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Channel Surfing: "Pushing Daisies" Gets Dopplegangers, "90210," AMC Looks West, Denman in "Office," and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. Hopefully all of you managed to catch a superlative season opener to NBC's Chuck and a slightly-less-than-stellar episode of CW's Gossip Girl.

Orlando Jones (Drumline), Michael Weaver (Notes from the Underbelly), and Ivana Milicevic (Casino Royale) have been cast in guest roles for a November episodes of ABC's Pushing Daisies entitled "The Norwegians," where they will play Norwegian detectives resembling our favorite troika of gumshoes Emerson, Ned, and Chuck, who leave Scandinavia in search of bigger and better mysteries to solve. Let's just hope these dopplegangers don't try to solve the mystery of how Emerson and Ned, er, solve their mysteries. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Don't hold your breath waiting for an Arrested Development feature film, fans of the Bluth clan. Michael Cera says that he's heard nothing about plans for a feature film based on the short-lived FOX comedy series. “I don't think I would want to see a movie of the series if I was a fan, anyway," said Cera, “and I don't really see a need for it if you can get the three seasons on DVD.” Ouch. I'm going to curl up with my Arrested DVDs and pretend I didn't hear that. (CinemaBlend)

David Denman's Roy is expected to return this season to NBC's The Office, where he could put a damper on the road to the altar for lovebirds Pam and Jim. According to Kristin dos Santos, Roy will appear in an episode coming up very soon in which Jim and Darryl meet up with the former Dunder Mifflin employee at a bar, where Roy reveals something that has Jim worried about Pam being away at art school... (E! Online)

Spike has announced that it has ordered a pilot for its single-camera US adaptation of British comedy series Peep Show (one of my favorities); the announcement comes on the heels of the completion of shooting on said pilot in Chicago. Peep Show follows the misadventures of two mismatched roommates, Jeremy (Rob Chester Smith) and Mark (Brad Morris). David Richardson serves as showrunner/executive producer on the project, which was directed by Dylan Kidd (Roger Dodger) from a script by the British series' creators Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong. Fingers crossed that this turns out better than, say, Spaced or Coupling. (Hollywood Reporter)

FOX has ordered a pilot presentation for animated comedy Good Vibes from writer/executive producer David Gordon Green (director of Pineapple Express) about two high school surfers who live near the beach in California. Move once again marks a different director for Green, who was once best known for his arthouse pics like Snow Angels and All the Real Girls. (Variety)

AMC is developing an untitled period western drama with Robert Duvall (Broken Trail), about the Pony Express, the pioneer mail-delivery service that lasted from 1860 to 1861. Erik Jendresen (Band of Brothers) will write the script, which will be produced by Fox Television Studios, and Richard Donner is expected to direct the pilot. (Variety)

Ellen Burstyn (Big Love) has signed on to star in Showtime drama pilot Possible Side Effects, from writer/executive producer/director Tim Robbins, about a powerful family that runs a successful pharmaceutical company. Already cast: Josh Lucas and Tim Blake Nelson. Burstyn will play the family's matriarch. (Variety)

TV Guide talks to 90210's Ryan Eggold, who plays mysteriously scruffy and yet perpetually upbeat teacher Ryan Matthews. Look for Adrianna to put the moves on his character sometime soon. (TV Guide)

Christina Moore (90210) and David Julian Hirsch (Naked Josh) will star opposite Jada Pinkett Smith in TNT drama pilot Time Heals, about a single mother who is the director of nursing at a North Carolina hospital. (Hollywood Reporter)

Tandem Communications has come aboard TNT's drama series Night and Day--starring William Fichtner, Sherry Stringfeld, and Conor O'Farrell--as international distributors and producers, along with Muse Entertainment. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Comments

I love Pushing Daisies bizarro storylines and the Norwegian dopplegangers sounds hilarious!
Jace Lacob said…
Sean, just wait until you see the first three episodes! Absolutely brilliant, wacky, touching, and hysterical. Pushing Daisies fans will be very pleased!
Anonymous said…
I'm happy to hear that David Denman will be back on The Office, even if it's just for one episode. Roy may have been a big oaf but I miss him!

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