Weekly TV Wrap Up – January 29, 2009

Here is yet one more edition of Thursday’s Weekly TV Wrap Up on Screen Rant!

This week we have news on new shows that FOX has ordered, a bit of news on Dead Like Me, we touch on some House info and more on yet more guest appearances on E.R..

In the confused department, I’ve got some news sort of related to Smallville, and we chat about Ugly Betty getting dumped temporarily.

We wrap it up with a little bit of new news for our overseas readers on a new set of episodes of Red Dwarf.  Let’s get on with it!

1. FOX Network ordered itself a bunch of pilots. Four comedies and three dramas. Of the three dramas, two of them are of the sci-fi genre.

One is Human Target, based on the DC Comics title about a man for hire whose job is to assume the role of people who find themselves in life threatening situations. John Steinberg writes the scripts and is executive producing alongside McG.

The other project is untitled at this time, but focuses on past-life investigators using the concept of reincarnation to solve present day crimes. Source: THR.com

2. For the Dead Like Me fans, a direct-to-DVD movie is being released on February 17th, 2009 titled Dead Like Me: Life After Death.

I’ve always found the show interesting and wouldn’t mind catching a full length movie version. Of course after watching a movie, I would probably end up wanting more. Source: TVShowsOnDVD

3. In case you missed the news and missed the show, House has moved to Monday nights. (SPOILER) Later this season Gregory House and Cuddy will, um, well… you know, they um, well… they “hit it” off pretty good, if you know what I mean. Of course the creators of House warn us that even though House and Cuddy settle into the sheets together, they’re going to do this the only way it can be done, House style. Sigh. Source: EW.com, Image: FOX

4. As Niall reported a few days ago regarding George Clooney returning for a reprisal of his role of Doug Ross on E.R., Julianna Margulies is following suit and also reprising her role as Hathaway on the final season of E.R. on NBC.  Source: ET Online.

There are also some rumors that Susan Sarandon will be appearing in the same episode with Clooney.  Source: E Online.

5. First it’s good news, then it’s not. I can’t decide if The CW really knows what’s up.

In the process of getting a reboot of Melrose Place up and running, The CW is talking to Darren Swimmer and Todd Slavkin about helming the Melrose effort. Yes, the same Darren Swimmer and Todd Slavkin who are 2 of the 4 show-runners for Smallville.

If for some reason they move on to tackle Melrose Place, that would leave Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson as the executive producers for the 9th season of Smallville. It’s being reported that Warner Bros is finalizing deals with the cast for a 9th season.

So my question to you would be what do you think would happen to the quality of the show if they split up this four-some?  Source: EW.com,

6. It’s been thought that ABC’s Ugly Betty was their workhorse signature series, yet they’re shelving the show starting March 26th in favor of Samantha Who?, and then In The Motherhood. claiming that the Thursday night time slot is a great spot to launch these shows.

According to ABC, Ugly Betty will return after these two shows run their set number of episodes.  Though the network is not saying when the show will return, by some calculations, it should probably air sometime in June.  The dreaded summertime slot. Source: EW.com.

7.  Channel Dave is a network over in the UK.  If you have access to the network, and you’re a fan of Red Dwarf, then you are in for a treat.  Red Dwarf is returning with a brand new two-part series.  Dave Lister gets to return home!

Red Dwarf: Back to Earth starts filming their two-part episode in February.

Over the Easter weekend, four new episodes will come at you.  After the two episodes of Back to Earth, prepare yourself for Red Dwarf: Unplugged.  Unplugged will have no sets, no effects and egads, no cue cards!  Then you get to watch Red Dwarf: The Making of Back to Earth.  Source: Dave TV.