Casting Couch: Showtime Locks Three for Two Pilots

Showtime certainly isn't stuck in the weeds.

Cabler, which recently unveiled new series Dexter and announced its intention to make all eight hours of its upcoming second season of Sleeper Cell (entitled Sleeper Cell: American Terror) available on VOD the same day as its premiere, has cast three actors in two of its new pilots.

Peter Facinelli (Fastlane, Six Feet Under) and Beth Riesgraf (MTV's Undressed, and a.k.a. the future Mrs. Jason Lee) have been cast in drama pilot Insatiable, where they will play a husband and wife who are both named Sandy who were former Olympic figure skaters. Facinelli's Sandy will be an abrasive yet handsome jock who is confined to a wheelchair following a car accident, while Riesgraf's Sandy will be a recovering alcholic who is oblivious to her husband's cruelty and extramarital affairs. Series is set in a small town where everyone suffers from some form of addiction.

Meanwhile, Paul Hipp (Carnivale, Three Sisters) has been cast in the Darren Star-adapted US version of British series Manchild, where he'll play a married father who works at an ad agency. Like the UK version, this series will revolve around four male friends in their forties who are all suffering--not from addiction in this case--but from mid-life crises.

Comments

Anonymous said…

Hmmm...I wasn't crazy about the Brit version of Manchild. It was an interesting idea (with a great cast) but didn't quite hit the mark. I'm interested to see what they do with the US version.

10/25/2006

Katie Lee Packs Her Knives: Breaking News from Bravo's "Top Chef"

The android has left the building. Or the test kitchen, anyway. Top Chef 's robotic host Katie Lee Joel, the veritable "Uptown Girl" herself (pictured at left), will NOT be sticking around for a second course of Bravo's hit culinary competition. According to a well-placed insider, Joel will "not be returning" to the show. No reason for her departure was cited. Unfortunately, the perfect replacement for Joel, Top Chef judge and professional chef Tom Colicchio, will not be taking over as the reality series' host (damn!). Instead, the show's producers are currently scouring to find a replacement for Joel. Top Chef 's second season was announced by Bravo last month, but no return date has been set for the series' ten-episode sophomore season. Stay tuned as this story develops. UPDATE (6/27): Bravo has now confirmed the above story .

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What's Done is Done: The Eternal Struggle Between Good and Evil on the Season Finale of "Lost"

Every story begins with thread. It's up to the storyteller to determine just how much they need to parcel out, what pattern they're making, and when to cut it short and tie it off. With last night's penultimate season finale of Lost ("The Incident, Parts One and Two"), written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, we began to see the pattern that Lindelof and Cuse have been designing towards the last five seasons of this serpentine series. And it was only fitting that the two-hour finale, which pushes us on the road to the final season of Lost , should begin with thread, a loom, and a tapestry. Would Jack follow through on his plan to detonate the island and therefore reset their lives aboard Oceanic Flight 815 ? Why did Locke want to kill Jacob? What caused The Incident? What was in the box and just what lies in the shadow of the statue? We got the answers to these in a two-hour season finale that didn't quite pack the same emotional wallop of previous season

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Pilot Inspektor: CBS' "Smith"

I may just have to change my original "What I'll Be Watching This Fall" post, as I sat down and finally watched CBS' new crime drama Smith this weekend. (What? It's taken me a long time to make my way through the stack of pilot DVDs.) While it's on following Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars on Tuesday nights (10 pm ET/PT, to be exact), I'm going to be sure to leave enough room on my TiVo to make sure that I catch this compelling, amoral drama. While one can't help but be impressed by what might just be the most marquee-friendly cast in primetime--Ray Liotta, Virginia Madsen, Jonny Lee Miller, Amy Smart, Simon Baker, and Franky G all star and Shohreh Aghdashloo has a recurring role--the pilot's premise alone earned major points in my book: it's a crime drama from the point of view of the criminals, who engage in high-stakes heists. But don't be alarmed; it's nothing like NBC's short-lived Heist . Instead, think of it as The Italian

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