ABC builds third Castle

A great week for Castle fans. After the female lead survived a huge explosion, Monday's episode was the highest rated episode of the series. Reason for ABC to renew the show with a lot of die-hard fans for a third season.

Katherine Heigl to scrub out of Grey's Anatomy

At least, that's the latest from Aussiello who reports that Katherine Heigl is thisclose to exit her contract with the show. Heigl, who has played Izzie Stevens for six years, took time off from the show to shoot a movie and spend time with her new daughter, but by the looks of it, she's never coming back.

Heigl has wanted to get out of her contract with ABC for quit a while now, following a series of public outings against creator Shonda Rhimes, her long work days and colleagues. From all the drama that goes on at TV's juiciest set, Heigl was responsible for at least half. So if anything, ABC wouldn't worry too much about losing the woman who gave the publicists a lot of overtime. So where's the problem?

Izzie. Heigl claimed she loved playing her, and Rhimes certainly wasn't ready to let her off, after almost killing her last season finale, but bringing her back only to get her fired and break up with on/off relationship with Alex. Word was that, after taking off a couple of months to stay home with her new adopted daughter and shoot a movie, Heigl was expected to return to Grey's on March 1st. She didn't. And as the season draws to a close, she's not expected to make a return this season and when her contract ends, never again. So story lines with Izzie are likely to end the way E.R. perfected; mentioned in a brief conversation without ever looking back.

It's not exactly a surprise since Heigl became one of the five most paid actresses after her success with 'Knocked Up' and other comedies, but to happen it this way? Personally, I'm saddend that Izzie (and Alex) will never get a proper ending, but it certainly was predictable. What about you? Sad you'll probably never see Alex and Izzie together? Happy you're finally rid of Heigl?

Castle takes on Late Night fued

ABC's crime-solving will soon involve a spoof towards NBC's Late Night debacle. Castle is prepping an episode inspired by the fight for the hosting job and adds a tiny bit of murder in the mix, Michael Aussiello reports.

The episode, which is called 'The Late Shaft'. Tom Bergeron has signed on to guest as Bobby Mann, a late-night talk show host who gets wacked. And who else could've done it than his possible successor (played by Bill Bellamy) who was after Mann's timeslot. Other guest stars involve Fred Willard as Bergeron's sidekick, French Stewart (3rd Rock From The Sun) as a Pellicano-esque investigator and Yeardley Smith (Lisa from The Simpsons) as a comedy-club owner.

'The Late Shaft' airs April 26th on ABC.

I don't know about you guys, but for a show that I don't follow, this might well be worth tuning in for..

The Forgotten is being cut

Admitting to an once-in-a-show's-run opportunity to poke another joke at ABC's The Forgotten, the show is actually being forgotten by the network after March 23.

Though no official cancellation has been released, ABC has cut the ratings slacking crime procedural ('come on, crime shows only work on CBS) schedule to make way for the return of FlashForward by replacing the March 16 episode with a clip-show of the science-fiction drama. Adding to that, the March 23 episode has now been cut too, leaving only next week's episode as a new broadcast of the show. Count your losses, viewers of The Forgotten (yes, all of you Lost fans who left the TV on); when a show gets replaced by a clip-show of another show that's not doing too well in the ratings either, you should start looking for a replacement. Or you could always try a fan campaign to make sure no one will ever for... oh, forget about it.

Pilot casting updates: Pleading Guilty, Episodes and more..

It's a busy time for guest stars or recurring stars on hit shows these days. Not because their roles are being expanded, but because if you're face is on TV right now, you have a bigger chance to land a lead in one of the many pilots that are casting for fall season. Here are the latest additions to the pilots of 2010...

After eight offers this season alone, the U.S. finally nabbed British actor Jason Isaacs (Brotherhood and the 'Harry Potter' movies) who will play the lead in the upcoming Fox drama Pleading Guilty which will be a legal thriller about embezzlement, bookmaking, offshore banking and the politics of a high-powered law firm. The show centers on Mack (Isaacs), a cop-turned-attorney described as "a big handsome Irish lunk" who is assigned to investigate the disappearance of the firm's star litigator. The show is based on Scott Turow's book of the same name.

