[Televisionary]

Ending several months of rumors, FX has now officially announced the launch dates for its returning series Sons of Anarchy, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia , and nip/tuck . Season Two of Sons of Anarchy will kick off on Tuesday, September 8th at 10 pm ET/PT. The second season of the Charlie Hunnam-led series will feature guest turns by Alan Arkin and Henry Rollins. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia returns for a fifth season of madcap adventures on Thursday, September 17th. The twelve-episode season will air Thursday nights at 10 pm ET/PT. nip/tuck returns for its sixth and penultimate season of ten episodes in October (specific date TBA). Guest stars next season will include Vanessa Redgrave, Rose McGowan, Mario Lopez, Barry Bostwick and Gilles Marini. Additionally, the network will also launch an as-yet-unannounced new comedy series as a companion to It's Always Sunny on Thursday evenings. (I'd assume, then, that the poorly-received Testees won't be back fo

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles ' Brian Austen Green is said to be in "advance talks" to join the cast of the CW's One Tree Hill next season. Should the deal close, he'll be playing Clayton, a Jerry Maguire-esque sports agent representing Nathan (James Laferty) on Season Seven of One Tree Hill . "They're ironing out a few issues," an unnamed insider told Ausiello, "but it's pretty much a done deal." The Hollywood Reporter describes the character as "a brash sports agent who represents Nathan Scott's (James Lafferty) basketball interests and has become a close friend, ally, business partner and advisor to him while also enjoying the spoils that come from being a wealthy, handsome single guy." ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) SPOILER! According to a report in Britain's paper The Sun

I've been on pins and needles awaiting some word from FX about when we'd next get to see Patty Hewes and Ellen Parsons tangle. The wait, Damages viewers, is finally over. Cabler FX has announced today that Season Two of the Emmy Award-winning legal drama/thriller Damages will kick off on Wednesday, January 7th at 10 pm ET/PT. (Cue me jumping up and down with glee.) FX has lined up thirteen new episodes for Season Two and the cast for the sophomore season includes Glenn Close, Rose Byrne, William Hurt, Marcia Gay Harden, and Timothy Olyphant. Take a look at Damages ' Season Two promo, set to the music of Duffy's "Stepping Stone," below: I absolutely cannot wait for this sleek and serpentine series to return to the airwaves, even if I'll have quite the TiVo conundrum as it conflicts with both Bravo's Top Chef and ABC's Dirty Sexy Money (if the latter is still on at that point). In other news, FX has also announced that Nip/Tuck will return to th

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. Kristen Bell's mentally unstable character Elle Bishop will get her backstory spelled out this season on Heroes . Bell has hinted that Elle may have some previous connections to some of the characters and these may be disclosed during the drama's third season, which kicks off on September 22nd. ( Sci Fi Wire ) Rose McGowan ( Charmed ) will replace Katee Sackhoff ( Battlestar Galactica ) on an upcoming four episode stint on FX's Nip/Tuck . Sackhoff was due to play Theodora "Teddy" Lowe, a doctor and potential love interest for Sean (Dylan Walsh) but likely had to back out of the role after being cast as the lead in Dick Wolf's NBC drama pilot Lost and Found . ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) In other Nip/Tuck news, production begins today on the sixth and final season of the FX drama and the stars' representatives are still said to be "deep in salary renegotiations," with Julian Mc

Lots of casting news today, on the first Monday after the network upfront presentations. First up, Sci Fi managed to close the deal on Polly Walker for their two-hour backdoor pilot Caprica , a prequel to their own series Battlestar Galactica . Astute readers of this site will know that I first reported that an offer was out to Walker ( Rome ) a few weeks ago . Walker will play Sister Clarice Willow, the secretive high priestess/headmistress of the exclusive Athena Academy, a private polytheistic school that Zoe Greystone (Alessandra Toreson) and her friends attend. I think the casting of Walker is absolutely brilliant for this role and she'll definitely bring something unexpected to the table. Plus, I'm happy she's sticking around in the States after the cancelation of Cane . Walker joins Eric Stolz , Esai Morales , and Paula Malcomson in this spellbinding two-hour backdoor pilot project from executive producers Ronald D. Moore, David Eick, and Remi Aubuchon and director

