Channel Surfing: "Runway" Suits, Dawson Talks "One Tree Hill," Michael Landes, Ben Silverman, and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. I'm now way behind on last night's telly offerings as Wednesday appears to have become overfilled with series but I made a special point to not only watch Pushing Daisies but to watch it live... just in case the numbers actually do matter.

James Van Der Beek speaks about his return to his old Dawson's Creek stomping ground in Wilmington, North Carolina, where he's filming three episodes of the CW's One Tree Hill, where he will play a feature film director who is interested in adapting Lucas' novel into a film. "I thought it was a real fun character," said Van Der Beek about his Tree character. "I'm excited to work with my friends and to play a little bit." (Associated Press)

One reason to celebrate: Pushing Daisies beat out NBC's Knight Rider in the key adults 18-49 demo for the very first time last night. Huzzah! (Futon Critic)

Lifetime has filed a countersuit in a Manhattan federal court against Bravo, NBC Universal, and The Weinstein Co. as the legal battle over rights to Project Runway continue to intensify. The cabler claims that its rights to air Project Runway are in fact protected under federal copyright laws that should "upersede any decisions made in state court with regard to the suit filed by Bravo parent NBC U against the Weinstein Co." But by going that route, it puts the onus squarely on Lifetime as they will have to defend in court why they are suing the producer of their acquired series. Looks like Runway fans are going to have to wait quite some time before they get to see the next season, if the clothes are even still in fashion by the time it airs. (Variety)

Is Ben Silverman behind the anonymous Page Six comments made recently about Universal Media Studio topper Katherine Pope? The Daily Beast's Kim Masters seems to think so, in yet another article that details Silverman's excessive, partying ways. (Ahem, tigers in the bathtub.) (The Daily Beast)

Former Love Soup star Michael Landes has signed a one-year talent holding deal with 20th Century Fox TV, under which he will star in a series project developed for him by the studio or will be cast in an already existing pilot. Landes most recently starred in 20th's legal dramedy pilot Courtroom K and was a co-star on FOX's short-lived romantic dramedy The Wedding Bells last year. (Hollywood Reporter)

Eddie Izzard is trying to get a feature film version of his canceled FX series The Riches off the ground. "We've had the meeting and the writers are going to go off and slam out a story," said Izzard. "We're going to raise money like Barack Obama through the internet and we're going to shoot it guerilla-style." (BBC)

Flight of the Conchords returns to HBO on January 18th. (Televisionary)

Ethan Peck, Lindsey Shaw, Meaghan Jette Martin, Kyle Kaplan, and Nicholas Braun have been cast in ABC Family comedy pilot 10 Things I Hate About You, a series adaptation of the 1999 feature film that was itself inspired by William Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew." (Hollywood Reporter)

A&E is launching original drama series The Beast, starring Patrick Swayze and Travis Fimmel, on January 15th at 10 pm ET/PT.

Discovery has handed out a series order to The Detonators, a 13-episode reality series that will look behind the scenes at demolition crews around the world. Hosted by explosives experts Braden Lusk and Paul Worsey, the RDF-produced series will feature the duo meeting "the blasters behind such structures as urban skyscrapers, massive steel bridges and giant stadiums and give viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the demolitions." (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.