After seeing Andy Rooney cantankerously spout his opinions at the end of every “60 Minutes” episode, I never thought I’d see the day when he would retire. But that day has come. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Rooney, 92, will make his last appearance on “60 Minutes” this Sunday. According to the article, Rooney had been a part of the television broadcast since 1978, but has been with the show since its conception in 1968, writing and producing segments for Harry Reasoner. A career retrospective interview between Rooney and correspondent Morley Safer will be shown before Rooney makes the announcement in his segment. Jeff Fager, CBS News chairman and executive  [ Read More ]

CBS has picked up Rob Schneider’s family comedy as a mid-season series replacement, Deadline is reporting. The untitled series, which didn’t make the cut for the Fall 2011 prime-time schedule, will include eight episodes. The network liked the comedy enough to order a revamped second pilot that featured major casting changes and several backup scripts. The multi-camera series, which is Schneider co-wrote with Lew Morton, is based on the actor’s real-life experiences. Schneider will star as Rob, who just married into a close Mexican-American family. Claudia Bassols will play his wife, Maggie, while Diana Maria Riva will portray his mother-in-law, Rosa. Both roles were recast from the original pilot. While  [ Read More ]

Ted Danson is making his return to broadcast television by joining the cast of ‘CSI’ in a leading role, TV Guide is reporting. The former ‘Damages’ star will play the new grave shift supervisor. CBS has confirmed that Danson’s character will move to Las Vegas from Portland, and “he comes to the team as they are still grappling with the professional and personal fallout from last season’s take-down of serial killer, Nate Haskell.” The ‘Cheers’ actor will be replacing Laurence Fisburne, who announced that he would be leaving ‘CSI’ after two and a half years. Danson goes to ‘CSI’ after he finished filming season three of HBO’s ‘Bored to Death,’  [ Read More ]

Bronx resident Freddy Caldwell was arrested on May 27, 2011 after he threatened to blow up the station of the New York City CW affiliate, WPIX-11, for playing reruns of the hit CBS show ‘Two and a Half Men,’ the Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. He called the station on May 11 and May 23, saying he would bomb the headquarters if they didn’t stop airing syndicated reruns of the sitcom. New York City police easily traced the calls to Caldwell’s Bronx home. He was subsequently charged with falsely reporting an incident and aggravated harassment. Police are still trying to determine what prompted Caldwell to threaten WPIX-11 for airing ‘Two and  [ Read More ]

ABC Studios will no longer be producing the upcoming Sarah Michelle Gellar series ‘Ringer,’ Deadline is reporting. The news comes after the show’s originally targeted network, CBS, passed on picking up the series, and its sister network the CW picked it up instead. The studio said it can’t produce a series for the economics of the predominately teen-oriented network. But when Mark Pedowitz, the newly-appointed president of the CW, served as the head of ABC Studios, it produced the series ‘Reaper’ for the network. Pedowitz was brought to the CW to help raise ratings. Securing a big name like Gellar, who previously starred on the hit ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’  [ Read More ]

The Royal Wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton drew in almost 23 million American viewers between 6 and 7:15 am on April 29, Deadline is reporting. Tuning in on 11 networks, including ABC, CBS, NBC, BBC America and E!, the estimate beats the number of people who watched the wedding of William’s parents, Prince Charles and Princess Diana. When Charlies and Diana married in 1981, an estimated 17 million people tuned into the Big 3 broadcast networks, ABC, CBS and NBC. However, Deadline’s London Editor Tim Adler reported that more Britons watched Charles and Diana’s wedding than William and Kate’s nuptials. Nearly 27 Britons watched William and Kate’s wedding  [ Read More ]

Claire Forlani has been cast as Lauren Hunter, the new team operations manager, on ‘NCIS: Los Angeles,’ insidetv.ew.com is reporting. The news was announced even though Linda Hunt is playing Henrietta “Hetty” Lange, the team’s current operations manager, on the hit CBS military/police drama, and is still considered to be a main character. Forlani will first star on ‘NCIS: LA’ on May 10, and both Lauren and Hetty will appear on the Season 2 finale, which airs on May 10 and ends in a cliffhanger. CBS has not yet announced who will return as the operations manager for the show’s third season in the fall. Lauren, who will just be  [ Read More ]

CBS will be bringing back its two hit Sunday night reality shows next year as the network has renewed both The Amazing Race’ and ‘Undercover Boss,’ Deadline.com is reporting. Both shows have pulled in significant numbers this season, which prompted the network to bring them both back. The 7-time Emmy-winning ‘Amazing Race’ will air its 19th cycle next fall. It’s last fall premiere pulled in nearly 12 million viewers, and saw a three percent increase in the ever-important 18-49 demographic. Jerry Bruckheimer will serve as an executive producer again for the next season, along with Elise Doganieri, Jonathan Littman, Bertram van Munster and Mark Vertullo. ‘Undercover Boss,’ the highest-rated new  [ Read More ]

