[Televisionary]

Every once in a while, a show comes along that is so funny and so witty that you consider yourself lucky to watch it... even if the dunderheaded executives at the now defunct WB decided that you shouldn't get to see it. That show, my friends, is Nobody's Watching , created by Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence and Family Guy 's Neil Goldman and Garret Donovan. Thanks to You Tube, the show-that-may-never-be is watchable on your computer and if Bill Lawrence has anything to do with it, the series might even make it on the air. In an interview with The New York Times , Lawrence says that Comedy Central and ABC have expressed interest in picking up Nobody's Watching , but since the pilot was produced by NBC Universal, NBC has first crack at it. (It was originally developed by the WB after NBC president Kevin Reilly passed on the show.) That Nobody's Watching would get passed over for a series order but such stinkers as Life with Fran , Twins , and (shudder) Reba would mak

I guess someone was watching after all. In a stunning move, Variety is reporting today that botched WB pilot and You Tube favorite Nobody's Watching has been picked up by NBC. Kevin Reilly is expected to announce today that the Peacock network has ordered six scripts, following a meeting with series creators Bill Lawrence, Neil Goldman, and Garrett Donovan. Additionally, NBC will also produce a series of viral videos for Nobody's Watching , which could hit the web as early as September. The news comes a month after a video of the 2005 pilot for Nobody's Watching showed up on You Tube.com, launching a storm of media coverage. (It also doesn't hurt that NBC recently signed a "programming alliance" deal with You Tube.) The network is negotiating with most of the pilot's stars to return, including series leads Paul Campbell ( Battlestar Galactica ) and Tarran Killiam. Should the show be ordered to series, it would carry a very insubstantial price tag per e

Nobody's Watching is coming to NBC... sort of. I just got another email from Derrick Keith, half of the dynamic duo of Derrick and Will, better known as those wacky Emmy-crashing Nobody's Watching guys: "Guess what? NBC picked up a half hour LIVE special of Nobody's Watching to air in March, and if it does decently we go straight to series. Anyway, we'll be at the NBC TCA party tonight, so we'll try to find ya!" While it's not quite the news I was hoping for (i.e., an official pickup from Kevin Reilly, Jeff Zucker, and the network gods at NBC), I'm thrilled to learn that Nobody's Watching is FINALLY going to make it on the air in some form. Meanwhile, I'll be getting every one of you readers out there to tune in to ensure that Nobody's Watching will get a series pickup on NBC. Nobody's Watching . NBC. March. You heard it here first. Stay tuned for more details.

Say it isn't true. After all this time (not to mention brilliantly funny webisodes), could Nobody's Watching actually be dead? Sadly, it looks like that's the case, despite the Peacock ordering a live episode of Nobody's Watching a few weeks ago and setting the stage for a March launch of the live format, which could have led to a series pickup. According to an article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 's Tuned In Journal , an NBC source confirmed Nobody's Watchin g creator and executive producer Bill Lawrence's suspicious that the network wouldn't in fact go forward with the series or the live show, despite the TCA announcement last month. Lawrence says that contracts for Paul Campbell and Taran Killam--who play the fictional Will and Derek--expire at the end of the month; Lawrence ( Scrubs ) also said that he would cease making all webisodes/viral videos for the Nobody's Watching site . "If I kept doing it and nothing happens," he told t

The boys over at Nobody's Watching have added several new videos in the last few days, including a hilarious (if way too short) spoof of my favorite treadmill-based video ever (that would be "Here It Goes Again" by OK Go) and a video showing Derek and Will playing a game of 24 ... because, let's be serious, all of us twenty-something guys secretly wish we were Jack Bauer. They've also given you, their loyal fans, the opportunity to tell NBC what you really, really want: "We’re going to pay NBC a little visit with our cameras in the next couple days and make sure we let them know what we think about their new fall schedule. And if you guys have anything you’d like to tell them about any of their shows (good or bad), post it here or call us at 818-620-3151 and we’ll be sure to tell them for you." Start your emailing and phone calls now (though Derek's voicemail box already appears to be full) complaining about the never-ending airings of Deal or No D

