The Big Bang Theory

• The Big Bang Theory has been renewed for two seasons and Two and a Half Men for three. — TV.com
• Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke will direct a film adaptation of Gayle Forman's upcoming novel, If I Stay, for Summit Entertainment. — Zap2It
• Elle Macpherson is returning to acting with a recurring role on CW's drama pilot Beautiful Life. — The Hollywood Reporter
• Universal has picked up a romantic-comedy script titled Merman about a merman who comes to land so he can win back his mermaid fiancee, who has left him for a real man. — Variety
• The widower of the late Adrienne Shelly (writer-director of Waitress) will develop and produce The Morgan Story, a screenplay for a family drama that Shelly left behind. — AP
• In Treatment will return to HBO on April 5. — Zap2it
• Kevin Costner and Tommy Lee Jones will join Ben Affleck in the dramatic movie The Company Men. — ComingSoon
• Lily Collins, daughter of Phil, will guest-star on 90210 at the end of the season. — The Hollywood Reporter
• Justin Long will star in the romantic-comedy Going the Distance, which will be directed by American Teen director Nanette Burstein. — ComingSoon
• Mary J. Blige has signed on to star alongside Taraji P. Henson in I Can Do Bad All by Myself, Tyler Perry's upcoming film. — Variety

Photos courtesy of CBS

• Director Zack Snyder has tapped Amanda Seyfried to lead the all-female cast of his movie Sucker Punch. — Zap2It
• It's the neverending musical: High School Musical 4 will come to the Disney Channel in 2010. — Billboard
• Woody Allen's latest film, Whatever Works, starring Larry David and Evan Rachel Wood will kick off this year's Tribeca Film Festival in April. — Variety
• The finale of the ABC version of Life on Mars will air April 1. — The Futon Critic
• Megan Fox is lining up more projects: She'll star opposite Josh Brolin and John Malkovich in Jonah Hex, and she's attached to star and develop Fathom, Fox Atomic's comic book-based underwater adventure. — The Hollywood Reporter
• Alice Braga, Mickey Rourke and Vincent Cassel are set to star in 11 Minutes, an adaptation of the Paulo Coehlo novel. — ComingSoon
• Tracy Morgan and Bruce Willis will team up for Kevin Smith's next directorial venture, A Couple of Cops. — Zap2It
• The Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men are on the verge of being renewed for several more seasons. — Variety
• Alfred Molina will play the villain in Disney's The Sorcerer's Apprentice. — ComingSoon

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• The Office has been given the key post-Super Bowl time slot and will air a one-hour episode following the game, Entertainment Weekly reports.
• According to ComingSoon, Steve Buscemi and Romany Malco will star together in Saint John of Las Vegas, a loose adaptation of Dante's Inferno.
• Tori Spelling has no deal to appear on 90210 and her desired salary may be the sticking point, E! reports.
• Sara Gilbert is joining the cast of The Big Bang Theory after a successful guest-starring gig, Zap2it reports.
• Dennis Hopper will get his own exhibit in France where, apparently, he is highly revered, writes Variety.
• Clarke Peters and Wendell Pierce — aka Freamon and Bunk from The Wire — are joining Treme, David Simon's new HBO pilot about New Orleans, writes The Hollywood Reporter.
• Variety has the news that director Chris Columbus is readying a film about Robert F. Kennedy's 1968 presidential run.
• 24 producer Carlos Coto and Brett Ratner are working on an action-comedy for Fox titled Wild Boys, which will follow "ex-soldiers turned suburban dads," ComingSoon reports.
• Matthew Bomer — aka Bryce Larkin from Chuck and Jay from Traveler — has been cast in the lead of a USA series called White Collar, writes The Hollywood Reporter.

Photo courtesy of NBC

Hope you're ready for more of the Oceanside Wellness treatment: Private Practice has been picked up for a full season. The CBS comedy The Big Bang Theory will also be with us at least through the spring.

