[Televisionary]

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. I had a fantastic time at the Community panel last night at the 2010 William S. Paley Television Festival (followed by some late-night carousing with some other TV types). But onto today's headlines, of which there are many. Outbound Brothers & Sisters star Rob Lowe will be heading to Pawnee. Lowe has signed on to appear in multiple episodes of NBC comedy Parks and Recreation later this season and his contract, according to Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello, calls for him to appear on the Universal Media Studios-produced series next season. ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) Meanwhile, Fancast's Matt Mitovich has details about just who Lowe will be playing this season, thanks to an interview with Parks and Recreation executive producer Mike Schur. While Schur--who likened Lowe's participation as "the perfect fit" for the series--was tight-lipped when it came to details about Lowe&

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. Syfy's latest original series Caprica isn't going anywhere any time soon, according to the cabler's EVP of original programming Mark Stern in an interview with Airlock Alpha's Michael Hinman. "We're definitely with Caprica for the long haul," said Stern. "There's no question about it. We knew exactly what it was not going to be, that is an easily adopted show. It's not Battlestar Galactica , it's its own animal. And we definitely recognize that it's going to find its audience and it's going to grow its audience... We're certainly not sharpening the axe by any stretch of the imagination. We all really believe in the show, and it has a lot of potential." Set to air its fourth episode tonight, Caprica will air the first half of its freshman season (10 episodes) before taking a breather and returning in late summer, where it will be paired with another original series as a

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. Given that it's the day after a US holiday, there are precious few headlines this morning but here's what we've got. TVGuide.com's Natalie Abrams is reporting that Michael Trucco ( Battlestar Galactica ) has been cast as a guest star on ABC's sci-fi drama V . Trucco is set to appear in the April 13th episode as the enigmatic John May, the leader of the Fifth Column, a group of rebel Visitors who have been plotting to overthrow the leadership of the alien race. ( TVGuide.com ) A slew of pilot castings: Amy Smart ( Scrubs ) has been cast in CBS' untitled medical drama from executive producer John Wells ( ER ) and writer Hannah Shakespeare ( The Philanthropist ) about a mobile medical team that travels the US and helps those less fortunate yet in need of serious medical attention. Smart will play Meg Cooper, "a tough nurse who stands up to the doctors and sleeps with one of them." Elsewhere, Michelle Bo

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Brit Morgan ( The Middleman ) has been cast in Season Three of HBO's True Blood , where she has landed the pivotal role of Debbie Pelt, the "psycho ex-girlfriend of werewolf Alcide (Joe Manganiello)." ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) SPOILER! In other True Blood -related news, TV Guide Magazine 's Will Keck is reporting that an upcoming storyline will involve an Eric flashback to the year 900 A.D., where viewers will meet Eric's father, a Swedish Viking king named Ulfrick. Casting is currently underway for the role. ( TV Guide Magazine ) Emily Rose ( John From Cincinnati ) has been cast as the lead in Syfy's supernatural series Haven , which is based on Stephen King's novella "The Colorado Kid." Rose will play FBI Agent Audrey Parker, who is sent to the titular Maine community in order to investigate a murder and finds

Welcome to your (delayed) Thursday morning television briefing. Charlize Theron ( The Road ) has teamed up with auteur David Fincher ( Zodiac ) to develop HBO drama series, Mind Hunter , based on John Douglas and Mark Olshaker's nonfiction book "Mind Hunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit," about the profiling of serial killers and rapists. Scott Buck ( Dexter ) will write the pilot, which will be produced by Theron, Fincher, Erwin and Buck and is set up at Fox21. ( Variety ) Jennifer Lopez is set to guest star on CBS' How I Met Your Mother in an episode slated to air in March. Lopez will play Anita Appleby, described as "a no-nonsense author of self-help books that teach women how to train men into relationship machines through the power of denial," who makes it her mission to train Barney. ( Hollywood Reporter ) ABC has officially cancelled Ugly Betty after four seasons. The dramedy, which stars America Ferrera, will wrap up its run this Ma

