News Roundup: June 2012

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

You know, being the summer and all, one might think that there would be fewer updates as far as renewals, cancellations, and guest announcements. But, no. In fact, we've made the executive decision to stop giving updates for networks that we don't cover at all - like HGTV, FUSE, Reelz, LOGO, Sprout, and qubo. We may extend this to rarely-covered networks, like G4, Spike, Military, NatGeo, and Food, but we'll see. If you object and specifically want us to continue coverage of a network such as this, let us know and we'll reconsider!


Renewals, Cancellations, & Scheduling:
Shake it Up has been renewed by Disney for a third season. The network also renewed Doc McStuffins for a second season.

Lost Girl has been renewed by SyFy for a third season. Look for it in January 2013.

Investigation Discovery renewed On the Cast with Paula Zahn for a seventh season. Look for it in the 4th Quarter.

Discovery renewed The Devils Ride for a second season.

TLC has renewed My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding for a second season.

Maury, The Jerry Springer Show, and The Steve Wilkos Show were all renewed through 2016.

A&E has renewed Duck Dynasty for a second season.Same thing with Longmire.

truTV renewed Impractical Jokers for a second season of 15 episodes, to launch in December. They've also renewed Full Throttle Saloon for 12 episodes this winter.

ABC has renewed Rookie Blue for a fourth season.

Destination America (formerly Planet Green) has renewed BBQ Pitmasters for a fourth season.

TBS has renewed Men at Work for a second season.

Travel Channel has renewed Hotel Impossible and Baggage Battles.

TNT has renewed Rizzoli & Isles for a fourth season. [I hadn't realized that show had been on for so long already!]

TNT has also renewed Dallas, for a second season.

HBO has renewed True Blood and The Newsroom. And Eastbound & Down, for that matter.

CBS is bringing back Unforgettable from the dead for a 13-episode run next summer.

CNN has canceled John King, USA.

Showtime has announced that Weeds will end after eight seasons.

SyFy has a new reality series, Haunted Highway, beginning Tuesday, July 3rd at 10pm ET/PT.

Season 4 of Hoarding: Buried Alive begins Sunday, July 8th at 9pm ET/PT.

If you're interested in learning more about Oprah's switch to being a CEO of a network, check out Oprah Builds a Network, airing in two parts: Sunday, July 8th at 9pm and Sunday, July 15th at 9pm.

Bounty Wars, a new competition series on Discovery, begins Sunday, July 8th at 10pm ET/PT.

The final six episodes of The Closer will begin on TNT on Monday, July 9th at 9pm ET/PT. Following that, Perception will air its pilot.

Opening Act, a new E! series, begins Monday, July 9th at 10pm ET/PT.

History has a new competition series, Picked Off, beginning Wednesday, July 11th at 10pm.

TLC has Cheer Perfection beginning Wednesday, July 11th at 10pm.

The second season of The Franchise, this time focusing on the Miami Marlins, will premiere on Wednesday, July 11th at 10pm ET/PT.

HGTV's Natural Born Sellers premieres on Thursday, July 12th at 9pm ET/PT.

Season 5 of Leverage on TNT begins Sunday, July 15th at 8pm ET/PT.

TLC has Strange Sex returning on Sunday, July 15th at 10pm ET/PT.

At 11pm on Sunday, July 15th, AMC will debut Small Town Security, an unscripted workplace comedy set in Georgia.

The Weather Channel's Ice Pilots will begin its second season on Monday, July 16th at 9pm.

MTV2's Guy Code will begins its second season on Tuesday, July 17th at 11pm ET/PT.

Project Runway is back Thursday, July 19th at 9pm ET/PT.

History's Great Lake Warriors will premiere Thursday, July 19th at 10pm.

Super Saver Showdown will begin on OWN on Friday, July 20th at 9pm ET/PT.

SpongeBob SquarePants fan? Well, four new episodes are coming! Check it out Saturday, July 21st beginning at 8pm ET/PT.

On Sunday, July 22nd at 10pm ET/PT, look forward to the return of SpikeTV's Flip Men, an original unscripted show following a couple of Utah-based real estate gurus.

Bachelor Pad is back Monday, July 23rd at 8pm ET/PT.

The Godfather Legacy begins Tuesday, July 24th at 9pm on History. It will look at the film and its sequels.

Bravo's Love Broker starts Tuesday, July 24th at 10pm ET/PT.

HGTV's Design All Stars is beginning on Tuesday, July 31st at 9pm ET/PT.

Discovery's SHARK WEEK is back beginning Sunday, August 12th at 9pm!

Major Crimes will premiere on TNT on Monday, August 13th at 10pm ET/PT, but will regularly air in the 9pm timeslot.

Bravo's Gallery Girls debuts on Monday, August 13th at 10pm ET/PT. Get excited if you want to follow around seven NYers who have dream jobs in art.

Toy Hunter will premiere on Travel Channel on Wednesday, August 15th at 10pm ET/PT.

SyFy's Face Off is back Tuesday, August 21st at 9pm. Note that this is a new night and time.

Sunday, August 23rd will see the premieres of GSN's The American Bible Challenge and Beat the Chefs.

A&E will present Coma, a four-hour epic thriller, on Monday, September 3rd at 9pm ET/PT and Tuesday, September 4th at 9pm ET/PT.

Effective immediately, Life's a Tripp, the Bristol Palin reality show on Lifetime, will move to 11pm ET.

Beginning September 10th, General Hospital will move from 3pm to 2pm.

