Skip to main content

Channel Surfing: "Amazing Race" Teams Revealed, "Office" Manager Signs Deal, and More

Good morning and welcome to your morning television briefing.

Universal Media Studios has signed The Office writer/producer Michael Schur to a hefty seven-figure overall deal, under which he will create, develop, and executive produce comedy series for the studio. The newly minted deal includes Schur's writing/producing services on the untitled comedy that he and Greg Daniels are developing for Amy Poehler; he'll serve as co-creator/executive producer on the pilot, set to shoot in January (after the birth of Poehler's baby in October), alongside Daniels. Four writers so far have been hired on the untitled Poehler comedy (which will also star Aziz Ansari), which seems to have neither a title nor an available concept. Schur, meanwhile, will continue to write occasionally on The Office and could appear on-screen again as Dwight's cousin Mose. (Variety)

CBS has revealed its lineup of sixteen contestants for the thirteenth edition of reality series The Amazing Race, which kicks off on September 28th. Among the players competing for the million-dollar prize and the approval of host Phil Keoghan are a pair of married beekeepers, geeky best friends (one is the treasurer of Comic-Con), fraternity brothers, a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader and her actor brother, an ex-NFL player and his estranged wife, recent divorcees, and Southern belles. Starting in Los Angeles, look for the teams to make pit stops in Brazil, Bolivia, Russia, India, and Kazakhstan. (Associated Press)

Holy stunt casting, Batman! Fred Willard (Back to You) and Kerri Kenney (Reno 911!) will guest star in a November episode of ABC's Pushing Daisies. Willard is set to play the Great Hermann, a famous illusionist who gets murdered, while Kenney will play his assistant Alexandria. Elsewhere, Orlando Jones will join the cast of CBS' Rules of Engagement in a recurring role as Brad, a new neighbor for Jeff (Patrick Warburton). And look for Elizabeth Banks and Scott Foley to make return trips to Scrubs. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Courtney B. Vance has joined the cast of NBC's ER, entering its fifteenth season this fall, and will appear in as Russell Banfield in a multiple-episode story arc opposite real-life wife Angela Bassett. Casting marks first time that Vance and Bassett have appeared on-screen together.

Gina McKee (Atonement) and Jeremy Northam (The Tudors) have been cast in Fiona's Story, a one-off drama for BBC One about a year in the life of a woman who tries to keep her family together after her husband is accused of downloading images of child sexual abuse from the Internet. Drama also stars Jimi Mistry, Claire Bloom, Nicholas Farrell, and Amanda Root. (BBC)

Stay tuned.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: NCIS (CBS); Summer Olympics (NBC); Beauty & the Geek (CW); Wipeout (ABC); House (FOX)

9 pm: Big Brother 10 (CBS); Reaper (CW); Wanna Bet (ABC); Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (FOX)

10 pm: Without a Trace (CBS); Primetime: Medical Mysteries (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

8-10 pm: Britcoms on BBC America.

I don't know about you but by Tuesday night, I'm usually in need of some comedy in my life. Why not stick around on Tuesday nights for BBC America's new comedy lineup, consisting of classic episodes of Coupling, new comedy Not Going Out, and Absolutely Fabulous?

10 pm: Million Dollar Listing on Bravo.

I can't look away, no matter how hard I try...

Comments

Anonymous said…
Michael Schur is one of the best writers on The Office and, no matter what the concept is, I'm excited to see what he and Greg Daniels come up with for the equally funny Amy Poehler!
Fred Willard on Pushing Daisies? Marvelous! After appearances by Molly Shannon and Paul Reubens, they're giving 30 Rock a run for their money for best guest casting ever!
Anonymous said…
Just looked at the picture of the AR contestants - holy tie dye! I wonder if those are the bee keepers, or just run-of-the-mill hippies.

Popular posts from this blog

What's Done is Done: The Eternal Struggle Between Good and Evil on the Season Finale of "Lost"

Every story begins with thread. It's up to the storyteller to determine just how much they need to parcel out, what pattern they're making, and when to cut it short and tie it off. With last night's penultimate season finale of Lost ("The Incident, Parts One and Two"), written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, we began to see the pattern that Lindelof and Cuse have been designing towards the last five seasons of this serpentine series. And it was only fitting that the two-hour finale, which pushes us on the road to the final season of Lost , should begin with thread, a loom, and a tapestry. Would Jack follow through on his plan to detonate the island and therefore reset their lives aboard Oceanic Flight 815 ? Why did Locke want to kill Jacob? What caused The Incident? What was in the box and just what lies in the shadow of the statue? We got the answers to these in a two-hour season finale that didn't quite pack the same emotional wallop of previous season

The Daily Beast: "How The Killing Went Wrong"

While the uproar over the U.S. version of The Killing has quieted, the show is still a pale imitation of the Danish series on which it is based. Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "How The Killing Went Wrong," in which I look at how The Killing has handled itself during its second season, and compare it to the stunning and electrifying original Danish series, Forbrydelsen , on which it is based. (I recently watched all 20 episodes of Forbrydelsen over a few evenings.) The original is a mind-blowing and gut-wrenching work of genius. It’s not necessary to rehash the anger that followed in the wake of the conclusion last June of the first season of AMC’s mystery drama The Killing, based on Søren Sveistrup’s landmark Danish show Forbrydelsen, which follows the murder of a schoolgirl and its impact on the people whose lives the investigation touches upon. What followed were irate reviews, burnished with the “burning intensity of 10,000 white-hot suns

Pilot Inspektor: CBS' "Smith"

I may just have to change my original "What I'll Be Watching This Fall" post, as I sat down and finally watched CBS' new crime drama Smith this weekend. (What? It's taken me a long time to make my way through the stack of pilot DVDs.) While it's on following Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars on Tuesday nights (10 pm ET/PT, to be exact), I'm going to be sure to leave enough room on my TiVo to make sure that I catch this compelling, amoral drama. While one can't help but be impressed by what might just be the most marquee-friendly cast in primetime--Ray Liotta, Virginia Madsen, Jonny Lee Miller, Amy Smart, Simon Baker, and Franky G all star and Shohreh Aghdashloo has a recurring role--the pilot's premise alone earned major points in my book: it's a crime drama from the point of view of the criminals, who engage in high-stakes heists. But don't be alarmed; it's nothing like NBC's short-lived Heist . Instead, think of it as The Italian