A faded American favorite is getting a second chance, from the famous giver of second chances. Also today: bad news about Charlie Sheen, good news about a ghost story, and Breaking Bad breaks out.

  • The last we heard from America's favorite baseball player Kevin Costner, he had been cast in a Hatfields & McCoys miniseries on the History Channel. Which, OK, decent project, but not necessarily befitting the wolf dancing field dreamer. But now! Now here comes the revitalization project that fans of the Cost have long been waiting for. He's been cast in Quentin Tarantino's upcoming Western revenge epic Django Unchained. Intriguingly (or unfortunately, depending on your bent), he won't be playing any sort of grizzled good guy. No in fact he'll be a sadistic henchman of Leonardo DiCaprio's sadistic plantation owner, the guy in charge of brutally training slaves who fight in gladiatorial combat. So he won't be seducing Susan Sarandon over cereal is what this is saying? Hm. But yeah, this could be big for him! Like Pam Grier big! (I'm not going to go as far as John Travolta big, not for a terrible slave torturer role, but who knows.) [Deadline]
  • More good news! FX has ordered to series the show American Horror Story, about a troubled family (led by Dyan McDermott Mulroney and the wonderful Connie Britton) moving into a haunted house. Denis O'Hare and Jessica Lange are also on the show, so that's a pretty good cast. Plus: a haunted house show! Not since Dark Shadows? And Dark Shadows doesn't really count. And, yes, sure the show is from Ryan Murphy, who regularly throws self-satisfied slushees in our faces with Glee and with movies like Eat Pray Love, but he's way more fun when he's doing dark, like with Nip/Tuck, so this could be good! At least interesting. And, uh, well, Murphy did use the term "psychosexual thriller" to describe the show, which is a phrase I use as a joke, because it's a ridiculous phrase, but it seems like he's serious, but STILL. Still I am excited. Setting myself up for disappointment, I know. But I choose not to be jaded. Not today, anyway. [THR]
  • Well, no, actually everything sucks and is terrible. Charlie Sheen has announced that the new television show he's working on with Lionsgate is based on that Adam Sandler/Jack Nicholson comedy (put scare quotes around that word if you'd like) Anger Management. So.... good grief, basically. The good news is that it's not attached to a network or anything yet, the bad news is that of course, yes, some vampiric nightmare network (so all the networks, basically) will probably leap at the chance to do this show. Well maybe not CBS. Maybe not them. But the other ones? I could see them doing it. Or at least considering it. And even the thought of giving Charlie Sheen another TV show, just one TV executive having even the most passing of thoughts about it, puts yet another crack in the fabric of existence. Not good, guys. Not good at all. [EW]
  • Ricky Gervais, noted atheist, is developing a show with Showtime about an atheist who dies and winds up in heaven. He won't star, but he is writing. Hm. What will it be called? The Death of Dawkins? Sam Harris' Last Stand? Hitchens' Hitch? Hopefully it's not about Dan Dennett, because, true and weird story, I used to go to his holiday party with my parents every year as a kid and he's a nice man who would let me and my sister play with his kids' old toys. So don't make it about him, Gervais. The other so-called Horsemen, sure. [EW]
  • Last night's ho-hum fourth season premiere of AMC's nice-'n'-easy dramedy Breaking Bad had its highest ratings ever, up 30% from last year. Yup, 2.1 million people tuned in to watch everyone pleasantly exist in New Mexico and say and do nice things to each other. That's very good news! Sometimes at the end of a wild weekend you just need to sit down on the couch and watch something breezy and light where nothing crazy and brutal ever happens. And that's House Hunters for you. Oh, wait. Right. Sorry. I got confused. Breaking Bad is the one where all the crazy terrible things happen. Simple misunderstanding. [EW]
  • Nooooooooooooo. I told you that thinking about making a Charlie Sheen show would cause bad things to happen. And now look. Look what you've done! B.D. Wong has confirmed that he will no longer be on Law & Order: SVU. That is terrible news! Who will explain all the crazy new mental diseases to us? Tamra Tunie??? No, that is not her job! That is B.D. Wong's job. Why is this happening? Why is my beloved show falling apart so? It's almost as if people want to do something different after twelve years of doing the same show. It's almost as if that! Ugh. You're breakin' my heart, B.D. [Deadline]

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