Kirstie Alley has cratered (er, landed) a reality show for A&E. The show will run for 10 half-hour episodes and focus on her life asw a single mother and losing weight. Fremantle Media (American Idol) is producing. Alley has starred in such shows as Cheers and Veronica’s Closet, and also Fat Actress, where she played a version of herself coping with Hollywood’s fixation on thinness. She’s also the former Jenny Craig spokeswoman. Rumors have it that she may also have a cameo in the next Star Trek flick as Regula One.
Jenna Elfman’s CBS sitcom, Accidentally On Purpose has received an order for five more episodes from the Eye. Although the show is lowest-rated program on the competitive Monday night lineup, CBS was satisfied with the numbers.
Chuck exec producer, Scott Rosenbaum, will be replacing another Scott (Peters) as showrunner for ABC’s V. Although buzz for the show is reportedly good, this is the latest hiccup for the remake, which earlier halted production on its 13-episode order to instead engage in a run as a four-episode mini until it returns in the spring. Peters will remain on the show as exec producer, but other exec producer, Jeff bell, is expected to depart. V resumes production in January.
The Casting Society of America (that’s the CSA after some casting guy’s name in credits you may have previously wondered about) recently doled out honors for casting excellence in both film and TV. For the small screen, recognition went out to Junie Lowry Johnson for True Blood in the
pilot, drama category; Robert Ulrich, Eric Dawson, Carol Kritzer
and Jim Carnahan (New York casting) for Glee (pilot comedy);
Laura Schiff and Carrie Audino for Mad Men (series drama); Cindy
Tolan for Flight of the Conchords (series comedy); Ellen Parks
and Robin D. Cook (location casting) for Grey Gardens (TV movie);
Alexa L. Fogel for Generation Kill (miniseries); Ruth Lambert and
Robert McGee for Wizards of Waverly Place (children’s series);
Gillian O’Neill for Rick & Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple in
All the World (animation); and Mark Teschner for General
Hospital (daytime).
Cookie Jar Entertainment is launching a new TV site to compete with Hulu. Jaroo.com will offer 50 TV shows for free, including shows from a library that Cookie Jar picked up from DIC Entertainment last year. The programming will be free, but the demographic is aimed mostly at kids 4-12. Jaroo might later follow the formula established by Hulu, which is a joint venture consisting of programming from NBC Universal,
Fox, Disney and others. Jaroo launches Tuesday, with shows including Inspector Gadget, Johnny Test, Madeline, Cake, Ripley’s Believe It or
Not!, and Mona the Vampire, which is popular in Canada and the UK.
Stephen Colbert announced on Monday’s Colbert Report that he and his staff will bcome a primary sponsor of the US Speed Skating Team for the upcoming Vancouver Olympics. They’re taking over for former sponsor, DSB Bank NV, which went belly up. Colbert will call on his loyal followers — who helped him get a treadmill in the international space station named in his honor — to donate funds through colbertnation.com and usspeedskating.com. The team’s uniforms will also be emblazoned with “Colbert Nation.” To prove that that this is not a stunt, Colbert recently tweeted: “I shaved my entire body so I was more aerodynamic for my report on speed-skating.”
Adrian Pasdar is leaving Heroes. Rumors of Pasdar being let go had been circulating for weeks, but now are confirmed. Pasdar portrayed both Sen. Nathan Petrelli and Sylar, who killed Petrelli and took on his guise, before being shot and buried. People who watch the show might be able to sort out that last sentence.
Robert Wagner is set to play Tony’s (Michael Weatherly) father on NCIS for the show’s upcoming 150th episode. The pairing is a pseudo reunion of sorts as Weatherly previously portrayed Wagner in the 2004 TV movie, The Mystery of Natalie Wood.