'Nurse Jackie' and 'United States of Tara' Return in March

Showtime has announced that the "United States of Tara" starring Toni Collette and Edie Falco's "Nurse Jackie" will both be back for second seasons starting March 22, 2010, reports the Hartford Courant.

Showtime also revealed that "The Tudors" will be back for a fourth, final season on April 11.

Even sooner that those premieres, "Secret Diary of a Call Girl" and "Tracey Ullman's State of the Union" will begin new seasons on Jan. 25, as will a new show called "La La Land" starring U.K. comic James Wootton.

-- Allison J. Waldman

‘Goode Family’ Makes Jump to Comedy Central Jan. 6

Comedy Central said the animated series "The Goode Family," which it picked up after a summer ABC run, will debut on the cable network Jan. 6, The Hollywood Reporter reports.

The 13 episodes will air on Wednesdays at 10:30 p.m. If the show is a success, original episodes could also be produced.

--Elizabeth Jensen



http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3i961fcb41f361f029c271cc613c43e5cd

New Girlfriend, Lohan's Dad to Be Called in TLC's Breach-of-Contract Suit vs. Jon Gosselin

In its breach-of-contract suit against "Jon & Kate Plus 8" star Jon Gosselin, TLC plans to subpoena Gosselin's girlfriend Hailey Glassman and his friend Michael Lohan, among others, according to People.com.

MSNBC says that besides Glassman and Lindsay Lohan's dad, Maryland's Circuit Court of Montgomery County has in new court papers granted network lawyers' motions to depose Gosselin's lawyer Mark Heller, manager Michael Heller, bodyguard Thomas Meinelt and talent rep Matthew Kirschner.

TLC sued Gosselin In October, charging he made paid and unpaid television appearances without the network's permission. 

--Tom Gilbert

Everyone--and We Do Mean Everyone--in Hollywood is Buzzing About What Oprah---and the ABC Owned Stations She's On--Might Do. Here's What We Hear. What Do YOU Hear?

TVWeek Open Mike blogger Chuck Ross has spoken to a lot of TV insiders about what Oprah--and the ABC owned-and operated TV stations-- might do. One scenario about the ABC stations in particular is quite intriguing.  Click here to read.

--Tom Gilbert

Oprah Negotiating Talk Show Future With Other Syndicators as Well as CBS

Oprah Winfrey is negotiating the future of her talk show with other unnamed syndicators, the New York Times reports, citing several sources.

Meanwhile, CBS CEO Leslie Moonves weighed in on the report that Oprah Winfrey plans to take her syndicated daily talk show to her cable network OWN.

Moonves told analysts on a conference call that the company remains in talks with her and that company wouldn’t know the outcome “for a few months.”

--Elizabeth Jensen

TNT Picks Up Off-Network Reruns of CBS Primetime Hit

As the off-network syndication market heats up, TNT snapped up CBS' second season drama “The Mentalist" for what is said to between $2.2 million and $2.3 million an episode, reports The Hollywood Reporter.

The Warner Bros. Domestic TV Distribution show will begin weekly airings on the cable channel in fall 2011, and a daily strip in 2012.

--Elizabeth Jensen
 

Cartoon Network Getting Even Less Animated

Cartoon Network picked up its first live-action scripted series, with orders for “Tower Prep" and "Unnatural History," Variety reports.

The orders are the network’s biggest steps yet away from animation, after previously airing a live-action movie and several live-action reality series.

Both new shows are about teens; one is set at a mysterious prep school and the other at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.

--Elizabeth Jensen

HBO Developing Gender Transition Series

The new team behind the third season of HBO’s “In Treatment” is developing another half-hour drama for the network, this one about a woman who is undergoing gender transformation into a man, Variety reports.

Anya Epstein and Dan Futterman, who are married, pitched “T” before they signed as showrunners for the network’s new season of “In Treatment.” They’ll write the pilot and serve as executive producers on the new show, which was inspired by story on public radio’s “This American Life.”

--Elizabeth Jensen

Syndie Sale of New CBS Drama May Set a Record

CBS sold one of its new season dramas into syndication after just seven weeks on the air, which The Hollywood Reporter says might be an industry record.

"NCIS: Los Angeles" was licensed by CBS TV Distribution to the USA Network, which already airs the original “NCIS.”

The spinoff, which USA can air weekly beginning in September 2011, sold for about $2.5 million per episode. USA will strip the series beginning in 2013.

--Elizabeth Jensen

Nikki Finke Says Oprah is Ending Her Syndicated Talk Show in 2011 and Moving It to Cable. Winfrey's Harpo Prods. Says Decision Not Yet Made and Distrbutor CBS Says it Hasn't Yet Heard a Decision

Nikki Finke, who covers the entertainment industry at DeadlineHollywood.com, wrote today that Oprah Winfrey will not renew her deal for "The Oprah Winfrey Show" with CBS Television Distribution after her current contract expires in 2011.

Furthermore, Finke says that the show will then become a signature program on Winfrey's OWN cable channel that she is starting with partner Discovery Communications. OWN stands for the Oprah Winfrey Network.

Finke wrote that her sources were unidentified "people around Oprah."

CBS says this scoop is news to them. The company has long-said that they are waiting to hear Oprah's decision. 

Today, in response to Finke's piece, a CBS Television Distribution spokesman said in a statement, " "Nothing has changed. The decision is Oprah’s to make. As we have stated repeatedly, we love Oprah and if she wants to continue her show then we want to continue to be in business with her."

CBS owned-and-operated WBBM-TV in Chicago, the city where Winfrey's show is currently based, reported that Winfrey's Harpo Productions issued a statement denying that a decision has been made about whether or not Winfrey will continue her talk show via syndication: "She has not made a decision yet. As she has previously stated, she'll be making an announcement before the end of the year.''  The statement came from Harpo spokesman Don Halcombe in an e-mail, according to the WBBM report.

ABC-owned WLS-TV carries "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in Chicago.

According to Finke's report, "The industry has been betting that the daytime diva would extend 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' for at least another year or two because of the huge cash license fees which stations have long paid her. But people around Oprah are telling me that won't happen. They say that Discovery Communications chief David Zaslav has demanded that Oprah "move it or lose it" -- move her talk show to OWN, or risk losing the Oprah Winfrey Network altogether." OWN is based in Los Angeles. 

A Discovery spokesperson declined comment about Finke's report, saying that any questions about Oprah's syndicated show would be better asked of Harpo or CBS.

--Chuck Ross