Til Death Gets Third Season Pickup - With a Catch

Fox just gave low-rated comedy Til Death a stay of execution, but the sitcom starring Brad Garrett will undergo some major changes when it returns for its third season this fall. A source close to the show confirms for HI that Fox has appeared to abandon Death's original premise - newlyweds' move in next door to a grumpy, long-married couple - by dropping the young characters of Jeff and Steph Woodcock (Kat Thomas and Eddie Kaye Thomas) and making way for a new story line involving Kenny Westchester (Curb Your Enthusiam's JB Smoove), who was introduced earlier this year as a "Little Brother" to Eddie (Garrett) in the Big Brothers charity organization despite the fact that Kenny is in his late 30s.

'90210' officially joins CW's fall schedule

The CW officially announced on Tuesday that it has picked up a Beverly Hills, 90210 update for fall, and that original cast member Jennie Garth will appear on the show in a recurring role. (The CW plans to reach out to all members of the old cast, including Tori Spelling, as has been reported.) Also starring Lori Laughlin and Jessica Walter, the drama will air on Tuesdays as a lead-in to the new Surviving the Filthy Rich, which focuses on a young woman who tutors wealthy siblings in Palm Beach (it's based on the book How to Teach Filthy Rich Girls). On Wednesdays, the net will follow another edition of America's Next Top Model with the new reality show Stylista, a mashup of Model and The Devil Wears Prada.

The rest of the CW's schedule will remain intact, including new episodes of Everybody Hates Chris, Supernatural, The Game, and Smallville, and a midseason return of the critically-acclaimed but ratings-starved Reaper.  The CW will also partner with Media Rights Capital to program Sunday nights, but details have yet to be revealed. And saving the best for last: The new season of Gossip Girl (and One Tree Hill) begins Sept. 1, as EW.com previously reported.

CBS cancels 'Shark,' 'Moonlight'

Pink slips were handed out today to CBS dramas Shark and Moonlight. Shark, which starred James Woods as a prosecutor, was averaging 10.3 million viewers, while Moonlight, the sexy vampire series, only attracted 7.5 million this season. CBS will officially announce its schedule Wednesday in New York City.

Renewal expected for 'New Adventures of Old Christine'

CBS is expected to announce tomorrow that it has ordered 22 more episodes of The New Adventures of Old Christine, the two-year-old comedy that's already netted star Julia Louis-Dreyfus (pictured) an Emmy, according to a key insider. There was some speculation that CBS would pass on the show, which skews older than its other comedies like How I Met Your Mother and Big Bang Theory. As a result, rumors were rampant that ABC was prepared to pick up the sitcom, should CBS balk at another season. CBS will unveil its fall schedule Wednesday in New York City.

ABC's upcoming schedule: What's old is new

Save a few new shows like a time-traveling drama and an old comedy from another network, ABC's fall schedule will look fairly similar to the one it unveiled in September 2007. Promising (yet ratings-starved) dramas like Pushing Daisies and Dirty Sexy Money will be back on Wednesdays, as will the hit series Private Practice, while Boston Legal will be back for its final season on Mondays. Grey's Anatomy will serve as a lead-in on Thursdays to Life on Mars, a new dramedy based on a BBC series of the same name that stars a present-day cop (Jason O'Mara, pictured) who's transported back in time after getting hit by a car. On Tuesdays, a new reality show called Opportunity Knocks will literally bring a game show to someone's front porch each week, and a new season of Scrubs (yep, that old NBC comedy) will follow Knocks once Dancing with the Stars finishes up its next installment. A new animated comedy from Mike Judge (King of the Hill) called Goode Family (about a clan compelled to do the right thing) and a new season of Eli Stone will round out Tuesdays.

Sundays will remain intact with the winning lineup of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Desperate Housewives, and Brothers & Sisters. Other shows set to return this fall include Samantha Who, Super Nanny, and Wife Swap. Lost will come back midseason, as will a new and yet untitled reality show from Ashton Kutcher and Tyra Banks, not to mention According to Jim, The Bachelor, and ABC News' "Primetime: What Would You Do?"

Since the 100-day writers strike wreaked havoc on the development season, ABC was only able to develop four scripted shows in preparation for fall. However, it still has 17 pilots in the work for midseason, including a remake of the old ABC comedy Cupid from Rob Thomas.

Men in Trees, Miss Guided, Oprah's Big Give, and October Road all got the ax for fall.

'90210' Spinoff: Jennie Garth Is In!

