The CW’s Green Arrow TV pilot now has an actor for the DC superhero title role, 30-year-old Canadian actor Stephen Amell, Deadline reports.

Amell’s credits include stints on fellow CW dramas The Vampire Diaries and 90210, with his, ahem, largest part of late on HBO’s Hung, where he played male prostitute Jason.

The pilot — which is currently just called Arrow — was officially ordered earlier this month. Justin Hartley played Green Arrow in Smallville, which ended last year — no word at this point if this new series will have any palpable connection to what’s come before. David Nutter, who directed the Smallville, Supernatural and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles pilots, is helming this one, written by Andrew Kreisberg, Greg Berlanti and comic book veteran Marc Guggenheim — the latter two worked on 2011′s Green Lantern feature, and created the ABC series Eli Stone.

Color me a little disappointed here. The Daily Blam reports that during the Television Critics Association press tour, the Powers pilot that was greenlit may not be picked up after all for the 2012 television season. The show would feature Jason Patric as Detective Walker, Lucy Punch as Detective Pilgrim and Charles S. Dutton as the head of a homicide police precinct. The pilot also stars Carly Foulkes as Retro Girl, Bailey Madison as young orphan Calista, Titus Welliver as Triphammer, and Vinnie Jones as, you guessed it,  mobster Johnny Royale.

Everything seemed to be in place, so what exactly happened? “[It's a] fairly substantial rewrite,” FX president John Landgraf explained, adding that much of the pilot would have to be re-shot. “Right now we’re in the process of deciding whether to pull the trigger on that re-shoot.” After filming had completed late last year and the network screened the show, screenwriter Charles Eglee was brought back to perform rewrites on the script which would retool major aspects of the pilot that didn’t quite mesh well. The Hollywood Reporter described the project as “still in limbo.”

This really is a shame, especially with the success of The Walking Dead and Smallville‘s 10 year run, I think this program would be a great addition to any line-up FX might have planned. Maybe a lead in to the second season of American Horror Story?

Readers and Powers fans, what do you think about this situation?

Looks like the former house of Smallville is looking for another bullseye.

Deadline is reporting that the CW is finalizing a deal for a Green Arrow pilot, presently called Arrow. Written and executive produced by Green Lantern co-writers Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim, and Fringe and Vampire Diaries writer, Andrew Kreisberg. This would take place outside comic canon and focus much on it’s own mythology, though I’m sure with nods and certain details from the Green Arrow comic origin.

Now take into consideration that there is still a Deadman pilot in the works and developing a series based on a DC property to succeed the departed Smallville is a priority for the CW this development season. No word yet if Justin Hartley will sling the bow and arrow again this round or if they are looking to start from beginning and start fresh.

So readers, what do you think of this matter? With NBC passing on Wonder Woman, and Smallville gone, is there room for the Emerald Archer on your tv screens?

The last-ever episode of Wizards of Waverly Place airs tonight, and I can safely say that I’m more emotional about it than most adult males.

I never had the Disney Channel growing up. It was a premium channel until the late ’90s, so the only glimpses I would ever get of it would be during those free preview weekends that used to happen. As a kid with plenty of entertainment options, it didn’t really seem worth it to me, even if my parents had been up for paying for it (which they weren’t).

By the time shows like Lizzie McGuire or Even Stevens started, I was in high school and far removed from the channel’s targeted demographic, even though I now live with the sad knowledge that I robbed myself of precious early moments in Shia LaBeouf history. Disney Channel was just never really something on my radar, especially compared to the indelible mark that Nickelodeon programming like Ren & Stimpy and Clarissa Explains It All made on my childhood.

That changed, drastically, at the perfectly normal age of 25. (more…)

On Thursday, TV Guide debuted two new photos of Erica Durance — Smallville‘s Lois Lane — dressed in a Wonder Woman costume on the Jan. 11 episode of NBC legal series Harry’s Law.

