[Televisionary]

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. While everyone seems to be returning to work today (darn the end of holidays!), I'm still drowning in a pile of screeners and scripts, but c'est la vie. The big news this weekend, of course, was the announcement that 26-year-old Matt Smith ( Ruby in the Smoke ) would assume the mantle of the Eleventh Doctor in BBC's Doctor Who , replacing outbound series lead David Tennant, who will depart the series after appearing in four specials in 2009. ( Televisionary ) Meanwhile, The Daily Telegraph has profiled Smith in an in-depth piece which ran today. Among the more interesting points: "Smith comes to the role without Tennant's in-depth knowledge of the series and describes the next six months as a "time to build this Time Lord…to learn the history of the show", which should give his interpretation freshness. His Doctor may also be boyishly mischievous – he spoke with relish of "the sense of mischief&quo

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. Former Gilmore Girls star Lauren Graham is returning to television. ABC has given a put pilot commitment to an untitled comedy about a self-help guru (Graham) who teaches other women how to live a stress-free life but can't follow her own teachings when she's dumped by her boyfriend. Project, from Sony Pictures Television, Hagada Hey, and Tantamount, is written by Alex Herchlag ( Will & Grace ) and will be executive produced by Herschlag, Eric Tannenbaum, Kim Tannenbaum, and Mitch Hurwitz. ( Variety ) Joss Whedon says that a Friday night timeslot is "a better fit" for his upcoming FOX drama Dollhouse , which has been plagued with bad buzz ahead of its February debut, but admits that Dollhouse wouldn't likely attract huge numbers in its launch. "They’re bringing down expectations regarding how big of an audience they think it will bring in the beginning," said Whedon of FOX executives, "and th

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. Pushing Daisies fans can at least look forward to one thing: closure. The series finale was said to contain a cliffhanger ending for our girl Chuck but no more, according to Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello, who learned that Bryan Fuller and Co. were able to tack on a different opening and ending to the episode in post. "We're doing a lot of work in post to shape it so that it is satisfying for the audience," said Fuller. Ausiello also reports that there are rumors swirling that ABC may burn off the final three episodes in a single night. I don't know about you but I'm already missing Daisies . ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) Looks like she's always the constant: Lost 's Sonya Walger has been cast as the female lead in ABC's drama pilot Flash Forward . She'll play Olivia, the wife of newly sober FBI agent Mark Benford (Joseph Fiennes), who is troubled by the vision

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. The news that everyone is talking about since yesterday afternoon is that NBC has handed over its 10 pm timeslot Mondays through Thursdays to Jay Leno, beginning Fall 2009. This has been rumored for the last few months but I don't think even NBC was prepared to make it fact until the recent economic (and ratings) downturn of recent times. First, it solves two issues: keeping Leno--who is losing his 11:35 timeslot to Conan O'Brien (while Jimmy Fallon will take over his old digs)--at NBC and thus out of the grabs of rival networks such as ABC and FOX; and allows the Peacock to continue programming the 10 pm hour instead of handing it back to the local affiliates. (Something, believe it or not, that was also widely discussed.) ( Variety ) Which means that scripted television has just taken another hard-to-handle blow. If NBC goes ahead with its plans for a Leno talk/variety series at 10 pm weeknights and has Sunday Night Footbal

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. I'm still behind on telly so I haven't seen the latest episode of Dirty Sexy Money yet... That sound you hear? It would be the final nail in the coffin for Pushing Daisies ... Daisies creator Bryan Fuller has signed a two-year overall deal with Universal Media Studios, under which he will rejoin the staff of NBC's Heroes and develop new series projects for the studio. Fuller, who is completing post-production on WBTV's Daisies , will rejoin Heroes starting with episode 320 though it is unknown what his official position will be, other than that he will be working closely alongside showrunner/executive producer Tim Kring. ( Hollywood Reporter ) In other Pushing Daisies news, Kristin Chenoweth has joined the cast of FOX's animated midseason comedy Sit Down, Shut Up , where she will replace Maria Bamford as Florida high school science teacher Miracle Grohe, opposite Arrested Development 's Jason Bateman,

Happy Thanksgiving and welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. While there's not much television-related news today (this being a national holiday and all), I did want to just share a few tidbits that are floating out there. Ari Graynor (Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist ) has been cast in a multiple-episode story arc on FOX's Fringe , where she will play the younger sister of Agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) in at least three episodes. Graynor's first appearance is scheduled for early January and she will turn up unannounced in Boston at Olivia's flat with her young daughter in tow, supposedly looking for some place to crash after man troubles. Could it be that Little Sis has an ulterior motive? Hmmm. ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) James Hibberd talks to The Mentalist creator Bruno Heller about the hit CBS freshman procedural drama. Among the topics under discussion: where the idea for The Mentalist came from, when to expect a res

