HBO's 'The Miraculous Year' is piling on an already star-studded cast, adding Susan Sarandon, according to EW.com's The Ausiello Files.

Sarandon will play Patty Atwood, the "director/choreographer of the play-within-the-show." The actress is no stranger to television, having made a guest appearance on 'ER' last year, and has appeared on 'Rescue Me.'

Earlier this month, Lee Pace ('Pushing Daisies') and Linus Roache ('Law & Order') were added to the cast, joining Hope Davis, Frank Langella, Patti LuPone, and Tony winner Eddie Redmayne. Norbert Leo Butz plays the self-destructive Broadway composer at the heart of the story.

It looks like new Lifetime president Nancy Dubuc has a clear vision for her network. In her first pilot season, she's picked up no less than three police procedurals, according to Deadline.

Series hoping to make the grade now that they've been picked to pilot include 'Against the Wall,' about a sister cop in Chicago who causes rifts with her three cop brothers when she joins Internal Affairs.

Meanwhile, Josh Berman, who's already brought the network success with 'Drop Dead Diva,' brings a new pilot spotlighting police partners in San Diego -- one, a mother of two nearing divorce, and another who is newly engaged.

In a bizarre alternate reality, your favorite TV character may have been played by somebody else. Recasting is a fact of life for shows, most of it happens during the time between the pilot episode is shot and the series goes to air.

Fran Kranz (pictured, left), known for his role on Joss Whedon's 'Dollhouse,' has been removed from NBC's new series 'Friends With Benefits.' Kranz appears quite extensively in the promotional trailer from NBC, but tweeted about being fired. Ian Reed Kesler was also given the boot from the Ryan Hansen-fronted 'Friends With Benefits.' Other exiled stars from this year's pilot season include Joely Richardson

In honor -- or mourning -- of the recasts that will take place from now until the fall 2010 season officially kicks off, here's a look back at best friends that never were.

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.

It's pilot time again and this season the networks have decided to turn back the clock, specifically on old cop and crime shows, to save their sinking ratings.

For instance, NBC is bringing back the mystery series 'The Rockford Files' with Dermot Mulroney in the role that James Garner turned into a classic TV crime fighter. CBS has also ordered a remake of the procedural cop classic 'Hawaii Five-O' with Scott Caan and Jean Smart.

Normally, my gut reacts to a TV remake the same way a person who just washed his car reacts to a line of dark clouds (a lot of cursing and shaking of fists at God or some other celestial being). However, if done right, anything has the chance to be good... unless it's one of the following cop serials, which should never be touched by a TV producer ever again.

I caught up with 'Sons of Tucson' the other day, and you know what? It's pretty funny! The ratings aren't that great though, which is probably one of the reasons Tyler Labine has joined the pilot of a new CBS sitcom (that's him on the right riding over to CBS to sign the contract).

Labine will stay on 'Sons of Tucson' if FOX renews it. The new show is called 'True Love' and it's about four friends who live in New York (God, that a really generic description but shows aren't about plots it's about the writing). Everyone must love Labine because he has been offered this role more than once (he turned it down because 'Sons of Tucson' hadn't premiered yet). 'True Love' will also star Jason Biggs and Minka Kelly.

In other casting news, former 'JAG' star David James Elliott has replaced Neal McDonough in the pilot for ABC's 'Scoundrels.' We told you last month about this show, a "dramedy" starring Virginia Madsen as a mom who heads a family of crooks who decides to go straight after her husband is sent to jail. McDonough was going to play the husband but now he's out and Elliott is in.

There are two groups of people who get really excited about pilot season: L.A. actors hoping for a break and television writers. Being a member of the latter category, I admit to a tingly feeling creeping over me as word of the shows in development at all the big networks are starting to leak out. While most people are attributing feelings of renewal to the change in the weather, I'm happily anticipating what J.J. Abrams has in store for us this fall.

Some of our favorite 'Friday Night Lights' graduates are starting to find their post-game footing.

