Here is a special thread completely devoted to all television casting and development updates. Please feel free to comment and add the latest information for June, 2009.

Brian Austin Green climbing 'Hill'

Actor in talks to join the CW drama as a regular

By Nellie Andreeva

On the heels of his co-starring role on "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles," Brian Austin Green is in talks to join CW's veteran drama "One Tree Hill" as a regular.

On the series, which enters its seventh season this fall, Green would play Clayton, a brash sports agent who represents Nathan Scott's (James Lafferty) basketball interests and has become a close friend, ally, business partner and advisor to him while also enjoying the spoils that come from being a wealthy, handsome single guy.

The upcoming seventh season of "OTH" marks a major transition for the show with the recent departure of two original cast members, Chad Michael Murray and Hilarie Burton.

"Beverly Hills, 90210" alum Green recently played Derek Reese on Fox's fan favorite "Terminator."

Zima joins 'Heroes' for recurring role

Actress to play multi-episode arc

By Nellie Andreeva

"Heroes' " Claire Bennet is off to college.

The undestructable high school cheerleader will soon be hitting the books on a college campus where she will cross paths with a quirky student played by Madeline Zima.

"Californication" co-star Zima has been tapped to recur on the NBC drama's upcoming fourth season.

In a multi-episode arc she will play Gretchen, an edgy outsider and college roommate to Claire (Hayden Panettiere).

Zima, who next appears in the feature "My Own Love Song" opposite Renee Zellweger and Forest Whitaker, is repped by ICM and Framework.

'Dexter,' 'Hung' add cast

Gregg Henry, Courtney Ford land recurring roles

By Nellie Andreeva

Gregg Henry has joined HBO's upcoming dark comedy "Hung" as recurring, and Courtney Ford has come aboard Showtime's drama "Dexter," also for a multi-episode arc.

On HBO's "Hung," starring Thomas Jane as a well-endowed high school basketball coach, Henry ("The Riches") will play Mike, an assistant coach.

The project reunites he with "Riches" creator Dmitry Lipkin, who co-created "Hung" with Colette Burson.

Henry is repped by Domain and Framework.

On "Dexter," which recently cast John Lithgow as Miami's latest serial killer and new nemesis of Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall), Ford will play a reporter.

Zac Efron to Guest on "Entourage "
Jun 2, 2009 by Anna Dimond

Vince, Ari, and the "Entourage" crew will have another Hollywood ingénue to pal around with this summer: Zac Efron is joining the posse.

The "High School Musical" star is set to guest on the HBO series, according to E! A source says that Efron was filming scenes for the show at Beverly Hills Niketown Tuesday morning.

"He was filming a scene and talking on his cell phone," the source said. "None of the other Entourage cast was [there]. He was really nice."

Details on Efron's role are yet to be announced, but he joins a healthy roster of boldfaced names set to appear as themselves during Season 6, including Lil Wayne, LeBron James, Tom Brady, and Aaron Sorkin.

A rep for the show did not immediately respond to TVGuide.com's request for comment.

"Jay Leno Show" to bow on Sept. 14
Show to get a jump on the fall season
by MICHAEL SCHNEIDER

Jay Leno will get a one-week jump on the fall season in September.

NBC, which had hinted that Leno would launch a week before the season start, made it official on Tuesday: "The Jay Leno Show" will bow on Monday, Sept. 14, at 10 p.m.

Pea**** execs said they'll take advantage of the season bow of "Sunday Night Football" the previous night to help promote the show. The week of Sept. 14 will also include the summer finale of "America's Got Talent" as well as the season launch of "The Biggest Loser," both of which the net believes will give Leno a boost.

NBC may also schedule the premiere of its Thursday-night comedies that week, although a final decision hasn't been made.

Leno signed off as host of "The Tonight Show" on Friday.

'Heroes' casts new villain

Robert Knepper joins NBC drama in fourth season

By Nellie Andreeva

Robert Knepper continues his villainous streak.

Coming off a role as bad guy Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell on Fox's "Prison Break," Knepper has been tapped as the new lead villain on NBC's "Heroes" next season.

In at least six episodes of the series' fourth season, Knepper will play Samuel, a Jim Jones type -- charismatic but evil, with a twisted sense of humor -- who will veer into the lives of all heroes. The character had been referred to as "Carnival Barker" in the series breakdown released last month.

"Heroes" is slated to return in the fall for a "Lost"-style all-original run in a new time slot at 8 p.m. on Mondays. The sci-fi drama -- which enjoys a strong online following -- will share its time period with another fan favorite, "Chuck," which will take over in midseason.

