[Televisionary]

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. Another cast member has been secured for J.J. Abram's NBC espionage drama pilot Undercovers . Boris Kodjoe ( Surrogates, Soul Food ) has been cast as the male lead, Steven Bloom. Steven and his wife Samantha (as yet uncast) work together as spies. Abrams, who co-wrote the pilot script with Josh Reims, may still come aboard the project as the pilot's director. ( Hollywood Reporter ) SPOILER! TV Guide Magazine's Will Keck has the scoop on the departure of one of the cast members from HBO's drama series Big Love , which returns with its fourth season on January 10th. [Editor: I am not even going to put the name of the actor here as the article is extremely spoilery (though has at least one piece of misinformation), so read at your own risk.] ( TV Guide Magazine ) Showtime is developing a series adaptation of feature film Sunshine Cleaning , about a pair of sisters who work as crime scene cleaners. The pay cabler has hire

Anticipation is running high for the third season premiere of NBC's action-comedy Chuck , which has been off of the Peacock's schedule since May. It's been far too long of a wait for this fun and offbeat series to have been on hiatus. But the wait is nearly over. And, having greedily devoured the first five fantastic episodes of Chuck 's third season in the last 24 hours or so, I can say that the wait will have been worth it. When we last saw Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi), he had just downloaded the Intersect 2.0 into his head after the death of its intended recipient Agent Bryce Larkin (Matthew Bomer)... and that the updated software had granted him new physical-based abilities. Abilities that, judging from the first few episodes, would appear to be limitless. Or are they? As creators Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak promised, Chuck Bartowski hasn't transformed overnight into a super-suave 007-type. Nor has the series, a winning blend of comedy, action, romance, angs

Perhaps because this season focused on the strengths of the competitors and one particular sibling rivalry rather than on any animosity between the contestants, there wasn't a hell of a lot of controversy for Andy Cohen to discuss. (Certainly no wigs were ripped off anyone's head on Top Chef this season.) So last night's Top Chef reunion was a rather low-key affair (especially compared with the histrionics seen on Real Housewives get-togethers), with the only remote sparks of controversy being those emanating from Eli's cancer comment to Robin, Ash's feeling that Padma hated him, and, well, that was about it. Hell, anyone hoping to learn who the fan favorite would be from Top Chef: Las Vegas still has to wait until tonight to find out as someone decided not to announce the fan favorite winner during the reunion special (a likely place to do so) but to wait until Andy Cohen's Thursday latenight talkfest to do so. (In other words: Grr. Though there's no do

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. More Chuck Lorre on the way... CBS has given a pilot order to multi-camera comedy Mike and Molly , written by Mark Roberts ( Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory ) and executive produced by Chuck Lorre ( Two and a Half Men ). Project, from Warner Bros. Television, will center on a couple who are overeaters and meet at an Overeaters Anonymous support group. ( Variety , Hollywood Reporter ) Emmy Rossum ( Dragonball Evolution ), Allison Janney ( The West Wing ), and Justin Chatwin ( Dragonball Evolution ) have been cast in Showtime drama pilot Shameless , a US adaptation of Paul Abbot's UK skein that will star William H. Macy. Rossum will play Fiona, the 18-year-old daughter of an alcoholic (Macy) whose wife has gone missing and who must raise her five younger brothers. Janney will play a potential love interest for Macy's character, while Chatwin will play a car thief who has a thing for Fiona. ( Hollywood Reporter ) Th

I don't normally write about press kits but then again very few networks send out that many kick-ass press kits. Until now. Perhaps taking a page from the new butt-kicking abilities of one Mr. Chuck Bartowski, NBC has sent out what might just be the very coolest press kit ever for Season Three of Chuck , which returns to the lineup (finally!) next month. In addition to a screener containing the first five episodes of Chuck 's third season, the massive press kit--emblazoned with a Top Secret label and the words "from the desk of General Beckman" on the top--also came with a voice changer, sunglasses, and a spy kit, all very appropriate accoutrements for the upcoming third season. (Also included: a hysterical note from series creators/executive producers Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak.) As for the episodes themselves, I can't wait to see just what's in store for our favorite band of spies when the series returns in January with its much-anticipated third season.

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. The Chicago Tribune 's Maureen Ryan has some teasers from an interview she did with Lost showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, which she'll publish in a few weeks. But as the anticipation for the sixth and final season of Lost (launching February 2nd), Ryan has graciously published some snippets from the interview now. "We kind of concocted the mythology of the show a long time ago, and it’s like having a Christmas present and you kept it on the shelf a long time and people are finally going to get to open it and see it," Cuse told Ryan about the series' ending. "So we’re finally getting to deploy the ending of the show and that is exciting to us. It is a story and I think as storytellers, that’s always what’s delicious -- you set up the audience and then you basically finish the story. There’s a payoff and we’re actually going to finally give the audience our payoff." ( Chicago Tribune '

If you're a Chuck -obsessive like me, you've been eagerly awaiting any new photography or key art from Season Three of the action-comedy, which launches next month. The wait is over. NBC today released the first piece of Season Three Chuck key art, depicting a butt-kicking Chuck that's clearly in line with the revelation about the new Intersect 2.0-derived abilities that he gained in the second season finale. More information about those abilities and the third season of Chuck can be found here, in my write up of the recent press call interview with creators Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak and series lead Zachary Levi . A larger version of the key art can be found below, along with two Chuck videos. Chuck Season 3 Super Sneak Preview : Chuck Returns! : Season Three of Chuck launches Sunday, January 10th at 9 pm ET/PT before it moves into its regular timeslot of Mondays at 8 pm on January 11th.