[Televisionary]

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. It's official: FOX has canceled Joss Whedon's metaphysical drama series Dollhouse . The series, which is currently in production on this season's eleventh episode, will finish production and the network is currently expected to air all thirteen installments of the low-rated Friday night drama beginning December 4th. Whedon himself posted on Whedonesque about the cancellation news (which didn't come as a surprise to anyone tracking the ratings) and said, ""I don't have a lot to say. I'm extremely proud of the people I've worked with: my star, my staff, my cast, my crew. I feel the show is getting better pretty much every week, and I think you'll agree in the coming months. I'm grateful that we got to put it on, and then come back and put it on again. I'm off to pursue internet ventures/binge drinking," he wrote. "Possibly that relaxation thing I've read so much about. By

"You are what you choose." Syfy has released a new 90-second promo for its upcoming drama series Caprica , the prequel to Battlestar Galactica launching in January. Featuring all-new footage of the series, the promo depicts some of the storylines and imagery slated to appear on the series, which is being overseen by showrunner Jane Espenson . And, yes, it just happens to also feature a brief shot of James Marsters as terrorist leader Barnabus Greeley. (He's slated to appear in at least three episodes this season.) Caprica is slated to launch January 22nd at 9 pm ET/PT.

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. Good news for Chuck fans: NBC has opted to order six additional episodes of Chuck , bringing the episodic total for Season Three to 19 installments. (Huzzah!) While NBC has yet to announce an official launch date for Chuck 's third season, the order of the additional episodes points to a potential January launch for the Warner Bros. Television-produced series, as does NBC's decision to cancel low-rated medical drama Trauma , which failed to garner a back nine pickup. Given the Peacock's cancellation of both Trauma and Southland , it now seems more likely that Chuck will return to the schedule before March. ( The Wrap's TVMoJoe , Hollywood Reporter , Variety ) E! Online's Jennifer Godwin gets Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof to answer a few choice questions about Season Six of Lost while at a signing for the hardcover collection of Lindelof's Wolverine Vs. Hulk . Asked about whether fan questions have helpe

There are many copies. And they have a plan. I feel a bit conflicted about Battlestar Galactica: The Plan , the nearly two-hour-long direct-to-DVD movie that's set roughly around the first two seasons of Syfy's groundbreaking drama series Battlestar Galatica . On the one hand, I was excited to return to the dystopian world of human survivors and Cylon skinjobs, ahead of Syfy's planned prequel series Caprica (which launches in January), but on the other I can't help asking myself if this was a story that cried out to be told. Battlestar Galatica: The Plan , written by Jane Espenson and directed by Edward James Olmos, doesn't really tred any new territory, per se. What it does offer is a different perspective on the events of the first two seasons of Battlestar Galactica , from the POV of the Cylon attackers. It's through their eyes--both the Cylon skinjobs and the mythical Final Five--that we see the chain of events unfold, from the attack on the Colonies to the

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. CBS has given full season orders to freshman dramas NCIS: Los Angeles and The Good Wife , which are respectively the first and second best-rated new series of the season and have assisted in CBS winning the last three Tuesday ratings matches. (via press release) Ellen Page, Alia Shawkat, and Sean Tillmann will write and executive produce a single-camera comedy pilot script entitled Stitch N' Bitch for HBO. The project will follow "two painfully cool hipster girls as they relocate from Brooklyn's Williamsburge neighborhood to Los Angeles' Silver Lake enclave in hopes of become artists -- of any kind," according to Hollywood Reporter 's Nellie Andreeva and Matthew Belloni. The trio might also star in the project if it's picked up to pilot but any decision of that kind will be made at a later date. ( Hollywood Reporter ) SPOILER! E! Online's Jennifer Godwin has details about Hayden Panettiere's

Confession: I've never watched Stargate SG-1 or Stargate Atlantis , other than a few episodes here or there. So it wasn't with any real familiarity with the Stargate , er, universe (other than vague reminiscences of the Kurt Russell/James Spader feature film) that I watched the gloomy three-hour series premiere of Stargate Universe , the newest iteration in the fifteen-year-old franchise which seems hell-bent on being as broadly accessible to the mainstream population as possible. Taking some visual clues from the darker Battlestar Galactica , Stargate Universe tells the story of a disparate band of survivors who are thrust through one of the titular gateways and discover themselves trapped on an ancient spaceship on a course to some distant location among the stars. While searching for a way home (said ship is on a one-way course that can't be changed), they must band together to find a way to survive and create a new home for themselves under some remarkable and unexpec

