TVSquad

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).

Do you love Tracey Ullman? Yeah, who doesn't? The lady's a riot. Showtime is so enamored of the Brit-com-queen that they've ordered a second season -- seven fresh episodes -- of Tracey Ullman's State of the Union. The network has also lined up another English artist for 2009. Comedy star Marc Wootton is locked in for six episodes.

"I won't hold it against them that both are from the U.K.," laughed Showtime prez Robert Greenblatt. "Tracey Ullman is the veteran genius who continues to impress us with her versatility, while Marc Wootton is the up-and-comer who will surprise our audience with his own unique voice. This is an embarrassment of riches for us in the comedy department."

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.

Survivors of the 2004 tsunami that killed more than 216,000 people in 12 countries are uncomfortable with the mini-series being filmed about the disaster by HBO and BBC. Filming began last month in Phuket and Khao Lak, two places among the hardest hit in Thailand. People are particularly unhappy with the casting calls for actors to play corpses. Reportedly, some of the fliers had pictures of a tsunami and, on the bottom, said 'Victims Needed'. Understandably, living victims find it completely insensitive. HBO and BBC insist the mini-series is meant to be educational and to bring to light some serious issues that have arisen since the December 2004 disaster. The film includes actors Tim Roth, Sophie Okonedo, and Toni Collette. It will air on HBO and BBC2 later this year.