Matt LeBlanc won't have to play in the Showtime/BBC comedy series alone, now that Claire Forlani, Kathleen Rose Perkins and Stephen Mangan have signed on to the project. Episodesrevolves around a succesful British couple who'll have their hit sitcom brought to the U.S. and who will quickly learn the ups and downs of Hollywood. Forlani and Mangan will play the husband and wife, while Perkins will play the head of programming of the network. LeBlanc previously signed on to play the lead actor of the fake-comedy. Production will start early May.

Emmy-winner Michael Imperioli has signed on for the lead in ABC's 187 Detroit which will take a humorous look at Detroit's top homicide division as seen through the cameras of a fictitious documentary crew.

In shorter news:

• Jon Seda, who will play in The Pacific, has been cast opposite Roselyn Sanchez in ABC's drama Cutthroat.
• Lindsay Price has been cast as a lead in ABC's comedy Who Gets The Parents?
• Eliza Coupe (Scrubs) will co-star on the networks comedy Happy Endings. The role will be secondary to her work on Scrubs.
• Jesse Bradford had joines NBC's untitled John Eisendrath drama
• Jason Behr and Merle Dandridge have been added to ABC"s drama The Matadors
• Missi Pyle and Johnny Sneed have landed leads on ABC's How To Be A Better American
• Diedrich Bader and Jessica Gower have been cast on NBC's comedy Outsourced

That's it for now, but guaranteed more pilot casting updates follow later.

ABC launches ultimate fan promo contest for Lost

Not that ABC needs any help with creating mind-blowing promo's for it's big promotion of Lost's final season, but the network launched a fan promo contest allowing fans to create their own promovideo for the show's final season, which will air prior to the series finale.

"For the past six years, the fans of Lost have shown extreme passion and unwavering commitment. They've spent countless hours watching and re-watching episodes, and formulating their own theories about the island's mysteries," said Mike Benson and Marla Provencio, exectuive vice presidents of marketing for ABC Entertainment Group. "We invite the entire Lost fan community to play an active part in the series' final season by participating in the 'Ultimate Fan Promo Contest' and look forward to celebrating their creativity and passion like never before."

Starting this week, fans can visit ABC.com to create and submit their own original 35-second promo. The winner will see his/her video air an entire week before the much anticipated series finale on May 23. Alongside the winner will get a trip to Los Angeles to attend the series' special finale party.

Sponsored by Kia Motors, the contest is not your average cheap way to interest fans with lousy equipment. ABC.com opened up it's archive of video, still images, music, sound bites and special effects audio that fans can use to create their pieces. Additionally, the site is offering an online mash-up tool that can be used to create videos. Original promos can be uploaded through March 21. The top original entries will be evaluated by no one less than executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, as well as executives from ABC Entertainment. Fans can vote for their five top videos from April 19 to April 23 to cast their vote for the Grand Prize winner.

For more details and official contest rules, visit ABC.com

Julie Benz acquires super powers

Julie Benz, former Dexter star who is now recurring on Desperate Housewives as stripper Robin, has landed a lead role on the new ABC drama pilot No Ordinary Life.

The new show, which is slated for fall season, centers around a typical American family, only, with super powers. Previously, Michael Chiklis from The Shield already signed on to play Jim, a former artist-turned-police artist with special abilities. Benz will play his wife, a scientist with a power for super speed.

No Ordinary Family comes from Greg Berlanti, the man behind Brothers & Sisters, Eli Stone and Dirty Sexy Money.

Nip/Tuck-ers find new home, Eric Close is Chaos

The series finale of the cable show Nip/Tuck hasn't even aired yet, but two of the show's stars already found new projects to keep themselves busy with when the new season arrives.