Jennie Garth, an original cast member of Beverly Hills, 90210 from 1990-2000, will reprise her role in the CW spinoff that's in the works for this fall. Garth, last seen kicking up her heels on ABC's Dancing With the Stars, will reprise her role as Kelly Taylor in the new series. She'll play a guidance counselor at her alma mater, West Beverly Hills High, where all the new characters are enrolled. The casting of Garth follows other high-profile additions to the show's grown-up cast, including Lori Laughlin (Summerland) and Jessica Walter (Arrested Development).

Actors' talks update: SAG negotiations end with no deal, focus now on AFTRA

After three weeks of "insufficient progress" negotiating with the Screen Actors Guild, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers announced that it will turn its attention to the other actors union, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, starting today. The goal will be to hammer out a new primetime contract for AFTRA-covered shows like Rules of Engagement, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and 'Til Death, among others — and, ultimately, to avoid another debilitating Hollywood strike like the writers' walkout that ended in February. The contracts for both SAG and AFTRA expire June 30.

David E. Kelley: Will he be on the air this fall?

Will fans of David E. Kelley be in for a big disappointment come fall? ABC has yet to pick up the producer's Emmy-winning drama Boston Legal for another season, and EW.com just learned that he may walk away from Life on Mars, a drama pilot he executive produced for ABC, because of financial reasons. The series, which stars Jason O'Mara, is based on the BBC's sci-fi crime drama of the same name. It focuses on a 21st century detective who, after a serious injury, is transported back to the 1970s as a cop. One insider says that the chances for a series pickup are strong even without Kelley's involvement, though it appears the drama may end up as a coproduction between ABC Studios and 20th Century Fox TV (the latter studio, along with Kelley, first sold the project to ABC). According to the insider, the studios are in talks with the exec producers of October Road to take over showrunning duties on Life on Mars if Kelley leaves. A spokesman for 20th Century Fox TV declined comment.

Meanwhile, Kelley's beloved but beleaguered Boston Legal is still awaiting word of a fifth-season pickup by ABC. The dramedy, which has earned Emmy wins for stars James Spader and William Shatner, has averaged 9.8 million viewers this season, but it hit a low of 7.4 million when the show switched time slots on April 30. 

'Project Runway' producers defend their decision to walk away from the show

Less than a month after Lifetime announced that it nabbed future seasons of Project Runway away from Bravo, NBC/Universal announced today that it has signed an exclusive first-look deal with Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz of Magical Elves, the production team responsible for the Heidi Klum-hosted fashion show. According to NBC, Cutforth and Lipsitz will walk away from Project Runway after season 5 (which will air on Bravo) and begin developing exclusively for all NBC-owned platforms. Lifetime will begin airing originals of Project Runway in season 6, under a deal it forged with Miramax Television. Magical Elves has been responsible for the award-winning Project Runway since its inception on Bravo, as well as Last Comic Standing, Treasure Hunters, Top Chef, and Step It Up and Dance.

“We didn’t have an issue with Project Runway going to Lifetime per se, and we’d both be surprised if it didn’t work for that network,” Cutforth tells EW.com. “When we started doing Project Runway five years ago, we weren’t really a production company. We were two producers taking work on a for-hire basis. But Project Runway became a huge part of our company and we are very much known for it.  We’ve been trying to grow our business and it doesn’t make much sense to keep on with it — as much as we love Project Runway.”

'90210' spinoff: We have a matriarch!

Arrested Development fans may want to keep an eye on the Beverly Hills, 90210 spinoff in the works at CW. Jessica Walter, who played the nutty, booze-soaked Lucille Bluth on the Emmy-winning Fox comedy, will play Tabitha, the grandmother, in the highly-anticipated drama from executive producer Rob Thomas. The spinoff is expected to revolve around the Mills family of Beverly Hills whose matriarch, Tabitha, is a 60-something has-been actress and alcoholic. Tabitha's adult son, Harry, moves back to Beverly Hills to care for his mother. Joining him are his wife Celia (Lori Laughlin, Summerland), an Olympic athlete-turned-personal trainer, and their two 16-year-old children, Annie (Degrassi: The Next Generation's Shenae Grimes) and Dixon (who has yet to be cast).

Lori Loughlin, Shenae Grimes join '90210' spinoff

Lori Loughlin (Summerland, pictured) has been cast in the Rob Thomas-produced Beverly Hills, 90210 spinoff currently in development at the CW. She'll play Celia Mills, mother to teenage Annie, who will be played by Shenae Grimes (Degrassi: The Next Generation) and Dixon, Annie's yet-to-be-cast twin (a la the original series' Brenda and Brandon Walsh). The actresses join a cast that also includes Dustin Milligan (The Messengers), who plays Ethan the popular guy, and Annalynne McCord (Nip/Tuck), who plays Naomi the rich, popular girl.

