TVSquad

Stealing scenes on the small screen is nothing new to Christian Slater. The actor, known for films like Heathers, True Romance and Pump up the Volume, has made memorable guest appearances on shows like Alias, The West Wing and My Name is Earl. His first shot at his own series, the NBC spy thriller My Own Worst Enemy, struggled to find an audience, leading the network to cancel it halfway through the first season.

Slater is back starring in a new series, The Forgotten, produced by CSI head honcho Jerry Bruckheimer. The ABC procedural follows a team of amateur detectives who work murder cases involving unidentified victims, or John and Jane Does. Slater plays former cop Alex Donovan, whose search for his missing daughter inspires him in the field.

I got the chance to talk with Slater about The Forgotten, his new career in TV, and what one of his most famous big screen characters would think about his latest role.

The networks have had a quiet summer, quietly introducing scripted bomb after scripted bomb, so they're certainly ready to jump into the new fall season. And It looks to be an interesting one. ABC is scheduling a two-hour block of new comedies on Wednesdays as the sitcom tries to make a comeback.

Even more risky is NBC handing 10:00 to Jay Leno every night of the week. Everyone's waiting to see how that one plays out. FOX is banking on huge positive buzz for Glee to make it a hit, while ABC is hoping FlashForward can pick up where Lost is leaving off when it wraps its run this season.

To help you with it all, TV Squad has put together a handy calendar of all the premieres so you can schedule responsibly in this busy time of TV watching. Some nights have as many as twelve premieres scheduled, so you might need to invest in a few more DVRs to catch all your favorites; Monday's still look grim. Bookmark this page and you'll have it handy to help see you through.

It looks like ABC is prepping Flash Forward to eventually succeed Lost, which is slated to end next season. Flash Forward, a mythology-laden show based on a Robert J. Sawyer novel, is only one of six new dramas the network has ordered for next fall.

Continuing its trend of green lighting quirky, high-concept shows, ABC is moving ahead with V, a revamp of the 1980s sci-fi series/miniseries, and Eastwick, a character-centric drama based on the John Updike novel and the Jack Nicholson movie, The Witches of Eastwick. Actor Paul Gross will play the Nicholson role on Eastwick.