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.

NBC's midseason show 'The Firm,' based on the John Grisham thriller of the same name, has locked in its female lead.

Molly Parker, formerly of HBO's 'Deadwood,' will play Abby McDeere in the new drama, Vulture reports. Abby is the wife of the main lawyer character, played by Josh Lucas in the new show (and Tom Cruise in the movie).

In other TV news ...

'Smash,' 'Ringer,' 'Apartment 23,' and 'Terra Nova.' Are these among the best shows of the fall?

According to Deadline, the critics behind the Critics' Choice Awards have nominated eight new fall shows for the Most Exciting New Series:

• 'Smash'
• 'Ringer'
• 'Terra Nova'
• 'Awake'
• 'Apartment 23'
• 'Alcatraz'
• 'Falling Skies'
• 'New Girl'

Cat Deeley will host the awards ceremony on June 20, VH1.com will live stream the show. ReelzChannel will air the ceremony at 8PM on June 22.

In other TV news ...

You better put your box of wine down before you read this: Kathy Griffin told Entertainment Weekly that her hit reality show, 'My Life on the D-List,' is over.

The Emmy-winner told EW that she's unsure of the show's future and format. "I don't think it will come back, especially not as the same show it was," Griffin said. "I would love to do a hybrid show, like a half-scripted kind of thing or something based on what I built on 'My Life on the D-List' and what I experience, but not a full-on reality show."

Griffin said a scripted series would be a natural progression for her brand and humor.

The past few seasons of 'D-List' have focused on the diva's misadventures with celebrities, with the situations seeming less organic and more staged. Bravo has yet to make a decision on the future of the series.

In other TV news ...

• The striking 'Biggest Loser' crew got a bit of a boost from the talent. Trainers Jillian Michaels and Bob Harper along with host Alison Sweeney have not crossed the picket line even though they have no-strike clauses in their contracts. [Deadline Hollywood]

• Ready for more 'Luther'? BBC is at work on two more two-hour TV movies about the character. No word on whether the new movies will air on BBC America. [Variety]

• Kevin Eubanks is returning to 'The Tonight Show.' Eubanks will appear on the Nov. 23 episode to promote his new CD, 'Zen Food.' [NBC]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer alum Sarah Michelle Gellar is starring in an HBO comedy pilot called The Wonderful Maladys, about a group of dysfunctional New York siblings. The project also stars Nate Corddry (Rob's little brother) and Swingtown vet Molly Parker.

We don't know much about the show's concept yet, but I'm looking forward to it. Being a Buffy fan, anything Sarah Michelle Gellar does instantly pops on my radar. So far, Gellar's post-Buffy career has delivered a few tedious big screen horror thrillers like The Grudge and The Return, but I loved her comic performance in Richard Kelly's Southland Tales. That performance, along with some of her funnier bits from Buffy, have me convinced that Gellar would make a great comedic lead.

Charles Randolph (The Interpreter) wrote the pilot script and TV vet Alan Taylor (Mad Men, Big Love) is directing. Gellar is executive producing the project, which will be shot early next year.

Jonathan told you earlier this summer that there would be a Deadwood DVD set coming at the end of the year. I bet you didn't know it was going to be 19 discs.

The Deadwood complete series set will house all three seasons on those 19 discs, and it will come with a rather large booklet guide to the show as well. But that isn't the big news. The big news is that the set will include among its two hours of extras a feature titled "The Meaning of Endings," which will be a detailed explanation of what would have happened to the characters had HBO not canceled the show.

(S01E03) Consider this episode of Swingtown a case of being betwixt and between. The Millers have been in their new home all of two weeks and so much has happened to shake their foundation; Susan especially seems like the song "caught in the middle with you." Does she want to be the good wife going to church and being satisfied with the way they were, her and Bruce, back in the old neighborhood? Or is she ready to embrace swinging?

She's at first drawn back to Janet and Roger and the old ways. Because she's still perturbed by the business card she found in Bruce's pants from the Playboy Club, the one from Sylvia suggesting a get together, Susan drags her family to Sunday services for a little God-time. Impulsively, when chatting with Janet, Susan announces that she's having a housewarming and wants Janet's help. It's like she's clinging to a simpler past.
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How swinging is CBS's new summer series Swingtown? It's not swinging in the Sinatra-Rat Pack-ring-a-ding-ding way. No, this Swingtown is set in an era ten years later, specifically July 4, 1976, the bicentennial. But Swingtown, which premieres on Thursday at 10 PM ET, is not a nostalgic, optimistic wallow. However, It does evoke a time when America was undergoing a lot of change as the college kids from the late sixties were moving into the seven-year-itch of marriage, raising children, exploring boundaries.

