Talk Back: NBC's "The Philanthropist"

Hurricanes, snake bites, barefoot motorcycle treks through the jungle. Just another week for Teddy Rist.

You had a chance to read my advance review of NBC's The Philanthropist, but now that the pilot episode has aired, I'm curious to hear what you thought of the James Purefoy-led drama.

Were you charmed by Purefoy's billionaire playboy Teddy Rist? Or did you think his conversion from tycoon to altruistic philanthropist was far too easy and convenient? Were you captivated by the combination of action-adventure and inspirational drama? Or was it too earnest and trite for your liking? Did you cringe at the fact that the talented Michael Kenneth Williams (Omar himself!) was given precious little to do?

And, most importantly, will you tune in again next week?

Talk back here.

Next week on The Philanthropist ("Myanmar"), Teddy visits Myanmar after the Maidstone-Rist Company is outed by a human rights organization as having ties to businesses there; Teddy gets advice from Daw May Lin Wai, a revered Burmese democratic leader who has been under house arrest in the country for nearly two and meets a young girl in desperate need of help.

Channel Surfing: Eddie Cibrian Flies to "CSI: Miami," Feuerstein Talks "Royal Pains," Daniel Eric Gold Bumped to Regular on "Ugly Betty," and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing.

Eddie Cibrian (The Starter Wife) has joined the cast of CBS' CSI: Miami as a series regular next season, where he will play a Hollywood police officer that joins the team in Miami. Cibrian most recently appeared in CBS drama pilot Washington Field, which was not picked up to series by the network. Meanwhile, the series' producers confirmed that Adam Rodriguez will be returning next season. (Hollywood Reporter)

E! Online's Watch with Kristin caught up with Royal Pains star Mark Feuerstein to find out just what the USA drama has in store for Hank, Jill, and Evan, among other things. "You can expect moments of happiness interspersed with tempestuous fights that are filled with the sexual tension that we have, which leads to either our complete and total demise or our hot and heavy desire to continue that is challenged by lots of different circumstances," said Feuerstein. As for Hank and Evan's relationship, he said that upcoming episodes will reveal "that our father lost a lot of his money in the stock market. That our father has kind of abandoned us. You find out something about our mother—it has to do with her health and her getting sick. That has something to do with why I became a doctor. And the fact that our father has been kind of sketchy with money has something to do with our different opinions about money and the rich and the whole life in the Hamptons that we're now living." And what's this about a possible cross-over with Burn Notice? (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Ugly Betty's Daniel Eric Gold will be bumped to a series regular next season. However, Ausiello writes, "Don't take that to mean Matt and Betty will reunite and live happily ever after. In fact, I hear Betty producers are already cooking up a fresh obstacle for the pair, and rumor has it they want him to be lovable and blue collarish." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Fox 21 has signed a one-year overall deal with Vertigo Entertainment with an option for a second year, under which the shingle will develop both scripted and unscripted programming for the 20th Century Fox Television division. Vertigo previously had an overall deal with Lionsgate Television, for which it developed several properties at ABC, HBO, and Lifetime. (Variety)

Craig Brewer (Hustle & Flow) will direct FX dramedy pilot Terriers, written/executive produced by Ted Griffin and executive produced by Shawn Ryan. Filming on the one-hour pilot begins in August. (Twitter)

CBS announced their fall primetime launches yesterday, rolling out the majority of its new and returning series during the traditional premiere week. Survivor: Samoa will get a jump on the season with a launch date of Thursday September 17th at 8 pm. How I Met Your Mother, Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, and Accidentally on Purpose will all launch on September 21st. NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles, and The Good Wife launch on September 22nd; The New Adventures of Old Christine, Gary Unmarried, Criminal Minds, and CSI: New York all launch the following night on September 23rd; CSI and The Mentalist take off on September 24th; Ghost Whisperer, Medium, and NUMB3RS all launch on September 25th; two-hour premiere of The Amazing Race launches on September 27th with Cold Case; Three Rivers will launch on October 4th. (via press release)

British network ITV have commissioned a second season of thirteen episodes of Law & Order: UK, which is expected to return next year. Series stars Bradley Walsh, Jamie Bamber, and Freema Agyeman will all return for Season Two, which will film later this year. "This new commission brings our total order to 26 episodes which demonstrates our commitment to series that have concepts and storylines that can run long term," said ITV director of drama Laura Mackie. "Audiences clearly loved the first series which featured the cream of British acting talent with gripping 'torn from the headlines' storylines and this will again be at the heart of the new series." ITV also confirmed it had ordered four more episodes of Lewis, which will be shot next month. (The Guardian)

G4 is making history by broadcasting the first ever Comic-Con panel on television, presenting the Star Wars panel as a taped two-hour special entitled "The Star Wars Spectacular" that will include unseen footage and a Clone Wars table read, hosted by Olivia Munn and Kevin Pereira. The special will air roughly a day after the live panel, with a telecast set for July 25th at 2 pm. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Comic-Con Update: 20th Century Fox Announces Panels, Talent For SDCC Next Month

After weeks of anticipation (and speculation), 20th Century Fox has finally announced which series they will be bringing down to San Diego Comic-Con next month.

The unusual suspects--24, Bones, Dollhouse, The Simpsons--are all going to be on hand to present cast and producer panels throughout the weekend but the studio has also announced panels for Glee, Cleveland Show, American Dad, and Futurama to boot.

Meanwhile, such boldface names as Kiefer Sutherland, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Anil Kapoor, Freddie Prinze, Jr. Katee Sackhoff, Joss Whedon, Eliza Dushku, David Boreanaz, Emily Deschanel, Matt Groening, Seth MacFarlane, Seth Green, Mila Kunis, and the cast of Glee will be on hand as well.

The full press release from 20th Century Fox Television can be be found below, along with dates and times (and descriptions) of each of their panels.

TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX TELEVISION BRINGS NINE SHOWS TO COMIC-CON

Kiefer Sutherland, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Anil Kapoor, Freddie Prinze, Jr. Katee Sackhoff, Joss Whedon, Eliza Dushku, David Boreanaz, Emily Deschanel, Matt Groening, Seth MacFarlane, Seth Green, Mila Kunis, Stars of “Glee, ” “Futurama,” “Cleveland Show,” “American Dad” Among Those Scheduled To Appear

June 24, 2009, Hollywood, CA – Twentieth Century Fox Television will once again dominate the San Diego Comic-Con convention, with stars and creators of nine of its signature shows heading down to the world famous fan gathering next month for panels, autograph signings at the Fox booth and press appearances.

Descriptions, times and locations of the Fox panels follow:

FRIDAY, JULY 24:

2:15-3:00 P.M. Coming off its most critically acclaimed season in years, 24 stars Kiefer Sutherland, Mary Lynn Rajskub and new cast members Anil Kapoor, Freddie Prinze, Jr. and Katee Sackhoff join showrunnner Howard Gordon and the producers of the Emmy-winning series for a special sneak peek at the heart-stopping premiere episode of Season 8. Ballroom 20.

3-3:45 P.M. Bones showrunner Hart Hanson and stars David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel are on hand for a discussion of what’s on deck for Booth and Brennan, hot on the heels of this year's much talked-about season finale in which the pair finally wound up between the sheets. Ballroom 20.

4 P.M-6 P.M. Join Dollhouse creator Joss Whedon and star/producer Eliza Dushku for a no-holds-barred Q & A about what they have planned for season 2, after they unveil a special screening of the NEVER BEFORE SEEN “Epitaph One” episode of the Fox hit which releases on DVD just four days later. Ballroom 20.

SATURDAY, JULY 25:

11:15 A.M.-12 P.M Join Seth MacFarlane, Mila Kunis, Seth Green and the brilliant creative minds behind Family Guy for a raucous discussion of what goes on behind the scenes of tv's most subversive animated hit. They’ll also be offering a not-to-be-missed sneak peek at "Something, Something Dark Side," the Empire Strikes Back parody follow-up to Star Wars: Blue Harvest. Giggity! Ballroom 20.
12-12:45 P.M. Con fans will get the FIRST LOOK at The Cleveland Show, the wickedly funny new spin-off of Family Guy starring America's favorite beleaguered animated African American, Cleveland Brown. Co-creators Seth MacFarlane, Mike Henry and Rich Appel and voice cast Sana’a Lathan and Kevin Michael Richardson will all be on hand to discuss this new series premiering on Fox in the fall. Ballroom 20.

1-1:45 P.M. Futurama: Life or Death?! BE A PART OF SCI-FI HISTORY! Join Executive Producers Matt Groening and David X. Cohen, and stars Billy West, Katey Sagal, John DiMaggio and Maurice LaMarche for high-stakes thrills as a top-ranking Fox executive decides live, on stage, whether Futurama will make yet another triumphant return, or whether it is gone forever! The very fate of Futurama hangs in the balance! Paramedics will be standing by in case the intense excitement causes any panelists to collapse. Raucous celebration or abject despair to follow the news. Ballroom 20.

1:45-2:30 P.M. Now entering its record-breaking 21st season on the air, The Simpsons is the longest-running series in the history of American television, and a household name around the world. Get a behind-the-scenes look at what's coming up in the Simpsonverse, including never-before-seen highlights from the upcoming "Treehouse of Horror XX", with a panel including Simpsons Creator Matt Groening, Showrunner Al Jean, Executive Producer Matt Selman and Supervising Director Mike Anderson. Ballroom 20.

1:30-3 P.M. When Fox aired a special preview of its subversive new comedy musical series Glee after the American Idol finale, the response was through the roof and fans have hungered for another episode ever since. The wait is over! Join stars Matthew Morrison, Lea Michele and Cory Monteith and the producers of the Fox hit for a sneak preview screening of a never-before-broadcast episode with panel discussion to follow. Don’t Stop Believin’, Con fans! Glee is here! Indigo Room.

SUNDAY, JULY 26:

11:15 A.M.-12:15 P.M. American Dad showrunners Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman and stars Seth MacFarlane, Wendy Schall and Dee Bradley Baker are back to regale the fans with an insider’s look at how an episode of the hilarious Fox animated comedy is made, from table read to animatic to color. Don’t miss this one-of-a-kind Comic-con event. Ballroom 20.

The Art of Living Well: An Advance Review of NBC's "The Philanthropist"

"Happiness is the art of living well."

We're told this in the opening minutes of NBC's new drama The Philanthropist by the series' main character, billionaire playboy Teddy Rist (Rome's James Purefoy). He's the sort of tycoon who is just as at home in the bedroom as he is in the boardroom, bedding young, lithe things and selling the planet's natural resources with equal relish. But for Teddy, there's a false air to his statement, as if he's trying way too hard to believe in the triteness of that aphorism.

What follows then is part adventure story, part spiritual awakening saga as Teddy must come to grips with his own humanity as he discovers that happiness isn't material possessions (especially for a man with a Gulfstream as a toy) but rather philanthropy. He comes to this conclusion during the hurricane-induced flooding of a Nigerian resort, where he saves the life of a young African boy who would have been left to drown had it not been for his intervention.

Teddy has problems of his own. He's still reeling from the death of his young son a year earlier and is bitterly estranged from his ex-wife (The Starter Wife's Krista Allen), who is attempting to move on with her life. He's attracted to Olivia (Burn Up's Neve Campbell), the head of his company's charitable foundation... who also happens to be the wife of his best friend and partner Philip Maidstone (Law & Order's Jesse L. Martin).

Despite all of their concerns, Teddy channels his energies into locating the boy he saved during the hurricane and ends up traveling back to Nigeria to do so, where he encounters corruption, depravity, and genuine suffering. Can this billionaire use his resources to help the helpless? Well, yeah.

So it's back to Nigeria, where he's accompanied by his bodyguard Dax Vahagn (The Wire's Michael Kenneth Williams) and A.J. Butterfield, a flame-haired special projects executive (The 4400's Lindy Booth) and ends up alone, shot at, bitten by snakes, and wandering deliriously in the jungle in order to deliver vaccine to a remote medical clinic.

Which could be interesting, if The Philanthropist weren't itself so damned trite. For all of its efforts to do something Important and Well-Intentioned, the series winds up being just as shallow and manipulative as the Old Teddy himself.

There's nothing deep or innovative about this series, despite a concept that could have allowed for the psychological exploration of a man with all the money and power in the world who is unable to find happiness in his life. Which is a shame as Purefoy himself brings his usual charming swagger to the role whereas others might have gone through the motions once they saw the predictable plot unfolding.

Given Teddy's vast resources, nothing is impossible and he continually attempts to use bribery as a means to an end, resulting in a drama that has very little stakes and little emotional hook. Yes, it's certainly philanthropic that Teddy has taken an interest in the little people around the world who don't have corner offices in skyscrapers, but given the economic crisis at the moment it's disconcerting to see Teddy throwing money around quite so brazenly.

Likewise, The Philanthropist's supporting cast gets precious little to do other than express vexation at Teddy's quixotic ways. The sensational Michael K. Williams--so dynamic and memorable as The Wire's Omar--doesn't have much to do here except deliver three lines of dialogue and scowl at Teddy. Neve Campbell and Jesse L. Martin are completely one-dimensional ciphers of privilege.

