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 ...

(S01E15) This episode would have been great for the scene where the study group looked around the room thinking of one another sexually. Without a single word, there was so much spoken with facial expressions and eyes and turns of the head.

I am glad we got more, though. Abed's 'Mystery Science Theater 3000' inspired movie nights reminded me of my own college experience. We used to do the exact same thing; it made 'Waterworld' and 'Battlefield Earth' instant classics. Unfortunately, we got into such bad habits that to this day I find myself mocking and ridiculing even good movies and TV shows.

Luckily, I'm a little quicker on the draw than Pierce. Kudos to him, though, for taking it the extra step and preparing for the next night. That's doing it 'MST3K' style, for real!

While I've not seen official word that CBS's Worst Week has been canceled, it doesn't look like its star has much faith, as he's been cast in a new comedy pilot. ABC has tapped Kyle Bornheimer to star opposite Alyssa Milano and Eric Christian Olsen in a new comedy from Family Guy writer Ricky Blitt. Now that's no Seth MacFarlane, but it is one of the manatees on his team. And it has Alyssa Milano and we haven't fallen out of love with her yet, so I'd say it has a good chance of not being total crap and maybe even making it onto my TV screen.

I thought Bornheimer was pretty funny in Worst Week as the unluckiest bumbling fool on television in a long time. The rest of the show, however, kind of got boring for me after a few weeks. The article says that Bornheimer would stick with Worst Week if it's renewed, but you know he's rooting for it to die. Ratings weren't great and this pilot has him playing second banana to lead Olsen (Brothers & Sisters), which I see fitting his manic energy well. And did I mention Alyssa Milano?

Much to many of our readers' dismay, FOX did not renew The Loop for next season. The network is going to burn off the remaining ten episodes very, very quickly so pay attention.

Here's the schedule:

Tuesdays, June 5, 12 @ 8:30 pm
Sundays, June 10, 17, 24 & July 1 @ 8:30 pm & 9:30 pm

Personally, I'd lose track of those if I didn't have a TiVo or some sort of DVR to record all the episodes. Once The Loop is over, you can see star Bret Harrison playing the lead role in The CW's new drama, Reaper.

It's that time of the year. People are being cast in pilots left and right and some interesting stuff has been announced. At ABC, Christopher Titus (Titus) has landed one of the lead roles in an untitled project from Warner Bros. The show focuses on CEOs and also stars Dylan McDermott (The Practice) and Michael Vartan (Alias). McDermott and Vartan as CEOs is an easy sell. But Christopher Titus, Senior VP Harvard graduate? That's different, and something I look forward to checking out.

Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix) is set to star in ABC's Suspect. The show is a procedural that will solve crimes by tracking suspects through a lineup. She's joined by Eric Palladino (ER) and Kathleen Munroe (Beautiful People). The ABC track record for procedurals is less than impressive, but the addition of Guy Ritchie (Snatch) as director is intriguing enough to give this one a look.

I'm willing to give this new FOX comedy a chance, but right now it just seems like half Arrested Development (wacky group of people, on air text to explain things, use of handheld cameras), half...well, every other sitcom that's been on the air since 1982 (group of friends, they hang out somewhere, the hero of the show likes the cute girl who only sees him as a friend, etc). And maybe just a dash of The Office (just a dash though).

But here's my prediction: it won't last the season.