TV Bites: Virginia Madsen Finds Her Inner Scoundrel
· Just yesterday, Matthew Broderick announced his transition to series television, and today, his Diminished Capacity co-star Virginia Madsen does the same. The one-time Oscar-nominee has signed on to lead ABC's drama series Scoundrels. Based on New Zealand's Outrageous Fortune, the show centers on the matriarch of a family of criminals who decides that it is time for the brood to go straight after her husband is sentenced to a long prison term. ABC tried to remake the series in 2008 with Catherine O'Hara as the lead. The show is scheduled for an eight-episode run this summer. [Reuters]
Your favorite early '90s teen stars reunite, Oprah recycles her show, and more TV Bites after the jump.
· The hottest couple to steam up the ABC Family screen ever, Melissa Joan Hart and Joey Lawrence, will reunite again for a sitcom titled (drum roll please) Melissa & Joey. The ABC Family series centers on a busy politician (Hart) who hires a manny (Lawrence) to take care of her niece and nephew when her sister lands in jail. The half-hour sitcom will premiere later this year. Last year, the pair broke network records with their ABC original movie My Fake Fiance. [TV Guide]
· Beginning in January 2011, the Oprah Winfrey Network will air behind-the-scenes footage from her final season in syndication as part of a series called Behind the Scenes: Oprah's 25th Season. One can only hope that the bonus footage includes deleted scenes from the Mackenzie Phillips and Jay Leno spectaculars. [NY Daily News]
· Oscar producer Bill Mechanic expects that by making this year's ceremony less stuffy -- with the help of a few unexpected performances and the previously untapped element of humor-- this year's Academy Awards telecast will be one of the best ever. [THR]
· Tom Welling is returning to the CW, this time as the producer of a dramedy pilot called Hellcats, which is being described as a cross between Election and Bring it On. [EW]
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Comments
I mean no offense to the actors, but....This show looks like absolute rubbish when compared to the original series from New Zealand. The New Zealand show was awesome and I don't know why they just don't show it here. Why do the studios continue to remake overseas TV shows and movies when they are never as good as the originals. Do they think we are stupid and won't get non-traditional American humor. This show will have its funny moments but it will never reach the levels of drama, action and comedy that the New Zealand one did. This is one of a few shows that had me in fits of laughter one minute and in tears the next. I recommend people get their hands on the original and watch it.