TVSquad

Starz, the cable network, is getting into original production and their first project will be based on the 2005 Best Picture Oscar-winning film Crash. Glen Mazzara, whose credits include Life, The Shield, Stand-Off and Nash Bridges, has been named executive producer/showrunner for the drama series. Lionsgate TV will co-produce with Starz, and they've greenlighted 13 episodes.

The controversial film, which dealt with the intersecting lives of a myriad of people living in Los Angeles in just 48 hours, centers on the character of Detective Graham Waters. Waters, a police detective, is struggling with his career, his drug addict mother and a criminal brother. The role was played by Don Cheadle (Picket Fences), who was also one of the film's producers. He is expected to reprise the part in the Starz production and may even direct a few episodes. In addition, director/co-writer/producer Paul Haggis and others from the film are also on board for Starz.

Back in January, the lovely and talented Anna Johns reported that Oscar-winning actress Hilary Swank and husband Chad Lowe had agreed to separate, but were willing to get through the tough time and come out a stronger couple. Apparently this didn't happen exactly as planned.

According to a spokeswoman for Swank, she and Lowe have decided to initiate divorce proceedings after eight years of wedded bliss. A lawyer for the couple said Swank and Lowe have made a joint decision to divorce and that they still remain friends and have the utmost respect for each other.

Ms. Swank, who has won Oscars for performances in the movies Boys Don't Cry and Million Dollar Baby was a regular on Beverly Hills, 90210 back in the late 1990's. Mr. Lowe, brother of actor Rob Lowe, played the AIDS-infected Jesse McKenna on ABC's Life Goes On back in the mid 1980's and has had appeared in many other TV series since, including ER, Without a Trace and Law & Order: SVU.