Before the The L Word's final season, Showtime announced that they were developing a spin-off series around Alice Pieszecki, played by Leisha Hailey (aka that chick from those extra-annoying yogurt commercials). Because of the wacky muuurder plot that drove the sixth season, this spin-off would have featured Alice in prison. At some point this must have seemed like a good idea, because a pilot was made, but recently it was revealed that this will not be moving on.

This is probably for the best, really. Towards the end, The L Word was getting kind of exhausting and nothing about Alice made me want to watch a spin-off about her. Plus, seeing her being all quirky and bubbly in prison would have gotten old super-fast, assuming that's the main schtick.

The L Word will kick off its sixth, and final, season in January, with Elizabeth Berkley in tow. That's a pretty nice run for any show, cable or network. If you're experiencing preemptive disappointment over the thought of losing the show, rest easy. As we heard at the TCAs, Ilene Chaiken, creator and executive producer of the show, has been signed to write and produce a pilot for an L Word spinoff.

Even better, we now know that Leisha Hailey has been brought in to star. She plays Alice, and would have easily been my pick for the character to spin off. The Showtime press release doesn't contain any details about what Chaiken has planned for Alice in the new series. We do know that she will take a storyline from season six and continue it as internet-only content. If the pilot goes forward to series, the online component will segue into the new show. I would add, if there is any way to bring back Erica Cerra, I'd be all for that. You can never have too much Erica Cerra on your television. Showtime's press release is after the jump.

Showtime's upcoming fifth season of The L Word will premiere first on OurChart.com, a lesbian-focused social community, according to BusinessWire.com. The OurChart.com premiere is slated for December 30, 2007 followed by the Showtime premiere on January 6, 2008. The choice is no coincidence, as co-founder and CEO of OurChart.com, Ilene Chaiken, is also the creator/producer of The L Word.

This is, regardless of anything else, another example of how technology and the new online media is becoming more and more intertwined with traditional television viewing.

Marlee Matlin is joining the cast of Showtime's The L Word. She'll play "a fiery artist who catches the attention of Jennifer Beals' character, Bette Porter," according to Showtime execs. In 1986, Matlin won an Oscar for playing a deaf student in the movie, Children of a Lesser God. Lately, though, she has been doing all sorts of (great) guest appearances including Desperate Housewives and Law and Order: SVU, and she has had a recurring role as 'Joey Lucas' on The West Wing.

Season four of The L Word is set to premiere sometime early next year.

Writers of The L Word are including the show's fans in a very unique way. They've started a 'fanisode' contest where fans team up with writers to script an episode one scene at a time. Each week, the writers will announce a scene mission on their website and fans create it. Then fans vote on which submissions they like the best. It's a process that repeats itself each week until an entire episode is created out of fan-chosen and fan-created scenes. However, writers are not guaranteeing that the particular episode will air.

The fans whose scenes are elected will receive prizes, mostly in the form of gift certificates or a piece of schwag from The L Word set. At the end of the competition, which is March 31, one of the previous winners will be randomly chosen for e-mail mentoring from one of The L Word's writers and a $1,000 gift certificate to Saks.