Bacon Bits: LIFE ON MARS, PUSHING DAISIES and More

- Harvey Keitel has signed on to play Gene Hunt in ABC’s revamped remake of Life on Mars, replacing Colm Meaney. Um,  Meaney was kind of the only thing that looked good about the project in the first place.
- Lee Pace and Anna Friel have all the scoop on the second season of Pushing Daisies.
- [...]

ABC Announces Fall Premiere Dates

This morning at the Television Critics Assn.’s press tour ABC unveiled the premiere dates for its fall schedule:
Friday, Sept. 19
10-11 p.m. “20/20″
Monday, Sept. 22
8-10 p.m. “Dancing With the Stars” (special two-hour performance show premiere)
10-11 p.m. “Boston Legal”
Tuesday, Sept. 23
8-9 p.m. “Opportunity Knocks” (new series debut)
9-11 p.m. “Dancing With the Stars” (special performance show)
Wednesday, Sept. 24
8-9 [...]

LIFE ON MARS Finally Makes It to ABC’s Fall Schedule

Only one new scripted series has found its way onto ABC’s 2008 fall schedule, announced this morning at a press conference in New York: the long-delayed adaptation of Life on Mars. Otherwise, this fall’s ABC lineup looks an awful lot like last fall’s ABC lineup.
ABC Entertainment president Stephen McPherson did officially announce the network’s acquisition [...]

Pickups and Cancellations Abound in Advance of Upfronts

It’s upfront week again, that wonderful time of year when networks present their fall schedules to advertisers and reporters in the hopes of generating lots of hype and, in turn, beaucoup de advertising bucks (well, except for NBC, which already did theirs weeks ago). More importantly, it’s the time when we finally learn the fate [...]

Foreign Imports Drive Pilot Season

With this year’s pilot season truncated by the writers strike, networks seem to be relying increasingly on foreign imports to pad their schedules.
Canadian imports Flashpoint and The Listener recently were handed series orders by CBS and NBC, respectively. David E. Kelley is doing a remake of the BBC series Life on Mars for ABC that [...]

LOST Leads Saturn Noms

The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films has announced the nominations for the 34th annual Saturn Awards, with ABC’s Lost garnering seven nods in the television categories. Showtime’s Dexter scored five noms and NBC’s Heroes received four.
The Academy, founded in 1972 by film historian Donald A. Reed, is a nonprofit organization devoted to [...]

Torchwood Producer to Helm LAW & ORDER: LONDON

Torchwood writer-producer Chris Chibnall has been tapped as showrunner for the U.K. version of Law & Order being produced for ITV. Chibnall, who will serve as executive producer of the new show, has also written for Doctor Who and Life on Mars, and was the co-creator of Born and Bred.
Law & Order: London will be [...]

LIFE ON MARS: When on Earth Will This All End?

Do you not like me with my clown? I can see I make you frown. When on Earth will all this end? I’m your friend, your only friend.
When the above couplets are recited by a disturbing little girl with an equally disturbing clown doll whose day job is gracing test cards after hours on the [...]