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Channel Surfing: Mystery Men Back on "Lost," "Rex" Not Dead at NBC, Slew of Guest Stars for "30 Rock," "Mad" Man to Wisteria Lane, and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing.

Looks like the Final Battle isn't over yet. The Hollywood Reporter's Nellie Andreeva is reporting that Titus Welliver (The Good Wife) and Mark Pellegrino (Supernatural) will return for Season Six of Lost. Welliver will reprise his role as the mysterious man in black during the second half of Lost's final season while Pellegrino will return as Jacob in at least six episodes of Season Six of Lost. (Hollywood Reporter)

[Editor: Meanwhile, also be sure to check out Part Two of Maureen Ryan's fantastic and in-depth Q&A with Lost showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse here.]

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that NBC has yet to make a decision about the fate of legal drama pilot Rex Is Not Your Lawyer, starring David Tennant (Doctor Who). But while the pilot's sets are being dismantled this week, the project isn't dead. "The sets are on fold-and-hold," an unnamed insider told Ausiello. "They will still be available if the show is picked up for the fall." And it's still possible that Rex will make it to air, as that same source told Ausiello that the project is still under consideration for a fall slot on the schedule. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

TV Guide Magazine's William Keck is reporting that a bevy of male stars are being lined up to guest star in 30 Rock's Valentine's Day episode, shooting this week. Among the eligible bachelors reuniting with Tina Fey's Liz Lemon: Jon Bon Jovi, Dean Winters, Jason Sudeikis, and Jon Hamm. But it's Sudeikis' Floyd who might have gotten under Liz's skin the most. "Liz is upset to learn Floyd is not only getting married, but is competing to get a free wedding on The Today Show," Fey told Keck backstage at the SAG Awards. (TV Guide Magazine)

Mad Men's Sam Page is heading to ABC Desperate Housewives, reports Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello. Page has signed on for a multiple-episode story arc on the ABC drama series, where he will play Jeremy, described as "a well-trained cook who idolizes Bree (Marcia Cross) and her old-fashioned values." His first episode is slated to air in late February. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

How I Met Your Mother creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas have signed a three-year overall deal with 20th Century Fox Television said to be in the eight-figures range. Under the terms of the deal, the duo will remain on board HIMYM as executive producers through an eighth season (should one be ordered by CBS) and develop new series projects for the studio. The first project under their new deal will be an untitled comedy from writers Kourtney Kang and Joe Kelly about a Pittsburgh couple who are considering taking their relationship to the next level. (Variety)

Joanna Garcia (Privileged) has been cast in ABC's untitled Shana Goldberg-Meehan multi-camera comedy about two sisters, one of whom is unmarried but in a long-term relationship and one who finds herself pregnant and marries her boyfriend. Garcia will play the latter. Elsewhere, Steve Hawey, Shanola Hampton, and Jeremy White have been cast in Showtime's American adaptation of British drama Shameless. (Hollywood Reporter)

Pilot order alert! FOX has given a greenlight to drama Breakout Kings, from Prison Break's Matt Olmstead, director Gavin Hood (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) and Nick Santora and 20th Century Fox Television; series follows a group of US Marshals who team up with former convicts to track down escaped prisoners. FOX also ordered pilots for comedies Traffic Light, based on an Israeli scripted format about three male friends, each in various stages of romantic relationships, from writer Bob Fisher; and Most Likely to Succeed, about a "group of friends who were superstars growing up and are now dealing with the reality of adulthood," from writer Dave Walpert (Scrubs), who will executive produce with David Nevins and Brian Grazer. The latter hails from 20th Century Fox TV and Imagine TV. Elsewhere, ABC scored a pilot pickup for drama Edgar Floats, from Warner Bros. Television and executive producers Rand Ravich and Far Shariat, about a police psychologist turned bounty hunter. NBC ordered two comedies as well: Nathan vs. Nurture, from Moses Port and David Guarascio (Aliens in America) and Sony Pictures Television, about a cardio surgeon who reunites with his biological father and brothers 35 years he was given up for adoption; and This Little Piggy, from writers Stephen Cragg and Brian Bradley (Scrubs), about a married guy whose comfortable family life is turned into chaos when his adult siblings move in with them. (Variety)