Production on the UMS-produced "Heroes" is scheduled to begin later this week.

Knepper is perhaps best known for playing a character on "Prison Break" that viewers loved to hate -- T-Bag, a murderer, rapist and supremacist. On the bigscreen, he was most recently seen in "Transporter 3" and "The Day the Earth Stood Still."

Knepper is repped by Fortitude, D/F Management and attorney Todd Rubenstein.

Exclusive: Meet House's new roommate!
Jun 4, 2009 | by Michael Ausiello

Ladies and gentleman, I give you the first official "House" scoop of the new season: Tony winner Lin-Manuel Miranda has been cast as "House"'s psych hospital roomie, sources confirm to me exclusively.

Miranda, best known for writing and starring in the Broadway musical "In the Heights," will appear in at least two episodes beginning with the show's sixth season premiere this fall.

A "House" insider tells me producers are looking for other "interesting actors" to populate the psychiatric facility that became House's home in last month's finale. So if you're an actor who excels at riding the crazy train, forward this story to your agent ASAP.

Ladies and gentleman, that concludes the first official "House" scoop of the new season.

quote:

Originally posted by PaddyFilm:
'Heroes' casts new villain

Robert Knepper joins NBC drama in fourth season

By Nellie Andreeva

Robert Knepper continues his villainous streak.

Coming off a role as bad guy Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell on Fox's "Prison Break," Knepper has been tapped as the new lead villain on NBC's "Heroes" next season.

In at least six episodes of the series' fourth season, Knepper will play Samuel, a Jim Jones type -- charismatic but evil, with a twisted sense of humor -- who will veer into the lives of all heroes. The character had been referred to as "Carnival Barker" in the series breakdown released last month.

"Heroes" is slated to return in the fall for a "Lost"-style all-original run in a new time slot at 8 p.m. on Mondays. The sci-fi drama -- which enjoys a strong online following -- will share its time period with another fan favorite, "Chuck," which will take over in midseason.

Production on the UMS-produced "Heroes" is scheduled to begin later this week.

Knepper is perhaps best known for playing a character on "Prison Break" that viewers loved to hate -- T-Bag, a murderer, rapist and supremacist. On the bigscreen, he was most recently seen in "Transporter 3" and "The Day the Earth Stood Still."

Knepper is repped by Fortitude, D/F Management and attorney Todd Rubenstein.

Knoepper was brilliant as T-Bag so I only hope this means bigger and better things for him.

Rachel Melvin moves to 'Heroes'

'Days of Our Lives' star up for Daytime Emmy

By Nellie Andreeva

The more the merrier.

Days after "Californication" co-star Madeline Zima was cast to play Claire Bennet's (Hayden Panettiere) college roommate Gretchen in a multiepisode arc, Claire got herself yet another roommate.

"Days of Our Lives" co-star Rachel Melvin has been tapped to guest star and potentially recur on "Heroes" next season, playing Annie, who also will share sleeping quarters (and maybe more) with Claire.

Melvin, who left "Days of Our Lives" in March after four years, recently earned her second Daytime Emmy nomination for her role as Chelsea Brady on the daytime drama.

'Entourage' adds three to guest list

Matt Letscher, William Fichtner, Scott Caan land roles

By Nellie Andreeva

The Hollywood-centric HBO comedy "Entourage" is loading up on more industry types with several guest castings.

Matt Letscher, William Fichtner and Scott Caan have been tapped for multiepisode arcs on the series' upcoming sixth season.

"Eli Stone" alum Letscher, repped by Domain and Sanders/Armstrong/Caserta, plays Dan Coakley, a handsome, arrogant TV studio executive who oversees Drama's (Kevin Dillon) TV series.

"Prison Break" co-star Fichtner plays Phil Yagoda, a slick TV producer who had a hit teen series in the 1990s and is trying to remake it with Drama.

Paradigm-repped Caan, best known for his role in the "Ocean's Eleven" franchise, plays Scotty Lavin, a ****y and highly competitive manager who acts tough and trash talks to cover up how insecure he is and sees E (Kevin Connolly) as a threat.

Scoop: Katee Sackhoff makes time for "24"
Jun 8, 2009 | by Michael Ausiello

Suddenly, I find myself counting the minutes until "24"'s new season. Perhaps this is why: Katee Sackhoff is joining the cast!

Sources confirm to me exclusively that the "Battlestar Galactica" heroine has been tapped to play the series regular role of Dana Walsh, a highly respected and down-to-earth data analyst at the new and improved New York branch of CTU.

