Forest Whitaker

Oscar winner Forest Whitaker is believed to be in final negotiations to headline a potential ‘Criminal Minds’ spinoff.

The project, which is current in development at CBS, would be a back-door pilot episode of ‘Criminal Minds’, following a new group of criminal profilers who work outside the FBI bureaucracy.

The episode could air as early as March.

Whitaker would play Cooper, the squad leader, who’s described as dynamic, mysterious, charming and a father figure to the rest of the team. He is a former star profiler in the Behavioral Unit who has been off the radar for the past eight years.

‘Criminal Minds’ executive producer Chris Mundy penned the spinoff episode, based on a story by him and executive producer/showrunner Ed Bernero. Richard Shepard who’s previously directed an episode of ‘Criminal Minds’ and also the pilot for ‘Ugly Betty’ is set to direct the upcoming episode.

ABC Studios, The Mark Gordon Company and CBS Studios will produced the episode, and series, should it be given the green light next season.

Whitaker will receive a producing credit as part of the deal.

The new season of ‘Criminal Minds’ begins 8.30pm Wednesday, February 3 on Seven.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Shonda Rhimes

It’s that time of year again where the networks go in search of pilots for the upcoming fall TV season.

ABC has picked up two dramas, ‘Off the Map’ and ‘Body of Evidence’ and one comedy ‘Happy Endings’

Shonda Rhimes serves as executive producer for ‘Off the Map’ and to no one’s surprise it centres on doctors, three doctors infact, who are eager for a fresh start. They leave their home country for work in an isolated tropical clinic exotic and unusual medical cases and of course personal problems. ‘Off the Map’ is from ABC Studios.

As the title suggests, ”Body Evidence’ is be a crime procedural from executive producer Matt Grose distribured by ABC Studios, with the script provided by Chris Murphey. It follows Megan Hunt, a former neurosurgeon-turned-medical examiner, who brings a unique crime solving method which puts her at odds with the bosses.

‘Happy Endings’ is a single camera comedy from Sony TV and Tarses’ Fanfare, it focuses on a couple who break up at the altar, forcing everyone to figure out how to maintain the relationship after the break up. Jamie Tarses will serve as executive producer and is written by David Caspe.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

'Dirty Sexy Money' The Complete Second Season is out November 4.

‘Dirty Sexy Money’ returns for another gut busting season of lies, deceit, murder and adultery.

Lead by family patriarch Trip Darling played by the incomparable Donald Sutherland, the series also stars Peter Krause, Jill Clayburgh, William Baldwin, Glenn Fitzgerald, Seth Gabel, Zoe McLellan, Blair Underwood, Natalie Zea and Lucy Liu.

As the Darling’s family attorney, a role which he inherited from his father, Nick George (Peter Krause) finds himself thrown into all kinds of crazy situations orchestrated by the family’s outlandish antics. The biggest head banger is Nick’s personal connection with the family, with several members being key suspects in his father Dutch George’s murder. While this mystery is ultimately solved by series end, it’s long drawn out reveal slightly diminishes its eventual impact.

Perhaps one of the more outrageous story lines on the show is Patrick Darling’s (William Baldwin) affair with his transexual lover Carmelita Rainer (Candis Cayne). After discovering Patrick’s deceit, his wife Ellen (Bellamy Young) confronts Patrick over the affair — however this ultimately leads to her accidental death.

In an attempt to cover up Patrick’s political reputation as a New York senator, he and his father conspire to cover up Ellen’s death by planting her body in the family’s burning country house estate. Definitely a mouthful to say the least.

This second season of ‘Dirty Sexy Money’ also introduces Nola Lyons (Lucy Liu) the hard-ass prosecutor in Nick’s father’s murder trial, who’s determined to bring down the Darling family. But because that clearly isn’t quite juicy enough, she also becomes romantically involved with the Darling’s playboy youngest son Jeremy Darling (Seth Gabel).

Like all series that debuted that previous year, ‘Dirty Sexy Money’ was heavily impacted by the 2007-2008 writers strike. The 100-day production halt is likely the main reason for the show’s cancellation, following its return to low ratings post-strike.

Had the series continued for a full season the previous year, I think the show would have started out much stronger creatively in it second season. The momentum built up surrounding Dutch George’s murder mystery was unfortunately lost between the first and second seasons. Having said that, it does do a modest job of trying to re-engage viewers and eventually wrap up all loose ends.

