News Brief : Major Doctor Who news

Doctor Who cast are making the news this week, while Dan Harmon returns to Community. 

.... Matt Smith is leaving Doctor Who. After a few years as the eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith is leaving Doctor Who. The news was revealed on the network's Doctor Who blog. Smith's final turns as the famed traveler of space and time will happen in the 50th anniversary special that's scheduled for November and in this year's Christmas special, after which the Doctor will be regenerated by some new lucky chap.

 "Doctor Who has been the most brilliant experience for me as an actor and a bloke, and that largely is down to the cast, crew, and fans of the show," Smith said in a statement.

.... In other Doctor Who related news, former Doctor's companion Karen Gillian, who played Amy Pond (the girl who waited) for 2 and a half seasons with (also outgoing) present Doctor 'Matt Smith' is joining "Marvel's Guardians of The Galaxy". Details are a bit sketchy about her role in the movie, but it appears she would be the lead female villain in the picture, Lee Pace and Michael Rooker are also said to be villains. The bigger nugget is that Benicio Del Toro has signed on for a multi-picture deal with Marvel, in a lead role for James Gunn’s space opera. Is he Thanos? Is he Rocket Raccoon? Hopefully we’ll soon find out. The cast now includes Benicio Del Toro, Karen Gillan, Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Michael Rooker, Ophelia Lovibond, Lee Pace, and Glenn Close. The film opens August 1st, 2014.
.... Dan Harmon, the creator of Community is back. After creative and production differences between him and the studio last year that made him resign as the show runner, he's back to the show. After the 'up and down' quality of the episodes of season 4, Harmon's return is a welcome return for the show.
... Ben Edlund, Supernatural's most celebrated writer and executive producer, is leaving the CW show to help out his old pal and Supernatural creator Eric Kripke at Revolution. Edlund, who's also written for The Venture Bros., Firefly, Angel, and The Tick, is responsible for some of Supernatural's best and most creative episodes, including "The End," "The French Mistake," and "Wishful Thinking" (the porno-addicted teddy bear? That's Edlund's baby). Supernatural will survive just fine without Edlund, but Revolution should get a huge boost with him as it looks to improve creatively after its dull first season. And it's not just Edlund who will help things out in Season 2. It was previously announced that Farscape and Defiance creator Rockne S. O'Bannon, as well as CSI:NY's Trey Callaway, are also joining Revolution's writing team.
... Revenge will be saying goodbye to Ashley Davenport next season. Actress Ashley Madekwe has not been asked back for Season 3 as her character's story has come to a natural conclusion and none of the writers wanted to awkwardly squeeze her into the show.
... Actress Agnes Bruckner has been cast in the A&E pilot Occult from producer Michael Bay. The series is another one of those "FBI agents taking on supernatural cases" shows, like The X-Files. Bruckner won't play one of the agents; she'll play a woman who gets caught up in some freaky stuff.
... Season 2 of Netflix's House of Cards is adding a pair to its cast. Mad Men's Sam Page and Deadwood's Molly Parker will join the dirty Washington-set political thriller, but details on their roles haven't leaked yet.

News : NBC Renews "Community" for Season 5, Cancellations, Renewals, New Series and a Bit of Gossip

CANCELLATIONS
.... NBC has cancelled Mathew Perry's comedy "Go On", Broadway musical drama "Smash" and Ryan Murphy's comedy "The New Normal", with only a decision on "Hannibal" left to be made (and that could take a while, since the show is still in season).
"The New Normal" and "Smash" join "Up All Night", "Whitney", "Guys With Kids", "1600 Penn", and "Deception" as recent additions to NBC's 2012-2013 graveyard.

.... CBS cleaned out its closet today, delivering a swift axe-chop to four shows, including a pair of long-running series. "CSI: NY" is saying goodbye after nine seasons, which means the original flavor is the only remaining iteration of the franchise. "Rules of Engagement" has also been canceled, after seven years of loyal service to the network. Going one-season-and-done are "Golden Boy" and "Vegas". Both series were just kinda there this season, getting middling reviews and ratings.

.... FOX has cancelled "Touch". "Touch", the Kiefer Sutherland starer about a father with a gifted son and how he interacts with the Universe isn't coming back after two seasons.

.... ABC has cancelled the comedy "Happy Endings". The show about 6 friends who remain friends with each other even after the couple amongst them don't go on with their marriage isn't returning for a fourth season.

.... TNT has canceled "Southland" after five seasons, as expected. The show was adored by critics but failed to make an impression with viewers, drawing fewer than two million viewers for its entire fifth season. "Southland" actually started on NBC, which ordered a second season of the show but then changed its mind, allowing TNT to step in and save it. There's early talk about a two-hour "Southland" wrap-up movie, but it's VERY EARLY TALK. As for the series finale that aired last month, it sort- of worked as an actual series finale. In other TNT news, the network also put a pillow over "Monday Mornings". The medical drama starring Ving Rhames never got going.


RENEWALS
.... "Criminal Minds" Overcomes Its Contract Standoff, Officially Gets Renewed for Season 9. The show I'm calling "1,000 reasons not to live in America" is returning for a ninth season after contracts negotiations were ironed out with the female cast members on the show, as they wanted to earn as much/close to what the males were earning.

.... Against the Odds, NBC has gone and done the unexpected and renewed cult fave "Community" for a fifth season, despite dismal ratings and lots of backlash,. The beloved comedy was barely hanging onto the bubble as the Upfronts approached, but its chances continued to improve throughout this week as NBC slowly axed nearly all of its other comedies. The decision comes the day after "Community's Season 4 finale jumped up in ratings, all the way to a 1.3 rating. Yeah, that's not good by any means, but it's a positive sign that NBC was hoping for from one of its veteran comedies. "Community" joins "Parks and Recreation" on NBC's extremely short list of returning comedies.

.... The CW has renewed "Nikita" and "The Carrie Diaries". There's no word on how long "Nikita" and "The Carrie Diaries" episodes next season will be, but rumors are the shows will looking at a 6-episode and 13-episode order for next season.
That means The CW's schedule next season will include "Arrow", "Supernatural", "The Vampire Diaries", "Hart of Dixie", "The Carrie Diaries", "Nikita", and new series "The Originals", "The 100", "The Tomorrow People", "Star-Crossed", and "Reign".

... When "Burn Notice" returns for Season 7 on June 6, it will be the beginning of the end. USA has announced that the spy show will conclude at the end of Season 7. Creator Matt Nix and USA will remain on good terms, however, and Nix will develop a medical drama called "Complications" for the network.

... TBS has ordered the comedy "Ground Floor" from Bill Lawrence, creator of "Scrubs" and "Cougar Town". The show is set in the corporate world and follows a banker who hooks up with a hottie, then finds out she works for the maintenance team in his building.

OTHER NEWS

... The Vampire Diaries stars Ian Somerhalder and Nina Dobrev have broken up! [US Weekly]