News Brief: James Gandolfini is Dead ,,,,, and other TV news.

SAD NEWS
Actor James Gandolfini, known for his iconic, Emmy-winning portrayal of one of television's most famous gangsters, Tony Soprano (in the series The Sopranos) has died at age 51. Early reports suggest that the cause of death is a massive heart attack; Gandolfini was in Italy at the time. Gandolfini's long and impressive resume includes roles both large and small in True Romance, Where The Wild Things Are, In the Loop, Zero Dark Thirty, and a host of other films. He is survived by his wife and two children.

LET THE LAUGHS BEGIN NEWS
... FX has ordered a new untitled comedy starring Martin Lawrence and Kelsey Grammer as mismatched lawyers who end up being buddies. The deal, dubbed a 10/90, is similar to the one FX struck with Anger Management; FX is asking for 10 episodes, and if those 10 episodes hit a certain target in the ratings department, FX will order 90 more episodes. FX has a similar deal with a new comedy starring George Lopez.

.... Community creator Dan Harmon has apologized for his comments about Community Season 4. Where he said that he watched the fourth season Community—the season he was not part of after his firing—and did not care for it. At all. In fact, he compared watching Season 4, specifically seeing James Brolin play Jeff's dad, to "being held down and watching your family get raped on a beach." And "flipping through Instagram just watching your girlfriend blow everyone." He apologized to fans, the Season 4 writers, and the cast and crew for his remarks, but did not mention Sony or Season 4 showrunners Moses Port and David Guarascio. He also acknowledged that he said what he said in a cheap attempt to get laughs and that his head "was up his ass."

BUSINESS TIME
.... Netflix has renewed the Eli Roth-helmed horror series Hemlock Grove for Season 2, ordering 10 episodes with a target launch date of 2014. The company has also announced that Charles H. Eglee will join the series as an executive producer and showrunner; Eglee's previous EP credits include The Walking Dead, Dexter, and The Shield.

... Singer John Legend won't let his dream of getting into the TV business die. After a few failed attempts at producing, Legend has a new project in the works at Showtime. The half-hour comedy would follow the lives of big-time music producers, and be loosely based on Legend's life, which probably involves all kinds of opulence and pretty ladies and man. Is this going to be similar to The Real Husbands of Hollywood (one of the best new comedy series this year), reality-show or scripted? We wait and see.

... Nashville music boss T Bone Burnett is leaving the series between seasons, and will hand over his post to Buddy Miller, Burnett's righthand man in Season 1. Burnett produced all the original tunes for the country-music drama and co-composed the score.

CASTING NEWS
... HBO's drama pilot The Leftovers has beefed up its cast with a rare bit of TV casting for one actress. Liv Tyler (that elf lady from Lord of the Rings, that daughter of that rock star) has joined the project, starring opposite Justin Theroux. The drama comes from Damon Lindelof and follows those left behind after the Rapture takes all the righteous away. Tyler, in her first major TV role, will play a woman who becomes the target of a cult.

... Oscar nominee John Hurt has joined FX's vampire pilot The Strain, from Carlton Cuse and Guillermo Del Toro. Hurt will play the owner of a pawn shop who may be the only one who knows what's going on with the sudden viral outbreak the show is built around. Corey Stoll and Mia Maestro were previously cast in the series.

... NBC's upcoming drama Believe is already changing things up. Sienna Guillory, originally cast as a series regular, will see her character written out of the show now that producers have decided on a new direction. In the J.J. Abrams-produced drama about a young woman named Bo with special abilities, Guillory's character was a professional goon attempting to kidnap her. But now several new bad guys will be written in with the hopes that one becomes a series regular.

... Desperate Housewives vet Doug Savant will guest-star on TNT's Rizzoli & Isles. He'll play a mock trial adviser in a September episode.

... Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane will lend his voice to Futurama's final season, and not for just any role; I'm talking about the character who owes me 10,000,000 tears. MacFarlane will voice Seymour, Fry's dog from 1999 who was the centerpiece of the series' masterpiece "Jurassic Bark." Listen for MacFarlane in the August 14 episode. [EW]

... The Veronica Mars movie will bring back New Girl star Max Greenfield as Deputy Leo. Basically, everyone who was originally part of Veronica Mars will be back for the movie.

FIRING NEWS

Following Charlie Sheen's weekend tantrum over his co-star Selma Blair, Blair has been canned from Anger Management. Sheen had threatened to quit the show if Blair wasn't fired after word got back to Sheen that Blair had been talking smack about his work ethic.

NBC Continues its Orders for New Shows

The orders for NBC shows continued today after after previous orders. Coming to NBC next season? A remake of a classic detective show and another one of those comedies about how hard the dating world is for very attractive people. And now it's ordered a "Chicago Fire" spinoff! Let's take a look at them!

.... "Ironside" stars Blair Underwood (pictured above; he played the president on "The Event") as a handsome detective who stays on the job after a shootout leaves him confined to a wheelchair. With his team of other probably handsome detectives, he solves some tough cases. "Ironside" is based on the 1960s series of the same name. Ironside also stars Spencer Grammer (Greek), Brent Sexton (The Killing), and Pablo Schreiber (The Wire).

