[Televisionary]

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. I'm still getting mail from readers about yesterday's announcement that FOX would stick Joss Whedon's Dollhouse on Fridays, as many are extremely upset by what they perceive to be the final nail in the coffin for Whedon's latest work. As one door opens, another one opens. Or so the aphorism goes. In any event, should ABC opt not to order additional episodes of Pushing Daisies past their initial 13-episode commitment this season, creator Bryan Fuller will be heading back to NBC's Heroes , where he was on staff during the beleaguered series' freshman season. "I am exclusive to Daisies through the delivery of the 13th episode of our 13-episode order, which will be mid-January," Fuller told EW.com. "If Daisies isn't picked up by then, I will definitely be going back to play with my friends at Heroes ." Sadly, it's now looking more and more likely that ABC won't be ordering more i

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. Although it wrapped its second season only last weekend, I am already distinctly feeling the loss of Mad Men from my Sunday nights. At least I've still got Skins to look forward to before the start of the work week. (I also watched next week's episode of Chuck --easily the very best installment of the series to date--and witnessed The Kiss that everyone will be talking about come next Tuesday.) Writer/producers Jesse Alexander and Jeph Loeb have been fired from the writing staff of NBC's Heroes , now in its third season. Both have been with the series since its first season and oversaw the day-to-day running of the production under the guidance of creator Tim Kring. While NBC and Universal Media Studios declined to comment, it's well known that execs were frustrated with the series' creative direction and its sizable budget overruns, said to be in excess of its already weighty $4 million per episode. ( Variety )

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. Just a few quick headlines this morning as I've been called to perform my civic duty today and have to drive downtown for jury duty. Macaulay Culkin will appear in a multiple-episode arc on NBC's midseason drama Kings , where he will play the nephew of King Silas Benjamin (Ian McShane) who has been exiled from the kingdom of Shiloh for mysterious reasons. Also slated to appear in the series: Miguel Ferrer ( Crossing Jordan ), Leslie Bibb ( Popular ), Michael Stahl-David ( The Black Donnellys ), and the previously reported Brian Cox . ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) (Aside: I saw the pilot for Kings about two months back and while it was gorgeously directed, I thought that the pacing (it's currently scheduled to air as a two-hour) was glacially slow and could use significant tightening; I think it would be a hell of a lot more compelling at 60 or even 90 minutes.) Could Bravo be readying a Project Runway cl

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. Quite a lot of good telly on last night, including new episodes of Skins, Mad Men, Amazing Race , and Little Britain USA , not to mention another installment of Masterpiece Contemporary's The Last Enemy . Whew. FOX has issued a reprieve for ratings-starved sci-fi action drama Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles . The series has been given a full season order for its second season, which averaged a 2.3/6 in adults 18-49 in its last original airing. Many insiders had pegged the series as a goner, proving that there's obviously still some life in the Terminator franchise yet. ( Variety ) Zeljko Ivanek ( Damages ) has been cast in Season Three of Heroes , where he'll appear in a multiple-episode story arc playing a character known as the Hunter in Volume Four of the series, which is subtitled "Fugitives" and is set to kick off in January or February of 2009. ( E! Online's Watch with Kristin ) Entertainment W

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. I spent last night watching Fringe (more on that in a bit), catching up on Gossip Girl , and sitting through another dull installment of 90210 . At least it took the bad taste out of my mouth from Knight Rider . (Shudder.) The Season Three premiere of NBC's Heroes (9.9 million viewers, 4.9/12 in adults 18-49) was down 25 percent from its sophomore launch , landing it second in the hour behind ABC's Dancing with the Stars . The slide for Heroes was not unexpected, coming as it did after a season that many fans found creatively lacking and middling and a curtailed season due to the writers strike. ( Hollywood Reporter ) CBS will air the original pilot of new drama Eleventh Hour , starring Rufus Sewell and Marley Shelton, as its opening installment, after all. The Eye had previously announced that it would wait to air the original pilot of Eleventh Hour ("Resurrection")until later in the season but the network h

