Skip to main content

Channel Surfing: "Parenthood" Pushed to Midseason, Michelle Forbes Talks "True Blood," Two More Move to Wisteria Lane, and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing.

Following an announcement that actress Maura Tierney would require an eight-week medical evaluation for an undisclosed condition, NBC has pushed the start of its drama Parenthood, which was slated to debut on September 23rd, to midseason. The Peacock will instead push up the launch of its midseason medical drama Mercy to the fall, although it is still unclear whether Mercy will inherit Parenthood's Wednesdays at 8 pm timeslot. The production shutdown on Parenthood, meanwhile, will give writers additional time to complete scripts. (Hollywood Reporter)

UPDATE: "In an effort to guard my privacy, it seems that the wording of NBC's press release has unfortunately caused some confusion and undue alarm about my health," said Maura Tierney in an official statement. "I have discovered a tumor in my breast which requires surgery. I will not know either my exact diagnosis or course of treatment until that surgery is performed. My doctors have all assured me this is a very treatable condition. I'm very optimistic as to the outcome and want to thank everyone who has sent positive thoughts and support. I look forward to going back to work soon." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

TVGuide.com talks with True Blood's Michelle Forbes about Maryann, the shaking, the pig, and Maryann's interest in Tara. Of the latter, Forbes said, "Tara is just the one of the moment, the conduit into this town. Before her, it was Eggs. Before Eggs, it was someone else. After Tara, it will be someone else. The goal is much larger. Tara is just the most vulnerable and the most susceptible right now." As for the vibrations, Forbes says they "are very integral to who she is. She thrives off the energy of the people around her. When they are in a place of ecstasy, that feeds her. Her appetite is fed off the appetite of others." Hmmm... (TVGuide.com)

Jeffrey Nordling (24) and Beau Mirchoff (The Grudge 3) have been cast in Season Six of ABC's Desperate Housewives as series regulars. Nordling will play a landscape designer who relocates from New York to Wisteria Lane with his wife (Drea de Matteo) and their "tightly wound, sexy and intense son (Mirchoff)." (Hollywood Reporter)

Showtime is said to be developing drama series Revelation, from Dirty Sexy Money creator Craig Wright and executive producer David Janollari. Project, from CBS TV Studios, follows the lives of an "unconventional minister who moves to a Texas church with his two teens after his wife suddenly dies." (Variety)

Eric McCormack (Will & Grace) has joined the cast of CBS' The New Adventures of Old Christine in a recurring role. He'll play a therapist and a potential love interest for Julia Louis-Dreyfus' Christine Campbell. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Sci Fi UK has picked up first run rights to Syfy's newest drama series Warehouse 13, securing both standard definition and HD rights to the series from NBC Universal International Television Distribution. The channel plans to launch the series this autumn. "There was a tremendous buzz ahead of its launch in the US and the first night ratings are testament to what a fantastic show it is," said NBCU Global Network's head of channels. "The special effects and exciting plot twists make it a real gem for our autumn schedule."(Broadcast)

Not unsurprisingly, ShineReveille has acquired worldwide distribution rights to NBC's documentary series The Wanted, which features terrorism experts attempting to track down terrorism suspects around the world. ShineReveille intents to shop the series to outlets around the globe. (Variety)

The New York Times' Bill Carter takes a look at the ratings success that is HBO's True Blood, which has come at a time when the pay cabler desperately needed a hit series following the end of such network-defining series such as The Sopranos and Sex and the City. (New York Times)

TNT has moved its reality series Wedding Day once more, after slotting it in a Tuesday evening timeslot for its series premiere and then shifting it to Thursdays. Wedding Day will now air Saturday mornings at 9 am ET/PT. In other scheduling news, Bravo has announced that it will air yet another Real Housewives special on Thursday, July 23rd, this time for The Real Housewives of Atlanta featuring "lost footage," that will lead into the season finale of The Fashion Show and will air a week ahead of the second season premiere of The Real Housewives of Atlanta. (Futon Critic)

PBS will begin stripping its new reinvention of classic kids' series The Electric Company across weekdays on September 7th. It had previously aired the series in a weekly format, so far airing sixteen of the thirty-five installments it shot in 2008. (Variety)

Lastly, a look at the trailer for ABC's drama acquisition Defying Gravity, courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed:



Stay tuned.

Comments

Marcus said…
RE: The Wanted

So, now we're going to show terrorists the methods we use to track them so they can adjust and refine their techniques to allude us accordingly?
I wonder how Warehouse 13 will play in Britain. They're much more used to quirky SciFi (syfy?) than we are. I am hoping that the show picks up a bit and plays better in an hour-episode. The two-hour pilot was way too long.
rockauteur said…
Jeffrey Nordling is great! He was awesome on Dirt, even better on 24, and I'm still upset they killed him off; I thought his character development was fantastic and just as he came around to supporting Bauer, choke, dead by Tony Almeda and a bullet from another baddie. I think he will add much needed spark to Desperate Housewives and actually have a male actor on the show who isn't so desperate.

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