The 3-disc set contains a couple of extras, including behind-the-scenes featurettes, deleted scenes and a bloopers reel. Nothing particularly ground breaking here. It would have been nice to have an audio commentary from the show’s cast and crew, particularly to hear their views on how the writers strike impacted their original story arc.

‘Dirty Sexy Money’ is probably worth a look for fans of juicy mind-bending soap opera. It’s delicious characters make it thoroughly entertaining, if not just for your disbelief over what these characters get away with.

2.5 out of 5 stars

Fans of ABC Studios hit series have plenty to celebrate, with a number of new titles that have just been released or are due for release over the next 2 months under the TV 4 Me on DVD brand.

This month saw the release of the Seven Network’s hit dramas ‘Desperate Housewives’ Season 5, ‘Lost’ Season 5 and ‘Brothers and Sisters’ Season 3.

November will see the release of Seven’s medical duo ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Season 5 and ‘Private Practice’ Season 2; and the final season of the short lived dramedy ‘Dirty Sexy Money’ Season 2.

You can also expect to see the release of FOX8’s popular teen dramas ‘Greek’ Chapter 2 and ‘Kyle XY’ Season 3 in November.

Finally, December is all about comedy, with the release of ‘Scrubs’ Season 8, ‘Scrubs’ Seasons 1-8, ‘Home Improvement’ Season 8 and the season premieres of ‘Smantha Who?’ Season 1 and teen drama ‘The Secret Live of an American Teenager’ Season 1.

Hit the links below for more details about each set.

21 October 2009

• ‘Desperate Housewives’ The Complete Fifth Season
• ‘Brothers and Sisters’ The Complete Third Season
• ‘Lost’ The Complete Fifth Season

4 November 2009

• ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ The Complete Fifth Season
• ‘Private Practice’ The Complete Second Season
• ‘Greek’ Chapter 2
• ‘Kyle XY’ The Complete Third Season
• ‘Dirty Sexy Money’ The Complete Second Season

2 December 2009

• ‘Scrubs’ The Complete Eighth Season
• ‘Scrubs’ Mega-Set 1-8
• ‘Home Improvement’ The Complete Eighth Season
• ‘Samantha Who?’ The Complete First Season
• ‘The Secret Life of the American Teenager’ The Complete First Season

'FlashForward' creator, David Goyer.

Co-creator/exec producer of ABC’s new hit series ‘FlashForward,’ David Goyer will be flying solo for the back 9 episodes of the mystery drama after co-showrunner/executive producer Marc Guggenheim decided to part ways.

Guggenheim was brought in to assist Goyer with the show, given his limited experience in TV. However after teaching him the ropes, ABC believes Goyer will be able to helm the series by himself.

There has been speculation that the network have become unhappy with the direction of show since the pilot. Whether Guggenheim’s departure has anything to do with this is unclear,  however it’s believed that Goyer would be able to return the show to the quality of its pilot, if left to steer the ship by himself.

Guggenheim will spend time focusing on other projects for ABC Studios.

Anna Hutchison, Jay Ryan, Alix Bushnell and Bronwyn Turei star in TV2's 'Go Girls'.

South Pacific Pictures’ dramedy ‘Go Girls’ is set for an American remake, following word that the concept has been picked up by ABC Studios.

The US production company, who are behind some TV’s biggest hits (‘Lost’, ‘Desperate Housewives’ and ‘Grey’s Anatomy’), have hired ‘He’s Just Not That Into You’ writer Liz Tuccillo to adapt the series.

Tuccillo, who also served as a story editor on HBO’s ‘Sex and the City’, will write and produce the pilot with executive producers Julia Franz and John Barnett.

Barnett, chief executive of South Pacific Pictures, said the idea for ‘Go Girls’ could be taken anywhere.

The series focuses on three girls who want to be individually rich, famous and married within a year.

“That kind of thing, or variation of it, can work anywhere in the world,” said Barnett.

“I think [ABC] liked the relationships between the girls and the quest. It’s a very accessible premise and a very international premise.”

South Pacific Pictures’ other hit series, ‘Outrageous Fortune’, was similarly picked up by ABC in 2007, however the pilot (which was developed by ‘Veronica Mars’ creator Rob Thomas, and renamed ‘Good Behaviour’) was not picked up for series.

A US version of ‘Fortune’ is still believed to be in the cards, with the studio bringing in a new writer for a different take on the series.

Barnett said that the effort being taken to rewrite the project, indicated that Americans still love the idea.

“There’s no question that ‘Outrageous’ pushes boundaries…In that sense ‘Go Girls’ is possibly an easier adaptation.”