SPOILER! Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Melinda Clarke has signed on for a multiple-episode story arc on the CW's Vampire Diaries, where she will play Matt's trashy mother Kelly... who will soon become involved with Ian Somerhalder's Damon. "If I didn’t have Kelly and Damon hook up there would be no God,” executive producer Kevin Williamson told Ausiello. "What’s the point of doing TV if you’re not going to put those two characters together? That’s going to be a fun relationship to explore... We’ll reveal that she was friends with Sheriff [Elizabeth] and Elena’s mother. The three of them were really tight friends back in the day. Sheriff and Kelly, in particular, have ongoing issues to deal with." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

FOX has moved up the launch date for supernatural drama Past Life to Tuesday, February 9th at 9 pm ET/PT, directly behind American Idol. The series will then settle into its regular timeslot on Thursdays at 9 pm ET/PT on February 11th. (Futon Critic)

Alan Cumming is set to guest star on CBS' The Good Wife later this season. According to TV Guide Magazine's Will Keck, Cumming will play an image consultant named Eli Gold hired to help Chris Noth's Peter makeover his image. (TV Guide Magazine)

Does Chloe (Mary Lynn Rajskub) know something about Katee Sackhoff's Dana Walsh? TVGuide.com's Natalie Abrams caught up with Rajskub to find out. "It's just getting really interesting," said Rajskub about Sackhoff's story arc this season on 24. "In the next few episodes, there's going to be some pretty twisted stuff happening. Honestly, you can't really grasp what's going on with her for many episodes, and we're all just trying to do our own stuff. Although I give her a look and we suspect [something], it doesn't really come out for a while." (TVGuide.com)

TVGuide.com's Natalie Abrams has an interview with Life Unexpected creator/executive producer Liz Tigelaar, who said that viewers shouldn't think of Cate (Shiri Appleby) and Baze (Kristoffer Polaha), the biological parents of Brittany Robertson's Lux who slept together in the pilot, as soulmates. "Obviously when something big happens like that in the pilot, with two characters carrying a significant secret, you're waiting for it to come out," Tigelaar told Abrams. "That will definitely happen, and as most secrets do, they come out at an inopportune time. In terms of Cate and Baze's relationship, these are two people who have to really reconcile what their feelings are about each other. Because of TV, we're trained to think that Cate and Baze belong together. But there's a good question in there: 'Really? You're the soul mate of the guy who knocked you up in high school in the back of a minivan? Really?' Logic says that's ridiculous." (TVGuide.com)

TVGuide.com is reporting that Odessa Rae (Leverage) has been cast in the CW's Smallville, where she will play Siobhan McDougal, a.k.a. the Silver Banshee, described as "a vengeful spirit of a fallen Gaelic heroine [who is] accidentally released from the underworld, and takes out her vengeance at an unassuming country bed and breakfast." (TVGuide.com)

Debmar-Mercury and ITV Studios have teamed up to bring British daytime talk show host Jeremy Kyle to the US, launching relationship/lifestyle series The Jeremy Kyle Show in a test run this summer during daytime first-run syndication. "We believe there's a market for it if he can hit the right tone for this country," said Debmar-Mercury's Mort Marcus. "It's so rare that you get to try out a new show with somebody who has done this kind of TV a thousand times before." (Variety)

Former Universal Cable Prods. executive Nikki Reed has been hired as VP of original series at Disney Channel and Disney XD. Reporting to Adam Bonnett, Reed will oversee the development of live-action programming at both cable networks. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Comments

What does Past Life getting that slot mean for Fringe?
Jace Lacob said…
Nothing at all. It was announced a while back that Fringe would take a winter hiatus before returning with new episodes later this season and that its timeslot would be filled by Past Life, which only has less than ten episodes. Rest assured, Fringe will be back before the end of the season!

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