The CW has a bunch of summer premiere dates for us. Remodeled is back Monday, July 9th at 9pm ET/PT, The LA Complex returns Tuesday, July 17th at 9pm ET/PT, Oh Sit! will debut Wednesday, August 15th at 8pm ET/PT, The Next: Fame is at your Doorstep starts Thursday, August 16th at 9pm ET/PT, and America's Next Top Model: College Edition shows up Friday, August 24th at 8pm ET/PT.

Regarding other TNT shows, look for Season 5 of Southland to air in February 2013, and Monday Mornings, Boston Blue, and 72 Hours to come in early 2013.

The final (10-episode) season of Spartacus (Starz) will come in January 2013.

Cast & Plot Updates:
Jerry O'Connell will play Herman Munster on NBC's Mockingbird Lane. Portia de Rossi will play his wife, Lily. Beth Grant will play Maryanne, a nosy neighbor.

John Carroll Lynch and Nicholas Bishop have departed from Body of Proof.

Mario Lopez will NOT be on Dancing with the Stars.

Ashley Tisdale will have a two-episode stint on Sons of Anarchy.

Ray Romano will appear in several episodes of Parenthood next season.

Matt Groening, creator of the Simpsons and Futurama, has finally ended his Life in Hell comic strip, which he began in 1978.

Ben Mulroney will join Good Morning America.

Jennifer Hudson will appear in several episodes of next season's Smash. And, Andy Mientus will join Smash in its second season.

Alex Trebek suffered a heart attack but is expected to be fine and keep taping Jeopardy! in July.

Kelsey Grammer is a defendant in a large Ponzi scheme case.

Maura Tierney will join The Good Wife as Maddie, a dot-com billionaire.

Charlie Sheen will be the "Social Media Ambassador" for Monday Night Raw's 1,000th episode on July 23rd.

Jenelle Evans of 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom 2 has been arrested for drug possession.

Ann Curry has stepped down from Today, and Savannah Guthrie will replace her.

Anderson Cooper has come out as a gay man.

Glee's 15 regular cast members will ALL return in the fourth season, for one length of time or another.

Andy Griffith has passed away.

The role of Kristin, the eldest daughter on Last Man Standing, will be recast for the second season. [I sure hope this doesn't lose the series viewers. I LOVE that comedy!]

Should Jersey Shore continue past the seventh season, the case may completely change. Also, Deena Cortese was arrested for disorderly conduct.

The tenth season of Top Chef will be set in Seattle.

Season two of Smash will add two new songs to "Bombshell" as well as have the show vie for Tony attention.

Shows in Development & Other Fun Stuff:
MTV is developing a tv series based on Scream.

On Saturday, September 29th, ALL of the surviving cast members of the Waltons will be reuniting.

If you want a really big chair for your living room, consider picking up a replica of the Game of Thrones iron throne.

Spike has a competition show this fall called Last Family on Earth, where survivalists who believe the end of the world is coming will showcase their resourcefulness. The prize will be a fortified bunker. Seriously.

FX has ordered Legit as a comedy series that will follow a comedian attempting to become "legitimate" in life.

Showtime has ordered two dramas - Masters of Sex will look at true pioneers of human sexuality while Ray Donovan is about a problem-solver for LA's elite population.

MTV will have a second It Gets Better project. Casting is currently taking place. They also have a new late-night comedy show, The Nikki and Sara Show, which will premiere later this year.

Are you a descendent of the Hatfields or McCoys? There's a reality show planned to film in West Virginia that you could take part in!

If you're ready to start thinking about Christmas, ION has announced their holiday movies to be Christmas Twister (about a Texas disaster), A Christmas Wedding (a high-powered exec loses her job and returns to her small hometown for the holidays), Anything but Christmas (a rom-com), Golden Christmas 3 (three golden retrievers bring a couple of opposites together), and A Star for Christmas (a small-town success wonders if a relationship could work with a famous actor).

Gilligan's Island: The Musical may just become a thing.

Do you enjoy home shopping? Well, TiVo is about to let you use your PayPal account to buy stuff on the screen!

The development of the newest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film has halted - don't look for it until May 2014 now.

CBS put in a pilot order for a game show based on the Zynga app Draw Something.

An Entourage movie is in the works.

Let's hope that 2 Broke Girls continues to be popular, as TBS has scored the rights to air reruns in 2015. In a more immediate change, CMT will now have Reba and Yes, Dear at their disposal, so look for them starting August 1st.

FOX is planning a Sesame Street movie.

FX has ordered a pilot for Bronx Warrants, a comedy to be about the exploits of David Joglar and Richard Wetzel.

BBC One wants No Strings Attached to be a puppet show, partnered with The Jim Henson Company.

Fan of New Girl? You can catch the tour bus in Miami July 3-5, Kansas City, MO July 10, Chicago July 14-15, Dallas July 25-26, Austin July 27-28, Phoenix August 3, Las Vegas August 4-5, San Diego August 10-12, Los Angeles August 15-19, San Francisco August 24-26, and Seattle August 31-September 3.

Devious Maids has been picked up for 13 episodes by Lifetime.

Wanna see the first episode of HBO's The Newsroom? Head over to HBO.com, YouTube, iTunes, TV.com, or DailyMotion, as it's free in all of those locations until July 23rd.

If you want to see Louis C. K. live, it'll only cost you $45 flat from October through February.

USA has ordered Graceland, a drama that has agents from the DEA, FBI, and Customs all living together in a beach house.

If you have AT&T U-Verse, you may have noticed that AMC, IFC, Sundance, and WEtv were all potentially getting turned off. Luckily, a deal was reached and all is well. DISH has not yet reached a distribution agreement wit the AMC networks.

A&E has ordered ten episodes of Bates Motel without first seeing a pilot.