.... "Undateable" is executive-produced by Scrubs' Bill Lawrence. The multi-camera comedy follows a group of young people who call themselves "The Undateables" but have their lives changed when a confident friend enters their group. Chris D'Elia (Whitney), Brent Morin, and Matthew Wilkas.

..... "Chicago P.D." is like Chicago Fire but with less fire and more cops. It will follow the elite Intelligence Unit of the Chicago Police Department as it takes on the worst of the worst in the Windy City. Also, there will be many hunky hookups. This sounds like a bit of an overeager stretch for NBC, as Chicago Fire did fine but not GREAT for NBC. Jason Beghe, Jon Seda, Scott Eastwood, and Tania Raymonde star.

.... In addition to the three series above, NBC has ordered the new shows "Believe", "Crisis", "About a Boy", "Sean Saves the World", and "The Family Guide".

NBC's upcoming Media Release, New Shows and Cancelled Shows.

NBC has ordered five new series—three new comedies ("About a Boy", "Sean Saves the World", and "Family Guide") and two new dramas (J.J. Abrams' "Believe" and "Crisis"). They join the previously straight-to-series orders for comedy "The Michael J. Fox Show" and pirate drama "Crossbones".

A young girl and a con! International conspiracies! Man-boy bonds! Man-girl bonds! Man-blind-boy bonds! That's what part of NBC's new fall schedule will feature, as some of the network's secrets have hit the internet in advance of its Upfront presentation in New York, which is scheduled for Monday. So far it's three new comedies and two new dramas for the network, with many more announcements soon to come unless NBC wants to broadcast a lot of dead air. Let's run down the new series:

..... "Believe" has J.J. Abrams' name attached to it, like half of all TV shows on the air right now. He'll executive produce along with Bryan Burk for Bad Robot. The drama sounds like a supernatural thriller and follows a young girl with "a gift" who gets protection from a recently sprung con to keep evil forces at bay. The main actress in this show is an unknown young girl named Johnny Sequoyah, Jake McLaughlin, Kyle MacLachlan, Delroy Lindo, Jaime Chung, and Sienna Guillroy also star.

.... "Crisis" comes from Rand Ravich, the creator of NBC's "Life". This one goes all the way to the top! In the drama, a mystery man brings all of Washington to its knees through an international conspiracy that threatens everyone. Sound like "The Event" Part II! "Crisis" marks the triumphant return to television of Gillian Anderson, "The X-Files" Scully. Also starring are Dermot Mulroney (Enlightened), Max Martini (Revenge), and Rachael Taylor (666 Park Avenue).

..... About a Boy is a single-camera comedy adaption of the Nick Hornby novel and the 2002 Hugh Grant film that spawned from it. David Walton (Bent) plays a bachelor who forms a friendship with his neighbor's young boy. And yes, the neighbor happens to be a hot single mom (Minnie Driver). Jason Katims (Friday Night Lights, Parenthood) is writing and producing, so you can bet it's going to be all weepy and exhilarating and make you feel feelings you never thought you could. "1600 Penn"s Benjamin Stockham will play the boy (assuming NBC doesn't renew 1600 Penn). Leslie Bibb (Judd Apatow movies) and Al Madrigal (The Daily Show) also star. This show is going to be very easy to like. Update: "1600 Penn" has been cancelled.

.... Sean Saves the World continues Sean Hayes' relationship with NBC. Hayes (Will & Grace) produces and stars as a man dealing with his 14-year-old daughter and his temperamental boss. It's a multi-camera joint. Thomas Lennon (Reno 911!), Echo Kellum (Ben & Kate), and Linda Lavin (Alice) also star.

.... Family Guide is a single-camera sitcom about a boy who worships his blind father and becomes closer to his mom after the two divorce. Parker Posey, JK Simmons, and Eli Baker star, with Bent's DJ Nash behind the series.

These five new shows join "Chicago Fire", "Revolution", "Law & Order: SVU", "Grimm", "Parenthood", "The Voice", and "The Michael J. Fox Show" (new series) on NBC's schedule for 2013-2014. There will be more NBC pickups coming soon, as well as decisions on which of the networks comedies will return.
According to reports online, NBC has passed on the following pilots, taking them out of consideration: Brenda Forever; Drop-Off (previously known as The Gates); Holding Patterns; Joe, Joe, & Jane; Bloodline; Hatfields & McCoys; The Secret Lives of Husbands and Wives; and The Sixth Gun.

RENEWALS

..... NBC has also ordered a sixth season of "Parks and Recreation". With "30 Rock" over and "The Office" ending next week, NBC had little choice but to renew Parks and Recreation, lest the network be without any established returning comedies next season.

CANCELLATIONS

That's two seasons and done for Whitney Cummings' "Whitney", a multi-camera comedy that inexplicably stuck around after being panned by critics and the viewers.

Also moving out of NBC's digs is White House family comedy "1600 Penn", a single-camera sitcom that got off to a rough start in January before eventually picking up a bit. It was too late, though, and the series never really gained any additional viewers.

They also canceled "Guys With Kids" and the Christina Applegate, Will Arnett and Maya Rudolph comedy "Up All Night". Hopefully this is good news for "Go On" and "New Normal".

NBC has not yet made a decision on "Community".


Culled from TV.com