[Televisionary]

Just a quick reminder to be sure to take a break from your Halloween festivities to tune in to two of the weekend's best television offerings. Tonight, be sure to catch USA's crime procedural White Collar , which airs its second episode at 10 pm ET/PT. Neal and Peter infiltrate New York's Fashion Week to stop a criminal from selling security data that is stored on a piece of technology woven into the fabric of a runway dress. Given that White Collar is already one of the most gorgeously stylish series on television, the addition of a sartorial-themed plot can only be the icing on top. While not forgetting of course about HBO's comedy duo of Curb Your Enthusiasm and Bored to Death and CBS' The Amazing Race , be sure to tune into Part One of PBS' extraordinary mystery mini-series Place of Execution on Masterpiece Contemporary on Sunday evening. (Check your local listings for details.) You can read my advance review of the two-part mystery , which I called &quo

Just a quick reminder to tune in to tonight's series premiere of White Collar , which airs tonight at 10 pm ET/PT on USA. You can read my advance review of the pilot episode , which I called "effervescent and engaging." Matthew Bomer and Tim DeKay are perfectly matched as reluctant partners and the entire series crackles with style and retro charm. So don a fedora, pour yourself a scotch, and settle in for the first episode of what promises to be a fun and witty series about capers, coppers, and custom suiting. White Collar airs tonight at 10 pm ET/PT on USA.

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. Loads of television-related headlines to get through today! Futon Critic is reporting that FOX has pulled Dollhouse from its November sweeps lineup. The Joss Whedon-created series will air its episode this Friday, after which the Friday lineup will be filled with repeats of House and Bones . ( 'Til Death and Brothers will also go on hiatus after this week.) Dollhouse will then return in December where it will air back-to-back episodes on December 4th, 11th, and 18th. It's unclear when FOX will air the remaining three episodes from Dollhouse 's thirteen-episode commitment. No return dates for 'Til Death or Brothers were indicated. ( Futon Critic ) E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos talks to former Lost star Harold Perrineau about the recent rumors that he wouldn't be returning to the ABC drama series this season along with the other original cast members of Lost . The reason, says Perrineau, is not that he&

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. The Wrap's Josef Adalian is reporting that J.J. Abrams is returning to the spy business with a new potential series project with writer/executive producer Josh Reims ( Felicity, Dirty Sexy Money ) and executive producer Bryan Burk that is the subject of a heated bidding war with several broadcast networks including ABC, NBC, and CBS. The untitled project, from Warner Bros. Television and Bad Robot, follows a husband and wife who work as spies. According to Adalian, the script is described as a "fun romp" in the style of classic television spy adventures. ( The Wrap ) Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Reiko Aylesworth ( 24, Lost ) has been cast in Season Three of FX's legal drama Damages in a recurring role. Details about who Aylesworth--who starred in the original pilot for ABC drama series The Forgotten--will be playing are being kept firmly under wraps. ( Entertainment Weekly 's A

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. Jennifer Morrison will depart FOX series House this season, with her final episode airing in November. According to Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello, who broke the story, Morrison did not quit but her departure was "a creative decision on the part of [the series'] producers." Ausiello is quick to point out that Morrison's character, Dr. Allison Cameron, won't be killed off and producers are leaving the door open for her to guest star later on in the season. ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) Looking for just how House 's producers will write Cameron out of the series? E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos and Jennifer Godwin have the scoop as sources close to the production indicate a major medical standoff between Cameron and Chase (Jesse Spencer), with House (Hugh Laurie) getting involved in the discussion as well. ( E! Online's Watch with Kristin ) Hollywood Reporter 's Roger

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. British actor and former footballer Vinnie Jones ( Loaded ) will guest star on an upcoming installment of NBC's action-comedy series Chuck , which returns with its third season next year. Jones will play Karl Stromberg, "an expert hit man with a soft side," on the Warner Bros. Television-produced series. Jones has also been attached to an untitled new series based on a comic book by Howard Chaykin about an "international spy who teams with his long-lost daughters he never knew existed." That project hails from Elevate Entertainment and Prodigy Pictures, the Canadian production company behind NBC mini-series XIII . ( Hollywood Reporter ) TVGuide.com's Natalie Abrams has the scoop behind "that kiss" in the second season premiere of FOX's Fringe last night. According to Abrams, the lip-lock didn't come as a surprise to the two stars of the FOX drama, as they claim that a romantic past betwee

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. I had an amazing time last night at The Killers concert at the Hollywood Bowl but am a wee bit exhausted this morning as a result. That said, onto the headlines. Oscar winner Sissy Spacek will join the cast of HBO's drama series Big Love next season in a multiple-episode story arc where she will play a "powerful Washington D.C. lobbyist." Spacek's casting comes on the heels of announcements that Bella Thorne will replace Jolean Wejbe on the series next season and that Ben Koldyke will appear as Dale, a "state-appointed trustee and love interest for Alby (Matt Ross)." Big Love launches its fourth season early in 2010. ( Los Angeles Times ' Show Tracker ) Saffron Burrows ( My Own Worst Enemy ) is said to be in talks to join the cast of USA's Law & Order: Criminal Intent , where it's thought likely that she would play a new partner for Jeff Goldblum's Detective Zach Nichols. ( Hollywood

