[Televisionary]

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. ABC has confirmed that it has now altered its launch plan for sci-fi drama series V , which is set to premiere November 3rd. The network has decided to air just the first four installments of the Warner Bros. Television-produced series and then place V on hiatus until after the Winter Olympics. The news comes as a surprise as the series, which is written and executive produced by The 4400 's Scott Peters, has enjoyed extremely positive buzz from critics and from Comic-Con audiences who screened the pilot episode earlier this summer. However, both Warner Bros. Television and ABC were quick to point out that the episodic order for V hadn't been shortened; series is still set to air 13 installments. ( Los Angeles Times /Show Tracker ) The first official cancellation of the fall season is here: The Beautiful Life , we hardly knew ye. The CW has confirmed that it has axed The Beautiful Life after just two episodes, which plunge

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. NBC has announced that it is delaying the second season launch of Southland by a month. The Warner Bros. Television-produced series, which premiered last spring, was slated to launch its sophomore season on Friday, September 25th but will now instead debut on Friday, October 23rd. The reason behind the late change? According to Variety 's Michael Schneider, "insiders said the Peacock hopes to use the extra month to further promote the show, which they worried was getting lost in the fall marketing shuffle." Southland was meant to launch on the same evening as Medium and Dollhouse . ( Variety ) Chuck co-creator Josh Schwartz and Chuck producer Matt Miller will write an untitled multi-camera comedy pilot script for CBS about a twenty-something couple who have just gotten married and return home after their honeymoon and must learn how to navigate life together. (The premise was inspired by Schwartz and Miller's o

Not surprisingly, the topic of conversation at today's Television Critics Association FOX executive session with Kevin Reilly and Peter Rice drifted inevitably to Paula Abdul's recent announcement that she would be leaving American Idol . Reilly and Rice attempted to get this hot topic out of the way at the very start of FOX's presentation this morning, with Rice stating, "Everyone is aware that Paula is not returning to American Idol and we are sad to see her go." Was that enough to quell the fervor of reporters clamoring for some insight into what is going on behind the scenes to replace Abdul, whether she was actually leaving Idol , and what producers planned to do in the meantime with auditions slated to begin this week? Hell no. "Paula’s the only member of Idol whose contract is up right now," said Rice. "We very much wanted her to return... In the past few weeks, the negotiation has sort of come to a conclusion. We made an offer that we feel

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. Christopher Gorham ( Harper's Island ) will star opposite Piper Perabo in USA's spy thriller pilot Covert Affairs . Gorham's attachment would seemingly lift the casting contingency on the project, which follows Annie Walker, a polyglot CIA trainee (Perabo) whose relationship with an enigmatic ex-boyfriend makes her of interest to the agency. Gorham will play Auggie Anderson, a blinded CIA military intelligence operative who helps Walker. ( Hollywood Reporter ) Franka Potente ( The Bourne Identity ) will guest star in the season premiere of House this fall, where she will play a mystery character that Gregory House encounters in the mental hospital. What's unclear is whether Potente will be playing a doctor, a patient, or a figment of House's imagination. Hmmmm.... ( E! Online's Watch with Kristin ) House creator David Shore has come on board to oversee a remake of private eye drama The Rockford Files with

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. Looks like Kelly isn't going anywhere. Jennie Garth has signed a deal to reprise her role as Kelly Taylor on Season Two of the CW's 90210 , where she will appear in multiple episodes, according to Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello. "Garth reappears in episode 3," writes Ausiello, "when Kelly gives Harry advice on how to deal with his, ahem , situation with Annie." ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) Elsewhere at the CW, Melrose Place continues to get more and more crowded. Nip/Tuck's Kelly Carlson (yes, Kimber!) has signed on to join the cast of Melrose Place this fall, where she will play a madam who "eventually entices Lauren (Stephanie Jacobson) to work for her as part of her prostitution ring." ( E! Online's Watch with Kristin ) Parenthood 's Erika Christensen has booked a guest starring role on Season Two of FOX's Lie to Me this fall. Christensen will

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. Just a few headlines to go over on the first day back after a long holiday weekend. Lost showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have promised viewers a definitive ending for Lost when the series wraps its run next year. "We won’t be vague and ambiguous – there will be a lot of answers," promised Lindelof, speaking at a BAFTA event in London. "We feel that if we hold anything back in the final season, it would be bad. Everyone’s come this far and they want a conclusion to the story. We’ve no plans to continue the story of Lost beyond series six. My wife says 'never say never.' I say 'never.'" That final season won't feature time travel elements but will instead feel more like the first season. "There’s a circularity to the show," said Cuse. Just don't look for a happy ending. "Bittersweet comes with the territory," said Lindelof. "The ending we’re aspiring to