A second series of ‘Go Girls’ is already in production in Auckland.

The first series is currently airing 10.30pm Fridays on Network Ten.

Source: The New Zealand Herald

George Segal has landed a multi-episode arc on HBO’s hugely successful comedy series ‘Entourage’.

Segal will play a Bernie Brillstein-type veteran manager who is a mentor to up-and-coming talent manager Eric (Kevin Connolly).

The Oscar-nominated actor is best know for his role as the outlandish Jack Gallo on NBC’s ‘Just Shoot Me!’

More recently, he’s found guest spots on ABC Studios’ ‘Private Practice’ and Warner Bros. TV’s ‘Pushing Daisies’.

Jami Gertz, Autumn Reeser and Alexis Dziena are also set to play recurring roles on the upcoming sixth season of ‘Entourage’.

Dash Mihok joins the cast of CBS' comedy pilot, 'The Fish Tank'.

Dash Mihok (‘William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet’) will play the offbeat neighbour on CBS’ comedy pilot ‘The Fish Tank’, which centers on a teenager (Drake Bell) living alone in his family’s house.

The Ben Stiller-directed comedy pilot ‘The Station’, is gaining momentum with Rob Huebel (‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’) and Julio Oscar Mechoso (‘Cane’) joining the cast. The 20th Century Fox TV pilot revolves around covert CIA operatives in South America, which includes Mechoso. Huebel will play an assassin.

Kevin Rahm (‘Desperate Housewives’) and Jeff Davis are joining ABC Studios’ comedy pilot presentation ‘This Little Piggy’, about a man (Davis) and his sister who move in with their eldest brother (Rahm).

Alison Brie (‘Mad Men’) has joined the cast of Sony Pictures Televison’s ‘Community’, as a student at the community college set comedy pilot.

'7 is Heaven' will be the new name for daytime programming on digital channel '72'. While bizarre, not entirely unbelievable from the network with "Mr. TV Man" as their main mascot.

The Seven Network have finally put their money where their mouth is, and have announced their multi-channelling plans for the Freeview platform.

The network will launch with three distinct channels from November, including their current SD digital channel ‘7′, a re-launched ’7 HD’ and an all new ‘7 Extra’.

While speaking at the “Get ready for digital TV” forum in Sydney this morning, Seven’s CEO David Leckie said “the current economic crisis has put a lot of things into perspective. Our multi-channelling plans will address these issues.”

First up is the new HD channel. The network will continue using the ‘Seven HD’ moniker for channel ‘70′, which will be dedicate to all Australian content.

It will screen new first run lifestyle programs, time-shifted news and re-runs of Australian drama including ‘City Homicide’, ‘Packed to the Rafters’, ‘All Saints’, ‘Home and Away’ and older series like ‘Last Man Standing’, “HeadLand” and ‘A Country Practice’.

The channel will also show a simulcast of Seven’s regular channel ‘7′ in HD for select content, i.e., movies and other “must-see TV.”

Seven will re-launch ‘The Great Outdoors’, which has been MIA for some time now. Naomi Robson (‘Today Tonight’) and Charlie Delaney (‘Hi:5′, ‘Battle of the Choirs’) will be joining the travel show as globe trotting presenters.

‘Out of the Red’, is a new first run lifestyle program that will screen on the new 7HD. It will feature ‘Sunrise’ hosts, Mel and Kochie, as they help people bogged down by the current economic crisis. The new series will see the duo help families with their debts and give them tips for getting”out of the red”.

The network announced that they have several other new lifestyle programs in development which will be announced at a later date.

“Lifestyle programs are much more cost effective for us to produce in this current economic climate. The smaller budgets mean we can experiment with various concepts and ideas without breaking the bank” said Leckie. “We’ll offset our new lifestyle programming on the new 7HD with our large back-catalogue of great Aussie drama,” he added.

The network’s plans for their second standard definition channel, ‘7 Extra’ (‘72′), is a little more interesting.

In a bold move for the commercial broadcaster, the new channel will outsource its programming blocks to various content producers.

Deals have been struck with Walt Disney, Bloomberg Television, the Australian Christian Channel and various community television stations from around the country.

“By outsourcing the programming to different content providers, we’ll be able to create a diverse programming line up,” Leckie added. ”We’ve established a new shared advertising revenue scheme with the content producers, which will see lower up front costs for content.”