That alone would be worth at least a modicum of fannish interest, but when you consider the added wrinkle that David E. Kelley — he of the doomed NBC Wonder Woman pilot that became a mild national nightmare in the spring of 2011 — is also behind Harry’s Law, and it becomes a full-on, C&C Music Factory-esque thing that makes you go hmm. And, as you can see from the photo below, it happens to be pretty much the exact same costume as Adrianne Palicki wore in the mostly-never seen pilot:

No matter what you think of these photos, though, they still don’t highlight the main reason to watch Harry’s Law: prolific character actor Christopher McDonald, better known as Happy Gilmore’s Shooter McGavin.

What does Fables creator Bill Willingham think of the similarities between his series and the ABC show Once Upon A Time? Well, he interviewed himself over at CBR to explain:

Is “Once Upon a Time” (which we should now refer to as “Once” for brevity) a rip off of “Fables?”

My best guess, based upon the scanty evidence, is probably not.

Is “Once” influenced and at least in part inspired by “Fables?”

Despite superficial similarities, “Fables” creator Bill Willingham firmly believes any similarities “Once Upon A Time” has to his comic is simply a result of working form the same source material

My best guess, based upon the same scanty evidence is, yes, it probably is, but perhaps not on more than a “this is the type of thing that’s in the air these days” level.

He goes on to elaborate on the crossover between the concepts for the show and the series, and their similarities, before explaining that what he’s trying to do is “a call to arms — or more accurately, a call to disarm”:

As grateful as I am to discover so many loyal “Fables” readers, willing to man the barricades, to help protect a story they love; as much as it moves me to realize I’ve been part in creating something that clearly moves you, affecting your lives in ways only a good story, well-told can, I think it’s time to lay off. Perhaps it’s time to quit rising up in public venues to accuse these folks of Grand Theft “Fables,” even if you still think it’s so.

I’m quite enjoying Once Upon A Time, in part because I just enjoy seeing Jennifer Morrison’s attempt at being a badass private eye/bounty hunter on a weekly basis; I also love Fables, so I’m glad to see Willingham being so calm about similiarities between the two.

Really, who saw this coming? The Syfy channel has ordered a pilot script based on DC Comics’ Booster Gold, according to a report in the Hollywood Reporter. The script will be written by Andrew Kreisberg, a screenwriter who’s previously worked for DC writing both Batman Confidential and Green Arrow/Black Canary, as well as episodes of the Justice League animated series, and will “center on Booster Gold, a washed-up athlete from the future who travels back to the present in hopes of becoming the greatest super hero of all time,” according to the Reporter.

This won’t be Booster’s live-action debut; he appeared in an episode of the final season of Smallville written by Geoff Johns, although that will be unlikely to connect with this new version. Somewhere, Dan Jurgens is smiling to himself at the prospect of the word “boosterrific” breaking into mainstream geek usage.

Dear Friends,

The Batman: The Brave and the Bold series finale airs at 7 p.m. tonight on Cartoon Network. I’ve seen the episode. It’s awesome.

Without spoiling too much, here are some reasons why:

1) Henry Winkler as Ambush Bug (pictured)
2) Paul Reubens as Bat-Mite
2) It’s written by Paul Dini!
4) More fourth wall-breaking “meta” commentary than a typical episode of Community (or, well, an Ambush Bug comic)
5) It guest stars Aquaman, and science has proven that The Brave and the Bold Aquaman is the best Aquaman.
6) Ted McGinley (yes)

So, yeah. Even if you haven’t watched the series thus far, make a point to watch tonight.

Peace,

Albert

It’s a case of good news/bad news for fans who’d been hoping to see Brian Michael Bendis’ and Mike Oeming’s Powers debut on FX this fall. Let’s start with the bad: It’s not been picked up to series. The good? It’s not dead, either; FX has opted to “retool” the show, with reshoots being scheduled for the pilot, before making any further decisions about its future, according to Deadline Hollywood. On Twitter, Bendis was quick to explain why this was a good thing:

network spending more $$ on powers is good. they did the same to the sons of anarchy pilot. fx sees pilots diff then reg networks. a lot of pilots go through this. but they aren’t based on anything so you never hear about it. the network convos this week have been great.