CBS/Paramount, which is producing the much-anticipated drama for the CW, is expected to shore up casting on the pilot soon. One insider says Hilary Duff was given a script to read, but any discussion about her joining the cast is premature.

Summer Glau on 'Sarah Connor': More action, please!

Now that Fox has picked up 13 more episodes of The Sarah Connor Chronicles, star Summer Glau has high hopes for the new season. "I hope they make sure to keep the action level high," Glau told EW.com at the Young Hollywood Awards in Los Angeles on April 27. "I really enjoy it and I feel very comfortable jumping around and kicking butt. I don’t want to see it become -- and I think the fans would agree -- some sappy, depressing drama. I think we are safe, but I figured I’d put that out there."

"I feel like our storylines were just starting to really come together when the strike happened, and it is going to be hard to get fans back [on board] and to attract new fans," Glau continued. "We were really building toward something, and then Bam, we had to stop. At least we had an episode filmed that was meant to be a middle episode, but it worked as a finale. So we didn’t leave people hanging in a bad spot, but you lose momentum and a level of comfort and it will be like starting all over again.”

Glau's co-star, Thomas Dekker (John Connor), who attended the ceremony to accept a Young Hollywood award, promises the show will come back in the fall "like a proper series" and will take six months to prepare. "We are going back to shoot in June," he said. "It is a very complicated show with lots of effects and stunts, so it takes a while to do each episode. And, of course, we are hoping that once we do those 13 they will keep us on to finish out a whole season."

As for his character, Dekker says that "John undergoes a lot of changes in the coming episodes and season. It was intentional. Anyone who was afraid that my John was a little too weak will be pleasantly surprised in the second season. It was always the plan that I would go through a transformation and become a bad ass. I have to prove I am not a wimp and it’s going to be fun. We wanted it to start small and then make audiences go, ‘Oh s---.'” -- With reporting by Carrie Bell

CBS' 'Moonlight': Good news for fans?

Though CBS hasn't officially ordered a second season of Moonlight, the sexy vampire drama starring Alex O'Laughlin, co-star Jason Dohring (Josef Konstantin) told EW.com that Joel Silver, the show's executive producer, hinted that a second-season pickup seems likely. “We just aired our first episode after the strike break and the ratings were really good, so things are looking up," Dohring told EW.com at the April 26 premiere of Speed Racer, which Silver produced. "Joel just pulled me aside on the carpet and said things were looking up and not to book any jobs for after the hiatus. That’s gotta be good, when the producer tells you things are looking up on whether or not you’ll still have a job next season.”

In terms of upcoming episodes, Dohring says there'll be a lot more vampire action. "There is going to be a problem, and to solve it all the vampire circles and families are going to have to come together," he said. "We have a big meeting to address the problem. There are vampires from all different social stratas."

And if Moonlight does, in fact, return for a second season, Dohring hopes the writers will make use of his character's extremely advanced age. “Because he is a 400-year-old, they could draw from any of those time periods for stories," Dohring suggested. "I would like to see some flashbacks to establish more about this guy. Mostly, I just want to wear some cool period costumes but I think it’d be cool to see some huge historical events from the last 400 years that may have been instigated or impacted by vampires, this vampire in particular.” -- With reporting by Carrie Bell

Return of 'Gossip Girl' scores big for the CW

Gossip Girl's April 21 return helped the CW earned its best-ever Monday ratings among adults 18-34 and young women. The original episode ranked No. 1 for its timeslot among female teens and was second among women 18-34. In the episode, Blair (Leighton Meester) returned to school with her tail between her legs after having been dethroned as the so-called Queen Bee.

The Ratings Report: 'Idol' rules (again)

(This new EW.com column will report on primetime ratings every Tuesday.)

More than 23 million tuned in to see Kristy Lee Cook's ouster on last week's American Idol results show, which helped Fox win the week ending April 20 with an average 8.8 million viewers. Meanwhile, Desperate Housewives ranked as the most-watched drama in primetime and Two And A Half Men continued its reign as the most watched sitcom on TV (sorry, The Office, No. 21, and 30 Rock, No. 44).

The 10 most-watched new shows from last week: Idol Tuesday (23.6 million), Idol Wednesday (23.3), Dancing with the Stars (17.1), Housewives (15.7), Dancing results (15.4), NCIS (15.1), Men (13.9), CSI: NY (13.4), Law & Order: SVU (13.2), and Criminal Minds (12.9). Biggest Loser 5, which ended its run last week, averaged 11.3 million viewers, while the controversial Democratic Presidential Debate (swell questions, Charlie!) attracted 10.6 million.

