storyline didn't really coalesce into anything until the episode's explosive ending.

Those minor issues aside, I thought that the season finale was a particularly strong one, tying up the Daniel Shaw storyline effectively (and hopefully for some time to come) as well as that of the malfunctioning Intersect, altering the dynamic between Chuck and Ellie, and creating an expanded Team Bartowski that seems ready to take on anything together... even if it ends up being the shortest-lived superhero team ever.

So what did I think of Chuck's kick-ass Season Three finale? Let's discuss.

There was a lot riding on this two-part season finale as the writers had quite a lot of story to get through. In just these two back-to-back episodes, after all, Chuck gets his Governor, Stephen Bartowski is killed, Ellie learns the truth about Chuck, the CIA is infiltrated by The Ring, Shaw reveals himself as both alive and an Intersect, the gang is taken into custody and then saved, Beckman is imprisoned (and delivers a fantastic Obi-Won homage), Casey's daughter returns, the Five Elders of The Ring are captured, we learn that Chuck's mom is more connected to the spy world than we thought, and the Buy More blows up, all before the closing credits rolled. (Whew.)

In other words, that's a lot of action to cram into a 90-minute episode, but I thought that Alder, Klemmer, Schwartz, and Fedak managed to pull it off beautifully, creating a giant-sized installment that brought the delicate balance of humor, action, tension, and emotion that Chuck, on its very best days, is able to juggle effortlessly.

Throughout it all, there's a strong current of emotion as the action swirls not just around our troika of super-spies but the Bartowski clan itself, which finds itself reeling when Stephen gets shot to death by Shaw, right in front of both Chuck and Ellie. It's not an act of vengeance so much as it is a power play by Shaw: an effort to show Chuck that he'll never be as strong as he is because he's laden by emotion. But it's that very emotion that inevitably saves the day for Chuck as he reboots to have a final showdown with Shaw using their Intersect abilities in the Buy More. While it doesn't bring Papa Bartowski back to life, it does ensure that justice is served and Shaw gets the beating he deserves... and Chuck chooses not to kill him this time. (Might, after all, doesn't make right.)

Fedak and Schwartz introduced new elements to Chuck's backstory last season but here the mythology is deepened once again as we learn that Chuck had accidentally downloaded a prototype Intersect as a child... and lived to tell the tale. Which is how Stephen--or Orion--knew that Chuck would be all right when Bryce Larkin sent him the first Intersect. Because his son was "special" and able to handle the massive quantity of visual data without firing his synapses.

While Season One of Chuck presented Chuck Bartowski as a hero of coincidence--he was in the right place at the right time--Season Two tweaked this slightly and presented him instead as a legacy hero, someone who received his abilities because of his familial relationship, following in the footsteps of his father. But in Season Three, we learned something new: Chuck wasn't just in the right place at the right time (i.e., Peter Parker getting bitten by that radioactive spider) or had his powers thrust upon them because he inherited them: no, Chuck, it seems, was always destined to be the Intersect.

The backstory as it's presented here, seems to combine all three elements into one tasty package: As a child, Chuck wandered into his father's lab in their Encino home and accidentally downloaded the Intersect, as though he was summoned there for that very purpose. While Stephen is terrified that Chuck has injured himself, he's stunned to learn that the boy is fine and shows no ill-results from accessing the program. It's perhaps a shot too close to the heart: Stephen doesn't want his children involved in this spy world and he goes to great lengths to make sure that they're not infected by it, even leaving them alone just to keep them safe.

But that's the ironic thing in the end: if Stephen had stayed, maybe he could have prevented Chuck from ending up following in his footsteps. But, like any parent, Stephen wants a better life for his children. He tasks Ellie with protecting Chuck, something that she is more than willing to do to this day, even to a fault. I understood why Ellie would want Chuck to quit the spy life and go back to being a civilian, especially after Stephen is murdered by Shaw, but it also rankled me that she would demand this of her brother, who is an adult and capable of making his own decisions now.

While Chuck might want to segue back into a normal life, especially now that the Intersect is under control, there's still the legacy of his father's world to uphold, especially once he sees what's actually going on beneath the house in Encino: a huge warehouse-like vault filled with Orion's casefiles on a number of at-large individuals that would seek to steal his work and kill Chuck. Including one villain that's closer to home than we thought: Mary Elizabeth Bartowski, Chuck's mommy, who might just end up being a Big Bad along the lines of Alias' Irina Derevko.

