[Televisionary]

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Katherine Heigl will be departing Grey's Anatomy for good this time, citing unnamed sources. "Series creator Shonda Rhimes has agreed to release the fast-rising movie star from her contract. It’s now up to ABC Studios and Heigl’s reps to hash out a final exit agreement," writes Ausiello. "After taking more than half of the current season off to make another movie and connect with her adopted daughter, Heigl was scheduled to return to the Grey’s set on March 1 to begin work on the five remaining episodes of the season. There’s just one problem: March 1 came and went and there was no Heigl." Long story, short: Heigl's final episode as Izzie has already aired and Heigl will not be returning to the set of Grey's Anatomy . ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) UK network E4 has commissioned two additional seasons of teen drama Skins ,

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. I had a fantastic time at the Community panel last night at the 2010 William S. Paley Television Festival (followed by some late-night carousing with some other TV types). But onto today's headlines, of which there are many. Outbound Brothers & Sisters star Rob Lowe will be heading to Pawnee. Lowe has signed on to appear in multiple episodes of NBC comedy Parks and Recreation later this season and his contract, according to Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello, calls for him to appear on the Universal Media Studios-produced series next season. ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) Meanwhile, Fancast's Matt Mitovich has details about just who Lowe will be playing this season, thanks to an interview with Parks and Recreation executive producer Mike Schur. While Schur--who likened Lowe's participation as "the perfect fit" for the series--was tight-lipped when it came to details about Lowe&

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. HBO has officially announced that Academy Award winner Kate Winslet ( The Reader ) has come aboard the pay cabler's five-hour miniseries Mildred Pierce . Based on the novel by James M. Cain (which was the basis for the 1945 melodrama starring Joan Crawford and Eve Arden), Mildred Pierce will star Winslet as the titular character, a self-made millionaire who struggles to earn her daughter's love. Project will be directed by Todd Haynes ( Far From Heaven ), who will write the script with Jon Raymond. Production on the five-hour miniseries, to be executive produced by Haynes, Christine Vachon, and John Wells, is set to being in New York in April. ( Variety ) The Wrap's Josef Adalian breaks down the current crop of series that are said to be on the bubble for renewal next season, including Chuck, Fringe, V, FlashForward , and Community and names the five series he feels are worth saving. "Being on the bubble is incredi

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 Friday morning television briefing. Maria Bello, Simon Beaufoy, and Russell Crowe have teamed up to develop HBO drama project Emergency Sex , based on Kenneth Cain, Heidi Postlewait and Andrew Thomson's nonfiction book "Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures: A True Story From Hell on Earth," about "the larger-than-life exploits of expatriate nongovernment-organization workers who find their sanity tested in the face of atrocities, loneliness and primal desires." Bello ( A History of Violence ) will star in the project, which is being adapted by Simon Beaufoy ( Slumdog Millionaire ), who will executive produce with Bellow, Russell Crowe, and John Carrabino. ( Hollywood Reporter ) NBC has handed out pilot orders to two projects, both hailing from Universal Media Studios. One-hour drama The Cape , from writer Thomas Wheeler ( Empire ) and BermanBraun, revolves around an ex-cop in Los Angeles who is framed and sets out to become a masked vigilan

Looks like it's curtains for Betty Suarez. ABC today announced that this will be the final season of Ugly Betty and that the series will wrap up its run this spring. The series had been placed on life support on Friday nights this season before being given a last chance with a Wednesday night 10 pm ET/PT timeslot as part of the network's comedy block. "We’ve mutually come to the difficult decision to make this Ugly Betty ’s final season, and are announcing now as we want to allow the show ample time to write a satisfying conclusion," said ABC in a prepared statement. "We are extremely proud of this groundbreaking series, and felt it was important to give the fans a proper farewell." What do you think of the news? Was it time to bid Betty farewell? Is it good that the producers will have time to wrap up the series' storylines before a final episode? Discuss.

