TVSquad

Even if Isaiah Washington is not longer part of the Grey's Anatomy cast, that doesn't mean he can't be at the center of more behind the scenes drama surrounding the show. This time, the actor is suing because the ABC show used a picture of himself portraying his Grey's character in last week's episode, "The Becoming."

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the actor filed a complaint with SAG because the show used his picture without permission.

The success of last summer's General Hospital: Night Shift was the harbinger of things to come. And now they have. SoapNet announced a new 10-episode drama series called MVP: The Secret Lives of Hockey Wives.

It makes sense that SoapNet would take another stab at creating its own dramas. Last year's Night Shift, the channel's first attempt at that kind of original programming, proved more popular than the reruns of daytime soaps it had been running at 11 o'clock at night. But the difference between this new offering -- about the ladies in the lives of professional hockey players...hockey and soap? -- is that Night Shift was based on General Hospital and used popular stars from the daytime show for the spin-off. If Steve Burton (Jason), Kimberly McCullough (Robin) and Jason Thompson (Patrick) were not in Nightshift, would SoapNet viewers have tuned in?

Autumn may not look the same way it usually does on ABC in 2008. The network is seriously considering opening the new season sans new drama series. There will still be returning shows, including the dramas from 2007 which have been deemed successes by the ABC brass, including Pushing Daisies, Private Practice and Dirty Sexy Money -- but no new pilots.

Cynopsis reports that now that the writers' strike is over -- hallelujah! -- Lifetime Television will soon begin production on the second season of Army Wives with episodes scheduled to air in early summer. This is great news for fans of the Lifetime original drama series that was a ratings juggernaut when it premiered last summer. In fact, Army Wives was the most successful series in Lifetime's 23-year history! During its 13-episode run, Army Wives was the highest rated drama on cable among women, establishing new Lifetime marks for an original scripted series. The soapy-drama was scheduled to return in April, but then the writers struck and the show has been in hibernation -- I mean, hiatus -- ever since.

Truth in Advertising, a new series from Greer Shephard and Michael Robin, executive producers of TNT's popular The Closer, is close to having its pilot picked up buy the network. Robin is also set to direct.

The drama takes place in the fictional Greene, Rothman and Mohr advertising agency and focuses on the men and women who work there. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the pilot is, for all intents and purposes, already picked up by TNT, though it's not official just yet.

I told you back in May that William H. Macy had written and would star in a new series for TNT called Family Man. TNT has just given the greenlight to the pilot.

The quirky drama would focus on Macy's character, an upstanding citizen who also happens to be the leader of a group of burglars. The plot is revealed in "flash forward" mode with Macy's character, Todd Becker, imprisoned in the future. Along with his cohorts, Becker steals from major corporations and gives to charity. Ah, that's nice.

Doubting Thomas, a new drama pilot for Showtime slated for sometime in 2008, focuses on the family of a televangelist who must soldier on after the father has a stroke. The youngest son, who wants nothing to do with the family business, is forced to return and take over the ministry.

The new series is being co-produced by George Clooney. Brian Kirk, who helmed episodes of The Tudors and Brotherhood, will direct the pilot. John from Cincinnati co-executive producer Peter Spears is writing the pilot script.

If you wanted to get your conspiracy theory fix and are bummed out the upcoming HBO documentary on JFK will be free of such theories, than you might want to check out The Murder of Princess Diana, a TV movie that hits Lifetime this August, the ten-year anniversary of her death.

The TV movie, based on the book of the same name by Noel Botham, will focus on a supposed conspiracy that resulted in the princess' death in a car crash.

Good gravy.

I told you recently that Lifetime's new series, Army Wives, was worth checking out, and apparently I'm not the only one who tuned in to the new series. Variety reports that the first episode scored the highest rating in Lifetime's history for a series premiere.

The first season of Friday Night Lights is over, and NBC has begun to rerun some (but not all) of the first season episodes. Fortunately, you can watch the entire first season over on NBC's site.

I've been catching up with the first season online, after having avoided it completely when it originally aired on television. You see, I don't like sports, and I especially didn't like high school sports. In fact, I pretty much hated every aspect of high school. You can imagine a show about high school football was going directly on my "Never Watch In A Million Years" list.

OK, so no one has to be told that the final season of The Sopranos starts tonight at 9pm on HBO. After all, there have been tons of news stories about it, if you haven't heard (there might be a spoiler or two at some of those links). But don't forget that Entourage also returns tonight, immediately following The Sopranos at 10pm.

Remember when April and May used to mean the season was winding down on all of the networks? Now here it is Easter and the cable networks are just warming up. Everyone seems to be waiting for Tony and company to come back, but I'm more excited about Entourage. When we last left our heroes, Vince had ended his relationship with agent Ari, so it's going to be interesting to see where they go with the storyline.

Thanks for the Easter candy, HBO!

(S02E07) In this week's Life on Mars, the hunter became the hunted.

Or, rather Gene Hunt became the hunted.

In a classic did-he-or-didn't-he cop-on-the-run scenario, the big figure in this top-notch cop show became a fugitive after being found at the scene of a murder with the finger of blame pointing only at him -- and no memory as to how he got there.

No other show that I can think of has mastered the art of the tag line quite like Entourage. Sure, you've got your 24's that have beat the "You Don't Know Jack" horse to death or your Nip/Tuck's (a personal favorite of mine) which seem to be content staying with "Tell Me What You Don't Like About Yourself" season after season, but no show seems to keep reinventing its persona every go around quite as well as Vince and the gang.

Perhaps it's a testament to HBO in general, the way they seem to re-package every new season of all their shows to the point where everything feels fresh again. Or it might just be that the creative team behind Entourage does it better than everyone else. Snappy, one-liners that just drive right to the point of each season. Plus, I remember them which actually counts for something in my book.

(S01E15) The Marines have landed and it's about time.

Tonight's episode of Jericho reminded me why I loved this show in the first place. What always drew me to this show is the dramatization of how the average American would survive in the wake of a nuclear holocaust. I got more than I bargained for tonight.

When the military rolled into town in their big tank it seemed like the town of Jericho was back on track. They were bringing the power back, bringing communications back and in Hawkins basement, he was busy bringing sexy back.

Fans of Ari's one-liners, Turtle's blunt rolling abilities, and Johnny Drama's diva sized ego can sigh a breath of relief. Info on the next Entourage DVD set has finally been released. The set, which contains the first 12 episodes of season three, will come out on Tuesday, April 3.

Expected to cost $39.98, the set will also contain various commentaries as well as a featurette on the ninth episode of the season, "Vegas Baby, Vegas."

I'm actually excited about this. Ever since I got HBO OnDemand, I've watched the first and second seasons far too many times to count. So I never saw the need to buy them. Season three I only saw once - when it originally aired. I honestly thought the third season (the first half anyway) was a bit of step down from the the first two. So I'd like to see it again because this is definitely one of those shows that gains value with repeat viewings.

Entourage returns to HBO on Sunday, March 18 with the second half of season three premiere, "Dog Day Afternoon."

[via TV Shows on DVD]