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. NBC has given a put pilot order to an untitled drama that follows the employees of a unit whose task is to apprehend fugitives. Project, from Warner Bros. Television and Bruckheimer Television, will be written/executive produced by Jennifer Johnson ( Cold Case ) and executive produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and Jonathan Littman. Deal marks first sale for Bruckheimer at NBC since 2005's E-Ring . ( Variety ) FOX has given a script commitment with a penalty to an untitled western from Chuck writer/executive producer Scott Rosenbaum and executive producers McG and Peter Johnson. Project, from Warner Bros. Television and Wonderland Sound and Vision, is said to have a sci-fi twist that is a tip of the hat to Planet of the Apes and will focus on a "a gunslinger caught between worlds," according to Rosenbaum. "What I'm really interested in is the revamping of the Western genre where you still have all of the iconic W

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing, on this the first day back to work after the Labor Day three-day weekend. Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Angie Harmon ( Women's Murder Club ) has been cast as a guest star on NBC's Chuck . She'll appear in the third season's fourth episode--slated to air sometime around late March/early April--where she will play Sydney, a covert agent for the enigmatic organization The Ring who wants to eliminate Captain Awesome (Ryan McPartlin). ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) Former Middleman star Natalie Morales has been promoted to a series regular on USA's upcoming crime dramedy White Collar , where she will play Lauren Cruz, described as "a smart junior FBI agent in the white-collar division who holds her own with her superiors and the master thieves she's investigating." Morales was originally meant to guest star in two episodes. Elsewhere at USA, Eric Lively (

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. It seems like the stars are finally aligning. Producers on FOX's Bones are in talks with Zooey Deschanel to guest star on the procedural crime drama in December as the cousin of real-life sister Emily Deschanel's Brennan, according to Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello. "We’ve been looking for an opportunity to get the Deschanel girls together," said Bones creator/executive producer Hart Hanson, "but Zooey’s rockin’ career kept getting in the way... We alluded to [her] having a cousin in Minnesota two seasons ago. I’d very much like to meet her in the Christmas episode." ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) As previously reported on this site, 20th Century Fox Television is teaming up with Columbia Records on a series of soundtracks for FOX's upcoming series Glee . The first release, "Glee: The Music, Volume 1," will contain seventeen tracks from the series' first seas

Imagine the high stakes tension of Steven Spielberg's Catch Me if You Can crossed with the rapid-fire humor of The Thin Man films and the slick, elegant style of Mad Men . Still with me? Combine those elements and you begin to approximate the effervescent and engaging new crime drama series White Collar , which launches in October on USA. Created by Jeff Eastin ( Hawaii ) and directed by Bronwen Hughes ( Burn Notice ), White Collar is a cat-and-mouse chase with a twist: the bad guy was caught years ago by the good guy and now assists him in tracking down other nefarious types using his criminal skills, deductive powers, and roguish good looks. The good guy in this case is FBI Agent Peter Stokes ( Tell Me You Love Me 's Tim DeKay), a grimly determined G-man assigned to the bureau's white collar crimes division. Which means that he spends his days (and often nights) tracking down art forgers, embezzlers, and con artists with a mix of relish and reluctance, given the qualit

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. Ubiquitous actor (and Televisionary fave) Anne Dudek ( House, Big Love, Mad Men ) will star opposite Piper Perabo and Christopher Gorham in USA's drama pilot Covert Affairs , where she will play the siter of Perabo's Annie Walker, a polyglot CIA trainee. ( Hollywood Reporter ) Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Emmy nominated Breaking Bad actor Aaron Paul will appear in Season Four of HBO's Big Love next year, though Paul doesn't know quite what's in store for Scott next season now that he and Sarah (Amanda Seyfried) are engaged. "The only thing they’ve told me," Paul told Ausiello, "is that something big will happen to my character this season." ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) Variety 's Cynthia Littleton is reporting that the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences has bowed to public outrage over its decision to time-shift eight awards of the

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. Christopher Gorham ( Harper's Island ) will star opposite Piper Perabo in USA's spy thriller pilot Covert Affairs . Gorham's attachment would seemingly lift the casting contingency on the project, which follows Annie Walker, a polyglot CIA trainee (Perabo) whose relationship with an enigmatic ex-boyfriend makes her of interest to the agency. Gorham will play Auggie Anderson, a blinded CIA military intelligence operative who helps Walker. ( Hollywood Reporter ) Franka Potente ( The Bourne Identity ) will guest star in the season premiere of House this fall, where she will play a mystery character that Gregory House encounters in the mental hospital. What's unclear is whether Potente will be playing a doctor, a patient, or a figment of House's imagination. Hmmmm.... ( E! Online's Watch with Kristin ) House creator David Shore has come on board to oversee a remake of private eye drama The Rockford Files with

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. I had an amazing time at the Mighty Boosh's secret show at the Roxy last night and found myself singing "Nanageddon" as I tried to go to sleep. E! Online's Watch with Kristin has an exclusive interview with Lost star Elizabeth Mitchell, who toplines the upcoming remake of V on ABC. Describing her character on V , Mitchell said: "Erica is a federal agent doing counter-terrorism. She deals with finding sleeper cells and basically eradicating them as much as possible. She's smart and intelligent and all the things that you would want someone who is protecting our country to be. I must have a hero complex—I keep gravitating toward these roles. She has a son, and she's in love with her son, and her son is in love with the Visitors. She has to deal with the fact that she has to save him for the most part. Her husband just left her, so she's a brokenhearted counterterrorist detective." Mitchell al