Television News

It is being reported that NBC has cancelled Reverie after one season. The drama premiered in May with a 10-episode summer run that drew generally-positive reviews, though it ultimately failed to make a splash in the ratings. The series starred Sarah Shahi as Mara Kint, a human behavior expert who takes a new role saving people who have lost themselves in a high-tech virtual reality simulation that allows them to live their dreams. View full article

[imgleft] [/imgleft] Fast National ratings for Friday, Jan. 29, 2010 After last week's "Hope for Haiti Now" telethon, Friday returned to its usual programming, which means CBS claimed victory once again in each hour of primetime even though numbers overall were soft. FOX's "Dollhouse" series made its final goodbyes to even more lackluster ratings, performing worse than The CW's "Smallville" in the same hour. CBS drew 8.3 million viewers and a 5.2 rating /9 share in households for the night. NBC took second with 6.4 million and a 4.2/7, followed by ABC (5.7 million, 3.8/7), FOX (2.7 million, 1.7/3) and The CW (2.0, 1.3/2). CBS also took the adults 18-49 demo cro…

South Park, cable’s longest-running animated series up-to-date, is headed for the 20-season mark. Matt Stone and Trey Parker , the creators of this comedy, have closed a new deal with Comedy Central for three more seasons. The deal will keep the series on running through 2016, extending its run to 20 seasons. “The collective genius of Matt and Trey knows no bounds,” Comedy Central’s president Michele Ganeless said. “Week after week and season after season they continue to surprise and delight South Park fans, and that includes all of us here at Comedy Central. We’re thrilled that the adventures of Stan, Kyle, Kenny and Cartman will continue through 2016.” Click …

[imgleft] [/imgleft]Did the funniest Ashton Kutcher bit go unaired on the Feb. 6 "Saturday Night Live" episode? You decide. A few weeks ago, "SNL" kept the funniest Charles Barkley skit off the air -- you only saw him in drag as Alicia Keys during the preceding NFL game. This week, Ashton Kutcher's digital short advertising Tooter (a Twitter-like network that broadcasts Kutcher's flatulence emissions, or "gissions") didn't make it to air. http://www.hulu.com/...8fF93YXvJTxQKaw What do you think? Glad it got cut? Wish it had been included? It's not the funniest thing we've ever seen but... still better than the "Burn Notice" sketch. Follow Zap2it Andr…

[imgleft] [/imgleft] Ted's story of "How I Met Your Mother" will continue for at least another year. CBS has given the comedy an early pickup for the 2010-11 season, the network confirms to Zap2it. The news comes on the heels of series creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas signing a new deal with "HIMYM" producer 20th Century Fox TV, which secures their services for three more years and includes new development as well as the current show. The early renewal is something of a changeup for "How I Met Your Mother," whose renewal has been left to the last minute more than once in its five-season life. The show, however, has earned solid ratings so far this season as the…

[imgleft] [/imgleft] "The Vampire Diaries" could have a super-scary vampire visiting, one that looks eerily like Blair Waldorf. That's right, "Vampire Diaries" and "Gossip Girl" executive producer Bob Levy says that he's going to "work on" having real-life friends Nina Dobrev and Leighton Meester make guest appearances on each other's shows, says E!. We think this is a fantastic idea. Think about it: Dobrev could visit the Upper East Side and either try to out-bitch the Queen B or worse yet, put her in an uncomfortable situation like have her visit a garage sale. Eww! Used and dirty! Of course, if Meester visits Mystic Falls, she would make a damn fine vampire wi…

"Smallville" reaches way back into the DC Comics archives Friday (Feb. 5) for its two-hour movie "Absolute Justice." How far back? Dr. Fate (Brent Stait) and Stargirl (Britt Irvin) back. We're talking Justice Society of America here. Hawkman (Michael Shanks) is part of the action too. "Absolute Justice" will find Clark (Tom Welling) uncovering the JSA's old headquarters and teaming up with Stargirl when it appears someone is bumping off former members of the group. Oliver (Justin Hartley) and John Jones (Phil Morris) also get invovled. "Absolute Justice" airs at 8 p.m. ET Friday. Will you be watching? Follow Zap2it on Twitter and Facebook for the l…

[imgleft] [/imgleft]Katharine McPhee is guest-starring on "Community" Thursday (March 11), but had things broken a little differently you could have seen the former "American Idol" runner-up on an different NBC series this season. McPhee tells Zap2it that earlier this season she talked with NBC about a role on "Trauma": "It was after the show had already started to air," she says. "They were going to add a new character, and I was going to go to network and test for the part, but I really wasn't ready to sign on for a show. ... It just didn't work out." The experience did, however, put McPhee "on the NBC radar," and that eventually helped lead to her guest spot on "…

[imgleft] [/imgleft] ABC has finally cleared a space on the schedule for its drama "Happy Town." The series, a small-town mystery the network is comparing to "Twin Peaks," will premiere at 10 p.m. ET Wednesday, April 28. It will fill the spot currently held by "Ugly Betty," which will have completed its final season by then. ABC has ordered eight episodes of "Happy Town," which means it will likely run into the early part of the summer. "Happy Town" is the last of the six dramas ABC ordered last spring to get a premiere date. It takes place in the small town of Haplin, Minn., where a mysterious kidnapper resurfaces after several years, dredging up a whole bunch o…