But even more confounding is the series' unintentionally hilarious efforts to make Teddy into a inspirational figure. We're meant to think that his trek through the Nigerian jungle is a Herculean feat, given that he is unceremoniously dumped out of a helicopter by DEA agents (who point him in the direction of the clinic rather than, you know, giving the billionaire friend of the president a lift), has his satellite phone and watch taken by a local farmer, rides barefoot on a motorcycle, and gets shot at by rebels. Who knew humanitarian aid missions could be so much fun? (I kept waiting in vain for Lost's smoke monster to rise up out of the ground and pound Teddy.)

Are his actions motivated by the need to help his fellow man? Or his guilt over his son's death? The link between the two is handled with all of the finesse of an anvil as Teddy's recollections about his son become inexorably entangled with that of the boy he saved... and, after receiving a snake bite in the jungle's heart of darkness, Teddy even hallucinates, seeing a vision of his dead son leading him to safety. Ugh.

Ultimately, The Philanthropist tries to manifest its heart and soul in Teddy's struggle to do good but this overwrought series didn't in any way win me over by resorting to such sentimental trickery rather than constructing a compelling story. Consider me just as skeptical as the bartender Teddy meets along the way.



The Philanthropist launches tonight at 10 pm ET/PT on NBC.

Virtuous Reality: Talking with "Virtuality" Co-Creator Ronald D. Moore

Following up on my recent exclusive (and candid) interview with Michael Taylor, co-writer/executive producer of FOX's Virtuality, which will air its two-hour pilot on Friday night, I participated in a recent press call with Taylor's co-creator on the project, Battlestar Galactica's Ronald D. Moore, to get his take on the project, its viability, and the series' virtual worlds.

So is Virtuality doomed to be a one-off movie or is there still hope that FOX could pick this up to series after airing the two-hour pilot, directed by Peter Berg?

"I think you never say never," said Moore. "They haven’t picked it up to date. Their attitude, I think, is kind of wait and see. I think they want to see what the reaction is going to be. What are the critics going to say? Is it going to get word of mouth? Are fans going to gravitate to it or is the science fiction community really going to turn up for it? Is there going to be a certain buzz and excitement? I think right now it doesn’t look like it’s going to series, but I think if enough people watched and enough people got excited about it anything is possible."

"It certainly does not resolve itself in two hours," he explained. "I mean it sets up for a show, so it’s got some pretty heavy things that go down in it and kind of leaves you going, 'Whoa! Where is that going?' by the end of it."

Moore explained the, er, rather complicated development process that Virtuality underwent between its inception and the airing on Friday of the pilot episode.

"It actually started [with] an unusual situation in that [executive producers] Gail Berman and Lloyd Braun had wanted to have a sit down, a general meeting with me and then separately they wanted to have a sit down meeting with Michael Taylor, who was one of the writers on Battlestar," said Moore. "So I sat down with Lloyd and Gail and in that conversation Lloyd had this idea of I would like to do a show about the first long-range mission to Mars. We kind of talked about that a little bit in just a get-to-know-you meeting and kind of expanded on the idea of what a long-range mission would be."

"They had a similar meeting with Mike Taylor. The same kind of topic came up. He sparked to it from sort of a different angle and then Michael and I started talking about it separately. Then the three of us started talking and it all kind of became this sort of here’s a show. Then we just took it to Fox. We went into Fox and pitched it to Kevin Reilly and his team and they really liked it and it kind of went from there."

However, it wasn't exactly smooth sailing from there.

"This is very complex material," explained Moore. "I think the initial reaction when they saw the two-hour version was 'Wow! If this was just a movie I would say ship it right now. It’s fantastic. But it’s a pilot and it’s a pilot for Fox. I’m not sure. Let’s talk about different ways to go at this.' So we went back in and we worked with Kevin [Reilly] and the network. Any of these sorts of processes when you’re dealing with pilots, it’s a conversation between you and the network to try to figure out how to maintain and sort of show the piece of material that you’ve worked on, that you believe in. You’re also trying to get something that will fit onto their air schedule. It becomes a question of how can each of us accommodate each other into this process."

"As part of that process, Kevin asked us at one point, 'Can you do a one-hour version of it? Can you cut the existing two-hour to a one-hour version? How would that be?' So we went back in and we took a crack at carving a one-hour. Peter Berg really led that charge and tried a whole different kind of style and structure to do what a one-hour piece would have looked like. Ultimately, I don’t think any of us really felt that that was the best version of the show. We didn’t feel that way and neither did the network, so ultimately that didn’t really go anywhere. I think they then judged the show on its own merits as the two-hour version and just decided they weren’t willing to pick it up right then, but they weren’t going to foreclose the possibility if it sparked interest later and that’s kind of where we are."

One element that adds to its innate complexity is the series' blend of sci-fi thriller with reality television.

"When we first started talking about the concept is was about a long-range space mission, which I was intrigued with," Moore explained. "I was interested in the idea of what do you do with twelve people in a metal tube for that long. I thought there were interesting dramatic possibilities right there and, okay, what would they realistically need to do. What would NASA or the space confederation do at that point to keep them from going crazy? They’d probably have a really advanced virtual reality program to help them while away the hours and there’s interaction between those two worlds."

"Somewhere in those discussions we started talking about when they would be broadcasting pieces back to earth, obviously, like astronauts do today, and hey, what if they made a reality show out of that? Then it all kind of started to come together. You had these three layers of storytelling going on in the show where you had what was happening in the real world on the ship, what was happening in the virtual space and then what was the reality show that was seen back on earth. Were the needs of the reality show starting to impact what was happening on the spacecraft? Were people being manipulated in order to make better drama for the reality show? The astronauts themselves would start to wonder about are they telling us the truth about what’s happening back on earth or is that something to just get us to be upset for the cameras. It did sort of become this really interesting sort of psychological crucible that they would all be put in."

Given the multiple layers of reality that Moore and co-creator Michael Taylor were playing with, it definitely did get confusing at times to keep track of but offered a unique challenge for the writers.

"It was a tough thing to juggle," admitted Moore. "It’s a very ambitious piece and I think that was the reaction on the part of Fox when they saw it. It’s a very challenging, very complicated piece of work and there are a lot of moving parts. We knew that sort of going in and writing the script wasn’t easy. There was a lot of sort of trying to decide how much time you spend in any one of these three categories and at what point do you shift from the audience’s point of view from one to the other. What’s the language for that? Where are we going to introduce certain characters? How often do you go to the first person confessionals and the reality show, etc., etc.? So there were a lot of just complicated questions. Then those same questions were there in the editing process. When do you go to which piece of material? I think it was a really interesting challenge."

Still, Moore wasn't exactly a fan of reality television when the genre burst onto the television landscape in a major way. Still, he's come to accept that it fulfills a voyeuristic impulse within its viewers.

"At first I think I was certainly one of the skeptics that reality TV was going to be with us for any great period of time," remembered Moore. "Certainly, that’s been proven wrong. There seems to be a fundamental interest of people watching other real people or at least what they perceive as real people as opposed to watching fictional programming. There’s certainly something. There’s a powerful draw there of us wanting to look in on other people’s lives and seeing them pretty much as they actually exist."

"Why we included it in the show was it just felt like it’s become such a staple of pop culture at this point in time," he continued. "It seemed interesting to then incorporate it into a science fiction setting, which was something that we had never seen before or heard of and thought that’s an interesting sort of spin on it. We’ve all seen video that’s been broadcast back by the astronauts from the Apollo missions to the Space Shuttle, but we’ve never seen it done in a format where it’s trying to be a reality show at the same time. I thought that’s an interesting challenge. It’s kind of a different hook for the audience and it might be kind of a cool angle for the show."

Part of that reality includes a racially diverse cast, like you might see on a contemporary reality television series.

"We set out to create sort of a diverse group of astronauts and we sort of then embraced the idea that given our premise that these astronauts were put together not just for the scientific mission, but also for its own demographic purposes, we kind of embraced the idea that they would be a very diverse group and then that would be part of the story, the show," said Moore. "Was this group assembled for its TVQ sort of attractability, as it were, or were they really all of the best in their selective fields and to use that as sort of tension between them. We just wanted sort of characters that would be interesting to sort of collide against one another, characters that would have problems with one another, all of the sort of standard things that you look for in a dramatic series."

Still, viewers can expect a drastically less dire tone than Moore's last series, Battlestar Galactica.

"It’s a much less serious situation than Battlestar was dealing with," said Moore of Virtuality. "Battlestar was literally a post-apocalyptic show where the future of humanity rode on their every decision and death was stalking them continuously. So it’s not set up in the same way. The crew aboard Phaeton signed up for what just seemed like a very straight-ahead mission of exploration and they were chosen with that in mind. They were also chosen to participate in this sort of reality show that’s being broadcast back to Earth."

"So there was a conscious attempt on the part of the people who put the crew together to sort of have an interesting mix of people," he continued. "There are debates within the crew themselves who was chosen just for sort of their demographic content and who was legitimately supposed to be there. Now you’ve got a groups of 12 people stuck in a metal tube going in a straight line for a decade or so and that’s going to just sort of produce a lot of tensions and frictions and manipulations and sort of cross problems between the characters. It has a stronger element of fun and suspense and sort of interesting plot terms in terms of what characters will do with one another than did Battlestar. Battlestar was very driven by the internal pressures of the huge weight that was on all of their shoulders from the beginning of the miniseries. There’s definitely more humor. There’s more humor probably in the first ten minutes of Virtuality than there was in the run of Battlestar, let’s put it that way."

As for the virtual modules themselves, Moore said that they're vastly different than Star Trek's holodeck.

"Well, it’s a different concept," explained Moore. "The holodeck is a physical space that you would go into and three dimensional forms were actually physically created in front of you that you could feel and touch and interact with, etc. The computer would generate them as long as you were in them. This is truly a virtual space, which is much more akin to putting on contemporary, sort of virtual headsets, but sort of taking it to the next level where you do have an experiential sort of ability to touch and sense and taste and smell things in your mind, so it’s different sort of on the mechanical level."

"In terms of the story level, we’re not playing the idea that if you die in the virtual space you die in the real space. It’s not ... from that sense. It doesn’t have the safety programs like it did in the holodeck where the safety is off and if you get killed in here you get killed. It’s a very different thing."

But, said Moore, you don't die if you're killed inside Virtuality's virtual modules.

"You don’t, no," he said. "It’s more like how gaming is now. You go on-line. You play a game and you get killed and you’re kicked out of the program because you’re dead, but you’re not dead in real life. "

"We’re using these much more psychologically as well," he continued. "It doesn’t sound like you’ve seen the pilot, but essentially the experience is that the astronauts aboard the Phaeton have, in virtual space, are sort of things that just sort of are psychologically motivated. They go in there and they do things for entertainment and to sort of pass the time of day while they’re on this very, very long-range mission, but you’re learning things about them personally and about where did they want to spend their time and when things go wrong in that space how does it then influence them in the real world. That was the thing I was most interested in. The concept was how the virtual space impacted the real story that was going on aboard the spacecraft and vice-versa. What’s the sort of interaction between the two?"

And, yes, Moore is aware of the similarities between Virtuality's virtual modules and the holo-bands used by characters on Moore's other creation Caprica, the Battlestar Galactica prequel spin-off which launches next year on Syfy.

"I was sort of aware of the similarities between the two," he admitted. "They do have different purposes and different sorts of constructs to them. They both involve putting a set of goggles on your face, so they’re similar in sort of that perspective. In Caprica, it’s really much more akin to the Internet where you go out and the virtual spaces are practically infinite and they intersect with one another. On Caprica you can go from the V-Club where we establish in the pilot is sort of a hacked world and then, presumably, there are worlds of war craft type of worlds, etc., etc. It’s all sort of interconnected into their version of the Internet."

"In Virtuality, we’re looking at something much more discrete, much smaller, much more of a gaming type of environment where an astronaut has a specific virtual reality module that they go into and play whatever game or have whatever experience they want, but there is no expectation that you can cross from one module to another."

Still, look for a wide array of virtual worlds just in Virtuality's two-hour pilot alone.

"You’ll see kind of a range of virtual worlds," said Moore. "It opens in the Civil War in an action sort of piece and then there are more pastoral settings. There is a home. There are actually doctor’s offices. There are rock concerts. There is quite a range of areas that we went into, which was a deliberate choice. We wanted to sort of show that we were going to use these worlds in sort of disparate ways and that they would all be sort of tailored to specific characters and what they were interested in going to do, so you’ll see quite a range of virtual worlds when you get in there."

Given FOX's decision to program Virtuality as a two-hour movie on a Friday night during the summer, what is Moore's take on the general climate the networks right now in an era where FOX cancelled Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles due to low ratings (despite a rabid fanbase) and nearly did the same with Joss Whedon's Dollhouse?

"I think it’s a difficult time for the networks in general," mused Moore. "I think that the scheduling kind of reflects that. I think everybody in the business has a sense that television is changing right underneath our feet. While we all say that and we all say, 'Yes, we’re going to be ahead of the curve and we know that TV is changing,' nobody has an idea of what it’s changing to. I think that that sort of anxiety and that sort of lack of knowledge about where you’re going contributes to an atmosphere of panic and fear of saying, 'Oh, my God. It didn’t work. Yank. We can’t afford the time to stick with this show. We gave it four episodes and that’s it.'"

"I think that’s unfortunate, because I think there are many, many shows, many of the greatest shows on TV, many of the most successful shows on TV had rocky starts and they really required networks that believed in the process and were willing to stick by them," continued Moore. "Famously, Seinfeld. They really had to believe in Seinfeld and it turned out to be not only a critical hit and one of the great comedies of all time, but incredibly lucrative, so there is certainly a strong argument for having patience and faith and really trusting your audience and trusting your instincts and going with programming."

