TVSquad

Steven and Stephen are getting together. That is to say that Steven Spielberg and Dreamworks TV are working with Stephen King to make a television movie based on King's latest novel Under The Dome.

The novel is about one of those small New England towns that King enjoys writing about suddenly finding itself trapped in a force field. Unlike The Simpsons Movie, the concept is not played for humorous effect.

The idea is reminiscent of those stories where people are trapped in a confined space and lawlessness sets in. There have been many similar concepts done in TV and film, although I can't think of any particular ones off the top of my head.

As he gets older, King's television presence becomes less. For a few years it seemed like a different TV show based on his work was being produced every year. He may be starting that again. So much for retirement.

Steven Spielberg (via Dreamworks TV) and Showtime are in talks for a new scripted series chronicling the production of a new as yet untitled Broadway show. One of the composers for the show is Marc Shaiman, who worked on the movie South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut so I view that as a plus.

A similar casting concept has been done as reality television a few times already for various musicals including Grease, The Sound of Music. and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Much as I don't like the genre, this concept sounds better as a reality television show, possibly on Bravo.

On the other hand, cable is the bolt-hole for scripted television nowadays. Perhaps this is the chance for Spielberg and Showtime to prove that scripted TV is the superior type. I'm secretly hoping that the show they choose is Dracula the Puppet Musical, unlikely as that may be.

Noah Wyle is going from fighting vampires in The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice to fighting aliens for Steven Spielberg. The former ER doc has signed on to the Oscar-wining filmmaker's alien invasion pilot for TNT as the leader of a "ragtag" group of rebels set to make trouble for the alien baddies.

The series will take place months after the alien force has decimated the human population of Earth, leading Wyle and friends to strike back any way they can. (Thankfully, George Lucas' name has not been mentioned in any news surrounding this upcoming sci-fi project.)

Steven Spielberg, the man behind sci-fi movie classics like E.T and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, is producing an alien-invasion drama pilot for TNT. The unnamed series would potentially take place on Earth six months after evil aliens wipe out most of humanity.

We still don't know if Spielberg will direct the pilot, but the award-winning filmmaker reportedly wants to cast Noah Wyle to play the potential series' lead. The former E.R. star would play the leader of a group of human rebels trying to bring down the big bad aliens.

Perhaps some of you are already aware of the existence of this particular gem, but I was surprised to find online a banned episode of Tiny Toon Adventures from the early 90's. In it, Buster Bunny, Plucky Duck and Hamton Pig find a bottle of beer that never goes empty, then proceed to get drunk, steal a cop car, cause general chaos and collectively die by driving said car over a cliff.

I can understand why Warner Brothers and Steven Spielberg may have wanted to stop this one from the airwaves. Despite dying at the end, I think it more highlights the positive values of being drunk, such as the ability to completely break any law you wish without fear of consequences (much as when your favorite sports team wins some sort of championship). Plus, I very much want to find that particular bottle of beer.

You can judge it for yourselves. Video is after the jump.

It was the best of Oscar it was the worst of Oscar. It wasn't the best show I've ever seen, but was it the worst Oscars ever as one friend emailed me? I think there were features that worked and features that tanked. There could have been more star power -- where were Tom Hanks, George Clooney, Jim Carrey, Sandra Bullock, Christian Bale, Tyler Perry (he had the biggest box office opening last week!), etc.? Forget about stars from the '70s...

Anyway, I had predicted that the Oscars would stink. Well, I was wrong, or half-wrong. Separate from whether you agreed with the winners -- I did by and large -- or you didn't, what about the broadcast? I think if you had seen all the nominees (or at least the Best Picture noms), you probably had a rooting interest and were amused by most of the show. However, the other half was pretty bad. After the jump, what worked versus what did not.

I guess all those good reviews and high ratings haven't gone unnoticed. United States of Tara has only been on the air for a month, but Showtime has already committed to another year of Toni Collette dealing with her multiple personalities. The network has given the green light to a 12 episode second season.

Tara's premiere earned 2.67 million viewers, more than the premieres of Showtime's Dexter, Weeds, Californication and The Tudors. I'm with America on this one. I was charmed by the Tara premiere, and it's quickly become my favorite Showtime series.

When I went to last summer's press tour, one of the more intriguing previews I saw there was of Showtime's new series The United States of Tara. It was intriguing for a couple of reasons: first, it was written and produced by the combination of Diablo Cody and Steven Spielberg. That's right; the stripper-turned-Oscar-winning-screenwriter of Juno fame is teaming up with the hitmaker to produce this show.

But the topic of the show is also interesting: Toni Collette stars as Tara, a suburban housewife and mom who also happens to suffer from dissociative identity disorder. Each of her three alternate personalities can pop out at any time, and her family has to deal with it when it does.