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. Good news: pay cabler Starz has renewed comedy series Party Down , from creators Rob Thomas, John Enbom, Dan Etheridge, and Paul Rudd, for a second season. The entire cast of Season One of Party Down will return for a sophomore season, though Jane Lynch's commitment to FOX's upcoming series Glee could create complications for her return and the actress is the only cast member who isn't already signed on for a second season. Party Down will return to production this summer for a Season Two launch date sometime in 2010. Also returning: directors Fred Savage and Bryan Gordon, who will direct episodes of the series, along with Ken Marino, who is locked to helm an installment as well. ( E! Online's Watch with Kristin , Variety ) FOX has reportedly ordered pilots Human Target , from Warner Bros Television, and comedy Sons of Tucson , from 20th Century Fox Television, to series. FOX had no comment on the news, which is

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. Melora Hardin ( The Office ) has been cast as the female lead in FX drama pilot Lights Out , where she will play the wife of a former heavyweight boxing champ Patrick "Lights Out" Leary (Holt McCallany) who is diagnosed with pugilistic dementia and must find another way to support his family before his brain turns to mush. Also cast in the drama pilot, written by Justin Zackham and to be directed by Clark Johnson: Elisa Koteas ( The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ) and Kevin Conway ( The Black Donnellys ), who will play Leary's father/former trainer and his manager/business partner respectively. Hardin, meanwhile, isn't expected to reprise her role as Michael Scott's ex-girlfriend Jan Levinson for the remainder of the current season of The Office but will guest star in at least one episode next season. ( Hollywood Reporter ) The internet was abuzz yesterday with news that FOX wouldn't be airing the final pr

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. Still scratching your head about the apparent confusion surrounding the age of Lost 's Charlotte Staples Church, played by Rebecca Mader, who was allegedly born in 1979 but then turned up as a kid on the island in 1974? You're not the only one. In executive producer Damon Lindelof and Carlton's Cuse's latest podcast, they placed the blame for the mixup about Charlotte's age squarely on Mader, saying that she changed her character's age from 37 to 28. Mader then shot back on her Facebook page, blaming Team Darlton for the error. Now Darlton have cleared up the confusion and apologized to Mader. "Rebecca is absolutely right and we apologize to both her and the entire fan community for screwing up the story," said the duo in an email to Michael Ausiello (click through to read the full statement). "Our first mistake was the timeline gaffe, but the much more significant one was wrapping Rebecca up in

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. Chuck creators Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak said that this season's finale will be "game changing" for Chuck and his band of spies. "We're going to launch the show in a really exciting direction next year. We designed our season heading toward it," said Schwartz, appearing this weekend at New York Comic-Con. While Schwartz and Fedak are being tight-lipped, they did mention that Jordana Brewster will reprise her role as Chuck's deadly ex Jill in an upcoming episode. ( TV Guide ) Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello has the character breakdowns for the CW's planned update of Melrose Place , including a character who is the son of the original's Jake (Grant Show), an omni-sexual PR maven, a wannabe filmmaker, a recovering alcoholic, a med student turning tricks to pay her tuition, and a teenage sex kitten. The pilot, produced by CBS Paramount Network Television, will be overseen by Smallv

I won't lie to you: I am not typically a fan of procedural series. I'm usually more interested in the sort of character development and long-term plotting that are involved in a serialized drama but every now and then a procedural mystery comes along with a unique enough premise that it makes me question my standpoint. Tonight, FOX launches its new procedural drama series Lie to Me , starring Tim Roth, Kelli Williams, Brendan Hines, and Monica Raymund. Unlike those cops on CBS, this squad of sleuths isn't solving crimes using the latest in forensic technology. Rather, their characters comprise a crack team of, well, human lie detectors. Instead of ultraviolet wands searching for blood splatter, the team uses videotaped interviews with suspects and witnesses and reads the almost imperceptible micro-expressions that each of them make. Suspects can lie with their words but it's pretty hard to lie with your body language and facial expressions, especially when some of them

After weeks of anticipation, FOX has announced its midseason schedule for winter 2008/09. Among the winners? Fringe , which gets the highly prized post- American Idol timeslot on Tuesdays, and new drama Lie to Me , which gets a Wednesday night timeslot also following American Idol . Among the losers? Genre series Dollhouse --from creator Joss Whedon--and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles , which get shipped out to timeslot Siberia, namely Friday nights. (Ouch.) While many Whedon fans are already up in arms about what they perceive as a slight against Dollhouse , I can say that I am not at all surprised that FOX has chosen to ship the creatively struggling Dollhouse and ratings-starved Sarah Connor to Friday nights. Having seen the first two episodes of Dollhouse (and failing to be very impressed despite being a die-hard Whedon-ite), it makes sense that FOX would try to minimize any expectations and put Dollhouse on an evening where ratings are slim to begin with. However, one