Each programming block will be themed depending on the content producer. The four banner names will be: ‘7 is Finance’, ‘7 is Heaven’, ‘7 is Adventure’ and ‘7 is Community’.

‘7 is Finance’ will run during the morning programming block (6 am to 11 am) and will feature non-stop finance reports from Bloomberg Television.

“Keeping people up to date with the markets is just another way we’ll be helping people during these troubled times,” said Leckie.

‘7 is Heaven’ will run during the daytime programming block (11 am to 5 pm) and will feature a schedule developed by the Australian Christian Channel. The ACC have several new programs in development including a new music program produced in conjunction with the Hillsong Church. It will be hosted by ‘Australian Idol’ winner and renowned Hillsong member Guy Sebastian.

Classic TV dramas including ‘Touched by an Angel’, ‘Joan of Arcadia’ and ‘7th Heaven’ will run throughout the week, while Sunday’s will feature live sermons from around the country.

“All of our daytime programming will be aimed at spreading hope and optimism to our viewers,” said Leckie.

“But the ‘adventure’ really begins on ‘7 Extra’ during prime-time,” he announced.

‘7 is Adventure’ will run between 5 pm and 1 am. It’ll feature content from the network’s output deal with Disney/ABC Studios. It will screen all of Disney’s classic animations like ‘Sleeping Beauty’ and ‘The Lion King’, as well as more mature content from Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone Pictures and Miramax Films. Titles will include film franchises ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’,'The Chronicles of Narnia’ and ‘Kill Bill’, as well as box office hits like ‘Pearl Harbour’ and ‘Gangs of New York’.

TV series from ABC Studios will join the ‘7 is Adventure’ block, with ‘Desperate Housewives’, ‘Lost’, ‘Grey’s Anatomy’, ‘Brothers and Sister’, ‘Ugly Betty’, ’Scrubs’, ‘Commander in Chief’ and ‘Alias’ will all be getting a re-run on the new channel. ‘Night Stalker’, ‘Dirt’, ‘Kyle XY’ and ‘Greek’ will also make the move to free-to-air under the new ‘7 is Adventure’ block.

Disney channel movies and TV series like ‘High School Musical’, ‘Camp Rock’ and ‘Hannah Montana’ will air Saturday nights under the new ‘adventure’ banner.

From 1 am to 6 am, ‘7 is Community’ will screen, with original programming from Sydney’s TVS, Melbourne’s C31 and other community stations from around the country.

“We really want to embrace the community as a source of great entertainment,” said Leckie. “The new shared revenue scheme will really benefit independent content makers and allow them to create more ambitious programs.”

‘7 Extra’ will be broadcast on digital channel ‘72′.

“As the leaders in television, our mission is to bring viewers diverse and entertaining programs.”

“We believe that we’ve come up with a great strategy for our multi-channelling line up, which will provide both variety and quality,” Leckie concluded.

So after several long months, Seven’s digital TV plans have finally been unveiled and the all-Aussie channel and the outsourced programming channel are both pretty bold ideas for the network. It’s definitely the most comprehensive and unique plan we’ve seen from a free-to-air broadcaster so far.

Too bad we’ll have to wait until November.

Oh, and by the way…April fools!

The alphabet have green-lit yet another pilot, this time from ‘Mad TV’ writers Steven Cragg and Brian Bradley.

The comedy project, titled ‘This Little Piggy’, revolves around a family man who’s forced to take in his younger siblings when times get tough.

ABC Studios will produce the pilot presentation (usually shorter than a full pilot) with Cragg as executive producer and Bradley as co-exec.

• The financial crisis has taken another casualty with ABC Entertainment and ABC Studios combining to form, ABC Entertainment Group.

• NBC has reduced Kath and Kim’s first season order to 17. The future of the Aussie spin off looks dire.

• NBC has ordered two medical procedurals from Universal Media Studios, Mercy and Trauma.

• Meanwhile, Fox has ordered four comedy pilots, The Station, Walorsky, Two Dollar Beer and Sons of Tucson; and three dramas, Maggie Hill, Human Target and an untitled reincarnation-themed project.

If your as excited as me, you can’t get enough of all these Lost sneak peaks. Here’s yet another one.

Lost returns with a 2-hour season premiere January 21st, 8/7c on ABC.

Casting has begun on the next year’s rumoured companion piece for ABC’s Lost. The sci-fi drama, entitled FlashForward is based on the Robert J. Sawyers novel, in which the entire world blacks out for 2 minutes and 17 seconds and forecasting a mysterious vision of the future.

