· Yesterday, Sissy Spacek became the second Oscar-winning actress to be cast in a drama pilot this season as a lead character who was originally conceived as a man. Spacek has agreed to make the Untitled John Wells Medical Drama at CBS her first regular series gig. The project, written by Hannah Shakespeare (Loverboy) and to be directed by Christopher Chulack (Southland), will focus on a mobile team of volunteer doctors led by a driven visionary (Spacek) that travels the world and the U.S. helping those in need. Earlier this month, Kathy Bates was cast as the lead of David E. Kelley's Kindreds, a legal drama that was created with a male lead in mind. [THR]
The Gossip Girl creators build their own Fake Empire, Nikki Blonsky signs up for fat camp, and more TV Bites after the jump.
· Gossip Girl creators Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage will launch a production company based at Warner Bros. TV called Fake Empire. [THR]
· Hairspray star Nikki Blonsky and Hayley Hasselhoff (daughter of David) have been cast in ABC Family's upcoming fat-camp series called Huge. [THR]
· Breaking Bad's third season premiere on Sunday was the most-watched episode of the series, drawing almost 2 million viewers. AMC's other favorite series, Mad Men, premiered last season to 2.9 million viewers. [THR]
· Relax -- Paris Hilton claims she is not pitching a reality show about her engagement and wedding to Doug Reinhardt. At least, not yet. [ParisHilton.com]
· Television Without Pity has compiled the worst-sounding new pilots for you. [TWop]
· Yesterday, daytime host Wendy Williams told Dr. Drew that she honestly believes Heidi Montag looks "great" post-surgery, and only one person in the studio audience clapped. [WendyShow.com]