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. I had a fantastically relaxing weekend, filled with some holiday-related events and a lovely private screening of the new film Slumdog Millionaire in my own living room. Good times. Battlestar Galactica fans, hold on your hats. BSG 's slinky seductress Six, a.k.a. Tricia Helfer, has signed on to guest star in an upcoming episode of NBC's Chuck , where she will play Special Agent Alex Forrest, a sexy-yet-by-the-book agent who is assigned to guard the Intersect after General Beckman becomes concerned about Sarah's feelings for Chuck. Look for Casey to fall for Alex's charms... and perhaps Chuck himself. Helfer is slated to appear in the 18th episode of the season, scheduled for next spring. Also appearing this season on Chuck : Jonathan Cake ( Six Degrees ), who has signed on for a multiple-episode story arc as a "Gerard Butler-esqe British MI6 agent by the name of Cole Barker" who quickly finds himself drawn

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. I'm still a little tired after staying up to watch Fringe last night after attending the Los Angeles premiere of Doubt , starring Meryl Streep, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and Amy Adams. (Verdict? A good film but not a great one.) NBC has confirmed a long-standing rumor and announced that Rashida Jones ( The Office ) has been cast in the untitled Amy Poehler workplace comedy project from Greg Daniels and Michael Schur that isn't a spin-off to The Office . Jones will play Ann Logan, a nurse whose boyfriend has suffered a strange injury that leads her to the characters played by Poehler and Aziz Ansari. Do they work in a specialized medical clinic? A psychiatrist's office? Witch doctor's emporium? That remains to be seen but I am happy that Jones and Poehler will appear together in this project. I've missed Jones, especially since her last Office visit. The series is expected to be ready by late spring but may not

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. I'm still laughing about last night's unintentionally hilarious episode of Gossip Girl , which in true Thanksgiving spirit, featured seemingly mortal enemies being polite to one another and everyone refusing to acknowledge the pink elephant in the room: namely Little J's ghastly "makeover." (Shudder.) Are the producers of CW's 90210 update going to do the unthinkable and kill off toothy Brenda Walsh? Fans are in an uproar about a possible rumor that Brenda (Shannen Doherty) will contract a terminal illness on her latest batch of 90210 episodes and, well, die. While some are livid about the potential storyline, Jason Priestley seemed open to the possibility of Brenda dying on-screen. "This is all news to me, but this is fantastic," Priestly told Access Hollywood. "That is going to be awesome. No they haven't given me anything yet. I don't even know if the episode is written yet, but I

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. I hope everyone remembered to tune in to HBO's Ricky Gervais: Out of England special on Saturday, which was absolutely hysterical (if not, it repeats about a zillion times throughout the week) and to a rather odd and dream-like episode of Skins last night and another brilliant episode of Summer Heights High . CBS has given a seven-episode pickup to freshman comedy Gary Unmarried , bumping its season total to a surprising twenty episode order, and also ordered two additional scripts beyond that. Additionally, the Eye also gave some good news to the producers of comedy Worst Week , giving the comedy an additional three episode order, despite sagging ratings. ( Variety ) Over at NBC, Medium (which returns to the lineup in January) received a six episode pickup. The news comes as NBC is in desperate need of some schedule hole-filling, with the recent cancellations of My Own Worst Enemy and Lipstick Jungle . Medium was originally

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. While I watched this week's episode of Chuck yet again (and fell in love with it all over again) , I couldn't help shake the feeling that last night's episode of Gossip Girl was absolutely beyond ludicrous. Anyone else agree? ABC is allegedly making some changes to its midseason schedule, with Grey's Anatomy spin-off Private Practice shifting to Thursdays at 10 pm, where it will air right behind Grey's . Meanwhile, the current timeslot holder, Life on Mars , will move to Wednesdays at 10 pm, where it will receive a hell of a lead-in from Lost . The Alphabet didn't comment on the leaked schedule, which it has yet to announce. Can we see ABC launching a Wednesday night around Pushing Daisies, Lost, and Life on Mars ... or does this once again signal a death knell for Daisies ? ( Hollywood Reporter ) Samaire Armstrong's Juliet Darling WILL be returning to ABC's Dirty Sexy Money after all. (Come on, I

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. I hope you all tuned in to the launch of HBO's new comedy series Summer Heights High ; I've already seen the series several times but tuned in once again (it's just that funny) and also caught upon Skins (how cute was Chris' drawing of him and Jal?) and The Amazing Race . Kate Walsh's Addison Montgomery will return to Seattle Grace... at least as part of a multiple-episode crossover story between Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice that's scheduled to air during February sweeps. ( TV Guide ) FOX has delayed the start of animated comedy The Cleveland Show , a spinoff of Family Guy , until next fall. But the network has also ordered an additional nine episodes for Cleveland , bring its episodic total to a full 22 for the 2009-10 season. If that weren't enough Cleveland -centric news, Arianna Huffington has been added to the cast. ( Variety ) Less than four months after premiering, NBC's Knight Rider

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. I can't believe that today is Election Day and I hope that all of you out there, before reading this, have done your civic duty and exercised your democratic right to vote today. I know I won't be resting easily until after this election is called, one way or the other, though naturally there's a specific winner I have in mind. Following Sunday's news that Jeph Loeb and Jesse Alexander had been fired from NBC's Heroes , series creator Tim Kring announced that he will "focus on simplifying what's been criticized, even by ardent fans, as an overly complex storytelling structure to get back to the show's comicbookish good vs. evil themes and to emphasize character development more than plot twists." Execs seem to believe that Kring has focused more on post-production than on breaking stories; he'll have to switch gears and spend more time in the writers' room fixing the series' wavering