Dirt and pick-ups

ABC have renewed a load of shows for next season - Brothers & Sisters (Channel 4, summer), Men in Trees (Living), Ugly Betty (Channel 4), Boston Legal (Living),Grey's Anatomy (Living, Channel 5) and Lost (SKY One). Jury still out on both JJ Abrams other shows What About Brian (E4, summer) and Six Degrees (ITV)......Five Life will screen the Courtney Cox show Dirt this summer, likely to be cancelled by FX when it finishes in the US tonight......Battlestar Galactica has had its 4th season expanded from 13 episodes to 22, it will air in 2008 with a two hour special screened this autumn and then released to dvd.....

Odds and ends

Just when Entourage couldn't get any better...it does. Carla Gugino has signed on to play Vince's new agent after he sacks Ari, but we're so far behind it will be a while before we see her.....Stanley Tucci currently dragging 3lbs to its death, will scrub into the ER for a multi-episode arc this season and possibly permanent role next, I might have to start watching it again.....Katee Sackhoff, Battlestar Galactica's Starbuck will show up alongside Michelle Ryan in the Bionic Woman pilot, it comes from Galactica producer David Eick....Battlestar may bow out with its fourth season reports the New York Post....

NCIS returns

The fourth season of NCIS premieres on FX in the UK on Friday April 13th. Channel Five will continue to re-run series three.

Meanwhile TV Guide reports that Gilmore Girls might be over. Talks over an eighth season have broken down and it looks like there is no way back....

You may have caught Saturday Night Live in ITV in the small hours, if not check it out next week when Matthew Fox from Lost guests hosts......

Bits and pieces

I have been wading through all the casting news for the new US pilots so you don't have to. There's been very little thats been exciting since I last posted. The only notable addition is Jack Davenport, better known as Miles in This Life, has grabbed the lead in Swingtime, which is an interesting development. More so than EastEnders Michelle Ryan getting NBC's Bionic Woman pilot anyway.......One series that is defintely a go is the new David Duchovny vehicle. The new Showtime series, which run for 12 episodes, features the X Files star as a writer who is supporting his ex-wife and teenage daughter, while maintaining his career and his love of beautiful women. Certain to show up here after its US debut in late summer.......Law and Order may not exist in its three-ply form next season. While Special Victims Unit will be back, there's speculation that either Criminal Intent or the original show may not return.......Channel 4 will debut Brothers and Sisters in June when Desperate Housewives vacates its slot. Jenna Elfman is the latest announced guest on the show. Susan Sullivan will play her mother. You may recall she was Elfman's mother-in-law on Dharma and Greg......

Bits and pieces

I have been wading through all the casting news for the new US pilots so you don't have to. There's been very little thats been exciting since I last posted. The only notable addition is Jack Davenport, better known as Miles in This Life, has grabbed the lead in Swingtime, which is an interesting development. More so than EastEnders Michelle Ryan getting NBC's Bionic Woman pilot anyway.......One series that is defintely a go is the new David Duchovny vehicle. The new Showtime series, which run for 12 episodes, features the X Files star as a writer who is supporting his ex-wife and teenage daughter, while maintaining his career and his love of beautiful women. Certain to show up here after its US debut in late summer.......Law and Order may not exist in its three-ply form next season. While Special Victims Unit will be back, there's speculation that either Criminal Intent or the original show may not return.......Channel 4 will debut Brothers and Sisters in June when Desperate Housewives vacates its slot. Jenna Elfman is the latest announced guest on the show. Susan Sullivan will play her mother. You may recall she was Elfman's mother-in-law on Dharma and Greg......

Sky mess with the goods

While SKY and Virgin continue to fight like children in the playground, SKY One are treating some of their finest shows like unloved toys. Nip/Tuck has been ripped off Monday nights at 10pm and is now playing only in its re-run slot of Saturday night at 11pm. Strangely it now gets a repeat on SKY Three midweek. Good news that it can be seen free to air, but if you haven't seen the first half of the season, there's not much point.

Even more bizarre though is the decision to drop Rescue Me from Thursdays nights. Instead episodes will now premiere on Sundays at 11pm after Lost. Its replaced on Thursday by new episodes of Cold Case from March 22nd. This is the same night that Channel Five starts running the James Wood show Shark. Is that the reason?

What's going on here? Are Nip/Tuck and Rescue Me doing THAT badly? If so why are they both trailed so heavily? Does SKY really think that the likes of Bones and Cold Case are more distinctive programming?

Personally I don't care where these shows air, I don't watch any of them live anyway, but after the event. So is that a factor? I suspect not. But what happens when SKY just decides to abandon these shows? Anybody else still waiting for the second season of Jeremiah?

What's worse with the case of Nip/Tuck, is that they have held the show exclusively and prevented Channel 4 from a terrestrial showing.

SKY One need to get their act together, before more viewers of these quality shows retreat to finding a way to watch online, legal or otherwise.....

Sex, Money, Space and ER

Dirty Sexy Money is looking a cert for ABC in the autumn and is certain to prompt a UK bidding war. Donald Sutherland and Jill Clayburgh have now joined the cast alongside William Baldwin and Peter Krause. The latter plays an attorney who represents a wealthy family, headed by Sutherland and Clayburgh.....Battlestar Galactica may be on the way out after all. Sci-Fi have commissioned a fourth series of 13, but the rumour is that they may expand that to 22 and ask for the show to be wrapped up. While that will be a shame, it would be good to see a series bow out while on a creative high......ER may be losing their Dr Kovacs, Goran Visnjic has decided not to renew his contract, and will most likely leave at the end of the season