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Showing posts with the label Ugly Betty

Channel Surfing: J.J. Abrams Back in Spy Game, Aylesworth Briefed for "Damages," FX Orders "Terriers," "Lights Out" to Series, and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. The Wrap's Josef Adalian is reporting that J.J. Abrams is returning to the spy business with a new potential series project with writer/executive producer Josh Reims ( Felicity, Dirty Sexy Money ) and executive producer Bryan Burk that is the subject of a heated bidding war with several broadcast networks including ABC, NBC, and CBS. The untitled project, from Warner Bros. Television and Bad Robot, follows a husband and wife who work as spies. According to Adalian, the script is described as a "fun romp" in the style of classic television spy adventures. ( The Wrap ) Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Reiko Aylesworth ( 24, Lost ) has been cast in Season Three of FX's legal drama Damages in a recurring role. Details about who Aylesworth--who starred in the original pilot for ABC drama series The Forgotten--will be playing are being kept firmly under wraps. ( Entertainment Weekly 's A

Channel Surfing: NBC to Stream "Chuck" Episodes Online, Desmond Harrington to Get More "Gossip," Andrew Connelly Powers Up for "Heroes," and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello is reporting that NBC will today begin streaming already aired episodes of Chuck on its website. For now, the installments include the original pilot episode and the entire second season of Chuck , which is being released in batches of five episodes at a time. Chuck is currently slated to return to the airwaves in March. ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) TVGuide.com's Natalie Abrams is reporting that Desmond Harrington ( Dexter ) will reprise his role as Jack Bass on the CW's Gossip Girl later this season. "I will be back this year," Harrington told Abrams. "I think it's episode 15 or 16 where I show back up. It's fun playing Uncle Jack... I think, if anything, I am there to screw that kid's life up basically," Harrington says. "I think he might be, out of all the most evil characters the show has ever had on it, the most evil cha

Channel Surfing: Ed Norton Drops By "Modern Family," Bryan Fuller and Bryan Singer Team Up at NBC, Anna Camp Heads to "The Office," and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Ed Norton will guest star on an upcoming episode of ABC's new comedy series Modern Family . Norton will play "the bassist of a famous band whom Claire (Julie Bowen) hires as an anniversary surprise for husband Phil (Ty Burrell)," writes Ausiello. His episode is slated to air in November. ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) Pushing Daisies ' Bryan Fuller and Bryan Singer are teaming up to develop SelleVision , a comedic one-hour adaptation of Augusten Burrough's novel, which is set behind the scenes at a home shopping network. Fuller will write the pilot script while Singer is attached to direct; both will executive produce with Mark Bozek and Russell Nuce. Universal Media Studio is behind the adaptation. "We were all big fans of Augusten and the book, and we all got along great," Fuller told Variety . "So we decided to get

Channel Surfing: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau Ascends to "Thrones," FOX Breaks in with Olmstead and Santora, Edie Falco Talks "Nurse Jackie," and More

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

Channel Surfing: Patton Oswalt Lands on "Caprica," NBC to Attend "Midnight, Mass," January Jones Talks "Mad" Betty Draper, and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. Patton Oswalt ( United States of Tara ) has been cast in a recurring role on Syfy's upcoming Battlestar Galactica prequel series Caprica , where he will play Baxter Sarno, the comedian talk show host of a Caprican-based television series on which Eric Stoltz's Daniel Greystone and Paula Malcomson's Amanda Greystone appear. Oswalt is no stranger to genre-based series; he did a memorable guest turn on FOX's Dollhouse last season in the game-changing episode "Man on the Street" (pictured here). Caprica is slated to launch in January 2010 on Syfy. ( Hollywood Reporter ) NBC has ordered a pilot script for Midnight, Mass , a series adaptation of DC Comics/Vertigo title about Adam and Julia Kadmons, a married couple who travel the world solving mysteries and tackling bizarre supernatural crimes. Pilot script will be written by Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts, who will executive produce along with Pushing Daisies

