LOS ANGELES -- There's a burst of interesting news coming out of the Television Critics Press tour all of a sudden, along with some equally intriguing lighter moments. News today; features tomorrow. And the latest news includes several series renewals on Showtime, a Lady Gaga TV special imported by the CW, and an update about the still-in-the-works movie version of 24...
-- Showtime Entertainment President David Nevins announced at his TCA press conference Thursday that the drama series The Borgias, and the comedies Shameless and Episodes, all had been renewed for second seasons.
-- Also announced: a midseason talk series called Laughing Stock, a 10-part interview show featuring comics talking about their lives and influences. David Steinberg, creator and host of a similar series, TV Land's Sit Down with David Steinberg, will serve as host and co-executive producer. Another executive producer is Steve Carell, also one of the featured guests. Among the others: Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Tina Fey, Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Judd Apatow, Sarah Silverman, Larry David and Don Rickles.
-- The CW will launch its fall season Monday, Sept. 12 -- intentionally getting a head start on the major networks -- with a 75-minute special, Gaga by Gaultier, in which iconic and outrageous fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier interviews with equally iconic and outrageous fashion plate Lady Gaga.
"It was done in France," explained new CW President Mark Pedowitz, with the entire program an English-language production acquisition. It was offered to the CW as a completed package, and, Pedowitz said matter-of-factly, "We jumped on it."
-- Howard Gordon, executive producer of Showtime's impressive Homeland series, said after his press conference that the oft-discussed big-screen 24 movie was "still in development."
He explained, "We talked about it as recently as April. Everybody wants to do the movie, but everyone wants to do the right movie... There's a script that's out there that is definitely being developed.
"If it goes, for next year," Gordon continued, "it'll be after he [Kiefer Sutherland] wraps on [the upcoming TV series] Touch. It'll only be 12 episodes on Touch, if it gets picked up, so he'll be done by February. So he'd be available to shoot after that."