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. Kristen Bell's mentally unstable character Elle Bishop will get her backstory spelled out this season on Heroes . Bell has hinted that Elle may have some previous connections to some of the characters and these may be disclosed during the drama's third season, which kicks off on September 22nd. ( Sci Fi Wire ) Rose McGowan ( Charmed ) will replace Katee Sackhoff ( Battlestar Galactica ) on an upcoming four episode stint on FX's Nip/Tuck . Sackhoff was due to play Theodora "Teddy" Lowe, a doctor and potential love interest for Sean (Dylan Walsh) but likely had to back out of the role after being cast as the lead in Dick Wolf's NBC drama pilot Lost and Found . ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) In other Nip/Tuck news, production begins today on the sixth and final season of the FX drama and the stars' representatives are still said to be "deep in salary renegotiations," with Julian Mc

Good morning and welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. I hope that most of you decided to stay in last night and watch the premiere of FOX's new J.J. Abrams project Fringe ; I watched the second episode of 90210 and was decidedly less-than-impressed again. Sigh. If you did miss Fringe , fret not: FOX will be reairing last night's series premiere on Sunday evening at 8 pm... along with a sneak peek at the first four minutes of Episode Two, as well as an extended scene from feature The Day the Earth Stood Still (the Keanu Reeves version, natch) and a preview of the two-hour 24 movie 24: Redemption . ( Variety ) Regardless of how Fringe did in the ratings last night, it will have done significantly better than the launch for HBO's vampire drama True Blood from Six Feet Under creator Alan Ball. The pay cabler only drew 1.44 million viewers to the series premiere of True Blood , significantly less than the axed John from Cincinnati did in its initial outin

Good morning and welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. Remakes seem to be all the rage these days, with several US networks remaking not only UK scripted formats but also recycling old US dramas (ahem, Knight Rider ) and feature films. So what's in the pipeline? Besides AMC's recent announcement that they are developing a series based on 1970s surveillance flick The Conversation , lots. CBS is developing a series remake of Streets of San Francisco with Sheldon Turner and a remake of the long-running procedural cop drama Hawaii Five-O --which ran from 1968 to 1980 and introduced the catchphrase "Book 'em, Danno!"--with Criminal Minds executive producer/showrunner Ed Bernero attached to write. Updated version of Hawaii Five-O will follow the exploits of Chris McGarrett, the chief of the fictional Hawaiian state police department and son of the original's Steve McGarrett (Jack Lord). (Aside: Bernero is also working on another CBS project, Washing

Good news, bad news for Chuck fans: the series will be returning to NBC, just not as early as those promos would have you believe. NBC picked up second seasons of freshman dramas Chuck and Life , along with a third-season order for drama Heroes , but has no plans to return either series to their schedule before this fall. All three will have major re-launches next season. Which means those of us hooked on the adventures of Chuck Bartowski and his gang of spies and retail clerks will have to wait quite a while for fresh installments. "We are thrilled to be bringing back the high-energy dramas Chuck and Life for next season," said NBC Entertainment Co-Chairman Ben Silverman in a statement. "Additionally, we will be saving and re-launching our #1 drama and most successful franchise, Heroes , so that it will run in all original episodes in the fourth quarter." "These pickups are a sign of our confidence in these quality series and will allow the respective prod

The potential writers strike has already claimed its first victim: NBC's planned Heroes spin-off, Heroes: Origins . The six-episode series, which was supposed to launch this spring during Heroes ' sophomore hiatus, has been shelved indefinitely as NBC has decided not to move ahead with production. The possible explanation may be fear over the strike, which could derail production; it's thought that any unproduced projects may be shelved over the new few weeks. Heroes: Origins had secured a number of A-list talents to write and direct installments, including Kevin Smith, Michael Dougherty , co-writer on X2 and Superman Returns , and Hostel writer/director Eli Roth . Each episode was intended to introduce a new character to the Heroes mythos, which viewers would have a vote in determining which one(s) would make join the cast in Season Three. Project is said to be on hold but could be resurrected down the road, should the writers strike be averted, as doubtful as that se

Kristen Bell might just be the coolest girl in the whole wide world. She uses words like "wowzers," "jammies," and "dreamy" and she loves to watch BBC series like The Office and Little Britain . In other words, she's a woman after my own heart. I caught up with the former Veronica Mars star between breakfast with Ryan Hanson (that's Dick Casablancas for you Mars fans out there) and a wardrobe fitting for her new series, Heroes . Bell's premiere episode is Monday and she's currently signed on to do at least 13 episodes on the second season of NBC's superhero drama as the enigmatic Elle. What can she tell us about Elle? Bell was cautious not to give away any major spoilers. "I can’t reveal her secret powers," she said. "You’ll have to watch next Monday. But it’s a very cool power. [Elle] has ties to HRG and to Claire. And there’s going to be a very interesting dynamic I think, between her and Claire as far as what is and

