Common, already an accomplished rapper and silver screen actor has turned his sights on TV.

According to Deadline Hollywood, Common has been tapped to star in AMC's pilot 'Hell on Wheels,' a western about the Transcontinental Railroad. He'll will Elam, a half black/half white freed slave seeking work on the railroad.

"Common brings a layered intensity to a very complex role," Joel Stillerman, AMC's senior vice president programming, said. "This part required someone who can transcend the stereotypes of the period and bring the character to life in a truly unique way, and he brings that."

Audiences may remember Common from this summer's 'Date Night' and 'Just Wright.'

In other TV casting news ...

Natalia Cigliuti has joined the cast of Raising the Bar, a new legal drama from TNT. She will play public defender Roberta "Bobbi" Gilardi. Joining Cigliutti are Mark Paul Gosselaar (NYPD Blue), Gloria Reuben (ER), Jane Kaczmarek (Malcolm in the Middle), Teddy Sears (Ugly Betty), Melissa Sagemiller (Sleeper Cell), Currie Graham (Boston Legal), J. August Richards (Conviction) and Jonathan Scarfe (Into the West).

Cigliuti will co-star with Gosselaar. Her character Bobbi, a Brooklyn native, is brought in to help with the strenuous workload at the public defender's office. Gosselaar flirtatiously calls her "Bobbi from Brooklyn" and takes an interest in his new co-worker.

(S04E03) "The heart can be a bitch." - Alan Shore

I cannot begin this review without addressing how shocked I was with the opening scene. The very idea of a fifteen year old girl who contracts HIV made my jaw drop. I was shocked that a school would teach children that abstinence is the only effective way to avoid unwanted pregnancy and STD's. When I was in school (many years ago) we were taught that while abstinence is the best way to avoid the pitfalls of teen sex, condoms are a close second, especially when it comes to avoiding disease. As a parent, it concerns me that my daughter's school might actually teach this sort of thing. Thankfully, Alan pointed out where the blame actually lies...in the lap of the U.S. government. In an effort to please the conservatives who elected them, the Republicans refuse to give schools an option that would teach teens a realistic way to have sex responsibly. I know it's only a TV show but only a fool would think this kind of thing isn't happening in some parts of the country.