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Fans of the hit CBS drama FBI were surprised last month when it was revealed that Special Agent in Charge Isobel Castille, played by Alana de la Garza, is actually married. Until now, her personal life had been a mystery, even to her closest colleagues. However, the identity of her husband has now been confirmed. Veteran actor Tom Cavanagh has been cast in the role, bringing even more depth to Isobel’s story.

Cavanagh is best known for his roles in The Flash, where he played multiple versions of Harrison Wells, as well as for his leading role in the early 2000s comedy Ed. He has also appeared in Scrubs, Royal Pains, Eli Stone, and more recently in Blue Bloods and Superman & Lois.

The revelation about Isobel’s marriage came during the February 11 episode titled Shelter. In a conversation with fellow agent Oa (played by Zeeko Zaki), she casually mentioned,...

David Handelman, a print journalist turned TV writer who worked on the Aaron Sorkin series Sports Night, The West Wing, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and The Newsroom, has died. He was 63.

Handelman died Aug. 15 at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York from complications of Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia, a rare blood cancer, producer David Van Taylor told The Hollywood Reporter.

Handelman also wrote for the 2006 CBS series Love Monkey; for season six (2008-09) of The CW’s One Tree Hill; for season two (2013-14) of ABC’s Nashville; and for season three (2015) of DirecTV’s Rogue.

Most recently, he was a staff producer and writer for almost a decade on CNN’s Smerconish, which paid tribute to him on the air in the days after his death.

Before television, Handelman was a staff writer at Rolling Stone, covering everyone from Beastie Boys and Talking Heads to Sam Kinison, folk...

Game Show Network is set to premiere its latest series, “Hey Yahoo!“, on Monday, June 12 at 8 p.m. Et. The weekday show will feature two teams of three players each as they compete to guess what millions of people are searching for on Yahoo Search.

The contestants are given the first half of a search, and then have to fill in the blank based on what they think America is searching for. For each correct answer, the dollar value of that answer is added to the team’s bank. At the end of three rounds of play, the team with the most money wins and will go on to the bonus round for a chance to add an extra $10,000 to their winnings.

“Hey Yahoo!” is produced by Game Show Enterprises Studios for Game Show Network, with Rane Laymance serving as executive producer. Brian Provost serves as executive producer for Yahoo,...

Exclusive: Actor-director Tom Cavanagh is into gaming now — specifically, one that involves what you are searching for on Yahoo these days.

The star from Ed and The Flash is set to host Hey Yahoo!, a new show for the Game Show Network that’s set to premiere early this summer.

The half-hour game features two teams of three players which compete to guess what millions of people are searching for on Yahoo. Contestants are given the first half of a search, and then have to fill in the blank based on what they think America is searching for. For each correct answer, the dollar value of that answer is added to the team’s bank.

At the end of three rounds of play, the team with the most money wins and will go on to the bonus round for a chance to add an extra $10,000 to their winnings.

“With Hey Yahoo!

After his breakout role as the star of the NBC dramedy Ed, Tom Cavanagh ran into a run of small screen bad luck. He made several shows, including Love Monkey, Trust Me, and Eli Stone that didn’t last through a single season. (Love Monkey got the ax after just three episodes!) Then, in 2014, he [...]

The post Tom Cavanagh’s Show Is No ‘Flash’ In The Pan, And He’s Grateful appeared first on Hollywood Outbreak.

Exclusive: CBS has put in development dramas Near Death, from writer Chase creator Jennifer Johnson, and St. Bernie’s, from Instinct creator Michael Rauch. Both hail from producer Glenn Geller and CBS Television Studios.

Written by Johnson, in Near Death, following a horrible accident, a young woman’s near-death experience leads to inexplicable visions that prove surprisingly useful in helping her detective father solve crimes, and may also reveal dark secrets that threaten to permanently fracture their family.

Johnson executive produces with Geller and DeVon Franklin (Breakthrough).

Written by Rauch, St. Bernies revolves around an idealistic but immature doctor, who, when a small town’s hospital is forced to close, leads a determined group of locals who co-opt a diner-turned-veterinarian clinic into a medical practice to deliver much-needed care to their community.

Rauch, who has been under an overall deal at CBS TV Studios, and Geller executive produce.

Near Death and St.

CBS has bought for development Family Emergency, a sibling/medical drama from Instinct developer/executive producer Michael Rauch, Jane the Virgin and Charmed’s Jennie Snyder Urman and CBS TV Studios where Rauch and Urman are based.

Written by Rauch, Family Emergency revolves around three sisters who often clash but always have each other’s backs work together in a busy ER, saving patients’ lives while navigating the complications of love, medicine and family.

