Channel Surfing: Silverman to Leave NBC, Monaghan to "FlashForward," Somerhalder Gets "Lost," Acker Returns to "Dollhouse," and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing.

Ben Silverman has stepped down as Co-Chairman of NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios; he'll remain on board for several weeks to help transition and oversee the launch of NBC's fall schedule. Silverman will then segue into a new company financed by Barry Diller's AIC which Silverman will run; company's mission is to "unite producers, creators, advertisers and distributors under one roof." Meanwhile, Jeff Gaspin has been named Chairman, NBC Universal Television Entertainment, effective immediately. In this role, Gaspin will have oversight of NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios as well as retain his current responsibilities over USA, Syfy, Bravo, Oxygen, Sleuth, Chiller, and Universal HD. Marc Graboff will continue as chairman, NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios, reporting to Gaspin. "Ben Silverman has many exciting things he wants to accomplish and we applaud him as he sets off on his new endeavors," said NBC Universal president/CEO Jeff Zucker in a statement. "Ben brought us tremendous new thinking in this changing media age, and we're grateful for that. Now, we look forward to working with him in his new venture." (via press release, Hollywood Reporter)

As expected, Dominic Monaghan (Lost) has been cast in ABC's fall drama series FlashForward. The Alphabet let the cat out of the bag a while back by featuring Monaghan in an on-air brand spot where he was seen with other ABC series stars; FlashForward seemed the logical placement for the actor, who guest-starred on Chuck last season. Details about Monaghan's character Simon are under wraps but Monaghan himself said of Simon, "I can't tell you too much. I play a guy called Simon and as I'm sure you saw from that tiny little teaser: he's a snappy dresser, he's a cocky guy, he's not scared of anything or anyone and he's very smart." (via press release)

Ian Somerhalder is returning to Lost next season. Appearing at Comic-Con to promote his new CW series Vampire Diaries, Somerhalder stunned the crowd by acknowledging that he would be reprising his role as Boone Carlyle on ABC's Lost. "I think it’s safe to say... we sort of discussed that... it’s truly incredible that... I am going to be coming back." Later, Somerhalder told Entertainment Weekly that Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse only informed him thirty minutes before the panel for Vampire Diaries that he would be returning to Lost. "It’s not clear yet" when he'll shoot his scenes but "it’ll be very soon... It’s just a matter of timing and getting me down there. It’s all good." (Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Amy Acker has signed a deal to return to FOX's Dollhouse next season for three episodes, via official confirmation from Joss Whedon himself. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Pilot casting alert: Moon Bloodgood (Burn Notice), Jessy Schram (Crash), Seychelle Gabriel (Weeds), and Maxim Knight will star opposite Noah Wyle in TNT and executive producer Steven Spielberg's untitled alien invasion pilot. Project is written by Robert Rodat (from a story created by Rodat and Spielberg) and will be directed by Carl Franklin. (Hollywood Reporter)

The New York Times' Brooks Barnes has a fantastic look behind the scenes at the amount of preparation and effort that went into Lost's appearance at Comic-Con this weekend. Far from covering the panel itself, the Times goes one step further and covers the lead-up to the panel, crystallizing the amount of love and energy that Damon Lindelof, Carlton Cuse, the writers, and the cast put into their appearance this year. (New York Times)

GSN has ordered 65 episodes of a relaunch of vintage reality series The Newlywed Game, produced by Embassy Row and Sony Pictures Television. Shingle is also awaiting decisions on The $25,000 Pyramid and The Dating Game at CBS. Other series in development at Embassy Row include Celebrity Mr. and Mrs. and Make My Day for TV Land and National Bible Champs at CMT, not to mention the 10th anniversary relaunch of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire at ABC. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Have a Burning Question for Team Darlton, Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly, or Michael Emerson?

Lost fans: you don't have to make your way to the island via Ajira Airways in order to ask a question of the creative team or the series' stars. Televisionary is taking questions from fans to put to Lost 's executive producers/showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse and stars Matthew Fox ("Jack Shephard"), Evangeline Lilly ("Kate Austen"), and Michael Emerson ("Benjamin Linus") for a series of on-camera interviews taking place this weekend. If you have a specific question for any of the above producers or actors from Lost , please leave it in the comments section below . I'll be accepting questions until midnight PT tonight and, while I can't promise I'll be able to ask any specific inquiry due to the brevity of these on-camera interviews, I am looking for some insightful and thought-provoking questions to add to the mix. So who knows: your burning question might get asked after all.

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What's Done is Done: The Eternal Struggle Between Good and Evil on the Season Finale of "Lost"

Every story begins with thread. It's up to the storyteller to determine just how much they need to parcel out, what pattern they're making, and when to cut it short and tie it off. With last night's penultimate season finale of Lost ("The Incident, Parts One and Two"), written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, we began to see the pattern that Lindelof and Cuse have been designing towards the last five seasons of this serpentine series. And it was only fitting that the two-hour finale, which pushes us on the road to the final season of Lost , should begin with thread, a loom, and a tapestry. Would Jack follow through on his plan to detonate the island and therefore reset their lives aboard Oceanic Flight 815 ? Why did Locke want to kill Jacob? What caused The Incident? What was in the box and just what lies in the shadow of the statue? We got the answers to these in a two-hour season finale that didn't quite pack the same emotional wallop of previous season ...

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Comics "Authority" Warren Ellis to Pen Original Series for AMC Network

I was initially surprised when AMC announced late last year that they intended to enter into the original programming route, particularly scripted series. But my jaw dropped last night when I learned who was developing a show with the network: British writer Warren Ellis, better known to many as a god among comic writers. (Full disclosure: Yes, I am a comic geek.) For those of you not familiar with Warren Ellis or his outstanding body of work, he's an extremely prolific comics writer whose work touches upon sociopolitical commentary. Some of his best known works include "Planetary" (penciled by Joss Whedon 's "Astonishing X-Men" collaborator John Cassaday), "The Authority," "Global Frequency" (which had been developed by John Rogers of Kung Fu Monkey fame as a pilot for the WB two seasons ago), "Excalibur" (starring my favorite X-Man--along with Joss Whedon's--Kitty Pryde), and "Transmetropolitan." And if you, my...

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