TV Bites: Is Martha Stewart the Next Cable-Network Empress?

· Who did not see this coming? After the Hallmark Channel inked a deal with Martha Stewart to give the home guru seven hours of air time a day, Crown Media, the network that owns both the Hallmark Channel and the Hallmark Movie Channel, is now considering forking over an entire one of its networks to Stewart. If that is the case, the syndicated talk host would be following in the footsteps of Oprah Winfrey, whose highly anticipated OWN will replace the Discovery Health channel in January. Please broadcasters, just spare us the Rachael Ray Network. [NYP]

Jon Heder parachutes out of a Gary Sanchez production, Fox plans to keep Punking viewers , and more TV Bites after the jump.

· Napoleon Dynamite star Jon Heder has dropped out of the Untitled Gary Sanchez Series at Comedy Central due to creative differences over his character. The show will center on a young man (who would have been played by Heder) who moves back in with his parents. Chris Parnell and Horatio Sanz will still co-star. [EW]

· Movieline predicts that audiences are not gonna love Fox's new celebrity prank series called My Parents Are Gonna Love You. In each episode of the show, which is close to a pilot pickup deal, participants will tell their folks about a wonderful new significant other who turns out to be a famous face -- and utterly obnoxious. [THR]

· ABC's dramedy series Scoundrels has switched out Neal McDonough for David James Elliott, only three days into filming. The show centers on a matriarch (Virginia Madsen) of a family of criminals who decides it's time for her brood to go straight after her husband (Elliott) is sentenced to a long prison term. [THR]

· For just $900,000, you can buy a 30-second ad during ABC's Lost series finale. [TVbytheNumbers]