"Unfortunately, we’re in an atmosphere where everyone is just afraid and everyone is really worried about what’s going to happen next week and, 'Oh, my God. This show didn’t perform well this week. Let’s yank it.' It’s really tough. I would not want to be in charge of one of these networks because it would be really hard to know where the hell I’m supposed to go, how I’m supposed to program this thing."

If FOX opts not to go ahead with Virtuality after Friday's broadcast of the two-hour pilot, Moore says that he and Taylor and studio Universal Media Studios are exploring a number of options not limited to comic books, other telepics, etc.

"I think all of those are possibilities," Moore said. "We’ve talked about all of those possibilities. It’s just kind of one step at a time. I think it’s really hard to say. It depends on where we go after the broadcast and after the ratings, after they start looking at demographics, after they start looking at word of mouth. Sometimes these things have a bigger life that sort of blossoms a few weeks after the broadcast. There’s a buzz going. People talk and then they start wondering when it’s on DVD [...] and decisions about where we would go with the underlying properties is just really hard to say where we are right now... I mean either way I think Mike and I pretty much have an idea of the direction that we would take the show or the book or whatever it would be. We have an idea of where we would take the story after this, yes."

Virtuality's two-hour pilot airs Friday night at 8 pm ET/PT on FOX.

Channel Surfing: AMC Orders "Rubicon" to Series, Callum Blue Takes on Zod for "Smallville," Eve Finds "Glee," and More

Welcome to your Wednesday television briefing.

AMC has handed out a twelve-episode series order to political thriller Rubicon, starring James Badge Dale, Miranda Richardson, Lili Taylor, Dallas Roberts, and Peter Gerety. Series, from Warner Horizon, writer/executive producer Jason Horwitch (Medical Investigation), and director Allen Coulter (Six Feet Under), revolves around an analyst (Dale) of a top-secret government think tank "whose work leads him to uncover a clue that points him toward an unfolding global conspiracy." Series, which will be shot in New York, is expected to launch in 2010. "The pilot is beautifully done and we are very, very excited to move forward with the series," said Joel Stillerman, SVP of programming and production at AMC. "It's a major challenge to find the right balance to take that into a serialized drama format, where you have to pose more questions than are answered but do it in a way that is still satisfying to the audience. Jason and Allen did a phenomenal job on the pilot, and the cast is first class." (Variety)

Callum Blue (Secret Diary of a Call Girl) has been cast as a regular on CW's Smallville, where he will play Superman villain General Zod in the series' ninth season. The role was previously performed by Terence Stamp in 1980's Superman II. (Hollywood Reporter)

Eve will guest star in two episodes of FOX's Glee this fall, where she will play a "no-nonsense girls' choir director from a rival school," according to Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello, who writes that producers had made overtures to Whitney Huston, who turned down the role. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Meghan Markle (90210) has been cast in a recurring role on FOX's Fringe, which returns for a second season this fall. Markle will play "an attractive, brash and quick-witted junior FBI agent." (Hollywood Reporter)

Adrianne Palicki will reprise her role as Jessica on CW's Supernatural next season in one episode. "Details regarding Palicki's return engagement," writes Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello, "are being kept under lock and key." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

ABC has given a six-episode series order to relationship-based unscripted series Find My Family, which tracks people desperate to locate a missing relative or friend. Series, based on Dutch format Lost Without a Trace, hails from RelativityReal and RDF USA. Tim Green and Lisa Joyner will host. (Variety)

MTV has ordered an untitled docusoap pilot following The Hills' Audrina Patridge which will be executive produced by Mark Burnett. The cabler also unveiled a host of projects in development including a "reinvention" of 1980s feature film Teen Wolf; animated comedy The Awesomes from executive producer Seth Meyers; puppet-based reality series Warren the Ape; a US adaptation of Argentinian teen drama Patito Feo; comedy Hard Times; and an untitled sketch comedy starring Jamie Foxx. MTV also announced a first-look deal with actress Emma Roberts. (Hollywood Reporter)

Meanwhile, MTV Networks will layoff one percent of its workforce, or about 50 employees, that will "significantly affect development and programming at its various channels, though the company does plan to hire some replacements in reconfigured positions." (Variety)

Richard Loncraine (My House in Umbria) has replaced Peter Morgan (The Queen) as director on HBO telepic The Special Relationship, which details the often fractious relationship between Tony Blair and Bill Clinton. The project stars Dennis Quaid, Michael Sheen, Julianne Moore, and Helen McCrory. Morgan--who wrote the screenplays for The Queen and Frost/Nixon--was meant to have made his directorial debut on the project and will remain on board as an executive producer. Meanwhile, Morgan will be co-writing the next James Bond feature film. (Variety)

NBC's Ben Silverman is said to be on a shortlist for possible candidates for ITV's CEO position, along with Mike Volpi of Joost, former ProSiebenSat1 head Guillaume de Posch, and former Channel 4 topper Michael Jackson. Silverman had no comment. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Trailer Park: NBC's "Parenthood," "Community," and "Trauma

Looking for a sneak peak at some of NBC's new series?

You're in luck as NBC today released three new promos for its upcoming fall series Parenthood, Community, and Trauma, all of which can be found below.

PARENTHOOD

Parenthood – Find out everything that makes Parenthood special. Parenthood, coming this fall on NBC.



COMMUNITY

Going Back To College – Life is full of opportunities. Community, coming Thursdays this fall on NBC.



TRAUMA

Trauma – Meet the people who run towards danger. Trauma, coming this fall on NBC



Parenthood, Community, and Trauma premiere this fall on NBC.

Darkness Falls: Russell T. Davies, John Barrowman, Eve Myles, and Gareth David-Lloyd Talk "Torchwood: Children of Earth"

When we last saw the Torchwood team, they were still reeling from the death of two of their own even as they teamed up with the Doctor (David Tennant) in order to save the universe.

Torchwood returns next month with a five-episode event season entitled Torchwood: Children of Earth, which will air across five nights at 9 pm ET/PT on BBC America, following their transmission on BBC One in the United Kingdom.

Written by Russell T. Davies, John Fay, and James Moran and directed by Euros Lyn, Torchwood: Children of Earth stars John Barrowman, Eve Myles, Gareth David-Lloyd, and Kai Owen, along with a slew of notable guest stars including Peter Capaldi, Lucy Cohu, Paul Copley, Nick Briggs, Susan Brown, and Tom Price.

There's still a lot of mystery surrounding Torchwood: Children of Earth, so let's turn to series creator Russell T. Davies and series stars John Barrowman, Eve Myles, and Gareth David-Lloyd to describe what we can expect to see in their own words.

So what is Torchwood: Children of Earth about, other than the team racing to stop some sort of alien invasion that has the world's children going silent? Let's turn to Davies for the answer.

“This whole story tears Torchwood down, and then watches them rebuild, but always questioning them, asking what sort of heroes they are, how far will they go?" explains creator/executive producer Russell T. Davies. "And what’s the difference between a freedom fighter and a terrorist? At the same time, we get to know Jack, Gwen and Ianto more intimately than we ever have before - exploring their families, their history, their hopes and loves. And their failings, too. As the alien threat gets bigger, so Torchwood’s humanity is exposed, and threatened, and celebrated too. And their lives are on the line, none of them is safe!”

Still, says Davies, viewers don't need to know anything about Torchwood's backstory in order to enjoy this new series.

“No, not at all - there are fleeting references to the past, but from the moment it starts, we’re telling a brand new story," he explained. "It’s been deliberately written so that no one will be lost - and at the same time, the faithful viewer will discover so much more about the members of the Torchwood team. There are plenty of rewards for the long-term fan.”

Series star John Barrowman agrees. "Anybody who loves science fiction or a good drama will fall in love with Torchwood. It’s action packed, it’s sexy, it’s exciting, it’s an emotional roller-coaster and you just want to sit back and get ready for the ride of your life,” said Barrowman. "Torchwood is a team of people who are fighting for the best interest of humanity; they are no strangers to the daily threat alien forces pose to the safety of the Earth. But this time, they must fight with every ounce of instinct and energy they have to survive."

And despite the change in the series' format--changing from the previous two season's thirteen-episode structure to a five-night run--the series itself hasn't intrinsically changed, just evolved.

“We’ve tipped the series on its head and given people a whole new format," said series star Eve Myles. "It’s a completely different style of Torchwood, and is exactly what we should have done. It feels brand new all over again. It’s exciting and it’s positive."

Barrowman concurs. "It’s changed in the respect that in Series One we were crawling, Series Two we were walking and now Series Three we’re running," explained Barrowman. We know what Torchwood is and we know what it’s about - it’s full of drama and action. This storyline is one of the darker Torchwood storylines. Every time you turn a corner you don’t know what’s going to happen. And when you watch episode one you’re going to want to see two, and when you’ve seen two you’ll want to see three. You’re just going to want more and more and more."

"You’ll learn a lot about the characters in ways that you’re never known them before. If you like relationships then you’re going to see the difference in Jack and Ianto’s relationship and Gwen and Rhys’ - but you’re also going to see the similarities. The characters have evolved in ways because we’re learning new things about them. It makes it really interesting for us to play as actors and for the audience every episode will bring a new revelation."

And if that weren't enough, Barrowman teased that there's a dangling skeleton hanging in the closet of one of Torchwood's members, a secret that's dragged out into the light during Children of Earth.

“One of the team is hiding a secret that will be a revelation to a lot of people - not only to the viewers watching but to the team itself," he said coyly. "It will be very uncomfortable for the characters. And people watching it will question why they did it. Will they be able to understand why they did it? But as in all things with science fiction, as a series, we can touch on subjects that are not touched upon in a number of other dramas."

Myles, meanwhile, likened the action to that of an action-packed thriller, albeit one that plays out over five hours instead of a ninety-minute feature film.

"I was so excited when I got the scripts," said Myles. "It’s a five hour psychological action-packed thriller. With a movie, you’re looking at maybe 90 minutes of action - but with this new series of Torchwood, we’ve got five hours. It’s an event. It’s not just the third series where everybody is used to what Torchwood is - this series will actually terrify people. The pace increases from the word go. The first episode is an establisher and by the second episode you don’t know what the hell has hit you. The third, the fourth and the fifth go at such a pace."

"Gwen is still the heart and emotion of Torchwood but also realizes the responsibility she has as a member of the team," said Myles. "Everybody’s got to lose something to gain something, and as harsh as Gwen comes across sometimes, if she wasn’t, people would die. She’s got a huge responsibility on her shoulders. A few years ago she was working as a young police woman in Cardiff. A couple of years later here she is saving the world with Captain Jack. One way or another something’s got to give."

Look for Gwen to form a close relationship with Paul Copley's Clem, a man who is haunted by his past. "He’s absolutely fantastic," said Myles of working with Copley. "I was completely overwhelmed - he’s so right for the character. Gwen inevitably becomes his guardian because that’s what Gwen does - she’s Torchwood’s social worker. She’s a social worker that can run and fight and stand in her own corner and win. With Clem she has this incredible desire to protect him. She’s his protector and he’s the key to what’s going on."

Meanwhile, look for Torchwood's bookish coffee-maker Ianto to come into his own during Torchwood: Children of Earth.

"I think Ianto has changed quite a lot since the series first began because of everything that’s happened to him," David-Lloyd explained. "He lost everything he loved at one point, and then realized that all that was left for him was Torchwood and Jack - they had to replace the hole in his life. He’s learnt to be less guarded and be more like himself - a bit more content with himself as a person."

As for that relationship between Ianto and Jack, look for the duo to get even closer during these next episodes.

"It was nice to film those elements of the series," said David-Lloyd. "As it panned out across previous series, the relationship between Jack and Ianto has been quite organic. So it was nice that we get to the stage in Series Three where they are going through all the usual couple difficulties. I think the way it’s been done is extremely real."

Still, said Davies, the romance between Barrowman's Captain Jack and David-Lloyd's Ianto wasn't planned from the start.

"Not planning, as such, it just grew naturally out of the scripts and performances from John and Gareth," said Davies. "And it’s such a rich area - the sheer will-they-or-won’t-they tension of two men getting closer. But again, you can come to Torchwood as a new viewer and follow their relationship from the start, you won’t get lost. And it’s honestly a pleasure to write for two such fine actors, they make the whole process a delight."

Of course, that relationship will be further complicated by the potential world-ending events of Torchwood: Children of Earth.

“I think every character goes through the process of thinking about giving up," mused David-Lloyd. "We’re lucky they don’t all think about giving up at the same time. The good thing about the team is that they’ve got each other to pull them out of the darkness.”

That darkness seems to be at the very heart of Torchwood: Children of Earth. While it's effectively an epic sci-fi story about survival, it was also an opportunity for Davies to tackle some other issues.

"It was a story I’d had in mind for ages - I’m just glad the BBC gave me a canvas big enough to tell the tale!" said Davies. "But underneath the sci-fi and the aliens, there’s something very relevant to the world, I hope. The way we sit in the west, and watch footage of atrocities in different countries, and imagine it’s all so far away, and so impossible here. Which is a nice, comfy lie we tell ourselves. That was the heart of it. I wanted to tell a story in which civilization snaps, in which we turn on ourselves, in which nothing is safe. Plenty of people live like that, on this planet. In this story, it’s Britain’s turn."

