Pop Vultures

I’ve gotten a bit behind on reporting the news this last week, an unfortunate side effect of living in a society that insists on practicing a service-for-currency system. It seems ludicrous that work should ever take priority over television reporting, I know. In an attempt to get caught up, today’s tidbits are coming at you in super-sized form.

• CBS has renewed 11 shows for next season, among them Cold Case, NCIS, Ghost Whisperer, The Big Bang Theory, and all three CSIs. Looking at this list, I am reminded of how little I actually watch or care about CBS. Worryingly, How I Met Your Mother is not on the list, though it has been picked up for nine more episodes this year, indicating that the network has yet to give up on it.

• Which is, sadly, more support than Friday Night Lights is currently getting from NBC. I have delayed writing about this, clinging to some desperate hope that the NBC bigwigs will pull their heads out of their collective arses and renew the best show currently on network television, but so far there has been nothing but deafening silence coming from the studio bosses on high. Best Week Ever has launched a full-scale Save Our Show campaign. If Jericho fans can do it, so can we, damn it. What would Riggins do, indeed? (Well, Riggins would probably get drunk, end up in bed with some hot neighbor, moon over Lila a bit, and then pass out on the sofa. You can do all that if you want, but sign the petition first, okay?)

• How about some good news? Season 4 of Battlestar Galactica returns on April 4. Still wondering what the big deal is? Well, if you can’t be bothered to watch the DVDs of previous seasons (and more fool you, I say), the Sci-Fi channel is helpfully airing a half hour special on March 28 to get new viewers caught up on the ins and outs of the space apocalypse action soap opera and contemporary moral allegory.

• Can’t get enough of Philip Glenister in Life On Mars or Ashes To Ashes? Have Moonlight and Blood Ties failed to sate your desire for television vampires? Then you’ll be pleased to hear that Glenister will be starring in a new ITV drama in the UK. Still untitled, the drama aims to update Bram Stoker’s Dracula in a London setting. At least these bloodsuckers are sensible enough to live where it’s dark and gloomy 3/4 of the year, unlike those foolish Southern California-dwellers of the Buffy series.

• Finally, for all you aspiring screenwriters, Eric Estrin — who we interviewed for the Adopt A Writer — has officially kicked off the LAObserved Script Project. Break out the Final Draft and see what stories you want to tell. Short on ideas? No worries — just combine the best shows from this post and end up with a football playing vampire with a robotic girlfriend from the future. It will be a surefire hit, I promise.