Who’s winning the 2007-08 season so far? Fox (no surprise) is averaging a respectable 11.3 million, followed by CBS (10.5), ABC (9.1), NBC (8.3) and CW (2.6). Fox is also leading in the all-important 18-49 demographic (4.3 rating/11 share), followed by ABC (3.0/8), CBS (3.0/8) NBC (2.9/8) and CW(1.0/3). Each rating point represents 1.31 million viewers.

And finally, of the Big Four networks, Fox is currently attracting the youngest viewers (average age of 43.9), followed by NBC (48.1), ABC (49.1) and CBS (51.9).

George Eads to cameo on 'Two and a Half Men'

More details have emerged regarding the much-anticipated writer-swap episodes of CBS' Two and A Half Men and CSI. CSI co-star George Eads will make a cameo appearance on the Monday, May 5 episode of Men, which was written by CSI scribes Carol Mendelsohn and Naren Shankar, while Katey Sagal will play a diva sitcom star in the May 8 CSI episode, penned by Men exec producer Chuck Lorre. The latter episode focuses on Sagal's character's surprise death while filming her show in Las Vegas.

Jenny McCarthy will also make a return engagement to Men on May 5 to reprise her role as Courtney, the crazy daughter of Teddy (Robert Wagner), Evelyn's new husband.

Reality hosts get their own category at Emmys

Jeff Probst, time to prepare that acceptance speech. The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has created a new category for "Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program" that will be presented for the first time on Sept. 21 at the 60th Annual Primetime Emmys. According to Academy rules, the new category is only for the "proactive master of ceremony" and does not include reactive participants or judges (tough luck, Paula and Bruno). "Reality TV has become such an integral part of TV and our culture, so it only made sense for us to create this new, highly-competitive category," said Academy chair John Shaffner.

Start campaigning now, Chenbot!

'Curb Your Enthusiasm' update: Where's Larry?

Paging Grouchy McGrumpenstein: The cast of Curb Your Enthusiasm needs you! Costar Cheryl Hines (pictured) told EW.com that production on another season of the HBO comedy, which appears likely, is on hold for now while star Larry David works on an untitled movie by Woody Allen. "Normally, we would be shooting by now, but Larry is busy playing with Woody. We have to wait until the two crazies are done fooling around," Hines told us while attending the premiere of Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay in Los Angeles. "Hopefully enough stuff is pissing him off or irritating him, so hopefully he is working on writing some new episodes."

In the meantime, Hines is staying preoccupied: She just directed her first film, Serious Moonlight, which stars Meg Ryan and Timothy Hutton. It's about a woman who holds her husband hostage until he decides not to divorce her. Hines is also about to costar in The Ugly Truth, a romantic comedy starring Katherine Heigl, and she has small role in an upcoming Sam Mendes movie. Hmm, maybe life without David is not so bad after all. "I don't need Larry to come back, but I want Larry to come back because we have a great time on Curb," she admits. (With reporting by Carrie Bell)

'Back to You' undergoes casting changes

The producers of the promising new comedy Back To You may be looking to reboot the sitcom now that it's back in originals on Fox. A source close to the production says that actress Ayda Field (pictured), who plays weather girl Montana Diaz Herrera, may leave the freshman laugher to make way for a new cast member. Herrera is expected to appear in at least one more episode before departing the comedy that stars Patricia Heaton and Kelsey Grammer as two anchors who work for a Pittsburgh TV station. Meanwhile, a Fox spokesman said the producers decided to "go in a different direction" by casting Lily Jackson (My Name is Earl) as 10-year-old Gracie Carr, the daughter of Kelly (Heaton) and Chuck (Grammer). Gracie was previously played by Laura Marano. Jackson made her first appearance in the April 16 episode. Back To You will wrap its first season on May 14.

'Gossip Girl': Season's final five episodes will be available on TV only

How old school of The CW! The network announced today that fans will have to turn on their TVs if they want to watch the season's final five episodes of Gossip Girl. The freshman drama, which returns to the schedule on April 21, will not be available for streaming via the network website (though the episodes will be up for sale via iTunes).

"Gossip Girl is an extremely important show for The CW and we feel it can be a signature breakout for its return," says Paul McGuire, a CW spokesman. "This is an experiment for us."

In addition to its regular Mondays at 8 p.m. time slot, Gossip Girl repeats will continue to air on Sundays at 6 p.m. The net says it will also bolster its online Gossip Girl content over the next month by streaming interviews with Gossip executive producer Josh Schwartz and scenes from future story arcs. The first 12 episodes of drama are still available for streaming on CWTV.com.