[Televisionary]

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. NBC has exiled struggling freshman drama Kings to the dire Saturday night at 8 pm timeslot, where the network will burn off the remaining installments beginning April 18th. In its former Sunday night slot, the Peacock will air two-hour episodes of Dateline NBC from 7-9 pm ET/PT. In its last outing, Kings captures a lowly 1.1/3 among adults 18-49 and 3.6 million viewers overall. ( Variety ) Thomas Calabro will reprise his role as Dr. Michael Mancini in the CW's revival of Melrose Place in a recurring capacity. Casting marks the second former cast member from the original FOX series joining the cast of the updated Melrose Place as he'll join Laura Leighton, who will reprise her role as Sydney Andrews. Could these two have ended up unhappily-ever-after, after all? ( Entertainment Weekly ) Liza Weil ( Gilmore Girls ) and Debra Mooney ( Everwood ) will guest star in Grey's Anatomy 's two-hour season finale, set to a

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. After airing just one episode, ABC has cut its episodic commitment for midseason comedy In the Motherhood from thirteen episodes to seven, just slightly more than half of its original order. The network had ordered the comedy, based on a web series, during the writers strike. ( Los Angeles Times ' Show Tracker ) Alicia Witt ( Law & Order: Criminal Intent ) will guest star in the season finale of CBS' The Mentalist , where she will play pianist Rosalind Harker, a woman who used to date serial killer Red John, the enigmatic serial killer who killed Jane's family. ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) E! Online has confirmed that NBC has canceled drama series Lipstick Jungle, after all. "It was going to stay and we just were officially told it's finally not coming back," series star Brooke Shield told E! Online's Cristina Gibson. "It's very sad. I think a lot of people were really sad,

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. Former Smallville star Michael Rosenbaum and Heroes ' Nick D'Agosto will star in NBC's untitled Justin Adler comedy pilot, where they'll play brothers in the Sony Pictures Television and Tantamount project; D'Agosto will play the family's youngest sibling who brings his girlfriend home to meet his family while Rosenbaum will play the middle sibling, a married man freaking out over his adopted baby. Elsewhere, Noah Gray-Cabey ( Heroes ), Oded Fehr ( Sleeper Cell ), Kyle Riabko ( Instant Star ), and Jessy Schram ( Life ) will star in ABC musical drama pilot Limelight , about the teachers and students of a performing arts institute; Sam Neill ( The Tudors ) has joined the cast of ABC drama pilot Happy Town ; and Rochelle Aytes ( Drive ) will star opposite Rupert Penry-Jones ( Spooks ) in ABC's untitled Jerry Bruckheimer drama pilot, about a team of amateur detectives, where she will play a police officer who

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. Jason Dohring ( Veronica Mars ) and Minka Kelly ( Friday Night Lights ) have signed on to star in CW drama pilot Body Politic , from CBS Paramount Network Television. Dohring will play a Washington Post reporter while Kelly will play Hope, a young woman who leaves Michigan after the death of her mother to take a position in Washington in as a staffer for a senator (Tim Matheson), who has just been named Attorney General. Fans of Friday Night Lights shouldn't worry, however: Kelly's casting here doesn't signal the end of FNL as she was not set to return as a series regular next season but will instead turn up in Season Four in a multiple-episode story arc should the series be renewed. ( Hollywood Reporter ) ABC has confirmed that Ashley Jensen will leave Ugly Betty at the end of the season; it's no secret that the actress was "less than thrilled" when Betty moved production from Los Angeles to New York la

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. Former Gilmore Girls star Alexis Bledel will guest star in NBC's two-hour series finale of ER , where she will play a new intern named Julie Wise in the finale, which focuses on a 24 hour-long shift at County General Hospital. Casting marks Bledel's first major television appearance since the end of Gilmore Girls on the CW. Elsewhere, former Grey's Anatomy cast member Melissa George has been cast as the female lead in CBS' untitled US Attorney drama pilot from writer/executive producer Frank Military; George will play Susan, an ADA and ex-wife of the section chief (Michael Lange). ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) Katie Cassidy ( Supernatural ) has been cast in CW's drama pilot Melrose Place , an update of the 1990s soap where she will play Ella Flynn, "an up-and-coming publicist with a big career ahead of her." Steven R. McQueen ( Everwood ), meanwhile, has been cast as one of the leads i

