[Televisionary]

BBC America has announced the launch date for post-apocalyptic drama series Survivors . The much-delayed Survivors , which is an adaptation of the cult classic 1970s series (itself based on Terry Nation's novel), will have its US premiere on Saturday, February 13th at 8 pm ET/PT, before shifting to its regular timeslot at 9 pm ET/PT the following week. The series tracks the adventures of a group of people who survive a global viral holocaust that wipes out 99 percent of the human race's population and who struggle to stay alive in the face of unspeakable odds following this global catastrophe. In the official scheduling announcement, BBC America refers to the "twelve-episode season" of Survivors , which is a sign that the digital cabler intend to air the first two UK seasons of Survivors back-to-back. Season One, which aired in the UK in 2008, was comprised of six episodes and the second season of Survivors will launch early next year in the United Kingdom. This ver

NBC today unveiled its midseason plans, announcing launch dates for drama series Parenthood and reality series The Marriage Ref , as well as return dates for The Celebrity Apprentice and The Biggest Loser . Drama series Parenthood will launch on Monday, March 1st at 9 pm ET/PT while the Jerry Seinfeld-produced reality series The Marriage Ref will join the schedule on Sunday, March 14th at 8 pm ET/PT. Returning reality series The Celebrity Apprentice and The Biggest Loser kick off respectively on Sunday, March 14th at 9 pm ET/PT and Tuesday, January 5th from 8-10 pm ET/PT. And Chuck , of course returns with a two-hour third season premiere on January 10th at 9 pm ET/PT, before moving into its regular timeslot the following evening (January 11th) at 8 pm ET/PT. Interestingly, no mention was made of sci-fi "miniseries" Day One , which saw its commitment reduced from an initial thirteen episodes to a head-scratching four hours (which NBC indicated would be aired as two two-

BBC America has today announced their scheduling plans for January 2010, unveiling new programming additions and the return of several series to the lineup. (Sadly, still no mention of Season Two of Ashes to Ashes , however.) The digital cabler has announced launch dates for comedy The Inbetweeners , drama Demons , and unscripted competition series Last Restaurant Standing , as well as the launch of Season Thirteen of Top Gear . Having seen the first two seasons of comedy The Inbetweeners , from creators Damon Beesley and Iain Morris, I can tell you that you'll likely be bowled over as much as I was by this raucous teen comedy when it finally premieres Stateside on Monday, January 25th at 9 pm ET/PT. Two back-to-back episodes will air in its initial outing before it relocates to its regular timeslot on Wednesday evenings. (You can read my advance review of the first two seasons of The Inbetweeners here .) Culinary competition series (and Televisionary obsession) Last Restaurant St

FX has today announced its midseason schedule, including return dates for Damages and Nip/Tuck and series launches for Timothy Olyphant-led drama Justified (formerly known as Lawman ) and comedies Archer and Louie . Season Three of Damages will kick off on Monday, January 25th at 10 pm ET/PT. (The series previously aired on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings during its first two seasons.) Series regulars Glenn Close, Rose Byrne, Tate Donovan, and Ted Danson are all set to return for the third season, which will also feature new regulars Campbell Scott (Joe Tobin) and Martin Short (Leonard Winstone) and guest stars Lily Tomlin (Marilyn Tobin), Keith Carradine (Julian Decker), and Len Cariou (Louis Tobin). Elsewhere at the cabler, Nip/Tuck will launch its final season on Wednesday, January 6th at 10 pm ET/PT and animated comedy Archer begins on Thursday, January 14th. Looking further afield, Justified will premiere in March and comedy Louie will debut later in the spring. The full p

FOX today announced their midseason plans for 2009-2010, unveiling a lineup that includes giving reincarnation drama Past Life the post- Bones slot on Thursday evenings (current occupant Fringe will be going on a prolonged hiatus for seven weeks), bringing Kitchen Nightmares back (on Friday nights this time around) and giving the post- American Idol slot to new reality series Our Little Genius . MONDAYS: The network announced that it had given a full season pickup to drama series Lie to Me , though the Shawn Ryan-produced series will take a breather on Mondays, which will be taken over by House and 24 come January. There's no return date yet for Lie to Me but the pickup ensures that the series will eventually return to the schedule at some point during the season. TUESDAYS: Which brings us to Glee . We all knew that the musical comedy would go on hiatus after its initial thirteen-episode commitment and that there would need to be some time for scripting and production and

