[Televisionary]

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Brit Morgan ( The Middleman ) has been cast in Season Three of HBO's True Blood , where she has landed the pivotal role of Debbie Pelt, the "psycho ex-girlfriend of werewolf Alcide (Joe Manganiello)." ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) SPOILER! In other True Blood -related news, TV Guide Magazine 's Will Keck is reporting that an upcoming storyline will involve an Eric flashback to the year 900 A.D., where viewers will meet Eric's father, a Swedish Viking king named Ulfrick. Casting is currently underway for the role. ( TV Guide Magazine ) Emily Rose ( John From Cincinnati ) has been cast as the lead in Syfy's supernatural series Haven , which is based on Stephen King's novella "The Colorado Kid." Rose will play FBI Agent Audrey Parker, who is sent to the titular Maine community in order to investigate a murder and finds...

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. On the heels of Tuesday night's second season finale, FX has ordered a third season of Kurt Sutter's biker drama Sons of Anarchy , with thirteen episodes on order for September 2010. Additionally, the cabler has signed a two-year deal with Sutter that will keep him on board Sons of Anarchy as the showrunner/executive producer. "This has been a wonderful ride and we're just getting started," said Sutter in a statement. "I'm really proud of the work by our incredible cast and crew. The response this season from the fans and critics has been terrific and I can't wait to get back to the writer's room and start on season three." (via press release) BBC One has commissioned a third season of Shine Television-produced medieval drama Merlin . "With its mix of magic, adventure and humour Merlin is perfect Saturday-evening family television, and we are thrilled that Shine Television will be c...

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller has left his position as consulting producer on NBC's Heroes , just a few months after he rejoined the writing staff of the NBC drama. The reason behind the departure: to focus on developing new series for the network (he has an overall deal with Universal Media Studios), rather than creative differences with Heroes creator Tim Kring. "I'm crafting two pilots right now and it's a lot of work," Fuller told Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello. "It was just too hard to [juggle] Heroes and my development; something had to give." Meanwhile, Fuller told Ain't It Cool News' Herc, ""Development was really starting to heat up, And it appears like I may be writing multiple pilots for NBC so that wasn't leaving a ton of room for Heroes , unfortunately. We crafted some really great arcs for the season that I'm excited to see come to fruitio...

Talking dragons. Outlawed magic. Arrogant princes. Put-upon servants. Giles from Buffy . (Yes, I'm talking about Merlin .) You've read my advance review of the first two episodes of Merlin , which aired last night on NBC, but I am curious to know, now that the initial installments have aired, what you thought of the fantasy drama series. Were you drawn into the swords and sorcery world that Merlin sought to invoke while also imbuing with a hormone-laden teen drama? Did you think that the second episode was an improvement over the first? Did you find the alternately campy/cutesy tone too much to handle? Were you intrigued by the, uh, subtext in the relationship between Merlin and Arthur? Or put off by the vast changes to the well-known Arthurian legends? And, most importantly, will you tune in again next week to watch again? Talk back here.

I'll admit that I thought it odd that NBC would acquire period drama Merlin , which aired last year on BBC One in the UK, and slate it to air in primetime this summer. After all, NBC isn't exactly known as a home for period drama, especially period fantasy drama, though given that Merlin is an acquired series, rather than a home-grown one, one can make a case that it's cost-effective programming in a notoriously difficult time of the year. Still, I had the opportunity a few weeks back to watch Merlin 's first two episodes ("The Dragon's Call" and "Valiant"), which are being aired back-to-back on Sunday evening, and I went into the series with an open mind. Merlin stars Colin Morgan ( Doctor Who ) as a young and untrained Merlin who sent by his mother from their small village to the gleaming city of Camelot, where he is apprenticed to the court physician Gaius ( One Foot in the Grave 's Richard Wilson). However, Merlin has a secret: he is un...

