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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...

Comments

karigee said…
Can I be the first to say "YAY!"? Thanks for at least a snippet of hopeful news on "Good Behavior" this morning, Jace! At the very least, I would hope ABC puts it on their '09 fall schedule.
Anonymous said…
I'll second that. I was surprised that ABC decided not to order "Good Behavior". It sounded much better than the other stuff they did order. I hope that Rob doesn't get side tracked by "Cupid" and drop "Good Behavior".
Anonymous said…
I would also really like to see "Good Behavior" get a chance. Both Rob Thomas and Catherine O'Hara are enormously talented and I hope ABC gives the show a chance!
Anonymous said…
Rumor around town is they let Catherine O-hara and Gary Cole go, but kept the kids on, and are debating about reshooting it with new parents! Maybe they will get Rene Russo after all...? Either way the kids all tested very high (Patrick Adams, Stephanie Lemelin and May Whitman)
KHassist said…
I have heard the Untitled David Hemingson Project 2.0 is dazzling the test groups and early reviewers. It seems they changed the tone of the show to give it a weightier edge, and to keep the camp factor lower. The recasts have made it a considerable improvement- hot property. Would not be surprised if this one gets a series order.

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