Channel Surfing: Stephen Moyer Talks "True Blood," Madeline Zima Suits Up for "Heroes," Rehearsals to Begin on Final "Gavin & Stacey" Season, and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing.

E! Online's Watch with Kristin caught up with True Blood star Stephen Moyer, who plays vampire Bill Compton on the HBO supernatural drama, to talk about Season Two, which kicks off on June 14th. "There's no getting away from the fact that Bill is a vampire. He can't wish to be anything else, because he's a vampire, but he's a vampire who wants to live a human life," said Moyer about his character. "Actually, in fact, he wishes not for a human life, but for a moral life. It's not that he doesn't want to feed on blood, it's that he doesn't want it to involve killing—but in his first season he kills as many people as the murderer. That was something that was very present in our minds. He has that blood lust, he has that very strong sense of right and wrong. If somebody f--s him off, he's going to take them out. He's torn. He's not going to do it just for the sake of it. But if somebody hurts him or hurts his family or hurts his loved one... they're history. [Chuckles]. I like that." As for Bill's relationship to telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin), Moyer said, "I think that they love each other more than they have loved anything ever. Speaking from Bill's point of view, she's given him reason to live again." (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Californication's Madeline Zima has been cast in a recurring role on Season Four of NBC's Heroes, where she will play Gretchen, described as "an edgy outsider and college roommate to Claire (Hayden Panettiere)," who is heading to college next season. (Hollywood Reporter)

Rehearsals are set to start next Monday on the final season of British comedy series Gavin and Stacey, which will start shooting on June 15th. James Corden, who co-created the series with Ruth Jones and co-stars alongside her, didn't rule out further writing collaboration with Jones after wrapping the third and final season of Gavin and Stacey. "It's an emotional time because we're saying goodbye to these characters that we love. So the whole thing is very sad and I just hope it can be as good as possible," said Corden. "You know, when we wrote the words, 'This really is the end, the end', we were both a bit welled up and we looked at each other and we were sure that's it. I just hope it's good enough. Ruth and I, we'd like to write something else again but we're inevitably not going to spend as much time locked in a room together." (BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat)

USA is said to be close to handing out a pilot order for espionage thriller Covert Affairs, from writers Matt Corman and Chris Ord. Project, from Universal Cable Prods, executive producers Doug Liman and Dave Bartis, and Dutch Oven, focuses on Annie Walker, a linguist and CIA trainee who is "summoned to headquarters and given assignments assisted by blind tech expert [Auggie] Anderson. While she believes she'd been recruited for her language skills, it might be an elusive former boyfriend her CIA bosses are after." USA has very quietly engaged the services of a casting director and is beginning to reach out to agents about potential candidates for the roles of Annie Walker and Auggie Anderson. (Hollywood Reporter)

Comedy Central has ordered a second season of Important Things With Demetri Martin, with ten new episodes expected to launch early next year. (Variety)

Gregg Henry (The Riches) has joined the cast of HBO comedy series Hung in a recurring role, where he will play Mike, an assistant coach at the high school where Thomas Jane's character coaches basketball. Elsewhere, Courtney Ford (Cold Case) has joined the cast of Showtime's Dexter in a multiple-episode story arc where she will play a reporter. (Hollywood Reporter)

NBC will launch primetime talk show The Jay Leno Show on Monday, September 14th at 10 pm ET/PT. The network will use the season finale of America's Got Talent to help launch the series, which takes over the 10 pm hour across the week. It's also thought possible that the network could launch its Thursday night comedy series that week as well but the network hasn't confirmed any plans to that effect. (Variety)

FOX has quietly moved the air date for its two-hour sci-fi telepic Virtuality (originally a two-hour backdoor pilot) from the Fourth of July to Friday, June 26th at 8 pm ET/PT. (Televisionary)

BBC One controller Jay Hunt has said that she will seek out innovative home-grown drama series rather than hand over primetime slots to acquired American series. The network currently airs FX's Damages in a latenight slot. "It is very unlikely that we will show U.S. series in primetime. It is nice to have Damages in the mix. The show is hugely valued by a very small audience, but it is a very small audience," said Hunt speaking at the Broadcasting Press Guild on Tuesday. "Part of what the charter (the BBC’s constitution) commits us to is to find the best of world television and showcase it ... but my main job in drama is to spearhead real innovation and creativity in original British production." (Variety)

Bravo has announced that Las Vegas will be the setting for Season Six of culinary competition series Top Chef. Host Padma Lakshmi and head judge chef Tom Colicchio, along with judges Gail Simmons and Toby Young, are all set to return for Season Six. There's no official launch date for Season Six but it's widely believed that Top Chef will return this fall. (via press release)

TLC will offer a sneak peek at new docusoap Masters of Reception, from executive producers Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos, Charlie Corwin, and Milojo Prods., on June 12th. The series, which follows a New Jersey family-owned catering business and its clients and events, will return this fall with five one-hour installments. (Variety)

Stay tuned.