Nick Jonas is a deadbeat dad ... on 'Last Man Standing.'

According to TVLine, Jonas will play Ryan, the absentee father of Mike Baxter's (Tim Allen) grandson. Jonas will appear in the Christmas-themed episode of the ABC comedy.

Jonas popped up on Matthew Perry's 'Mr. Sunshine' and recently filmed a guest appearance for NBC's midseason musical drama, 'Smash.'

He'll be appearing in 'How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying' on Broadway starting this winter.

In other casting news ...

You might recognize two new members of the world's most fearsome fighting team: Sean Astin and Jason Biggs are two of your new 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.' The 'Lord of the Rings' star will play Raphael and 'American Pie' veteran Biggs will voice Leonardo on the new Nickelodeon series. The two will be joined by Greg Cipes as Michelangelo and Rob Paulsen as Donatello.

"He's everybody's favorite Ninja Turtle," Astin told Entertainment Weekly. "Raphael's the coolest, no question about it. Ask anybody."

The new cartoon series will debut on Nickelodeon during fall 2012, but fans will be able to get a sneak peek at the series at this year's San Diego Comic Con.

In other TV news ...

The FOX show just continues to add more and more new characters to the show.

The newest cast member is Michael Angarano. You might remember him as Jack's son on Will and Grace, and the star of the incredibly underrated drama Cover Me several years back, as well as the movies Sky High, Almost Famous, Lords of Dogtown, and Seabiscuit.

The new season of 24 starts in January.

If you haven't seen the new Animal Planet series Meerkat Manor, I encourage you to check it out. It's being promoted as a kind of mix between a soap opera and a nature documentary, but it's really not all that different than a normal nature documentary where they personalize the animals by giving them names and making them seem more "human" than they actual are. And, quite frankly, Meerkats are adorable creatures, so it works better than say, something like House of Maggots. Actually, that's not a bad idea for a show, either. Wait, it's not? Oh, okay. It also differs from a soap opera in that, unlike human soap operas, I actually care what happens to these animals. The series is narrated by Sean Astin. You can watch clips from the series here.

Good news, Goonies fans. Or LOTR fans. Or 24 fans. Sean Astin has bigger plans than just a meerkat soap opera. He's reportedly in negotiations to star in an ABC comedy pilot called The Guys. It's about five dads who become friends when their kids have a playdate at one of the fathers' homes. If two of the four Hobbits are on ABC, can we start calling it Middle Earth?

Sean Astin is lending his voice to an intriguing new series from Animal Planet. It's called Meerkat Manor, and it's part documentary, part soap opera. I'm not sure how exactly they're going to pull this off, but Astin will narrate thirteen episodes that follow the life and times of a meerkat family. The press release promises all the goodies we've come to expect from soap operas: from backstabbing to love affairs to family feuds. Apparently meerkats are quite the dramatic bunch. The writers even gave all the little fellas names like Zaphod (Beeblebrox?) and Shakespeare, and they're all part of the 'Whiskers' family.

The series begins Friday, June 9 at 8 pm (ET) on Animal Planet.

Hey! Don't kill the messenger. I had it on good authority (USA Today) that Elisha Cuthbert would be back on 24 on Monday night. And, in case they change their story, here's the original quote: "It's official. The magnet of mishaps is returning to 24 tonight. Though actress Elisha Cuthbert took a season off to star in big screen flicks (House of Wax, The Girl Next Door), her character, Kim, will be back to complicate matters for her dad, Jack Bauer." The story printed February 13, 2006.

In what is already the fifth (fifth!) hour of this season of 24, there were a few stress points that were definitely going to break. Audrey and Diane were bound to meet up with each other, given the proximity within the CTU premises, Spenser is getting the gasface from Chloe, and Mrs. Logan is bound to either break down or get herself in some trouble. Of course, I have Monday Night Quarterbacking going on and can point those things out, but they were all left hanging at the end of last week's fourth hour.

Frankly, I'm still flabbergasted at the casting of Sean Astin, and the waxing of Michelle and President Palmer. Leading into this week's recap, I figured to notice something that would catch me off guard or perhaps show something I needed to think more about. There wasn't too much big stuff, but after re-watching the first hour a few nights ago, I definitely see the concern that Palmer has on his face before commenting to his brother about being distracted because of his memoirs - clearly that's not all of it. Was he foretelling what was going to happen with the Russians and the treaty? Was he aware of the plot against him? So many questions!

And Chloe, with a tattoo! Jack leaves town for 18 months and the whole place comes crashing down!