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. CBS is said to be developing a potential spin-off from its crime drama series Criminal Minds that will be created by showrunner/executive producer Ed Bernero and executive producer Chris Mundy, the latter of which will write the script for the potential spin-off which will air as an episode of Criminal Minds later this season. No concrete details are available but the series is thought to revolve around a new team of FBI agents, rather than focusing on any of the existing Criminal Minds characters. ( Hollywood Reporter ) John Simm ( Life on Mars ), who returns to Doctor Who to reprise his role as The Master this winter, has said that David Tennant's swan song on the British sci-fi series is a "brilliant send-off" for Tennant and the Tenth Doctor. "It'll be a brilliant send-off for Mr Tennant," said Simm. "Last time I did it it was such fun to do. It was wonderful to be asked back and to be in th

Looking for a sneak peek at Syfy's new mini-series Riverworld , starring Dollhouse's Tahmoh Penikett? You're in luck. Distributor RHI has released the first trailer for the mini-series (itself a backdoor pilot for an ongoing series), which also stars Laura Vandervoort, Mark Deklin, Peter Wingfield, and Alan Cumming, among others. The project was written by Robert Hewitt Wolfe ( The Dresden Files ) and directed by Stuart Gillard ( 90210 ). Here's how Syfy described the four-hour mini-series: "Tahmoh Penikett ( Battlestar Galactica/Dollhouse ) and Laura Vandervoort ( Smallville ) star in Riverworld , based on the popular award-winning series of novels by Philip Jose Farmer. Penikett stars as Matt Ellman, an American war zone reporter who has witnessed the worst of humanity first-hand yet still grasps on to an optimistic spirit. When a suicide bomber kills both Matt and his fiance Jessie, played by Vandervoort, they awaken, separated in a mysterious world where everyo

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. Sci-fi drama series Primeval has been saved from extinction thanks to an unprecedented international co-production deal between Impossible Pictures Limited (IPL), ProSieben, BBC Worldwide (BBCW), ITV, and UKTV. Under the terms of the deal, thirteen new installments of Primeval will be produced for 2011 (the thirteen episodes will comprise two seasons). BBC America will step in to take on a full co-production credit and UKTV will become a first-time investor. Adrian Hodges will again oversee the creative direction of the series, which will feature the return of stars including Hannah Spearritt, Andrew Lee Potts, and Jason Flemyng. " Primeval is one of BBC AMERICA's all time top ten shows and we're thrilled to be co-producing the new season," said BBC America SVP of Programming Richard de Croce. "It’s an innovative deal securing the future of an innovative show - and we can’t wait to bring it back to U.S. fans

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. I'm a little bit worse for wear this morning after a fantastic premiere party for HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm , so let's get to the headlines... Let's just hope he's not as terrifying as Leland Palmer: Ray Wise ( Reaper ) has been cast in a potentially recurring role on FOX's Dollhouse , where he will play Howard, described by Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello as "an intelligent higher-up in the Dollhouse who has huge presence and humor." Fingers crossed that Wise gets the greenlight to return on a regular basis. ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) The Chicago Tribune 's Maureen Ryan is reporting that Syfy has opted to delay the broadcast of Battlestar Galactica prequel telepic The Plan until a later date, thought to be likely in 2010. The two-hour film, written by Jane Espenson and directed by Edward James Olmos, was slated to air in November, according to reports from Sy

Ah, autumn. With it comes the end of horrific LA heatwaves, comfy sweaters, and the advent of the fall season, with its new series and returning favorites? Is there really any better time of year? It's with that thought that I take a look at what I'll be watching this fall season, which begins in earnest today. While I can't guarantee that I'll stick around for more than a few (or even one additional) episode of many of these series, below are the new and returning shows that have at least piqued my interest, based on their pilots. And for more on my thoughts about returning series, check out the September 20th issue of USA Weekend , where I'm interviewed by TJ Walter about my top picks for returning series this fall. sunday 8 pm: The Amazing Race (CBS) It's hard to believe that the granddaddy of all reality series, The Amazing Race , is entering its fifteenth season this fall. While the success or failure of each individual season comes down to the strength of