tilda

It appears Diane Keaton won't be making her TV series debut this season.

According to Deadline Hollywood, HBO passed on its Keaton-starring comedy series, 'Tilda,' loosely based on Deadline blogger Nikki Finke. The show would've followed a powerful but reclusive writer but fell apart despite high-profile names like Keaton, director Bill Condon and producer Alan Poul aboard.

Ellen Page and Jason Patric were also booked to co-star.

In other TV news ...

• The latest in comic-to-TV-show news: FX ordered a pilot of 'Powers.' Based on the graphic novel series of the same name, the show follows "two homicide detectives who investigate cases of people with extraordinary abilities." [Entertainment Weekly]

• Melissa Leo has apologized for dropping the F-bomb during her Oscars acceptance speech last night. The Best Supporting Actress's flub was the first F-bomb in the history of the Academy Awards. [The Hollywood Reporter]

• Shonda Rhimes' previously untitled P.R. pilot has gotten a name and another lead actor. 'Damage Control,' as it's now called, will star Tony Goldwyn as the president. [THR]

According to the Hollywood Reporter, HBO is close to capping a deal with 'Entourage' executive producers Mark Wahlberg and Stephen Levinson to bring a new show to the premium cable network.

The project, written by newcomer Leah Rachel, who developed the concept with her partner, Emily Montague, focuses on a group of "female friends working and finding romance in Los Angeles."

But while the premise sounds almost exactly like a female version of what's been going down with Vinnie Chase and his, well, entourage for the last seven seasons, the Reporter cites a source who maintains that the script will be less "Hollywood-centric."

Last week, when Annie posted about the series HBO is developing the comedy 'Tilda,' about the life of "a powerful female online showbiz journalist with a no-holds-barred style," the first person I thought of was Nikki Finke, who writes the blog Deadline Hollywood.

In fact, pretty much everyone who works in entertainment journalism thought of Finke; she's reclusive, opinionated, confrontational, litigious, and likes to punctuate news that corroborates with her inside info with a big fat "TOLDJA!" in all caps. So it's not a surprise to think that more than one person had to wonder if Finke was involved in this show, and if she wasn't, would she sic her lawyers after HBO and anyone else within subpoena-shot.

Gawker called Finke, who, in between threats to sue the site's writer and corporate parent, said she'd talk about her involvement (or lack therof) with the project soon. But The Hollywood Reporter managed to find out that Finke wasn't involved, leading to their wondering if Finke has the right to sue over this series.

For years, Hollywood bloggers have been aggressively demonstrating that they are a force to be reckoned with in the industry, so it's really about time that some channel like HBO attempts to glamorize the whole situation with 'Tilda,' a half-hour comedy about the blogging scene.

The usual jabs about bloggers involve the mental image of a college student hunched over a laptop, wearing PJ bottoms and slow-nursing a Starbucks mocha. Well! First of all, joke's on them, because I can't afford Starbucks. Second of all, Hollywood-specific online journalism is a completely different area of the blogosphere, and there's plenty of material for HBO to dramatize. With Bill Condon and Cynthia Mort behind the wheel, it is going to be interesting to see if a pilot sticks.

Hollywood's going to the blogs.

According to a report in The Hollywood Reporter, HBO is developing 'Tilda,' a half-hour comedy series about a powerful female online showbiz journalist with a no-holds-barred style. The pay cable network has tapped Oscar-winning writer-director Bill Condon and 'Tell Me You Love Me' creator Cynthia Mort for the new series.