It's not a great start to the Fourth of July for several cast members of Chelsea Handler's new NBC sitcom, 'Are You There, Vodka? It's Me Chelsea' as they've been fired.

According to TVLine.com the comedy is being radically retooled, which has involved pink slips being handed out to nearly half of the ensemble cast, including Natalie Morales ('White Collar'), Angel Laketa Moore ('ER') and Jo Koy ('Chelsea Lately').

A spokesperson for the show confirmed that the three are leaving "for creative reasons," and that their characters are currently being reconceived.

Chelsea Handler is one busy lady these days, with her late night talk show 'Chelsea Lately,' two new shows in the works and a multi-book publishing deal to look after.

So is it any wonder that as her contract comes up for renewal over at E! there are reports that the network's desperate to keep her, and that she's feeling pretty relaxed about the whole thing?

"We'll see how it goes," she told 'The Hollywood Reporter.' "And if it works out for me to stick around here ... It may turn out that I'm done altogether. I can't keep doing the same thing, my brain is bleeding."

Handler is estimated to make $3.5 million a year for her hosting duties, a figure that will undoubtedly have to rise if E! wants to keep her.

"It's a lengthy process," Handler said, adding that "They tell you're valuable, and then you get a counter [offer] and you think, 'I guess you really don't care about me at all.' Nothing is set in stone, so if things go south, then obviously I will be moving along."

Along with today's announcement of NBC's fall schedule, the network released trailers for most of its new shows. A few highlights? The Christina Applegate/Will Arnett comedy 'Up All Night,' for one, which looks like a welcome return to TV for the actress and her costar, Will Arnett, whose guest spots on '30 Rock' have proven more successful than his past attempts at full-time series work.

Also intriguing: the '60s-set drama 'The Playboy Club,' the mind-bending mid-season drama 'Awake,' and the mid-season musical 'Smash,' whose preview managed to look intriguing despite being essentially a minute-long clip of Katharine McPhee singing a Christina Aguilera song.

After the jump, find updated extended previews and descriptions of each new series.

Hot on the heels of renewing 'Parenthood' and 'Harry's Law' and handing out series orders to half a dozen new shows, NBC has also given the greenlight to comedies 'Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea,' 'Bent,' and 'BFF.'

The Hollywood Reporter confirmed the series pickups.

'Are You There, Vodka?' is based on Chelsea Handler's life and best-selling book. It stars 'That 70s Show' veteran Laura Prepon with Handler involved as an executive producer and playing Prepon's older sister.

'Free Agents,' a workplace romantic comedy based on the popular UK series, comes from 'Party Down' co-creator John Enbom. Hank Azaria stars in the series about two co-workers who fall in love.

Amanda Peet stars in 'Bent,' a comedy about a divorced mom who does her best not to fall in love with her contractor. Jeffrey Tambor also stars in the sitcom, which may be held for midseason.

Laura Prepon will do her best Chelsea Handler in the NBC pilot for 'Are You There Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea.' The former 'That '70s Show' star will play Chelsea Hanson, a fictionalized version of the real comedienne in the comedy pilot based on Handler's best-selling book.

According Deadline Hollywood, the project will follow Prepon's character, a young waitress who isn't afraid to share her opinions and love of drinking and sex.

Prepon recently popped up on 'Castle' and just sold her Web series, 'Neighbros' as a half-hour scripted comedy.

In other casting news ...

• Peter Fonda will guest on 'CSI: N.Y.' Fonda will appear in two episodes this April as William Hunt, the former partner of Detective Mac Taylor (Gary Sinise). [Entertainment Weekly]

• Ed Begley Jr. has landed a lead role in NBC's 'Brave New World' pilot. Begley, Nick Braun and Will Greenberg will play employees of a theme park, Pilgrim Village, that specializes in recreating historical New England. [Deadline Hollywood]

• 'Fantastic Four's star Ioan Gruffudd has joined the cast of 'Ringer.' Gruffudd will play Andrew, husband to one of Sarah Michelle Gellar's characters, Siobhan. [Deadline Hollywood]

Chelsea Lately is the late night talk show that never gets any attention. That's probably because it's on E! and that's probably a network that TV viewers don't think about when they think of late night television, but let's be honest, it's a lot better than Last Call with Carson Daly (plus it's on a lot earlier). And Chelsea Handler is a genuinely funny person. Her book of comic essays Are You There, Vodka? It's Me Chelsea is quite good, though I haven't read her first book about all of the one night stands she has had. Sounds funny though. She was also on Girls Behaving Badly, but we can forgive her for that.

E! has been impressed with the ratings for Handler's show and they've given it a green light through 2009.