TV Bites: Breaking Bad Takes the Year Off

Also in this morning's TV Bites: Nigel Lythgoe officially signs on for American Idol... NBC pits Zombies vs. Vampires... Tony Robbins gets the boot... and more ahead.

· If you've been wanting to catch up with Breaking Bad but haven't had the time, here's your chance: AMC won't premiere the fourth season of the Emmy-nominated series until July 2011, over a full year after the season three finale (some webisodes will be produced to further the story along during the hiatus). The delay means Breaking Bad won't be eligible for any Emmy nominations next year, which is bad news for two-time winner (and current frontrunner) Bryan Cranston, but good news for Jon Hamm. Get that 2011 acceptance speech ready, Jonny! [Deadline]

· It's finally, truly official: Nigel Lythgoe has signed on to return as producer of American Idol. His first order of business? Throwing Paula Abdul back into the mix: "I still love Paula. She's signed to CBS, probably exclusively, but I'd recommend we have her [as a judge] in a heartbeat." Uh-huh. [Variety]

· NBC has purchased a spec script for Zombies vs. Vampires, a "funny, buddy cop procedural" set in world where zombies are part of society and vampires, presumably, are not. Where would this fit on the Movieline-approved scale of Hollywood cynicism? [Deadline]

· The Talk -- the CBS version of The View with Julie Chen, Sara Gilbert, Holly Robinson Peete, Leah Remini, Sharon Osbourne and Marissa Jaret Winokur -- has found an executive producer. ET co-executive producer Brad Bessey will be in charge of the controlled chaos. [THR]

· Tony Robbins could probably use some motivation right now. His NBC series, Breakthrough has been yanked off the air after two episodes. [Yahoo!]

· Sorry nerds, George Lucas says that live-action Star Wars television show you don't want to watch is too expensive to happen. [TechLand]