Translation: Chloe-Starbuck catfight alert!

This fraktastic casting coup hit a road block last week when Sackhoff abruptly took herself out of running, prompting me to post this blind item. But late Friday, word surfaced that the "BSG" badass was once again in the mix.

Here's more scoop on Sackhoff's character . . .

She's in a relationship with fellow agent Davis Cole (played by the just-cast Freddie Prinze. Jr.), and she apparently has a skeleton in her closet she's trying desperately to keep hidden.

As I previously reported, "24"'s eighth season -- which premieres Jan. 17, 2010 -- will be set in the Big Apple and center on an assassination plot against a visiting foreign leader ("Slumdog Millionaire"'s Anil Kapoor). In addition to Sackhoff, Prinze, and Williamson, new Day 8 blood includes "Kissing Jessica Stein"'s Jennifer Westfeldt (as a journalist with ties to Kapoor's diplomat) and "The Starter Wife"'s Chris Diamantopoulos (as President Taylor's Chief of Staff).

'Questions' makes casting changes

Only three of the original cast members will stay on

By Nellie Andreeva

NBC's new comedy series "100 Questions" is undergoing more casting changes ahead of its midseason debut.

The series' producing team has opted to recast two more regular roles, played in the pilot by Elizabeth Ho and Joy Suprano.

That follows the dismissal of another regular in the pilot, Amir Talai, a couple of weeks ago.

With the three casting changes, only three original "100 Questions" cast members will stay on: star Sophie Winkleman, male lead David Walton and Christopher Moynihan, who also created the show and serves as an executive producer.

The UMS/Tagline-produced "100 Questions" centers on a young woman looking for love (Winkleman) who joins a popular online dating site.

The three vacant roles on the series, which are being recast, are her male dating counselor and two girlfriends.

British TV director Alex Hardcastle has been tapped as house director on "100 Questions," taking over from sitcom veteran James Burrows, who helmed the pilot but didn't intend to continue beyond that.

Hardcastle ("Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire") also is expected to serve in some producing capacity on the series, which is executive produced by Moynihan, showrunner Michelle Nader and Tagline's Ron West and Kelly Kulchak.

'Alice' miniseries rounds up cast

Kathy Bates, Tim Curry among actors in Sci Fi project

By Nellie Andreeva

Kathy Bates, Tim Curry, Colm Meaney and Philip Winchester have been tapped to star on Sci Fi's four-hour miniseries "Alice," which has cast Caterina Scorsone (Starz's "Crash") in the title role.

Production on the mini, a modern-day take on Lewis Carroll's classic, is under way in Vancouver, B.C., for a December 2009 premiere.

Bates plays the Queen of Hearts, Curry plays Dodo, Colm Meaney plays the King of Hearts and "Crusoe" star Winchester plays the Jack of Hearts.

Additionally, Matt Frewerplays has been cast as the White Knight, Andrew Lee Potts as Hatter, Alessandro Juliani as 9 of Clubs, Timothy Webber as Carpenter, Alex Diakun as Ratcatcher, Zak Santiago as 10 of Clubs and Eugene Lipinski as Doctors Dee and Dum.

RHI Entertainment is internationally distributing the mini, which it is co-producing with Reunion Pictures and Studio Eight.

The new version, from writer-director Nick Willing, centers on Alice Hamilton, a fiercely independent twentysomething who suddenly finds herself on the other side of a looking glass.

Executive producing the mini are Matthew O'Connor and Lisa Richardson from Reunion Pictures, Jamie Brown from Studio Eight and RHI Entertainment's Robert Halmi, Sr. and Robert Halmi, Jr.

Four on crime scene for CBS, HBO

New dramas add cast including Adam Jamal Craig

By Nellie Andreeva

Adam Jamal Craig has been added to CBS' new series "NCIS: Los Angeles" as a regular, while "The Wire" alum Michael Kenneth Williams, veteran Dabney Coleman and Paz de la Huerta have joined the cast of HBO's Martin Scorsese-directed drama pilot "Boardwalk Empire."

The CBS TV Studios-produced "NCIS: Los Angeles," a spinoff from "NCIS" that will launch behind the hit crime procedural on Wednesdays this fall, stars Chris O'Donnell and LL Cool J. It's set at the Office of Special Projects, a division of NCIS that's charged with apprehending dangerous criminals.

Craig will play a new character, Dominic Vaile, a new young agent. The actor drew the attention of the CBS casting executives this past pilot season with his performance on another CBS/CBS Studios drama pilot, "Washington Field." After the pilot didn't go, they recommended Craig to "NCIS: L.A." creator and "NCIS" showrunner Shane Brennan.

