Odds and Ends and lots of Nip/Tuck

The third series of the 4400 starts on SKY One on Wednesday August 9th.......The new season of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit starts the same night on Hallmark......Joely Richardson is set to leave Nip/Tuck. She will go during the new run of the show which begins on SKY in October. Among guest stars in the new season - Kathleen Turner, Brooke Shields, Larry Hagman, Jacqueline Bisset, Rosie O'Donnell, Melissa Gilbert, Peter Dinklage, Richard Chamberlain and the legendary Catherine Deneuve........Kevin Bacon will direct his wife Kyra Segdwick in the second season finale of The Closer.......Brazilian star
Rodrigo Santoro is set to join the cast of Lost when production resumes for Season Three.

Five get Nine

Channel Five have picked up The Nine, the new drama from Without A Trace creator Hank Steinberg. It follows a group of strangers after they are held hostage in a bank robbery. Scott Wolf, Kim Raver and Tim Daly among the stars of the much anticipated show that will air after Lost on ABC in the US.

Five have secured the rights to screen this on their terrestrial channel as well as their new digital offering, Five US. They have also now sorted out the rights to all three flavours of CSI for the new network.

Casting around updated

Lots of interesting casting titbits.....Regina King will join 24 next season while DB Woodside will become a regular, he plays Wayne Palmer or has he will be known next year President Wayne Palmer......Holly Hunter is set to take her first tv gig, starring in the new TNT police drama Saving Grace........ Scottish actor Dougray Scott is joining the caset of Desperate Housewives as a love interest for Teri Hatcher's Susan.....Whoopi Goldberg will guest star on "Everybody Hates Chris"....Hallmark will return Law and Order:Criminal Intent in the autumn with Chris Noth reprising his L&O role alongside Annabella Sciorra. But that will all change in the following season with Julianne Nicolson replacing Sciorra and Eric Bogosian on board as the new Captain of the Major Case Squad in place of Jamey Sheridan

More Rescue, Love and Sopranos

FX have confirmed a 4th season of Rescue Me. The firefighter drama starring Denis Leary is currently screening its third series in the US. Leary was nominated for a best actor emmy last week. The series returns to SKY One next year.

The Sopranos will show up on E4 in September and HBO have announced that the final series of eight has been pushed back from early January to March 2007 as a result of James Gandolfini's knee surgery.

The current Channel Five hit Big Love will return for a second season in US in June of next year, it will have been off air for 12 months.

Rome will return to US screens in January for a second and probably final run.

Two new HBO shows in development, a vampire drama True Blood from Six Feet Under creator Alan Ball; and from David Milch, John from Cincinnati about the surfing scene on Hawaii. Both are due autumn next year

Its over for the OC

The OC will end after next season.

There will be only 16 episodes in the autumn rather than the usual 22 - and then that will be it. Despite the hype, its never been a big ratings winner and unless something amazing happens next year - its over

MacNicol and Field return

FOX have confirmed that Peter MacNicol will join 24 as a high level government employee. Best known as Ally McBeal's John Cage (Biscuit). MacNicol will appear in both 24 and the CBS' series Numb3rs next year.

Meanwhile Sally Field will join the cast of Brothers & Sisters, the new ABC series that has been picked up by Channel Four. She replaces Betty Buckley in the show and will star alongside Calista Flockhart, Rachel Griffiths and Ron Rifkin. Seven Days star Jonathan LaPaglia is also out of the show, replaced by Matthew Rhys.

BBC match Monk with Psyche

Having enjoyed some success with Monk, the BBC have picked up its USA Network companion Psyche. Its about an amateur detective played by James Roday who is hired by the police after he convinces them he has psychic powers. Its sounds like he also convinced someone this show sounds like a good ideas. Dule Hill, ex West Winger, also stars in what seems like a rapid career descent. Hope I'm wrong. As with Monk it will also air on Hallmark.

The latter have also acquired Saved, the TNT show that follows The Closer. This paramedic drama, starring Tom Everett Scott, is a rehash of Rescue Me and will be lucky to get Saved itself for a second season.

Jericho picked up by ITV

ITV have picked up Jericho, the new CBS drama about how a small town copes in the aftermath of a nuclear apocalypse. Skeet Ulrich is among the stars of this Lost clone which also sounds a bit like Jeremiah which starred Luke Perry and aired on SKY One a couple of years ago. Hallmark will also screen the show.

Its the fifth show ITV have picked up and joins The Black Donnellys, Raines, Six Degrees and Smith, starring Ray Liotta which will also be shown on Hallmark after its terrestrial showing.

Six Degrees of ITV1

The new JJ Abrams series Six Degrees to set to air on ITV1. The new ABC show stars among others Jay Hernandez, Campbell Scott and Hope Davis and tells the story of six New Yorkers who become connected.

In the States it will have the advantage of airing after Greys Anatomy. In the UK it will have the disadvantage of airing on ITV1, who last had a primetime hit with a US show in the previous century. It's likely to air at either 9pm or 9.3pm early next year. Its also likely to get shunted after 11pm six weeks in.......