Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing.
But is it The Pattern? The big news is, of course, the full season pick up for FOX's freshman drama Fringe, bringing this season's total to 22 episodes. "We're having a blast working on this show with this great team of producers and amazing cast," said FOX Entertainment president Kevin Reilly. "The series has really taken off creatively, and it's exciting to see that the audience is responding. We believe this is the first full season of many years to come." The pickup for Fringe marks the second full season order so far this year; last month, the CW ordered a full season of 90210. To date, Fringe has ranked as the number one new series among adults 18-49 this season. (Variety)
Pushing Daisies' second season launch plummeted in the ratings, sadly. "Despite strong reviews, the return of Daisies (6.3 million viewers, 2.0/6) had the steepest drop of any show this fall, declining a roller coaster-style 55% to a series-low fourth place at 8 p.m." Ouch. Let's hope that ABC doesn't get trigger-happy and cancel Daisies just as it's returning to the airwaves. Fans looking to send pie to ABC execs better start baking now, well in advance of Daisies' initial 13-episode order conclusion. Sigh. (Hollywood Reporter's Live Feed)
Showtime will launch its newest scripted comedy, The United States of Tara, starring Toni Collete, John Corbett, and Rosemary DeWitt, on January 18th at 10 pm. Series will bow between the final season of The L Word and the second season of Brit import Secret Diary of a Call Girl. Tara follows a woman suffers from multiple personality disorder and looks at how her family deals with her divergent identities. Project comes from writer/executive producer Diablo Cody and executive producer Steven Spielberg, who came up with the series' original premise. (Hollywood Reporter)
Megan Mullally (Will & Grace) and Cheryl Hines (Curb Your Enthusiasm) have closed deals to appear in ABC's series adaptation of online series In the Motherhood (which starred Chelsea Handler, Leah Remini, and Jenny McCarthy in its original iteration). Handler may reprise her role in the ABC version but no deal is in place. Net is looking at potential 2009 launch. (TV Guide)
UK fans of Warner Bros. Television's The Mentalist, starring Simon Baker, can rest a little easier: the series will be coming to Blighty in 2009. Five and Five US have acquired rights to the procedural drama, which the nets will launch next year. (Variety)
Rosie O'Donnell will get her very own variety show this Thanksgiving entitled Rosie's Variety Show, which will be presented live on NBC from New York the evening before Thanksgiving. It's believed that the special--which will feature celebrity guests, musical acts, contests, and comedy sketches--could be a sign of a similar O'Donnell-fronted series for 2009. (Variety)
Parents Television Council has filed an indecency complaint with the FCC over CBS' season premiere of Survivor, which featured unintentional full frontal male nudity and was the first installment of the long-running reality franchise to be broadcast in HD. (Washington Post)
Stay tuned.
Channel Surfing: "Fringe" Gets Full Season, "Daisies" Fails to Bloom, Showtime Announces "Tara" Launch, "Survivor" Flap at CBS, and More
Channel Surfing: "Survivor: Gabon" Cast Revealed, More "Chuck" Guest Stars, "Fringe," "Doctor Who" Rumor, and More
Good morning and welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. It's my birthday today (yesterday was my brother's and--before you ask--no, we're not twins) so between work, dinner, and present-opening, I still hope to find the time to watch tonight's Project Runway. When there's a will, there's a way as they say.