Many of us have been waiting for this inevitable twist since Stephen Bartowski showed up last season but I'm also curious just where the writers will take this plotline next season. Based on the snippet we get from Mary (or at least the back of her head), it seems as though she is being protected by a top-secret organization as a high-priority asset at the behest of Orion. ("I did it all for her," Stephen tells Chuck via his last confession.) Just why does she have to be moved, especially with the Ring Elders out of commission? Is it connected to the fact that Chuck breached the Orion vault? Hmmm...

It certainly seems as though Stephen has been working to track down his long-missing wife and I dare say that Chuck's first mission next season will be to find his mother and find out just why she walked out on them all of those years before. Hint: it had nothing to do with you breaking her charm bracelet, Chuck. (Elsewhere, Michael Ausiello already has some inspired suggestions as to who should play Mary Elizabeth Bartowski.) Plus, there's the matter of the other candidates whom Chuck can pursue in the meantime, along with a nice amount of tech, I'm sure, down there in the Orion HQ, which is just sitting empty.

Chuck is now in need of a new base of operations, after all, given the fact that Morgan inadvertently detonated Shaw's explosives and burnt the Buy More to the ground. I'd wager a guess that he'll be using the Encino home as a secret headquarters while he attempts to persuade everyone around him that he's turned civilian. I actually think that blowing up the Buy More was a risky if smart move to make for the fourth season. The writers have taken these storylines as far as they can take them without becoming cartoonish and, by clearing the decks, the writers have allowed for a new status quo to emerge, one that's not trapped in the Buy More but can move into new locations and possibilities.

Which isn't to say that I'm happy to see the backs of Jeff and Lester, because that's not true at all. Should Season Four not feature the legendary Jeffster!, I'd be pretty sad as these two bring a lot of the comic relief that's needed to balance the darker elements of Chuck's espionage world. However, I could see next season beginning with these two odd-balls on the lam as they attempt to evade arrest for arson and there's still the Beverly Hills Buy More, mentioned once again in this episode, to contend with. While the Burbank store was going out of business, the merchandise was meant to be shipped to their more luxe outpost on the other side of the hill. Which means that some of the employees could be transferred as well, should the writers opt to go in that direction.

But more likely, this is The End for the staff of the Buy More. I've loved having them here as a secondary plot device, but it just makes sense for the series to move away from the workplace-based comedy and focus more on the espionage aspects... and allow the studio to cut some production costs in the process.

(Aside: I found the Buy More plot here to be the weakest element of the season finale, particularly as we already dealt with the possibility of the store being closed or sold in "Chuck Versus the Beard." While that ended up being a Ring cover story, the emotions and reactions of the staffers to the news were more convincing and interesting there than they were here, as it was a major story point within that episode and here a subplot that didn't really have teeth, though there were some meta similarities to the ratings struggle the series had had this year.)

But as much as the season finale was about endings, it's also about new beginnings as well. Chuck finally gained a way of keeping the Intersect in check and received his father's blessing about the choices he's made in life as he prepares to fulfill his destiny. Chuck and Sarah finally have a shot at a normal life and the security of knowing that their significant other isn't going into the line of fire each day... though Chuck's arrival at Orion HQ would seem to challenge that. (I also wonder if Sarah, like Ellie and likely Devon, will be in the dark about Chuck's extracurricular activities next season.)

Casey has reconnected with his long-lost daughter Alex, who--thanks to her kick-ass fighting abilities--would seem to be a chip off the old block. With the Buy More gone, Morgan is likely going to have to find something else to do with his life... or actually start living it for a change. And Ellie and Devon were able to come clean to each other about secrets kept over the past two seasons and start over.

Additionally, the threat of Daniel Shaw has been eliminated for now. While some viewers took offense to the romance between Shaw and Sarah earlier this season, it did set up Chuck's attempt to kill Shaw in Paris... and his eventual return here as a villain. I have to say that I like Chuck having a nemesis, particularly one as crafty, cunning, and ruthless as Shaw, someone who knows him inside and out from having been an ally and friend previously. While I'm still not entirely sure of Shaw's motivations (why is he working for the organization that gave the order to murder his wife?), I think he makes a pretty fantastic villain. And I loved the fact that he gave us a totally deadpan villain laugh, to boot.

