Television News

CSI: NY adds a General, Castle gets Lovett, and Hurley joins Mr. Sunshine!

The return of D’Onofrio to CI, the Empire expands at HBO, “The Lost Girls” are found by Bruckheimer, Baywatch creator sets up another beach series, and CBS finds a Second Wind and an Untitled Goldstein Sitcom.

…and sets up two new shows!

JJ ABRAMS pairs with four others for a HOT NEW TV PITCH!

Melissa Sagemiller is replacing Paula Patton as the new ADA on LAW & ORDER: SVU. Patton was recently tapped to play the lead female role in MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 4 and was amicably released to pursue the high profile role.

Star of LAW & ORDER: LOS ANGELES, Wanda De Jesus, has exited the show after filming two episodes as Lieutenant Arleen Gonzales.

JJ Abrams & Jonah Nolan (yes, Christopher Nolan’s brother — and also the guy who co-wrote INCEPTION and THE DARK KNIGHT, and wrote the original story MEMENTO was based on) are currently shopping a HOT new Crime / Thriller TV project. JJ is producing, while Nolan will script and direct the pilot, with a co-created by title with JJ, who will also produce with his Bad Robot shingle.

Project just started leaking to networks, and a lot of HEAT is already buzzing from the inital meet. Look for this to become a hot priority for networks still looking for slots to fill.

FOX has bought The UNTITLED GLEN MAZZARA MEDICAL PROJECT, about a burnt-out doc who decides to join a small neighborhood clinic. Series, which Glen Mazzara will write, will be produced by Peter Tolan.

SHOWTIME has picked up Tom Perrotta’s adaptation of his own bestselling novel THE WISHBONES.  Story, which centers on a group of guys who form a wedding band in their small town but aspire to rock ‘n’ roll greatness, will be produced by John Wells.

FOX has bought YOU CAN’T LOVE ONE OF THEM from writer/actor Diane Farr. Farr’s project, based on her upcoming semi-autobiographical book of the same name, will center on several interracial couples living in the South in a post-Obama world. Series will be exec produced by Pete Aronson and Jordan Levin, and will star Farr.

TBS has picked up to pilot the Dean Devlin-produced drama BRAIN TRUST.

TNT has ordered 3 new projects to pilot, including the reboot of DALLAS, the drama procedural PERCEPTION (aka: Proof), and the UNTITLED ALLAN LOEB PROJECT (aka: Rabbit Factory).

Hal Holbrook has signed on for a multi-episode arc on NBC’s new serial thriller THE EVENT.

Robert Englund has signed on to guest star in a special Halloween episode of NBC’s CHUCK.

Katee Sackhoff has signed on for a new recurring role on the CBS’ hit series CSI.

Jennifer Morrison has signed on in a new recurring star role on CBS’ HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER.

HBO has snatched up the UNTITLED LENA DUNHAM PROJECT which will be produced by Judd Apatow, and Lena Dunham, who will also star, as well as writer and direct, along the way. Series will center on “the assorted humiliations and rare triumphs of a group of girls in their early twenties.â€

Take a look at the trailer for Lena Dunham’s previous work in her award-winning film “Tiny Furniture.”

Jenny Slate has now joined Will Forte as this season’s SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE exits. Meanwhile, Vanessa Bayer, Paul Brittain, Taran Killam and Jay Pharoah have joined the cast.

Sheryl Lee and Sherilyn Fenn will guest star in an upcoming TWIN PEAKS themed episode of PSYCH on USA.

Ken Jenkins (Dr. Kelso on SCRUBS) has signed on for a recurring role on COUGAR TOWN.

Kara Dioguardi is officially exiting AMERICAN IDOL.

CSI creator Anthony Zuiker has set up TREADSTONE, a spin-off of Robert Ludlum’s JASON BOURNE series, at CBS. John Glenn will write the script, which will focus on the working of Treadstone 71, the black-ops division of the CIA. Zuiker and Glenn will both exec produce.

ABC has committed to McG and Paul Scheuring’s new private-eye series I PI with a heavy penalty against it should it not go to pilot. McG is even rearranging his schedule with an eye towards directing it. The series, which McG and Scheuring will exec produce alongside Peter Johnson, will be about a private investigator who learned everything he ever needed to know about being a P.I. from watching shows like MAGNUM, P.I. and SIMON AND SIMON while growing up.

CBS has picked up TV rights to the book THE TRUE ADVENTURES OF A TERRIBLE DATER, written by Susan Brightbill, which it will develop as a 1/2 hour sitcom with Sheldon Turner and Jennifer Klein. Series will center on a single woman in Chicago as she navigates the adult dating world.

ABC has beat out NBC in a HEATED BIDDING WAR today, to grab the rights to Paranormal Activity director Oren Peli’s new series THE RIVER. The project which Peli will eye towards directing, will be written by TB favorite, and Paranormal Activity 2 scribe Michael R. Perry. Peli, Perry, Jason Blum, Steven Schneider, Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey will executive produce.

Tricia Helfer (BATTLE STAR GALACTICA) will guest-star on Season 3 of Fox’s LIE TO ME.

MELROSE PLACE veteran Thomas Calabro will guest-star on an upcoming episode of CSI: NY.

In the afterglow of winning the Emmy for outstanding reality series, the Ryan Seacrest Productions and Fresh One show, Jamie Oliver’s FOOD REVOLUTION has been picked up for a second season.

Marc Guggenheim and writer Jennifer Robinson have set up a new serialized UNTITLED EVENT DRAMA at ABC. Series, which will see its pilot directed by Gary Fleder, will focus on the White House Office of Crisis Management as they deal with global catastrophes. It is planned for each season to follow a different crisis, after the first kicks off aboard a doomed international space station.

CBS has jumped into the Sam Raimi business, snatching up a hot pitch entitled LANCASTER, which Raimi will produce and Andrew Lipsitz will write. The series is said to follow a Scotland Yard Detective who transfers to the LAPD.