maria bello

Maybe Maria Bello is taking this 'History of Violence' thing a little too seriously.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the former E.R. co-star will headline the HBO series 'Emergency Sex,' based on the book 'Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures: A True Story From Hell on Earth'.

The series is inspired by the gritty tales of beleaguered U.N. peacekeepers Kenneth Cain, Heidi Postlewait and Andrew Thomson, who were all stationed in war-torn countries like Cambodia, Somalia and Haiti throughout the early '90s.

Once upon a time, hot shot movie actors would never have deigned to stoop so low as to appear on -- gasp --- TV, but thanks to big screen talent like Glen Close ('Damages'), Alec Baldwin ('30 Rock') and Laurence Fishburne ('CSI) having made the leap, more and more "A listers" have begun to think of the old boob tube as less, well, boob-y.

In fact, during any given pilot season, the networks compile a "wish list" of movie stars they'd love to get their mitts on and this year's no different. The Hollywood Reporter details that this time 'round, Oscar nominee Julianne Moore and indie darling Maria Bello rest atop the list for several of the more meaty female roles.

It seems that Moore, who's been dipping her toes into the television pool with a [much-mailgned] guest arc on '30 Rock' would be the dream addition to the Peacock net's take on PBS' long-running 'Prime Suspect.' ABC, too, has its eyes on Moore for its upcoming comedic drama 'Scoundrels' but has also approached Bello and former box office heavyweight-turned-compulsive-tweeter, Demi Moore about the role of a mom who tries to get her family of small-time criminals back on the straight and narrow.

It's about time Maria Bello got her own series, because it seems like she's always playing the wife of someone. She hasn't done a lot of TV lately, not since ER in the 1990s. But at the movies, she's played the wife of Viggo Mortensen (A History of Violence), Nicolas Cage (World Trade Center), Tim McGraw (Flicka), and Brendan Fraser (The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor), to name a few.

Maybe Bello finally realized that in order to front a series, she'd have to do it herself! She's signed a deal with HBO to executive produce and star in a new series, according to Variety.

The untitled hour-long project follows a woman who's forced into a life of crime to support her three teenage sons after her husband is killed (so, no husband whatsoever in this series).

• At 8, CBS repeats the Tom Selleck TV movie Jesse Stone: Night Passage. I wonder why this never became a regular series?
• Food Network has a new Emeril Live at 8, followed by Scoop, which has contestants trying to come up with a new ice cream flavor.
• There's a new Suite Life of Zack & Cody on Disney at 8, followed by new episodes of Cory in the House and The Emperor's New School.
• At 9, Cartoon Network has a new Naruto, then new episodes of Fantastic Four, Bobobo-bo Bo-Bobo, and One Piece.
• Have you ever seen My Favorite Martian? It's on American Life at 9.
• Also at 9: IFC has The Cooler, with William H. Macy and Maria Bello.
• At 10, BBC America has a new Graham Norton Show, with Alice Cooper.

Check your local TV listings for more.

ABC had garnered a fair amount of press over this one because of the obvious tie-in to the Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie movie. The big news is that the creators of the movie are back for the TV show. Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Swingers) and Simon Kinberg (X-Men: The Last Stand) have signed on to try and transform their movie to the small screen.

Sometimes the wheels of TV production turn mighty slowly. In August of '05 Adam posted about Doug Liman signing a deal with NBC. Then, last January there was talk about his first project being a series adaptation of the movie Mr. & Mrs. Smith.

A year later, and the show is finally getting the go ahead for a pilot, but not at NBC. Somehow the show has now ended up at ABC. Liman, who directed the big screen version, will direct the pilot. It will be written by Simon Kinberg, who wrote the movie. Kinberg says of the series, ""It's essentially Married With Children with guns." Casting is under way with nobody officially attached to replace Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie at this time.

I'll be curious to get a look at it, just because it's Doug Liman, but my real hope for the show is that it will somehow lead to a DVD set of the completely unrelated CBS show, also called Mr. & Mrs. Smith. You might remember that from the fall of '96, starring Scott Bakula and Maria Bello.

Hi again. No new ER this week due to America's national pastime (the World Series, for the confused). So, I thought I'd take my usual Thursday night spot to pose a question to all fans of the show, past and present. Who do you miss from County General? There have been plenty of doctors and nurses who have come and gone through the doors of the emergency room. Some of them we were glad to see go, and we wish others would return for at least a guest appearance.

While I wait for your comments on the subject, here are the five ER cast members I miss.

John Carter (Noah Wyle) -- All right, I admit it, I had a "man crush" on Dr. Carter. In the very beginning of the series run I always felt the show was a bit empty when he wasn't around. Carter was the face of how things changed in the emergency room. Plus, he was one of those characters that we could root for, especially with events such as his stabbing and drug addiction and his rocky relationship with Abby. I wouldn't mind at all if he returned to ER for a few episodes this season.

What's happening on ER these days? It must be something big because the NBC hospital drama made a huge comeback last week, beating out a repeat of Without a Trace with 15.4 million viewers. Yes, it was a repeat. But, even the repeats on CBS have been kicking NBC's butt lately.

I gave up on ER years ago, even before George Clooney left, because I couldn't handle having a major emotional breakdown each week. I tuned in for a couple of key episodes over the years: i.e. when Lucy and Carter got stabbed in the kidneys, when Doug left, when Carol left, and when Dr. Green died.

So tell me, is it any good?