[Televisionary]

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. Los Angeles Times ' Show Tracker has an interview with Dollhouse creator Joss Whedon about Season Two of the FOX drama series, which returns on Friday. Asked about how malleable the future depicted in the unaired thirteen episode "Epitaph One" is, Whedon said, "We talked about whether it was malleable or not, and right now we pretty much take it as gospel. But then we have a lot of different opinions about how it gets there and who does what. We're fascinated by the implications of this future, and a lot of this season has been guided by it without being so beholden to it that people who didn't see it won't understand. We were incited by the idea that the abuse of power is more widespread than just this one house." ( Los Angeles Times ' Show Tracker ) J.J. Abrams' production shingle Bad Robot has landed a pilot presentation order from FOX for a half-hour comedy series that's being de

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

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. Following the departure of Maura Tierney from the cast of NBC's Parenthood , producers have reportedly approached Helen Hunt about replacing Tierney on the Jason Katims-executive produced drama series. According to The Hollywood Reporter , Hunt "is said to be considering the offer, which would mark her return to series television and to NBC, where she starred on the comedy Mad About You for seven years before segueing into features." ( Hollywood Reporter ) Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Denis O'Hare ( Brothers & Sisters ) has been cast as a series regular next season on HBO's True Blood , where he will play the Vampire King of Mississippi. ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) (For more on Season Three of True Blood , you can read my exclusive one-on-one interview with Alan Ball here. ) Despite rumors to the contrary, the Futon Critic is reporting that ABC has not ye

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. Fringe stars Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, and John Noble tease some details about the second season of the FOX sci-fi drama, which launches next week, during a video interview on the set of an Entertainment Weekly photo shoot for the magazine's Fall TV Issue (on newsstands today). ( Entertainment Weekly ) NBC has announced that Maura Tierney (ER) has left the cast of Parenthood in order to undergo treatment for breast cancer. The series, from executive producer Jason Katims, was originally slated to launch this fall on the Peacock but the network delayed the series until midseason in order to allow Tierney to begin treatment. Unfortunately, that treatment will continue to interfere with the series' production schedule. Tierney and Parenthood have agreed to go their separate ways and Tierney's role, that of harried single mother Sarah Braverman, will now be recast. ( E! Online's Watch with Kristin ) ABC has acquired s

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. NBC is developing a US version of British crime drama series Prime Suspect , which starred Helen Mirren as the dogged and damaged Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennison. The US version, which will be developed and written by Without a Trace 's Hank Steinberg, will be shot as a two-hour presentation and is the first effort of a multi-year deal between NBC and ITV Studios, the production arm of British terrestrial network ITV. "We want to carefully choose a couple of iconic titles this year to reinvent, and our intention is to create another classic television show from this brilliant original format," said NBC Primetime Entertainment president Angela Bromstad. "Hank Steinberg was key in helping us secure this project, and we are incredibly excited about this modern vision for the show." ( Variety ) Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello is reporting that former Smallville star Kristin Kreuk has been ca

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. The Chicago Tribune 's Maureen Ryan is reporting that former Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles star Lena Headey has signed on to star in HBO's fantasy drama pilot Game of Thrones , based on the novel series by George R.R. Martin. Headey, who toplined the now-canceled Terminator , would play Cersei Lannister, described by Ryan as "a woman of royal blood who is every bit as smart, cunning and devious as the powerful men around her." She joins a cast for the pilot (directed by The Visitor 's Tom McCarthy) that includes Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Sean Bean, Peter Dinklage, Mark Addy, Jennifer Ehle, and a slew of others. Headey's character is the sister of Jamie Lannister (Coster-Waldau) and the wife of King Robert (Addy). ( Chicago Tribune 's The Watcher ) Elsewhere at HBO, the pay cabler has given a series order to period drama Boardwalk Empire from executive producers Martin Scorsese and Terence Wint

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. It seems like the stars are finally aligning. Producers on FOX's Bones are in talks with Zooey Deschanel to guest star on the procedural crime drama in December as the cousin of real-life sister Emily Deschanel's Brennan, according to Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello. "We’ve been looking for an opportunity to get the Deschanel girls together," said Bones creator/executive producer Hart Hanson, "but Zooey’s rockin’ career kept getting in the way... We alluded to [her] having a cousin in Minnesota two seasons ago. I’d very much like to meet her in the Christmas episode." ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) As previously reported on this site, 20th Century Fox Television is teaming up with Columbia Records on a series of soundtracks for FOX's upcoming series Glee . The first release, "Glee: The Music, Volume 1," will contain seventeen tracks from the series' first seas

Showtime has announced that Laura Linney ( John Adams ) has been cast as the female lead in a dark comedy entitled The C Word (a working title) about a woman struggling to live in the shadow of her cancer diagnosis. Linney will star in the pilot of the Sony Pictures Television-produced project, from writer/executive producer Darlene Hunt ( 90210 ), which is slated to be shot this fall. "Laura Linney is in that rare echelon of truly gifted actresses who fully embody the characters they play and we are honored to welcome her to Showtime," said Showtime president of entertainment Robert Greenblatt. "Cancer is not usually the subject of half-hour comedy, but Laura saw what we did in this complex show -- a woman who gets a wake-up call that causes her to shake up her life and family. She will no doubt make this character both heartbreaking and disarmingly funny, and we’re thrilled that she has chosen this show for her foray into series television.” The full press release fr