Courtney B. Vance (Law & Order: Criminal Intent, pictured above left) has been cast as Los Angeles bureau FBI chief Stan Wedeck and Jack Davenport (“Pirates of the Caribbean”, pictured above right) will play Lloyd Simcoe, who’s trapped in Northern California when the even occurs struggling to reach his son at Southland hospital.

The pilot for FlashForward was written by David S. Goyer (Threshold, “Batman Begins”, “The Dark Knight”) and Brannon Braga (Threshold, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Enterprise). Goyer is also set to direct. The series will be produced at ABC Studios, under Braga, Jessika Borsiczky Goyer (Revelations), Vince Gerardis (“Jumper”) and Ralph M. Vicinanza (“Jumper”).

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

• The final season of Scrubs will debut on the alphabet on January 6th 9/8c, with a double episode premiere.

• Still on ABC, 20th Century Fox and ABC Studios produced cop drama; Life on Mars has been given an extra four episodes for its inaugural season. Life on Mars will go on hiatus next month with a return slated for January 28th, 10/9c. While Life on Mars is on hiatus, ABC is warming the post Grey’s Anatomy timeslot with repeats of its sister show Private Practice.

• The CW will debut popular syndicate talk show, The Tyra Banks Show, in the 2009 fall season.

• After a lot of confusion, the remaining episodes of Lipstick Jungle will air on the 5th and 12th of December, then January 2nd and 9th.

Entertainment Weekly’s TV scooper, Michael Ausiello, is reporting some pretty depressing news this morning.

Three of ABC Studios struggling dramedies (Pushing Daisies, Dirty Sexy Money and Eli Stone) have been given the axe. While the network isn’t commenting, ABC insiders have said that “no additional episodes have been ordered — effectively cancelling all three series”.

The one positive in this giant bag of hurt, is that the network are still dedicated to finishing production on all 13 episode orders and broadcasting them throughout the remainder of the season.

• Despite not announcing a title, NBC will be launching a new dance show set to air on the peacock early next year.

• Whilst on NBC, there are rumours NBC may bring back Knight Rider originals, David Hasslehoff and the original K.I.T.T, William Daniels on a permanent basis.

• Still on NBC, they have ordered an additional 6 episodes of veteran Sci-fi drama Medium. This brings the episode order for its fifth season to 19. Also, look out for an earlier than usual return this year as a result of My Own Worst Enemy’s axing.

• A network spokesman has confirmed CBS has ordered a ‘full season’ of freshman comedy Gary Unmarried. This brings the episode order for the ABC Studios and CBS Paramount produced show to 20, with an additional two scripts for a possible 22 episode order.

• CBS’s other freshman comedy Worst Week has also been given an extra three episodes.

• A USA Network spokesman confirmed veteran dramady Monk has been renewed for an 8th and final season. The series will finish off with 16 episodes. The 7th season is currently on hiatus and will be back in the new year, however there will be an annual Christmas Special on the 28th of November.

Sources: Hollywood Reporter and TV by the Numbers

Has Sanity finally prevailed over at the ABC? An unconfirmed leak of their mid-season schedule suggests so. This will see the shuffling of numerous shows including Grey’s Anatomy spin-off Private Practice, which is tipped to follow it’s original in the mid-season, and freshman drama, Life on Mars proceeding Lost at 10pm on Wednesdays.

The rumour mill also suggests ABC Studios are planning to have multi episode crossover story lines for Grey’s and Private, during the February sweeps.

The new schedule also sees the return of the final season of Scrubs and the debut of America’s spin-off of Border Security.

Also Dirty Sexy Money fans should still have some faith as according to a couple of sources, it might be given a full season.

What are your thoughts? I would love to hear them, in my opinion it looks like a strong line up except for Mondays and Tuesdays, where anything can happen.

Entire Schedule after the break:

Mondays
8:00/7:00c – The Bachelor (New Season)
9:30/8:30c – Samantha Who?
10:00/9:00c – True Beauty (New Series)

Tuesdays
8:00/7:00c – Border Security USA (New Series)
9:00/8:00c – According to Jim (New Season)
9:30/8:30c – According to Jim (New Season)
10:00/9:00c – Eli Stone

Wednesdays
8:00/7:00c – Scrubs (New Season)
8:30/7:30c – Scrubs (New Season)
9:00/8:00c – Lost (New Season)
10:00/9:00c – Life on Mars (New Time Slot)

Thursdays
8:00/7:00c – Ugly Betty
9:00/8:00c – Grey’s Anatomy
10:00/9:00c – Private Practice (New Time Slot)

Fridays
8:00/7:00c – Wife Swap
9:00/8:00c – Here Come the Newlyweds (New Season)
10:00/9:00c – 20/20

Saturdays
8:00/7:00c – Saturday Night Movie

Sundays
7:00/6:00c – America’s Funniest Home Videos
8:00/7:00c – Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
9:00/8:00c – Desperate Housewives
10:00/9:00c – Brothers & Sisters

During the spring, newcomers Better Off Ted, Castle, Cupid, The Goode Family and The Unusuals are due to premiere.