You've been demanding it. Yes, true believers, Season Three of Chuck finally has a start date. NBC today announced that Chuck will return on Sunday, January 10th at 9 pm ET/PT with two back-to-back episodes (comprising an awesome two hour season premiere). But that's not all. Chuck will then be back the following night (January 11th) with a brand-new episode in its regular timeslot of Mondays at 8 pm ET/PT. (Whew. I was worried NBC would move Chuck to a new timeslot altogether.) Which means, a three-hour, two-night spectacular of Chuck goodness. Guest stars on tap for the third season of Chuck include Angie Harmon, Brandon Routh, Steve Austin, Kristin Kreuk, Armand Assante, Robert Patrick, and Vinnie Jones. "Josh (Schwartz) and Chris (Fedak) and the writing team are doing a great job this season, and we think the loyal fan base for this show will be happy to see it back on the NBC schedule," said Angela Bromstad, President, Primetime Entertainment, NBC and Unive

The final season of Lost finally as a start date. ABC will launch the sixth (and sadly last) season of Lost on Tuesday, February 2nd at 9 pm ET/PT. in a two-hour season premiere following a one-hour clip show at 8 pm that will get viewers up to speed on the the last five seasons. Following the premiere, the series will move into its regular timeslot of Tuesdays at 9 pm ET/PT. Are you happy with the new timeslot? Glad that there will be something to watch on Tuesday nights at 9 pm in the winter? Talk back. The full press release from ABC, announcing the scheduling of Lost 's final season, can be found below. ABC ANNOUNCES THE PREMIERE OF THE SIXTH AND FINAL SEASON OF “LOST,” WITH A SPECIAL ALL-NIGHT EVENT ON TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2 ABC announces the premiere of the sixth and final season of “Lost,” with a special all-night event on Tuesday, February 2. A recap special will kick off the night from 8:00-9:00 p.m., ET, followed by the much anticipated two-hour premiere from 9:00-11:00 p.

Following up this morning's Doctor Who story , BBC America has announced that it will air Doctor Who: The Waters of Mars on Saturday, December 19th at 9 pm ET/PT. The news comes on the heels of BBC One's announcement that they will debut the David Tennant special, the first of three final Doctor Who installments featuring the Tenth Doctor, on Sunday, November 15th at 7 pm GMT, a full month ahead of the US transmission. Doctor Who: The Waters of Mars , written by Russell T. Davies and Phil Ford, will star David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor and Rome's Lindsay Duncan as Adelaide. The plot finds the Doctor arriving on Mars at the Bowie Base One where not everything is as it seems as the base falls under attack from a deadly water-based threat. ("Mars, 2059. Bowie Base one. Last recorded message: don't drink the water. Don't even touch it. Not one drop.") US airdates for the final two David Tennant Doctor Who specials will be made public in early December. As

Cabler AMC has announced that its six-hour limited series event The Prisoner , starring Jim Caviezel and Ian McKellan, will launch on Sunday, November 15th at 8 pm ET/PT. The cabler will air three two-hour installments over three consecutive nights, with subsequent installments airing on Monday, November 16th and Tuesday, November 17th. In this remake of the classic British cult series, Jim Caviezel ( The Passion of the Christ ) plays Number Six, a man who finds himself the unwitting titular prisoner of The Village, a strange and surreal settlement overseen by the nefarious Number Two, played by Ian McKellan ( Lord of the Rings ). The Prisoner also stars Jamie Campbell-Bower ( The Twilight Saga: New Moon ) as Number 11-12, Hayley Atwell ( Brideshead Revisited ) as Number 41-5, Lennie James ( Jericho ) as Number 147, and Ruth Wilson ( Suburban Shootout ) as Number 313. The Prisoner was written by Bill Gallagher ( Conviction ) and directed by Nick Hurran ( Little Black Book ). Here'

