TVSquad

He was Moses, Michaelangelo, Ben-Hur and a dozen other famous historical figures on the big screen, and on television he was as famous appearing as Charlton Heston the movie star he was for the TV roles he played, but he was born John Charles Carter on October 4th 1924 in Evanston, Illinois. Today, "Chuck" Heston is dead. He was 84 years old; he had Alzheimer's disease.

Sorry, gang, I've been away for awhile so everyone stand back while I dump a big pile of casting news all over the floor (try not to get any on you):

John Michael Higgins will star in the new ABC comedy pilot The Thick of It, and by "new" I mean it's yet another remake of a British sitcom. It's being helmed by Arrested Development creator and will also star Oliver Platt, Alex Borstein (Family Guy) and Michael McKean. The pilot is being directed by Christopher Guest.

Also, on ABC, Mark Moses of Desperate Housewives has joined a comedy pilot as a senator whose daughter (Michelle Trachtenberg) falls in love with a staff member (Eric Christian Olsen) of his rival.

Here's a few shows coming down the pike from PBS and National Geographic:

Tonight at 9 p.m. (but check listings) on PBS, "Hijacked" will be shown on American Experience. The film tells the story of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine whose members hijacked four commercial aircraft and commandeered a fifth in 1970 to attract attention to their cause. Six hundred people were taken hostage, four planes were blown up, but no one was killed. The documentary will explore both the parallels and differences between terrorism then and now.