Season 18 of venerable reality franchise Survivor is about to launch on CBS in just a few weeks. But if you're curious as to who the eighteen men and women are who are competing for the million-dollar prize on Survivor: Gabon, look no further. They include a pin-up girl/actress, a fashion photographer/Cartier salesman (seriously, you can't make this stuff up), a professional gamer, a retired nurse, a personal trainer, and many others. (Entertainment Weekly)
Creator Craig Wright talks about what went wrong with Season One of ABC soap Dirty Sexy Money, including "experimenting" with tone shifts between installments, and what they are doing to fix this for the series' massive relaunch this fall, after getting a "gift" in the form of the writers strike, which he used to rethink the series. (USA Today)
Holy guest stars, Batman: Morgan Fairchild (Fashion House), Bruce Boxleitner (Babylon 5), and Carl Lumbly (Alias) will all appear in Season Two of NBC's Chuck. Fairchild will play the mother of Captain Awesome himself (Ryan McPartlin); Boxleitner will play her husband Dr. Woody Woodcombe who is "very excited to help welcome Ellie into his family -- maybe too excited." And Lumbly will play Casey's mentor. I can't wait! (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)
ABC has renewed reality competition series Here Come the Newlyweds for a second season of eight episodes, likely to air in 2009. (Hollywood Reporter)
J.J. Abrams and his delightful cast talk more about their upcoming FOX drama series Fringe. My favorite bit: '"J.J. is like Oz," notes actor Joshua Jackson on the New York set. "He's manipulating all his little kingdoms and empires from afar."' (Associated Press)
Everyone's jumping on the weight-loss television bandwagon. ABC has announced that it will air an hour-long special entitled Half Their Size: The People Magazine Weight Loss Challenge on September 30th at 10 pm. (Variety)
Could Doctor Who shoot two of its upcoming feature-length specials here in the States? That's the rumor being thrown about (though take it with a large grain of salt as, admittedly, the source is the News of the World), as the series would look to cast a American as the Doctor's latest companion and shoot Stateside. (Digital Spy)
Spike has ordered ten one-hour episodes of stunt-themed reality series Jesse James is a Dead Man from former Monster Garage star Jesse James, in which he'll prep for and carry out stunts. Series is slated to air in February 2009. (Variety)
Endemol has poached Tom Toumazis, Disney's managing director of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Canada to fill the newly created position of chief commercial officer. He's been tasked with expanding the distributor's drama and comedy business as well as third-party rights. Congrats, Tom! (Hollywood Reporter)
Stay tuned.
What's On Tonight
8 pm: Greatest American Dog (CBS); America's Got Talent (NBC; 8-10 pm); America's Next Top Model (CW); Wife Swap (ABC); Bones (FOX)
9 pm: Criminal Minds (CBS); Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious (CW); Supernanny (ABC); Bones (FOX)
10 pm: CBS News: Democratic National Convention (CBS); Dateline (NBC); Vote 08 (ABC)
What I'll Be Watching
9 pm: Project Runway on Bravo.
Season Five (the final season on Bravo) of Project Runway continues tonight. On tonight's episode ("Fashion That Drives You"), the designers have to think unconventionally as they rev up for their materials and Season Three's Laura Bennett drops by as a guest judge for next week's challenge.
Channel Surfing: "Lost" Resurrects a Dead Character; Some Life Still Left in Rob Thomas' "Good Behavior," and More
Good morning and welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing.
Everyone wanted to talk about yesterday's announcement that ABC had picked up five series (three dramas and two half-hour comedies) and had seemingly passed over Rob Thomas' Good Behavior (based on the Kiwi series Outrageous Fortune). But there's still hope for the Catherine O'Hara-led dramedy. ABC says that it hasn't yet made a decision on Good Behavior, half-hour comedy Never Better (starring Damon Wayans), or the untitled legal drama from David Hemingson (the script of which I quite enjoyed)... and it still has yet to screen Prince of Motor City and Captain Cook's Extraordinary Atlas. Keep your fingers crossed, Rob Thomas fans. (Variety)
SPOILER ALERT! Lost will resurrect--for one episode, anyway--one of its dead characters, likely as a flashback, vision, or ghostly apparition. And, no, it's not Artz. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)
Why does Battlestar Galactica seem to be gaining in viewer popularity even as its Nielsen ratings seem to be plummeting? (Associated Press)
Survivor fans will have to wait a week for the launch of Survivor: Gabon -- Earth's Last Eden. CBS has delayed the start of the latest Survivor iteration for a week, shifting the premiere to September 25th.