However, the retooling/reshoots – which is more about tone and clarity than redefining the series, according to Bendis – doesn’t mean that FX has quietly given the show a green light; Outlaw Country, another pilot in contention for the same slot as Powers, had gone through the same process of retooling and reshoots before being officially dumped by the channel yesterday. Short version? Stay tuned – but don’t hold your breath just yet.

Something like this needs to be documented: Comic book writer Robert Kirkman, reaping the benefits of his creation The Walking Dead rolling in its second high-rated season on AMC, appeared Monday on The View‘s “Zombie Reality Halloween Spectacular.” It’s a bit of an odd fit, sure — as a friend of mine put it, “It must look like when you had a friend over at the same time your mom’s bridge group was there and they wanted to talk to your friend for a few minutes” — but Kirkman represented himself well. The clip is here:

That’s cued up to the beginning, but the whole episode might be worth a look, if only for the promise of “Zombie Kate Gosselin” and seeing how truly miserable Joy Behar seems in her unwieldy costume. Such an odd piece of TV history should be archived for posterity, but that Hulu video will expire in a few days, so get on it.

In an interview with VH1, current Dr. Who, Matt Smith revealed he will be leaving the show after the 2012/2013 season. He mentions he wants to take a stab at Hollywood and give American cinemas a try.

Interestingly enough  this would place the regeneration of the next Doctor right in the 50th anniversary season of 2013.

At the age of 26, Smith was the youngest Doctor to be casted, only 3 years shy of Peter Davidson when he was cast in 1981. When Smith began the role at of the previous season, he received a mixed reaction from fans, mostly because the previous actor, David Tennant was so well loved by audiences. However, with the BBC’s expansion to American television providers and not having to deal with an airing delay, Smith has gained quite a following and in some eyes, surpasses Tennant’s popularity.

While this is hardly set in stone, it does seem like Smith has already decided that he’ll be done playing Doctor after next season.

So Whovians, are you ready to see Matt off yet and to bigger things, or are you still wanting more?

Courtesy of Geoff Johns’ Twitter, here’s a NSFW look at next year’s Robot Chicken DC Comics Summer Special:

Remember: Geoff Johns is involved, so this is canon*.

(* – Okay, maybe not.)

It looks like The Punisher might be headed to TV screens soon, Deadline reports.

In a twist, the project is at Fox instead of ABC or another channel owned by Disney, Marvel’s parent company. Deadline reports that Fox has given a put pilot commitment to a series based on the famed Marvel character, co-executive produced by Marvel and Ed Bernero. What’s a “put pilot,” you might ask? Here’s how Variety defines it: “A deal to produce a pilot that includes substantial penalties if the pilot is not aired; a virtual guarantee that a pilot will be picked up.”

Based on the article, it looks to be a different take on the character, reinventing Frank Castle as a New York City police officer who moonlights as The Punisher, rather than a military veteran who makes vigilante justice his full-time mission.

Bernero, a former Chicago police officer, co-created NBC series Third Watch and served as an executive producer on CBS procedural Criminal Minds. This would be the first live-action TV series to feature The Punisher, who has been the focus of three films: One in 1989 starring Dolph Lundgren that went straight-to-video in the United States; another in 2004 starring Thomas Jane that had a worldwide total of $54.7 million; and 2008′s Punisher: War Zone, starring Ray Stevenson, which was a critical and financial disappointment.

Currently, Marvel has confirmed four live-action series in development at ABC networks — Hulk and AKA Jessica Jones (based on the MAX series Alias) at ABC, and Mockingbird and Cloak & Dagger at ABC Family.

Looks like The Spectre is the latest DC Comics property in development as a television series, according a report on Deadline.

The show has received a script commitment from Fox, with Love Happens co-writer and director Brandon Camp signed to pen the pilot, and Gran Torino producer Bill Gerber also on board. In one incarnation or another, The Spectre has been around DC Comics since 1940′s More Fun Comics #52, though he hasn’t yet been seen in the publisher’s current The New 52 relaunch.

