NBC has just realized something: you have to spend money if you want good TV shows.

OK, maybe "realized" isn't the best word to use. More like "remembered." NBC chairman Jeff Gaspin tells The New York Times that the network is changing its strategy and will pay to get some good shows on the network.

For starters, they've ordered almost 20 new pilots this season -- scripted dramas and comedies -- up from ten last season. Instead of strictly going by the numbers and looking for a big profit margin and trying to cut costs in every way possible, they're looking for good shows they can stick with.

Thanks to the launch of Working Title Television (WTTV) last month, NBC Universal will glean a few TV-show ideas from movies created by its subsidiary Working Title Films. The UK production company is behind such Oscar crushes as 'Atonement,' Frost/Nixon' and 'A Serious Man,' and fan-faves 'Nanny McPhee,' 'Four Weddings and a Funeral' and 'Pride & Prejudice.'

NBC Universal (which could use some fresh programming following the prime-time Leno debacle) will distribute WTTV content, starting with the comedy 'Love Bites' -- a "romantic anthology" reminiscent of Working Title Films' 'Love Actually' -- starring Jordana Spiro ('My Boys') and 'Ugly Betty's' Becki Newton. Execs in the joint venture announced last month they will also adapt the 'Bridget Jones' franchise for the small screen.

Having looked at the rest of Working Title's 100-plus film repertoire, we've got some thoughts of our own on three movies that would make good episodic programming -- and two that wouldn't.

Jennifer Love Hewitt is set to star in a new Lifetime movie, tentatively titled 'The List.' In it, the 'Ghost Whisperer' star will play an ex-beauty queen-turned-mother of three who is now facing the threat of foreclosure. Meanwhile, Love Hewitt will also play herself in the pilot of NBC's upcoming 'Love Bites' from 'Sex and the City's' Cindy Chupack. Becki Newton of 'Ugly Betty' stars. [Hollywood Reporter] [Ausiello Files]

More casting news after the jump.

Becki Newton has officially moved on from the recent cancellation of ABC's 'Ugly Betty.' According to reports, Netwon has signed on to star in NBC's 'Love Bites,' a dramedy that revolves around "modern stories of love, sex, marriage and dating." Newton -- who reportedly received 11 different pilot offers -- will play Annie, a social worker who just so happens to be a virgin. [Hollywood Reporter]

Fresh off the cancellation of 'Ugly Betty', Becki Newton has already found her next big project. She will be starring in 'Love Bites', an anthology series on NBC about dating and relationships similar to the classic 'Love, American Style'. Unlike her manipulative Amanda Tanen character, Newton's new character will be an "optimistic, infectiously bubbly social worker who is a virgin".

'Ugly Betty' started off strong but seemed to meander in the later seasons. Once it was relegated to Friday night (usually where science fiction and fantasy is sent to die), it was already pretty much done. What prompted the strong start was a memorable cast of characters, including Amanda Tanen as played by Becki Newton.

It's good for Ms. Newton to play someone radically different than Amanda to prevent typecasting. Granted, 'Love Bites' sounds at first like a series involving vampire romance. For Ms. Newton's sake, let's hope 'Love Bites' doesn't, well, suck.