After years in development hell, a television version of hit film and novel 'The Firm' is slated for a 2012 mid-season debut on NBC in the U.S. and Global in Canada. It's been 20 years since the book topped best-seller lists and 18 since the film added to the oeuvre of films that feature Tom Cruise running. It's hard to say if this time-lapse will be a boon to the show (at least it doesn't feel too soon, like a certain 'Spiderman' reboot) or a deficit -- does anyone care what the McDeere family is up to ten years later?



Maybe they will when they see who's in the cast for the small screen version -- it's a collection of some of the brightest, smartest and creepiest actors working. And I mean that in the most complimentary way. With Josh Lucas as Mitch, Molly Parker as his wife Abby, Callum Keith Rennie as brother Ray and Juliette Lewis as assistant Tammy, we viewers will never be able to trust a single one of them.

They take their fun very seriously in China, apparently. Juliette Lewis was on 'The Late Late Show' (Weeknights, 12:37AM ET on CBS), and she related a story of how a unit of what she could only describe as riot place took position around her audience by the time she got to the second song in her set.

"I took that as a compliment," she said. "Like bring on the f****** riot police. Shut this girl down because she's gonna cause mayhem." She said they surrounded the crowd as if to keep them from too much enthusiasm.

"I kind of like that," Craig Ferguson said of the idea of controlled excitement. "It's kind of like being tied up for sex."

Fans of Juliette Lewis may be delighted to know that she keeps their gifts in a big trunk. But in future, please make sure whatever you bestow is airport-friendly. On 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' (weeknights, 12:05AM ET on ABC), Lewis told of a Scottish fan (who "might've done a lot of psychedelics") giving her a "giant-size" bullet, in honor of her role in 'Natural Born Killers.'

"Then I go through customs in Finland," said the actress-turned-singer. "In the X-ray machine there's the big old bullet. They want to know where the gun is. And they quarantined me."

Since they didn't speak English, Lewis had to resort to some pretty crazy hand gestures -- that left her looking like the one on psychedelics. So did she get to keep the bullet?

Now that The Simpsons has made a successful jump from the small screen to the big (a billion bucks worldwide so far!), people are talking about bringing another FOX animated series, Family Guy, to your local theater as well. But does it have enough of an audience for such a project?

Seth MacFarlane isn't sure, but he has a live-action cast picked out. Rosie O'Donnell would be Peter (a very scary Peter), David Hyde Pierce would be Stewie (?), Ann Coulter would be Brian, Phillip Seymour Hoffman would play Chris, Juliette Lewis would be Meg, and Kathy Griffin would portray Lois.

Yes, My Name is Earl is getting its own comic book. Oni Press announced it yesterday ahead of Comic-Con. Earl staff writer and script coordinator Hunter Covington is taking on the project. Oni says he's a comics fanatic and he also wrote possibly the best episode last year, The Bountyhunter, starring Juliette Lewis.

So, comic book fans... would you buy a comic of Earl working to cross other things off his list?

[Via TV Tattle]