Channel Surfing: "Fringe" Stars Tease Season Two, Maura Tierney Leaves "Parenthood," ABC Lures "Secret Millionaire," and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing.

Fringe stars Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, and John Noble tease some details about the second season of the FOX sci-fi drama, which launches next week, during a video interview on the set of an Entertainment Weekly photo shoot for the magazine's Fall TV Issue (on newsstands today). (Entertainment Weekly)

NBC has announced that Maura Tierney (ER) has left the cast of Parenthood in order to undergo treatment for breast cancer. The series, from executive producer Jason Katims, was originally slated to launch this fall on the Peacock but the network delayed the series until midseason in order to allow Tierney to begin treatment. Unfortunately, that treatment will continue to interfere with the series' production schedule. Tierney and Parenthood have agreed to go their separate ways and Tierney's role, that of harried single mother Sarah Braverman, will now be recast. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

ABC has acquired six episodes of Secret Millionaire, the FOX reality series that wasn't picked up for a second season. Series, from RDF USA, will return to production later this year and will launch on ABC in midseason. (Variety)

CBS is said to be close to reaching a deal with Craig Ferguson and Worldwide Pants that will keep the Scottish host on board The Late Late Show through the 2011-12 season. (Variety)

BBC One has commissioned The Wizard of Oz, the latest in its line of star formats such as How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?, I'd Do Anything, and Any Dream Will Do. Project, from Talkback Thames, will search for an actress to play Dorothy and a canine actor to play Toto in an upcoming Andrew Lloyd Webber musical production of Oz in London's West End. Judges have yet to be announced for the series, slated to launch in 2010, but Graham Norton will return as host. (Broadcast)

IFC has ordered six half-hour episodes of reality series Dinner with the Band, in which chef Sam Mason will cook a meal for some of the music industry's top indie bands, who will perform and chat over dinner. Series, which is set to debut on November 24th, has already lined up Les Savy Fav, Kid Sister and Flosstradamus Men, Final Fantasy, Yacht, and Sharon Jones &the Dap-Kings. (Variety)

William Hurt (Damages) and Ethan Hawke (XXXX) have joined the cast for an international co-production adaptation of Herman Melville's 1851 novel "Moby Dick." Hurt will play megalomaniac captain Ahab while Hawke will play the ship's first officer, Starbuck. Budget for the Tele Munchen production, a joint venture between Germany's RTL, Austria's ORF, and RHI Entertainment, is said to be in the range of $25 million. Script was written by Nigel Williams and will be directed by Mike Barker. (Hollywood Reporter)

Brian Austen Green (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) and Graham Greene (Twilight Saga: New Moon) will topline Hallmark Channel period telepic The Wild Girl, about a would-be photojournalist in the 1930s (Green) who joins up with some Americans en route to Mexico to rescue a kidnapped boy. Project, written by Ronald Parker (Broken Trail), will be directed by Don McBrearty. (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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In Defense of Downton Abbey (Or, Don't Believe Everything You Read)

The proof of the pudding, as they say, is in the eating. Which means, if I can get on my soapbox for a minute, that in order to judge something, one ought to experience it first hand. One can't know how the pudding has turned out until one actually tastes it. I was asked last week--while I was on vacation with my wife--for an interview by a journalist from The Daily Mail, who got in touch to talk to me about PBS' upcoming launch of ITV's period drama Downton Abbey , which stars Hugh Bonneville, Dame Maggie Smith, Dan Stevens, Elizabeth McGovern, and a host of others. (It launches on Sunday evening as part of PBS' Masterpiece Classic ; my advance review of the first season can be read here , while my interview with Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes and stars Dan Stevens and Hugh Bonneville can be read here .) Normally, I would have refused, just based on the fact that I was traveling and wasn't working, but I love Downton Abbey and am so enchanted with the proj...

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