Dare I say it that Shaw could show up again down the line, the veritable bad penny turning up when you least expect it?

Ultimately, I thought that the season finale nicely set up a whole host of possibilities for Season Four and our beloved characters, as well as a new direction for the series itself. The long wait until we catch up with Chuck again is likely to be excruciating but I'm going to take comfort in the fact that we only have a few months to wait for more Chuck rather than half a year this time. That's one toast I'll happy take part in.

I'm curious to know just what you thought of the season finale. Did you love it? Like it? Hate it? Did you find it to be a satisfying conclusion to the various storylines set up in Season Three and an end to the Daniel Shaw/The Ring plotline? Glad that a Ellie knows about Chuck's secret? What do you make of the new member of their clandestine little group, Alex? And just what will all of them do for cover stories next season now that the Burbank Buy More has burned to the ground? Discuss.

Season Four of Chuck begins this fall on NBC.

Governor Race: Family Affairs, Last Wills and Testaments on Chuck

"This is everything about me. And if something should happen to me, the only person I want to have it is you."

With the potential threat of Daniel Shaw hanging over their heads, everyone seemed to be thinking about their own mortality, with Team Bartowski uncovering Shaw's "spy will" and Chuck and Sarah drafting their own. Given the dangerous line of work that they're involved in, it's more than likely than not that having such a document will be a good thing, a chance to say goodbye to a loved one, to make a confession, to offer up their true selves.

On this week's episode of Chuck ("Chuck Versus the Living Dead"), written by Lauren LeFranc and Rafe Judkins and directed by Jay Chandrasekhar, Chuck once again found himself attempting to live a double life when his father Stephen (guest star Scott Bakula) arrived in Los Angeles after receiving a coded message from Ellie in the paper (itself part of a Ring plot to lure him out into the open and recover The Governor) and Chuck had to pretend that he was no longer an intelligence asset but had left the spy life behind.

Needless to say, Stephen's no fool and saw through Chuck's ruse straightaway, even turning up during a mission to offer his son a literal helping hand (as Chuck was dangling off a building ledge several stories off the ground). I'm happy to see Stephen back in the mix again as I felt as though he disappeared way too quickly at the end of last season and we didn't see the fallout from his knowledge that Chuck had defied him and downloaded the Intersect 2.0 into his brain.

Whereas prior to his Season Two appearance, Stephen had been portrayed as irresponsible, it's now clear that everything Stephen has done in his life as been to protect his children and to keep them as far away as possible from the world of espionage. While Chuck might want to save the world, it's not the life that Stephen had originally envisioned for him, a world of safety and security and where you could go to sleep at night with the knowledge that someone else was shouldering the burden of keeping the world safe.

But that's not how life turns out. Life is a series of adjustments and unexpected paths. In looking to prevent Chuck from entering a profession that all but destroyed his life, Stephen's actions have lead both Chuck and Ellie into it. (That's irony for you, huh?) But Stephen also recognizes that Chuck is doing this for altruistic reasons: "You downloaded the 2.0 for the same reason I invented it: to help people. If you want to be a spy, I'm going to do everything I can to help you be the man you want to be."

Aw.

To that end, Stephen agrees to construct a Governor for his son. Like a pacemaker, a Governor works on the neural network of the person with an Intersect inside his head, controlling the neural responses and protecting the user from serious harm, such as the effects that Chuck has been experiencing of late.

Of course, The Ring is after The Governor for their own purposes and they're using Ellie to get to Stephen. Unfortunately for her, she believes that Justin is looking to protect Stephen and he's already managed to turn her against Casey (using her shifty attitude towards him against her). The look of horror when Justin instructs her to unlock the stereo speaker and pull out a gun truly expressed just how far over her head Ellie is right now.

While she opts instead to take Casey out with a heavy skillet instead, she ends up running right into the true enemy: Justin, who takes the opportunity to bring her to a Ring facility and locks her in his office. Which is really not good. While Stephen may have been able to outwit The Ring at the cabin, The Ring now has Ellie in their grasp... and likely they are going to offer a trade: her life for that of Stephen Bartowski. Knowing the selfless Stephen, he'd be likely to accept that trade.

Meanwhile, the mystery of whether or not Daniel Shaw is alive continues. Despite Chuck's semi-prophetic dreams (or subconscious Intersect flashes), it does appear that Shaw died in the Seine that day. Or does it? We see someone accessing an Intersect mainframe using Shaw's login. Does it mean that Shaw is in fact alive? Or is someone using his identity? Could it be a little Gaslight at work?

