Lots of schedule news

Dexter starts on the FX network on Sunday July 8th at 10pm. It will air against Medium on BBC1 and Vanished which starts this week on Channel Five....Channel 4 will open up Brothers and Sisters on Wednesday June 13th with episodes on the main network following by previews of the next one on E4.....Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip looks like airing on Saturday nights from June 30th on Channel 4 and More 4.....The new series of the 4400 airs on Sky One from Tuesday July 17th at 9pm with a repeat the next night on Sky Two at 10pm.

An X Filer returns, Heroes and the 4400

Channel Five have picked up the new David Duchovny series Californication. The 12 part Showtime series which premieres in the US in August stars the former X-Files star as a novelist struggling with professional and personal issues. Natasha McElhone is among the cast........The BBC has acquired the second series of Heroes before they have shown the first. The BBC will screen season 2 on BBC2 and BBC3, its a major blow for the Sci-Fi Channel who have had first run rights for the first series......The 4400 is back on SKY One in July, check out the trailer for season four which begins in the US next month.

Friday update

Paramount Comedy have bought the Sarah Silverman show for the UK. The six part series will air in the autumn. Comedy Central have recommissioned the show......SKY One will premiere the fourth seasons of Las Vegas and the 4400 in July along with the 15th run of Law and Order.....Viva Laughlin got picked up by CBS with Lloyd Owen in the lead, yet another Brit fronting a fall US show. The buying frenzy begins next week with the Bionic Woman likely to be the most sort after show.......After weeks of speculation the CW network have cancelled Veronica Mars after three seasons.....

Upfront Latest

ABC have posted clips from their fall schedule here http://abc.go.com/fallpreview/schedule .
Dirty Sexy Money looks the best of the dramas, check out the video.

According to Variety, CBS has cancelled Jericho (Hallmark and ITV) and The Class (soon on Channel 4) and Close to Home (Living)
How I Met Your Mother (BBC, Trouble) has earned a third season despite speculation it might not make the cut.
Fox has ordered two more seasons of "24," keeping the Emmy-winning drama on the net through to 2009. Lets hope its better than this years dire series.
The CW have picked up and cancelled shows as expected with Smallville (E4), Supernatural (ITV2) and One Tree Hill (E4) all coming back, but no word on Veronica Mars (Living). New shows include Gossip Girl, Reaper and an adaptation of British hit Wild At Heart.

Upfront Update

ER which is back for a 14th series next year with Stanlet Tucci on board may bow out for good……Former ER vet Julianne Marguilies will return to network TV next year, FOX have picked up legal drama "Canterbury's Law, which comes from Dennis Leary’s production company.

Check out a couple of NBC’s new shows, Life starring Damien Lewis and Bionic Woman with Michelle Ryan

Big Day and Medium

The third series of Medium, much delayed by the BBC, will now premiere next Sunday at 10.15. If the slot seems too good to be true, don't worry it's 10.45 the week after.

ITV2 will start showing the shortlived ABC sitcom Big Day. It premieres Tuesday week at 10.45pm with a repeat on Fridays at 8pm. Similar to the first run of the BBC show The Worst Week of My Life, the show traces a wedding over the course of a series. Josh Cooke and Marla Sokoloff are the couple, Wendie Malick plays mum.

Upfront fever

Lots of gossip and rumours ahead of the Upfronts which take place this week.....
Law & Order will stay on NBC, the veteren cop show will be back while Law and Order:Criminal Intent will move over to the USA network for its first run episodes. NBC have also picked up Life with Damien Lewis......Fox have picked up the "Terminator" spinoff "The Sarah Connor Chronicles" starring Lena Headey. Also on their schedule Jezebel James by "Gilmore Girls creator Amy Sherman-Palladino starring Parker Posey and Lauren Ambrose...New shows on ABC include the Greys Anatomy spin-off, Christina Applegate's Sam I Am, Jerry O’Connell's Carpoolers, Darren Star's Cashmere Mafia, Donald Sutherland's and Peter Krause in Dirty Sexy Money. Pushing Daises with Anna Friel and Eli Stone with Jonny Lee Miller are also expected to make it....CBS are set to renew pick How I Met Your Mother (BBC2), Rules of Engagement (Paramount) and The New Adventures of Old Christine. Jack Davenport's drama Swingtown now looks like making it along with a new Jimmy Smits show. It seems that there won't be a single new comedy coming down the track from CBS......

British actors take over

If all the rumours are to be believed (and they won't all be true), a large number of the shows about to be picked up by the US networks have British stars. Among the expected pick-ups next week - On NBC The Bionic Woman, starring Michelle Ryan, from the team behind Battlestar Galactica, Journeyman, a time travelling tale with Kevin McKidd, and Life a cop drama starring Damien Lewis. ABC are set to order Eli Stone, a cop show starring Jonny Lee Miller and Pushing Daisies a fantasy series with Anna Friel. CBS are certain to schedule Babylon Fields with Ray Stevenson although Swingtown which has This Life/Couplin star Jack Davenport in the lead now looks like it won't make it, although it could go to Showtime.

The networks will reveal all next week.

Courtney, Eddie and Kyle

Original episodes of Law & Order and Law & Order: Criminal Intent may move from NBC to TNT.......At FX, Dirt starring Courtney Cox has been renewed for another 13 episodes, it airs on Five Life this summer. The Riches with Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver will also get a second season.....If you have not managed to catch Kyle XY on Trouble then make sure you do, its terrific. It comes from the cable network ABC Family who have added ten more episodes to season two making it a total order of 23 one-hour episodes. The second season of Kyle XY debuts in June in the US with the ten extra episodes airing in early 2008.

May Frenzy

OK, sorry for the long absence, but back now and will be blogging everyday through the Upfronts next week when we find out about the new series for Fall. Heres a digest of what happened while I was off......Medium series three didn't start despite the BBC scheduling it and pulling it every Sunday for the last three weeks. NBC meanwhile have picked up a fourth series.......Lost will return for THREE more seasons, but with just 16 episodes in each. The 48 new episodes will end in 2010 with ep 119 concluding the story. Series four begins next February in the US and the UK....Gilmore Girls is over, it will bow out in two weeks at the end of season seven.....Matthew Modine will join the third series of weeds (season 2, sky? hello?? have you lost the tapes????) while Janel Maloney (West Wing) joins Brotherhood (FX in the UK) for four episodes of season two.....Paramount have started showing Rules of Engagement on Monday nights at 9.30 along with new episodes of that Charlie Sheen crap. The ninth and final series of King of Queens is airing on the same network at 9pm on Tuesdays in double bills.