Heroes: Origins just got some A-list writing talent for its six-episode run next year. Following the news earlier this year that Kevin Smith, late of CW's Reaper , would write and direct an installment of six-episode Heroes spin-off, Heroes: Origins , NBC has announced that they have secured two feature film writers for the series offshoot. Michael Dougherty, co-writer on X2 and Superman Returns , will write an episode of Heroes: Origins , as will Hostel writer/director Eli Roth. Additionally, Roth will direct his installment of the series spin-off, which introduces new characters as they discover their abilities. An interactive element will allow viewers to vote for their favorite new addition, who may join the cast of the original series in the third season. The second season of Heroes begins tonight at 9 pm on NBC. What's On Tonight 8 pm: How I Met Your Mother /The Big Bang Theory (CBS); Chuck (NBC); Everybody Hates Chris/Everybody Hates Chris (CW); Dancing with the

Could the teen private investigator be trading in her telephoto lens and snappy retorts for superpowers? Just days after rumors that former Veronica Mars series lead Kristen Bell would join the cast of Lost (sadly, a deal was never reached), NBC dropped a major bombshell of a casting notice: Bell is a lock for a multiple episode storyline on the sophomore season of Heroes , beginning in October . Say what? Bell will play Elle, an enigmatic woman with connections to the alleged death of Peter, Horn Rimmed Glasses' past, and Claire's future. Elle will commit a serious crime during her initial appearance, though whether she's good or bad is still unclear. On scoring the much-in demand Bell (who will lend her voice as the eponymous narrator in the CW's new drama Gossip Girl and will appear in Judd Apatow's Forgetting Sarah Marshall ), Heroes creator Tim Kring said in a statement, "This was not easy to pull off. But since we're an ensemble show, with many ar

Despite seeing petitions at Comic-Con last weekend attempting to resurrect the wizard private investigator drama, The Dresden Files is no more. The final nail in the coffin? Series lead Paul Blackthorne, who played the aforementioned Harry Dresden, an ex-communicated wizard who opens a private detective agency in Chicago, has signed on to a new series . Blackthorne will join the cast of ABC's new drama Big Shots next season as a recurring player. He'll portray a a "sophisticated, iconic tycoon that the four [CEOs] aspire to be." The series focuses on four CEOs (Michael Vartan, Dylan McDermott, Christopher Titus, and Joshua Malina) who frequent the same posh country club. Sorry, Dresden fans, but the fight just ended. In other casting news, Jessica Collins ( The Nine ) has joined the cast of Heroes next season, where she'll play a character named Sophie, a super-powered operative at the organization that tracks the heroes. What's On Tonight 8 pm: Ghost Whi

NBC's returning drama Heroes has again expanded its cast, adding another young actress to the mix. Dana Davis, whom some of you might remember from this season's drama debacle The Nine (or from the pilot episode of CW's cancelled summer skein Hidden Palms ), has signed on to NBC's Heroes as a regular. She'll play new hero Monica but NBC and Universal Media Studios are keeping details about what exactly her powers are firmly under wraps. However, according to The Hollywood Reporter , Davis' character "would give up everything to help the people around her." So... some sort of healing ability? Davis joins a slew of recent Heroes cast announcements that include Dania Ramirez, Nick D'Agosto, David Anders, Eriko Tamura, Lyndsy Fonseca, and Dianna Agron. Just one word of advice: don't get too attached to any of them. What's On Tonight 8 pm: Ghost Whisperer (CBS); 1 vs. 100 (NBC); WWE Friday Night SmackDown (CW; 8-10 pm); Set for Life (ABC

Ever wonder just what a mash up of NBC's The Office and Heroes would be like? (I know I have.) Or what superpowers the (not so) dedicated employees of Dunder-Mifflin might manifest? Look no further. The Dreamer. The Cop. The Artist. The Seeker. The Cheerleader. The Clock Puncher. Does it get any better than that? I'd also like to mention how great it was that the very talented Angela Kinsey earned a spot in Office / Heroes mash up. All in favor of Angela getting bumped to full cast member, say aye!