Channel Surfing: Barrowman Could Get "Desperate," Michael Hogan Checks into "Dollhouse," USA Renews "In Plain Sight," and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. Torchwood star John Barrowman has told BBC1 Radio host Chris Moyle that he is meeting with the producers of ABC's Desperate Housewives about a possible role on the series next season. "I'm off to Los Angeles on Sunday again," said Barrowman on the air. "I probably shouldn't say this but I've got a meeting with the execs of Desperate Housewives ; can you believe it, I'm going to be a Desperate Housewife!" No word yet on what role Barrowman could be playing or if a deal is in place for the actor to come on board the long-running drama. ( Guardian 's Media Monkey ) The Chicago Tribune 's Maureen Ryan is reporting that former Battlestar Galactica co-star Michael Hogan will be guest starring in an upcoming episode of FOX's Dollhouse this fall. Hogan, set to appear in the second episode of the sophomore season, will play "a customer of the Dollhouse who has used the services of the

Channel Surfing: Monaghan Gets "Lost" for Three Episodes, Joey Lauren Adams Falls for "Tara," "Ugly" Betty's New Look Focus-Grouped, and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. E! Online's Watch with Kristin is reporting that Dominic Monaghan will reprise his role as rocker Charlie Pace on ABC's Lost next season for three episodes. "Sources tell us exclusively that, yes, Dom's deal to reappear on Lost is done and that the original castmember is set to appear in three episodes in Season Six," writes Jennifer Godwin. "No word yet on the answer to the big question: Is Charlie alive? We'll have to wait until Lost returns to ABC in January 2010 to find out." ( E! Online's Watch with Kristin ) Joey Lauren Adams ( Party Down ) has joined the cast of Showtime's United States of Tara for the series' second season. Adams will play Pammy, a barmaid who "has a history of picking the wrong guys," writes Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello. "Her luck changes the day she meets 'Buck' and falls head over heels in love." She'll appea

Channel Surfing: Richardson to Reign on "Tudors," Ty Pennington on "Great British Adventure" for ABC, Jamie-Lynn Sigler Gets "Ugly," and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Nip/Tuck 's Joely Richardson has been cast in the fourth and final season of Showtime's The Tudors , where she would play King Henry VIII's final wife, Katherine Parr. The Tudors is set to return in Spring 2010 and Showtime would not comment on the casting. ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) In a first, British channel UKTV has sold lifestyle special Ty's Great British Adventure to ABC. Special, which will air Sunday, August 2nd at 8 pm on ABC, features Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 's Ty Pennington transforming the rundown Cornish beach down of Portreath, including commissioning a children's park, a sports shop, and walking routes, along with other improvements. ( Broadcast ) Jamie-Lynn Sigler ( The Sopranos ) has joined the cast of ABC's Ugly Betty , where she will recur as Natalie, Daniel Meade's new assistant who is des

Channel Surfing: Syfy Discovers "Alien Nation," ABC Falls for "Defying Gravity," "Castle" Novel Out Next Month, and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. Syfy is developing a new incarnation of Alien Nation , the 1988 feature film that spun off into a FOX drama, with writer/executive producer Tim Minear ( Firefly, Drive ). The project, from Fox21, will tell the story of the partnership between a veteran police officer and an alien detective in the Pacific Northwest as the two races attempt to live side-by-side on Earth following the aliens' arrival and efforts to assimilate into human society. The new version will include a mythology that will unfold over time and will use contemporary issues, such as immigration, racism, terrorism, and paranoia, in its storytelling. "It's very much in keeping with what we've been looking to do -- find themes that are more than just hard sci-fi, something that feels contemporary and relevant and invites a broad audience in," said Syfy original programming EVP Mark Stern. "It's genre mixed with procedural mixed with fun