CTV has renewed cop drama Flashpoint--starring Enrico Colantoni, Hugh Dillon, and Amy Jo Johnson--with new episodes to appear sometime in 2009... but CBS, which airs the series in the States, has only committed to one season of the drama thus far. (The Globe and Mail)
A stack of casting notices: Megalyn Echikunwoke (The 4400) has been upped from recurring status to series regular on CBS' CSI: Miami, where she plays medical examiner Dr. Tara Price; Jill Flint (Six Degrees) has been cast in USA's dramedy pilot Royal Pains opposite Mark Feuerstein; Anjelah Johnson and Juliette Goglia will co-star in the untitled Dave Caplan comedy pilot for TBS with Valerie Bertinelli; and Jared Kusnitz and G Hannelius will appear in the CW's Media Rights Capital comedy Surviving Suburbia as the kids of Steve (Bob Saget) and Anne (Cynthia Stevenson). (Hollywood Reporter)
Marvel superheroes are hitting the small screen... in Japan, at least. The comic book publisher has signed a deal with Madhouse to create several series based on their popular stable of superheroes, the first four of which will launch in 2010. Characters, such as Wolverine and Iron Man, will be tweaked with new looks and histories that touch upon Japanese culture and history. (Variety)
Mario Lopez will host live music competition series MTV's Top Pop Group on, well, MTV. Series is set to launch on Thursday, September 11th, though you can catch a casting special on August 28th. (Futon Critic)
Lifetime has ordered three unscripted programs for daytime: 20-episode half-hour cooking series Mom's Cooking (launching in December as a strip); five half-hour episodes of Lisa Williams, featuring the famous psychic in a reformatted version of Lisa Williams: Life Among the Dead to launch as a week-long special event in October; and Fat Friends, a docuseries launching in January that follow a group of five California friends as they try to lose weight together before one of their number gets married. (Hollywood Reporter)
Fremantle has signed a two-year overall deal with America's Got Talent executive producer James Sunderland to continue in his current role on the NBC reality series and develop original series for the distributor. He's also developing the untitled Osbourne family variety series for FOX. (Variety)
Stay tuned.
What's On Tonight
8 pm: NCIS (CBS); America's Got Talent (NBC; 8-10 pm); Smallville (CW); Wipeout (ABC); House (FOX)
9 pm: Big Brother 10 (CBS); Reaper (CW); Wanna Bet (ABC); House (FOX)
10 pm: CBS News: Democratic National Convention (CBS); Dateline (NBC); Vote 08 (ABC)
What I'll Be Watching
8:40-9:20 pm: Gavin & Stacey on BBC America.
If my gushing review of this bittersweet (yes, it's literally bitter AND sweet) comedy wasn't enough, why not tune in yourself to see just how wonderful the brainchild of writer/co-stars Ruth Jones and James Corden really is? On tonight's series premiere, Gavin and Stacey finally plan to meet face to face in London after months of phone conversations and their best friends Smithy and Nessa tag along to provide moral support.
10 pm: Million Dollar Listing on Bravo.
I can't look away, no matter how hard I try...
In a move that surprised no one, CBS has gone ahead and renewed reality powerhouse Survivor for the 2008-09 season.
Additionally, Jeff Probst has also signed a new deal to continue on as the unflappable host of the series, which will return next season with its 17th and 18th installments.
"I still get excited to get on the plane and travel to another exotic location with another group of adventure-seeking, type-A personalities," Probst told The Hollywood Reporter. "It is without question the best job I've ever had."
Survivor's current installment launches February 7th while casting is already underway on the 17th season.
Meanwhile, fans of The Amazing Race will be happy to know that the sophisticated and decidedly unsnarky elder statesman of the reality genre will be returning with another season of Road Blocks, intra-team fighting, and Phil Keoghan.While there has still been no official announcement from CBS, The Amazing Race will definitely be returning for at least another cycle and the producers have begun to quietly staff the next installment, a source close to the production told me.
Which is definitely cause to celebrate.
Congrats, Anthony!
