'Torchwood' fans, rejoice. We're less than two weeks away from the stateside debut of 'Torchwood: Miracle Day,' which premieres on Starz July 8. John Barrowman and Eve Myles are slated to return as Captain Jack Harkness and Gwen Cooper, joined by 'Torchwood' newcomers Bill Pullman, Lauren Ambrose, and Mekhi Phifer. Tuesday on 'The Talk' (weekdays, syndicated on CBS), Phifer shared a clip from the 'Doctor Who' spin-off and also divulged a few details of the plot.

In the clip, Phifer's character is shown getting impaled through the chest with a rod that flies off the back of a truck ahead of him. But, as he explained, he doesn't die. "Basically there's this phenomenon that happens throughout the world where no one is dying," he said. "I play a C.I.A. agent named Rex Matheson, and so I make it my mission to try to get to the bottom of what this phenomenon is and who's behind it. Is it aliens? Is it a conspiracy group?"

Take note of the new pilot AMC just picked up, 'Hell on Wheels,' because it's probably going to be the highly respected new period drama you'll be talking about this time next year.

The show follows a former Confederate soldier (Anson Mount, pictured) as he heads out West, searching for vengeance while helping to build the First Transcontinental Railroad, Deadline reports. Rapper Common also stars as a freed slave.

This is the sixth out of six AMC pilots to get a full season order. Its 10 episodes will air sometime in 2011.

In other TV news ...

• Bill Pullman has joined Starz's 'Torchwood' as a series regular. Season 4 of the show will feature the actor as a convicted murderer who just barely escapes life in prison due to a technicality. [Deadline]

• A Fox rep confirmed to Time's TV critic that the final episodes of 'Running Wilde' will air this month. "Word from Fox: Final #RunningWilde eps WILL air this month: 12/19, 12/26 and 12/28," James Poniewozick tweeted. [Twitter]

• 'Sesame Street' is heading back to China. A shorter, Shanghai-centric version of the series will be broadcast in Mandarin to Shanghai TV sets starting Dec. 22. General Electric sponsored the show's broadcast from 1998-2001. [The Hollywood Reporter]

Michelle Trachtenberg has been many things throughout her extensive Hollywood career.

She's been an elementary school spy, Little Pete's friend, the Key, a nurse, a snarky rich girl and so much more. Now, she's ready to graduate to a criminal profiler. (Well, a criminology student who has a gift for profiling and a dark past.)

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Trachtenberg is teaming up with 'Gossip Girl' honchos Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage to produce and star in the project at The CW. The series only has a script order so far.

In other TV news ...

• NBC has set a Dec. 6 at 8PM premiere date for 'The Sing-Off.' Nick Lachey will host four two-hour episodes and a live finale on Dec. 20. [Deadline Hollywood]

• 'Will and Grace' star Eric McCormack has been cast in a pilot for TNT. McCormack is in talks to play a brilliant neuroscientist who works with the FBI. [Deadline Hollywood]

• Bill Pullman and Matthew Modine have joined the cast of HBO's 'Too Big to Fail.' Pullman will play Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JP Morgan Chase and Modine has been tapped to play John Thain, the former chairman and CEO of Merrill Lynch. [Deadline Hollywood]

Becki Newton has officially moved on from the recent cancellation of ABC's 'Ugly Betty.' According to reports, Netwon has signed on to star in NBC's 'Love Bites,' a dramedy that revolves around "modern stories of love, sex, marriage and dating." Newton -- who reportedly received 11 different pilot offers -- will play Annie, a social worker who just so happens to be a virgin. [Hollywood Reporter]

NBC seems anxious to bounce back in a significant way. The network has a long way to go, but casting Bill Pullman in the sitcom pilot 'Nathan vs. Nurture' was a good step. It's not just that Pullman, who's a terrific actor and extremely funny, will be on the show. It's that he's going to play opposite Jay Harrington, who was announced as the star a few days ago. Those two guys together equals potential hysteria... in a good way.

The premise of 'Nathan vs. Nurture' is promising. Jay's character is a successful heart surgeon who discovers that he was adopted and meets his biological family. And Bill Pullman is his real dad, Arthur. There are also siblings that Nathan's never met before, and between Arthur and the sibs, there's nothing that matches his level of accomplishment. How is it possible if they have the same genes? Well, that's where the comedy kicks in.

When CBS presented their upfront last May, one of the more intriguing dramas was a murder mystery/slasher film/whodunit about a wedding party on a Seattle island. It was called Harper's Island and projected for mid-season. The preview played like a cross between Ten Little Indians and Twin Peaks to me, and I liked what I saw. I certainly plan on giving it a try when it shows up on CBS.

It's still slated for early 2009, only now the actor playing the groom's loud, fun-loving and duplicitous uncle is going to be Harry Hamlin. He has been added to the Harper's Island cast as Marty.

Ugly Betty's Henry is going to Harper's Island. Actor Christopher Gorham has been cast on the new mystery Harper's Island. Good for Chris, but what about his other character, Henry, the lovable geeky accountant on Ugly Betty? That remains in question.

On Harper's Island, which CBS is calling a Ten Little Indians/Twin Peaks-style horror mystery in which a wedding party on a Seattle island find themselves cut off from the mainland with a murderer on the loose. The killer is doing away with characters week after week and everyone is a suspect or a victim.

In addition to Christopher Gorham, actor Bill Pullman (Sleepless in Seattle) is also in the show as a jovial, drunken Uncle Marty.