Five months after limited series The Alienist concluded its run, TNT has ordered another chapter to continue the story. Titled The Angel of Darkness, the sequel will be based on the follow-up novel of the same name by author Caleb Carr. Set in 1896 New York, The Alienist followed a criminal psychologist and a newspaper illustrator who are tasked by the city's newly-appointed police commissioner to investigate a string of gruesome murders in secret. Its 10-episode run fared well for the cable network, garnering solid ratings and picking up multiple Emmy Award nominations. The three series leads, Daniel Bruhl, Luke Evans, and Dakota Fanning, will all be returning …

[imgleft] [/imgleft] "FlashForward" is going through another behind-the-scenes shakeup, with co-creator David S. Goyer stepping aside as showrunner. The ABC series, which premiered to big ratings but tailed off during its fall run, is in the midst of an on-air hiatus and will return March 18. Goyer will still be "involved" in the show and retain an executive producer credit, the showbiz trades report, but he won't be the person in charge of the day-to-day operations. Goyer's departure is the second showrunner change "FlashForward" has made in its short life. Mark Guggenheim joined the series after its pilot but left in October, ceding the reins to Goyer. ABC hasn't …

[imgleft] [/imgleft] Kathryn Bigelow has nabbed the Directors Guild of America award for her work on "The Hurt Locker." The feature film award and other directorial achievement awards were announced during the 62nd Annual DGA Awards Dinner on Saturday, Jan. 30 in Los Angeles, hosted by Carl Reiner. In the past, the DGA's feature film award winner has been a decent predictor of who will win the best director Oscar. Since 1948, the DGA and Academy have only differed six times in that category. Bigelow beat out fellow directors James Cameron ("Avatar"), Lee Daniels ( "Precious: Based on the novel 'Push' by Sapphire"), Jason Reitman ("Up in the Air") and Quentin T…

Rumor has it that Patrick Stewart may be headed to another science-fiction franchise next year. As reported by the Daily Star, Stewart may join Doctor Who next year, and could become a regular character on the popular science-fiction series. According to the article, Stewart has been offered the role of a rival Time Lord, called "The Meddling Monk." The Meddling Monk was last seen on Doctor Who in the second and third seasons of Doctor Who in the 1960s, in the The Time Meddler and The Daleks' Master Plan episodes. The Meddling Monk was played originally by Peter Butterworth. Stewart, a big fan of Doctor Who, would like to take the part if his schedule will permit…

[imgleft] [/imgleft] Fast National ratings for Thursday, Feb. 4, 2010 "The Mentalist" scored Thursday's biggest audience on what was a somewhat soft night for network TV overall. An exception was "Bones," which had another strong outing for FOX. CBS led the way Thursday night with 12.5 million viewers and a 7.8 rating/13 share in households. FOX (9.85 million, 5.9/9) came in second, a little bit ahead of ABC (9 million, 6.0/10). NBC's 5.2 million viewers and 3.3/5 were good enough for fourth, while The CW (3.2 million, 2.0/3) got a solid performance from "The Vampire Diaries." ABC grabbed the top spot -- barely -- in adults 18-49 with a 3.1 rating. CBS and FOX …

[imgleft]http://series.nu/news/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/spartacus.jpg[/imgleft]Starz new original series “Spartacus: Blood and Sand” got off to an fairly impressive start Friday evening. The gory drama pulled 553,000 viewers on Starz, then gathered another 460,000 on Encore, according to Nielsen figures provided to the network. Those are modest overall numbers, but in Starz’ brief history as a player in the original series game, it’s easily their most-watched debut yet. It also handily beats the performance of “Crash,” whose most recent and final season debuted to 185,000. The folks at Starz expects once all sources of viewership are tallied, such as DVR …

[imgleft] [/imgleft] "Dollhouse" is closing its doors for good, but from the looks of things Joss Whedon's show is going down fighting. Friday's (Jan. 29) series finale is called "Epitaph Two: Return," and as the title implies, it takes place in the ruined world portrayed in "Epitaph One," the show's first-season closer (seen only on DVD). FOX describes the finale this way: "Picking up from the events depicted in 'Epitaph One' ... and set in the year 2020, Echo and her surviving Dollhouse crew attempt to restore order to a devastating future world before mankind is eliminated." FOX has released three clips from the episode, which we present for your appetite-whettin…

[imgleft] [/imgleft] Fast National ratings for Monday, Jan. 25, 2010 "House" led FOX to the top of Monday's ratings pile, while "The Bachelor" also scored pretty well for ABC. The CW's "Life Unexpected," meanwhile, fell a bit from its premiere. FOX finished the night with 12.4 million viewers and a 7.4 rating/11 share in households, beating out ABC's 11.1 million and 7.3/11. CBS (9.1 million, 5.9/9) came in third, followed by NBC (5.2 million, 3.2/5). The CW trailed with 2.2 million viewers and a 1.4/2. FOX also led among adults 18-49 with a 4.3 rating. ABC's 3.6 was good for second. CBS, 2.8, finished third, followed by NBC, 1.9, and The CW, 1.0. Monday hou…

