[Televisionary]

The Doctor is heading to America. Season Six of Doctor Who will not only see the Doctor and Amy head to the States for an upcoming two-part episode to air in 2011 (which will be co-produced by BBC America), but the production itself will head across the pond to shoot scenes, marking the first time that the venerable sci-fi franchise has actually shot within the U.S. Matt Smith and Karen Gillan will be joined by Artur Darvill's Rory and Alex Kingston's River Song as they head for the U.S. in mid-November to shoot scenes that will be set in the Utah desert and the Oval Office... and in the 1960s. Production on the non-US location-based scenes will get underway this month. “The Doctor has visited every weird and wonderful planet you can imagine, so he was bound get round to America eventually!" said Doctor Who head writer/executive producer Steven Moffat. "And of course every Doctor Who fan will be jumping up and down and saying he’s been in America before. But not fo

I've found myself extremely distracted this morning. The cause: this gorgeous sizzle reel put together by BBC for their upcoming drama offerings, which include Accused, Aurelio Zen, Christopher and His Kind, The Crimson Petal and the White, Doctor Who Christmas Special, The First Men in the Moon, Hattie, Lip Service, The Nativity, Outcasts, The Shadow Line, Silk, Single Father, The Song of Lunch, South Riding, Toast, Upstairs Downstairs, When Harvey Met Bob , and Women in Love . (Whew.) Look for cameos from Matt Smith, David Tennant, and Christopher Eccleston, which must be the first time the three most recent actors playing the Doctor have appeared in anything together. Even if it is just a sizzle reel. You can view Auntie Beeb's slick and provocative reel below. Just be forewarned: you'll probably want to watch it again and again. Meanwhile, the Beeb also announced upcoming dramas from Sam Mendes, Jane Campion, and Sir David Hare. The full press release from the BBC can b

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. File this under: oh my god. Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello and Andy Patrick are reporting that Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller is developing an update of--wait for it-- The Munsters . NBC has ordered a pilot for the project, which is being described as " Modern Family meets True Blood ." If that wasn't enough to whet your appetite, Ausiello and Patrick also report that Guillermo del Toro ( Hellboy ) might executive produce as well. Jaw officially on the floor... ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos talks to Undercovers executive producer J.J. Abrams about the NBC espionage drama and about several topics on everyone's minds: namely that rumored Alias reboot and the Terry O'Quinn/Michael Emerson NBC drama pilot. News of a potential Alias reboot were news to Abrams, despite unnamed sources at the network telling Dos Santos that they're still

Yes, I'm back from my holiday-slash-birthday-weekend-extravaganza and catching up on what I missed while I was gone, including news about three of my favorite series, all of which happen to hail from the other side of the pond, and a fourth that is likely to become a new favorite when it launches next year. (Hint: it involves the creators of Life on Mars/Ashes to Ashes and novelist Kate Atkinson.) Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat has indicated that Season Six of the time-travel drama series will be split into two separate segments, with seven episodes to air in the first half of 2011 and six episodes to air in fall 2011. What comes between? Well, a "game-changing cliffhanger," according to Moffat, speaking at the Edinburgh International Television Festival . (You can watch video of the session over at The Guardian as well.) "Looking at the next series I thought what this show needs is a big event in the middle," said Moffat. "I kept referring to a mid

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello is reporting that James Tupper ( Mercy ) has joined the cast of ABC's Grey's Anatomy , where he is set to recur as trauma counselor Andrew Perkins, who is "brought in to help Seattle Grace recover from that nightmarish season-ending bloodbath" and who will appear in at least two episodes next season. ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) The Chicago Tribune 's Maureen Ryan has some dish on the casting--and recasting--going on at HBO's upcoming fantasy drama Game of Thrones . "Varys, the calculating spymaster for the king of Westeros, will be played by UK actor Conleth Hill," writes Ryan. "The role of Waymar Royce has been recast due to a scheduling issue. Jamie Campbell-Bower had played the role in the pilot but when the producers decided to do reshoots of his scenes, Campbell-Bower was unavailable. The role of Royce will now be played by Ro

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. They have... returned? V star Laura Vandervoort will reprise her role as Kara on the CW's Smallville for the series' tenth and final season, reports Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello. But don't get too excited, Supergirl fans: Vandervoort is only expected to appear in one installment of the Warner Bros. Television-produced superhero drama, scheduled to air in October. ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) Just what is going on with FOX's Terra Nova at Comic-Con? After the official San Diego Comic-Con 2010 schedule was announced over the last few days, 20th Century Fox Television opted to pull the panel for its upcoming prehistoric/time-travel drama starring Jason O'Mara from the convention. "Since production on the Jason O’Mara starrer isn’t expected to start until September, the producers don’t have any footage to show the fans in San Diego," writes Entertainment Weekly 's L