Regardless, Chuck is taking no chances and drafts a "spy will" of his own. It's another major step into adulthood for Chuck, coming as it does with the realization of his own mortality and possible death, thanks to a profession that does have quite a high body count. It's interesting to see just how much Chuck Bartowski has matured since we first met him in the pilot episode. Now with his dream job and dream girl by his side, Chuck is poised to take a running leap out of adolescence just in time for the fourth season. When you look at the arc that the writers have carried out for him, it's been a gradual transformation from boy to man, from victim to hero.

Elsewhere, Big Mike attempted to reunite Jeffster after the group split up thanks to some differences of opinion between Jeff and Lester (a battle between art versus commercialism, enacted in front of the Buy More entrance), and we learned that Mike himself was once a member of Earth, Wind, and Fire (he was Rain). While it didn't quite connect (or at all, really) to the main plot, it was a fun subplot that brought us more Jeffster, here performing "Love Hurts."

What else did I like about this episode? Chuck catching the knife flung at his face by Stephen as a test; when that same moment was echoed as Sarah uses an axe to deflect a knife headed for Chuck; Morgan's efforts to find bulletproof pants among Castle's equipment; Stephen asking Chuck if Sarah also has an Intersect ("That's all her"); the family dinner between the three Bartowskis; and the fight scene between Ellie and Casey, as it seems Ellie is about to be dragged, kicking and screaming, into Chuck's spy world.

What did you think of this week's episode? Do you want Ellie in on Chuck's secret? Is Shaw really dead? What does The Ring have planned? Head to the comments section to discuss.

Next week on the two-hour season finale of Chuck ("Chuck Versus the Subway/Chuck Versus the Ring Part II"), The Ring is closing in on Chuck and Operation Bartowski. Fortunately, Chuck's dad Stephen is working hard to save his son. Meanwhile, Casey must secretly protect his daughter from the Ring, and Big Mike receives some serious news about the Buy More.

Meet the Press: Angela Bromstad and Jeff Gaspin Talk NBC's Fall Schedule

While NBC's upfront presentation isn't scheduled to get under way until tomorrow morning, the Peacock's top brass did answer some questions about the schedule and the new programming announced earlier today.

Jeff Gaspin, Chairman, NBC Universal Television Entertainment, and Angela Bromstad, President, Primetime Entertainment, NBC and Universal Media Studios, hosted a conference call with reporter this afternoon, to discuss NBC's fall schedule, its new pickups, and other programming and scheduling issues.

While I won't recap the entire call, here are a few tidbits from that call, organized by topic, from Chuck and Law & Order to Parenthood and The Event.

Chuck:"Chuck came out of the wild card and performed very well for us," said Bromstad. "We think it will come back stronger in the fall."

"Where we felt we could be consistent this year, we felt we should, which is why Chuck stayed on Mondays at 8," said Gaspin.

Chase: "Chase is very much a straight-ahead procedural but has an adrenaline rush you don't normally see in a procedural," said Bromstad.

Parenthood: "Parenthood has worked for us. There's a reason for that... It's a broad show that is really welcoming to so many viewers," said Gaspin.

Day One: "Right now, Day One is not scheduled to air," said Bromstad of the sci-fi project, which had been cut back from a full order, to a short run... to a two-hour backdoor pilot... and now into oblivion altogether.

Law & Order Franchise: "It was time to move on," said Bromstad about the Law & Order cancellation and the order of new iteration, Law & Order: Los Angeles. "It's about the future and overall health of the franchise... it's up to us to reinvent it with Dick [Wolf] in a very modern, inventive way."

Law & Order: Los Angeles pilot is being written, according to Bromstad. But nothing is ready for an official announcement and it be a few weeks after upfronts until information is actually available.

"Yes the chung-chung will still be there," said Bromstad, but it's "too early to say whether they were be characters crossover from... the mothership."

Bromstad said that they are still in talks with Dick Wolf about a way to wrap up Law & Order via a 2-hr movie or event. So, it's possible that the series finale, scheduled to air this month, won't be the end of the original flavor Law & Order, after all.

Law & Order: Criminal Intent will now only be on USA, said Bromstad.