[imgleft] [/imgleft] Oscar winner Forest Whitaker is likely headed back into series TV with the lead role in CBS' planned "Criminal Minds" spinoff. Whitaker is close to signing a deal to star in the spinoff, which will focus on a new group of FBI profilers. The "Last King of Scotland" star will also get a producer credit on the show, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The spinoff will be introduced during a "Criminal Minds" episode set to air in the spring, in keeping with how CBS has launched the newer iterations of "CSI" and "NCIS: Los Angeles." Whitaker will play a former top FBI profiler who has been out of the spotlight for several years when he takes over as…

[imgleft] [/imgleft] Sarah Chalke is transitioning from medicine to politics, taking a lead role in ABC's comedy pilot "Freshmen." The former "Scrubs" star will play one of three new members of Congress who share a Washington house, the showbiz trade papers report. Her character will be a successful businesswoman who breezed to victory in her election -- but has a terrible track record in relationships. Chalke has guested on a couple episodes of "Scrubs" this season but finished her regular run on the show last year. Her credits also include "Roseanne" and a guest arc on "How I Met Your Mother," where she worked with "Freshmen" creator Greg Malins. Other casting …

[imgleft] [/imgleft] Last week, "How I Met Your Mother" star Neil Patrick Harris tweeted a photo of "American Idol" Carrie Underwood all dressed up as a retro stewardess for an upcoming episode of "How I Met Your Mother" and we could almost hear her saying, "What would you like? Coffee, tea or me?" Now, CBS has posted official photos from the upcoming episode and Underwood is '60s flight attendant perfection. The episode, "Hooked" has not been scheduled yet, although the show's creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas said earlier this month that is will likely air in March. Underwood's character, Tiffany, strikes Barney's (Harris) fancy. [imgleft] […

[imgleft] [/imgleft] FOX is in the process of developing a U.S. version of the British sci-fi hit "Torchwood." And while that sentence might normally strike fear into our hearts, the apprehension level is somewhat lower in this case. That's because in addition to securing the remake rights from the BBC, FOX is also hiring "Torchwood" creator Russell T. Davies to write a pilot script, according to The Hollywood Reporter. There's even a chance that some of the current show's cast would cross over to the new series; the HR mentions John Barrowman by name. Two seasons of "Torchwood" -- an offshoot of "Doctor Who" about a government agency that tracks and captures aliens…

[imgleft] [/imgleft] Considering what happened to him in the season premiere of "Damages," you wouldn't think things could get much worse for Tom Shayes. Wrong. We learned in the season's second episode that Tom (Tate Donovan) -- who is destined to die this season -- also has a personal connection to the legal case he and Patty (Glenn Close) are pursuing and saw a couple of pieces come together regarding the investment fraud and the mysterious homeless guy (Michael Laurence), who apparently lives next to a very important trash bin. Donovan and co-creator Todd Kessler talked about those developments and more in a conference call Tuesday (Feb. 2). Some highlights:…

[imgleft] [/imgleft] "MacGyver" creator Lee Zlotoff wants to stop the new "Saturday Night Live" skit-turned-movie "MacGruber" from seeing theaters. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Zlotoff, who created the 1985-1992 ABC "MacGyver" series, is sending cease-and-desist letters to executives at Relativity Media, the company responsible for the "MacGruber" movie, hitting theaters in April. Apparently, Zlotoff retained the rights to the "MacGyver" franchise and a movie version of the popular Richard Dean Anderson television show is in the works (though there is no word as to whether Anderson will be involved), so Zlotoff and his lawyers feel they might have a case of cop…

[imgleft]http://series.nu/news/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Ugly-Betty-150x150.jpg[/imgleft] This is definitely the last season of ABC’s Ugly Betty. Today, ABC and the production team made the following statement. At least fans will get their closure! “We’ve mutually come to the difficult decision to make this Ugly Betty’s final season, and are announcing now as we want to allow the show ample time to write a satisfying conclusion. We are extremely proud of this groundbreaking series, and felt it was important to give the fans a proper farewell.” Source: http://series.nu/new...ncelled-by-abc/

[imgleft]http://blog.zap2it.com/thedishrag/andy-dick-mugshot.jpg[/imgleft] Comedian Andy Dick has been arrested again? Must be Saturday! Andy Dick was arrested after performing at The Funny Bone, a comedy club in Huntington, West Virginia. The charges came after "things at a Huntington bar allegedly went too far," according to WSAZ out of West Virginia. Dick was arrested around 4:00 a.m. Saturday morning (Jan. 23) and when he was being escorted off in cuffs, WSAZ asked him why he was being arrested and he responded, "People grabbing on me." Dick will be detained at the Western Regional Jail until he is arraigned later Saturday morning in magistrate court. Th…