[Televisionary]

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. TNT has officially canceled freshman drama Trust Me , starring Eric McCormack and Tom Cavanagh. The Warner Horizon-produced series, which launched with 3.4 million viewers and quickly lost much of that viewership, will not be returning for a second season. McCormack himself has already signed on to another project, ABC's untitled Tad Quill comedy pilot. The cabler, meanwhile, has three new series in the works: Ray Romano dramedy Men of a Certain Age , medical drama Hawthorne (formerly known as Time Heals ), and Deep Blue (formerly known as The Line ). ( Hollywood Reporter ) Showtime is now zero for four. The pay cabler has now opted not to order any of its four pilots to series in the last month, deciding over the weekend not to hand out a series order to Tim Robbins-created drama Possible Side Effects , staring Josh Lucas as a pharmaceuticals family scion. Previously, the network had shelved pilots Ronna and Beverly , The L Wo

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. Still scratching your head about the apparent confusion surrounding the age of Lost 's Charlotte Staples Church, played by Rebecca Mader, who was allegedly born in 1979 but then turned up as a kid on the island in 1974? You're not the only one. In executive producer Damon Lindelof and Carlton's Cuse's latest podcast, they placed the blame for the mixup about Charlotte's age squarely on Mader, saying that she changed her character's age from 37 to 28. Mader then shot back on her Facebook page, blaming Team Darlton for the error. Now Darlton have cleared up the confusion and apologized to Mader. "Rebecca is absolutely right and we apologize to both her and the entire fan community for screwing up the story," said the duo in an email to Michael Ausiello (click through to read the full statement). "Our first mistake was the timeline gaffe, but the much more significant one was wrapping Rebecca up in

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. Samantha Who? 's Jennifer Esposito has been cast in a multiple-episode story arc on USA's Burn Notice , where she will play Michelle Paxon, "a Miami PD detective who becomes obsessed with uncovering the truth about Michael." Esposito is expected to first turn up at the start of Season Three of Burn Notice , scheduled to debut in June. ( Entertainment Weekly' s Ausiello Files ) Chevy Chase, who'll be seen later this season on NBC's Chuck , has been cast as one of the leads in NBC's comedy pilot Community , where he will play a community college student who has been married five times, opposite Joel McHale. Pilot will be directed by Joe and Anthony Russo ( Arrested Development ). ( Hollywood Reporter ) Richard Dreyfuss ( Tin Man ) and Jason Biggs ( The Pleasure of Your Company ) will star in CBS comedy pilot Happiness Isn't Everything , about adult siblings and their parents who are "overinvolv

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. The Los Angeles Times talks to Lost 's Terry O'Quinn about the reveal that his character, John Locke, wasn't quite as dead as it initially seemed in a very interesting interview that peels back some of the layers of motivations behind the enigmatic character. "Well, it appears to be at least a version of living," admitted O'Quinn. "It's interesting that I find post-death Locke up to this point much more relaxed and confident. I guess dying does that to you. I don't think he's too worried anymore. I think he might believe that he has the answers he's been looking for." ( Los Angeles Times ) In other Lost -related news, TV Guide talks to new cast member Reiko Aylesworth ( 24 ) about what to expect on this week's episode, entitled "LaFleur." "There are so many reveals in this [episode]," said Aylesworth. "This episode opens up many cans of worms... [and

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. Cabler FX is developing a series adaptation of Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming's comic series Powers , about two police detectives in the homicide division assigned to cases involving super-powers. “ Powers is in active development as a pilot at FX,” Bendis told MTV. “I just handed in a draft to the network and we’re getting our notes from the network as soon as this thing is over. So next week I’ll get the notes, and as long as they don’t involve sock puppets and some sort of orgy scene that I’m not interested in, then hopefully it will go in the right direction.” ( MTV's Splash Page ) More discussion about Tom Zarek's motivations during the recent two-episode arc on Sci Fi's Battlestar Galactica , this time from Richard Hatch himself, who eloquently commented on Maureen Ryan's thread about the most recent episode ("Blood on the Scales") over at the Chicago Tribune 's site. "First

