Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts with the label Gossip Girl

Channel Surfing: "Chuck" On the Bubble for Renewal, "Seinfeld" Cast Members Reunite for "Curb," "Life on Mars" Will Get Different Ending, and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. Variety 's Michael Schneider takes a look at the current batch of network series that are on the bubble for renewal next season, including NBC's Chuck and Life and FOX's Lie to Me and Dollhouse . Chuck co-creator Josh Schwartz is pitching a "game-changing" season finale to NBC execs in the next few weeks but its chances for renewal will "mostly be up to how well those shows perform during the final weeks of the season -- and how all those pilots look once the nets head into the screening room." Complicating matters for Chuck is the reduction of primetime real estate at the network, with The Jay Leno Show taking five of its primetime hours this fall. ( Variety ) This, that, and the other: The cast of Seinfeld --Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander, and Michael Richards--appear with co-creator Larry David in a multiple-episode story arc on Curb Your Enthusiasm 's seventh season,

Channel Surfing: Evangeline Lilly to Stay Put on "Lost," "Gossip Girl" Spin-off Finds Its Lily, Capshaw to Stay on at Seattle Grace, and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. Kate isn't going anywhere, any time soon: Reps for Evangeline Lilly have denied a recent report on Zap2it.com that claimed that the Lost star was seeking work on another television project for this fall and have maintained that the actress is under contract on Lost until May 2010, when the series ends. We have no idea how this rumor got started," Lilly's rep told Michael Ausiello, "and whoever started it didn’t call us or ABC to verify the validity of it, for which there is none." ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) UPDATE : E! Online's Kristin has spoken with Lilly herself, who said that she isn't leaving Lost anytime soon. "I am very happy on Lost ," said Lilly, "and have no reason to look anywhere else for a home." ( E! Online's Watch with Kristin ) Brittany Snow ( American Dreams ) will star in the Gossip Girl prequel spin-off, currently being referred to in the

Channel Surfing: Delany Wonders Who Will Be Next to Leave Wisteria Lane, CW Orders "Melrose Place," Starz Renews "Crash," and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. Dana Delany admitted that none of Wisteria Lane's residents feel exactly safe these days, following the announcement that Nicollette Sheridan will leave Desperate Housewives . "Everyone is vulnerable on Wisteria Lane -- any of us could go," said Delany. "Every single person in that cast feels like their days are numbered. I think [Marc Cherry] likes to keep people on their toes." An upcoming storyline will find Delany's Katherine in potential jeopardy. "It's good," said Delany of the upcoming plot, "because that sense of not knowing keeps the actors on their toes and it keeps the audience anticipating." ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) Pilot helmer alert: The CW has given an official pilot order to Melrose Place , an update of the soap to be overseen by Darren Swimmer and Todd Slavkin ( Smallville ). Pilot, from CBS Paramount Network Television, will be directed by Dav

Channel Surfing: Michael Vartan Scrubs In for TNT, "Breaking Bad" Gets Webisodes, Marvel Hatches Cartoon Network Series, and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. I hope everyone had a very happy three-day weekend. (I know I did.) A few headlines on yet another rain-soaked day in Los Angeles... Former Alias star Michael Vartan has joined the cast of TNT drama series Time Heals , where he will replace Jeffrey Nordling in the role of Tom Wakefield, the director of medicine at the hospital where Christina Hawthorne (Jada Pinkett Smith) is the director of nursing. Nordling played the part in the series' original pilot. Move marks Vartan's return to series television since he last starred in ABC's short-lived drama Big Shots . ( Hollywood Reporter ) TV Guide 's Mickey O'Connor offers up some solutions to save CW's Gossip Girl , which he believes is creatively "starting to stink like so much day-old smoked salmon." Among the series' problems that O'Connor points out needs addressing: Serena and Dan's on-again-off-again relationship, the under-utilizatio

Channel Surfing: "Doctor Who" Travels to Dubai, "Rescue Me" Returns to FX in April, Devil's Son Hammer Gets Smoochy with a "Gossip Girl," and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. The BBC has confirmed that Doctor Who's Easter Special, "The Planet of the Dead" will shoot scenes in Dubai. The special, which stars David Tennant, Michelle Ryan, Lee Evans, and Noma Dumezweni, already shot scenes in Cardiff last month. "We rarely take Doctor Who abroad although we did visit Rome for series four's 'The Fires Of Pompeii' which gave us some spectacular footage," said producer Tracie Simpson. "The locations in Dubai are a perfect match for writer Russell T. Davies's vision of the episode and we expect to film some incredible scenes while we are here." ( BBC ) Cabler FX has announced that Rescue Me 's fifth season, consisting of 22 episodes, will kick off on Tuesday, April 7th at 10 pm. Additionally, FX announced that it has already ordered eighteen episodes for the series' sixth season, expected to air next year. Series star/producer Denis Leary will also launch

Channel Surfing: FX "Powers" Up with Comic Adaptation, Zarek Speaks Out About Coup, Pratt Hangs Out for "Parks and Recreation," and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. Cabler FX is developing a series adaptation of Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming's comic series Powers , about two police detectives in the homicide division assigned to cases involving super-powers. “ Powers is in active development as a pilot at FX,” Bendis told MTV. “I just handed in a draft to the network and we’re getting our notes from the network as soon as this thing is over. So next week I’ll get the notes, and as long as they don’t involve sock puppets and some sort of orgy scene that I’m not interested in, then hopefully it will go in the right direction.” ( MTV's Splash Page ) More discussion about Tom Zarek's motivations during the recent two-episode arc on Sci Fi's Battlestar Galactica , this time from Richard Hatch himself, who eloquently commented on Maureen Ryan's thread about the most recent episode ("Blood on the Scales") over at the Chicago Tribune 's site. "First

