Also today: some pilot casting news, a big deal visits SNL, Showtime invites two shows back for next years, and Don Johnson is going to save NBC.

  • Hahaha. Matthew Morrison, who plays Professor Noodlehair on Glee, has a new album coming out, and he's just released the first single, "Summer Rain." And it's... Well, if you like songs about "making love" on the roof in the summer rain it is great. Yeah! It's an airy little confection that would probably be better released, uh, in the summer, but oh well! Here it is, almost March, and Matthew Morrison is wisp-dreamin' about summer squalls and drainin' balls. (Ew.) But yup! Give it a listen. [EW]
  • OK let's look at a bunch of TV casting news! Frances O'Connor, best known as either the mom in A.I. or the love interest in the Brendan Fraser Bedazzled depending on your wont, has landed a lead role in Marc Cherry's Hallelujah. She'll play a holy man's wife. Tony Goldwyn, the bad guy in Ghost, has joined the Shonda Rhimes crisis management show that's starring Kerry Washington. Marlee Matlin will guest on the planned ABC Family summer series Switched at Birth. But the biggest news is that Nash Bridges himself, Don Johnson, is returning to series television (well to a pilot at least) with the lead in an NBC pilot from Sex and the City fairy godfather Michael Patrick King. The show is about a straight, rakish male hairdresser living in Hollywood and trying to stay afloat in a youth-focused culture. Hm. OK. So, NBC. One of the ways you're going to get back on top is do a show about an old male hairdresser. There's no reason to think that won't do well in America. I don't see how you can fail, NBC. I just don't. Though, a reality show about Don Johnson becoming a hairdresser would be just a tiny bit better. But it's still great. Don't worry. You're gold. [Deadline, THR, Deadline]
  • Oh man, I wasn't kidding, NBC! You guys are gonna be fine. So they're putting on this new singing competition show called The Voice. Which, already, good idea, guys. Creating a new version of a popular competition show always works. Even better is that they've announced two of the judges, and they are... Cee Lo Green and Adam Levine! Oh great. So a novelty act who's basically a 2011 version of Blu Cantrell and this dingus. I don't see how this could possibly go wrong. Number one network 2011-2012: NBC. [EW]
  • Well, if you wanted to see more of people sitting on toilets, you're in luck. Showtime has renewed its toilet-centered show Shameless, which is also about Emmy Rossum's underpants and deli sex (it really is shameless!), for a second season. This is kind of good, because it's an oddly enjoyable show. I mean, William H. Macy is really gross and unlikable on it, as he's sort of supposed to be, and his whole Joan Cusack dildo/anus plotline is a bit much, but there's something about the show that keeps me coming back. I can't say the same for Episodes, which was also just renewed. That's a show I abandoned after four or so, um, airings. Not on purpose. It just faded away, like Nurse Jackie. [THR]
  • It's been announced that Elton John is going to take on both hosting and music performing duties for the April 2nd Saturday Night Live show. Get ready for a hilarious six-minute-long "Benny and the Jets" skit! And, y'know, gay jokes. Gay jokesssss! [THR]
  • And we'll end on a sad note, unfortunately. Producer and director Gary Winick has died of brain cancer at 49. Winick directed the romantic comedies 13 Going on 30, Bride Wars, and Letters to Juliet, as well as the family film Charlotte's Web and indie Tadpole. His producing work involved mostly indie fare; he worked on films like Personal Velocity, Tape, Puccini for Beginners, and Starting Out in the Evening. [Indiewire]

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