"I loved [writing] it, because it was a huge challenge," said Davies. "Lots of thrillers are written by just one writer, but we had three, across five episodes. Which meant a lot of emailing and late-night phone calls. But we really worked as a team, all locked in one room to thrash out the storyline and create the characters, and that’s my favorite way of working. We also had the producer and director inside the writers' room, right from the very start, which is a very unusual way of working in this country, but with huge results - it meant we were all focused, we all knew the tone and the ambition of the piece, and we all aimed in the same direction."

"They just touch a nerve," said Davies of the series' use of Earth's children. "A threat to our children gets a primal reaction out of all of us. But beyond that, I think we can be scared of our kids, too. That they can seem unknowable, unreachable - that’s why a gang of young hoodies can seem more unnerving than an adult gang of thugs."

So just what are the story's villains then?

"The size of this story, and the scale of it - spread across more than 40 years of history - means that we needed something bigger, a threat with real intelligence, a race with different protocols and standards," Davies explained. "Some of my favorite material comes from Episode Three, where we have to see the government engage in genuine diplomatic relations with an alien species. You watch those scenes thinking, 'That’s what it would really be like.'"

And keep your eyes peeled for a slew of British Who's Who among actors with the amazing cast that Davies and executive producer Julie Gardner assembled for Torchwood: Children of Earth.

"Just pure class!" said Davies of working with Children of Earth's vast cast of characters. "It’s a joy, an absolute joy, to work with actors of this caliber. Writing’s easy, compared to the task of standing there, saying this stuff, in a whacking great close up. But we’ve got great new talent, like Cush Jumbo as Lois - the innocent secretary who discovers state secrets on her computer - and wonderful stars such as Peter Capaldi, who makes his character of John Frobisher so detailed and so nuanced, and so heartbreaking in the end. Add to that, Susan Brown as Bridget Spears - keep an eye on her, she’s a slow burn - and Nicholas Farrell as the most clever and manipulative Prime Minister you could imagine. And then Liz May Brice as a truly ruthless assassin! We’ve also got Paul Copley as Clem, a character holding so many secrets from the past - Paul’s simply astonishing to work with. And then the greatest enigma of the whole series is Lucy Cohu, playing Alice, who’s no less than Captain Jack’s daughter... What a mix! Best cast I could have imagined!"

Torchwood: Children of Earth launches Monday, July 20th at 9 pm ET/PT on BBC America.

Brain Toilet: An Advance Review of the Return of ABC's "Better Off Ted"

I can't tell you how incredibly excited I am about the return of ABC's fantastic comedy series Better Off Ted this summer.

It's especially true this summer when the season seems to be positively overflowing with network castoffs as the broadcasters burn off remaining unaired installments of their sadly canceled series. (Just take a look at Saturday nights to see what I mean.)

But despite its place on the schedule this summer, ABC's winsome Better Off Ted isn't canceled; in fact, it earned a slot on the network's midseason lineup thanks to some goodwill from Steve McPherson and the programmers at the Alphabet. But there's still a handful of unaired episodes from the series' first season, which means that Ted fans will be getting a fresh batch of Veridian goodness over the next few weeks.

Tonight's episode ("You Are the Boss of Me"), written by Dan O'Shannon, is a fantastic reminder of just how quirky and lovable this series is. I had the opportunity to watch it last week and I am still scratching my head as to why ABC didn't just air this hysterical installment during the regular season.

While I don't want to spoil any major plot points (though, granted, this is a comedy series so there aren't too many O'Henry-style surprise twists), I will say that "You Are the Boss of Me" is already one of my very favorite installments of the series to date. It also features some fantastic character development, especially regarding the relationships between our core cast, pushing them into unexpected and interesting territory as they cross the one boundary that shouldn't ever be crossed: that between boss and employee.

Ted is reeling from the unexpected return (off-screen, of course) of his ex-wife from Botswana and has sent daughter Rose to New York to spend some time with her. Lonely and stressed, he turns to Phil and Lem for companionship... only to learn that they have plans that don't include him or other bosses. Namely: Medieval Fight Club, an underground stress-relieving medieval tournament that's literally underground in the Veridian sub-basements.

Meanwhile, Linda's offer of a ride home to Veronica--whose driver has died that week--leads to an unexpected friendship between the two. Or at least as close to friendship as is possible with the icy Veronica, which means Veronica spilling her guts about her deepest, darkest deeds to an incredulous Linda. (One such secret involves feeding her sister in her sleep so she can never be thinner than Veronica.) Naturally, this leads to some, er, strain between Linda and Veronica, one with hysterical consequences.

While the Ted/Phil/Lem and Linda/Veronica storylines are separate, they dovetail nicely at the end of the episode and share similar themes about workplace boundaries. It's hard to come back from emotional intimacy with your boss once it's been established and you might wish to have never crossed that frontier in the first place, as both Linda and Phil and Lem discover to their chagrin.

It's episodes like this that demonstrate why Better Off Ted has such fun with the workplace comedy milieu. In establishing an absurd, off-kilter world where nearly anything is possible and setting it in the heart of a, well, heartless multi-national corporation, creator Victor Fresco has turned the workplace comedy on its head, creating almost an anti-Office, where the mundane experiences of worker drones are juxtaposed with cyborg creations, cow-less meat, and scream-inducing itchy chairs.

All in all, it might be summer time, but there's no better place to be Tuesday nights than back in this office.

Better Off Ted returns with new episodes beginning tonight at 9:30 pm ET/PT on ABC.

Channel Surfing: Bryan Fuller Leaves "Heroes" Again, Cross, Jonze, and Arnett Team Up, "Doctor Who," Justin Kirk Talks "Weeds," and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing.

Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller has left his position as consulting producer on NBC's Heroes, just a few months after he rejoined the writing staff of the NBC drama. The reason behind the departure: to focus on developing new series for the network (he has an overall deal with Universal Media Studios), rather than creative differences with Heroes creator Tim Kring. "I'm crafting two pilots right now and it's a lot of work," Fuller told Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello. "It was just too hard to [juggle] Heroes and my development; something had to give." Meanwhile, Fuller told Ain't It Cool News' Herc, ""Development was really starting to heat up, And it appears like I may be writing multiple pilots for NBC so that wasn't leaving a ton of room for Heroes, unfortunately. We crafted some really great arcs for the season that I'm excited to see come to fruition. I love that cast dearly and am sad to go, but the plate -- she was over-flowing." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files, Ain't It Cool News)

Holy comedy legends: David Cross has written a comedy pilot entitled The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret for UK's Channel 4 with Extras' Shaun Pye that will star Arrested Development's Will Arnett, Being Human's Russell Tovey, and director Spike Jonze (who appeared on-screen in feature film Three Kings). The pilot, produced by RDF Media, is slated to air this winter. "I shot a pilot for Channel 4," Cross told The Los Angeles Times. And it’ll air, I believe, in December. When we picture-lock on Friday, it will be almost two years to the day that I was first approached by those guys. The cast is a crazy dream team." As for the plot, here's the official description from the RDF Media site: "American Todd Margaret (David Cross) bluffs his way into an apparently great job opportunity, heading up the sales team in his employer’s London office. All he has to do is sell several thousand energy drinks before his boss visits him in a week. Simple. Apart from the fact that he knows nothing about British culture and nothing about sales. This is further complicated when he lies continuously to cover his ignorance and spectacularly fails to impress Alice the first beautiful girl he meets. Dave his British co-worker, soon takes full advantage of Todd’s situation and chaos ensues." (Los Angeles Times, via /Film)

BBC has denied reports made by British paper The Mirror, which claimed that the channel would air an "all-Doctors reunion" installment of Doctor Who during this year's Children in Need charity campaign. According to The Mirror, David Tennant would reprise his role as the Doctor and call upon every other incarnation of his character (including Matt Smith's upcoming Eleventh Doctor) in order to help him retrieve a missing piece of Time Lord paraphernalia... and that William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, and Jon Pertwee would also appear on the series via archival footage. (All three, who played the Doctor's first three incarnations are all deceased.) "Nothing has been finalised yet, although there is discussion of a Children in Need Doctor Who special," said a BBC spokesperson. "It is too early to say what." (Digital Spy)

Weeds' Justin Kirk dishes about Alanis Morrisette, Kate del Castillo, Andy's relationship with Nancy, and Jennifer Jason Leigh's Jill. And, oh, a familiar face from the past is set to return this season. (Hmmm.) "I don't know what's going to happen," said Kirk of Andy's relationship with Nancy (Mary-Louise Parker). "But I like exploring that world. I would like that relationship to go on. I think their relationship, whether it's consummated or not, remains to be seen. But it's one that is a lot of fun to do, and I like working with Mary-Louise, so I hope it goes on. Sometimes it's heartbreaking and sometimes it's funny." (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

USA's Burn Notice will definitely be having a presence at this year's Comic-Con next month, according to The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan. Executive producer Mikkel Bondesen announced that Burn Notice would be hosting a panel next month via Twitter that will include creator Matt Nix, though Ryan says that the network has confirmed the panel but hasn't yet confirmed the date. (Chicago Tribune's The Watcher)

VH1 has given a series order to RDF USA's docuseries The Price of Beauty, which will feature Jessica Simpson traveling the world "to meet every day women as well as some local pop culture icons" and "study local fashions, dietary fads and beauty regimes and even participate in some of the extreme practices she discovers." The series, which will begin shooting next month, is executive produced by Jessica Simpson, Joe Simpson, Chris Coelen, Claire O'Donohoe, Greg Goldman, Jeff Olde, Jill Holmes, Alex Demyanenko, and Sean Boyle. (Hollywood Reporter)

Bravo's weekly topical, interactive series Watch What Happens: Live, hosted by Andy Cohen, will launch on Thursday, July 16th at midnight ET/PT. The series will feature Cohen talking to guests from Bravo's stable of series as well as celebrities from other areas of entertainment to "chat about what has transpired on-air and in pop culture that week for a live half-hour full of viewer interaction." The network also promises that viewers will be able to interact "via email, phone, video, Twitter and Facebook." Series is produced by Embassy Row and executive producer Michael Davies. (via press release)

NBC's launch of British acquisition Merlin reached an average of five million viewers on Sunday, less than that for the US Open golfing championship but more than those who tuned in for ABC's mini-series Impact, which only garnered 4.7 million viewers. (New York Times)

Despite the announcement that series stars Jon and Kate Gosselin will be divorcing, TLC has confirmed that docusoap Jon & Kate Plus 8 will continue. "The show must go on," said Kate Gosselin on camera. (Variety)

Actress Kathryn Hahn is said to be developing a pilot script at Sony Pictures Television with her husband, writer Ethan Sandler, which will be a potential starring vehicle for Hahn. Details about the script's plot are being kept firmly under wraps. (Hollywood Reporter)

Robbie Coltrane, Helena Bonham Carter, Rob Brydon, James Corden, John Hurt, and Tom Wilkinson will lend their voices to one-off animated Christmas special The Gruffalo, based on Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler's children's book, which BBC One will air this winter. (BBC)

Former Dominant Pictures executive Ben Spector has been hired by Tollin Prods, as EVP of television, where he will develop scripted projects for the shingle, overseen by produced Mike Tollin. (Variety)

FOX has hired Ron Taylor as VP of diverse programming and content, where he will identify and develop scripts that contain diversity-based themes or are written by minorities, as well as advise producers of scripted projects at the network about how to "expand a diversity presence to those comedies and dramas." Taylor will report to Matt Cherniss. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Emotionally Invested Detectives: One Last Look at ABC's "The Unusuals"

I'm really going to miss The Unusuals.

Given that the series ended last Wednesday evening without much fanfare, you might be wondering why I'm bringing this up now. I was on vacation so have only just gotten the chance to watch the final installment of ABC's tragically underrated cop drama The Unusuals ("EID"), written by Danny Zuker, and was not only impressed by the way it seemed to effortlessly fuse serious character beats, zany cases (this week's involved a serial accuser and break-and-enter gonzo porn), and off-kilter humor.

Throughout its (far too) short run, The Unusuals--created by Noah Hawley (Bones)--has always played by its own rules. Much like the dynamo partnership of Casey Shraeger (Amber Tamblyn) and Jason Walsh (Jeremy Renner), one of the best mismatched cop partners on television. Ever. Her wounded rich girl shtick was diametrically opposed to his low-key salt of the earth approach but they found a supportive (and, indeed at times, nurturing) partnership that played to both their strengths. Both came from unexpected backgrounds: Shraeger from one of Manhattan's wealthiest families; Walsh from professional baseball. They were outsiders in a profession that many today still regard as little more than trash collectors, public servants who round up the city's detritus and send it away from delicate eyes.

But The Unusuals didn't stop there. No, it also provided us with two other remarkable partnerships of opposites: that between Eric Delahoy (Adam Goldberg) and Leo Banks (Harold Perrineau) and Alison Beaumont (Monique Gabriela Curnen) and Henry Cole (Josh Close). While brain tumor-afflicted Delahoy seemingly couldn't die (even after several scenarios that should have resulted in his death), Banks is obsessed with his own mortality at the age of 42, wearing bulletproof vests, buying inflatable furniture, and investing in a lifetime supply of hand sanitizer. Cole concealed a misspent youth that was at odds with his deeply religious views, which themselves were a source of humor for his street-savvy partner.