Again, keep in mind this is pure speculation and hasn’t been confirmed. An announcement is due tomorrow morning American time and in a few hours for us down under.

Sources: Hollywood Reporter and The Futon Critic

Lindsay Lohan’s stint on ABC Studios’ comedy Ugly Betty may be even shorter than originally planned after rumours fly of the Hollywood socialite’s inappropriate attitude of set.

Apparently it got so ugly on the set of between Lohan and Betty star America Ferrera, that Lohan was cut from an agreed-upon six episodes down to four.

One production source said, “It was a mess. Lindsay would show up every day with an entourage of people. She smoked 24/7, and after she left, they had to repaint her dressing room it was such a mess.”

In addition, Lohan “would obsessively cut pictures of herself out of the tabloids like she was creating some sort of scrapbook and refused to go on set until America was there — it was a power play.”

One episode, titled “Granny Pants,” was about how Lohan, playing Betty’s high school nemesis, would “de-pants” Ferrera. But Ferrera exacts her revenge and pulls down Lohan’s pants instead. “Lindsay wasn’t wearing any underwear,” the source said.

But a Lohan pal fumed, “Bull [bleep]! Lindsay wears underwear all the time now. She was wearing a G-string. And it was America’s fault. They were rehearsing the scene and America wasn’t supposed to pull Lindsay’s pants down — but she did. Lindsay was so embarrassed, she started crying.”

Australia’s Melissa George is reportedly in final negotiations to join the hit medical drama Grey’s Anatomy. She will play an intern who’s being brought on board as a potential love interest for one of the female characters.

The character was initially only supposed to be a small patient role, but head honcho Shonda Rhimes was so impressed with the Aussie starlet, that she adjusted the role so that her character could have a more extended stay at Seattle Grace.

Grey’s Anatomy returned for its fifth season today in the states. It’s expected to return next year on Seven.

Source: EW

Universal Studios today announced that they would be adding a large collection of their television series, including current NBC and Sci-Fi Channel shows to the Australian iTunes store. Their offerings include The Office, House, Battlestar Galactica, Monk, Psych, Law and Order SVU, Eureka, Sliders, Hercules, Xena, The Munsters, Miami Vice, Knight Rider, The A-Team and more.

Universal Studios are the third of the big six US television content producers to be added to the iTunes store, after Disney’s ABC Studios who currently offer hit series including Lost, Desperate Housewives and Grey’s Anatomy; and Viacom who offer shows from MTV, but currently no scripted drama or comedy content from its CBS Paramount subsidiary.

See entire the Universal catalogue on iTunes.

New Zealand actor/presenter Grant Bowler, best know for his roles in Outrageous Fortune and Lost and as host of Australia’s Border Security, has just landed a recurring role in the new season of Ugly Betty.

Bowler will play Meade Publications’ CFO on the ABC Studios dramady. “He’s running the business part of the magazine,” explains executive producer Silvio Horta. “He’s hot and cool and all the women are in love with him.”

So what does this mean for Border Security? I guess we’ll have to get another New Zealander to protect Australia’s borders. Wait…huh?

Source: EW.com

So we’re not quite sure why ABC Studios sold the DVD rights for Reaper to Lionsgate, but we’re fairly certain that Reaper Season One has one of the fugliest DVD covers I’ve seen in a while. It looks like something my 4 year old cousin put together on scrap-booking day in kindergarten.

Despite the afore mentioned flaw, it looks to be one devilish set.  The five-disc boxed set will be released on November 4 by Lionsgate in the US, with all 18 episodes plus bonus features. $US39.98 RRP. (Source: TVShowsonDVD.com). Walt Disney Studios are expected to release Reaper Season One locally soon after.

Reaper stars Brett Harrison (The Loop), Ray Wise (Twin Peaks) and Missy Peregrym (Heroes).

It returns mid-season on The CW and in 2009 on Seven.