News: Odette Annable becomes a Regular on House

In response to a Season 7 that wasn't exactly met with rapturous reception, House seems to be taking things in an entirely new direction in Season 8.

For starters, we know that Lisa Edelstein will be leaving the show- so people will not have to worry about the whole "Huddy" dynamic weighing the show down (if you felt that way)...

And then there's the small fact that House rammed his car into Cuddy's living room, this will mean he will be spending at least the start of Season 8 in a jail cell.

Today, Deadline reports that Odette Annable will also be joining the cast and will become the only recurring female cast member.

She was most recently seen on Fox's Breaking In (which was cancelled, but could be revived), but luckily for her, and Breaking In fans, there is an option for her to return should the show return.

Prison stints are a popular option for TV shows, and often provide for a multitude of new story lines. My Name is Earl quite notably based most of its third season from the "big house", and it worked largely because of the strong criminal element to the show.

And more recently, Weeds opened its seventh season with its main character in the "slammer".

And House is no stranger to changing up its setting, with the sixth season opening up with House in a psychiatric hospital.

Whether this prison stint and new cast member will serve to revitalise House (which could be seen to be slowing down) and allow it to extend its run for another couple of seasons is anyone's guess.

TV News Wrap: Wednesday June 15

• Showtime's new drama House of Lies is shaping up to be a pretty interesting little show, especially when you consider it stars Australia's Josh Lawson (Thank God You're Here). I also hope, for Ben Schwartz's (Parks and Recreation) sake, that he is able to shed his "Jean-Ralphio" tag. Unfortunately, the Hollywood Reporter had misspelt Josh Lawson's name in this edit- so it's fair to say he's not quite a household name yet?

[caption id="attachment_771" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="We all make mistakes..."][/caption]

• It's the TV off-season in the US, so you have to take what you can get here, but Michael Ausiello at TVLine reports that Breaking In will probably not get a reprieve after being axed a short time ago.

• He also reports that Catherine Tate will probably not be the new boss on "The Office". This is very disappointing for some who were holding out hope for Tate to shake things up a bit, but I'd wait just a bit longer before you start jumping to any conclusions about the new boss (let's face it, if it's not her, it would only be between James Spader, Ed Helms and Craig Robinson).

• So, Fran Drescher (The Nanny) has a new show on TVLand entitled "Happily Divorced", which you could almost brush off as another "New Christine" if it wasn't for the semi-interesting fact that it's based on her life in that she and her husband split because he was gay. Hey, if it worked for "Raymond", right?

In Australian news

• You've got to admit that that the (non-?) story about comedian James Brechney popping up on Q and A posing as a climate change-skeptic was a doozy, for a number of reasons. I should state that while I would like to admit to picking him as a fake, I didn't; and let that be a credit to his comedic/acting skills. But at least I didn't jump up and down frothing at the mouth like half of Twitter did on Monday night- especially after he stated that climate change was "just a theory" like gravity. The small problem with his prank/political protest was that it wasn't really that far from what a sceptic would normally say, which caused the panel members to take him all too seriously. Garrett must be red-faced now, as now he appears to be pandering to the questioner- so probably the biggest indictment is on the ABC program. But kudos should go to Brechney for trying to prove a point- he has definitely come out on top. Here's the clip:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KkWJYWtk3o]

TV News Wrap: Sunday May 22

• Fans of the recvently cancelled Fox TV show "Breaking In", starring Christian Slater, might be able to hold on to some form of hope, after The Hollywood Reporter has reported that the show "...Might Get Renewed" if you watch the finale on Tuesday night in the US, which stars Mike Tyson and Voltron. This is because Fox has floated the possibilty of renewal if it gets good ratings on Friday.


• They have also thrown up a very likely reason as to why it was cancelled in the first place (even though it attracted ratings of around 7 million): "... (Fox) may find Breaking In too niche (read: too geeky) and not strong enough with female audiences."


• TVLine reports that another British actor has scored a major role on big-budget Fox show Terra Nova, it's Rod Hallett from The Tudors (he played Sir Richard Rich in the show).


• In other casting news, Ana Ortiz, best known from her role as Ugly Betty's sister in the ABC show, is heading to Detroit to star alongside Thomas Jane in the HBO show Hung. In keeping with the show's theme, she will be playing a woman who needs anger management and a prostitute... so no guesses as to what sort of things she will be getting up to in the show's third season. Ah well, you gotta what you gotta do to get by in the acting biz, don't you? Here she is/was in Ugly Betty as Hilda (on the left).

Those people eagerly anticipating Season 4 of Breaking Bad will be waiting for any scrap of information/footage relating to the new season (as to which there has been very little information released). I think this classifies as a "scrap", but it's something nonetheless.Here's  a video of star Bryan Cranston emploring fans to send in a video of how much they love Breaking Bad. But if you look at 0:33 onwards, there is a snippet of Season 4 footage, showing Cranston's character Walter White, still sporting his beard/moustache combo and throwing a burning pack of empty matches (possibly?) to the ground with Saul Goodman's face and slogan on it. Make of it what you will.

http://www.movieweb.com/v/VIaQvMDo14Iwdi

• In Australian news, The Sydney Morning Herald reports that hit NBC show The Voice has been picked up by Channel Nine (both the US version and the rights to an Australian one). You have to wonder if Australia is ready for another reality/talent competition, let alone another singing contest, but with this show's emphasis on well, the "voices" rather than their look, etc. it isn't exactly the worst pick-up news. But once again, it will come down to the choice of host, and in particular, the judges/mentors/coaches.


• TV Guide reports on the fact that Oprah's favourite guest of all time is Dr. Tererai Trent, a woman from Zimbabwe who endeavours to give the gift of education to children. I'd imagine John Travolta would be fuming.

Renewal and Cancellation Wrap: May 11

Well, the axe has certainly been a-swinging down at FoxLand.

After a fairly hefty block of renewals over the past week (Family Guy, The Cleveland Show, House), there have been four fresh cancellations. One of which was a mercy killing, three others were not unexpected and the other coming as somewhat of a surprise.

The shows, in order of predictability are Human Target, Traffic Light, Breaking In, Lie to Me and The Chicago Code.

Human Target was struggling in the ratings and was never a hit critically.

Traffic Light was an interesting case in the way that people could instantly see right through it. It was yet another relationship comedy about x number of couples. That was pretty much it. However, it did try to eschew the typical hammy sitcom tropes by filming it in the style of The Office, or more specifically, Modern Family (in the way that there seems to be a documentary being filmed, however, it is never remotely acknowledged). It was never panned, yet no-one ever raved about it.

There was a similar situation with Breaking In, in that it wasn't terrible, yet simply didn't do enough to capture anyone's attention. Christian Slater can also chalk up another 'miss' on his... chalkboard. It also seemed a bit too "high-concept" for a comedy- it was about a crack team of professionals "Breaking In" to places to test their security. Even though it was a somewhat bizarre concept, at least it was original. But no-one could really see it going for six seasons.

Another "high-concept" idea was probably the death of Lie to Me as well, which was also axed. It lasted for three seasons and didn't seem to form any permanent connection with viewers. Essentially, it was the poor-man's House, and Cal Lightman came off as cold, without the accompanying endearing wit and flaws of Gregory House.

The Chicago Code had a lot of potential, if nothing else for the fact that it was created by Shawn Ryan (creator of The Shield), and there will be a small amount of outrage, yet it will probably blow over. Next!