Swingtown reminded me of Knots Landing meets Boogie Nights with a dollop of The Stepford Wives thrown in there, too (maybe it was those scenes in the supermarket). Superficially, there are elements of Swingtown, in particular the attention to detail in the production design and music, that are as spot on for 1976 as Mad Men was for 1960. When you see that pop-top can of Tab, you can't help but go back in time.
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Way back in July 2007, TV Squad wrote about a bunch of shows CBS previewed and were slating for the upcoming season, including Swingtown. It was supposed to premiere in mid-season, but then mid-season came and it was nowhere to be found. The network will announce today their plans for the serial drama; it's going to run this summer. Instead of taking that move as a lack of faith in the show, executive producer Carol Barbee told The Hollywood Reporter that a summer run creatively suits the project. "A summer launch is perfect for Swingtown since the pilot takes place on the Bicentennial Fourth of July," Barbee said. Barbee has most recently been working on Jericho.

CBS is on a good run, being the most watched network for the last five years, but they have taken a bit of heat for the formulaic way they have gone about doing it. Not arguing with success, the whole family of CSIs, and their crime based cousins, will be back, but the network is trying to branch out with some edgier programming. Most notably, Swingtown, Viva Laughlin, and Moonlight.

Returning: The Amazing Race, Cold Case, 60 Minutes, How I Met Your Mother, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Two and a Half Men, Rules of Engagement, CSI: Miami, NCIS, The Unit, Criminal Minds, CSI: NY, Survivor, CSI, Shark, Without A Trace, Ghost Whisperer, Numb3rs, 48 Hours Mystery.

New: Viva Laughlin, Swingtown, Moonlight, Cane, Big Bang Theory, Power of 10, Kid Nation

Out: King of Queens, Jericho, The Class, Close To Home

Moving: Without A Trace moves back to Thursday at 10. Shark heads to Sunday at 10.

(S03E12) Maybe I sit alone with this belief, but I was royally disappointed with this finale. This entire season has been building up to this episode. It was supposed to be a magnificent explosion with guns a blazing as Bullock and Swearengen delivered Deadwood from the clutches of Hearst and his Pinkerton pistoleros. There was none of that. For the most part it was calm. It's clear that this finale was written with a full-length fourth season in mind and I only hope now that the remaining four hours of this wonderful series can do it the justice it deserves.

(S03E11) Forgive the extreme lateness of this review folks, but between work and my cable being out for a day, I just haven't had the opportunity to sit down and watch this episode. But now that I have... wow. Words cannot describe how excited I am for tonight's season three finale. So take this review as sort of a refresher on the season as a whole as we prepare ourselves for the final stand-off between Hearst's men and the camp of Deadwood.

(S03E10) Once again, great as usual... but man, they are really building up to this season's climax at a snail's pace. As much as that fact has me agitated, you still have to admire it though. Every move, every scene, every choice bit of dialogue in this show means something. It all ties together. It's just so meticulously laid out and that's why we're unfortunately not being treated to a full fourth season. It's too bad that series renewal relies on viewership and not the quality level of the program, because let's face it. Deadwood, along with a few select others (Rescue Me comes to mind), are alone at the top right now.

(S03E09) Since there are only three episodes left this season, I was expecting this to be a much tenser hour. Don't get me wrong, it was great, but David Milch and Co. are being very economical about when, where, and how they're doling out the really explosive stuff. If anything, the final three installments will be brimming with what this whole season has been building up to: a final confrontation between the people of Deadwood and George "Boy the Earth Talks To" Hearst.

(S03E08) This show just continues to impress. After missing last week's episode, I sat down an hour early tonight and got a double dose. Talk about a great two hours of television. We pick up the morning after Al's impromptu meeting with the rest of the camp elders. Tensions are high as Merrick and Blasinov distribute fresh copies of The Pioneer around camp. The waiting game came next as it would only be a matter of time before Hearst saw Bullock's letter to the families of the murdered Cornishmen. And find it he did. He had some words with Merrick about printing the letter. But Hearst is no fool. He knows it was published to embarrass him and shed light on the murders he clearly had a hand in. If anything, all this has done is strengthened his already powerful dislike for the camp and its residents.