Channel Surfing: "Melrose Place" Could Happen at CW; Lionsgate Looks for New Showrunner on "Mad Men," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" Delayed, and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. I did end up watching It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown last night, along with an absolutely hysterical episode of Gavin and Stacey... and a snooze of an episode of 90210, which literally put me to sleep last night. (A storyline involving wisdom teeth? Really?)

CW and CBS Paramount Network TV are going ahead with the development of an updated version of Beverly Hills 90210 spin-off Melrose Place. The studio has not attached any writers or executive producers and original series creator Darren Star will not be involved with this adaptation. Personally, I like my Melrose Place where it belongs: in the past. (And is it just me or is it odd that Rob Estes starred on the original Melrose Place as a different character than he one he currently plays on 90210?) What do you think though: is Melrose Place 2.0 a fantastic idea or a foolhardy one? (Variety)

Lionsgate is said to be exploring the possibility of finding a new showrunner for Mad Men's third season, according to Nikki Finke. Finke says that "Weiner's agents at CAA are asking for too much money for him. I hear CAA wants a multi-year deal that pays Weiner $10 million a year. Plus he wants control over promotion and advertising. Now that's consistent with a big hit on pay cable and what Darren Star or David Chase made on HBO. But it's way, way rich for a Lionsgate show on AMC, and execs are telling CAA it can't pay that." Personally, I think Weiner is worth every penny and Lionsgate was lucky to have him in order to snag their first best drama Emmy award (it was also the first time a basic cable program won the honor). Come on, 'Gaters, get it together... (Deadline Hollywood Daily)

Gina Torres (Firefly, Dirty Sexy Money) will guest star on an upcoming episode of Pushing Daisies as... the ex-wife of one Emerson Cod. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)
Saturday Night Live won't be finding a replacement for Amy Poehler's gig as co-anchor of the Weekend Update installment now that she's had her baby. In fact, look for Seth Meyers to be the sole anchor of the familiar installment for the foreseeable future. "He's going to be doing [Update] solo for the foreseeable future," said Lorne Michaels. "My hope was that Amy would stay forever . . and these changes are complicated." (New York Post)

Foreign formats are doing noticeably worse than their American-created series brethren this year, despite many claiming that this was the year for British imports. Both Eleventh Hour and Life on Mars are slipping behind NBC's ER; Israeli format The Ex List has been cancelled, and Worst Week is barely holding on to 60 percent of Two and a Half Men's lead-in. Look for Kath & Kim to vanish from the lineup before long. (Hollywood Reporter)

Law & Order: Criminal Intent, which was set to launch on USA on November 7th, has been delayed to 2009. Details for the late in the game switch are said to be forthcoming.

Bravo is said to be developing an untitled docusoap about American and British ex-pats set in Dubai with Wonder of Wonder's Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey that is said to be similar in tone to the cabler's upcoming series Miami Social. (TV Week)

Writer/producer Will Gluck (The Loop) has set up a number of comedy projects at various networks: an untitled single-camera comedy at FOX about a construction crew ("It's The Office from a blue-collar point of view," said Gluck) and a hybrid multi-camera comedy The Frozen Family, which has rolled over at ABC; that project is about an organic frozen good family business. (Hollywood Reporter)

Comedian Patton Oswalt (Ratatouille) will appear on Joss Whedon's upcoming FOX drama Dollhouse. (Whedonesque)

Could The Simpsons be renewed for another three seasons? Executive producer Al Jean says it's a nearly certain. (New York Post)

Stay tuned.