[Televisionary]

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. Bad news for Tim Riggins fans. Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Friday Night Lights executive producer Jason Katims has confirmed that Taylor Kitsch will "will miss part" of the production of Season Five of Friday Night Lights , due to his role in Disney's feature film adaptation of Edgar Rice Burrough's "John Carter of Mars." But there's still hope that they can work around Kitsch's schedule. "We are communicating with the [John Carter] production to work out the schedule so that Taylor can be in as much of season 5 as possible," said Katims. Production begins on the fifth season in March. ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) HBO has given a pilot order to Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Films for an untitled drama about a woman who walks out on her perfect marriage and children in order to fulfill her secret fantasies in the seedy underbelly of Los Angel

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. I'm leaving Vancouver today after an extremely action-packed day that saw me tour the sets of Syfy's Caprica, Stargate Universe , and Sanctuary . More on that to come in the next few days... On to the headlines now. Wowzers! Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello is reporting that talks have broken down between Helen Hunt's reps and producers for NBC midseason drama Parenthood . But the fantastic news is that Ausiello is saying that Gilmore Girls star Lauren Graham has been offered the role of single mother Sarah Braverman (played by Maura Tierney in the original pilot episode) and that she "recently met with Parenthood boss Jason Katims... to discuss the plum part." ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) HBO has given an early series renewal to freshman comedy Bored to Death , handing the Jason Schwartzman-led series a second season order following its third episode, which landed its largest au

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. David Anders ( Alias, Heroes ) has been cast in a recurring role on Day Eight of FOX's 24 and Zap2It's Rick Porter has managed to obtain some further information about Anders' villainous character. Anders, who is slated to appear in a handful of episodes next season, will play Josef Bazhaev, the son of an Eastern European mobster, who is described in casting breakdowns as being the "heir apparent to an Eastern Promises -style godfather. Josef is a dangerous man but is cautious and worries about things more than his father." ( Zap2It ) Just a few days after the opening of feature film The Time Traveler's Wife , ABC has announced that it is teaming up with Friends creator Marta Kaufman and Warner Bros. Television to develop a drama series based around the film (itself an adaptation of Audrey Niffenegger's novel). Kaufman will write the pilot script and executive produce. "ABC executives believe the

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. NBC and DirecTV have reached a deal to renew drama series Friday Night Lights for two more seasons of 13 episodes each. Following the same model as the air structure this season, DirecTV will get the first window of the fourth and fifth seasons of Friday Night Lights before NBC airs them. Look for current cast members Taylor Kitsch, Matt Gilford, and Adrianne Palicki, who all play seniors, to potentially leave the series but the trio may reprise their roles on a recurring basis in order to wrap up their characters' storylines. ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files , E! Online ) Lucy Lawless will star in Starz' upcoming gladiator series Spactacus: Blood and Sand , from executive producers Rob Tapert, Sam Raimi, and Josh Donen. She'll play gladiator camp owner Lucretia, opposite Aussie series lead Andy Whitfield ( The Strip ). Project, which start shooting next month, is expected to air in January 2010. ( Variety ,

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. Jason Dohring ( Veronica Mars ) and Minka Kelly ( Friday Night Lights ) have signed on to star in CW drama pilot Body Politic , from CBS Paramount Network Television. Dohring will play a Washington Post reporter while Kelly will play Hope, a young woman who leaves Michigan after the death of her mother to take a position in Washington in as a staffer for a senator (Tim Matheson), who has just been named Attorney General. Fans of Friday Night Lights shouldn't worry, however: Kelly's casting here doesn't signal the end of FNL as she was not set to return as a series regular next season but will instead turn up in Season Four in a multiple-episode story arc should the series be renewed. ( Hollywood Reporter ) ABC has confirmed that Ashley Jensen will leave Ugly Betty at the end of the season; it's no secret that the actress was "less than thrilled" when Betty moved production from Los Angeles to New York la

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. I don't know about you but this time change is killing me. Still, last night's episode of Chuck went a long way to making me feel better about the week. While we now know who will be playing the Eleventh Doctor, there's been much speculation about who will play the companion to the next Doctor, to be played by Matt Smith in the fifth season of Doctor Who . The latest rumor? That former Skins star Hannah Murray--who played the delightfully out-there Cassie--is in "secret chats" with the BBC about joining Smith in Doctor Who 's fifth season, set to air in 2010. "Hannah did some challenging stuff in Skins and they see her as an up-and-comer," said an unnamed BBC insider. Of course, this rumor is being floated by the News of the World , so take it with a (very large) grain of salt. ( Digital Spy , News of the World ) Oscar nominee Melissa Leo ( Frozen River ) has joined the cast of HBO ensemble dram

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. A slew of pilot castings were announced over the weekend, including former Firefly star Morena Baccarin landing the pivotal role of Anna in ABC's sci-fi pilot V , a remake of the 1980s cult series about an alien invasion. Baccarin will play the charismatic Anna, the leader of the Visitors who is able to manipulate the media very effectively and shows a breadth of knowledge about human culture. ( H ollywood Reporter ) Ryan Hansen ( Veronica Mars ) and Cynthia Watros ( Lost ) have joined the cast of the untitled Gossip Girl prequel backdoor pilot, which will air May 11th. Watros will play Lily's mother CeCe, while Hansen will play Shep, a friend of Owen (Shiloh Fernandez), who has a thing for Lily's older sister Carol (Krysten Ritter). ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) Ashlee Simpson-Wentz ( Seventh Heaven ) has been last in CW's drama pilot Melrose Place , an update of the 1990s FOX mainstay. She'll p

Good morning and welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. Thanks to all for the birthday wishes both via email and Facebook (I had a wonderful birthday dinner at Comme Ca and saw Ali Larter and Amy Smart); it was definitely a birthday to remember. NBC has gone ahead and ordered the back nine episodes of action-comedy series Chuck a month before the start of its sophomore season. As all Chuck fans know, the first season of the genre-busting series was cut short by the writers strike last season and the Peacock only aired 13 episodes. Series co-creator Josh Schwartz called the news "unexpected" and went to say, "It's an incredible show of faith by NBC and so amazingly nice to get based on the work alone." I couldn't have put it better myself and am pleased as punch that Chuck will get to air 22 episodes this year. Happy days! Chuck returns to the airwaves September 29th. ( Variety ) The Peacock also ordered a fourth season of reality competit

Good morning and welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. (Is it really Wednesday already? Wow.) Doc Jensen has the scoop on the title of the fifth season premiere of Lost : "Because You Left." Wowsers, that's a fantastic title, no? You'll have to brave reading through Jeff's write-ups of the Lost panel at Comic-Con and the new Dharma Initiative-based ARG (along with an important message about the upcoming Stand Up 2 Cancer television special on September 5th) but it's right there at the very end of Doc's latest treatise on the ABC drama. ( Entertainment Weekly ) Sigh. Yet another feature film en route to the small screen: ABC has given a put pilot commitment to a series adaptation of the 2002 Jennifer Lopez feature film Maid in Manhattan , about a maid--not the Jennifer Lopez character but a different maid--and single mother who works at a posh Manhattan hotel and falls for a politician who mistakes her for a guest. (I guess those new maid