Wondering just when FX will launch Season Five of its plastic surgery drama Nip/Tuck ? (Or at least when they'll stop running those slightly creepy commercials with the Hollywood sign and that eerie cover of Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game"?) Look no further. FX has announced that it will launch Nip/Tuck 's fifth season--featuring Christian and Sean making the move to beauty-obsessed Los Angeles--on October 30th at 10 pm. Season Five will feature Portia de Rossi, Rosie O'Donnell (returning as Dawn Budge), Bradley Cooper, Oliver Platt, and Lauren Hutton in guest roles. What's On Tonight 8 pm: Power of 10 (CBS); Most Outrageous Moments (NBC); America's Next Top Model (CW); According to Jim/According to Jim (ABC); 'Til Death/'Til Death (FOX) 9 pm: Criminal Minds (CBS); Last Comic Standing (NBC); America's Next Top Model (CW); Just for Laughs/Just for Laughs (ABC); Bones (FOX) 10 pm: CSI: New York (CBS); Dateline (NBC); NASCAR in Primetim

Looking for more of Dawn Budge, the character that Rosie "I Had a Meltdown on The View and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt" O'Donnell originated last season on Nip/Tuck ? During their TCA panel yesterday, FX announced that Dawn Budge and O'Donnell would be returning for a whole slew of Nip/Tuck episodes during the series' fifth season, beginning with Episode Four. Apparently, O'Donnell's character (the one she plays on Nip/Tuck rather than the haiku-spouting blowhard she's been playing in real life) has proven so popular that there's a possibility that she could expand beyond Nip/Tuck. "The character was so instantly popular," said creator Ryan Murphy. "We've spoken about [a spinoff]; it's an ongoing discussion." But before you start hawking Dawn Budge merchandise on Cafepress (I see you lurking over there), one caveat: O'Donnell is getting offers left and right to do anything and everything, including a new dayt

Nip/Tuck fans wondering just what happened to Julia won't have to wait very long to find out. After months of speculation about whether actor Joely Richardson would return to the drama series, FX has announced that it has concluded a deal that will bring Richardson back for 15 of the 22 episodes of Season Five. Richardson, who appeared in 11 of 15 episodes of Nip/Tuck last season, had made comments that she would be departing the series in order to spend time with her family, including her daughter, who was believed to be seriously ill. However, Richardson's daughter has since appeared to have recovered. As for Richardson's character, Julia, she was last seen moving to New York with her daughter Annie and son Conor in the season finale. Just how the series' writers will get Julia and the kids to Los Angeles, site of the new McNamara/Troy offices remains to be seen. In other casting news, the CW has announced that it has recast the female lead on fall dramedy series Re

Sean McNamara is about to get a new love interest. FX has announced that it has cast Paula Marshall ( Veronica Mars ) in at least four episodes of drama Nip/Tuck next season. It's unclear what her character will be, but it's understood that Marshall will be playing a new love interest for Sean (Dylan Walsh). Also on the docket: pay increases for Walsh and co-star Julian McMahon, who are set to return for a fifth season of Nip/Tuck , which began filming earlier this week, albeit with significant salary bumps. Both have received seven-figure bonuses on top of their 5% increases, bringing their wages to roughly $3 million or $125,000 an episode, giving each of them a 25% increase from Season Four. Nip/Tuck 's fourth season ended with with Sean and Christian pulling up stakes and heading out to Los Angeles, where they have opened a new practice in a city where appearances are the only real currency.

Nip/Tuck creator Ryan Murphy and producer Brad Pitt have sold a new drama, 4 oz. , to cabler FX that will chart the ongoing metamorphosis of a married sportswriter and father of teenage sons who decides that he wants to live his life as a woman. According to Murphy, the series will have a natural five-season arc for the series that will also focus on the married transsexual's teenage sons. Says Murphy: "The first season deals with the revelation of his secret. In the second season, he begins dressing like a woman. The third covers the surgery, and his inherent doubts about going through with it, and by the fourth season, he's living as a woman and attempting to find love." And in case you couldn't figure out that wacky title, the measurement refers to the average weight of a penis, according to Murphy. Hmmm, given the surgical subject matter, think there's any possibility for a crossover with the gang at McNamara/Troy?