News Roundup: Renewals & Return Dates All Around

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Renewals, Cancellations, & Scheduling:
South Park returns with Season 16 on March 14th, 2012. Eastbound & Down and Life's Too Short will premiere Sunday, February 19th, 2012. [Comedy Central Press Release]

FOX's Alcatraz will premiere at 8pm on Monday, January 16th. It will move to 9pm on the 23rd, and House will take the 8pm slot. Napoleon Dynamite will start Sunday, January 15th, at 8:30pm. Bob's Burgers will return March 11th at 8:30pm.

Pretty Little Liars was renewed by ABCFamily for a third season.

A.N.T. Farm was renewed by Disney Channel for a second season.

USA's Common Law will debut at 10pm on January 26th. White Collar will return on January 17th and Royal Pains will resume on January 18th.

Dance Moms will return to Lifetime on January 10th, 2012.

Undercover Boss will return for a third season on Sunday, January 15th.

Web Therapy has been renewed for a second season.

La La's Full Court Life was renewed for a second season on VH1.

Cast & Plot Updates:
Ricky Martin will guest on Glee in late January, as "the hottest Spanish teacher ever in the history of Ohio."

Michelle Duggar has miscarried the 20th child, who was set to debut on 19 Kids and Counting in April. Michelle was in her second trimester and it's believed that the family will hold a funeral once they find out if it was male or female.

Shows in Development & Other Fun Stuff:
Oxygen has three new docu-series in the works (all working titles). First, All the Right Moves, which is about friends living together and forming a dance troupe. Next, That's D'Amore, which looks at the lives of three sisters who live a privileged life thanks to their family's pizza business. Last, Taking NY, which follows some best friends trying to "have it all" in NYC. [Oxygen Press Release]

There's a great Burn Notice giveaway going on! One for Psych, too!

AMC has acquired the syndication rights to CSI: Miami, and it'll premiere on Monday, January 2nd, at 5pm, and will run in that slot on weekdays.

Dunder Mifflin will be a new brand of copy paper available through quill.com.

Harry Morgan, better known as Colonel Sherman Potter on M*A*S*H, has passed away at the age of 96.

If you're looking to get caught up Revenge or Once Upon a Time, ABC.com has all of the episodes of both up and available through January 3rd for the former and January 8th for the latter.

After House ends, Hugh Laurie will not take another television acting gig. He's thinking "writing or producing or directing or some other aspect."

Community will be featured on Hulu Plus now. Next-day access of new episodes will be available, as well as the entire back library.

There has been even more talk about Cable providers considering switching to a la carte subscriptions. [even though this particular article is two months old.]

On Live! with Kelly, Neil Patrick Harris snuck in a kiss to Betty White. [totally cute, by the way.] Also while guest-starring with Kelly Ripa, NPH and Kelly both inhaled sulfur hexafluoride, which has the opposite effect as helium!

I never knew that Saved by the Bell was cancelled every single season. Between that and not having the internet, it's no wonder that Mark-Paul Gosselaar and the rest of the SBTB gang managed to stay grounded! They didn't think anybody cared about the show!

Game of Thrones first season will be out on DVD March 6th, 2012.

ABCFamily has finished production on the new pilot Baby Daddy. Now, they're working on production for the new pilot Village People.

News Roundup: Return Dates, Casting Updates, Movies News, etc.

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Renewals, Cancellations, & Scheduling:

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter Revealed will air on CNBC November 24th at 10pm. [CNBC Press Release]

All new episodes of What Not to Wear start on TLC November 29th at 9pm, and new episodes of Toddlers & Tiaras start at 10pm on December 7th on TLC.

Pretty Little Liars returns January 2nd at 8pm, The Lying Game returns January 2nd at 9pm, and Switched at Birth returns January 3rd at 8pm, all on ABCFamily. New ABCFamily show Jane by Design premieres January 3rd at 9pm

State of Play is coming December 7th at 10pm to BBCAmerica.