They join Gossip Girl as the only new series to get full-season pickups so far. Networks typically only order 13 episodes of a new show so they can see how it does before promising it a time slot for a whole season. CBS also filled out a full-season order for third-year show The Unit.

Both Big Bang and Private Practice have made their mark on the ratings: Practice has gotten about 12 million viewers each week since its premiere and is the No. 1 new show among adults 18-49, while Big Bang has gotten more than 8 million viewers each week and consistently does better than its lead-in, How I Met Your Mother.

Do you think those shows have enough steam to stick around for a full year?

Big Bang Theory photo courtesy of CBS
Private Practice photo copyright 2007 ABC, Inc.

• Regis Philbin will host "Million Dollar Password," a new CBS version of the classic game show, and The Futon Critic has the details.
• According to Hollywood Reporter, Fisher Stevens will join the cast of "Lost," putting a face to the voice of Minkowski, who spoke to Jack on the phone toward the end of the last season.
• Variety has news that 300 director Zack Snyder will helm The Last Photograph, a drama about "a photograph that becomes the catalyst for a journey two men undertake through war-torn Afghanistan."
• Billboard reports that Janet Jackson is having a busy fall, what with her new book, movie and album.
• The Will Smith movie Hitch could become a TV series with Big Boi from Outkast in the lead, writes the Hollywood Reporter.
• Fox has picked up a pilot for The Church of Reggie about a guy who inadvertently starts his own religion, cooked up by "Arrested Development"'s Ron Howard and Chuck Tatham, Variety reports.
• The "American Idol" tour has been accused of breaking child labor laws, the New York Daily News reports.
• Weird but true: The daughter of writer and scientist Isaac Asimov has raved about "The Big Bang Theory" to TV Guide.

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All summer long, I've been giving you my first impressions of the networks' new shows. Now, with fall TV upon us, it's time to tell you which shows are deserving of space on your TiVo and which ... well, aren't. Today, I'm starting off with five shows that — based on their pilots — you'd be best to steer clear of this fall.

5. "Life" — I was into the premise of this show about a detective who gets sentenced to life in prison and rejoins the police force after his wrongful conviction is overturned. But the show itself was such a bundle of cop-show cliches and random quirks that it was already grating on me by 10 minutes into the pilot. Lead actor Damian Lewis gives his best shot, but if the writers want to create a "House"-style misanthrope, they're going to have to do more than make him wax poetic about fruit all the time.

4. "Viva Laughlin" — I once declared this musical drama the pilot I most wanted to see ... but then I actually saw it. What a bummer. I thought it would be a fun, cheesy, over-the-top hit. In reality, the musical numbers that didn't involve Hugh Jackman fell flat, and the dialogue was cringe-worthy. I still hold out hope that it could get better, but I doubt it's going to be on the air long enough to improve.

Three more to be wary of, so read more

The networks have announced their fall schedules, but which of the series will actually be worth watching? Throughout the summer, as I watch the pilots, I'll be posting my first impressions. A lot can change before a show makes it to air, so these aren't comprehensive reviews, just quick thoughts on how the shows look now. Today's installment: the CBS comedy "The Big Bang Theory."

What's it about? Two super-nerds have their world shaken up when a hot girl moves in across the hall.

Who's in it? Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco

The good: It's a Chuck Lorre sitcom, which is a plus if you like his work ("Cybil," "Dharma and Greg," "Two and a Half Men"). Galecki and Parsons have a funny dude-chemistry. I chuckled a few times, which is more than I can say for a lot of classic laugh-track sitcoms these days.

The bad: The plot of the pilot involves the vapid blonde neighbor needing to use the guys' shower because hers is broken. She thus must stand around in a towel in their apartment. Meanwhile, the guys go to retrieve her TV from her meathed ex-boyfriend and end up literally getting pantsed. Let's just say the show isn't exactly subtle. Or deep.

Will I watch? Ehhhh. I might catch an episode here or there, but I have much higher hopes for NBC's mid-season "The IT Crowd" to fill my geeks-meet-hot-girl quota for the year.

To watch a video and see a gallery of photos, read more