Now that Life on Mars has completed its mission, ABC has a new show leading out of Lost on Wednesday nights: The Unusuals, starring such familiar faces as Amber Tamblyn, Jeremy Renner, Harold Perrineau and Adam Goldberg as quirky homicide detectives working for the NYPD.
If any fans of Joan or Arcadia or General Hospital's original Emily Q. are surprised to see Tamblyn brandishing a badge these days, so is she. "When I first heard about [The Unusuals], I was like, 'I don't want to go back to TV, to play a cop,'" Tamblyn told TVGuide.com during a visit to the show's set. "But the script was so different."
"I call it an 'eccentric procedural,'" she says, summing up the show's niche.
Watch and discuss Tamblyn's complete video Q&A after the jump.
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Nathan Fillion, Castle
ABC has cut orders on two midseason drama series, The Castle and The Unusuals.
Castle, which centers around a horror novelist who helps solve crimes with NYPD, has now gone from a 13 episode order to 10. The show stars Desperate Housewives' Nathan Fillion.
Meanwhile, ABC's partner studio Sony has asked for the same cutbacks for The Unusuals, which is an NYPD ensemble dramedy starring Joan of Arcadia's Amber Tamblyn, says The Hollywood Reporter.
The bad news keeps on coming for the Alphabet network: The episode reductions came...
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Alyssa Milano by John Medina/WireImage.com
In an unusual move for the time of year, ABC on Monday ordered to series five pilots, including two police procedurals, a pair of comedies and a remake, Variety reports.Among the greenlit fare, Nathan Fillion will be starring in Castle, which focuses on a novelist who helps solve murder cases. Lost alum Harold Perrineau and Joan of Arcadia's Amber Tamblyn, meanwhile, are among the cast of The Unusuals, a police drama set in an atypical precinct. On the lighter side you have Single with Parents, a sitcom starring Charmed beauty Alyssa Milano, and Better Off Ted, starring Jay Harrington as an office worker trying to make his way up the ranks.ABC has also picked up Cupid, a Rob Thomas-helmed remake of the late-1990s show about a man (played by Bobby Cannavale) who believes he's Cupid and the psychologist (Sarah Paulson) who works with him.Do these series seem like a good direction for the net? With five fresh shows to pick from, the odds are in ABC's favor. — Anna DimondRelated:&...
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Amber Tamblyn by Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage.com
Joan of Arcadia is gonna be packing heat. Amber Tamblyn, who starred on the acclaimed/underappreciated CBS drama, has landed the female lead in the ABC pilot The Unusuals.In the dramedy set at a New York police precinct, Tamblyn will play Casey Shraeger, a smart detective who also is the black sheep of her wealthy family, says the Reporter. Already cast in the pilot is Lost's Harold Perrrineau. — Matt MitovichRelated:• Lost Star Finds Unusual New Gig at ABC • Pilot News: ABC Finds Three Cop Shows Arresting
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Dominic Monaghan by Steve Granitz/ WireImage.com
After freaking us out with a "posthumous" appearance on Lost's season premiere, Dominic Monaghan has landed the lead role in Pet, a psychological thriller about a man who becomes obsessed with his high-school crush.... Hayden Panettiere (Heroes) and Kieran Culkin (Igby Goes Down) are girlfriend and boyfriend in Daydream Nation, described by producers as an intellectual teen comedy à la Juno or Election.... Michael Douglas, Amber Tamblyn (Joan of Arcadia), and Jesse Metcalfe (Desperate Housewives) have been cast in Beyond a Reasonable Doubt, a remake of a Fritz Lang film noir. Metcalfe plays a journalist trying to expose Douglas' corrupt district attorney. — Mickey O'Connor
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Justin Bruening by Chris Haston/NBC Photo
Here's a roundup of winter and spring TV-movies and specials to keep in mind when seeking out alternative, strike-time programming:Husband for Hire | Jan. 19, at 8 pm/ET, OxygenA single woman (Nadine Velazquez) has 24 hours to find a husband in order to inherit her share of the family fortune. Mark Consuelos, Erik Estrada and Mario Lopez costar.Daniel's Daughter | Jan. 26, 9 pm, Hallmark ChannelLaura Leighton (Melrose Place) plays a woman who realizes how much she has in common with her late father when she fulfills his last wish.The Russell Girl | Jan. 27, 9 pm, CBSAmber Tamblyn (Joan of Arcadia) stars as an aspiring med student who returns home to confront her difficult past.Bernard and Doris | Feb. 9, 8 pm, HBOEccentric billionaire Doris Duke (Susan Sarandon) hires penniless Irish butler Bernard Lafferty (Ralph Fiennes) and then leaves him her fortune in this fictional tale based on true events.The 50th Annual Grammy Awards | Feb. 10, 8 pm, CBSRapper Kanye West and troubled souls...
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Amber Tamblyn by Cliff Lipson/CBS
Amber Tamblyn, who played the titular God-gabber on CBS' acclaimed (and rudely dismissed) Joan of Arcadia and starred on the Eye's fall 2007 pilot Babylon Fields, has been tapped to play the lead in The Russell Girl, a February 2008 Hallmark Hall of Fame flick. Russell Girl, says Variety, concerns a small-town gal who attempts to escape her past by moving to Chicago, yet ultimately is forced to deal with the tragedy she left behind.Speaking of left behind, Variety also says that Babylon Fields — in which a quiet town's deceased again walk the earth — itself may still have some life in it, and could get a pickup for midseason.
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Despite reports that America Ferrera is being forced to reprise her role in “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants,” a producer of the sequel insists there’s nothing ugly about the negotiations. “The full truth of the story is that America was ambivalent at first,” says Alcon Entertainment producer Andrew Kosove. “But she’s very pleased with the screenplay and much more comfortable about her involvement now.” Shooting will begin June 2 in Greece for Ferrera and cast mates Amber Tamblyn, Alexis Bledel and Blake Lively, who play a group of girlfriends bonded by a special pair of jeans. If the film series follows that of the books, two additional sequels may be in store. But Kosove says, “At some point the actresses really will be too old to play these characters. I think honestly that was some of the ambivalence at this stage.” —reporting by Bekah Wright
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Who's doing what and for whom this pilot season? Per Variety and the Hollywood Reporter:• Amber Tamblyn will star in CBS' Babylon Fields, a drama in which deceased people who are resurrected try to resume their lives. Good luck with that, gang.• Rita Moreno will play the matriarch of a rum business-owning clan in CBS' untitled drama starring Jimmy Smits.• Faith Ford is the wife of one of ABC's Carpoolers.• Laura Harris (24) has copped the fourth and final lead in ABC's Women's Murder Club.• But what about Brian? Krista Allen has come aboard NBC's Business Class, playing a rival soft-drink company rep.
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Kathryn Joosten, Desperate Housewives
You loved her as Mrs. Landingham (so much so that you mourned her First Secretary's sudden death), and adored her as Old Lady God on Joan of Arcadia. These days, Kathryn Joosten is hanging with the Desperate Housewives (Sundays at 9 pm on ABC), even grabbing some gold for her portrayal of the sometimes-cranky, other times gossipy Karen McCluskey. TVGuide.com chatted with the Emmy-caliber character actress about what's ahead for Wisteria Lane, and how much she misses the Oval Office.
TVGuide.com: I was thinking recently how cool it was to seeMrs. McCluskey hanging out on the porch, shooting the breeze with the other Housewives....Kathryn Joosten: Yes, wasn't that fun?! Dishing the dirt a little bit.... [Laughs]
TVGuide.com: D
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