News Briefs : HBO orders Leftovers to series

... It's not HBO, it's leftovers. Well, it will be The Leftovers. The cable network has ordered to series the latest project from Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof, the slightly supernatural drama The Leftovers. Based on the book by Tom Perrotta, The Leftovers follows what happens after the biblical Rapture takes all the righteous people away and leaves the Earth populated with everyone who didn't get called up to heaven. Specifically, the series will center on a group of people who must survive without their more devout loved ones. Liv Tyler, Justin Theroux, Christopher Eccleston, Amy Brenneman, Emily Meade, Michael Gaston, and Chris Zylka are all in the cast, and HBO has asked for 10 episodes.

... Former Awkward. showrunner and creator Lauren Iungerich has received a put pilot commitment for Bitch off the Ol' Block, a comedy about a woman who is reunited with her teenage daughter. The daughter turns out to be a smart-assed version of the mother and moves in with the mother and her roommates, who all raise her. Another twist on the family member moving in at an inopportune time!

... Enlightened creator and star Mike White has a new project cookin' at NBC. The show is about a young 16-year-old chef prodigy who works in a kitchen with his temperamental idol! NBC has given White's project a put pilot commitment.

... Hot on the heels of Magic Mike and the general idea that hunky half-naked men lure eyeballs, Fox has made a put pilot commitment to The Whole Shebang, a new comedy from producer Jennifer Garner and writer Jason Micallef (Butter). So how do gyrating washboards in banana hammocks fit in? A newly single soccer mom inherits a male strip club and discovers a supportive yet dysfunctional surrogate family within.

... Syfy has acquired the Canadian werewolf series Bitten for broadcast. The series stars Laura Vandervoort (Smallville, V) as Elena Michaels, the lone werewolf in existence. Elena ditches her pack and moves to a new city, but what do you know? A bunch of dead bodies pop up and next thing she knows, she's back working with her old gang of werepeople. Syfy will air all 13 episodes of the first season. Bitten was originally broadcast on Canada's Entertainment One.

CASTING NEWS

... The Walking Dead will add Christian Serratos to play the character Rosita Espinosa, who appeared in the comics, for Season 4. The casting announcement says she'll recur in Season 4 with the option to become a regular in Season 5, so I like her chances to survive!

... ABC's Once Upon a Time in Wonderland has found its voice for the Caterpillar. Veteran punk rocker Iggy Pop of The Stooges will speak for the drug-huffing butterfly worm. Other voices in the cast include John Lithgow for the White Rabbit and Keith David for the Cheshire Cat. Iggy takes over the job from fellow musician Roger Daltry, who lent his voice to the Caterpillar when Once Upon a Time used the character. [EW]

... Billie Piper and Helen McCrory have been cast in Showtime's Penny Dreadful. The eight-episode horror series follows several characters from literature, including Dr. Frankenstein and Dorian Grey, as they sit on the fringes of society in old London. Piper (Secret Diary of a Call Girl) will play an Irish immigrant trying to escape her past, and McRory (Harry Potter) will be a "spiritualist." Josh Hartnett, Timothy Dalton, and Eva Green are also involved in the show. Look for Penny Dreadful in 2014.

... Everybody Loves Raymond brother Brad Garrett will drop by CBS's The Crazy Ones for a couple episodes. The exact details of his role aren't yet known, but his character Lewis will be part of the ad firm that Robin Williams and Sarah Michelle Gellar's characters work for.

... LeVar Burton will be back on Community this season. Look out, Troy.