[Televisionary]

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. SPOILER! "Presence," huh? TV Guide Magazine 's Will Keck attempts to get to the bottom of just who Allison Janney ( The West Wing ) will be playing on the May 11th episode of Lost by going right to the source: Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, who are being rather cagey about Janney's mystery role. "We were so happy that she was able to do this," said Cuse. "It was really hard for her because she was getting ready to shoot a pilot, but she squeezed us in. Then once we saw her in this part we were like, 'How could anyone else have done this but Allison Janney?'" Lindelof wasn't giving Keck anything either: "We’ve been talking about this character for awhile and how nervous we were that we wouldn’t find the right actress," he said. "When we first started talking about this character in the writers room we called her 'Allison Janney' under the assumption that we wo

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello is reporting that a potential fourth season of NBC's Chuck is looking more and more likely. While we shouldn't breath a collective sigh of relief just yet, Ausiello speaks to an unnamed source close to the production who tells him that it's "looking good" that NBC will renew the Warner Bros. Television-produced action-comedy for another season, bumping the series' position on the Bubble Show Scorecard from "could go either way" to "safe bet." Still, it's important to note that a final decision about Chuck 's ultimate fate at the network won't be made for several more weeks... ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) Additionally, Ausiello also has a first-look video at the May 3rd episode of Chuck (entitled "Chuck Versus the Role Models"), which features an homage to Hart to Hart and features guest stars Fred Willa

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. I'm still recovering from a very late night involving French cuisine, wine and port, a 1 am viewing of last night's episode of Top Chef Masters , and an early rise for the Emmy nominations. Fortunately, just a few headlines to get through this morning.... NBC confirmed that it will end the run of Canadian drama series The Listener on Thursday, July 23rd and replace the series with repeats of Law & Order beginning July 30th. The remaining five unaired episodes of The Listener will be streamed over NBC.com. ( Futon Critic ) Bravo has announced that it has moved the premiere of Top Chef: Las Vegas forward a week. The season premiere will now air August 19th at 9 pm ET/PT followed by the season finale of Top Chef Masters . ( Twitter ) More on the reasons behind Kirk Acevedo's departure from FOX's Fringe , courtesy of Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello. "Storyline dictated," wrote Ausiello. &qu

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. Following an announcement that actress Maura Tierney would require an eight-week medical evaluation for an undisclosed condition, NBC has pushed the start of its drama Parenthood , which was slated to debut on September 23rd, to midseason. The Peacock will instead push up the launch of its midseason medical drama Mercy to the fall, although it is still unclear whether Mercy will inherit Parenthood 's Wednesdays at 8 pm timeslot. The production shutdown on Parenthood , meanwhile, will give writers additional time to complete scripts. ( Hollywood Reporter ) UPDATE : "In an effort to guard my privacy, it seems that the wording of NBC's press release has unfortunately caused some confusion and undue alarm about my health," said Maura Tierney in an official statement. "I have discovered a tumor in my breast which requires surgery. I will not know either my exact diagnosis or course of treatment until that surgery i

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. Battlestar Galactica 's Tricia Helfer, Michael Hogan, and Mark Sheppard have signed on to guest star in Syfy's upcoming series Warehouse 13 , which launches July 7th. Helfer will play a Chicago-based FBI agent on the drama series, while Hogan has been cast as the father of Joanne Kelly's Myka, with her mother played by Hogan's real-life wife Susan Hogan. Finally, Sheppard will appear as an "enigmatic figure who represents the organization that controls the Warehouse." ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) Nikki Finke is reporting that cabler AMC has told producers of drama series Mad Men that they will have to shave off roughly two additional minutes of content per episode next season in order to insert more commercial ads, a decision which has angered some staffers on the drama series. "That might not sound like such a big deal, but it's galling given how well the show has done, how carefu

NBC unveiled part of its plan for the 2009-2010 season just a few hours ahead of its infront presentation to advertisers in New York. The Peacock ordered six new series including dramas Trauma, Parenthood, Mercy, and Day One (described as an "event series") and comedies 100 Questions and Community . NBC also officially announced that it had renewed dramas Heroes and Southland and comedy Parks and Recreation , as well as ordering six new installments of Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday . As expected, there was no mention of on the bubble series like Chuck, Law & Order , and My Name is Earl , although the network was quick to acknowledge that additional renewals and pickups will be announced May 19th, when NBC announces its full 2009-2010 schedule. (Also missing: Medium , which some news outlets had reported as already being renewed.) It's a rather full offering (with the potential for further orders), considering that NBC has lost its 10 pm hour during t