Happy Sunday! Let’s get right to the biggest TV news of the week: Adrianne Palicki is your new Wonder Woman. I’m happy because Palicki is amazing, but I’m also a little concerned because I haven’t heard a single good thing about this script, and I don’t want it to take her down with it. So. We’ll see.
Big news for Vampire Diaries fans! It finally seems to be official: Joseph Morgan will be Klaus. Approve? Disapprove? Were you hoping for someone else? (My vote was for Timothy Olyphant, personally, but Morgan will do.)
More L.J. Smith/Kevin Williamson news! Britt Robertson (of Life Unexpected and Avalon High) has been cast, and Zap2it’s Carina MacKenzie confirmed via Twitter that Robertson will be playing the lead, Cassie. If you’re interested, Zap2it has a bunch more information about the pilot. Liz Friedlander will direct.
And in Williamson-adjacent news that makes me really happy, James Van der Beek will play an exaggerated version of himself on the new show Don’t Trust the Bitch in Apt. 23. (Michael Blaikock also joined the cast.)
Aaron Sorkin’s going to guest star on 30 Rock, and this story just makes me miss Studio 60 even more. In other Sorkin news, someone read his script and wrote about it, and it sounds exactly like I expected. And that’s a good thing. I cannot wait.
Peter Fonda will guest star on CSI: NY.
Okay, this isn’t even really quite news, but people are losing their minds over it, so we’ll put it out there: Kiefer Sutherland may or may not be returning to TV on FOX’s Touch.
I suppose we all care about Glee guest stars in spite of ourselves, so: Kathy Griffin and Loretta Divine.
Related: FX ordered a pilot from Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, and it’s something vaguely horror-ish but they won’t even say what it’s about. Honestly, I’m so disgusted with Glee right now that I’m hoping they DON’T cast anyone I like in the new show, so I can just ignore it.
Are you a fan of High School Musical? The Disney Channel is working on a spinoff called Madison High and is already casting. Filming starts soon, and I have to admit I will probably watch this. I kind of miss the Disney Channel.
In more tween-centric news, ABC Family is close to picking up a few more dramas.
Renewed: Portlandia.
There are so many pilots involving magic that I assumed Starz’s Magic City was one of them, but apparently it’s about 1960s Miami. Huh. Anyway, according to that story and this one, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Christian Cooke, and Steven Strait are in various stages of being cast in it.
The rest of this is pilot updates, mostly casting, because there was a ton of that this week. It’s alphabetical by show, to make it a little easier to peruse. (Untitled shows at the bottom.) Is this news overload? Should I try to be more selective about which shows I include? (That’s hard at this point, since we have so little idea of which shows will actually make it to air.) Let me know in the comments.
17th Precinct: Jamie Bamber will star along with Stockard Channing, because Ron Moore had to trick me into watching this somehow.
Are You There, Vodka… gets Laura Prepon, and I love Laura Prepon, but even she can’t get me interested enough in this show to be bothered to type out the full name.
Brave New World (Puritans!) casts three, including Ed Begley, Jr.
Cooper and Stone gets showrunner John Wirth. The versatile John Dahl will direct.
Council of Dads casts Diane Farr, Patrick Breen, and Ken Howard.
The Doctor will star Christine Lahti. Love her. Also: Eva Amurri.
Family Album casts Rob Huebel, Mike O’Malley, and Rachael Harris. (Don’t worry: O’Malley will still be on Glee.)
The Finder: This is the Bones spinoff; Saffron Burrows will be the female lead.
Georgetown casts Jimmy Wolk of Lone Star. I am SO EXCITED about this show.
Grace will star Eric Roberts.
Grimm casts David Giuntoli.
Hallelujah: Jesse Martin will star.
Hart of Dixie will star Rachel Bilson. Also cast: Wilson Bethel.
Home Game adds Jenn Proske.
How to Be a Gentleman casts Nancy Lenehan, and I’ll admit that the use of the use of the word “WASPy” in that story has increased my interest in this show exponentially. Also cast: Dave Foley.
I Hate That I Love You casts Anna Camp.
Identity casts Orlando Jones.
The Last Days of Man will star Tim Allen, and there seem to be several pilots about how men are endangered, huh?
Little in Common will star Rob Corddry and Paula Marshall.
My Frickin’ Family gets showrunner Jonathan Groff. Presumably not the Broadway star.
My Life as an Experiment casts Adam Campbell.
Once Upon a Time: Mark Mylod will direct this fairy tale pilot.
Partners casts Annie Wersching and Scottie Thompson. Secret sisters! Whee! Also cast: Michael Beach.
Person of Interest will reunite J.J. Abrams with Michael Emerson. David Semel will direct.
Playboy casts Laura Benanti, Jenna Dewan-Tatum, and Leah Renee.
Poe gets showrunner Brad Kern. Kevin McNally has been cast. (Not as Poe. Thank goodness.)
Prime Suspect casts Maria Bello and Toby Stephens.
REM gets showrunner Howard Gordon.
Ringer, which I will keep calling “Buffy’s new show” so we can all remember why we care so much, adds Ioan Gruffudd and Tara Summers. Wait, Tara Summers? Heeee. (I’m laughing at the name, in conjunction with Buffy. Not the actress. Nothing against her.)
The River casts Eloise Mumford. Good week for Lone Star alums! And Jaume Collet-Serra will direct.
Rookies: Looks like we have four of our six rookies: Leelee Sobieski, Judy Marte, Tom Reed, and Stark Sands.
Smash: Even more casting: Katharine McPhee.
Tagged adds Tommy Dewey, BJ Bales and Lindsey Kraft.
Two Broke Girls casts Kat Dennings.
Veep: filming in DC.
Weekends at Bellevue: Jack Bender will direct.
Work It: Director: Beth McCathy-Miller.
Patrick Wilson cast as a surgeon with some sort of paranormal abilities in an untitled pilot.
Shonda Rhimes’s untitled crisis management pilot adds Guillermo Diaz.
Jake M. Johnson and Max Greenfield will join Zooey Deschanel on her FOX show.
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