Just a few random thoughts this morning as I struggle to open my eyes, thankful that it's Friday and (for me any way), a three day weekend lays before me. But before I peel off for work (and the piles of pilot scripts awaiting me there), I thought I'd take a minute to discuss a few items of note. I'd be terribly remiss if I didn't mention the release of the new 24 Jack Bauer action figure from McFarlane toys. News of the toy was released yesterday, as manufacturer McFarlane Toys (responsible for the growing line of hyper-real Lost action figures ) announced that it had signed a deal with 20th Century Fox Licensing to create a line of 24 -based action figures that would feature the world-saving CTU agent in various scenes lifted directly from the award-winning series. Two sets of Jack Bauer figures are said to be in production and will be offered as part of a boxed set. The line is expected to hit store shelves in August, with the second batch of designs launching in

As there have been a lot of new visitors popping up here at Televisionary lately, I thought I'd take the opportunity this Labor Day to take a look back at some recent posts that may have given you a reason to take a break (or sneak one) from work. (Not that I'm advocating that or anything, mind you.) Hopefully, you're off from work today, with the family, having a lazy old day of it. But if you happen to be stuck inside, below are a few Televisionary moments to keep you entertained... Reality Check: "Project Runway": Week 8: Farm-Raised Cuckoo Bird Angela No Jet-Setter Week 7: The Fix is In: Vincent Has the Winning (Yes, Winning) Design Week 6: Allison Wrongfully Trashed Week 5: Michael Finally Gets Some Love Week 4: Pattern Recognition: "Project Runway" Evicts One Designer Week 1: Catwalks and Catfights on "Project Runway" Second Helpings: FOX's Vanished I Heart "Veronica Mars": "Kidnapping an Heiress": Patty Hearst Hea

I always get depressed when there's a series that I love watching that no one seems to talk about (or, hell, watch at all). In this case, I'm talking about the second season of Ricky Gervais' follow-up to The Office , the mordantly hilarious comedy Extras , which recently launched on HBO. Quick recap time: Gervais plays Andy Millman, a hapless extra, er, background artist who has been slaving away in obscurity for years and years with little hope of escaping a mindless life of drudgery and anonymity. (Hmmm, sounds like David Brent.) He's got a useless, boorish agent (played to great comic effect by co-creator Stephen Merchant, reunited here with his Office mate), no love life to speak of, and constant companion in his friend, the cute but clueless Maggie (played by Ashley Jensen, who has cleaned up and gone all glam as Christina on Ugly Betty .) The second season has brought Andy a modicum of success in the form of a BBC workplace sitcom called When the Whistle Blows .

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. I spent last night watching Fringe (more on that in a bit), catching up on Gossip Girl , and sitting through another dull installment of 90210 . At least it took the bad taste out of my mouth from Knight Rider . (Shudder.) The Season Three premiere of NBC's Heroes (9.9 million viewers, 4.9/12 in adults 18-49) was down 25 percent from its sophomore launch , landing it second in the hour behind ABC's Dancing with the Stars . The slide for Heroes was not unexpected, coming as it did after a season that many fans found creatively lacking and middling and a curtailed season due to the writers strike. ( Hollywood Reporter ) CBS will air the original pilot of new drama Eleventh Hour , starring Rufus Sewell and Marley Shelton, as its opening installment, after all. The Eye had previously announced that it would wait to air the original pilot of Eleventh Hour ("Resurrection")until later in the season but the network h

Wowsers. What a difference a day can make. Just a day after attending the audience run through on FOX's comedy pilot Action News (now being renamed with the less on-the-nose title of Back to You ), I was shocked to learn that not one, but two actors had been replaced in the days leading up to Friday's scheduled taping of the Action News / Back to You pilot. (The series itself already has a 13-episode commitment on FOX for the fall.) Paul Campbell (of Battlestar Galactica and Nobody's Watching ) and Aimee Garcia ( George Lopez ), who played station news director Nate and weatherwoman Montana respectively, are both off the series and are being replaced by Josh Gad and Ayda Field. Gad ( 21 ) will replace Paul Campbell as the young corporate news director; Field ( Studio 60 ), who also appears in the untitled Gabe Sachs/Jeff Judah comedy pilot at ABC this season, will replace Aimee Garcia as the former child beauty pageant winner turned meteorologist. Both Gad and Field wil

Kelsey Grammer. Patricia Heaton. Two actors on two of the biggest sitcoms from the last ten years. Push them together and you could have a clash of temperaments. Or the expert sparks that come from a perfect pairing of disparate personalities. FOX's new comedy series, Action News , fortunately has the latter effect, pairing the erudite Grammer with the down-to-earth Heaton as two local newscasters with some unresolved history who are forced, once again, to work together delivering some, er, gripping local stories. I had the opportunity to attend the audience run-through on Action News ' pilot yesterday on the FOX lot (though the fate of said pilot is a foregone conclusion, as the comedy has already been ordered to series for the fall ) and am happy to report that the series has more than met my expectations, based on the phenomenal script by series creators Steve Levitan ( Just Shoot Me ) and Christopher Lloyd ( Frasier ) and the always witty direction by legendary comedy direc