And that's to say nothing of the hugely ambitious precinct pariah Eddie Alvarez (Kai Lennox), who sadly didn't even appear in this week's series ender. Nor did Terry Kinney's space-obsessed Sgt. Harvey Brown, for that matter. Their absence from this nearly flawless installment depressed me even further as the episode didn't function as a season (or series) closer in any way, especially as some of our main characters weren't even along for the ride.

Still "EID" let The Unusuals go out on a high note. While Cole and Beaumont had to go undercover as a couple in therapy (complete with an embarrassing and awkward session where they had to hold each other in silence for fifteen minutes) and Delahoy and Banks had to wade through a stack of pornos (in order to identify apartments which the "Bagman" had broken into), Shraeger became the titular emotionally invested detective.

Investigating the strange accusations made by Abigail Allen (Fringe's Betty Gilpin) a.k.a. Margot Stanford, a mentally unstable woman who changed her identity years before, Shraeger uncovers a long buried secret from the woman's past: an unsolved abduction and beating that left her in a coma for ten days when she was sixteen. It's a case that forces Shraeger to come to grips with her own privileged youth as an unwitting member of New York City society and the fact that she moved in the same circles as both Margot and her attackers.

The scene in which Shraeger finally gets one of the perps to confess to the decade-old crime was a thing of beauty and showcased Tamblyn's rough-and-ready charms in this role: confident, strong, and canny, she fully embodies the reality of this role. And the solemnity of the final scene, in which she tells Abigail/Margot that her attackers have been caught--only to receive little more than a blank stare from the intensely in-denial Abigail--and then sits beside her on the couch and allows Abigail to put her head on her shoulder was a masterclass in nuance and emotional depth.

I do wish that we could have gotten to the bottom of Delahoy's condition. After getting medical examiner Dr. Monica Crumb (Susan Parke) fired from her job for illegally using the hospital's MRI machine, Delahoy learns that he does have a mass in his brain that is likely causing the bizarre symptoms he's experiencing (not least of which is smelling horses everywhere). Delahoy's storyline has been an intriguing element of the series since the pilot episode. Yes, the seemingly supernatural elements fell by the wayside along since that first installment (remember the angelic hail of buckshot?) but his battle with mortality--and accepting his possibly fatal condition--have been one of the series' most compelling backbones, especially when juxtaposed with Banks' irrational fear of dying. I'm sad that we won't get to see what happens to both of them next, just as Delahoy finally comes to grips with the severity of his condition and gets brutally shafted by one-time lover Monica.

And, really, that need to know what would happen next applies to all of the members of the second precinct, from Delahoy and Banks to Shraeger and Walsh and all of the other members of this colorful and well-drawn cast of characters. I'm beyond crushed that this intelligent and riveting series isn't continuing next season. After just ten episodes, I feel an intense camaraderie with this motley crew, from their choice of after-hours hangout (a Chinese restaurant where the oysters are not recommended) to their ongoing squabbles (just look at Banks and Delahoy's old married couple routine). We saw them on the clock, off duty, on dates, and getting shot at. But the action never took a turn for the obvious, soapy angle and it never lost the sense of humor that made it such a fun hour of television.

Yes, I suppose you could say that I was emotionally invested in these characters. Do we, like Walsh tells Shraeger, get one of these a year, a series that we find ourselves sucked into despite wanting to remain aloof viewers? If so, The Unusuals was mine, a series that proved itself too different, too smart, too unconventional for network television.

Ultimately, The Unusuals was unlike any other police drama on television, a quirky and entertaining dramedy that didn't take itself too seriously but instead used its innate humor to conceal a beating heart underneath the uniform. That, in and of itself, is, well, unusual. It will be severely missed.

Talk Back: NBC's "Merlin"

Talking dragons. Outlawed magic. Arrogant princes. Put-upon servants. Giles from Buffy. (Yes, I'm talking about Merlin.)

You've read my advance review of the first two episodes of Merlin, which aired last night on NBC, but I am curious to know, now that the initial installments have aired, what you thought of the fantasy drama series.

Were you drawn into the swords and sorcery world that Merlin sought to invoke while also imbuing with a hormone-laden teen drama? Did you think that the second episode was an improvement over the first? Did you find the alternately campy/cutesy tone too much to handle? Were you intrigued by the, uh, subtext in the relationship between Merlin and Arthur? Or put off by the vast changes to the well-known Arthurian legends?

And, most importantly, will you tune in again next week to watch again?

Talk back here.

Channel Surfing: Mary-Louise Parker to Keep Puffing on "Weeds," "Scrubs" Back to School, Meg Ryan to Guest Star on "Curb Your Enthusiasm," and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. I'm back from vacation so there's loads of television-related headlines to catch up on. Buckle your seatbelts; it's going to be a bumpy ride!

Weeds star Mary-Louise Parker has put those rumors that she's leaving the Showtime comedy series to bed, stating that she's sticking around for quite some time. "Sometimes when I think about the show ending I get sad. I just can't imagine what it's going to be like," Parker told E! Online's Watch with Kristin. "We for sure have one more year, so I don't have to be sad yet. I can smile a little bit longer. I would stay on, but at a certain point it would get a little bit tired. It'd be like, we don't need to see Nancy and Andy running around in their 60s. I think it will depend on how this season goes, as to whether or not it will have a little velocity for staying around a little longer." (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

When Scrubs returns for a ninth season this fall, there will be more change than just some of the regular cast, with the focus of the series shifting from Sacred Heart Hospital to the classroom. "It'll be a lot like Paper Chase as a comedy," series creator Bill Lawrence told Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello. "It's going to be a different show. It'll still be life-and-death stakes, but if the show is just Scrubs again in the hospital with a different person's voiceover, it would be a disaster and people would be mad." But there will be some familiar faces, with Donald Faison and John C. McGinley on board as series regulars and Zach Braff, Sarah Chalke, Judy Reyes, and Ken Jenkins slated to make guest appearances when the medical students are working at Sacred Heart. "Med students in their first three years have to spend anywhere from 10 to 50 percent of their time at a hospital," said Lawrence. "And that's when you'll see some of the [original cast members]. Continuity-wise, Sacred Heart will still exist with those people still working there." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

I'll have what she's having: Meg Ryan will guest star on an upcoming episode of HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm. The former When Harry Met Sally star will appear early on in the series' seventh season, which returns to HBO in September. The season will also feature an ongoing storyline that will reunite Larry David with his Seinfeld cast. (Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider)

Confirmed: T.R. Knight won't be returning to ABC's Grey's Anatomy this fall following his request to be let out of his multi-year contract. "Leaving Grey's Anatomy was not an easy decision for me to make," said Knight in a statement. "I am extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to play this character and will miss my fellow cast and crew very much." Series creator/executive producer Shonda Rhimes, meanwhile, wished Knight "the best in his future endeavors" and said of the actor: ""He is an incredibly talented actor and a person whose strength of character is admired by all of us." (Variety)

Katherine Heigl, meanwhile, WILL be back next season on Grey's Anatomy, reprising her role as Izzie Stevens, despite a cliffhanger ending that made it seem as though Heigl was off the series for good. Sources close to the production have indicated that Heigl's option has been picked up and she will continue as a regular on the ABC medical drama series. (Hollywood Reporter, Entertainment Weekly)

Linda Hunt (The Year of Living Dangerously) has joined the cast of CBS' NCIS: Los Angeles as a series regular; she'll play "an efficient and hard-nosed former film industry technician who now oversees the 'backroom' support staff -- the folks tasked with providing everything from micro surveillance cameras to cars for the team," according to Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Clayne Crawford (Jericho) has joined the cast of Day Eight of FOX's 24, where he will play "a bad boy from Dana Walsh's (Katee Sackhoff) past." (Hollywood Reporter)

Showtime has renewed comedy series Tracey Ullman's State of the Union for a third season, with seven new installments set to debut in 2010. (Variety)

Battlestar Galactica's Rick Worthy is reportedly in talks to join the cast of NBC's Heroes, entering its fourth season this fall. If a deal is reached, Worthy will allegedly be playing a Los Angeles cop and the new partner for Greg Grunberg's Matt Parkman. (Digital Spy)

Musical chairs: The Primetime Emmy Awards telecast is back on September 20th, its original ceremony date. The move comes after CBS and the TV Academy moved the telecast to September 13th in order to avoid starting late due to NFL double-header overrun... but failed to take into account that the date clashed with MTV's Video Music Awards. So it's back to September 20th, after all. (Variety's Emmy Central)

Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane will recur on ABC's Flash Forward this fall, as will ER's Alex Kingston. MacFarlane plays an FBI agent in the David S. Goyer and Marc Guggenheim-overseen drama series. (Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed)

Reville has signed a talent holding deal with actor Bobb'e J. Thompson (30 Rock, Role Models) under which the company will develop a sitcom for the 13-year-old actor. (Variety)

The CW will begin rolling out its fall premieres on September 8th, which will see the second season premiere of 90210 and the series premiere of Melrose Place. Gossip Girl, meanwhile, will swap timeslots with One Tree Hill next season, with the former moving to the 9 pm timeslot; both series will launch their new seasons on September 14th. America's Next Top Model kicks off on September 9th, Vampire Diaries and Supernatural on September 10th, Beautiful Life on September 16th, and Smallville on September 25th. (Hollywood Reporter)

TLC has given a series order to Stager Invasion, which depicts professional stager Lisa Lynch giving frustrated home sellers tips on how to get their houses sold in difficult times. The twelve-episode series will launch June 30th at 8 pm ET/PT. (Variety)

Travel Channel has ordered reality competition series The Streets of America: The Search for America's Worst Driver, in which awful drivers are placed in a series of challenges in order to determine which is really the worst driver. Series, based on an international format and from A. Smith and Co. and Mentorn, will launch in the first quarter of 2010. (Variety)

USA Network has hired Spike executive Bill McGoldrick as SVP of original scripted programming; it's a return for McGoldrick who previously worked at USA. He will report to Jeff Wachtel. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

What I'm Watching This Summer

Remember when summer television was an oxymoron? Now, instead of warmed-over reruns and stale burn-offs, broadcast and cable networks are increasingly giving us fresh fare during the warmer months.

Audiences have already proven themselves addicted to Showtime's Nurse Jackie and hungry for more of HBO's True Blood, while NBC is offering several series such as Merlin, The Philanthropist, The Listener, and something called I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! just to name a few. TNT seems hellbent on programming nearly every night of the week while USA returns its scripted hit dramedies and launches a new one with Hamptons-set medical series Royal Pains.

So what will I be watching this summer? Turn up the A/C, grab an ice cold elderflower Collins, sit back, and relax... Let's take a look at what I'll be tuning in to during the hot season.

JUNE

Nurse Jackie (Showtime)
I've already raved about this brilliant and darkly hysterical drama series starring Edie Falco numerous times over the last few weeks so I won't gush again but I will say that you should do yourselves all a favor and tune into this remarkable piece of television, stat. It's funny, touching, controversial, and quirky... often times all in the same half-hour. (On Air; Mondays at 10:30 pm ET/PT)

Top Chef Masters (Bravo)
I don't know about you but I am going through some serious Top Chef withdrawal, so it was perfect timing that Bravo would launch a spin-off series to tide us over until the main course arrives. The format is slightly different--24 master chefs compete in a culinary round robin before advancing on to the final rounds--and the judging table doesn't quite sport the familiar faces we've grown accustomed to seeing over the course of Top Chef but the result is a fun offshoot of a high-end restaurant destination. (On Air; Wednesdays at 10 pm ET/PT)

Better Off Ted (ABC)
ABC had shelved several filmed installments of freshman comedy Better Off Ted this season, which the network will now air this summer instead of holding them over for Season Two, which returns to the ABC lineup in early 2010. So why not take this chance to return to the deliciously loopy world of Veridian Dynamics and catch up on the staffers' new adventures before the long wait for the sophomore season? (New episodes return June 23rd; Tuesdays at 8:30 pm ET/PT)

True Blood (HBO)
The Southern Gothic vampire drama has returned with a second season of more sex, gore, and synthetic blood, along with new mysteries and a whole new slew of complex and enigmatic characters. Just what sort of speed bump will vampire teen Jessica provide now that she's cutting in on Sookie and Bill's alone time? What's up with Jason and the Fellowship of the Sun? What does Maryanne want with Tara? And will Sam ever get over his unrequited love towards waitress Sookie? Having already seen the first four episodes of the second season, I'm already hooked. (On Air; Sundays at 9 pm ET/PT)

Doctor Who (BBC America)
Digital cabler BBC America has craftily snagged the US first window to British sci-fi series Doctor Who from Sci Fi and they're airing the first two of five specials featuring David Tennant's swan song as the Doctor before he leaves the series at the end of the year. First up is "The Next Doctor," as the Doctor encounters a man (David Morrissey) who claims to be a future incarnation of the Doctor, followed about a month later by "Planet of the Dead," where the Doctor teams up with master thief Lady Christina de Souza (Michelle Ryan) after they end up on a distant planet with a busload of strangers. Trust me, you don't want to miss any of Tenant's final performances as the Doctor. It's enough to make your heart (or hearts) skip a beat. (Airs Saturday, June 27th at 9 pm ET/PT and Sunday, July 26th at 8 pm ET/PT)

