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Ben Lawson lands second US pilot
Australian actor Ben Lawson has been cast in the US pilot Freshman for ABC.
The former Neighbours actor will star opposite Sarah Chalke (Scrubs, Roseanne, How I Met Your Mother) in the comedy which revolves around three first-year members of Congress who live together in Washington.
Lawson, brother of Josh Lawson, will play one of the roommates, a shockingly cheap congressman from Arizona. It is his second US role following the low-rated midseason drama The Deep End, which is not expected to return.
Brother Josh has a role in Romantically Challenged opposite Alyssa Milano …
258,000 viewers agree with David Leckie
258,000 viewers agreed with Seven CEO David Leckie that Cougar Town is a s*** show.
At least, that’s how much the show dropped from the first week to the second.
The Seven comedy still won its slot but it took a dive from 1.34m to 1.08m. The White Room similarly slipped, down to 678,000 allowing So You Think You Can Dance Australia / The Biggest Loser to win on 914,000 / 838,000 while Getaway had to settle for 833,000. Those numbers are low all round, with viewers clearly unhappy with choices. Is that …
Seven locks in Bones, Castle, Cougar Town, White Room, HIMYM
Seven has finally revealed its airdates for remaining shows next week including Bones, Castle, Cougar Town, The White Room and How I Met Your Mother.
Bones and Castle return to Sundays from this Sunday at 8:30pm / 9:30pm respectively.
Its new Thursday lineup is as follows:
7:30pm The White Room. Premiere
8:30pm Cougar Town. Premiere
9:00pm How I Met Your Mother. Season Premiere.
9:30pm Thank God You’re Here -rpt
Having dropped My Kitchen Rules from Tuesdays at 7:30pm, it now adds the show back to the schedule. On. Off. On. Off.
The schedule for next week now stands as …
New pilots from Josh Schwartz, Greg Berlanti.
Prolific writer Josh Schwartz (The OC, Chuck, Gossip Girl) has another pilot added to his CV with CBS picking up a comedy, Hitched, which centres on a young twentysomething couple that are newlyweds while still getting to know each other.
The multi-camera comedy will be co-written by Matt Miller for CBS.
CBS has also picked up an untitled multicam sitcom pilot about a widower who must juggle raising his 12 year-old son while also getting back into the dating world by Tad Quill (writer Dirty Sexy Money, Scrubs). One and a half men …
Renewed: How I Met Your Mother
CBS sure is in a good move this week, renewing some of its biggest brands.
How I Met Your Mother has been given a sixth season renewal by the broadcaster, which is good news for Seven.
The early pick-up contrasts with late-renewals that have dogged the comedy in previous years.
The comedy celebrated its 100th episode earlier this month, while creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas recently signed a deal with 20th Century Fox TV to create a new show about a young couple and their friends in Pittsburgh.
Source: Hollywood Reporter
Seven ready for grand slam
Seven’s Australian Open season begins today, and with it major promos for its upcoming big shows.
Most will premiere in the week of January 31, ahead of official ratings on February 7th.
Coming soon are new episodes of favourite international shows including Desperate Housewives, Brothers and Sisters, Criminal Minds, Grey’s Anatomy, Family Guy, A Touch of Frost and How I Met Your Mother.
It will also premiere Cougar Town and Royal Pains.
Heroes will return to 7TWO along with the new season of 24. Lost is also set for February.
The shows will spearhead Seven’s push …
TV Tonight Awards 2009: The year of Shaun Micallef
The votes are in.
Readers have spoken on their best and worst television for 2009 in the third annual TV Tonight Awards.
The winners: Shaun Micallef, MasterChef and Packed to the Rafters.
Over 1000 surveys were completed this year, and there were some definite trends. Some choices were clear decisions, others were tight races.
Several “winners” were also “losers” elsewhere, showing a divided audience, and a number of populist shows proved their mettle by staying ahead of underdogs.
Shaun Micallef won both Favourite Male and Most Underrated Performer, while Talkin’ ‘Bout Your …
ABC News up in summer
For the third night in a row, ABC News has won the 7:00 slot.
On Tuesday, following the Liberal Party leadership spill, it reached 1.17m. It again won last night with 1.05m well ahead of Australia’s Funniest Home Videos on 790,000, How I Met Your Mother on 753,000 and The 7PM Project on 714,000 -at least TEN is now holding its own against commercial rivals.
Summer figures continue to remain modest, with Seven News the night’s top show on 1.25m.
But it was Nine’s share that delivered with a very strong 31.0% thanks to …
Airdate: The Middle
New sitcom The Middle begins next Monday night on Nine, created by Eileen Heisler (Murphy Brown, How I Met Your Mother, Lipstick Jungle).
The show features Patricia Heaton (Everybody Loves Raymond, Back to You) as Frankie Heck, a middle-class, Midwestern mother of three, married to Mike Heck (Neil Flynn).
Mother of three, Frankie has a job selling cars at the town’s only surviving car dealership while her husband is a manager at the local quarry. In between juggling shifts and picking up fast food dinners eaten in front of the TV, Frankie …
Seven summer update
Seven has updated its first week of summer programming, filling in several TBAs and shuffling a few shows around.
New titles include Stephen Fry in Kingdom as a kindly solicitor who devotes his career to representing the oddball people in the Norfolk town of Market Shipborough, England. Kenneth Brannagh stars as Inspector Kurt Wallander, a brilliant detective who takes each murder case he works on personally and will stop at nothing in his search for the truth. The Take is a UK drama set in the criminal underworld of the East End …
7PM Project on the road
On Friday at the Kid’s Choice Awards Carrie Bickmore let slip to TV Tonight about some future plans for The 7PM Project.
“It’s still fun, it’s not work yet. And we’re taking the show on the road to other cities,” she said.
There are whispers the show could be doing that sooner rather than later, in a bid to lift a national profile for the show.
TV Tonight hears the network hopes to put the show down in another city before the year is out.
It follows the show getting an extra 30 minutes airtime …
US castings: Dexter, Grey’s Anatomy, How I Met Your Mother
Minor spoilers: Roma Maffia from Nip / Tuck and Boston Legal will appear in the fourth season of Dexter.
“I just did a role that could be a recurring character on Dexter,” she told EOnline.
“It’s Dexter plus one. I think it’s a surprising turn.”
A source added: “Roma’s role is a marriage counsellor/couples therapist who’s helping Dexter and Rita adjust to their new suburban family life.”
Meanwhile 24’s Kim Raver will join Grey’s Anatomy as a new surgeon and a possible love interest for Kevin McKidd’s character, Owen.
McKidd previously told media: “Someone comes to …