hollywood reporter

You would think that the early, painful demise of The Nine, Kidnapped, Smith, Six Degrees, and other new dramas this season that there would be more comedy pilots picked up for the 2007 season. But according to The Hollywood Reporter, that's not the case.

Except for some solid buzz from a handful of comedies, including ABC's Sam I Am, ABC's Cavemen and Miss/Guided, and several shows at CBS, it looks like more dramas will make the schedule, including NBC's Bionic Woman and Journeyman, ABC's Dirty Sexy Money and Pushing Daisies, CBS' Babylon Fields, The Man, and Viva Laughlin. The new Jimmy Smits drama might replace Close To Home on Fridays, while FOX has the much-hyped Sarah Connor Chronicles, K-Ville, and Them.

NBC just can't let a sleeping schedule lie, can they? They've decided to shuffle things around once again, stacking the deck with an all-reality Sunday lineup and an all-drama Wednesday lineup.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the three main moves are this: the Wednesday Deal or No Deal moves to Sundays at 9, and The Apprentice shifts to 10 to make room. Crossing Jordan move s from Sundays at 10 to Wednesdays at 9. All of this will take place starting on March 4.

So, as I said, Sundays will be all-reality, with Dateline, Grease, Deal, and The Apprentice. Wednesdays will start with Friday Night Lights, to be followed by Jordan and Medium. When you look at it, the schedule actually makes sense, though I'm not sure if fans of Jordan are going to be happy with its switch out of its longtime Sunday slot.

I think that at this point we can probably say that the two breakout stars of the 2006-2007 television season are America Ferrera (Ugly Betty) and Masi Oka (Heroes). And for Masi, that is starting to pay dividends. From The Hollywood Reporter comes word that he is in talks for a gig in the Robert Luketic film 21.

Based on the Ben Mezrich book "Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions," the movie will also star Jim Sturgess.

The book tells the story of the MIT Blackjack Team. Organized by a former math instructor, and backed by anonymous investors, the team used a system of card counting, disguises, and secret signals to take Vegas for nearly $4 million before they were found out.

The Hollywood Reporter is claiming that NBC execs plan to move Friday Night Lights to Sunday nights once the NFL season is over. The move is a strategic one-- to keep FNL out of the line of fire of Fox's unstoppable American Idol, which begins airing on Tuesday nights in mid-January. Last week, NBC ordered up a full season of FNL, which gets an average of 6.7 million viewers each Tuesday night.

This schedule change is reportedly one of many, as the New York Times and The Hollywood Reporter now both say that NBC is planning a major schedule overhaul for January (NYT says the new schedule will be announced this week). Also slated to move is Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, which currently festers at 10 pm on Monday nights.

The single-camera Showtime pilot Insatiable, which revolves around a small town in which everyone has an addiction, has added an impressive roster of actresses to its cast. Currently in negotiation to appear are Andie MacDowell, Laura Flynn Boyle and Andrea Martin.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the ensemble comedy emulates the tone of Twin Peaks. Alright, I have no idea what that means. So, let's move on.

Ray Richmond over at The Hollywood Reporter spoke to Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip creator and head writer Aaron Sorkin today and found out that not only have the ratings for the show the past few weeks made the execs at NBC happier than they were, but that a full season order for the show might be coming any hour or day now. Another source at the network said they would be very surprised if the show wasn't picked up this week.

Here's a quote from Sorkin that is interesting, especially since it addresses something that is often talked about here in our comments section:

Jeffrey Tambor, who played George Bluth, Sr. on Arrested Development, has signed on to a comedy on NBC. He will co-star with John Lithgow in Twenty Good Years, a comedy about two men in their 50s who experience mid-life crises and decide to make the most of their next 20 years.

Despite all the rumors that Arrested Development was getting picked up by Showtime, 20th Century TV released a statement earlier this week that there was no future plans for production of the show. Plus, show creator Mitch Hurwitz moved on this week.

Hey, at least Tambor's moving on to something that sounds pretty good. Jeffrey Tambor and John Lithgow? Sounds like a match made in heaven to me.

[Via The Hollywood Reporter]