Rauch executive produces with Urman and Joanna Klein.

CBS is the only Big 4 broadcast network without a medical drama currently on the air following the cancellation of Code Black. The network is looking to get back in the medical procedural game with Family Emergency and two other dramas in development, MD-1 and Nurses.

Rauch wrote the pilot for and executive produces CBS’ crime drama series Instinct starring Alan Cumming, which is set to return for a second season later this season.

Early Friday, Teddy Geiger revealed the decision to transition.

“I started talking about it with a couple of my close friends and family about a month ago and it’s given me the courage to start the process,” the singer-songwriter, 29, wrote in an emotional Instagram post. “I feel like the next step is to tell all y’all. So here goes. Love it or hate this is who i have been for a looooong time.”

In the hours that followed, the singer-songwriter was met with a wave of support from fans and friends, including Michelle Branch and collaborator Shawn Mendes,...

Gotham fans will learn just how far (if at all) from the tree Selina Kyle fell, when Banshee alum Ivana Milicevic joins the Fox drama as the stealthy street rat’s long-lost mother, TVLine has learned.

PhotosQuotes of the Week From Gotham, Lucifer and More

A recurring role, Maria Kyle is described as “a tough-as-nails operator with an arsenal of street smarts,” world-class drifter who’s able to hide her true self behind a variety of personas. A “criminal through and through,” she is willing to use anything and anyone to get what she wants. Her one weakness, however, is...

I always figured that other television showrunners were envious of the few and proud who have created original series for Netflix. But at a Columbia University panel this week, "Royal Pains" creator Michael Rauch admitted to "House of Cards" showrunner Beau Willimon's face that he was "jealous."  The executive producer of USA's Hamptons-set dramedy, on stage to discuss "Is It Television? The Rise of Episodic Storytelling," spoke with his fellow Columbia alumni about the frustrations of trying to create television within the structure of the mainstream studio system.  "You have an opportunity to do details, and you have moments that we don't have the opportunity to do in a way that makes me very jealous of you," Rauch said to Willimon during the discussion, holding up Willimon's relative freedom working with Netflix in comparison to his experience creating the short-lived romantic comedy series "Love Monkey" for CBS. "It's all about the.

CW’s Arrow spin-off pilot has added actor Tom Cavanagh to the cast.

Cavanagh will play “Harrison Wells” on The Flash. He’s described as “a rock star in the world of physics, the mind and money behind Central City’s S.T.A.R. Labs Particle Accelerator. He becomes a pariah after the lab’s explosion, but he charts his path to redemption when he discovers that his failed experiment had the unintended consequence of creating the world’s fastest man (Grant Gustin).”

Best known as the star of the 2000-04 NBC series Ed, Cavanagh has also had arcs...

Joking with reporters is always a risky venture. At Fox’s Tuesdays press junket, the network’s entertainment chairman Kevin Reilly was huddled with a gaggle of writers after his executive session and candidly referenced “stumbling out of the gate” with the ill-fated fall drama The Mob Doctor. He then quipped, “which, by the way, was the worst title in the history of the world.”

Sure enough, that quote popped up in online reports yesterday. And make no mistake — The Mob Doctor was a stinker title (though after the upfronts last year, we actually thought CBS’ upcoming drama Golden Boy...

Former "Beverly Hills, 90210" star Shannen Doherty joined "Extra" at the Grove for an inside look at her new reality show on We-tv, "Shannen Says" -- where no topic is off limits.

In a sneak peek of the show, Doherty's photographer fiance, Kurt Iswarienko, finds out she wants a prenup. "I talked to a business manager about it," the "90210" bad girl said to her soon-to-be third husband.

When asked about her upcoming marriage, Shannen said, "I may have been married before,...

Erik Jensen has signed up for a role in NBC's pilot The Frontier. The drama, set in the early 1800s, follows a group of travellers who embark on a dangerous cross-country journey. Jensen has now joined the cast as Dr. William Strong, The Hollywood Reporter says. The actor has previously starred in shows such as Love Monkey and CSI, while more recently he has had guest spots in 30 Rock, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Leverage and NCIS: La. Jensen's (more)...

Courtesy Give Wink

Stocking up on baby essentials can have you running ragged.

But all that can change with a quick visit to Give Wink, an online boutique featuring everything you could possibly need — or dream about! — for your little one.

From children’s furniture and cool toys to custom baby bedding and kids gear, this store has got it all.

Our faves include the cozy Elephant Hooded Towel Set ($58) and the super cool I Love Monkey Discovery Set ($35, left).

Need more incentive to shop? For every 100 dollars spent, a South American child in need is gifted with a new pair of glasses.