Gordon Ramsay's F Word (BBC America)
BBC America has returned the raucous and fun Gordon Ramsay's F Word, entering its fourth season, to primetime and it's a very good thing indeed. The culinary series boasts a variety of segments in which Gordon pits his strength against celebrities in cooking challenges, puts amateur kitchen brigades through their paces, and investigates various elements of food today, all while trying to teach the nation to cook healthy, tasty food at home. (On Air; Wednesdays at 9 pm ET/PT)

Hung (HBO)
HBO will launch its latest drama series this month. Starring Thomas Jane, the series follows the exploits of sad sack high school teacher/basketball coach Ray Drecker, whose dreams of fame and fortune didn't quite pan out the way he planned. Now he's underpaid, divorced, and nearly homeless (thanks to a nasty fire) and his kids have moved in with their mother (Anne Heche). After meeting a local poet (Jane Adams), Ray decides to use his greatest asset (ahem, it has to do with the series' title) in order to make it big. (Launches June 28th; Sundays at 10 pm ET/PT)

Royal Pains (USA)
I'm still not totally sold on this new USA series, starring Mark Feuerstein and Paulo Contanza, but I'm willing to give it a few weeks to check it out, though I dearly wish they'd drop the cringe-worthy open credits as soon as humanly possible. On the plus side: the supporting cast (including Constanza), the locale (the Hamptons), and the concierge medicine conceit, offering some nice medical procedural fun juxtaposed with some well-heeled comedy. (On Air; Thursdays at 10 pm ET/PT)

Masterpiece Mystery (PBS)
The venerable Masterpiece Mystery has already aired the brilliant and gripping Wallander, starring Kenneth Branagh and will also offer two new Poirot mysteries and four new Miss Marple mysteries (starring Julia McKenzie taking over as the titular sleuth) as part of its "Six by Agatha" mini-season and the new season of Inspector Morse spin-off Inspector Lewis, starring Kevin Whately. (On Air; Sundays at 9 pm ET/PT; check local listings)

Weeds (Showtime)
Nancy Botwin (Mary-Louise Parker) is in way over her head this season, what with an unborn child with her drug lord boyfriend Esteban (Demian Bichir), the feds watching her every move, and an furious Guillermo (Guillermo Diaz) plotting against her from prison. Meanwhile, Andy (Justin Kirk) gets entangled with Nancy's estranged sister Jill (Jennifer Jason Leigh), Silas (Hunter Parrish) and Doug (Kevin Nealon) plot a new business venture, Celia (Elizabeth Perkins) contends with the fallout from a hostage situation, and Shane (Alexander Gould) enters the family business. (On Air; Mondays at 10 pm ET/PT)

Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D List (Bravo)
Why is this on the list? Because I'm a glutton for punishment, apparently. But Griffin's can-do attitude in the face of constant adversity (and snarky comments about anyone and everyone) make for great reality television and that's about as "real" as I can get these days. No thank you, Heidi and Spencer, I'm perfectly fine living vicariously through insider/outsider Kathy Griffin. (On Air; Mondays at 10 pm ET/PT)

JULY

Warehouse 13 (Sci Fi)
On this new sci-fi drama, two very different Secret Service agents (Eddie McClintock and Joanne Kelly) find themselves transferred to the mysterious Warehouse 13, a top-secret storage facility in South Dakota that houses some powerful arcane artifacts. Their mission: to collect and safeguard these supernatural objects for caretaker Artie (Saul Rubinek), even as they attempt to figure out just what the hell is going on at the warehouse. (Launches July 7th; Tuesdays at 9 pm ET/PT)

Being Human (BBC America)
Meet three very unusual roommates: werewolf George (Doctor Who's Russell Tovey), ghostly Annie (Sugar Rush's Lenora Crichlow), and vampire Mitchell (The Clinic's Aidan Turner). As the trio work to keep their secrets hidden from prying eyes and blend in with the general population, they strive to understand what it is to truly be human, even as they contend with a possible vampire revolution and constant threats of exposure. (Launches July 25th; Saturdays at 9 pm ET/PT)

Torchwood: Children of Earth (BBC America)
The third season of Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood returns, not with with a full season, but with a five-episode event that will air across a single week and day-and-date with the United Kingdom. Can Torchwood prevent the end of the human race even as they're still reeling from the deaths of two of their own? (Airs July 20th-July 24th; Monday to Friday at 9 pm ET/PT)

Dirty Sexy Money (ABC)
The ABC guilty pleasure disappeared off the airwaves late last year and the network will return the series to its schedule to burn off its final remaining unaired episodes. Can't remember just what happened last time we saw the Darlings? Neither can I but I hope that the final installments offer some closure and some tongue-in-cheek soapiness to boot. (Unaired episodes return July 18th; Saturdays at 10 pm ET/PT)

AUGUST

Mad Men (AMC)
The jaw-droppingly brilliant period drama returns with a third season of cigarettes, alcohol, and secrets and lies. Will the marriage between Don (Jon Hamm) and Betty (January Jones) survive yet another season of hostility and seething anger? Will Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) ever find happiness with Pete (Vincent Kartheiser) now that she gave him a hell of a bombshell last season? And just what will happen to Sterling Cooper now that the British are coming? Find out this summer as we take yet another trip back to the 1960s. (Launches August 16th; Sundays at 10 pm ET/PT)

Flipping Out (Bravo)
I've missed the delightfully zany Jeff Lewis and Co. so I'm pleased as punch that Bravo is bringing the OCD-suffering real estate speculator and his band of eccentric colleagues and employees back for a third season of real estate hijinks. With the market crashed and prices plummeting, will Jeff be able to keep it together and keep moving forward? Me, I don't really care so long as Jenni and Zoila are along for the ride. (Launches August 17th; Mondays at 10 pm ET/PT)

Project Runway (Lifetime)
New network (Lifetime), new location (LA), and a new start for the sartorial competition series. Tim Gunn, Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia, and Michael Kors return with a brand-new batch of designers looking to make a name for themselves in the fashion industry. Will the gang be able to make it work at Lifetime? Find out later this summer. (Launches August 20th; Thursdays at 10 pm ET/PT)

Skins (BBC America)
It's a whole new start, meanwhile, for the provocative British teen series Skins, which returns to the States for a third season that features an entirely new cast (save Kaya Scodelario's Effy and Lisa Backwell's Pandora) and a whole new mess of trouble for them to get into in Bristol. (Launches August TBA)

Now that I've detailed just what I'll be tuning in for this summer, I'm curious to know: what will you be watching on these lazy, hazy summer evenings? Discuss.

Camelot in Crisis: An Advance Review of NBC's "Merlin"

I'll admit that I thought it odd that NBC would acquire period drama Merlin, which aired last year on BBC One in the UK, and slate it to air in primetime this summer.

After all, NBC isn't exactly known as a home for period drama, especially period fantasy drama, though given that Merlin is an acquired series, rather than a home-grown one, one can make a case that it's cost-effective programming in a notoriously difficult time of the year.

Still, I had the opportunity a few weeks back to watch Merlin's first two episodes ("The Dragon's Call" and "Valiant"), which are being aired back-to-back on Sunday evening, and I went into the series with an open mind.

Merlin stars Colin Morgan (Doctor Who) as a young and untrained Merlin who sent by his mother from their small village to the gleaming city of Camelot, where he is apprenticed to the court physician Gaius (One Foot in the Grave's Richard Wilson). However, Merlin has a secret: he is unwittingly able to yield magic (or something akin to telekinesis in any event) and this is a dangerous ability to have in a city where magic is strictly outlawed and its usage punishable by a swift death.

The first episode focuses on Merlin's arrival in Camelot, where he quickly makes an enemy out of the golden boy prince Arthur (Lewis' Bradley James), an egocentric and arrogant youth who enjoys torturing his servants for sport and whose own ethos is more along the lines of "might makes right" than the idealistic dreamer we know Arthur to grow up to be.

However, Merlin soon becomes firm friends with Gwen (The Visit's Angel Coulby), the handmaiden to Princess Morgana (The Tudors' Katie McGrath), whose tremulous presence at the execution of a man suspected of using witchcraft belie a secret of her own. Gwen herself is a boisterous, headstrong young woman, a bit rough and tumble, whose origins seem vastly at odds with her eventual ascension to the throne as Arthur's queen in the legends. Likewise, Merlin is summoned deep beneath the castle, where the last remaining dragon in existence (voiced by John Hurt) says that he has a destiny, one that is linked inexorably to magic.

Meanwhile, the mother of the executed man (played here by Torchwood's Eve Myles) seeks to exact her revenge on King Uther (Anthony Head) and his perfect son Arthur. She disguises herself as a noblewoman expected at the castle and seeks to ensnare the entire court in her magic-fueled vengeance, the height of which will see Arthur die by her hand. Merlin is able to withstand her spell and saves Arthur's life, a move that lands him a position as Arthur's personal valet.

The first episode ("The Dragon's Call") is awkward and believes itself to be far more clever than it actually is, offering some pratfalls and wink, wink, nudge, nudge type of humor as Merlin adapts to life within Camelot. It tries way too hard to reinvent the Arthurian legend into something that's teen-friendly and soft. Everything about the production is so clean and free from darkness or conflict that it's hard to become invested in the characters. Public executions seem so at odds with the breeziness of the rest of the plot that it's jarring. This is a Merlin and a Camelot that not only casts its major players as teenagers but also seeks to engage that group as its target audience.

The second episode ("Valiant"), which finds Merlin attempting to fulfill his role as valet to Arthur during a crucial annual tournament, is a significant improvement on the series opener but one can't shake the feeling that something is missing here, some compelling hook or dramatic element that would make this essential viewing. Would this be airing outside of primetime--or, indeed, in syndication, one could forgive such missteps but given that NBC has slated this for a primetime slot, it feels like an odd fit for the Peacock as a while.

Ultimately, Merlin is perfect family-viewing for Sunday evenings but for those of us who have outgrown our own childhoods, this series could be a hell of a lot more intelligent, witty, and gripping. If you've long since past outgrown the awkwardness of adolescence, you might just be wishing you could use some magic to make this Camelot retelling a more adult-oriented and enchanting proposition.







Merlin will launch with two back-to-back episodes on Sunday, June 21st at 8 pm ET/PT.

Edge of Never: FOX Releases "Virtuality" Trailer, Cast Interviews, and Webisodes

What would you take with you into space?

There's just a week to go before FOX airs the two-hour pilot for Ron Moore and Michael Taylor's sci-fi opus Virtuality.

FOX has released official trailers for Virtuality, interviews with the cast, and webisodes based around Virtuality's reality show-within-a-show, entitled "Edge of Never."

Of course, this being a project with two writers involved with Sci Fi's trippy Battlestar Galactica, expect things to be not quite what they seem. With that said, dive into the virtual and not-so-virtual worlds of Virtuality. (And you can read my exclusive interview with co-creator Michael Taylor here.)

Virtuality Preview - Everything's About to Change!



Virtuality Preview - Fantasy vs. Reality!



Virtuality Cast Interview: What would you bring to Space?



Virtuality Preview - Host Intro!



Virtuality Preview - Leap of Faith!



Virtuality Preview - Robot Hand!



Virtuality Preview - Space Painting!



Virtuality Preview - Surfing in Space!



Virtuality Promo – “Edge of Never”!



The two-hour pilot of Virtuality will air Friday, June 26th at 8 pm ET/PT on FOX.

Warehouse Party: David Simkins, Jack Kenny, Joanne Kelly, and Eddie McClintock Talk "Warehouse 13"

“IMAGINATION, n. A warehouse of facts, with poet and liar in joint ownership.” - Ambrose Bierce

Sci Fi--or Syfy as it will be known then--will next month launch its newest drama, Warehouse 13, which stars Joanne Kelly (Vanished), Eddie McClintock (Bones), and Saul Rubinek (Leverage). As executive producer Jack Kenny describes it, Warehouse 13 is an "action adventure proceduromedy."

Kelly plays Myka Bering, an analytical secret service agent whose cool head keeps her above the fray, while McClintock is Agent Pete Lattimer, who's more used to using brawn over brains to get out of scrapes. Both are transferred rather unexpectedly to their new assignment: Warehouse 13, a top-secret government warehouse in the middle of South Dakota that houses arcane and dangerous artifacts. Brainy logic meets brawny cocksure attitude. (Or as McClintock succinctly put it, "That’s why Joanne and I are so like suited for our characters because it’s true. She is the mathematician and I’m the bullet-diver.")

Kelly and McClintock, along with Warehouse 13's executive producers Jack Kenny and David Simkins, participated in a press call last week where they discuss how similar they are to their characters, what's in store for the series, its underlying mythology, and upcoming guest stars.

So grab a cookie, get out your Farnsworth device, and let's find out what the gang from Warehouse 13 had to say about their upcoming Syfy series.

Throughout its development process, Warehouse 13 had a rather unusual turn of events that led up to it getting ordered to series. Several writers had a crack at the pilot script, including Battlestar Galactica's Jane Espenson and Ronald D. Moore and Farscape's Rockne O'Bannon. So how did McClintock and Kelly end up on this crazy ride?

"I was coming off my sixth or seventh test refusal and basically I was in tears in the waiting room and Joanne kind of talked me down off the ledge and this is right before she and I went in together," explained McClintock. "So when we went in together [and] to me it was like I’ve known Joanne for years. We just kind of hit it off and this was before we had even started to read together. So I think that there was just a natural chemistry that came across in the room, at least that’s how I felt."