Jersey Shore returns with a fifth season on January 5th.

Phineas & Ferb was renewed for a fourth season.

The X Factor has been renewed for a second season.

Once Upon a Time, Last Man Standing, and Happy Endings all got full-season pick-ups, and Pan Am got 5 more scripts.

Downton Abbey has gotten a third series!

The Real L Word has been renewed for a third season.

Spartacus was renewed for a third season... before the second season even begins. [what's up with that? There have been quite a few shows to do that sort of thing these days... why not just renew it for multiple seasons at a time, like How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory?]

Sons of Anarchy added a 14th episode to their season, which now puts the finale on December 6th. [wow. what's the precedence for this type of thing? I can think of several shows that could have used "one more episode" to tidy things up...]

TVLand is adding The King of Queens to its lineup, with a marathon kick-off on November 13th.

Cast & Plot Updates:

Megan Mullally has joined the cast of Breaking In, and will play a character running Contra Security.

Nick Jonas has been cast as Kristin's dead-beat babydaddy on Last Man Standing. Look for him around the Christmas episode!

Jennie Garth has been cast in the ABCFamily Village People, where she will play a single career woman who adopts a baby from a teen mother... and ends up caring for both of them. [Um, Kelly Taylor + Valerie Tyler, anyone?]

Shows in Development & Other Fun Stuff:
Want to have a real-time twitter conversation with a Pan Am star? Karine Vanasse, who plays Colette, will be available via @karinevanasse during the east coast viewing of Pan Am this Sunday, November 13th.

Nickelodeon is rolling out "NickMom Primetime," with the site to launch November 14th and the 4-hour block to come to NickJr soon.

Andy Rooney passed away on November 4th, age 92. 60 Minutes did a tribute to the great on Sunday.

SyFy announced three new scripted projects this week... one where a cop becomes a ghost, one where a female KGB agent and a male American weapons inspector form a partnership, and one where "after decades of war, the newly formed Unity Democracy orders a volatile mix of humans and trans-humans to lead the Starship Defender on an expedition in search of lost worlds requiring law and order.

TLC's got a new show coming out next month, calling D.U.I., which will be like COPS only with drunk drivers failing sobriety tests in Oklahoma. Twelve episodes have been ordered. Look for it December 1st at 9pm.

New things to look for in this year's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade: Paul Frank's iconic monkey - Julius and Sonic the Hedgehog. Some of this year's stars include Mary J. Blige, Neil Diamond, Michael Feinstein, Daniel Radcliffe, Ceel Lo Green, Avril Lavigne, Mannheim Steamroller, Power Rangers, the Muppets of Sesame Street, and the casts of Broadway shows Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Sister Act, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. We're talking 15 giant character balloons, 44 novelty/ornament balloons/balloonicles/balloonheads, 27 floats, 1600 cheerleaders/dancers/performers, 800 clowns, and 11 marching bands. [NBC Entertainment Press Release]

Stephen King's Bag of Bones will have an interactive online prequel.

Kate Gosselin will be a coupon blogger for CouponCabin.com, starting November 22nd.

CBS is remaking The Rifleman.

Alcatraz, a FOX midseason replacement, is doing some re-shooting of the seven completed episodes.

The Hannibal Lecter television drama will be on NBC... they've ordered 13 episodes.

Looking forward to The Muppets? Kermit the Frog will be appearing on The Tonight Show on Friday the 11th. Amy Adams will be on The Tonight Show on Monday the 14th. Miss Piggy will be on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Monday the 14th. Kermit AND Miss Piggy will be on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday the 16th. Jason Segel will host Saturday Night Live! on Saturday the 19th.

On the film front, there's a 3D, CGI version of Popeye coming out. There's a live-action family film planned for Where's Waldo? as well. More importantly, you can BUY your way onto the new Joss Whedon project. There's a walk-on roll for the film In Your Eyes up on Ebay... for real.