[Televisionary]

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello has an exclusive first-look at the upcoming musical episode of FOX's Fringe , set to air April 29th. "We didn’t set out to do a musical," Fringe 's executive producer Jeff Pinkner told Ausiello. "We set out to do an episode that explored Walter’s state of mind — he’s dealing with some very upsetting news. When we realized that the way Walter would deal with such news would be to try to anesthetize himself with copious amounts of marijuana, well, singing and dancing became a natural outcome." [Editor: Hmmm, just what could that "very upsetting news" be?] ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) A rather big speed bump has emerged during the ongoing talks between Conan O'Brien at FOX. Hollywood Reporter 's James Hibberd and Matthew Belloni are reporting that while the negotiations between the former Tonight Show host and FOX have been smoot...

In addition to roles on such well-regarded British comedies as Gavin & Stacey and Julia Davis' Nighty Night and such series as The Eleven O'Clock Show and My New Best Friend , Marc Wootton truly made his mark on the British comedy scene with the eight-episode High Spirits with Shirley Ghostman , a Borat -like comedy confection in which Wootton performed a variety of eccentric characters--most notably egocentric psychic Shirley Ghostman-- while interacting with real people. Wootton is set to migrate the comedic style of High Spirits along with its central character Shirley to the West Coast of America with his new series, La La Land , which debuts tonight on Showtime. The series finds Wootton again performing an array of characters--in this case, outrageously awful psychic medium Shirley, desperate documentary filmmaker Brendan, and naive cabbie/wannabe actor Gary--as they attempt to find fame and fortune in Los Angeles, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. I ca...

There's a certain subgenre of comedy that doesn't really have a label; it's the sort of humor that mines painful or uncomfortable situations for humor. Call it Comedy of the Awkward. The Brits are quite successful at utilizing this type of comedy for major laughs; the original version of The Office did this quite successfully, as did Peep Show , Nighty Night , and any of the characters created by Sasha Baron Cohen on Da Ali G Show (particularly Borat). A few years back, British comedian Marc Wootton created and starred in an eight-episode BBC Three comedy series High Spirits with Shirley Ghostman , which found Wootton donning a number of hairstyles, costumes, and accents to play a variety of outre characters who then interacted with the public at large. (It aired Stateside on BBC America in 2006.) The result was a sidesplitting and often painful series of double-takes and belly laughs, especially when Wootton donned a white suit and French-tipped nails to play the titular...

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. Former Battlestar Galactica star Michael Trucco has been cast in USA drama pilot Facing Kate , where he will play the charismatic ex-husband to Kate, a former lawyer (Sarah Shahi) who leaves her job to become a mediator after the death of her father. Also cast: Virginia Williams ( Lie to Me ), who will play Kate's younger stepmother, a domineering woman who is desperate to hold onto her late husband's law firm. Bronwen Hughes will direct the pilot, which hails from Universal Cable Prods. ( Hollywood Reporter ) Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Desperate Housewives will offer a flashforward of sorts in their first episode after the December 6th cliffhanger that will explore several "what if" scenarios. "Two Wisterians featured prominently in the alternate reality sequences will be Gaby and Carlos’ youngest daughter, Celia, and Mike and Susan’s son, MJ," writes Ausiello. "I...

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. Mark Pellegrino ( Lost ) has been cast in CW's Supernatural next season, where he will play none other than Lucifer himself. Pellegrino, who will recur on Supernatural next season, is expected to first appear on the series' September 10th season premiere. Meanwhile, don't look for him to give up his other role: that of Jacob on ABC's Lost , which he could easily do as well given his recurring status on Supernatural . ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) Missy Peregrym ( Reaper ) has been cast as the lead in Canadian police drama Copper , which will air Stateside on ABC. Peregrym will play Andy McNally, "a newly minted cop fresh from the academy and the daughter of a homicide detective" who "is anxious about her first day on the job, which doesn't go as well as she had wished." Series is described as " Grey's Anatomy set in the world of rookie cops." ABC closed a deal t...