TNT has greenlit Delta Blues, a drama pilot executive produced by George Clooney. The show, from Clooney and Grant Heslov’s Smokehouse Pictures and Warner Horizon, was written by Liz Garcia and Josh Harto. It centers on an outstanding but unusual Memphis cop who moonlights as an Elvis impersonator and lives with his mother.
Bravo is extending its Top Chef franchise into the dessert genre with a new reality competition. Trying to capitalize on the recent success of TLC’s foray into Food Network’s dessert space with Cake Boss and Ultimate Cake-Off, Bravo is launching Top Chef: Just Desserts. The entry in the Top Chef franchise will have pastry chefs competing in a series of challenges. The series will launch in 2010 and is from Top Chef producers Magical Elves.
The Casting Call brings together the latest casting news to keep you informed on who is showing up on which show. Find out who is joining your favorite show as a series regular, a recurring character, a guest star or special cameo. The Casting Call could reveal upcoming story-lines, so be aware, there may be spoilers ahead.
Breaking Bad (AMC)
David Costabile (Damages) is joining the AMC drama when the third season premieres in March 2010. He will be playing Walt’s (Bryan Cranston) new assistant, Gale. he is described as an eager student and a brilliant chemist, more interested in the magic of chemistry than getting rich. Costabile is signed for a minimum of four episodes.
NBC has picked up full seasons of Thursday-night comedies Community and Parks and Recreation, as well as its Wednesday night medical drama Mercy. All three have shown stability in their time periods in recent weeks. Absent from the pickup list: Monday night medical thriller Trauma.
Community, Parks and Recreation and Mercy have been modest performers, but this back-nine order gives the shows some breathing room to potentially improve. NBC, the final broadcaster to order additional episodes of their new shows this fall, also has a limited inventory of scripted content to fill any open slots. The network has Chuck ready, which has been speculated might replace Trauma should NBC pull the medical thriller.
NBC has Parenthood and Day One for set midseason.
To take up some time during her True Blood hiauts, Rutina Wesley will be voicing a character on the Family Guy spinoff. She will voice Yvette, Cleveland’s wife’s best friend. Wesley describes Yvette as “They’ve known each other since they were kids. She has a big butt, big earrings and a real big voice. I love her.”
The episode entitled Ladies Night is set to air on November 15. The episode finds Cleveland upset when he finds out that Donna is still attending a single mothers’ support group.
HBO has renewed In Treatment for a third season. The show will begin production in New York in early 2010 for a premiere later in the year. Gabriel Byrne is set to return as Dr. Paul Weston, with casting on the other roles expected to begin shortly. Anya Epstein and Danny Futterman are joining the therapy-themed drama as executive producers/co-showrunners. That follows the July departure of Warren Leight, who served as executive producer/showrunner on the second season of the show, which earned three Emmy nominations.
Also complicating the pickup decision was the fact the Israeli series on which the HBO show is based only ran for two seasons, so a third season had to be written from scratch.
