[Televisionary]

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. The Los Angeles Times has an interesting and revealing Q&A with Dollhouse 's Fran Kranz, who plays techie Topher on the FOX drama, which launches next Friday. Kranz reveals, "There is a place in the Dollhouse called the Attic that stores failed Dolls and personalities. There’s like a whole warehouse where actual bodies are kept." As for the, uh, unconvention post-order redevelopment surrounding Dollhouse , Kranz is forthcoming. "I’ve read things where Joss has said that... Fox wanted to cut to the chase," he said. "They thought there was too much on the characters within the Dollhouse and the conflict and mythology of the Dollhouse, as opposed to seeing what the Dollhouse does on a day-to-day basis. In one sense, I think it’s a good thing. I think it’s important for the audience to define the Dollhouse before they’re introduced to the rest of the conflicts and stories." ( Los Angeles Times ) S

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. I'm super-excited for the weekend to be here after a hectic week and thrilled that we have a brand-new episode of Battlestar Galactica to head us into the weekend. Angie Harmon ( Women's Murder Club ) has been cast in a potential recurring role on ABC's Samantha Who? , where she will play Gigi, "the infamous (and crazy) ex-wife of Sam's current honey, Funk (Billy Zane)." Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello also alludes to the fact that Gigi plays a "critical role in the show's mythology." Hmmm... Could it be that Sam is learning just what caused her amnesia after all? ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) ABC has handed out a pilot order to Eastwick , loosely based on the 1987 film The Witches of Eastwick , about three women who receive magical powers after a stranger visits their small town. Project, from Warner Bros. Television, will be written by Maggie Friedman. ( Hollywoo

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

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. By the hammer of Thor! Good news for fans of 30 Rock and The Office : NBC has renewed both series for the 2009-10 season, which means that we're guaranteed a fourth and sixth respective season of each. Given 30 Rock 's comedy win at this week's Golden Globes (and well-deserved statuettes for stars Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin) , I would have been gobsmacked if NBC hadn't ordered an additional season of the critically beloved series. (press release) Unfortunately, there's no news of the fate of ratings-challenged but critically loved NBC series Chuck and Life , which weren't mentioned in NBC's renewal announcement (which also included another season of The Biggest Loser ). And there's even worse news for fans of ABC's Pushing Daisies, Dirty Sexy Money , and Eli Stone . According to Kristin dos Santos' sources, the Alphabet won't be airing the remaining episodes of either series until June at t

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. The first appearance of Mad Men 's Jon Hamm on NBC's 30 Rock is slated for February 5th. As previously reported, Hamm will join the cast of 30 Rock in a three-episode arc where he will play a new love interest for Liz Lemon (Tina Fey). Let's just hope their relationship goes a lot smoother than Don and Betty Drapers, huh? ( The Chicago Tribune 's The Watcher ) Holy British format import! HBO, Warner Bros TV, and writer/executive producer John Wells (ER) are developing a US version of Channel 4's Shameless , created by Paul Abbott ( State of Play ). Series follows the lives of the members of the rough-and-tumble Gallagher clan, headed up by lovable alcoholic/drug addict patriarch Frank, living on a public housing estate in Manchester. The sixth season of Shameless launches in the UK later this month; Season Seven is slated to air in 2010. ( Variety ) NBC has ordered a script for one-hour music drama pilot Soundtr

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. Mark Cherry announced that he would like to continue ABC's Desperate Housewives through 2013. While Cherry is signed on to executive produce the ABC drama through its seventh season and ABC has only committed so far to the current fifth season, there is currently no deal in place for any additional seasons beyond that. Cherry announced his intentions to keep Desperate Housewives on the air for nine seasons (rather than the seven he previously discussed) during a cast and crew celebration yesterday. "We've been talking with the studio and the network about the conceptual possibilities of additional seasons," said a source close to the situation, "but it's still dependent on a lot of things like cast willingness, ratings, etc... It sure seems like it could happen!" Yes, but four more seasons? ( E! Online ) "I think the goal for everybody is to put a face back on the drama. " Pushing Daisies

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. I'm now way behind on last night's telly offerings as Wednesday appears to have become overfilled with series but I made a special point to not only watch Pushing Daisies but to watch it live... just in case the numbers actually do matter. James Van Der Beek speaks about his return to his old Dawson's Creek stomping ground in Wilmington, North Carolina, where he's filming three episodes of the CW's One Tree Hill , where he will play a feature film director who is interested in adapting Lucas' novel into a film. "I thought it was a real fun character," said Van Der Beek about his Tree character. "I'm excited to work with my friends and to play a little bit." ( Associated Press ) One reason to celebrate: Pushing Daisies beat out NBC's Knight Rider in the key adults 18-49 demo for the very first time last night. Huzzah! ( Futon Critic ) Lifetime has filed a countersuit in a Manha