Television favorite Heather Locklear has been cast in the new CBS pilot ‘The Assistants,’ www.tvline.com is reporting. The show, whose pilot was penned by ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’s writer Tucker Cawley, will follow four assistants who serve a celebrity couple’s every need. Locklear will portray Ali, an insecure actress and the wife of the couple. While the husband has yet been cast, the assistants will be portrayed by Emily Rutherfurd (from ‘The New Adventures of Old Christine’); David Henrie (of ‘Wizards of Waverly Place’); T.J. Miller (from ‘Carpoolers’) and Lamorne Morris (from ‘Brain Rush’). Locklear is known for starting her career by acting in such series as ‘Dynasty,’ where she played  [ Read More ]

The successful CBS comedy series ‘How I Met Your Mother’ has surprised fans by being renewed for two more seasons, www.tvline.com is reporting. The series, which is currently in its sixth season, usually doesn’t get renewed for another cycle until the end of the television year, sometimes even as late as May. But the 20th Century Fox series has done particularly well this season, especially since its same-night network rival, ‘Two and a Half Men,’ was put on an indefinite hiatus by CBS last month. With the future of the hit Charlie Sheen sitcom in question, ‘How I Met Your Mother’ and 20th Century have been able to command almost  [ Read More ]

In light of Charlie Sheen’s recent interviews about the indefinite hiatus CBS has put on his hit sitcom ‘Two and a Half Men,’ the show’s creator, Chuck Lorre, and the producers, social media users can now unlock badges featuring one of the actor’s infamous quotes. Beck Media is reporting that the public can check-in to ‘Two and a Half Men’ on Philo to win the exclusive badges, and then post them on their Facebook and Twitter accounts. Some of the badges feature quotes from Sheen’s March 1 interview with ABC’s ’20/20.’ They include ‘Tiger Blood,’ taken from the actor’s statement that he has tiger blood running through his veins; ‘Goddesses,’  [ Read More ]

Actor David Krumholtz, who last appeared as a series regular on CBS’ ‘Numb3rs,’ has been cast as a series regular in NBC’s new drama pilot ‘Playboy,’ www.tvline.com is reporting. He is set to portray the general manager at the Playboy Club in Chicago in 1963, and the character is being described as “a young Albert Brooks-esque bottom-line kind of guy.” The news comes after ‘Drive Angry’s Amber Heard, Naturi Naughton of ‘Fame’ and Laura Benanti of ABC’s former drama ‘Eli Stone’ were all confirmed to appear as Playboy bunnies in the series. ‘Playboy’ isn’t Krumholtz’s only reentry back into television; he is also currently developing the half-hour, single-camera comedy ‘Igotchaback’  [ Read More ]

CBS and Warner Bros. Television will stop production on their hit sitcom ‘Two and a Half Men’ for the rest of the season after all, www.tvguide.com is reporting. The news comes after star Charlie Sheen bashed the series’ creator, Chuck Lorre, on the February 24 edition of the Alex Jones Show radio program. The star was supposed to reunite with the rest of the cast and crew and resume shooting during the first week of March after his most recent stint of rehab. CBS released a statement confirming the news, saying “Based on the totality of (Charlie) Sheen’s statements, conduct and condition, CBS and Warner Bros. Television have decided to  [ Read More ]

A 52-year-old male security guard working on the CBS show ‘NCIS’ died on February 9 after a man driving a production passenger van lost control of the vehicle and smashed into the set, TMZ is reporting. Police are confirming that the 60-year-old driver suffered a medical emergency while he was driving. The security guard, who was in critical condition on the set, was transported to a nearby hospital. However, he died from his injuries shortly after arriving at the hospital. While the accident is still under investigation, CBS has released a statement, confirming it is “cooperating with the local authorities in Santa Claria to help determine what caused this terrible  [ Read More ]

After pulling in record numbers for the second time this season, ‘NCIS’ is the first drama to be renewed by CBS for next season, tvsquad.com is reporting. The news comes after Mark Harmon, who stars as Special Agent Gibbs, officially signed a new two-year contract. He will now reportedly earn $500,000 per episode, which is about the same Hugh Laurie makes on ‘House.’ With Harmon’s new contract, and a deal to executive produce the series through his company, Wings Prods, that leaves Cote de Pablo as the only cast member not to have a new contract in place. She joined the ‘JAG’ spin-off in its third season, and her contract  [ Read More ]