[Televisionary]

With just a day to go before CBS officially unveils its 2007-08 schedule to advertisers, the Tiffany network nonetheless announced some early pickups for a few dramas and comedies. The selected few are a rather bizarre mix of period drama, supernatural mystery, musical, and a rolled over comedy from last year. (I said they were a diverse bunch.) First up is Laughlin , a US adaptation of popular Brit skein Blackpool (which aired on this side of the pond as Viva Blackpool on BBC America), which fuses musical and mystery genres into one, overblown package. Series, which comes from Sony, BBC, and CBS Paramount, stars Lloyd Owen ( Monarch of the Glen ) as an owner of a small-time casino who dreams of transforming little Laughlin, Nevada into another Vegas but his plans are disrupted when an associate turns up dead. Hugh Jackman produces and guest stars in the pilot. Then there's Moonlight (formerly known as Twilight ), from Warner Bros. Television, which follows a private detective (...

With NBC and ABC announcing multiple series orders for their pilots, FOX had to get in the game as well, quietly ordering three dramas and three comedies to series yesterday. I'm thrilled to report that one of my favorite comedy pilot scripts , Amy Sherman-Palladino's The Return of Jezebel James , has received a series order for fall. The series, which stars Parker Posey and Lauren Ambrose as estranged sisters who reunite when the older, more responsible one (Posey) asks the her flaky irresponsible sib (Ambrose) to carry her baby. It also stars Gilmore Girls ' Scott Cohen (remember Max Medina?) and features the series' trademark snap, crackle, and pop witty banter that made Sherman-Palladino a favorite in the Televisionary household. What else was ordered? The Kelsey Grammer/Patricia Heaton -led Back to You (a.k.a. Action News) , which had already received a 13-episode order from FOX earlier this year, was on the shortlist, along with The Rules of Starting Over , s...

Is it just me or are the networks releasing a lot of series orders way in advance of next week's upfront presentations? ABC managed to steal NBC's thunder by ordering no less than ten pilots to series. What made the list? Well, it was a diverse group of seven dramas, including a few that made my list of the best pilot scripts, and three comedies (with only one fave in the bunch). On the drama front, ABC granted series orders to my favorite drama script this season, Bryan Fuller's beautifully whimsical drama Pushing Daisies (look for a review of the completed pilot on Monday), which had me jumping for joy when I heard the news. Whether the American viewing public will warm up to this charming and imaginative series, reminiscent of a brighter version of Wonderfalls --starring that series' Lee Pace, Anna Friel, Chi McBride, Swoozie Kurtz, and Kristen Chenoweth--remains to be seen. I'm just praying they don't dump it, like Fuller's Wonderfalls , on Friday nigh...

It's always a happy day when three of your favorite drama pilots get ordered to series, all in the same day, and all before the network upfronts have even begun. NBC today gave series orders to five dramas, including Bionic Woman , Journeyman , and Chuck . Bionic Woman comes from NBC Universal, David Eick Productions, and G.E.P. Productions Inc. It stars Michelle Ryan ( EastEnders ) as a down on her luck bartender who is forced to undergo a radical surgery to save her life after a car accident that turns her into a bionic dynamo. The cast also includes Chris Bower, Miguel Ferrer, Will Yun Lee, Mae Whitman, and Molly Price. Journeyman , from 20th Century Fox Television, stars Kevin McKidd ( Rome ) as a man who suddenly finds himself traveling into the past in order to change people's lives, sometimes for the better, sometimes for worse. But when he encounters his long-dead fiancée (Moon Bloodgood), who was killed in a plane crash, he finds himself torn between saving her and re...