Skip to main content

Channel Surfing: "Doctor Who" Lands Smith and Circles Allen, Wakefield and Seda Declared "Legally Mad," "Royal Pains" at USA, and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. While everyone seems to be returning to work today (darn the end of holidays!), I'm still drowning in a pile of screeners and scripts, but c'est la vie.

The big news this weekend, of course, was the announcement that 26-year-old Matt Smith (Ruby in the Smoke) would assume the mantle of the Eleventh Doctor in BBC's Doctor Who, replacing outbound series lead David Tennant, who will depart the series after appearing in four specials in 2009. (Televisionary)

Meanwhile, The Daily Telegraph has profiled Smith in an in-depth piece which ran today. Among the more interesting points: "Smith comes to the role without Tennant's in-depth knowledge of the series and describes the next six months as a "time to build this Time Lord…to learn the history of the show", which should give his interpretation freshness. His Doctor may also be boyishly mischievous – he spoke with relish of "the sense of mischief" he got when he knew he'd be the Doctor. He also spoke of the show's "magic". Smith is of the Harry Potter generation and so his Doctor Who may be full of the sense of myth and mystery found in the tales of the boy wizard – one quality that Tennant's Doctor maybe lacks." Hmmm.... (The Daily Telegraph)

In other Doctor Who-released news, Lily Allen is once again rumored to be in contention for the role of the Doctor's latest companion. Allen, who made headlines in 2007 when she was linked to the potential role (which was later filled by Catherine Tate), is said to be the "favorite" to take on the part, though Rachel Stevens and Kelly Brook are also under consideration.

However, the singer hasn't actually auditioned for the role. "Having got the casting of The Doctor out of the way, the companion role is where we will be looking next," said Doctor Who executive producer Piers Wenger. "Someone terribly exciting like Billie Piper, who was at the beginning of her acting career but who had a profile for other reasons, would be great. We are looking for someone whose light can burn brightly. We would never cast anyone on the basis of their celebrity, but if Lily wanted to audition we would be delighted. It would be a lot of fun." (Digital Spy)

USA has ordered eleven episodes (in addition to the two-hour pilot) for medical dramedy Royal Pains, starring Mark Feuerstein as an on-call doctor to the Hamptons set. Series is being thought of as a possible timeslot companion for the off-network repeats of House. (Hollywood Reporter)

Michelle Trachtenberg's Georgina is set to return to the CW's Gossip Girl in a multiple-episode story arc during the latter part of the second season. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

British actress Charity Wakefield (Sense and Sensibility) and Jon Seda (Homicide) have been cast to star opposite previously announced Kristin Chenoweth (Pushing Daisies) in David E. Kelley's new NBC legal drama pilot Legally Mad. Wakefield will play the series' lead, Brady Hamm, a twenty-something attorney who is holding together her father's crumbling law firm and is utterly devoted to her batty father. Seda will play Joe Matty, an argumentative attorney prone to picking fights (sometimes physical ones) with everyone. (Hollywood Reporter)

Lipstick Jungle's Robert Buckley will join the cast of CW's Privileged as the editor-in-chief of a magazine where Megan and Will are both vying for a position. His first appearance is set for the second to last episode of this season. (TV Guide)

Bill Lawrence talks about the possible series finale of Scrubs--now on ABC--that's planned for later this season, why it's strange to see promos for the long-ignored series, and the possibility of the series continuing on without him or lead Zach Braff. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

BBC One has acquired Season Two of FX's legal thriller Damages and will launch the sophomore season in February. (BBC)

Speaking of Damages, William Hurt--who joins the legal thriller in its sophomore season, kicking off on Wednesday evening--talks to The New York Times about his decision to do television, working with Glenn Close, whether Daniel Purcell will be sticking around for a third season, and how he wishes that, as an actor, he was a "repertory ensemble guy." (
The New York Times)

The Los Angeles Times has criticized Shonda Rhimes' ABC series Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice, saying that the former "struggles with implausible plots and diminishing characters" and is now "floundering in its fifth season." They claim that perhaps Rhimes is "stretched too thin" and are quick to note that "[i]n truth, the show lost its mooring two years ago, after Meredith's near-death by drowning, but this season has been dizzying, careening like a pinball from one unlikely plot turn to the next, and the continued degradation of characters who, for years, had been etched with careful precision." (
The Los Angeles Times)

Hollywood Reporter's James Hibberd takes a look at the ratings showdowns slated for later this season, including ABC's Lost versus FOX's Lie to Me versus CBS' Criminal Minds. (
Hollywood Reporter)

The Daily Telegraph has a fantastic interview with Gavin & Stacey co-creator/star James Corden about what 2009 holds for him. Of the much beloved series, Corden says that the charm comes from "finding the extraordinary in the ordinary." I couldn't agree more. (
The Daily Telegraph)

SAG national executive director Doug Allen has justified a strike in the latest letter sent to members on Friday, in which he argues that a strike authorization is justified even in times of economic crisis. “There is no good time to consider a strike,” said Allen. “Strikes are called only when management’s bargaining positions are intolerable and then only by a vote of the elected actors on the national board, if authorized by a membership referendum. But, tough economic times are when it is most necessary to be unified to resist the studios and networks effort to obliterate contract provisions in our future work.” (Variety)

Marla Sokoloff, Marion Ross, and Christina Pickles will star in wedding-themed telepic Flower Girl for Hallmark Channel. The telepic, written by Marjorie Sweeney and directed by Bradford May, will air in late 2009. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I have to admit that I haven't been a fan of David E. Kelley's work since Ally McBeal but I am actually looking forward to seeing what he and Kristin Chenoweth (and the other outstanding cast members) give us with Legally Mad.
jen said…
I like Charity Wakefield... Lily Allen not so much (as the Doctor's companion anyway).
Anonymous said…
I think Sheridan Smith ('Two Pint's Of Lager...' and 'Royal Family' fame) would be an amazing companion. She is a girl of many talents, who has some serious acting chops as well as a great comic timing.

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