LiveAction

Cartoon Network is getting deeper into the live action series game.

Yes, I know that's like Fox Sports getting into the daytime soap opera business, but you can't get too upset about the network inappropriate name game. Remember when Bravo was the fine arts network? I rest my case.

As for Cartoon Network's new non-animated shows, a release from the network says Tower Prep and Unnatural History are headed our way in January, 2010.

According to the network, Tower Prep is "an action thriller telling the story of rebellious teen, Ian (Drew Van Acker), who wakes up one morning to find himself trapped at a mysterious prep school." In other words, it's a teenage remake of The Prisoner -- the original 1960s version -- or "Jim Henson's The Prisoner Babies."

While I'll admit that the photo at right is not the most detailed, and Ansel Adams is unlikely to claim it as one of his own due to its lighting and composition, it should prove an important image for Star Wars fans.

The sign artfully painted on the glass door in this tasteful, Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired hallway within the Skywalker Ranch compound in Marin County, Calif. reads "LucasFilm Television." You'll have to trust me on that. This is as close as I could get with a camera.

You might wonder what the big deal is about that sign -- considering that LucasFilm has a show on the air already with Cartoon Network's Star Wars: The Clone Wars. But, those 22 episodes originate across the building in LucasFilm Animation -- a separate division.

The long-rumored Star Wars live action series is reportedly coming together quickly and will begin shooting before 2009 ends.

You can pick any one of many collected reports, but they all say the show is well past the planning stages and is only waiting on completed scripts before George Lucas begins casting the essential roles.

While news of Star Wars on TV might have generated a bored groan from viewers after the prequel movies came and went, the critical and ratings success of Cartoon Network's The Clone Wars shows that a galaxy far, far away can work on TV if the writers, directors and cast remember that this is all supposed to be fun -- not high drama of a deeply spiritual nature.