[Televisionary]

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

Yet another guest star for 30 Rock . Salma Hayek ( Ugly Betty ) has signed on to guest on the upcoming season of NBC's 30 Rock , where she will recur in several episodes as Elisa, a new love interest for Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin). "Salma is truly a gifted talent and an incredible force in our industry," said Teri Weinberg, Executive Vice President, NBC Entertainment in a statement. "I've had the privilege of working with her and I can't wait to see what comedic sparks fly with our brilliant 30 Rock cast." "I have been a fan of Tina's talent, both as an actress and a writer, since working with her years ago on SNL ," said Hayek in a statement. "I am so excited to be part of such an intelligent, funny show, as well as working with the brilliant Alec Baldwin and the rest of the cast of 30 Rock ," said Hayek. 30 Rock kicks off its third season on October 30th at 9:30 pm on NBC. In other NBC-related news, the Peacock has ordered f

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. I hope you all watched the second episode of Chuck last night; we need to try to get those numbers up ASAP! Don't break open the Bolly just yet. FOX has ordered a script for an American remake of hit British series Absolutely Fabulous from executive producers Mitch Hurwitz ( Arrested Development ), Eric and Kim Tannenbaum, and writer/executive producer Christine Zander ( Saturday Night Live ). Project, from Sony Pictures TV, Tantamount, and BBC Worldwide America, is the latest attempt to remake Jennifer Saunder's AbFab . (Previous attempts have included a Roseanne Barr adaptation with Carrie Fisher, CBS' Cybill and High Society , both of which were thinly veiled attempts to cash in on AbFab .) This version will shift the action to Los Angeles, where two boozy over-the-hill BFFs attempt to stay hip while earning a disapproving eye from Edina's straitlaced teenaged daugher Saffron. I would have thought that, post- Ar

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. USA Today 's Robert Bianco reviews tonight's season premiere of ABC's Grey's Anatomy , saying that the two-hour launch "completes the task begun last spring, clearing away dead plots and setting this massively entertaining series back on track." And fans will be happy to know that it seems like--for now anyway--Mer and Der and united. Time will tell... ( USA Today ) Grey's creator Shonda Rhimes, meanwhile, told the Associated Press that the end of last season was about the end of the fairy tale but that this season "was all about what happens after the 'happily ever after,' for all our characters. For some, it's about jumping off into something new. It feels like a very fresh start for everybody." And for Katherine Heigl getting a fresh start away from Grey's , don't count her out just yet. "We have every intention of seeing Katherine for the entire season," said

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. I caught up on television-watching last night and finally got to watch Sunday's episode of Skins (Tony really is a manipulative sociopath, isn't he?) and watched some Season Two episodes of 30 Rock but, sigh, will have to wait to watch last night's Gossip Girl until tonight. Netlet the CW has given a full season order to freshman drama 90210 , with 22 episodes slated to air this season. “The successful addition of 90210 has taken The CW another step forward in building a cohesive schedule that defines this network as a destination for young women with shows that get our audience talking—and watching,” said president of entertainment Dawn Ostroff. "We're very excited about the chance to watch this ensemble of newcomers and familiar faces coalesce and grow together as we move forward." (Hmmm, methinks Ostroff may have just saved her job with this one.) ( Variety ) In other 90210 -related news, the drama ha

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. I had a wonderful if busy weekend which--not atypically--revolved around television. The wife and I attended Saturday's BAFTA/LA TV Tea Party and shared more than a few Pimm's Cups with Flight of the Conchords, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, 90210 executive producer Gabe Sachs, The Office 's Kate Flannery, Leslie David Baker, and Creed Bratton, Mad Men 's Rich Sommer, Aaron Staton, and Michael Gladis, The Riches ' Noel Fisher, 30 Rock 's Scott Adsit, Battlestar Galactica babe Tricia Helfer, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles ' Thomas Dekker, Jeff Garlin, and many, many others. (Fun, to say the least.) Reaction to this year's Emmy Awards--the 60th installment--wasn't quite what producers likely intended, with many critics --myself included--lashing out at the format, the hosts, and the distinct lack of scripted funnies. ( Televisionary ) FOX has given a script order to workplace comedy Th

Good morning one and all and welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. (Yes, the weekend is just within our grasp.) Stargate Atlantis will wrap its run on Sci Fi when the fifth season concludes in January, but the cabler has ordered an untitled two-hour telepic that will air sometime in 2009, following the series finale. An official press release from Sci Fi is said to be forthcoming. ( Multichannel News ) Joel Silver is back in television news headlines again (he's said to be in discussions with creator Rob Thomas and star Kristen Bell about a possible feature version of Veronica Mars ): he's optioned Arthur T. Vanderbilt II's 1989 family history "Fortune's Children: The Fall of the House of Vanderbilt," about the famous clan's 20th century saga as they deal with "declining fortune, extravagances and social-climbing instincts." Silver plans to adapt the book into a possible series for pay cabler HBO; he and Jane Semel would executiv