Channel Surfing: Eddie Cibrian Flies to "CSI: Miami," Feuerstein Talks "Royal Pains," Daniel Eric Gold Bumped to Regular on "Ugly Betty," and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. Eddie Cibrian ( The Starter Wife ) has joined the cast of CBS' CSI: Miami as a series regular next season, where he will play a Hollywood police officer that joins the team in Miami. Cibrian most recently appeared in CBS drama pilot Washington Field, which was not picked up to series by the network. Meanwhile, the series' producers confirmed that Adam Rodriguez will be returning next season. ( Hollywood Reporter ) E! Online's Watch with Kristin caught up with Royal Pains star Mark Feuerstein to find out just what the USA drama has in store for Hank, Jill, and Evan, among other things. "You can expect moments of happiness interspersed with tempestuous fights that are filled with the sexual tension that we have, which leads to either our complete and total demise or our hot and heavy desire to continue that is challenged by lots of different circumstances," said Feuerstein. As for Hank and Evan's relationsh

Channel Surfing: CBS Cans "Unit," "Eleventh," "Without a Trace," CW Orders "Melrose," "Vampire Diaries," "Beautiful Life," NBC Axes "Earl," and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. CBS has opted to cancel dramas The Unit, Without a Trace , and Eleventh Hour and will renew dramas Cold Case and NUMB3RS and comedies The New Adventures of Old Christine and Gary Unmarried . ( Hollywood Reporter ) CW has ordered three new drama series for next season, giving the greenlight to Melrose Place, Vampire Diaries , and The Beautiful Life , while Privileged, Reaper, Everybody Hates Chris , and The Game have all been officially cancelled. Meanwhile, the CW has announced that it will not go ahead with the planned spin-off of Gossip Girl but has indicated that drama Life Unexpected remains in contention for a midseason order. The network will unveil its schedule to advertisers tomorrow. ( Variety , Hollywood Reporter ) After NBC's cancellation of comedy series My Name is Earl , producers on the 20th Century Fox Television-produced series are said to be shopping it elsewhere, including to FOX and ABC. Series co-star

Channel Surfing: Lindelof on "Lost" Finale, Olyphant Not Leaving "Damages," "Southland" Cast Feeling Positive About Renewal, and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. Just shortly after the airing of Lost 's 100th episode, The New York Times ' Dave Itzkoff recalls a recent interview with showrunner Damon Lindelof about he and the writing staff are preparing for the end of Lost in May 2010. "I think one of our biggest concerns is reaching the climax of the story too soon – you have to time it right, you have to walk that line between giving a steady supply of story and character pathos and mysteries being answered along the way, so that the audience doesn’t feel like it all comes in one big chunk," said Lindelof. "But then if you do it too soon, they kind of feel like, 'I got everything that I cared about halfway through the season, so why am I still watching?' And it’s terrifying. Finally, we’re going to do it. There’s no excuses, we don’t get to say, 'We didn’t get to end the show on our own terms. They kept us on the air three years longer than we wanted to be.

Channel Surfing: Evan Rachel Wood Bites into "True Blood," Mary-Louise Parker Not Leaving "Weeds," "Lost" 100th Episode to "Flash Forward," and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. Evan Rachel Wood ( The Wrestler ) has been cast on HBO's True Blood , where she will guest star in two episodes as Sophie-Anne, a 500-year-old French vampire who is the Queen of Louisiana. Woods will turn up towards the end of Season Two, which kicks off on June 14th, but is expected to reprise her role should True Blood be renewed for a third season. Her character, Sophie-Anne, is described as "who is charming, wily, ruthless and wise. She's a consummate diplomat who has (or had) many of history's most famous people on speed dial." ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) Nancy Botwin may have left Agrestic behind but Weeds ' Mary-Louise Parker isn't going anywhere. "No. That's not true," said series creator Jenji Kohan when asked whether Parker would leave Weeds now that Jennifer Jason Leigh had been cast in the series. Leigh's character will appear in just a handful of episo