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. NBC and Universal Media Studios have reached a deal with former Gilmore Girls star Lauren Graham to come aboard midseason drama series Parenthood . Graham will replace ailing actress Maura Tierney, who was forced to bow out of the project due to health issues, on the Jason Katims-created drama, based on the 1989 feature film. She'll play a harried single mom with two kids who moves her family in with her parents in order to jumpstart her life. ( Variety ) Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello talks to Southland star Michael Cudlitz about the sudden cancellation of the NBC cop drama. "In retrospect, I saw it coming," Cudlitz told Ausiello. "We were two weeks away from airing and [the cancellation news] has created more press for the show than NBC has put into it on its own. They ran the first [ Southland ] ad — a 30-second spot — last Friday, and that’s the only one that they ran. That’s not a relaunch. When

Every once in a while there's a pilot that comes along that amuses you to no end but just doesn't end up getting ordered by the network. Nobody's Watching was one, and Lookwell another, but one that I think that never got a chance was the wacky reality/comedy hybrid The Papdits , from creator Ant Hines, one of the writers on the current #1 movie in America. (That would be Borat , of course.) So, it's no coincidence that following the HUGE opening this weekend of Borat that CBS has launched the twenty-plus minute pilot of The Papdits on its broadband network Innertube. The pilot, made available today for free streaming to all visitors of Innertube, follows a fictional Kashmir family as they travel around on a cross-country RV expedition of the United States, interacting with real people along the way. The series originally began life at FOX, at the time under Gail Berman's reign, which gave the project, from Ant Hines, Tom Nunan, and Cathy Schulman, a six-episode

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. Good news: pay cabler Starz has renewed comedy series Party Down , from creators Rob Thomas, John Enbom, Dan Etheridge, and Paul Rudd, for a second season. The entire cast of Season One of Party Down will return for a sophomore season, though Jane Lynch's commitment to FOX's upcoming series Glee could create complications for her return and the actress is the only cast member who isn't already signed on for a second season. Party Down will return to production this summer for a Season Two launch date sometime in 2010. Also returning: directors Fred Savage and Bryan Gordon, who will direct episodes of the series, along with Ken Marino, who is locked to helm an installment as well. ( E! Online's Watch with Kristin , Variety ) FOX has reportedly ordered pilots Human Target , from Warner Bros Television, and comedy Sons of Tucson , from 20th Century Fox Television, to series. FOX had no comment on the news, which is

Huzzah! With less than two weeks to go before the start of San Diego Comic-Con 2010, the convention has continued to release its full schedule, day by day. Continuing its trend of releasing single-day lineups over four days, the convention has today announced the programming schedule for Friday, July 23rd. Among the offerings on the second day of Comic-Con 2010, The Walking Dead, Bones, Terra Nova, Falling Skies, True Blood, Being Human, Stargate Universe, Bob's Burgers, Caprica, Skyline, The Big Bang Theory, Super, The Cape, Spartacus, The Other Guys, The Green Hornet, Archer , Joss Whedon, Entertainment Weekly 's Girls Who Kick Ass panel, TV Guide Magazine 's 2010 Hot List, and much more. The full schedule for Friday can be found below. Be sure to come back tomorrow for Saturday's lineup... (and you can find Thursday's lineup here .) Continue reading full story...

Hopefully you all enjoyed, like yours truly, a spectacular three-day weekend that was filled more with Rome , Extras , and the season premiere of The Amazing Race: All Stars than with thoughts of Britney Spears shaving her head. (Though to be honest, as sick as I am of Britney and her one-day-rehab-shaving-off-locks ways, I do think I am slightly more fed up with Rob Mariano, but that's just me.) I've been really looking forward to this season, which brings back some familiar faces to the Race, but I have really been dreading the return of Romber, the aggressively competitive team of professional reality TV gluttons Rob and Amber, after two Survivor installments, Amazing Race , their free wedding, and their own Fox Reality channel series. While Rob and Amber might have their fans (and, lordy, I do know a few of them), I was really hoping that executive producers Elise Doganieri and Bertram van Munster would opt to leave them out of the mix. C'est la vie. As usual, 11 team