1. The first 18 minutes of FlashForward can be seen here - it even works in the UK (at the moment)!
2. Vinnie Jones is to appear in Chuck!
3. New high-school musical series Glee is having an interesting affect on the US pop charts.
4. And a mystery UK channel has purchased Glee - we think we might know who it is…
5. Ray Wise and Summer Glau’s Dollhouse stint will see them working at a different branch of Dollhouse…
6. The Borgia clan may get the small-screen treatment once The Tudors ends.
You can’t miss this week’s TV & Satellite Week, featuring The Tudors star Jonathan Rhys Meyers looking stunning with those piercing blue eyes. He talks to us about how his character, Henry VIII, has changed since he first started playing him and how he feels about the show’s raunch factor.
You’ll hardly recognise Gavin & Stacey star Ruth Jones in her latest role, playing a dowdy middle-aged woman who develops a fatal attraction for taxi driver Eddie in The Street.
Another person stepping out of her comfort zone is Sarah Ferguson, who leaves her uptown life behind as she tries to transform a Manchester council estate in The Duchess on the Estate.
CSI: Miami star Emily Procter adds a touch of glamour, talking ballistics, blackjack and being blonde.
All this and more, including, of course, our weekly delve into the goings on in all the big US dramas on TV Spy, with the latest on shows such as Ugly Betty, House, Chuck and True Blood. And listings for more TV channels than any other magazine.
We’re looking forward to all the best TV that’s coming up over the summer months. The highlights include:
• Stylish teen vampire drama True Blood, from the man who brought you Six Feet Under;
• Jonathan Rhys Meyers returning for more sexy history lessons in series three of The Tudors;
• Space-set sci-fi drama Defying Gravity, with the extremely cute Ron Livingston (who you’ll recognise from Sex and the City);
• Cult murder mystery Harper’s Island, featuring Henry from Ugly Betty;
• Holly Hunter’s first major TV drama, Saving Grace;
Plus the much-anticipated finales of Bones, Prison Break, Fringe and ER; and the return of those long-suffering Army Wives.
All this, plus a stack of films and sport, and the best HD listings money can buy!
1. Much-anticipated new offbeat drama Glee has had its world premiere.
2. The Fringe season finale will change everything you know about the show.
3. Hiro’s going to be back to old time-travelling ways when Heroes returns.
4. Boston Legal/Ally McBeal scribe David E Kelley’s new show Legally Mad has been canned.
5. Joan Rivers has won The Celebrity Apprentice.
6. Joss Stone’s stint in The Tudors has been extended into the fourth and final season.
We’ve been mixing with some powerful people this week on TV Spy - royalty, world leaders, Ernie from Sesame Street…
• Gareth watched the first two episodes of Ian McShane’s brand new US drama Kings, which promises to be a saga of epic, and possibly biblical, proportions…
• If it’s a real king you’re after, look no further than the online preview of The Tudors season three, episode one. That Henry, he was a right rum chap!
• Period pieces are always popular - we’re really looking forward to the medieval spoof Krod Mandoon with former EastEnder Sean Maguire and Matt Lucas (without the Walliams).
• We can’t imagine we’ll be laughing so much when nail-biting new serial killer drama Harper’s Island finally reaches these shores, or its web-based spin-off Harper’s Globe.
• We definitely won’t be crying - we save our tears for top telly like Gil Grissom’s last moments in CSI or the thought of the countdown to the last ever episode of Battlestar Galactica…
Still, reasons to be cheerful - Spring’s here, and Lost’s back on Sunday night!
See you next week with more reports from TV Spy HQ.
If you’ve been getting withdrawal symptoms from The Tudors, the bodice-ripping drama starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers as legendary monarch Henry VIII, look no further - Showtime has given TV blog Ducky Does TV access to a slightly edited verson of the first episode of season three.
Check it out in situ on Ducky Does TV or on a pristine page that just carries the video.
1) Ever wondered what you’d get if you crossed Dr. Horrible with My Little Pony?
2) Laurence Fishburne is close to signing on the dotted line to be the new boss of CSI’s Vegas branch.
3) Kristen Bell’s back on the set of Heroes with Elle returning for a few episodes. To celebrate, why not download this widget that counts down the seconds until season three hits the US?
4) Can the Exorcist bring down Henry VIII? Max von Sydow is joining The Tudors as a crafty cardinal who’s out to get the sexed-up monarch.
5) Joss Whedon has been chatting about Dollhouse again, explaining why the pilot will now be shown as the second episode of the series.
6) Brothers & Sisters’ exec producer Ken Olin will be stepping in front of the camera again soon when he reprises his role as Holly’s lover David Caplin.
7) Not content with simply creating Entourage, Mark Wahlberg is planning a guest slot on the show as well.
8) New shows US channel ABC is piloting at the mo include The Castle (Nathan Fillion plays a horror writer working for the New York police), Never Better (a sitcom starring Damon Wayans), Prince of Motor City (Aidan Quinn and Andie McDowell heading up an automobile dynasty), Good Behaviour (drama from the guy behind Veronica Mars about a clan of criminals), and an untitled office-set sitcom starring the excellent Portia de Rossi. Which will make it to the small screen?
9) Meanwhile Nip/Tuck’s twisted genius Ryan Murphy has a new teen drama in the pipeline called Glee. If it’s half as brilliant as his former foray into teen angst Popular, we’re sold.
The final list of nominations for this year’s Emmys won’t be announced until 17 July, but, for the first time ever, the awards’ organisers, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, has revealed the top 10 finalists for this year’s drama and comedy series awards. Five from each category will make the final voting list.
Notable absentees are Battlestar Galactica in the drama category and My Name is Earl in comedy, but we’d love to hear what you think. The programmes marked in red are the ones we reckon should make the final list…
Drama
• Boston Legal
• Damages
• Dexter
• Friday Night Lights
• Grey’s Anatomy
• House
• Lost
• Mad Men
• The Tudors
• The Wire
Comedy
• Curb Your Enthusiasm
• Entourage
• Family Guy
• Flight of the Conchords
• The Office
• Pushing Daisies
• 30 Rock
• Two and a Half Men
• Ugly Betty
• Weeds