Craig, who recently did multiepisode arcs on NBC's "The Office" and "Heroes," is repped by SMS and 1 Management.

Written by Terence Winter and to be directed by Scorsese, HBO's "Empire" chronicles the early 20th century origins of Atlantic City and revolves around Nucky Johnson (Steve Buscemi), who runs a liquor-distribution ring, and Jimmy Darmody (Michael Pitt), his ruthless flunky.

De la Huerta will play Lucy, Nucky's girlfriend, a hot party girl. Williams will play Chalky White, the defacto "mayor" of Chickenbone Beach, Atlantic City's black section. He's an intelligent ex-boxer and confidant of Nucky's who rules his community with an iron fist.

Coleman will play the Commodore Kaestner, Nucky's predecessor and mentor.

Production on "Boardwalk" started Tuesday on the East Coast.

De la Huerta, whose feature credits include "The Limits of Control" and "Enter the Void," is repped by Don Buchwald & Associates, Untitled and attorney Ira Shrek.

'Pillars' nabs McShane, Sutherland
Cast also includes Sewell, Macfadyen

By ED MEZA

BERLIN -- Ian McShane, Donald Sutherland and Rufus Sewell have joined the cast of "Pillars of the Earth," a German-Canadian co-production based on the bestselling novel by Ken Follett.

Munich-based Tandem Communications and Montreal's Muse Ent. are co-producing the eight-hour miniseries in association with Scott Free Films.

The series, about the building of a cathedral in 12th-century England, is set to begin principal photography on June 22 in Hungary and Austria.

Sergio Mimica-Gezzan, who has helmed episodes of "Heroes" and "Saving Grace," and served as Steven Spielberg's first assistant director on "Saving Private Ryan" and "Schindler's List," is directing from script by John Pielmeier ("Hitler: The Rise of Evil"), who also stars in the production.

Additional cast members include Matthew Macfadyen, Sarah Parish, Hayley Atwell, Eddie Redmayne and Gordon Pinsent.

While "Pillars" has yet to be picked up in the U.S. or the U.K., it has sold to Germany's ProSiebenSat.1, CBC, The Movie Network and Movie Central in Canada, Spain's Sogecable, Austria's ORF and TV2 in Hungary.

FX greenlights "Terriers"
Detective dramedy comes from Griffin, Ryan
by CYNTHIA LITTLETON

FX has given the green light to shoot a pilot for the detective dramedy "Terriers," from scribe Ted Griffin and Shawn Ryan.

Project is described as a comedic take on the private eye world, revolving around an ex-cop turned detective who teams up with a young hot-shot.

Griffin penned the pilot for FX and Fox 21, and he'll exec produce with Ryan. Griffin, whose feature credits include "Ocean's Eleven" and "Matchstick Men," previously worked with Ryan on FX's "The Shield."

"Futurama" returns with new episodes
Comedy Central sets sights on mid-2010
by MICHAEL SCHNEIDER

In another case of an animated primetime series resurrected from the dead, 20th Century Fox TV plans to produce 26 new episodes of "Futurama."

Comedy Central will begin airing the new episodes in mid-2010. Voice actors Billy West (who played Philip Fry), Katey Sagal (Leela), and John DiMaggio (Bender) have all signed on to return.

Created by Matt Groening and David X. Cohen, "Futurama" originally aired on Fox from 1999 to 2003.

"It's sweet, and basically everybody who has worked on the show wants to come back," Groening said. "I choose to believe it's more than the economic situation. People had a good time working on this show."

After "Futurama" ended its run, 20th Century Fox TV produced four new "Futurama" segs for DVD, which first spurred talk of a series revival.

"It was a little bit of putting our toe in the water to see what sort of response we could get," said 20th Century Fox TV chairman Gary Newman. "We discovered that, like 'Family Guy,' there's a passionate core audience and a tremendous pent-up demand to see more 'Futurama.' "

But it took Comedy Central to seal the deal. The cabler started airing all 72 off-net episodes of "Futurama," as well as the DVD episodes, in January 2008.

Since then, both 20th and Comedy Central have been kicking around ways to make a "Futurama" order make financial sense for both the studio and cable net.

"The animation on 'Futurama' has always been so intricate, and there are costs associated with that," Newman said.

In order to make the deal work some costs were trimmed -- leading to a smaller writing staff and a shorter delivery schedule, among other changes.

"Across the board, everyone is doing a little belt tightening," Newman said. "That's what's necessary to get this thing into production . . . no one is going to make a big payday on the show, including the studio."

