• The Grey’s Anatomy spin-off centered on Kate Walsh’s neonatal surgeon Addison Montgomery is shaping up with the addition of two television vets – Paul Adelstein and Tim Daly. Daly, best known for Wings and not being able to catch a break with a successful show since, will serve as the “McWhatever” character of the show – you know, the sensitive male who makes all sensitive males look bad. Adelstein (who is married to Paris from Gilmore Girls, which I find all kinds of hilarious), who’s been winning hearts and minds as the psychotic ex-Secret Service agent and magnificent bastard Paul Kellerman on Prison Break, will be another of the male leads. Walsh, Taye Diggs, Daly, Adelstein – I like all these guys, and am slowly getting excited about this show.
  • Curtis Hanson, who directed one of the best movies of the nineties and my favorite film of all time (L.A. Confidential), signed Wednesday a development deal with CBS Paramount Network Television, reports Variety. Hanson will with his producing partner Carol Fenlon under their Deuce Three Productions banner to develop and produce shows in “all genres” for the studio. Hanson is the latest in a string of high-profile feature directors — from David Mamet to Martin Scorsese – to sign a tv development deal, and I can’t wait to see what he comes up with. (And all the haters who like to call Hanson a “journeyman” and “workmanlike” in that oh-so-condescending voice, I’ll see you out back. But not really.)
  • With Weeds, The L Word, Sleeper Cell, and Dexter, Showtime has built itself into a true challenger for HBO in the original series department – and their expansion continues with Possible Side Effects, which Variety announced today. Effects is a family drama set in the pharmaceutical industry, and the man behind this is Bob Roberts himself, Tim Robbins. The series, written, directed, and produced by Robbins, splits its focus between the dysfunctional family at its center, and the politics that surround the pharmaceutical industry’s quest for the next big drug. (I’m going to say this right now: If somebody is framed for their wife’s murder because they discover a drug near FDA approval is causing liver damage, I’m gonna have a problem.) Other upcoming Showtime shows include This American Life, based on the brilliant NPR radio series of the same name, and The Tudors, a ten-part historical drama about the life of King Henry VIII (played by Jonathan Rhys-Meyers).
  • I don’t watch 24 and I didn’t see the episode of Law & Order he was on, so I’m going wait until The Namesake comes out before deciding if Kal “Kumar” Penn sucks as an actor or not. Even then, I’ll still check out The Call, ABC’s “I can’t believe it’s not Saved” show about paramedics, which Penn recently signed to. Where Saved was a drama (R.I.P.), The Call is a comedy where Penn plays a pessimistic hypochondriac, reports Reuters Canada. The Call also stars the bane of Emma Caulfield, Chandra Wilson, and Peter Dinklage, actress Kali Rocha.
  • Boss of Hellboy Jeffrey Tambor, who has the distinction of being in two of the greatest sitcoms of all time, will get another chance (after the failure of 20 Good Years) to grace us with his comedy greatness. The Hollywood Reporter says Tambor’s joined CBS’s comedy pilot The Captain, about a young writer who moves into a famous Hollywood apartment complex. Tambor will play a retired TV writer and tenant of the building. Honestly, I thought 20 Good Years was very occasionally funny, but the writing was terrible. And yet, I’m kind of excited for this, because it sounds like a role that is perfect for Tambor.
  • Hector Elizondo and BFF of Gary Marshall has joined the cast of CBS’s untitled project about three generations of a Latin American family in the Florida Rum business…you know what? With the addition of Elizondo, who will be playing father to Jimmy Smits and wife to Rita Moreno, it’s clear I’m going to be reporting on this project a lot from now on, and I don’t want to have to keep calling it “CBS’s untitled project about three generations of a Latin American family in the Florida rum business.” So until CBS Paramount TV announces the title, I decree that this project will henceforth be known as Why Is the Rum Gone? (THUD readers are more than welcome to send additional or better suggestions to brendan.m.leonard@gmail.com).