Rockford Files: The Rockford Files is being reworked for midseason or even next fall. "We really want to get it right," said Bromstad. #NBC

Parks and Recreation:"It's very possible that #ParksandRec will get a run at 9:30 but we have not determined that," said Gaspin.

"One of the toughest decisions we had to make," said Jeff regarding delaying Parks and Recreation until midseason. "It's not an indication that we think it's not as good" as the other Thursday comedies.

The Event: "We think The Event will appeal to [#Chuck's] young, male viewers," said Jeff. #NBC

Heroes: "NBC and Tim Kring, we felt we had fulfilled the viewers' desire [re] length of the show but we are in discussions about 2-hr movie," said Bromstad. So it's still possible that Heroes will get a series ender. But don't hold your breath as Bromstad indicated that, if it happens at all, it would be for "next year."

NBC will unveil its schedule to advertisers tomorrow.

Exclusive: NBC Officially Announces Chuck Renewal, But Producer Ali Adler Moving On

NBC today officially announced that it had renewed action-comedy Chuck for a fourth season of thirteen episodes, landing it a spot on the 2010-11 schedule at the Peacock.

"Chuck has proven its enduring appeal and we love the new creative direction that Josh and Chris have taken the show," said Angela Bromstad, President, Primetime Entertainment, NBC and Universal Media Studios, in a statement.

While news of the renewal leaked out yesterday (and was itself confirmed earlier today by co-creator Josh Schwartz via Twitter), NBC today officially gave words of the Season Four renewal of Chuck in a press release that also touted the series order of several projects including Outlaws (formerly known as Garza), Harry's Law (formerly known as Kindreds), superhero drama The Cape, and comedy Friends with Benefits.

While the news of Chuck's renewal is cause for celebration, there is a bit of news that may put a damper on the joyous occasion: Televisionary has learned exclusively that executive producer Ali Adler will not be returning to Chuck for a fourth season.

According to a source close to the situation, Adler has accepted a position on ABC's new superhero family drama No Ordinary Family, from executive producers Greg Berlanti and Jon Harmon Feldman and ABC Studios. Series, which stars Michael Chiklis, Julie Benz, and Tate Donovan, revolves around a family who gains superpowers when their plane crashes in the Amazon rainforest. Adler is said to have signed on to No Ordinary Family earlier this month, prior to NBC's decision on Chuck's fate.

When reached via email, Adler had no comment on the rumor.

Adler will be much missed: not only had she been responsible for writing some of the Warner Bros. Television-produced series' most beloved episodes but, thanks to her generosity and passion for the series, remained one of its truest champions and advocates.

UPDATE: Adler has now confirmed her departure from Chuck via Twitter, where she wrote, "Decision 2 leave chuck family for NoOrdinaryFamily was a tuff 1. Love @joshschwartz76 + evry1 I worked w & all amzg fans. Long live Chuck!"

Channel Surfing: Chuck Renewed, ABC Keeps V But Not FlashForward, NBC's Law & Order Conundrum, Lost, and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing.

Good news for Chuck fans: Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Chuck has been renewed for a fourth season of thirteen episodes, though NBC declined to comment on the report. While I had hoped for a full-season order, any Chuck is better than no Chuck, right? (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Good news as well for fans of the Visitors: ABC has reportedly given a thirteen-episode renewal to freshman sci-fi drama V. "V was likely a no-brainer, as ABC wants to bring back at least one frosh drama, and the alien thriller is showing signs of life," writes Variety's Michael Schneider. "Its fellow frosh sci-fi drama, FlashForward, is not." (Variety)

Yep, it's not looking good for FlashForward, which Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting has already been cancelled, along with Better Off Ted, Scrubs, and Romantically Challenged. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

After a day of back-and-forth about the fate of Law & Order, NBC is reportedly in talks to renew the legal procedural for a record-breaking 21st season. "The network has long intended to bring back the Dick Wolf-produced drama for one final season, allowing the show to top Gunsmoke as the longest-running drama in TV history," writes The Hollywood Reporter's James Hibberd. "But NBC's testy relationship with Wolf came to head Thursday when the producer rejected the network's offer to continue the show at a reduced license fee. Wolf's office told producers and some cast members that the drama had been canceled, triggering online reports that the show was finished." Apparently, those reports were premature, though it's possible that the eleventh hour talks could result in no deal, at which time Wolf could shop the series to cablers. TNT, meanwhile, denied reports that they are in talks with Wolf. (Hollywood Reporter)