"Yeah, I screwed up a line and he started making fun of me in the audition and I stopped them and tried to restart the audition again and those were the two characters," Kelly chimed in. "I mean, it was kind of right on the money."

"Yeah, Joanne/Myka taking control and Pete/Eddie McClintock acting a fool basically," joked McClintock. "And as far as what attracted me to the role, it was definitely the money. They said, you know, you’ll make a bunch of money and I was like I’m in. No, for me, the Pete character kind of encompassed all the things that in one character that I’d always wanted to play. I’ve been able to play pieces of this character at different times but Pete kind of gets to do everything. He gets to be smart and funny and he gets to be heroic and to me that’s the dream job. So I love the character."

"There’s not a lot of women characters that are written as dynamically as Myka is," said Kelly. "And I was so excited that she was so smart and has a history and a past and is vulnerable at times and strong at others and funny and dramatic and sad. I mean, it really is such a round role and I was so drawn to it when I read the script right off the bat so I’m quite pleased with myself at this point."

For executive producers Jack Kenny and David Simkins, what were the inherent challenges with getting the series off the ground?

"Any new series involves similar challenges: where are we going to go, are we going to arc out the first season or is each episode going to be individual? What we’re learning about these characters and these people," said Kenny. "One of the things we did was we brought Saul and Jo and Eddie into the writers' room and we all sat together and we had a session. And we talked about the characters and let them talk about the characters, we talked about them personally, what do they like, what do they do, what are their hobbies, do any of them speak languages or play instruments. You know, what are their relationships with family members and things so that we could sort of mine who they were as individuals."

"Because my approach has always been that; every show I’ve ever done is a family show whether it’s a workplace comedy or an actual family show," continued Kenny. "And so in building this family of this brother and sister and father team that we’ve got going we wanted to sort of bring who they were to the roles. Because once you cast an actor in a part, once an actor takes on a role, they bring who they are to it so you want to mold that role to them. And we were all very fortunate in that these guys were so much like these characters to start with and David in crafting the pilot I think really made it a nice fit for Jo and Eddie to slip into these parts and Saul as well."

"So our challenges were finding the directions to take these characters in where they could grow and learn about each other and the relationships could deepen," he went on. "And then also of course we wanted to - I’m starting to call this show so many things. Now I think I’m calling it an action adventure proceduromedy."

"Because it’s got all these elements and so we didn’t want to do a strictly procedural show because there’s plenty of that on TV," Kenny explained. "And these actors are so much more interesting than just standing around with a notepad asking questions. So rather than have them investigate and just follow a trail, our challenge is to make them experience the adventure at the same time as we are. In other words, we don’t really want the audience to learn much about what’s going on ahead of when our characters do. We want our audience and our characters to be on the same ride. So that’s been something we wanted to do and we’ve done it kind of differently in every episode. Sometimes we know what an artifact is going into it, sometimes we don’t know what it is and we’ve got to find it, but we’ve always wanted to sort of go on the ride with them. And rather than a challenge, that’s just been a goal of ours to do."

How would the actors categorize the relationship between Myka and Pete? Is there a little bit of that Mulder and Scully chemistry there?

"I’ve kind of been describing our relationship as I’m kind of the younger brother who’s constantly pulling at her pigtails and she’s in turn always punching me in the armand it’s actually kind of how it goes minus the pigtails," joked McClintock. "I mean, if they did a gag reel of how many times Myka/Joanne punches Pete/Eddie in the stomach or in the arm or - I look at it right now in it’s kind of a brother/sister relationship. It’s still in its infancy, so where it will go from here it’s hard to say but I think we are a brother/sister/great friends who have a tremendous amount of respect for one another even though we constantly pick at one another. And so which makes it just a great, fun thing to play for me."

"Yeah, yeah, I think Eddie’s right on the nose, of course," agreed Kelly. "That is definitely our relationship. And the thing that I like about the way that it progresses is that there’s so much that these characters learn from one another, Pete and Myka. I mean, they’re so different and you see the gelling of two processes and the success that comes from that. And you see my character is very isolated at the beginning and his too is too in a way and you see these two people gradually open up to one another and I think that’s really special."

"And whether it be in a brother/sister way or a romantic way," she said, "you see these two people constantly learning more about the other and making fun of the other for it and helping the other. So it makes it very human and very real, I think."

"Just in terms of my observation of noticing the difference between Pete and Myka from Mulder and Scully," said Kenny, "the thing that I love about like the character of Indiana Jones is he always feels like he’s kind of not lost, but vulnerable. He never feels like he knows much more about the situation than you know as you’re watching him but he manages to get through and find his way. And that’s the sense I get with Pete and Myka. They’re sort of thrown into these situations, a different one every time. They don’t know what’s going to happen, they don’t know how an artifact works, they don’t know all the ramifications or possibilities what could happen but they’re getting through it anyway using their wits and their observation powers and all those things. And that to me feels more like an adventure than Mulder and Scully went on. That was a darker kind of a feel. This is more of an adventure for them."

But if it is such an adventure, then why doesn’t Myka realize that her new assignment with Warehouse 13 is significantly bigger than protecting a president?

"Well, I think when anyone is thrust into a situation where they’re not given the facts or the whole truth behind it, there is a bit of apprehension or reticence," explained Kelly. "You know, her journey opens up a lot more as the series progresses. But I think that in life when we are given a situation that is strange and at this point almost inconceivable, I mean, it’s pretty wild, it’s pretty out there, and this is somebody who thinks in black and white and she’s proven wrong by the Warehouse, by the very existence of it. I don’t think this is anything that she had even dreamt could be possible. And I think the lack of answers and the lack of factual documents or the lack of guidance affect her and makes her push against that idea. But I think that reaction as you’ll see in the series once it airs, it changes and it grows as she learns more and more about the Warehouse."

Some people have said that Myka and Pete's partnership in the pilot episode reminded them of Indiana Jones or Men in Black. Were either of those inspiration for Warehouse 13?

"I wouldn’t say so much inspiration as opposed to just touching upon cultural touchstones and dramatic touchstones and cinematic touchstones," said Simkins. "Jack and I in going back and sitting with the characters and with the characters in the writer’s room, we talk a lot about the Thin Man series, Myrna Loy, William Powell, we talk about Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy. It goes far beyond the more sort of recent [influences]. We’re really digging into those, past those, beyond those, and looking at real good basic storytelling archives that we can constantly sort of reflect on and occasionally use to help us tell our story."

"I think what you’re talking about though is in those kinds of relationships and those kind of settings is just the friction," continued Simkins. "The story to me with characters like Pete and Myka, the story of those characters always lives in the space between them: what they believe at a certain moment or a potential betrayal or a revelation of a hidden secret. Those things play in any relationship whether it be in Men in Black or Indie and Marion [in] Indiana Jones. They’re just really, really right avenues to explore."

"I wasn’t involved in the pilot but I have always been in favor of stealing from the best," said Kenny, tongue-in-cheek. "I thought it was really cool and I didn’t make the connection until somebody else brought it up. I thought it was a cool idea for a show."

So, have Simkins and Kenny or the writing staff thought up an artifact that was just too daunting to base an episode around?

"There is an artifact that we’ve been kicking around the writer’s room for quite a while: Hitler’s microphone," said Simkins.

"I knew you were going to say that!" chimed in Kenny. "I had a bug up my butt to do that one."

"And yeah, I’ve got to tell you, it’s a really interesting concept to sort of take something from history that we’re all very aware of and the incredible, tragic worldwide consequences of that," Simkins explained. "But what would happen if somebody got a hold of that microphone and it possessed some sort of ability or power to transfer the ability to convince people to do very, very wrong things? It was an artifact that circled the writer’s room quite a bit and I think it’s still circling."

"Well it’s an interesting debate because some people felt that they didn’t want to diminish the evil that was Adolph Hitler by saying that it was because of a microphone," said Kenny. "But then we said it wasn’t because of the microphone, it was that the microphone became imbued with the evil that was Adolph Hitler. But David’s right. We’re still circling it."

"And I have to say in terms of other artifacts, it’s when we’re sitting around in the room trying to land on something it really comes down to what artifacts can we explore that will reflect on our two characters in a really cool and interesting way," Simkins went on. "And I think part of Hitler’s microphone -- and this goes to other artifacts -- is that when the artifact begins to swamp or take over the characters or the story or the relationship we’re trying to explore, the artifact may get sort of pushed aside. If we can do an artifact that really sort of forces Pete and Myka to look at themselves or to look at the world around them a different way or to get the audience to sort of reconsider something, then we know we’ve landed on our artifact that we can probably run with. It really comes down to the artifact serving the story as opposed to letting the artifacts run the story."

McClintock, meanwhile, says his favorite artifact-related moments from the series are in an upcoming episode entitled "Breakdown," where Myka and Pete get trapped inside the Warehouse, and in "Burnout."

"That was a favorite for me because it was so much fun and we just had such a great time," said McClintock. "And there was a lot of physical stuff for me to do which is just stuff that I love to do. I love physical comedy. I love being able to do it and hopefully I do it well but I know that I have a great deal of fun doing it. And then there was 'Burnout,' where we discover this artifact called the Spine of Serafson... It was an episode for me where I really got to kind of explore where I am right now as an actor, who I am as an actor, and so that was kind of the biggest challenge. That was a great challenge for me, that episode. So those have been my two favorites."

"For me I would have to say that my favorite artifact so far has been Lewis Carroll’s mirror probably because it was the biggest acting challenge," said Kelly. "It was a huge challenge and it was a lot of fun. I got to kick up my heels a little bit. So that’s probably been my favorite along with the fact that I’m such a Lewis Carroll fan and have been for years and years. 'Alice Through the Looking Glass' and 'Alice in Wonderland' are two of my favorite books so that was really kind of special. That was my own special episode so far."

"That’s one of those things and I think you mentioned, Jo, in one of the first things we all had with you as actors you talked about being a Lewis Carroll fan," said Kenny. "And I don’t remember specifically but it may have been one of the impetuses for coming up with this Lewis Carroll story because it’s been our goal to design these episodes in their direction."

"Yeah, it’s very funny because you you’ll say something when Jack and David are around and you’ll get a script the next week and it will be in it," said Kelly. "It’s such a great thing and scary."

What guest stars can viewers look forward to in the first season of Warehouse 13?

"Well Joe Flanigan is going to join us," said Kenny. "It’s an episode where we’re chasing these four sculptures that create something and we don’t know what they create until the end. And Joe Flanigan is one of the guys chasing it, and James Naughton is kind of his nemesis also chasing them. And Pete and Myka are trying to figure out what they’re after and why they’re after them. And then also Roger Rees is going to be joining us for three episodes as Artie’s longtime nemesis, a former partner of Artie’s [who] sort of went bad about 15 years ago in the story [and] you’ll find out in the season finale. But he rears his head a couple of times in terms of the guy that is the competition, the warehouse competition, the guy who’s also looking for a lot of the same things and for an entirely different reason."

"And the super foxy, delicious Tricia Helfer," interrupted McClintock.

"Delicious, I like it," joked Kelly. "She was also like the nicest person ever in the world."

"She plays a hard core FBI agent that kind of gets under the skin of Myka but not so much Pete," explained McClintock. "Pete takes a bit of a shine to [her]."

"Yeah, Niall [Matter] and Erica [Cerra] from Eureka are joining us as a couple of con men that Pete and Myka stumble into in Las Vegas and Joe Morton is a prison preacher in an episode where things - nasty things are happening at a Florida state penitentiary," said Simkins.

How did Simkins and Kenny wind up getting on board Warehouse 13?

"The idea or the basis of these characters is something that Sci Fi had been sort of living with for a few years," said Simkins. "They’ve had this project in development for a long time and they were pretty clear about the kind of relationship they were looking for. And when I came in to work on the pilot it was just a matter of looking to them and then, you know, digging back into my own toolbox and pulling out as much of that stuff as I could."

"When Eddie and Joanne walked into the audition stage and sort of took over these characters, it was a real eye-opening experience because I think Sci Fi and I, we all thought we were on the right track, that where we were going with these two characters could definitely be done. And then when Eddie and Joanne took over the roles, Jack and I and the writers, we really--and we’ve said it before--just write into them. We write into their characters, into their speaking styles, into their attitudes. And it’s been, you know, I have to say writing for them has been one of the easiest things to do. It’s writing for the artifacts which is pretty difficult."

"It’s interesting too because to me the success of any pilot, 90% of the success is the casting, is finding the right people for the roles that are created," mused Kenny. "And then the success of a series, 90% of it is being able to write to those people you’ve cast because it’s one thing, you know, it becomes just a different challenge. We want to write to their strengths. We can hear their voices in our heads as we’re writing. That’s the challenge of every writing staff in town is to key into those people. I mean, and I think it always takes a couple of episodes to get a hold of it but we’ve really gotten into Saul and Eddie and Jo’s - their rhythms, their cadences, their strengths, their weaknesses, and everything we can find about them. And the same thing is true with CCH [Pounder] and with Allison Scagliotti who’s joining our series later in Episode 4 and Genelle [Williams] who plays Leena. Writing towards their strengths is what makes the series strong."

And is there an overarching mythology to the series?

