[Televisionary]

Even as fellow FX creator Ryan Murphy sold two projects in the last two weeks , The Shield creator Shawn Ryan has proven himself to be even more prolific than Murphy, nailing down no less than four television projects in the last few weeks to a collection of broadcast networks and cablers, including FX, FOX, and CBS. All projects will be produced by 20th Century Fox Television, where Ryan signed an overall deal last September. Ryan will team with Ocean's Eleven writer Ted Griffin for an untitled one-hour comedic series about a private detective, which has been fast-tracked by cabler FX. Details are scarce at the moment but I am doing some digging to see just what the premise is for this intriguing concept, one that seems to be very different to the sort of darkness as that have categorized many of FX's drama series. Over at CBS, Ryan has given a put pilot commitment to an adaptation of Richard Murphy's upcoming novel Confessions of a Contractor , about a blue-collar contr

The more things change, the more they stay the same. It's yet another good day at Jeff Lewis' office, as seen in last night's season finale of Flipping Out ("Back in the Market"). Sure, there's the remains of, er, human feces to be dealt with at yet another job site, a surly moving contractor to be yelled at, and delays with completing the Encino property before Jeff's clients can move in, but that's just par for the course as far as I am concerned. I thought it was about time that Jeff started to interview for someone to come in as a new house assistant (especially after the incident at Valley Oak) to replace Chris Keslar, but I never imagined that it would be someone quite so terrifying as ClownHead... I mean, Jett. Everyone is oohing and ahhing over how "attractive" Jett is but his hair was actually quite scary to me; the mane equivalent of a trainwreck you can't quite look away from. (Shudder.) Jett seems nice enough, if already in w

More behind-the-scenes drama at NBC. Following the departure a few months back of showrunner Tom Fontana on upcoming midseason drama The Philanthropist (which BSG co-creator David Eick was brought in to oversee), yet another behind-the-scenes change is occuring on another new drama series. Jason Smilovic ( Kidnapped, Bionic Woman ) will be stepping down as showrunner on the upcoming fall drama series My Own Worst Enemy , starring Christian Slater, Alfre Woodard, Saffron Burrows, Yara Martinez, and Mike O'Malley, though the Peacock is quick to say that he'll still be involved with the series and will, according to The Hollywood Reporter "continue to be the creative force behind the series and will navigate it with" his replacement, John Eisendrath. Eisendrath ( K-Ville, Alias ), a co-executive producer on My Own Worst Enemy , is said to be in talks with NBC brass about becoming the series' new executive producer/showrunner. The move comes as production is about

I don't know what it is (perhaps age or post-weekend exhaustion?), but I am finding it increasingly difficult to stay awake on Sunday nights to make it through each episode of Mad Men and, for the second time this season, am already wishing that the series aired at 9 pm. (Am I the only one who feels this?) In any event, I finally caught up with Mad Men 's second episode ("Flight 1") last night, another superlative installment which actually trumped the season opener in terms of emotional complexity, characterization, and deft plotting. If only Don had actually sat down with Pete Campbell, the entire American Airlines campaign and booting of Mohawk Air could have been potentially avoided. I have to give credit to Vincent Kartheiser for his brilliant turn this week as the grieving Pete Campbell; after learning that his estranged father was aboard the doomed American Airlines flight, he enters a fragile state of shock and turns, not to his peers, but to Don Draper for h

Doesn't seem like forever ago that we first watched a remarkable new series about a Pie Maker who could bring the dead back to life with a touch ? Yes, folks, I'm talking about Bryan Fuller's gleefully imaginative Pushing Daisies , which sadly ended its truncated first season run last December due to the WGA strike. It's incredible to believe that it will have been about ten months since we last saw Ned, Chuck, Emerson, and Olive. (To say nothing of former Darling Mermaid Darlings Lily and Vivian.) Fortunately, the wait for Season Two (which will hopefully--fingers crossed--be much, much longer than Season One) is nearly over and ABC has made a promo for those of us still under Pushing Daisies ' spell to get a taste of what Bryan Fuller is cooking up for the series' sophomore season... and it looks like Season Two will include clowns, mimes, pigs, nuns, secret doors, bees, and, of course, pie. Pushing Daisies relaunches on October 1st at 8 pm ET/PT on ABC.

Ryan Murphy has sold yet another project to a network this week, landing himself a pilot script deal at NBC for a single-camera half-hour comedy based on Brian Frazer's memoir "Hyper-chondriac: One Man's Quest to Hurry Up and Calm Down," following a bidding war for the project between ABC and NBC. Frazer's memoir is about his own odyssey to eliminate the stress that was causing his various medical ailments. Jason Dean Hall ( Grand Theft Auto ) will adapt the book for television, with the plot revolving around a pharmaceutical salesman who sells his supplies at hospitals and believes he is suffering from various illnesses... the symptoms of which end up being real, rather than imagined, but are caused by other factors. Murphy is attached to direct and executive produce the pilot for Hyper-condriac , which is expected to shoot next year. The news comes swiftly on the heels of Murphy's sale of his drama pilot script Glee , which FOX picked up in July and has hope

I'm getting all teary again just thinking about the season finale of Doctor Who ("Journey's End"), which saw the resolution to about four seasons' worth of storylines, the "death" of one of the Doctor's companions, a meta-crisis resulting in the creation of a "second" Doctor, six pilots in the TARDIS, and a slew of familiar faces (even Jackie Tyler!) turn up for the ultimate battle against the Daleks, with the fate of all creation at stake. This could have felt rushed but fortunately both the BBC and US broadcaster Sci Fi opted to let the final chapter of Season Four of Doctor Who run its full length (here in the US with ad breaks, it filled out a 90-minute timeslot), as "Journey's End" dealt with some rather profound themes: the natures of sacrifice, vengeance, and friendship and the price one ultimately pays for victory. It's also about the pragmatism of the human race, with Martha willing to destroy the Earth using th