Skip to main content

Channel Surfing: Sissy Spacek Finds "Big Love," Saffron Burrows Circles "Criminal Intent," Alan Ball Keeps "Blood" Subplot a Possibility, and Mo

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. I had an amazing time last night at The Killers concert at the Hollywood Bowl but am a wee bit exhausted this morning as a result. That said, onto the headlines.

Oscar winner Sissy Spacek will join the cast of HBO's drama series Big Love next season in a multiple-episode story arc where she will play a "powerful Washington D.C. lobbyist." Spacek's casting comes on the heels of announcements that Bella Thorne will replace Jolean Wejbe on the series next season and that Ben Koldyke will appear as Dale, a "state-appointed trustee and love interest for Alby (Matt Ross)." Big Love launches its fourth season early in 2010. (Los Angeles Times' Show Tracker)

Saffron Burrows (My Own Worst Enemy) is said to be in talks to join the cast of USA's Law & Order: Criminal Intent, where it's thought likely that she would play a new partner for Jeff Goldblum's Detective Zach Nichols. (Hollywood Reporter)

SPOILER! True Blood executive producer Alan Ball has told Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello that he's open to developing a certain subplot in Charlaine Harris' novels in the series, namely that Bill came to Bon Temps to seduce Sookie in order to get her to work for Sophie-Anne. "It’s certainly something that I found really compelling in the books," Ball told Ausiello. "I was like, 'Wow.' But I can’t really tell you what I’m going to do story-wise. So much of the appeal of the show depends on the element of surprise." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Adam Shankman has been made a resident judge on FOX's reality competition series So You Think You Can Dance alongside Nigel Lythgoe and Mary Murphy as of the October 27th episode. (Variety)

Collette Wolfe (Observe and Report) and Smith Cho (Knight Rider) have been cast in NBC's midseason comedy series 100 Questions, where they will replace Elizabeth Ho and Joy Suprano. (Hollywood Reporter)

MTV has ordered twelve half-hour episodes of Greg the Bunny spin-off Warren the Ape, which will follow the depraved puppet as he tries to resurrect his Hollywood career following the cancellation of Greg the Bunny. Series, executive produced by Spencer Chinoy, Sean Baker, Dan Milano, George Plamondon, Betsey Schechter, Kevin Chinoy, and Francesca Silvestri, will launch next year. (Variety)

Lifetime has ordered a plot for culinary competition series Search for the Greatest American Recipe, which will follow chef/television personality Tyler Florence as he travels to seven American regions to find interesting and original recipes; cooks will then compete head-to-head in a cook-off. Pilot, from ITV Studios, will begin shooting this weekend. (Variety)

TruTV has ordered six episodes of reality series All Worked Up, which follows several people as they work jobs that "get them yelled at, spit on and sometimes assaulted," including a process server, a vehicle repossessor, an amusement park head of security, and a housing community code enforcer, among others. Series, from RDF USA, will launch October 19th. (Hollywood Reporter)

DirecTV has acquired three seasons of gritty Australian drama series Underbelly, which tracks the development of the Oz underworld from the 1970s to the present day. Series will air on 101 Network and will launch on February 10th, following the fourth season finale of Friday Night Lights. (Variety)

TLC has ordered twelve episodes of docuseries Flowers Uncut with Jeff Leatham, which will follow the floral designer as he attempts to build an empire and "conquer the New York event design scene." Series, from Original Media, will launch on November 4th. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Comments

Harper said…
Sissy Spacek on Big Love? Nice!!!!
clam said…
Did anyone actually watch Greg the Bunny? I thought I was there only fan but, apparently, not. Can't wait for the spinoff.
Community NBC said…
We at Community NBC are very excited about the show that airs tonight!

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