Skip to main content

Channel Surfing: "Wonderfalls" Crossover Slated for "Pushing Daisies," Jesse L. Martin Donates to "Philanthropist," "Desperate Housewives," and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. I will admit that I felt the loss not having a new installment of The Office to watch last night and I still have Episodes Two and Three (next week's episode) to watch of Ugly Betty, but I did laugh my butt off watching the one-hour It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia last night, which not only gave us Mac and Charlie faking their own deaths but the very odd sight of Mac in a pawn shop wedding dress. (Congrats, BTW, to Rob McElhenny, who wed his Sunny co-star Kaitlin Olson this week.)

While the ratings for the launch of Pushing Daisies, were not exactly as sweet as honey for ABC, fans of the brilliant series can look forward to, among other things, a cross-over with Bryan Fuller's tragically-missed Wonderfalls in the eighth episode of the current season, according to Fuller in an interview. Just what this means and which Wonderfalls characters have been cast (an interesting dilemma as Lee Pace starred on that series as well) remains to be seen. But I for one would love to see Caroline Dhavernas' Jaye Tyler show up... (iF Magazine)

Jesse L. Martin (Law & Order) has been cast in NBC's upcoming drama The Philanthropist, opposite James Purefoy who plays Teddy Rist, a wealthy billionaire playboy who uses his wealth and connections to help people in need. Martin will play Philip Maidstone, Teddy's business partner and close friend. Production is slated to begin soon in London though the network has reduced the series' initial 13-episode commitment by several segments. (Hollywood Reporter)

Steven Weber (Brothers & Sisters) will turn up on ABC's Desperate Housewives this season as the thrice-divorced college professor lover of Susan's adult daughter Julie (Andrea Bowen). Look for the duo to turn up on Wisteria Lane next month. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

In other casting news, Wallace Shawn (The Princess Bride) has been cast in a multiple-episode arc on the CW's Gossip Girl, where he'll play the father of Serena's new boyfriend Aaron (Vanished's John Patrick Amedori) and a potential love interest for Blair's mother Eleanor. He'll first show up in the November 11th episode. (TV Guide)

Zeljko Ivanek will return for Season Two of Damages, despite shooting himself to death in the first season's penultimate episode. Ivanek, who won an Emmy last month for his amazing turn as Ray Fiske, will be making "several appearances" in Season Two... but something tells me that he won't be returning from the dead any time soon, unless Damages brings the Pie Maker to Hewes & Associates. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

AMC is developing a sci-fi series based on Kim Stanley Robinson's novel "Red Mars," with writer/executive producer Jonathan Hensleigh (Armageddon), about the inhabitants of the first human colony on Mars. (Hollywood Reporter)

NBC has moved the premiere of its six-episode reality competition series Momma's Boys to this fall, airing in the Wednesdays at 9 pm timeslot vacated by America's Got Talent beginning October 29th. Lest you think that NBC isn't wedded to this concept--in which 32 women try to win over three bachelors and their all-important mothers--casting on the second season has already begun this week. (Variety)

USA Today's Robert Bianco reviews the CW's Sunday night lineup, which it leased out to Media Rights Capital. In a view that's hardly surprising, Bianco says that all of the series are "missable"
and goes on to say that Valentine is "badly cast and sadly inept." Ouch. (USA Today)

ShineReveille International has come on board to distribute NBC's upcoming reality series Howie Do It, executive produced by and hosted by Howie Mandel (Deal or No Deal). Let's just hope that it's better than Mandel's performance at the Emmys last month. (Hollywood Reporter)

Comments

Anonymous said…
I would love to see Jaye Tyler on Pushing Daisies! But, as you said, I'm not quite sure how the crossover would work since Lee Pace played Jaye's brother and Diana Scarwid, who was their mom on Wonderfalls, is now playing the Mother Superior character on Pushing Daisies. Maybe Jaye's obsession with talking to inanimate objects drove her to the nunnery?
Anonymous said…
It will be fun to see Wallace Shawn on Gossip Girl...especially paired with Blair's mother, who I think is fantastic.

And I'm thrilled that we'll see Zeljko Ivanek again on Damages!
Anonymous said…
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned that in a way, Bryan Fuller already crossed Pushing Daisies with both Dead Like Me and with Wonderfalls. The first episode of the 2nd season has Diana Scarwid as mother superior at the nunnery. She played Jay's mother on Wonderfalls. Also, Ned mentioned the Happy Time temp agency, and that's the agency from Dead Like Me where George worked.
Anonymous said…
@anonymous. That was mentioned above. Bella beat me to it and said that Diana Scarwid played the Mother Superior. Jace also mentioned these points in his review of PD the other day.

I'd love to see Jaye and Mahandra show up at the Pie Hole and solve a mystery with the gang (a la Scooby Doo's team ups) but it would be definitely weird as Lee Pace played Jaye's bro and Mahandra's boyfriend. Maybe they'll remark that Ned looks familiar? :)

Popular posts from this blog

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

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

The Daily Beast: "How The Killing Went Wrong"

While the uproar over the U.S. version of The Killing has quieted, the show is still a pale imitation of the Danish series on which it is based. Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "How The Killing Went Wrong," in which I look at how The Killing has handled itself during its second season, and compare it to the stunning and electrifying original Danish series, Forbrydelsen , on which it is based. (I recently watched all 20 episodes of Forbrydelsen over a few evenings.) The original is a mind-blowing and gut-wrenching work of genius. It’s not necessary to rehash the anger that followed in the wake of the conclusion last June of the first season of AMC’s mystery drama The Killing, based on Søren Sveistrup’s landmark Danish show Forbrydelsen, which follows the murder of a schoolgirl and its impact on the people whose lives the investigation touches upon. What followed were irate reviews, burnished with the “burning intensity of 10,000 white-hot suns