The New York Times' Lorne Manley has a brand-new Q&A with Lost showrunner/executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse just ahead of the series finale of Lost, airing Sunday, May 23rd. "If there’s one word that we keep coming back to, it’s redemption," said Lindelof. "It is that idea of everybody has something to be redeemed for and the idea that that redemption doesn’t necessarily come from anywhere else other than internally. But in order to redeem yourself, you can only do it through a community. So the redemption theme started to kind of connect into 'live together, die alone,' which is that these people were all lone wolves who were complete strangers on an aircraft, even the ones who were flying together like Sun and Jin. Then let’s bring them together and through their experiences together allow themselves to be redeemed. When the show is firing on all pistons, that’s the kind of storytelling that we’re doing. I think we’ve always said that the characters of Lost are deeply flawed, but when you look at their flashback stories, they’re all victims. Kate was a victim before she killed her stepfather. Sawyer’s parents killed themselves as he was hiding under the bed. Jack’s dad was a drunk who berated him as a child. Sayid was manipulated by the American government into torturing somebody else. John Locke had his kidney stolen. This idea of saying this bad thing happened to me and I’m a victim and it created some bad behavior and now I’m going to take responsibility for that and allow myself to be redeemed by community with other people, that seems to be the theme that we keep coming back to." (The New York Times)

ABC has picked up six new series for the 2010-11 season: comedies Mr. Sunshine, Happy Endings, and Better Together and dramas My Generation (formerly known as Generation Y), The Whole Truth, and Detroit 187. Variety's Michael Schneider is also reporting that Wright vs. Wrong could still be in contention. (Variety)

Deadline's Nellie Andreeva is reporting that NBC drama pilot Rockford Files is now dead, despite it being a major frontrunner just a few weeks ago. [Editor: I can't say that I'm surprised as I wasn't all that chuffed with the script or the casting of Dermot Mulroney.] (Deadline)

CBS has ordered a pilot for Chuck Lorre's comedy Mike & Molly and is said to be high on Bleep My Dad Says, Team Spitz, Livin' On a Prayer, Hawaii Five-O, Defenders, Chaos, and the untitled John Wells/Hannah Shakespeare medical drama. Deadline's Nellie Andreeva is also reporting that CBS is in talks to renew Ghost Whisperer and Old Christine but that, if talks go South, ABC would step in to pick them up should CBS pass. (Deadline)

Over at NBC, it's looking certain that Kindreds, Garza, and The Cape will all receive series orders before Sunday afternoon rolls around. Sadly, Rex Is Not Your Lawyer is said to be dead at NBC. (Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed, Deadline)

Sony Pictures Television has signed a new two-year overall deal with Damages creators Todd A. Kessler, Daniel Zelman, and Glenn Kessler. There is still no word on the fate of Damages, which wrapped its third season last month. "We originally planned out five or six seasons between Patty (Close) and Ellen (Rose Byrne), about the relationship between mentor and protege," Kessler told Variety. (Variety)

Deadline's Nellie Andreeva is reporting that producers of 20th Century Fox Television-produced drama pilot Breakout Kings, which FOX passed on after it renewed Lie to Me and Human Target, are shopping the project and have been talking to USA, A&E, and Spike. (Deadline)

Entertainment Weekly's Lynette Rice is reporting that TNT has picked up legal dramedy Franklin and Bash, which was originally developed at sister cabler TBS. Series, from creators Kevin Falls and Bill Chais, stars Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Breckin Meyer. (Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider)

TBS, meanwhile, has ordered eight episodes of hour-long period comedy Glory Daze, which stars Kelly Blatz, Callard Harris, Matt Bush, Drew Seeley, Hartley Sawyer, Julianna Guill, and Tim Meadows. Series revolves around a group of college friends in 1980s Wisconsin. Glory Daze was created by Walt Becker and Michael LeSieur; it will likely premiere later this year. (Deadline, Variety)

Universal Media Studios has signed a two-year production deal with Todd Holland and Karey Burke's new shingle, which remains as yet unnamed. "Together we really make one perfect creative person," Holland told Variety. "She has all the skills I don't have: all the network experience, the general awareness of the writer community and the memory of so much TV development. I'm always thinking like a director -- 'What are we doing right now?'" (Variety)

Stay tuned.