In his classic version, The Spectre is murdered cop Jim Corrigan, reborn as the embodiment of God’s wrath. And hes not the only ghostly DC character currently in TV development — last month, news circulated that a Deadman series was in the works at The CW.

If a pilot is greenlit and picked up as a series — a big if with any project at this early stage — it would also mark the return of a DC adaptation to the Fox lineup, which canceled Human Target earlier this year.

The Locke & Key TV series may not be dead after all. Again.

After being passed on by Fox at the pilot stage and shopped around to other networks, Deadline reported Wednesday that MTV is interested in the show — at least mildly so. The post basically boils down to two factors, that the trailer has attracted a lot of buzz on YouTube (which hasn’t gone unnoticed by those in the biz), and that MTV programming chief David Janollari has seen the pilot and liked it. Yet Janollari also hasn’t talked to the producers and the show may very well be cost prohibitive for a basic cable network, so it may not necessarily mean anything. But that’s at least a hint of renewed hope.

This news came the same day as Newsarama’s own Jill Pantozzi (positively) reviewed the Locke & Key pilot in the latest installment of Hey, That’s My Cape.

Fans upset that the end of AMC’s The Walking Dead Season 1 veered away from the comics quite a bit will be happy to hear Season 2 has us back on track, heading directly to Hershel’s farm.

New showrunner Glen Mazzara spoke with AMC.com a bit about his past work but also what we can expect to see in The Walking Dead Season 2. “What’s been surprising is that in the graphic novel the story that takes place on Hershel’s farm is really only a few issues. We’ve been able to mine that for many episodes, and we’re very excited about the depth to which we’re able to push the characters, the different dynamics that we’re able to explore,” he told them.

“Our approach to our group of survivors when they reach Hershel’s farm is that they are a plague unto themselves,” he continued. “Nothing goes right for Hershel once Rick and his band show up. They make the zombie apocalypse look like kids in a candy story. What’s interesting is that if this was a show solely about Hershel, Rick and his band would really be the antagonists. And that’s been really surprising because every action that Rick and his band take is completely logical, but you’ll certainly sympathize with Hershel.”

We told you earlier this week that AMC has decided to split the second season of the hit show into two parts. The premiere will air October 16 and be 90 minutes long and after seven episodes the season will pick up again February 12. The role of Hershel will be played by Scott Wilson.

Mazzara also spoke about the adaptations originator. “What’s great about this adaptation is that Robert Kirkman is such a huge part of it. In Crash [his previous show], the writers and director of the film were involved at certain points, not involved at others, and then when the show deviated from what they believed Crash meant, I had a problem as a show-runner,” he said. “On this show Robert has been very open to letting us tell our own story. Robert sees them as two different works of art — and they’re not in conflict with each other. As long as it’s good and as long as it’s scary, he’s happy.”

Speaking of the comic, Mazzara said he’s “dying to meet the Governor” (as we all are) and that his family are excited about his new post. “My son seemed to have a lot of unique ways to kill zombies. None that I really am interested in putting on TV, but that’s a big topic of conversation at the dinner table.”

It’s nearly the norm at this point for cable shows to split their seasons in two — right now Doctor Who is in the midst of the second half of its sixth season on BBC America — and it looks like AMC’s The Walking Dead is following suit.

Today the network announced that not only will the Oct. 16 season premiere of the show based on Robert Kirkman’s Image series be 90 minutes long, the show will take a pause after seven episodes, and return for the back six starting on Feb. 12, traditionally a considerably less spooky time of the year.

AMC has scheduled that same date as the premiere of Secret Stash, an unscripted series set at Kevin Smith’s Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash comic book store. Here’s the official description:

The Secret Stash is a one hour series that captures the world of the local comic book store. Way before comic book culture went mainstream, the comic store has not only been a place for people to buy, sell, or trade for cool stuff; but also to hang out and be part of a community that just loves comics. Secret Stash will capture both of these aspects of comic store life. It will document the daily banter of The Secret Stash and it’s employees and devoted customers; and it will capture the fun and emotion of buying and selling collectibles and comic memorabilia that happens in comic book stores all across the country and in mega-venues like Comic-Con.

