Skip to main content

Channel Surfing: Graham Lands ABC Comedy, Whedon Admits He Would Have Put "Dollhouse" on Fridays Too, Shenkman Checks into Seattle Grace, and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing.

Former Gilmore Girls star Lauren Graham is returning to television. ABC has given a put pilot commitment to an untitled comedy about a self-help guru (Graham) who teaches other women how to live a stress-free life but can't follow her own teachings when she's dumped by her boyfriend. Project, from Sony Pictures Television, Hagada Hey, and Tantamount, is written by Alex Herchlag (Will & Grace) and will be executive produced by Herschlag, Eric Tannenbaum, Kim Tannenbaum, and Mitch Hurwitz. (Variety)

Joss Whedon says that a Friday night timeslot is "a better fit" for his upcoming FOX drama Dollhouse, which has been plagued with bad buzz ahead of its February debut, but admits that Dollhouse wouldn't likely attract huge numbers in its launch. "They’re bringing down expectations regarding how big of an audience they think it will bring in the beginning," said Whedon of FOX executives, "and then as the show progresses. They need to do that." Still, Whedon says that fans will still find the series. "If I were an executive, I would have put it on Friday too, honestly, and not as a dig," he said. "The people who want this will find it, and hopefully more will as well. Fox is aware that TV just doesn’t exist the same way. People watch it online, on DVD, on their TiVos. It’s not the end of the world, but of course everyone's been predicting the end of the world for Dollhouse since it was announced." (Los Angeles Times)

FOX is said to be thisclose to ordering space-set workplace comedy Boldly Going Nowhere--from the creators of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia--and musical dramedy Glee (from Nip/Tuck creator Ryan Murphy) to series. At least that's the word coming out of the FOX screenings, during which execs will view four pilots including Boldly, Glee, Emancipation of Ernesto, and Virtuality. The first two received additional script orders so can go into production relatively quickly; Glee is being viewed as a potential lead-out of American Idol and execs are said to be very high on Boldly as well. Ernesto is not expected to go forward and Virtuality may be reworked as a more mainstream drama series. (Hollywood Reporter)

Ben Shenkman (Angels in America) will guest star in a multiple-episode story arc on ABC's Grey's Anatomy later this season. He'll play the husband of Jennifer Westfeldt's patient character, but both husband and wife will be, uh, guests at Seattle Grace, with Shenkman's character said to be in "critical" condition. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

In other medical drama news, Shannon Woodward (The Riches) has been cast in a recurring role on NBC's ER, where she will play the estranged younger sister of Linda Cardellini's Sam who turns up in Chicago with some shocking news: she wants Sam to look after their ailing mother... the same mother who threw a then-pregnant Sam out. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Dawson's Creek's Mary Beth Peil will guest star in a January episode of FOX's Fringe, where she will play Jessica Warren, the mother of that young lab assistant who was killed in an explosion in Walter Bishop's lab over 20 years ago. When Jessica learns that Walter has been released from the mental hospital, she crosses paths with Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson). (TV Guide)

Frustrated by those Golden Globe nominations? You're not the only one, as the Los Angeles Times takes a look at all of the series--from Lost to The Wire--that were unjustly left off of the ballot this year. (Los Angeles Times' The Envelope)

Oxygen has ordered eight episodes of docusoap Addicted to Beauty, following the clients and staff of a California medi-spa, from RDF USA that will launch early next year. The cabler also announced that it is developing four new reality projects including Hogs & Heifers, The Girls, The Naughty Kitchen, and Lady and the Champ. (Hollywood Reporter)

Syndicated medical talkshow The Doctors has been ordered for a second season. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Happy to see Lauren Graham returning to the small screen. I only hope the project is worthy of her immense talent!
Anonymous said…
I really hope FOX orders Boldly Going Nowhere. Anything from the "It's Always Sunny" gang has got to be funny and the cast is terrific. Finger crossed!
TxGowan said…
I liked Lauren Graham's show when it was on the first time and called Men in Trees.

Mmm, Shannon Woodward. I wondered when she'd show up somewhere. She was really good on The Riches. She really resembles Cardellini, too, so it works.

Poor Joss. He's either spinning the damage control as fast as he can or he's really just quite quite deluded.

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

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

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