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. I'm back in the land of the living after recovering from a truly extraordinary Emmy evening the other night. Let's get to the headlines. FOX has given a full season order to musical comedy Glee , picking up the back nine episodes to bring this season's total to 22 segments. While the cast had already filmed the thirteen initial episodes, there had been no word if FOX would be going ahead with the production until yesterday. Meanwhile, E! Online's Jennifer Godwin has the scoop on some upcoming plot points for the ten remaining unaired episodes from Glee 's initial order, including some potential romantic complications for, well, everyone. ( E! Online's Watch with Kristin ) The CW has announced that Heather Locklear will reprise her role as conniving Amanda Woodward on the resurrected Melrose Place later this season. Locklear is set to first appear in the November 17th episode though the reasons behind her retu

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. I was lucky enough to see an advance screening of upcoming film Julie & Julia last night and urge all you film-loving foodies to head out and watch it when it's released. Just make sure you eat beforehand! Comedy Central has ordered ten episodes of an untitled multi-camera comedy series starring Jon Heder ( Blades of Glory, Napoleon Dynamite ). Project, about an unemployed IT specialist who returns to his smalltown to move in with his parents and younger brother, will be written by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, and Chris Henchy. Series hails from Debmar-Mercury and Gary Sanchez and will have an initial run on Comedy Central; if it scores with audiences, another 90 installments will be automatically picked up with Comedy Central having the first window while Debmar-Mercury will sell the series into first-run syndication at the same time. ( Variety ) ABC has announced that it will launch FTVS' internationally produced drama ser

Best news of the day: Bravo has announced a launch date for the sixth season of Top Chef , entitled Top Chef: Las Vegas , and it's a hell of a lot earlier than I anticipated. Cabler Bravo announced this morning that it will kick off the sixth season of the culinary competition series on Wednesday, August 26th at 10 pm ET/PT and announced the seventeen-member cast for Top Chef: Las Vegas . Meanwhile, judges Tom Collichio, Gail Simmons, Toby Young, and host Padma Lakshmi are all on board for the Vegas-based edition and we can look forward to such guest judges as Natalie Portman, Wolfgang Puck, Daniel Boulud, Tyler Florence, Penn & Teller, and Nigella Lawson. (Yes, you read that correctly: NIGELLA LAWSON!!!) UPDATE: The full press release from Bravo, along with official bios for the Top Chef: Las Vegas contestants and video, can be found below. Video: Chef Introductions Get introduced to the chefs that will be competing on this season. Video: The Judges on the Sixth Season The jud

Ending several months of rumors, FX has now officially announced the launch dates for its returning series Sons of Anarchy, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia , and nip/tuck . Season Two of Sons of Anarchy will kick off on Tuesday, September 8th at 10 pm ET/PT. The second season of the Charlie Hunnam-led series will feature guest turns by Alan Arkin and Henry Rollins. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia returns for a fifth season of madcap adventures on Thursday, September 17th. The twelve-episode season will air Thursday nights at 10 pm ET/PT. nip/tuck returns for its sixth and penultimate season of ten episodes in October (specific date TBA). Guest stars next season will include Vanessa Redgrave, Rose McGowan, Mario Lopez, Barry Bostwick and Gilles Marini. Additionally, the network will also launch an as-yet-unannounced new comedy series as a companion to It's Always Sunny on Thursday evenings. (I'd assume, then, that the poorly-received Testees won't be back fo

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. The Chicago Tribune 's Maureen Ryan has an absolutely fantastic interview with Doctor Who star David Tennant on the eve of BBC America's airing of last Christmas' Doctor Who special "The Next Doctor." Among the topics of discussion: the end of his run on the legendary British sci-fi series, the truth behind the all-Doctors reunion rumors (false, says Tennant), and what's next for the actor (Poliakoff's Glorious 39 ), among other things. "I'm all finished," said Tenannt of his run on Doctor Who . "Three or four weeks ago, I filmed my last scene. So it's over. Still a long time to go before they're all broadcast, though, so I'm still clinging on for a bit. But yeah, it's done. It was very emotional, very exciting. We managed to go out with some of the best scripts I had in four years. So it was a real treat." ( Chicago Tribune 's The Watcher ) Jeri Ryan ( Shark