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. Kate isn't going anywhere, any time soon: Reps for Evangeline Lilly have denied a recent report on Zap2it.com that claimed that the Lost star was seeking work on another television project for this fall and have maintained that the actress is under contract on Lost until May 2010, when the series ends. We have no idea how this rumor got started," Lilly's rep told Michael Ausiello, "and whoever started it didn’t call us or ABC to verify the validity of it, for which there is none." ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) UPDATE : E! Online's Kristin has spoken with Lilly herself, who said that she isn't leaving Lost anytime soon. "I am very happy on Lost ," said Lilly, "and have no reason to look anywhere else for a home." ( E! Online's Watch with Kristin ) Brittany Snow ( American Dreams ) will star in the Gossip Girl prequel spin-off, currently being referred to in the

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. Dana Delany admitted that none of Wisteria Lane's residents feel exactly safe these days, following the announcement that Nicollette Sheridan will leave Desperate Housewives . "Everyone is vulnerable on Wisteria Lane -- any of us could go," said Delany. "Every single person in that cast feels like their days are numbered. I think [Marc Cherry] likes to keep people on their toes." An upcoming storyline will find Delany's Katherine in potential jeopardy. "It's good," said Delany of the upcoming plot, "because that sense of not knowing keeps the actors on their toes and it keeps the audience anticipating." ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) Pilot helmer alert: The CW has given an official pilot order to Melrose Place , an update of the soap to be overseen by Darren Swimmer and Todd Slavkin ( Smallville ). Pilot, from CBS Paramount Network Television, will be directed by Dav

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. Mark Valley ( Fringe ) has been cast as the lead in FOX drama pilot Human Target , from Warner Bros. Television, Wonderland, and DC Comics, about a "mysterious security freelancer who assumes the identities of those in danger, becoming the 'human target' for his clients." Pilot will be directed by Simon West. ( Hollywood Reporter ) Katherine Heigl and T.R. Knight will depart the cast of ABC's Grey's Anatomy , according to co-star James Pickens who told US Magazine that the duo would leave the series. "Yes, she is," said Pickens when asked if Heigl was leaving. "Wherever Katherine goes, I wish her nothing but the best." As for Knight, Pickens said, "He's going too. He just wanted to pursue other career paths." ABC, ABC Studios, and reps for Heigl and Knight had no comment. ( US Magazine ) Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello had some further news on this developmen

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. FOX has handed out a pilot order to a US remake of BBC comedy series Absolutely Fabulous , which follows the boozy exploits of PR magnate Edina Monsoon, her magazine editrix best friend Patsy, and Edina's uptight daughter Saffy. US version will be set in LA and the script written by Christine Zander ( Less Than Perfect ), who will executive produce with Jennifer Saunders, Ian Moffit, Mitch Hurwitz, Eric Tannenbaum, and Kim Tannenbaum. Project will be produced by Sony Pictures Television, Tantamount, and BBC Worldwide Americas. ( Variety ) Battlestar Galactica 's Jane Espenson will serve as an executive producer on BSG prequel series Caprica and will eventually become the showrunner on the series, slated to air on Sci Fi in 2010. Espenson, whom many fans will know from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Gilmore Girls , will take over the reins of Caprica 's writers' room from co-creator Ron Moore later this year. Productio

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. I'm off in a bit to FOX's panel for the Television Critics Association, but here are a few headlines first. Torchwood 's John Barrowman will collaborate with artist Tommy Lee Edwards on an original comic strip entitled "Captain Jack and the Selkie," which will run in the fourteen issue of the bi-monthly Torchwood magazine. The strip will feature a story in which Jack faces" a deadly threat on a remote Scottish island, where people are disappearing one by one... To his horror, Jack starts to suspect he may know who – or perhaps more specifically what – is responsible." (via press release) Entertainment Weekly 's Doc Jensen offers some clues to understanding Season Five of Lost , which premieres Wednesday, January 21st, and recommends five previous episodes for essential viewing before the season premiere, including "There's No Place Like Home (Parts 2 & 3)," "Flashes Before Y

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. It's been a busy few days, between the ongoing Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour and the Golden Globes, so let's dive right into today's headlines. Pushing Daisies might (sadly) be canceled but working relationship between creator Bryan Fuller and former co-star Swoosie Kurtz looks to continue. Kurtz has signed on to appear in at least one episode of Heroes , where she will play Millie, a society friend of Cristine Rose's Angela Petrelli. Kurtz's episode, written by Fuller, is slated to air in April and there is the potential that her character could be recurring next season. ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) Buffy the Vampire Slayer 's Amber Benson will guest star on ABC's Private Practice , where she will play a young woman who "in the aftermath of being brutally attacked seeks not just medical care ... but perhaps something more ." Benson will appear in the series&#