Brian arrives, Chris and Joey returns

E4 will premiere the JJ Abrams produced series What About Brian on Tuesday May 1st. The show ran for five episodes last year and 22 this year but may be cancelled in the US just days after it starts in the UK. The show is about a charcater called Brian who finds himself on his own when his friends are all paired up.
Meanwhile Channel 5 returns Everybody Hates Chris on Sunday April 29th along with the much-shelved second series of Joey.

BBC go Tudor

BBC2 have bought the Showtime series The Tudors.
The 10 part drama featuring the early life of Henry VIII, is written by Michael Hirst, shot on location in Ireland with a cast including Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Henry VIII and Jeremy Northam as Sir Thomas More.
Also in the cast Maria Doyle Kennedy, Natalie Dormer, Sam Neill and Gabrielle Anwar.
The Tudors delivered Showtime the network's best series debut in three years.

Future of Medium, Gilmore and ER

BBC1 is returning to Medium in a better slot on a better night. Its currently scheduled for Sunday Aprul 29th at 10.15pm, but it looks like we will get some season two repeats first before the third series shows up, but that might change.....Gilmore Girls may be back next year. TV Guide reports that a shortened eighth season may now be on the cards for Stars Hollow......ER may be set to lose both Goran Visnjic and Maura Tierney. Both are looking to leave the show early next season.....

No so fast Dr House...and Magnum returns!!

ITV spent last week telling everyone who would listen that they were about to take House off Channel Five. Well they haven't. Maybe they should have done the deal and then talked about it. Channel Five have retained rights for season four while Hallmark keep the re-runs. They had to fork a lot more, but given their lack of success in the marketplace, they need to keep the hits they have......Magnum might be coming back, well Tom Selleck anywhere. Last seen in a regular series in the funny but cancelled The Closer, Selleck looks set to replace James Caan in Las Vegas for NBC and Sky One. No word on whether the show will be at all watchable now.....

April Fall

A couple of shows picked up by ITV have been cancelled. The Paul Haggis drama The Black Donnellys has bitten the dust halfway through its 13 episode run on NBC. Perhaps more surprisingly, the mighty JJ Abrams has failed to keep Six Degreess on the air. The show returned two weeks ago after a six month break amid speculation that ABC were prepared to order a second series. But its gone after two weeks, with five episodes remaining unaired. It looks like Abrams may also face the cancellation of What About Brian which is continuing to struggle. Donnellys and Six Degrees will show up on ITV4 I would think now, while What About Brian will air on E4........7th Heaven has been cancelled, a year after being cancelled and then revived......Hidden Palms, the much anticipated Kevin Williamson drama will premiere on the CW network at last on May 30th. I saw the pilot last year and its much darker than you might expect but very intriguing. SKY One plan to show it in September, there are eight episodes in the can......FX have picked up the legal drama Damages starring Glenn Close and Ted Danson for a 13 episode run. Sopranos director Allen Coulter is behind the camera.....