TVSquad

AMC already has one critically acclaimed and Golden Globe nominated drama under its belt with the brilliant Mad Men. A second new series, Breaking Bad, hopes to follow that success, beginning in January. Malcolm in the Middle's Bryan Cranston stars as a high school chemistry teacher who turns to a life of crime in order to support his family after he is diagnosed with terminal cancer. If it's half as good as Mad Men it'll be twice as good as most of what's on TV.

But not content to wait around to see how Breaking Bad does critically and commercially, Variety reports that AMC has no less than four more shows in various stages of development, including two westerns. Westerns haven't been able to find success on the broadcast networks in years. Now by "Western" I'm talking the John Wayne/Clint Eastwood brand of Westerns with gunfights and saloon whores, not the likes of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, which did find an audience but was a very different kind of show.

Here's what USA has in development for 2008:

• Halo will center on a man who wakes up one morning to find a halo over his head. Brilliant! I mean, the halo will be "brilliant," as in: "luminous" -- the show itself doesn't sound brilliant at all. The man tries to get rid of the halo but finds himself doing good deeds in the meantime. Actually, I'm being a smartass, and if it weren't a USA series I'd probably be rolling my eyes at the idea, but something tells me there might be something more substantive here than what the synopsis implies.

MTV has development deals in place for a few flicks which would air first on the network before hitting DVD and then, based on public response, the cinema. These projects, one of which is being developed by Jay Kogen, a writer for The Simpsons and Fraiser, have not been officially greenlit by the studio.

This is not an entirely new idea for MTV. Recently, MTV announced a DVD movie based on its popular My Super Sweet 16 series.

First, Journeyman director Alex Graves signed a deal with 20th Century Fox TV, and now Tom Szentgyorgyi, who recently joined the NBC series as a writer (coming off the short-lived Drive) has also inked a deal with the studio to develop new projects.

Szentgyorgyi apparently came highly recommend from such TV bigshots as Stephen Bochco, whom Szentgyorgyi worked with on NYPD Blue. Szentgyorgyi also wrote for Law and Order and The Nine, and began his television career as a writer on Sports Night.

Dana Gould, one of my favorite stand-up comedians, is creating a series about zombies for Comedy Central?

I am so there.

The series, which has the working title of The Last Larry, focuses on a world destroyed by zombies, and the humans leftover who are trying to get on with their lives. Gould describes the series as a traditional sitcom that just happens to take place in the aftermath of a zombie holocaust, saying it's really about how people get on with their lives after something terrible happens.

Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec, the creators of the ABC drama October Road, which was recently renewed for a second season, have singed an overall development deal with ABC, according to Variety.

The article doesn't go into much detail about the deal, except that ABC had essentially negotiated with Appelbaum and Nemec about developing new shows before October Road's renewal was set in stone.

People enjoy rap, and people enjoy reality television. So: why not combine them?

That seems to be the thought process behind Rapping with the Stars, a new reality series that could be popping up on MTV that, according to Variety, "features teams squaring off in [a] range of rap-oriented musical challenges."

Those "teams" consist of, naturally, a rapper and a celebrity. I wonder, though, how many rap-oriented challenges can there be? Other than freestyle, performing someone else's rap, or doing your own rap, what's left? Is there some kind of rap endurance race in which rappers must perform Run-DMC tunes while sprinting and pole vaulting cross country? Because there should be, I'd totally watch that.

If this show does become as popular as Dancing with the Stars, perhaps we'll start seeing more and more with the Stars-style shows, none of which I will watch.

According to Monsters and Critics, singer, video vixen and popular MySpace personality Tila Tequila (real name Tila Nguyen) may soon have her own series on VH1. Nguyen says she plans to "push the envelope," with her new series, which, based on her YouTube videos, I assume means she'll be half-dressed through most of the show to distract people from her singing. There are no real details on the series just yet, and no official word when or if it will debut.

The History Channel has five new weekly series currently in development and set to premiere in 2007 and 2008.

The first series, Ice Road Truckers, is a documentary series focusing on long haul truck drivers in northern North America who drive their rigs across frozen lakes and risk falling through the ice, therefore having to keep one hand on the door at all times in case they need to bail out. The series will focus both on the truckers and on the miners who rely on them. If you're into shows like Deadliest Catch on the Discovery, this show may also be right up your alley.

USA is developing some new series. Here's what's on the menu:

The Negotiator, a show about a hostage negotiator who becomes a relationship counselor, is being developed by film producer Donald De Line (The Stepford Wives, The Italian Job).

Meanwhile, Battlestar Galactica co-executive producer Toni Graphia is developing American Girl, about a Wal-Mart employee whose personality changes after she witnesses a robbery. I was hoping for a show either based on the line of dolls, or possibly the Tom Petty song of the same name, but I guess this works, too.

A few weeks ago, National Geographic aired a two-hour special titled In the Womb: Animals that showed the development of dogs, elephants and dolphins while in utero through ultra sound imagery, CGI and visual effects. The special focused on, among other things, how these animals develop skills for survival while still inside their mothers.

On January 14 at 8pm, National Geographic will return to the womb with In the Womb: Multiples. The special will use 4d imagery to and CGI effects to show how twins and other muliple birth siblings develop bonds while in utero, and how those bonds continue after they're born.