The CW has found its Smallville follow-up. Creator of Supernatural, Eric Kripke, will be writing and producing a Deadman television series for them, currently in the developmental stage.

The series will be a drama says Deadline. Based on the character created by Arnold Drake and Carmine Infantino in Strange Adventures #205, Deadman, aka Boston Brand is a former trapeze artist murdered during a performance and fated to continue on as a ghost. Deadman, who is starting in the upcoming arc of the new DC Universe Presents series starting in September, is given the “gift” to inhabit any living beings’ body thanks to the Hindu goddess Rama Kushna in order to help them solve crimes in their own lives.

“We’re looking next year to do a superhero show if the right superhero comes to be,” CW president Mark Pedowitz said at TCA last month, noting the advantage of having Time Warner-owned DC Comics in the family.

Back in September of 2009, it was reported that Guillermo Del Toro was producing a big-screen adaptation of the character for Warner Bros. but it would seem they changed their minds about which direction they wanted to go in.

Boston Brand has been the focal point of several recent DC events such as Blackest Night and Brightest Day. giving him the kind of spotlight he’s never had before. It’s an strange direction to go in after Smallville but maybe that’s why it will work. Deadman’s turned into a much more interesting character for me and I think his story will make for a cool show.

What are your thoughts?

Once a week I sift through the millions of Etsy listings to find the best in geek chic for Blog@ readers. Last week it was all about Vampire Hunting but this week we return to an old friend – The Doctor. A few months ago, at the start of Doctor Who Season 6, I did a special extended edition of Etsy Made Me Do It to celebrate one of my favorite shows. Well, the season being split in two (besides giving me an appropriate title) and starting this weekend gave me a fantastic excuse to show off more Doctor Who items! Enjoy!

I’m a big fan of the minimalist-poster-of-pop-culture-items movement so I was delighted to find this collection of Minimalist Doctor Who Canvas Posters. User geekasms has the set available for $100 or you can buy your favorite Doctor individually for $10 a piece.

The episode “Vincent and the Doctor” from season 5 was surely a memorable one, enough to inspire user horcruxesunlimited to create this Doctor Who Van Gogh Ornament. The hand-painted glass item depicts an image we see later in that same season of the TARDIS exploding, Van Gogh style. $10.

“The Fires of Pompeii” gave us our first look at Amy Pond, or should I say, actress Karen Gillan. It was her original appearance on the sci-fi series. Now you can recreate the look of her and her fellow sisters with these Doctor Who Sybilline Sisterhood eyes knit fingerless gloves. From user tinybully for $20.

One of the scariest villains to ever appear (or not appear) on Doctor Who were the Silence. With the Doctor Who Silence Amigurumi you can always keep your eye on one. This one’s from user SherbertLemonCrochet for $20 but there’s also slightly different version available from user AmyLDice for $25.

And finally, a piece of art I think is particularly beautiful, a Stained Glass Mini TARDIS. User GeekyGlass created this one and it can be yours for $25.

As always, bear in mind, since Etsy is a craft website and not a commercial, mass-market dealer, items are almost always one-of-a-kind or in very limited availability. When you see something you like, buy it. It may not be there the next time you surf round. (Yes, it’s a very dangerous site for your wallet.) Also, since most items are created individually, many sellers are willing to customize something specifically to suit your needs. Just ask!

Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt are on a televisual roll. Not only is their Sixth Gun being made into a mini-series for Syfy, but now Showtime has picked up their earlier series The Damned for adaptation. According to Deadline, David Hayter – screenwriter for Watchmen as well as the first two X-Men movies – will be writing a script adapting the supernatural crime comic into a series that can fit alongside Dexter and… Nurse Jackie, I guess? Congrats to Bunn, Hurtt and publisher Oni Press, anyway.