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. The Hollywood Reporter 's James Hibberd has an interview with Lost showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse in which they speak about the looming ending of the iconic ABC series, which launches its sixth and final season next month. While Cuse and Lindelof's involvement with the franchise will end at that time, both were quick to point out that they don't own Lost and that the studio could revive the series in some fashion down the road. "The Walt Disney Co. owns Lost ," said Cuse. "It's a franchise that's conservatively worth billions of dollars. It's hard to imagine Lost will rest on the shelves and nothing will ever be made with Lost . Eventually somebody will make something under the moniker of Lost -- whether we do it or not. We just made a commitment to this group of characters whose stories are coming to a conclusion this May." ( Hollywood Reporter 's The Live Feed ) Are

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. Just a day after the record-breaking season finale of Showtime's Dexter , executive producer/showrunner Clyde Phillips announced yesterday that he is leaving the series. He'll be replaced at the helm by Chip Johannessen ( 24 ). According to the Hollywood Reporter , Phillips made the "hugely difficult decision" to leave in order "to spend more time with his family in Connecticut." "Clyde Phillips has made an enormous contribution to the phenomenal success of Dexter for the past four years, but we know he needs to spend more time with his family on the East Coast than he spends with the Dexter family in L.A.," said Showtime entertainment president Robert Greenblatt. "We reluctantly say good-bye to him at a turning point in the series, but fellow Dexter executive producers Sara Colleton and John Goldwyn have chosen a great successor -- Chip Johannessen, who has been a key producer of '24

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. Looks like Betty Suarez is moving again. Hollywood Reporter 's James Hibberd is reporting that struggling dramedy series Ugly Betty , now in its fourth season, will be rescued from the Friday night death slot and given a berth on Wednesdays at 10 pm ET/PT, essentially creating a three-hour block of comedy programming for ABC. Meanwhile, the now vacant Friday night timeslot will be filled by the five remaining unaired episodes of Shark Tank . ( Hollywood Reporter 's The Live Feed ) FX has announced a launch date for Season Three of serpentine legal thriller Damages , which will return to the lineup on Monday, January 25th at 10 pm ET/PT. In other scheduling, Nip/Tuck will debut its final season on Wednesday, January 6th at 10 pm ET/PT and animated comedy Archer begins on Thursday, January 14th while drama Justified will premiere in March and comedy Louie will debut later in the spring. ( Televisionary ) Los Angeles Times

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. Jason Lee ( My Name is Earl ) has been cast as the lead in TNT drama pilot Delta Blues , where he will play Dwight Hendricks, a Memphis cop who moonlights as an Elvis impersonator and lives with his mother. Pilot, from Warner Horizon and Smokehouse Pictures, is written by Liz M. Garcia and Joshua Harto and will be directed by Clark Johnson, who will executive produce with George Clooney and Grant Heslov. ( Hollywood Reporter ) Proving that the series' casting directors have inherited the comedy casting mantle from Arrested Development and 30 Rock , Fred Willard ( Back to You ) has signed on to guest star on an upcoming episode of ABC's Modern Family , where he will play the father to Ty Burrell's Phil. [Editor: look for Willard to turn up, oh, before the end of the calendar year.] ( Fancast ) Gretchen Mol ( Life on Mars ) has joined the cast of HBO's upcoming period drama Boardwalk Empire in the recurring role of

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Battlestar Galactica star (and Maxim cover girl) Tricia Helfer will guest star in an upcoming episode of CBS comedy Two and a Half Men , where she will play a friend of Charlie's fiancee. "Natch, when Chelsea hears her bosomy buddy is recovering from a breakup," writes Ausiello, "she insists that she do so at Casa Harper." Helfer's episode is slated to air November 16th. [Editor: while I love that Helfer is working steadily, can we please land her a series regular gig ASAP?] ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) SPOILER ALERT! TVGuide.com's Natelie Abrams talks to True Blood executive producer Alan Ball about what's coming on Season Three of the HBO vampire drama, set to air next summer. "It's a crazy season," Ball told Abrams. "It picks up right where we left off and things get weird really fast." [Ed