But for 20th and News Corp., the deal means there will now be enough "Futurama" episodes to potentially drive an off-net syndication sale to stations. The new batch of episodes will also lead to either one or two new DVD box sets.

Meanwhile, as part of the deal, 20th still has an option to license the new episodes' original runs to a broadcast network (such as Fox). If the show does go to broadcast, Comedy Central's license fee will be reduced.

"It's a deal we're all happy with," said Comedy Central programming senior VP David Bernath. "It's a bigger win for us promotionally if we wind up going first . . . but if we wind up in second position, then the economics work out for us as well."

Comedy Central's "Futurama" rights run well into the next decade, which is why the net was so invested in the production of new episodes, Bernath said.

"One of the things that excited us even at the time when we bought the initial 72 episodes was the possibility of new production and new episodes," he said.

Twentieth Century Fox TV has called shows back from the grave before: "Family Guy" returned thanks to that show's strong DVD sales. And although not nearly as dead and buried as "Family Guy" and "Futurama," the studio's "King of the Hill" was also canceled and then uncanceled by Fox at least twice in its lifespan.

"Futurama" follows the tale of Fry, a pizza delivery boy who winds up accidentally frozen -- before waking up 1,000 years later. He befriends one-eyed alien Leela as well as cranky robot Bender.

Writing has already begun on the show; Groening said he was inspired by the "Star Trek" movie this summer enough that the updated "Futurama" may take a similar tact to explain the launch of this run.

Beyond that, Groening said he and Cohen already have a pile of potential episode storylines that they never got around to producing during "Futurama's" original incarnation.

"David and I have ideas that we knocked around before we even began the first series," Groening said. "And we haven't gotten to everything yet."

"Futurama" never really went away -- the series' characters had continued to live on via comicbooks.

"The intensity of the fan enthusiasm is very gratifying," Groening said.

Creative Emmys to take place Sept. 12
Ceremony to be held at L.A. Convention Center
by MICHAEL SCHNEIDER

The Creative Arts Emmys will still take place Sept. 12 as skedded, but in a venue switch, the ceremony will move from the Nokia Theater to the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Shift occurred because of the decision made last week to change the date of the Primetime Emmy Awards -- also taking place at the Nokia -- to Sept. 13 (Daily Variety, June 2). So Sept. 12 will now be needed for setup and rehearsal.

That will make for a mega-Emmy weekend, as many TV bizzers will likely have to head downtown on both nights in order to attend the ceremonies.

The primetime main event was originally slated for Sept. 20 -- but broadcaster CBS has an NFL doubleheader that afternoon, and it didn’t want to preempt “60 Minutes.” That meant that the Emmys might have started late. (The Emmys would have also gone up against a key Cowboy-Giants game that night.)

But that left the TV Academy with an inflexible sked for the Creative Arts ceremony. It couldn’t be pushed a week earlier, because it would have fallen on Labor Day weekend. And a week before that would have pushed it into August -- when the L.A. Area Emmy awards were already set. If it went any earlier than that it would have impacted the org’s complicated awards voting schedule.

Acad sources note that until about a decade ago, the Creative Arts and Primetime Emmy events were held the same weekend, so there is precedent for holding them so close together.

The decision to hold both events that weekend will make for unusual TV viewing, however. E! Entertainment TV has the rights to air an edited-down version of the Creative Arts ceremony a week later, on Sept. 19. But that now means viewers will have caught the Primetime Emmys a few days before hand -- a reversal of when the two are normally telecast.

“The Creative Arts Emmy Awards are extremely important to all of us at the Television Academy,” said John Shaffner, chairman-CEO of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. “Our Board of Governors, which represents every peer group in our membership ranks, made this decision to ensure that this year’s celebration will carry on the tradition of presenting a high quality, entertaining awards ceremony for all involved.”

Lee Miller and Steve Venezia will executive produce the 2009 Creative Arts Emmy Awards, with Spike Jones Jr. producing.

Mad Men Returns August 16
AMC sets premiere for Emmy-winning period drama
By Alex Weprin -- Broadcasting & Cable

The third season of Mad Men will premiere August 16 on AMC, the network says. The first episode of the new season will feature limited commercial interruptions.

In an effort to drive publicity for the Emmy Award-winning drama about advertising executives in the 1960s, AMC will run a Mad Men marathon Sunday, August 9, featuring all the episodes from season two.

The network is also making season one available for free on-demand beginning immediately, with season two available starting July 20.

The pilot for the series, entitled "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes," is available for viewing on AMCtv.com