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. I spent last night watching the first three brilliant episodes of HBO's Big Love , kicking off next month, and was up all night thinking about the series. At least the weekend's finally here, right? Pushing Daisies ' Kristin Chenoweth has been cast as the female lead in David E. Kelley's new NBC legal drama, Legally Mad , from Warner Bros. TV. Chenoweth will play Skippy Pylon, a brilliant lawyer who is often mistaken for being a teenager who goes to work at her father's firm; Skippy is "relentlessly cheerful" but suffers occasional bouts of psychosis. "I could only picture Kristin playing this role," said Kelley. "I've wanted to work with her for a long time and can't wait to reveal her as someone who's completely mad." It's a perfect part for Cheno (I'll be reading the pilot script this weekend) and I'm happy to see her land on her feet after the cancellation o

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 Thursday morning television briefing. While not totally TV-related, you can see a sneak peek of the cover of the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly (which hits newsstands tomorrow) to the right, depicting Heroes ' Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine as Spock and Kirk in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek . The issue also features an in-depth interview with Abrams, in which he talks about Star Trek , his YouTube-fueled feud with William Shatner, and also features quotes from Leonard Nimoy and Quinto about the new film. Are you GOB Bluth? FOX is said to be in final negotiations for a talent/development deal with Will Arnett ( Arrested Development ); under the deal, FOX would develop a comedy vehicle for Arnett or cast him in a pre-existing project at the network. Arnett, who is currently recurring as Devon Banks on NBC's 30 Rock , also stars (or his voice does, anyway) in FOX's upcoming animated comedy series Sit Down, Shut Up . ( TV Week ) Not such good news, however, f

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. I hope you all tuned in to watch the third episode of Chuck last night as well as a pretty soggy installment of Gossip Girl in which the laws of college applications, logic, and, well, sense of any kind sort of went out the window. But at least the kids looked fabulous, right? Rob Thomas is proving himself to be quite prolific, in the post- Veronica Mars universe. Pay cabler Starz has ordered ten episodes of half-hour comedy series Party Down , written by the Veronica Mars creator, who is set to executive produce with John Enbom, Paul Rudd, and Dan Etheridge. (Enbom will act as the series' showrunner.) Series follows the lives of six Hollywood wannabes as they attempt to pursue their dreams while trying to get by day by day with their shared catering company. Party Down will likely launch in March 2009. ( Variety ) Brenda will be returning to 90210 . Yep, Shannen Doherty has agreed to appear in two additional episodes of the

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. Once again, I am feeling burnt out after an overstuffed night of TV viewing that included new episodes of Pushing Daisies, Top Model, Old Christine, Project Runway , and Dirty Sexy Money . Whew. Jason Priestley has signed on to direct an upcoming episode of the CW's 90210 but don't expect to see him in front of the camera any time soon. Priestley will direct the series' 18th episode, slated to air in the spring. While Priestley's Brandon Walsh won't be turning up in that hallowed zip code, Shannen Doherty is said to be returning for two episodes later this season (though executive producer Gabe Sachs wouldn't comment officially) and producers are also said to have locked Jennie Garth for six additional segments. (All that hubbub about Garth not coming back? Allegedly just a "misunderstanding.") ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) On the eve of the premieres of US versions of Life on Mars

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. Hopefully all of you managed to catch a superlative season opener to NBC's Chuck and a slightly-less-than-stellar episode of CW's Gossip Girl . Orlando Jones ( Drumline ), Michael Weaver ( Notes from the Underbelly ), and Ivana Milicevic ( Casino Royale ) have been cast in guest roles for a November episodes of ABC's Pushing Daisies entitled "The Norwegians," where they will play Norwegian detectives resembling our favorite troika of gumshoes Emerson, Ned, and Chuck, who leave Scandinavia in search of bigger and better mysteries to solve. Let's just hope these dopplegangers don't try to solve the mystery of how Emerson and Ned, er, solve their mysteries. ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) Don't hold your breath waiting for an Arrested Development feature film, fans of the Bluth clan. Michael Cera says that he's heard nothing about plans for a feature film based on the short-lived F