"We just finished a document that sort of tracks the chronology of the Warehouses," said Simkins. "In our mythology, the first Warehouse was created by Alexander in an effort to keep hold of the artifacts that he collected on his wars. And it didn’t last long because Alexander died young but then the library at Alexandria was a warehouse too where research and development and things were stored and books. And so we’ve kind of tracked the chronology of empires and our feeling is that the Warehouse has moved from empire to empire throughout the ages, moving to the country that was best able to protect it. It was in the Western Roman Empire, the Hunnic Empire, the Byzantine Empire, all the way up through the Russian Empire, the British Empire, and then finally the United States. It was always located itself in the empire that was best able to protect it."

"And it was early on in one of the early Warehouses' iterations, it was established that a board of directors essentially would be in charge of it, an ever-changing sort of Supreme Court called the Regents," he continued. "And the Regents were in charge of deciding when and where to move the Warehouse. I think the longest it lasted was in the Western Roman Empire for about 500 years and the shortest was about 14 years in, I think it was the Khmer Empire. We’ve established this long history of the numbers of Warehouses that have gone through the ages and eventually when we get it all polished up it will maybe show up on the Website or something."

"The mythology of any series is more there for us than for you because it helps us feed stories, it helps us drop little hints of things," said Kenny. "It keeps us consistent with the background and the history of the characters and the place. But obviously every episode we deal with in the present day dynamic and we want to keep everything alive."

"[Sci Fi] have given us license to go out there, try things, try new stuff, don’t lock yourself into one certain place or one certain way of telling a story," continued Kenny. "We haven’t really found an absolute formula for the show yet and I think Saul [Rubinek] is very fond of saying we shouldn’t find a formula for the show. We should keep it lively and amorphous and flexible. And the way I think that you keep something flexible and alive is by understanding a really strong basis for it. I mean, the fact that we know the mythology of the Warehouse and the back story of all these characters will only allow us to go even further in exploring who they are and go out on a limb with them all in various ways."

Warehouse 13 launches Tuesday, July 7th at 9 pm ET/PT on Sci Fi.

"We Are Coming": Cast and Crew of BBC America's "Torchwood" Talk "Children of Earth"

With just over a month to go until the Season Three launch of Torchwood, a five-night event entitled Torchwood: Children of Earth, now's a good time to get the inside scoop.

In the new video, just released today, the cast and crew of the Doctor Who spin-off, including John Barrowman, Eve Myles, Kai Owen, Gareth David-Lloyd, and executive producers Julie Gardner and Russell T. Davies.

"I'm as proud of this as anything in my career," said Davies about Torchwood: Children of Earth, while the cast teases cliffhangers with every installment and the sort of high-stakes save-the-world drama we've come to expect from Torchwood.

You can watch the entire video and the trailer for Torchwood: Children of Earth below.





Five-episode event Torchwood: Children of Earth launches Monday, July 20th and will air five nights that week at 9 pm ET/PT on BBC America.

Little Grey Cells: An Advance Review of PBS' "Poirot: Cat Among the Pigeons" and "Poirot: Mrs. McGinty's Dead"

Fans of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot, the funny little Belgian detective famed as much for his fastidiousness as the fact that he's the self-proclaimed most famous detective in the world, have long waited for actor David Suchet to slip back into the role.

That wait is over as PBS' Masterpiece Mystery will this month offer the US premiere of two new Poirot mysteries starring Suchet as part of its "Six by Agatha" season, which features not only two feature-length Poirot mysteries but also four Miss Marple whodunits, starring Julia McKenzie (Cranford) as Miss Marple herself.

The two mysteries, entitled "Cat Among the Pigeons" and "Mrs. McGinty's Dead," will seriously put Hercule Poirot's famed "little grey cells" to the test as he must contend with two very different murder scenarios. In the first, "Cat Among the Pigeons," the Belgian detective goes undercover at the Meadowbank School for Girls, where he encounters not only murder and missing foreign princesses, but hidden rubies and kidnapping, all of which strive to disrupt the school term. The following week, in "Mrs. McGinty's Dead," the investigation of the murder of an elderly charwoman--an effort to free a wrongfully accused man from swinging at the gallows--results in Poirot uncovering the truth about a pair of decades-old homicides and their connection to the present day.

Of the two new mysteries, both of which are making their US premiere here after airing in the UK last year, the first is far more successful in terms of its plotting and tension. Breathtakingly directed by James Kent (Margaret), "Cat Among the Pigeons" is classic Christie at its very best: a series of red herrings, bait-and-switches, and intelligent detection on the part of Poirot with the deft skill of a chess master. The atmosphere at the Meadowbank School for Girls is filled with claustrophobia and paranoia and Poirot discovers himself entering the world of high-stakes international espionage as he uncovers various connections to a coup in the Middle Eastern region of Ramat and some spies coming in from the cold.

It's as gripping and tense as any of Christie's finest work and the cast, which includes Atonement's Harriet Walter, Miss Potter's Anton Lesser, Vanity Fair's Natasha Little, Bridget Jones' Diary's Claire Skinner, Harry Potter's Katie Leung, EastEnders' Adam Croasdell, Spooks' Miranda Raison, Green Wing's Pippa Haywood, and The Jewel in the Crown's Susan Wooldridge (along with, of course, David Suchet as Poirot) are all top-notch giving the piece an aura of timelessness as well as menace.

Someone stalks the corridors of this venerable educational institution and Poirot will not only meet an adversary worthy of his time and intuitive and deductive reasoning but will also encounter a kindred spirit in a young girl who proves herself to be a protege worthy of the master himself.

The second Poirot mystery, "Mrs. McGinty's Dead," feels a little tired in comparison. The fault doesn't lie with the actors or the sensational direction--this time from Afterlife's Ashley Pearce--but rather with an over the top and oftentimes baffling plot from Christie herself, which isn't helped by a confusing screenplay from Nick Dear.

In this case, Poirot reluctantly agrees to look into the death of an elderly charwoman in the small town of Broadhinney in order to free an man whom the prosecution believes may in fact be innocent of the crime for which he's been accused. This investigation stirs up some long-buried secrets as Poirot attempts to unmask Mrs. McGinty's true killer and in turn ends up exposing several people's concealed pasts.

The cast includes Zoe Wanamaker (My Family) as Poirot's confidante Ariadne Oliver, a detective novelist believed to have been modeled on Christie herself, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall's James Bentley, The Shellseekers' Richard Hope, The Forsyte Saga's Amanda Root, Gallowglass' Paul Rhys, Ivanhoe's Sian Philips, and Peak Practice's Simon Shepherd.

"Mrs. McGinty's Dead" isn't bad television and it isn't bad Poirot either; rather, it pales in comparison to the deftness and complexity of "Cat Among the Pigeons." Here, there are so many suspects and so many needlessly confusing elements--such as the newspaper report of two murder cold cases from decades earlier--that it's hard to become invested in the plot at hand with the same glee and abandon as one does with the first installment.

Still, it's a real treat to once again see Suchet step into Poirot's spats and ingeniously solve two cases by using his smarts rather than his fists. The wit is as pointed as Hercules' trademark mustache and these two mysteries offer the perfect antidote to a sweltering summer evening.

Poirot returns with two new mysteries, "Cat Among the Pigeons" and "Mrs. McGinty's Dead," on Sunday, June 21st and Sunday, June 28th at 9 pm ET/PT. Check your local listings for details

BBC America Brings David Tennant, Russell T. Davies, "Doctor Who," "Mighty Boosh," "Torchwood," "Being Human" to Comic-Con

Holy TARDIS!

BBC America just shocked the hell out of me by announcing that they will be bringing Doctor Who's David Tennant--yes, the Doctor himself--and writer/executive producer Russell T. Davies, director Euros Lyn, and executive producer Julie Gardner to Comic-Con San Diego next month.

The quartet will be participating in a panel for Doctor Who, shortly after Tennant has completed his legendary run on the British sci-fi series, that is scheduled for Sunday morning at 10 am PT.

And if that weren't enough to get you salivating, BBC America also had me jumping for joy by announcing that Julian Barratt, Noel Fielding, Michael Fielding, Rich Fulcher, and Dave Brown--the stars of the surreal and hysterical comedy series The Mighty Boosh--will also be dropping by Comic-Con this year with a panel slated to run on Friday afternoon at 3:30 pm PT.

The digital cabler also announced panels for such series as Torchwood and Being Human on Sunday.

I don't know about you but I am just shaking with excitement, not to mention absolute glee. Just... wow.

The full press release from BBC America announcing their Comic-Con 2009 panels, can be found below.

DAVID TENNANT AND RUSSELL T DAVIES ATTENDING COMIC-CON 2009

- BBC hosts Doctor Who talent for their first ever appearance at Comic-Con -

New York, NY – June 17, 2009 – In support of BBC AMERICA’s U.S. premiere of four Doctor Who Specials, the Doctor himself, David Tennant, will appear alongside writer/executive producer Russell T Davies at this year’s Comic-Con in San Diego. They will take part in a Doctor Who panel along with executive producer Julie Gardner and director Euros Lyn, Sunday July 26, 10:00-11:00am PT.

David will travel to Comic-Con, fresh from the Doctor Who set, having shot his final scenes as the tenth Time Lord. He and fellow panelists will discuss the latest incarnation of television’s longest running science fiction series and take questions from the floor. There will also be exclusive sneak peeks from the upcoming specials.

Fans can visit the BBC AMERICA booth (#3629) to capture their own photograph alongside part of the Doctor Who set - as well as purchase exclusive merchandise including David Tennant figures.

Fans of BBC AMERICA’s highest rated show ever, Torchwood, which will have just completed the five-part special, Children of Earth, will get to chat with the stars and makers of the show first-hand. Just 48 hours after the last episode, the show makes a return visit to Comic-Con with a panel featuring star John Barrowman, writer/executive producer Russell T Davies, executive producer Julie Gardner and director Euros Lyn, Sunday July 26, 2:15-3:45pm PT.

As part of the same panel, Sunday July 26, 2:15-3:45pm PT, catch the talent from BBC AMERICA’s most buzzed about new sci fi drama, Being Human. Creator and writer, Toby Whithouse, plus lead actors Russell Tovey, Lenora Crichlow and Aidan Turner, talk about the inspiration for the show and what it’s like to play three twenty-somethings with secret double-lives – as a werewolf, a vampire and a ghost. All four panelists will be signing exclusively at the BBC AMERICA booth, Saturday July 25, 3:00-4:00pm PT.

Cult comedy favorite and BAFTA-nominated, The Mighty Boosh, comes to Comic-Con for the first time to celebrate the airing of all three seasons on Adult Swim, and the BBC’s DVD release, just two days before the convention begins. Inspired by the Perrier Comedy Award-winning live comedy show, creators-stars Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding, along with actors Michael Fielding, Rich Fulcher and Dave Brown, will be on stage to discuss the magical, bizarre and exciting world of The Boosh, Friday, July 24, 4:45-5:45pm. The hit UK comedy series follows crazy zookeepers Howard Moon and Vince Noir and was described by The San Jose Mercury News as “an acid-trip fantasy-comedy [that] is seriously deranged and seriously funny.”

Fans can also catch exclusive BBC AMERICA screenings during the convention with back to back episodes of Doctor Who and Torchwood. Key talent from both shows introduce the last episode of the five part series Torchwood: Children of Earth and a U.S. premiere viewing of Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead, the first of four specials starring David Tennant.

Underground Toys (#3949) will be selling their entire Doctor Who and Torchwood lines of toys and novelty items. In addition, this year they will once again introduce new limited edition Comic-Con action figures that have never been seen before.

BBC AMERICA Comic-Con Panel and Signing Schedule

Friday, July 24
4:45-5:45pm The Mighty Boosh: creators-stars Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding along with actors Michael Fielding, Rich Fulcher and Dave Brown will be on stage to discuss the magical, bizarre and exciting world of The Boosh, currently airing on Adult Swim and released on DVD by the BBC two days before the convention begins. The San Jose Mercury News describes the show as “an acid-trip fantasy-comedy [that] is seriously deranged and seriously funny.” Room 6A

3:30-4:30pm The Mighty Boosh signing in the Autograph Area.

Saturday, July 25
3:00-4:00pm Being Human: creator Toby Whithouse and actors Russell Tovey, Lenora Crichlow and Aidan Turner signing at the BBC AMERICA booth (#3629).

7:30-10:00pm Torchwood/Doctor Who: Key talent from both shows introduce the last episode of the five part series Torchwood: Children of Earth and an advance viewing of Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead, the first of four specials starring David Tennant. Room 6A

Sunday, July 26
10:00-11:00am Doctor Who: actor David Tennant, writer/executive producer Russell T Davies, director Euros Lyn and executive producer Julie Gardner discuss their creative process and experiences working on BBC AMERICA’s Doctor Who with exclusive clips and a Q&A session. Ballroom 20

2:15-3:45pm Being Human/Torchwood: Being Human creator Toby Whithouse and cast members Russell Tovey, Lenora Crichlow and Aidan Turner, are on stage to give an inside look at BBC AMERICA’s U.S. premiere sci-fi drama about the lives of three twenty-somethings and their secret double-lives – as a werewolf, a vampire and a ghost. Following that actor John Barrowman, creator/writer/executive producer Russell T Davies, executive producer Julie Gardner and director Euros Lyn talk about the making of the epic five-night television event Torchwood: Children of Earth as well as take questions from the fans. Room 6BCF