Taylor Kitsch is heading to the big screen in 'John Carter of Mars', Minka Kelly is starring in a CBS comedy pilot, and Jason Street himself, Scott Porter, has landed a leading role in 'Nomads', the CW's adventure series pilot.

'Nomads' sounds like a welcome departure from the network's recent teen girl-friendly fare. The show follows a group of broke, young (and probably very sexy) backpackers working secret missions for the CIA abroad.

Even though the popularity of the family sitcom is starting to wane a bit, ABC has picked one up for their primetime schedule.

It's called 'Southern Discomfort' from writer Chad Kultgen and former 'Cheers' writer Rob Long who has filled its executive producer chair along with Eric Tannenbaum and Kim Tannenbaum.

It's described as a multicamera series surrounding a father who lets his grown children move back in with him. So far, no big names have been attached to the cast, but who do you think would be the perfect actors or actresses to play such a part?

If you're a big fan of the CBS drama 'Numb3rs,' stick your fingers in your ears and run around the room yelling "LA LA LA LA LA I'M NOT LISTENING TO YOU."

Michael Ausiello over at Entertainment Weekly says that 'Numb3rs' star David Krumholtz has been cast in the new FOX Ron Howard sitcom about an IRS agent. The show doesn't have a title yet, it's just called 'Untitled Ron Howard IRS Pilot,' which I think would be a funny title for the show (very 'Arrested Development'-like). "Tonight after 'American Idol,' an all-new 'Untitled Ron Howard IRS Show'!"

If there's any good news about this for 'Numb3rs' fans it's this: if 'Numb3rs' is renewed for another season, Krumholtz has to continue with that show. He gets the Ron Howard show only if 'Numb3rs' doesn't come back for a seventh season. And it doesn't really seem like that show is coming back next fall (though everyone thought that about another CBS show last year, 'Cold Case,' and that was renewed).

Paul Reiser, one of the stars of NBC's "Must See TV" heyday of the 1990s, is reportedly returning to the Peacock Network. Thankfully, he's not producing a hokey reality game show like his pal, Jerry Seinfeld.

Reiser, co-creator and star of NBC's hit sitcom 'Mad About You', is executive producing and starring in a new single-camera pilot backed by Warner Bros. Word is that NBC has picked up the project, possibly to help fill the coming gaps in its schedule thanks to Leno's return to late night.

Not to suggest that CBS already has a drama-heavy primetime schedule, what with three 'CSI' franchises, two 'NCIS' franchises, 'Cold Case,' 'Criminal Minds' and so on, but the Eye is greenlighting two more drama pilots.

Per the Hollywood Reporter, CBS has ordered one pilot for a police procedural called 'Reagan's Law,' which traces the lives of several generations of New York City police officers.

The time slot right after the Super Bowl is usually a good place to air. And CBS is hoping that holds for its new reality show, 'Undercover Boss.'

With more than 100 million viewers set to tune in, some are too lazy, too stuffed with party food or (let's face it) too drunk to change the channel. So, they'll stick around for whatever comes on after the final whistle. This year, it's

The new pilot is a stealth reality show -- looking to combine the cheap, easy ingredients of interoffice drama, humor and shock reveals. The title is self-explanatory, but the premise takes a large company and sends its CEO in as an average employee. As that CEO mixes and mingles with his fellow employees, he gets to see what their days are like, whether they enjoy their jobs, etc.

NBC seems to be picking up a lot of pilots lately, and here are two more. Cape is about a cop who decides to become a superhero so he can clear his name and get back together with his son. It's written by Tom Wheeler and will be produced by Lloyd Braun and Gail Berman. I'm surprised they didn't just add the character to Heroes. He could have been Matt's old partner or something.

Outsourced is about a guy who is transferred to India to become head of a customer service department. It's based on a movie from a few years ago. Office director Ken Kwapis is going to direct the pilot.

On a side note, I chuckle every time I see the name Lloyd Braun attached to a project. That was the name of the character on Seinfeld who gave George all sorts of problems. He was named after the real Braun. I picture him at his desk, chewing weird gum, making decisions about TV shows.