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. 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 Thursday morning television briefing. I definitely felt the lack of Pushing Daisies last night (my Wednesday night cure for any rough week) but I was completely sucked in by the season premiere of Top Chef (airing next week), which had more tension, drama, and pitch-perfect casting in its one-hour running time than the entire last season of Project Runway did. ABC has yanked midseason comedy Single With Parents off of its schedule. The comedy, from ABC Studios and Kristin Newman, starred Alyssa Milano, Eric Winter, Annie Potts, Beau Bridges, and Amanda Detmer. Decision behind the cancellation (months before it was to launch on ABC) is said to stem from creative differences between the studio and the series' creator Kristin Newman. ( Variety ) In other ABC midseason news, the Alphabet has opted to reduce its initial order on two midseason drama series, Castle and The Unusuals . ABC has approached ABC Studios about reducing Castle from 13 episodes to ten and has

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. It's currently freezing here in LA (well, relatively speaking anyway) but I am still shaking after last night's season finale of Mad Men , not to mention another shocking installment of Skins . (Poor Sid.) Former Angel star Alexis Denisof will guest star in the November 19th episode of ABC's Private Practice , where he'll play a father-to-be with two very expectant wives in need of Addison's specialty. In real life, Denisof and wife Alyson Hannigan announced last week that they are expecting their first child. ( TV Guide ) CBS is once again developing some rather, er, unique properties that aren't crime procedurals (did they not learn their lesson from Moonlight or Cane ?). Among the projects currently said to be in development at the Eye: Hex Wives , a one-hour drama from Neil Meron and Craig Zadan about four women with magical powers; 1960s period drama Magic City about an iconic Miami Beach hotel from exec

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. I'm still on cloud nine after last night's perfect combination of sweet and tart on BBC America's Gavin & Stacey . Could that series be any funnier or any more genuinely emotional? It's well lush. Looks like Kate Walsh won't be returning to Seattle Grace any time soon. ABC has picked up Grey's Anatomy spinoff Private Practice for a full season of 22 episodes. Series, which had its freshman season truncated due to the writers strike, has averaged 3.2/8 in adults 18-49 and 8.3 million viewers across two original episodes this fall. ( Variety ) Showtime wants more Dexter : the pay cabler announced that it had renewed the serial killer drama for two additional seasons (that would be Season Four and Season Five) of twelve episodes each. Production on Season Four will begin in Los Angeles next spring. ( Hollywood Reporter ) CBS has ordered two additional scripts for freshman comedy Worst Week , which--after

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. Wondering where the frak BSG is? Battlestar Galactica will return with the back half of Season Four, the series' final installment, on January 16th at 10 pm. ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) NBC has given a put pilot commitment to Jason and the Argonauts , a green-screen drama based on the Greek myth about the quest for the golden fleece from writer/executive producers Josh and Jonas Pate ( Surface ) and Media Rights Capital. (NBC previously aired a mini based on the myth in 2000.) I'm not quite sure that they should have done so until after they see the numbers from the premiere of Crusoe later this week but there you go. The Peacock landed the project after a fierce bidding war, apparently with FOX. (In other news, MRC received an order for seven additional scripts for its animated ABC comedy The Goode Family and three additional scripts for Lifetime comedy Rita Rocks .) ( Variety ) In other NBC news, M

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. I had a fantastically relaxing weekend, between the rain and some quality telly on Sunday night with Skins, Amazing Race , and Mad Men keeping me occupied all evening. Showtime is developing drama series The Booths , about the dysfunctional relationship between three actor-brothers Edwin, Junius Brutus Jr., and John Wilkes Booth in the years before the latter would assassinate Abraham Lincoln. The brothers were the sons of British actor Junius Brutus Booth and actress Mary Ann Holmes. While there is no writer or production company attached, Kevin Bacon has signed on to executive produce the project. ( Variety ) Jamie Bamber says that Battlestar Galactica could have become a mainstream hit like Doctor Who if it had aired on a bigger network platform. "[ Battlestar ] is only cult because it's been stuck on Sky One and not pushed. In America it's on the Sci Fi Channel, which has a stigma to it. If it was on a mainstream ch