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

Even as fellow FX creator Ryan Murphy sold two projects in the last two weeks , The Shield creator Shawn Ryan has proven himself to be even more prolific than Murphy, nailing down no less than four television projects in the last few weeks to a collection of broadcast networks and cablers, including FX, FOX, and CBS. All projects will be produced by 20th Century Fox Television, where Ryan signed an overall deal last September. Ryan will team with Ocean's Eleven writer Ted Griffin for an untitled one-hour comedic series about a private detective, which has been fast-tracked by cabler FX. Details are scarce at the moment but I am doing some digging to see just what the premise is for this intriguing concept, one that seems to be very different to the sort of darkness as that have categorized many of FX's drama series. Over at CBS, Ryan has given a put pilot commitment to an adaptation of Richard Murphy's upcoming novel Confessions of a Contractor , about a blue-collar contr

Ryan Murphy has sold yet another project to a network this week, landing himself a pilot script deal at NBC for a single-camera half-hour comedy based on Brian Frazer's memoir "Hyper-chondriac: One Man's Quest to Hurry Up and Calm Down," following a bidding war for the project between ABC and NBC. Frazer's memoir is about his own odyssey to eliminate the stress that was causing his various medical ailments. Jason Dean Hall ( Grand Theft Auto ) will adapt the book for television, with the plot revolving around a pharmaceutical salesman who sells his supplies at hospitals and believes he is suffering from various illnesses... the symptoms of which end up being real, rather than imagined, but are caused by other factors. Murphy is attached to direct and executive produce the pilot for Hyper-condriac , which is expected to shoot next year. The news comes swiftly on the heels of Murphy's sale of his drama pilot script Glee , which FOX picked up in July and has hope

A few freshman series got a slight vote of confidence from their respective networks. NBC has ordered three additional scripts for each of its new dramas, including Chuck , Journeyman , Bionic Woman , and Life . While it's not quite the back nine order that I've been hoping for (especially in the case of Chuck ), it's definitely a step in the right direction. CBS, meanwhile, extended the order for four additional scripts from its primetime soap Cane . So far the CW's Gossip Girl has been the only freshman drama to receive a full season pickup, despite a staggering 30 percent drop in viewership between the series opener and second episode. Given the immediacy of the strike situation (nearly everyone--myself included--now believes that the strike is definitely happening), I am surprised that the networks aren't handing out additional script orders--even as many as nine--left and right. There's no guarantee that these scripts will ever be shot but, given the loomi

Just a day after one Televisionary reader proposed that Tim Minear ( Drive ) take on a relaunch of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchise with a new Faith series starring Eliza Dushku, the man himself has turned up in the trades with a new series. Following a fierce bidding war, ABC has won the rights to Minear's latest series, Miracle Man , co-created with Todd Holland (whom Minear worked with on FOX's shortlived Wonderfalls ). The project, from 20th Century Fox Television, has been given a put pilot commitment. Drama revolves around "a disgraced former televangelist, a man of no faith, who finds that God is using him to perform real miracles and change lives, starting with his own." Hmmm, intriguing. The Hollywood Reporter was quick to point out that televangelism is no stranger to Minear, whose father is a radio engineer for religious programs. Minear himself also attended several evangelical schools as a child. Lest you think that the series will portray its rel

Ask and ye shall receive. That's always been my motto and there's a reason why it's true. In this case, I'm talking about the script for FOX's just-announced new series The Oaks , the first series order for newly installed president Kevin Reilly, which will pit The Shield creator Shawn Ryan on a network series that's... high-concept, to say the least. By Monday afternoon, I had gotten my greedy hands on David Schulner's script for The Oaks and eagerly devoured the supernatural/relationship drama. It's ambitious, layered, and eerily suspenseful; nothing like it currently exists on network television (in the States, anyway). It certainly doesn't feel like a FOX series, but I think that's Reilly's intention: to steer the audience away from those stereotypes of what makes a FOX series just that. The quick 411 on The Oaks , which comes from 20th Century Fox Television : it's about three married couples who live in the same house in three di

After weeks of industry-wide speculation, NBC has finally put the matter to bed and ordered the back nine episodes of struggling freshman drama Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip , which had been dogged by (credible) rumors of cancellations. But you can bet your bottom dollar that NBC didn't walk away from the bargaining table without an economic upside. Sources are reporting that NBC and studio Warner Bros. TV only came to a deal for Studio 60 's full season order thanks to a lower license fee for the additional nine installments, at a price much lower than the $2.5-3 million they paid per episode of the original order. And NBC is mulling possibly moving the struggling series out of its Mondays at 10 pm timeslot as it explores other options. The Peacock, which also ordered three additional scripts for struggling frosh series 30 Rock and Friday Night Lights , is expected to release its midseason lineup in the next few days. UPDATE: NBC has since ordered the back nine episodes of F