This Week in TV:

Community adds Jonathan Banks (Breaking Bad) to its season 5 cast; Keith Carradine (Dexter) joins The Following for season 2; CBS announces Marg Helgenberger's return for the 300th episode of CSI; E! orders six episodes of Soup spin-off, The Soup Investigates; Comedy Central orders a stand-up series from veteran comic Dave Attell; and Girl Meets World casts Cory and Topanga's youngest son, as well as Riley's middle-school crush.

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Breaking Bad's Jonathan Banks joined the cast of NBC's comedy Community for season 5 earlier this week.

Jonathan Banks Community

Banks - who is best known for playing menacing enforcer Mike Ehrmantraut on the AMC drama - is set to take on a recurring 11-episode role on Community as an intense criminology professor named Pat Nichols, who has a dark, traumatic military and police officer past. His first appearance will come in episode 2 of season 5, in which Annie (Alison Brie) joins his class.

While Banks' and Brie's characters should form an interesting (and hopefully hilarious) teacher-student dynamic, Banks' lengthy stay on the show means he'll probably have plenty of interaction with the rest of the Greendale crew. The actor's intimidating presence should create some humorous moments when played against the goofiness of the rest of the cast, much like it did when Banks appeared on Parks and Recreation as Ben Wyatt's (Adam Scott) authoritative father.

There is currently no premiere date for Community season 5, but we expect it to return to NBC in early 2014.

Source: EW

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The Following continued to add to its season 2 cast this week, landing Dexter star Keith Carradine.

Keith Carradine on The Following

The veteran actor - most recently known as FBI agent Frank Lundy on Showtime's serial killer drama - will portray Barry, a trusted friend of Ryan Hardy (Kevin Bacon), in a recurring role on FOX's own serial killer show.

Carradine joins an ever-growing season 2 cast that has made several notable additions in recent weeks, including Connie Nielsen as Ryan's new love interest, James McDaniel as an FBI agent and another Dexter alum, Sam Underwood, as a possible follower of Joe Carroll (James Purefoy).

We'll have to wait and see how Carradine's character fits into the dark puzzle of The Following's second season when it returns to FOX in January 2014.

Source: TV Line

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After leaving CSI midway through season 12, Marg Helgenberger is set to return for the show's 300th episode.

Marg Helgenberger CSI return

Helgenberger will reprise her iconic role as Catherine Willows in the landmark episode, which will center on a fictional cold case that takes the characters back to the beginning of the series. Her character will be part of several recreated flashbacks that date back 14 years.

It sounds like Helgenberger and her character won't have anything new to do on the series, but fans who are already pumped for the show's milestone hour will likely be thrilled to see her play the part one last time. Even the show's producers had a hard time controlling their exuberance when delivering the news this week.

Said executive producer Don McGill of Helgenberger's return:

“We were just really excited to have Marg come back because, obviously, she’s such an important part of the history of  'CSI.' And she was super excited. It was kismet!”

The premiere of CSI's 14th season hits CBS airwaves on September 25, 2013.

Source: TV Line

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E! has ordered a spin-off of its popular clip show The Soup called The Soup Investigates.

The Soup Investigates

The network first announced it was developing a spin-off of the Joel Mchale-hosted series back in April and after debuting a standalone special episode of the new show in June to more than 3.4 million viewers, E! decided to go ahead and order six more episodes of The Soup Investigates.

Like The Soup, the spin-off will take comedic aim at pop culture and celebrities, but will act as a parody of TV news shows, akin to Comedy Central's The Daily Show. McHale, who will pull double duty as the host of both shows, explained the approach to the spin-off.

Said McHale:

"The way that John Oliver on 'The Daily Show' goes out and does those correspondent pieces, we thought, 'We can do that but with pop culture.' "

Look for The Soup Investigates when it premieres on October 2, 2013 on E!.

Source: THR

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Comedy Central has ordered a stand-up comedy series from network regular Dave Attell.

Dave Attell Comedy Central

Attell will serve as the host of the currently untitled weekly late-night stand-up show, which has been ordered for eight episodes by the network so far. The deal also comes packaged with a one-hour stand-up special from Attell.

Longtime comedy fans know Attell as a regular touring stand-up, but he's also spent plenty of time on Comedy Central, as the host of the late-night series Insomniac for four seasons and as a guest on programs like The Daily Show and Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn.

It's unclear how much stand-up Attell will perform himself, or if the show will simply be a showcase for other acts, but fans of his self-deprecating style will likely welcome him back to the Comedy Central stage.

Both the series and the one-hour special will premiere on Comedy Central in 2014.

Source: Deadline

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Disney Channel's Boy Meets World spin-off, Girl Meets World, added two new characters this week - Cory (Ben Savage) and Topanga's (Danielle Fishel) youngest son and Riley's (Rowan Blanchard) first crush.

Peyton Meyer cast in Girl Meets World

The series cast August Maturo (Dog with a Blog) as Louis Matthews, the youngest immediate member of the family and Riley's little brother. Like Teo Halm - who is playing his and Riley's older brother, Elliot - Maturo doesn't have many credits to his name, but has appeared on several hit comedies, such as How I Met Your Mother and Weeds.

Meanwhile, Riley's middle-school crush, Tristan Friar, will be played by 14-year-old TV newcomer Peyton Meyer (pictured above).

With the Matthews family finally rounded out and with the cast mostly set, production on Girl Meets World should get underway soon. Follow Riley Matthews' adventures when the series premieres on Disney Channel in 2014.

Source: TV Line