Arthur and Merlin. Camelot. The sword in the stone. Lancelot. There are many things that spring to mind when recalling the Arthurian myths but NBC's new acquired series Merlin , which aired last year on BBC One in the UK, throws caution to the wind by reinventing those stories for a new generation. I caught up with series stars Colin Morgan, who plays a young Merlin just arriving in Camelot who is tasked with serving the egocentric Arthur, and Anthony Head on a recent press call to see what they thought of Merlin's legacy, shooting in France, and green-screen filming. "One of the things that really works about [ Merlin ] is the variety that the show presents because when you think Arthurian legend and you think about Merlin and Arthur, you think of about that period in history," said Morgan. "And what's great is an idea started with that and twisted it and turned it on its head and made it into something completely new and different. So I think that's wha...

Wonder just what ever happened to Joss Whedon's Buffy prequel Ripper ? Speaking on a press call last week to promote his new series Merlin (which launches later this month on NBC), former Buffy star Anthony Head addressed some questions about that long-stalled Ripper project, plans which Head says were "sideswiped by Dollhouse ." Head, who plays Uther Pendragon on the NBC/BBC series, was candid about the likelihood of donning Rupert Giles' specs for another go-around as the much-beloved Watcher, created by Joss Whedon. " Ripper is a kind of a - it's a funny old thing," said Head. "Whether it ever gets made or not... if it does ever get made, I'll probably be an octogenarian by the time it does. But it is something I actually introduced Joss to [ Doctor Who producer] Julie Gardner, who was a producer with the BBC. She has long wanted to do something with the project. There are obviously complications with Ripper because there are lots of t...

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. Could Buffy be heading back to the big screen... sans Joss Whedon, Sarah Michelle Gellar, or any of the supporting talents that made the franchise a success? Sadly, yes, in what appears to be shaping up as one of the worst ideas of the year. Executive producers Fran and Kaz Kuzui, along with Vertigo Entertainment's Roy Lee and Doug Davison are said to be developing a reboot of the Buffy franchise. (Fran Rubel Kuzui directed the original Buffy feature.) However, said project would not involve characters like Willow, Xander, Angel, or Spike (or, indeed any of the above elements) and would instead focus on a new slayer and would kick off a new franchise. The producers are currently meeting with writers and have not reached out to Joss Whedon about any involvement with the project. ( Hollywood Reporter ) David Tennant will star opposite Elisabeth Sladen in two upcoming episodes of Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures ...

With summer just around the corner, I've got some first looks at NBC's offerings for the sweltering season, including British fantasy series Merlin , Canadian co-production The Listener , and mini-series Meteor and The Storm . Merlin is a 13-episode series that shines a light on the backstory of the Arthurian sorcerer as a teenager and novice in the mythical city of Camelot. The series premieres Sunday, June 21st at 8 pm ET/PT and stars Colin Morgan, Bradley James, John Hurt, Anthony Head, Richard Wilson, Katie McGrath, and Angel Coulby. The Listener , launching Thursday, June 4th at 10 pm ET/PT, follows Toby Logan, a 25-year-old paramedic who is telepathic and tries to help people in need. It stars Craig Olejnik, Ennis Esmer, Colm Feore, Lisa Marcos, Mylene Dinh-Robic, and Anthony Lemke. Additionally, NBC's schedule this summer will also include two mini-series, Meteor and The Storm . In Meteor , airing Sunday, June 7th and June 14th at 9 pm ET/PT, two massive rocks -...

Good morning and welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. Like many of you out there, I'm bummed that my three-day weekend sailed by far too quickly... but am also thrilled that the fall TV season is finally upon us. Digital Spy has a roughly 90-second trailer up for Merlin , which airs on BBC One and on NBC this winter and stars Colin Morgan, Anthony Stewart Head, Michelle Ryan, Richard Wilson, Katie McGrath, Bradley James, Angel Coulby, and Santiago Cabrera. ( Digital Spy ) 90210 mania is upon us with mere hours to go before the launch of 90210 2.0, as it were. EW.com has some behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with Jennie Garth and Shannen Doherty from their recent cover shoot. ( Entertainment Weekly 's PopWatch ) Shannen Doherty, meanwhile, sat down with the Los Angeles Times for a brief interview, in which she said that the sudden goodwill being directed towards her from the public "definitely feels good" and "also feels scary." ( ...