Showtime is offering an unedited version of the pilot if you want to sign up for it, but we also have the full pilot (albeit a bit edited for content) after the jump, thanks to our friends at AOL TV. I'm sure it'll be funny and touching all at once. As long as none of Tara's personalities ever says "honest to blog," I'll be a happy camper.

Trey Parker and Matt Stone can't seem to keep themselves out of trouble. Paramount is now upset over the footage from their season premiere this past week of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas violently raping Indiana Jones.

For those who don't keep track, Viacom owns South Park. Viacom also owns Paramount which produces the Indiana Jones movies. See the problem?

A week from now, HBO will probably be one of the big stories from the Primetime Emmys thanks to the success of the John Adams mini-series. But it's not sitting on that success, the premium cable net is banking on it. HBO announced today a mini series based on the assassination of Abraham Lincoln called Manhunt. That news would be interesting enough because the series will deal with the 12 days after Lincoln was shot when the assassin, John Wilkes Booth, was on the run. However, the guys that HBO have tapped to work on Manhunt are two of the best in television -- David Simon and Tom Fontana.

HBO knows Simon and Fontana's work really well. Simon was the creator of The Wire and Fontana's brainchild was Oz. This is also not a new collaboration. Fontana turned Simon's book, Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, into the Homicide: Life on the Streets TV series for NBC.

Some quickie news from Showtime, presented by entertainment president Bob Greenblatt:

• Ilene Chaiken is developing a spin-off for The L Word, which will feature a yet unspecified character from the original show, whose upcoming season will be its last. There will be an open-ended plot in the season finale that Chaiken will continue online, then pick up if the spin-off comes to pass.
• Two more 13-episode seasons of Weeds have been ordered.
• A seventh season of Penn & Teller: Bullshit! has been ordered, making it Showtime's longest-running show.
• A reality/documentary show called Lock 'N Load has been ordered; it's filmed in a gun shop, and it shows the various people who purchase guns and "exploit their right to bear arms," according to the press release.
• Two new pilots have been ordered and filmed. The United States of Tara, produced by Steven Spielberg and written by Diablo Cody, stars Toni Collette as a suburban mother with multiple-personality disorder. John Corbett stars as her husband (yes... it's a comedy). The other pilot is tentatively-titled Nurse Jackie. It stars Edie Falco as a New York City nurse with a painkiller addiction who sometimes crosses moral lines to help her patients (no... it's not a comedy). Tara will begin airing in winter 2009, and Jackie will begin airing in late spring or early summer.
  

Showtime is bringing us a new comedy series. They've ordered twelve episodes of The United States of Tara which will star Toni Collette as a wife/mother who suffers from dissociative identity (multiple personality disorder). The half-hour comedy will follow Collette, her husband (played by John Corbett), and their children as Collette copes with her different identities. They never know which age, temperament or even gender Collette will be on any given day.

Oscar-winner Diablo Cody (Juno) wrote the pilot and will continue on as a writer and executive producer. She is joined by executive producers Steven Speilberg, Justin Falvey, Darryl Frank and Alex Junge. The pilot was directed by Craig Gillespie (Lars and the Real Girl).

This sounds like a promising new project: John Corbett as Toni Collette's leading man in the Showtime comedy pilot United States of Tara. The show comes from the pen of Diablo Cody, fresh off her Oscar win as the screenwriter of Juno, and the pilot's director is Craig Gillespie who received plaudits for the indie hit Lars and the Real Girl. Oh, and did I mention that Steven Spielberg is one of the producers? Considering this collection of talent and Showtime's recent programming successes, United States of Tara sounds like another ace for the cable net.

Hey, Brigitte here with TV Squad Daily. I'll be covering the TV stories I find interesting each day, Monday through Friday, in this video blog.

Today on TV Squad Daily:

• Best of Nicole Richie baby nicknames!
  
• The FCC assigned some interesting call letters to two new TV stations.
  
• Steven Spielberg is trying to use his role as art director for the 2008 Olympics for political leverage.
  

The video's embedded below, or you can subscribe to this podcast via our feed. Plus, you can also download the file directly.

(S01E02) I find myself questioning two things about On The Lot and neither is really a negative thing about the show, which I find myself enjoying.

Foremost, what's with the bizarre airing schedule? Like I said last week, Fox really should have capitalized on the huge American Idol lead in by airing a two hour episode that really illustrated what this show is all about.

These first few episodes really seem to be focusing on the "personalities" and the conflicts they appear to be having. Specifically, the beef between Marty and Jeff and the issues Hanna and Jessica have with Kenny.

If there was ever an opportunity to break the inner quarreling so prevalent (and popular) in reality TV, this show could have been the one that did it simply by focusing on the movies.