Welcome to your Wednesday television briefing. E! Online's Jennifer Godwin has a look at what lies ahead for FOX's Dollhouse as she catches up with the Joss Whedon-created series' stars to get some dirt on what's going on inside the Dollhouse next season. "They have a connection," said Tahmoh Penikett of Echo and Paul Ballard next season. "It's not a physical attraction, but I hope it's something that we explore a lot more this season. You're not quite sure what it is. There's a past, there's a history, there's an understanding between them that's very different. I think the audience is really going to like it and be really curious about where we're going in the first few episodes." As for that other would-be couple, Sierra and Victor, Enver Gjokah said, "Sierra and Victor are definitely still involved. They're going to explore that relationship more. They explore the Sierra-and-Victor love as dolls, but then

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. Virtuality star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau has been cast in the pilot for fantasy drama Game of Thrones , HBO's adaptation of George R.R. Martin's novel series. Coster-Waldau will play Jaime Lannister, described by The Hollywood Reporter 's James Hibberd as "one of the king's guards and a ruthless usurper of the previous king." Also cast in the Tom McCarthy-directed pilot: Tamzin Merchant ( The Tudors ), Richard Madden ( Hope Springs ), Iain Glen ( Into the Storm ), Alfie Allen ( The Other Boleyn Girl ), Sophie Turner ( Doctor Who ), and Maisie Williams, all of whom join the previously announced Sean Bean, Mark Addy, Jennifer Ehle, Kit Harrington, Harry Lloyd, Peter Dinklage, and Jack Gleeson. Production begins this October in Ireland. ( Hollywood Reporter ) FOX has handed out a pilot script order with penalty to drama Break Out Kings , from 20th Century Fox Television and Prison Break writer/producers Matt Olms

Welcome to your (very early) Thursday morning television briefing. John Hawkes ( Deadwood ) has been cast in Season Six of ABC's Lost , where he will play Lennon, described by The Hollywood Reporter 's Nellie Andreeva as "the scruffy, edgy and charismatic spokesperson and translator for the president of a foreign corporation who is far more powerful than it seems from his position." Just what that means remains to be seen... ( Hollywood Reporter ) Syfy has ordered a second season of sci-fi dramedy Warehouse 13 , with thirteen episodes currently on order for next year. However, Syfy was quick to point out that that number could increase in later seasons. "We took a look at doing 20 episodes, but for logistic and financial reasons," Syfy's Dave Howe told Variety , "it didn't make sense to do that right now, but I wouldn't rule it out." ( Variety ) Holy comedy casting news! The Wrap's Joe Adalian is reporting that comedy legend Shelley

Pay cabler Showtime has announced that it has pacted with filmmaker Oliver Stone on a new ten-episode documentary series that will air next year. Entitled Oliver Stone's Secret History of America , the ten-hour docuseries--narrated by Stone himself--will investigate crucial human events that were "under-reported" at the time of their occurrence, with Stone and his team of researchers sifting through national archives of several countries in order to amass a more detailed view at certain events. Topics explored in the series will include the US bombing of Japan during WWII, the Cold War, America’s national security complex, the Kennedy administration, and the Vietnam War, among others. "We are very happy that Oliver Stone has chosen Showtime as the home for his provocative series about key unknown moments of American history," said Showtime's President of Entertainment Robert Greenblatt. "Not only has his name become synonymous with visionary filmmaker,

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. ABC has given a script order with a sizable penalty to a contemporary series take on 1985 feature film St. Elmo's Fire . Project, which comes from Sony Pictures Television, will be written/executive produced by Dan Bucatinsky and executive produced by Topher Grace, Jamie Tarses, and Joel Schumacher. The series would revolve around a group of six friends--three men, three women--who hang out together at a Georgetown restaurant called St. Elmo's Bar & Grill. "I feel it is time to re-create Friends in the hourlong genre and feel like this is the perfect opportunity," said Bucatinsky. ""More than anything, the movie evokes a feeling that doesn't go away, the feeling of bonding with your friends who become your surrogate family." ( Hollywood Reporter ) Could Kate Winslet be headed for the small screen? HBO is said to be in the running to pick up a mini-series adaptation of 1945 feature film Mildred

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. AMC is reportedly close to signing a deal with Frank Darabont ( The Green Mile ) to write and direct an adaptation of Robert Kirkman's comic series "The Walking Dead" for the cabler. Potential series, about a group of people who have survived a zombie apocalypse who search for a safe place to call their home, will be executive produced by Gale Anne Hurd and David Alpert. No studio is currently attached. "This is not about zombies popping out of closets," said AMC's SVP of programming Joel Stillerman. "This is a story about survival, and the dynamics of what happens when a group is forced to survive under these circumstances. The world is portrayed in a smart, sophisticated way." ( Variety ) The Chicago Tribune 's Maureen Ryan has a fantastic, insightful, and lengthy interview with Mad Men star Jon Hamm, in which he talks about Season Three of the AMC period drama. "What I think is imp