Channel Surfing: Campbell Scott Briefed for "Damages," Temporary Production Shutdown on "V," Details of Kristin Chenoweth on "Glee," and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing.

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Campbell Scott (Royal Pains, Six Degrees) has signed on as a series regular for Season Three of FX's serpentine legal thriller Damages. No details were immediately available about just who Scott will be playing next season on the Sony Pictures Television-produced drama series, which will return to production next month for a January 2010 premiere. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

ABC's sci-fi drama V is set to take a two-week creative break, with filming to temporarily shut down for a two week period beginning next Wednesday. However, the move won't impact the November 3rd launch date, involve any staff changes, or, writes The Wrap's Josef Adalian, affect "the six episodes its planning for the fourth quarter." For its part, studio Warner Bros. Television wouldn't give any details about the exact reason behind the decision to shut down for two weeks but said that they want to "take advantage of our November premiere to maximize creative opportunities and deliver the audience the best show possible." Adalian says that insiders have indicated that the shutdown stems from the studio's desire to allow the writing staff time to write future scripts and get them to the same level of quality as the pilot. (The Wrap's TV MoJoe)

E! Online's Watch with Kristin has the scoop on the upcoming guest star turn by Pushing Daisies' Kristin Chenoweth on FOX's Glee, where she will play April Rhodes, who is described as "quite the alcoholic and bad influence on the glee club members" who joins the club after Rachel (Lea Michele) drops out. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Brandon Routh (Superman Returns) has been cast in a recurring role on NBC's Chuck next season while Summer Glau (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) has signed on to appear in a multiple-episode story arc on FOX's Dollhouse, along with Alexis Denisof (Angel), Jamie Bamber (BSG), Keith Carradine (Dexter), and Michael Hogan (BSG). (Televisionary)

Christian Clemenson (Boston Legal) has been cast in at least two episodes of CBS' CSI: Miami next season, where he will recur as a medical examiner on the long-running procedural crime drama. (Hollywood Reporter)

Laura Linney (John Adams) is set to topline Showtime dark comedy pilot The C Word (a working title) about a woman battling cancer. Project, from Sony Pictures Television, is written and executive produced by Darlene Hunt (90210) and is slated to be shot this fall. (Televisionary)

The trades are reporting that HBO has optioned Jeffrey Eugenides' novel "Middlesex," which it will develop as an ongoing series. However, this was reported back in early July by Broadcasting and Cable, details of which can be found here.

A&E Television Networks has acquired Lifetime Entertainment Services following the closing of a deal in the works for several months. Under the terms of the agreement, Lifetime will fall under A&E Television Network management, with president/CEO Abbe Raven remaining as the head of the company, with Lifetime's Andrea Wong reporting to Raven, as will A&E's Bob DiBitetto and History's Nancy Dubuc. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Have a Burning Question for Team Darlton, Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly, or Michael Emerson?

Lost fans: you don't have to make your way to the island via Ajira Airways in order to ask a question of the creative team or the series' stars. Televisionary is taking questions from fans to put to Lost 's executive producers/showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse and stars Matthew Fox ("Jack Shephard"), Evangeline Lilly ("Kate Austen"), and Michael Emerson ("Benjamin Linus") for a series of on-camera interviews taking place this weekend. If you have a specific question for any of the above producers or actors from Lost , please leave it in the comments section below . I'll be accepting questions until midnight PT tonight and, while I can't promise I'll be able to ask any specific inquiry due to the brevity of these on-camera interviews, I am looking for some insightful and thought-provoking questions to add to the mix. So who knows: your burning question might get asked after all.

Continue reading full story...

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 ...

Continue reading full story...

See You in Another Life: Thoughts on The Series Finale of Lost

"No one can tell you why you're here." I'm of two minds (and two hearts) about the two-and-a-half hour series finale of Lost ("The End"), written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse and directed by Jack Bender, which brought a finality to the story of the passengers of Oceanic Flight 815 and the characters with which we've spent six years. At its heart, Lost has been about the two bookends of the human existence, birth and death, and the choices we make in between. Do we choose to live together or die alone? Can we let go of our past traumas to become better people? When we have nothing else left to give, can we make the ultimate sacrifice for the greater good? In that sense, the series finale of Lost brought to a close the stories of the crash survivors and those who joined them among the wreckage over the course of more than 100 days on the island (and their return), offering up a coda to their lives and their deaths, a sort of purgatory for found, r...

Continue reading full story...

[Televisionary]

Search This Blog