Channel Surfing: NBC Shelves "Prime Suspect," Adam Rodriguez Returns to "CSI: Miami," "Life Unexpected," Tim Blake Nelson Dives Into "Chaos," and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing.

NBC has shelved its planned US remake of British crime drama Prime Suspect, postponing production on the Mick Jackson-directed pilot to June, due to casting issues. Project, from writer/executive producer Hank Steinberg and Universal Media Studios, had encountered serious difficulties in casting the lead, a female detective who solves crime amid a "politically loaded big city," a role played by Helen Mirren in the original UK series. But don't count the US Prime Suspect out just yet. "Peacock reps stressed that it remains high on the project," according to Variety's Jon Weisman. "The hope is that after the pilot season frenzy dies down they'll have more time to sift through a range of contenders for the part." (Hollywood Reporter, Variety)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello talks to CSI: Miami's Adam Rodriguez to find out just what happened between his failing to reach a new contract with CBS and his sudden announcement that he (and character Eric Delko) would be back as a series regular for Season Nine of the CBS procedural drama. "We got to a crossroads last year where [CBS and I] wanted different things," Rodriguez told Ausiello. "And one thing that was important was going back to finish the character properly. I think when the fans got the news that Delko wasn’t going to be back full-time and when they actually saw he wasn’t back full-time, they felt there was something missing from the show. They were very vocal about that and I have to give credit to CBS that they paid attention to it." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

E! Online's Breanne L. Heldman and Jennifer Godwin are reporting that the CW's Life Unexpected has a real shot at being renewed for a second season. "Creatively, Life Unexpected is in a great place, and it's doing well," said CW president Dawn Ostroff. "It had a really good night last night, and we've been airing it twice a week, and we get as many viewers sometimes on the second run as we do on the first run—it's not duplicated viewers, it's new viewers. LUX is actually doing quite well for us. We're very proud of the show... I would say it's got a real shot at this point." Less certain: the future of Melrose Place, which depends on how well the remaining episodes perform. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Tim Blake Nelson (The Incredible Hulk) has been cast in CBS drama pilot Chaos, about a group of rogue CIA operatives who battle "bureaucratic gridlock, rampant incompetence and political infighting." Nelson will play Michael Dorset, "a trained psychologist-turned-Core Collector at the CIA who leads the ODS (Office of Disruptive Services) team" who is "a tactical genius and can't understand why Rick (Freddie Rodriguez) was chosen for the team." Project, from 20th Century Fox Television, is written by Tom Spezialy and directed by Brett Ratner. (Hollywood Reporter)

A&E has given a series order to drama Sugarloaf, ordering 13 episodes of the Fox Television Studios-produced drama that will air this summer. Series--which stars Matt Passmore, Kiele Sanchez, and Carlos Gomez--revolves around a homicide detective who is forced to leave Chicago after a sex scandal and settles in a sleepy down on Florida's Gulf Coast, where he becomes enmeshed in a murder investigation. Project was created by Clifton Campbell, who will executive produce alongside Gary Randall. (Variety)

Pilot casting alert: Scott Patterson (Gilmore Girls) and Sarah Roemer (Fired Up!) have joined the cast of NBC drama pilot The Event; Megan Boone (My Bloody Valentine) has been cast as the lead in the CW's untitled Amy Holden James medical drama pilot (a.k.a. HMS) and Sarah Jones (Sons of Anarchy) and Tasso Feldman (CSI: NY) have also come on board; Ben Lawson (The Deep End) will star opposite Sarah Chalke in Greg Malins' ABC comedy pilot Freshmen; David Denman (The Office) will star opposite Nelson Franklin in FOX comedy pilot Traffic Light; Kelly Hu (CSI: NY) has joined the cast of CBS drama pilot The Odds; and John Carroll Lynch (K-Ville), Windell Middlebrooks (Scrubs), and Geoffrey Arend (Trust Me) have come aboard Chris Murphey's ABC drama pilot Body of Evidence. (Hollywood Reporter)

In other pilot casting news, Jason Jones (The Daily Show) has been cast as the lead in ABC comedy pilot How to Be a Better American, in which he'll play a husband and father who decides to become a better person and drags his family along for the ride. (Hollywood Reporter)

Showtime has ordered a pilot presentation for an untitled half-hour comedy to star comedians Neal Brennan and Dov Davidoff, who will play "comedians who begin each day at a coffee shop discussing dating, relationships and other personal matters. As they tell each other stories, the show will veer into sketches, man-on-the-street interviews and other elements to enhance the themes the two discuss." Project, from Chernin Entertainment and Fox21, will be written and executive produced by Brennan and Davidoff. (Variety)

Could Comic-Con be moving from San Diego to Anaheim? It's at least within the realm of possibility as the city of Anaheim this week confirmed that they have submitted a bid to the Comic-Con board to host the annual event in 2013 at the Anaheim Convention Center. But San Diego isn't losing the convention without a fight either as the San Diego convention center has submitted its own proposal, one that would keep Comic-Con in San Diego through 2015. (Hollywood Reporter)

Disney Channel has ordered telepic Sixteen Wishes, about a girl (Debby Ryan) who celebrates her 16th birthday and discovers that what she wished for isn't all it's cracked up to be. Project, which will air this summer, is written by Annie DeYoung and directed by Peter DeLuise. (Variety)

Leslie Moonves is staying put at CBS. Moonves has signed a new five-year contract that will keep him as president/CEO of CBS through February 2015. New deal replaces his old contract, which was to expired in September 2011, but his base salary--$3.5 million per year--will remain the same. "Leslie is a superb executive who has led CBS to a position of unparalleled leadership in the industry," said CBS Corp. chairman Sumner Redstone in a statement. "This agreement not only secures the future of the company for many years to come, it also further aligns and strengthens the interests of the chief executive with those of our shareholders." (Variety)

Stay tuned.