Channel Surfing: "Caprica" DVD Takes Off in March, Pay Raise for "Burn" Star, CW Takes Bite Out of "Vampire Diaries," Pilot News, and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. It looks like Caprica will be heading to our screens sooner than we originally thought... or the two-hour backdoor pilot will be, anyway. Sci Fi Channel announced that it will make Caprica 's pilot available as a limited-edition DVD on April 21st with an uncut and unrated version, ahead of the series' 2010 broadcast launch. Additionally, the film will be available for digital download at select online destinations. (Having already seen the pilot, I can say that it will definitely please BSG fans while also offering a glimpse into a series that's vastly different than anything we've seen so far on Battlestar Galactica .) "Ever since fans first caught wind of the Battlestar Galactica prequel Caprica , they have been eagerly following its development," said Mark Stern, Executive Vice President, Original Programming for SCI FI & Co-Head Original Content, Universal Cable Productions. "We wanted to giv

Channel Surfing: More "Big Love" at HBO, "NCIS" Spinoff Nabs O'Donnell and LL Cool J, Anna Friel, Swoosie Kurtz to Get "Desperate," and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. My mind is still buzzing after last night's double-bill of Lost and Damages . Pay cabler HBO has renewed drama Big Love , about the polygamist Henrickson clan, for a fourth season. Production will begin later this year for a 2010 launch. "The stellar reviews and solid viewership this season confirm that this is a signature series for HBO," said Michael Lombardo, president of programming at HBO. "The series keeps getting better and better." (I have to agree with him: this season has been absolutely amazing!) Once DVR, encores, and VOD ratings are added in to Big Love 's initial airing, viewing figures soar to about 5 million, on par with HBO's True Blood . ( Variety , Hollywood Reporter ) Chris O'Donnell and LL Cool J are said to be in final talks to star in CBS' untitled NCIS spin-off. Chris O'Donnell would play Callen, a man capable of changing into various different personas with ease,

Channel Surfing: Darlton Talk Donkey Wheel, Priestley Directs "90210," Lifetime Snags Four for "Maneater," and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. I don't know about you but I'm still on a high after yesterday's amazing presidential inauguration. While the nation joined together yesterday to bear witness to the 44th president taking the oath, there are still a few television-related headlines to get through this morning. Entertainment Weekly 's Doc Jensen (a.k.a. Jeff Jensen) continues his video interview series with Lost executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse. Up today: a segment focusing on Season Four, including discussions about the coffin, the donkey wheel, and the freighter. ( Entertainment Weekly ) Jason Priestley will direct the eighteenth episode of 90210 this season, which will feature a crisis involving several characters. "I have a lot of challenges ahead of me on how to shoot this, it's big," said Priestley, who wouldn't confirm whether said crisis is an earthquake or a car accident. "Yeah, we're in a hosp

Channel Surfing: "Mad Men" to Return This Summer, "Gossip Girl" Looking for Archibald Cousin, "Heroes" Producer Speaks Out, and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. AMC president Charlie Collier was very optimistic that period drama Mad Men will return for its third season this summer as scheduled, despite the protracted contract renegotiation between series creator/executive producer Matthew Weiner and studio Lionsgate Television. "As long as we get the writers' room up and running over the next few months, we're fine [for a summer launch]," said Collier, speaking at yesterday's Television Critics Association panel. Also on tap for later this year a the cabler, the six-part series remake of classic British drama The Prisoner , starring James Caviezel and Ian McKellan. ( Variety ) Gossip Girl is currently casting a new character for its sophomore season named Kip Vanderbilt, who will be the 20-something married cousin of Chace Crawford's Nate Archibald. Kip has been described as "wealthy, confident, politically-minded and — all together now — extremely good-lookin

Channel Surfing: ABC Schedule Still Missing "Daisies," Whedon Talks "Dollhouse," Grammer Returns with New Pilot, and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. Still no word on when--if ever--ABC will air the three remaining installments of Pushing Daisies . "They are not scheduled to air right now," creator Bryan Fuller told Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello, "and that's all we know." Rest assured, I'm also trying to get to the bottom of this. ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) The Futon Critic's Brian Ford Sullivan has a new interview with Joss Whedon about his upcoming FOX drama Dollhouse and Dr. Horrible , in which Whedon discusses the lure of television, the genesis of Dollhouse (over lunch with Eliza Dushku), and ditching the original pilot. "This won't be the second episode because this isn't what the network wants, this isn't the kind of show they want," says Whedon. "This is something you could do two years in when everybody's familiar with it and you don't have to explain it. I always hol

Channel Surfing: Aaron Bids Bye-Bye on "Gossip Girl," Cavanagh Returns to "Scrubs," HBO Gets "Hung," and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. Those of us who loathed John Patrick Amedori's Aaron Rose on the CW's Gossip Girl have reason to celebrate today. The CW has confirmed that the December 8th episode that saw Serena heading off to Buenos Aires with Aaron will be the character's last appearance on the series. Whew. So what went wrong? "It was the facial hair," says Show Tracker's Enid Portuguez. I have to agree but I'd also add greasy hair and personality bypass. ( Los Angeles Times ) Tom Cavanagh has confirmed that he will return to ABC's Scrubs this season as Dan, the screw-up brother of J.D. (Zach Braff), in an episode filmed in September that also sees the return of previous guest stars Amy Smart and Nicole Sullivan. Scrubs launches its final season on January 6th on ABC. ( TV Guide ) Matt Lanter ( Heroes ) has been cast in a multiple-episode story arc on the CW's 90210 , where he will play bad boy Liam, a potential love in