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. True Blood 's Alan Ball is furthering his relationship with HBO. Ball, who created the pay cabler's vampire drama (based on the novels by Charlaine Harris), has signed on to direct and executive producer noir drama pilot All Signs of Death , which is based on Charlie Huston's novel "The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death." Huston himself will pen the pilot script, with production set to begin next month in Los Angeles... though there are no current cast attachments on the project, which will revolve around "a knockaround twentysomething who discovers he has a knack for being a crime scene cleaner, and his life gets messy from there." ( Variety ) Bubs Alert! Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Andre Royo ( The Wire ) has been cast as a guest star in the third season premiere of FOX's Fringe , citing unnamed sources. Royo will reportedly play Henry, described as &quo

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. Elijah Wood ( Lord of the Rings ) will star opposite Jason Gann in the pilot for FX's US adaptation of Aussie comedy Wilfred , about a man and his talking dog, the latter of which will be voiced by Gann, the original creator of the series. Project hails from writer David Zuckerman ( Family Guy ) and director Randall Einhorn ( The Office ). Production is slated to begin this summer. ( Hollywood Reporter 's The Live Feed ) Larry King will be hanging up his trademark suspenders this fall after 25 years as the host of Larry King Live in order to spend more time with his family. The Los Angeles Times ' Matea Gold and Yvonne Villarreal have a fantastic interview with King about his decision to leave CNN. "I said, 'I can't top this,'" King told the Times on Tuesday. "I'm not getting younger. I want more time with other things. It's time to go... The daily grind is tough. And there are aspec

How cool is this? Doctor Who star Matt Smith took to the stage at the Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts to perform the theme song to Doctor Who , appearing on stage alongside Orbital this week. Yes, the Doctor himself was on hand to partake in a performance at Glasto, and it's worth noting that the version of the Doctor Who theme that he performed was the iconic 1970s/1980s version of the Doctor Who opening credits music, rather than the more recent versions arranged for the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors. And, yes, I wish I was there... The full video of Doctor Who 's Matt Smith appearing on stage at Glastonbury can be found below. Doctor Who airs Saturday evenings on BBC America.

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. Showtime's Dexter is on a casting role. Variety 's Stuart Levine is reporting that Jonny Lee Miller ( Eli Stone ) is the latest to board the serial killer drama, signing on to appear in a multiple-episode story arc on Season Five of Dexter . Miller will play "a mysterious man who ends up tangled in a storyline with Julia Stiles, who is beginning her first season on the skein." ( Variety ) Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Jordana Spiro has exited NBC's midseason romantic anthology series Love Bites . Spiro's participation in the series was always in second position to her role on TBS comedy My Boys , which returns for its fourth season next month. "Although the odds appear slim that TBS will renew the show for a fifth season (season 4 premieres July 25), it was a risk NBC apparently wasn’t willing to take," writes Ausiello. "It’s unclear if her role will be recast.

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Jennifer Jason Leigh and Alanis Morissette will return to Weeds for the Showtime dark comedy's sixth season, set to launch August 16th. Leigh will reprise her role as Nancy's sister Jill in one episode, with Morissette due to appear in two episodes as Andy's girlfriend Audra Kitson, who also happened to be Nancy's doctor. ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) Deadline's Nellie Andreeva is reporting that Jamie Foxx has shot a trailer for a potential television project entitled Tommy's Little Girl , which features Paul Sorvino, Selma Blair, James Russo, and Tony Sirico. Project would revolve around the relationship between a mobster (Sorvino) and his daughter (Blair) and will be pitched to cable networks. ( Deadline ) Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello has an interview with newly promoted Grey's Anatomy series regular Sarah

What do we have when even memories fade? When our own past is brutally ripped away from us, when time itself is so malleable that it can be rewritten to erase the memory of a loved one from existence itself? The Doctor has traveled throughout time and space, arriving at fixed points in time and others that are far more changeable. He's witnessed beautiful and terrible things but likely none more heartbreaking than being forced to remember it all, even when those around you forget, waking up to a false dream that's far too real and far too tragic. On this week's episode of Doctor Who ("Cold Blood"), the second half of the installment established in last week's "The Hungry Earth," the Doctor attempted to launch a desperate rescue mission under the surface of the Earth to recover those taken by the Silurians to their civilization down below--including Amy Pond herself--while on the surface, Rory and a ragrag group attempted to gain information from the

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Rand Ravich's ABC drama pilot Edgar Floats , which recently received an order for six additional scripts, will be completely reconceived, with nearly all of the original cast--including series leads Tom Cavanagh and Alicia Witt and supporting players Derek Webster, Alex Solowitz, and Raoul Trujillo--getting the axe. (Only Robert Patrick will remain.) Deadline's Nellie Andreeva, meanwhile, has some further insight into the decision made by ABC. "People have been divided on Cavanagh's performance, while Patrick has been almost universally hailed as the pilot's scene stealer," she writes. "I hear ABC brass like the idea of Edgar Floats and the central character but the project is being re-conceived, with the six additional scripts still being written." [Editor: seeing as Edgar Floats was my favorite broadcast pilot of the development cyc