Caprica might be set in the past but it's the perfect time to take a look into the future. Now that the pilot for Syfy's Caprica has aired, I can take the lid off a series of interviews I did with the main cast of the Battlestar Galactica prequel series a few months back about what lies ahead for the inhabitants of the doomed planet as they make their fateful first steps towards the annihilation of the human race. Traveling up to the series' Vancouver set a few months back, I had the opportunity to sit down one-on-one with the four adult leads of Caprica . The dining room of the Adamas' Caprica City apartment provided the focal point for our conversation and the space's warm terracotta and earth tones and Mission-style furniture seemed light years away from the sleek and icy modernity of the Graystone's high-end home, just a few steps away. But it was that comfortableness that created a cozy environment as I met with Eric Stoltz, Paula Malcomson, Polly Walker

One of the year's most eagerly anticipated series begins tonight on Syfy with the two-hour series premiere of Caprica , the prequel to Battlestar Galactica . While the pilot episode of Ronald D. Moore, David Eick, and Jane Espenson's Caprica has been available via DVD or digital download for some time, tonight will mark the official linear television start of the series as the two-hour pilot gets its broadcast debut. (You can read my original thoughts on Caprica 's pilot episode here .) For those expecting a space-set battle royale or a ragtag band of human survivors, Caprica will be a very different kettle of fish. For one, it's set way before the events of Battlestar Galactica and is set on the planet of Caprica not only decades before its fall but also during a time of peace. But that peace is one that's short-lived. The comfortable existence enjoyed by the well-heeled denizens of Caprica is ripped apart by a shocking terrorist act in the pilot's opening

Looking for some more information about Syfy's Battlestar Galactica prequel spinoff series Caprica ? You've come to the right place. Head over to The Daily Beast to read my latest piece, "Sci-Fi TV Gets Frisky," where I speak to Caprica executive producers Ronald D. Moore, David Eick, and Jane Espenson about the series, which launches on January 22nd. Besides for some fantastic quotes from the talented troika of Moore, Eick, and Espenson and some insight about the series, there's also an exclusive video clip from the second episode of Caprica ("Rebirth") to boot. Caprica launches with a two-hour pilot on Friday, January 22nd at 8 pm ET/PT.

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello has an interview with Dexter executive producer Clyde Phillips about last night's season finale of the Showtime serial killer drama. One very interesting tidbit: when asked about when the decision was made about pulling the trigger on the episode's final scene, Phillips said, "I would say we made the decision pretty late in the season. We didn’t quite know what we were going to do [in the finale]." As for when Deb (Jennifer Carpenter) will find out about Dexter's true nature, don't hold your breath. "We’ve bounced that around the [writers] room," Phillips told Ausiello. "But once we do that... want to talk about game-changers? Once we do that, the game is changed in a way that we just don’t know how to anticipate just yet." ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) Syfy has given series renewals to Stargate Universe and Sanctuary , pickin

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. For those of you Stateside, hope that you're feeling rested (and hopefully recovering from a few days of gluttony) after the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Major changes afoot at USA, according to The Futon Critic's Brian Ford Sullivan. Rather than follow the plans the cabler had outlined for January, USA has chosen to revise its entire schedule, moving its series White Collar, Burn Notice , and Psych onto separate evenings, come January. White Collar will return to the lineup on January 19th, where it will move into its new timeslot of Tuesday evenings at 10 pm ET/PT. Meanwhile, Psych will take over the Wednesday night slot beginning January 27th and Burn Notice will remain on Thursdays, returning with new episodes on January 21st. The move gives the cabler original series on three weeknights. Perhaps a ploy to lure viewers from broadcast sibling NBC to some scripted fare at 10 pm? ( Futon Critic ) Aunjanue Ellis ( The Tak

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Alyssa Milano has been cast as a guest star on ABC's Castle , where she will play a former love interest of Nathan Fillion's Richard Castle with whom he reconnects on her wedding day. "Castle reconnects with Kyra (Milano) on her wedding day and sparks fly," writes Ausiello. "Beckett (Stana Katic) picks up on the obvious connection between the two of them, setting up a fun little love triangle." Milano's episode is slated to air in early 2010. ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) Kevin Murphy ( Desperate Housewives ) has been promoted to executive producer/showrunner of Syfy's Caprica , where he joins fellow executive producers Jane Espenson, Ron Moore, and David Eick. Murphy was originally hired as a co-executive producer on the Battlestar Galactica prequel series and will now serve as the day-to-day showrunner on the series.