Nick Zano, is relocating to Melrose Place in early January to play an irreverent doctor who prescribes some extra strength chill pills to reluctant prostitute Lauren (Stephanie Jacobsen). In his first interview since being cast, the actor sounds off on his character’s big secret, Melrose’s sexy, fun makeover, and the downside to having an eight-pack. Read interview here.It's official! TNT has picked up the cop drama 'Southland'
TNT has picked up NBC's Southland, which was cancelled by the network before the launch of its second season. The cable net will have rights to the seven episodes of the police drama that aired last season, and another six un-aired installments shot for this season. Starting in January, the show will run on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on the cable channel, which is co-owned with Southland producer Warner Bros. Television."This is a great win for fans of Southland, and a perfect opportunity to introduce the series to new viewers," said Turner Entertainment Networks president Steve Koonin in announcing the pickup. According to The New York Times, TNT will wait to see how the show performs before making a decision about whether to order new installments.Harvard class to study the gritty HBO drama 'The Wire'
'THE Wire," HBO's gritty series about life in the Baltimore ghetto, is about to become a course at Harvard. The announcement came at a panel discussion at the school featuring several of the show's stars, according to the Harvard student newspaper, The Crimson. The class will be taught by sociology professor William J. Wilson, one of the best-known African American history professors in the country, who has made no secret of the fact that he is a huge fan of the show. "I do not hesitate to say that it has done more to enhance our understanding of the challenges of urban life and the problems of urban inequality, more than any other media event or scholarly publication," Wilson told the audience before poking fun at himself, "including studies by social scientitsts."Adrian Pasdar's character, Nathan Petrelli, to be killed off 'Heroes'
Adrian Pasdar's acting stint on the NBC show will soon come to an end as the writers have decided to kill his character. The "Heroes" character who will be killed off is none other than Peter's flying brother, Nathan Petrelli. Nikki Finke of Deadline Hollywood said that Adrian Pasdar is let go from the show and Kristin Dos Santos from E! Online added that the actor was not fired but he found it out from reading the script. There is still no word on how Nathan's exit from the show will be. "Heroes" which is struggling to stay on top of the surface with its rating, has been killing off characters in the past seasons but never an original character as major as Nathan.DVR, once TV’s mortal enemy, now helps boost ratings!
In what may seem a media business version of the Stockholm syndrome, television network executives have fallen in love with a former tormentor: the digital video recorder. The reason is not simply that more households own DVRs — 33 percent compared with 28 percent at this point in 2008 — helping some marginal shows become hits. It is also that more people seem content to sit through the commercials than networks once thought. These factors combined mean DVR ratings now add significantly to live ratings and thus to ad revenue. “The DVR was going to kill television,” said Andy Donchin, director of media investment for the ad agency Carat. “It hasn’t.” Against almost every expectation, nearly half of all people watching delayed shows are still slouching on their couches watching messages about movies, cars and beer. According to Nielsen, 46 percent of viewers 18 to 49 years old for all four networks taken together are watching the commercials during playback, up slightly from last year. Why would people pass on the opportunity to skip through to the next chunk of program content?'Late Show with David Letterman' ratings are up 13% overall for the season
Several weeks after David Letterman was shaken by an image-rocking scandal, CBS' "Late Show With David Letterman" has shown little sign of weakening audience support. Far from hurting the host's popularity, the sex-and-extortion headlines seemingly have had little impact on his late-night show and possibly even helped the series grow its viewership compared with last year. "It doesn't appear to have hurt him and likely got him more sampling," said Bill Carroll, vp and director of programming at Katz Television Group. Letterman enjoyed an unusually strong premiere week, bolstered by appearances by Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, before he revealed during the Oct. 1 episode that he has had sexual relationships with female staffers and that he was a victim of an alleged blackmail plot to keep those affairs secret. Since then, "Late Show's" weekly average rating in the adults 18-49 demographic has been a consistent 1.0 or 1.1 until it went into repeats last week.Jay Leno says he'd return to 'Tonight' if NBC asked
Prime-time newcomer Jay Leno says he would have rather stayed put at "The Tonight Show" — and if NBC offered him that job again, he'd take it. In an interview with Broadcasting & Cable magazine published online Monday, Leno hastily added that such a decision isn't his to make. "The Jay Leno Show" began on NBC in September, airing Monday through Friday at 10 p.m. Eastern, where it has displaced several prime-time scripted dramas. For that, and for his less-than-stellar ratings thus far, Leno has taken heat within the TV industry as well as from critics. "I get a certain amount of satisfaction from pounding my head against the wall," he said. "I'm not having a bad time at 10 o'clock now. I look at this as a job, and now I'm faced with a challenge, and it's a challenge I find difficult but interesting."A sneak peek at Cheyenne Jackson on "30 Rock"
Cheyenne Jackson will make his first appearance on the Emmy-winning NBC comedy “30 Rock” on Nov. 12. He plays a character named Danny/Jack Baker in the episode entitled “The Problem Solvers.” E! Online initially reported that Jackson is joining the cast as a “permanent or semi-permanent player.” It is not yet known to what extent he will appear on the show, but he joins a long list of Broadway actors who have been featured on the hit program. Click here to view a photo gallery of Cheyenne Jackson’s “30 Rock” debut.