In the wake of the relatively well-received inquiry of what happened to the cast of "That 70s Show," I figured that -- for absolutely no reason at all -- we'd also take a quick glance around at the former cast of "Beverly Hills, 90210" and see who the big winner (if any) from the series really is. So here are a few highlights from the show's major (and some minor) players as well as a brief listing of what each one of them has been doing since the show wrapped its decade-long run in 2000. Of course, there's a new incarnation of the show, merely titled "90210," which kicked off in 2008, but I haven't watched it. I'm sort of a snob like that, although I will admit that I only watched the original program because it aired during my late teens and early adulthood, which sort of makes one susceptible to the lures of primetime soap operas.

Mad Love’s Judy Greer is one of those actresses most women assume they’d be friends with in real life, and after she dropped by EW’s office last week for a chat, we can confirm you’re probably right. It’s hard not to like someone who gets giddy when the receptionist gives them a copy of the Entertainment Weekly issue with Prince William and Kate Middleton on the cover. Someone who admits that she’s not a baby person, so when one of the babies on her show (her character is a nanny) fell asleep in her arms,...

On January 20, USA Network will premiere the second season continuation of Royal Pains at 9/8c. This show will be the launching pad for USA’s new series Fairly Legal, 10/9c, starring Sarah Shahi. Last season’s cliffhanger involved Hank and Evan’s father Eddie R. Lawson (Henry Winkler) suffering a heart attack after his sons discovered some startling secrets.

About Royal Pains:

Royal Pains stars Mark Feuerstein as Hank Lawson who, after becoming blacklisted from the medical community, revives his career as a “doctor for hire” to the rich and famous in the Hamptons. In addition to treating this select group of the East End elite, Hank also caters to the town’s less fortunate by donating his time at the local clinic. He finds himself walking the line between doing well for himself and doing good for others. The show also stars Paulo Costanzo (“Road Trip”), Reshma Shetty...

Melissa Rosenberg, the screenwriter of Twilight, is working on adapting a Marvel Character, Aka Jessica Jones, for her next TV project.

Rosenberg will not only write, but also be executive producer on the series in development for fall 2011 at ABC. Incredible Hulk is also in it's early stages at ABC, but this new show is close enough to being signed that it will likely be Marvel Television's first official project the network.

This series will also launch Rosenberg's Tall Girls Prods. banner. She is a former executive producer on Dexter is starting Tall Girls with the goal of creating and producing projects featuring large, complex female roles.

Aka Jessica Jones is one of Marvel's Max line of more mature comicbook titles.  The story follows a superhero names "Jewell" who is forced to retire after having post-traumatic stress disorder brought on by her lifestyle of fighting crime. She goes by the...

After 10 seasons on the small screen, fans of Fox's primetime soap "Beverly Hills, 90210" (1990-2000) can relive the magic without guilt. After all, the date is 9/02/10.

"Chuck" executive producer Josh Schwartz tweeted a fan-made video of a "Gossip Girl" opening to "Beverly Hills, 90210's" iconic 1990s theme. Star Jennie Garth, who was a regular for the entire 10-season run said via Twitter, "Love to the original cast and crew. And the new kids too."

Logo from Season 1   The original hourlong drama introduced us to a slew of stars (and two-time Oscar-winning actress Hilary Swank) both past and future, and a decade after the show ended its run, several castmembers went on to other projects. But would they be able to sustain success in their post-"90210" careers?

The biggest surprise -- and possible discovery -- was Swank's 16-episode arc as Steve Sanders' (Ian Ziering) girlfriend Carly Reynolds in the ninth season.

While I get to interview many people for Collider, they’re usually done at a hotel and almost always feel rushed. That’s because a press junket has to accommodate journalists from around the world and everyone needs time with people promoting the movie or TV show. A typical TV interview is 4 minutes…as you can imagine, it’s hard to get more than a sound bite. That’s why I love it when I’m able to talk with people for an extended amount of time, as it lets you have a real conversation.

And that’s what happened last week with Rebecca Mader. Instead of the usual hotel interview, I met her at a spot on Wilshire Blvd. (it’s in Los Angeles) and we conducted an awesome extended interview. Not only did we cover her work on Lost (she plays Charlotte Lewis), but we were able to...

I'm rooting for Tom Cavanagh. 'Ed' not only entertained me, it changed my life (but that's a whole other post). He hasn't had much luck since leaving that show, TV series-wise anyway. 'Love Monkey' was a good show but short-lived, and 'Trust Me' was a huge disappointment and vanished after one season (he has fared better in key minor roles on shows like 'Eli Stone'). But now Cavanagh has been cast in another role, and it's completely different than his other lead roles.

According to Michael Ausiello, Cavanagh had landed the lead role in the pilot for the new ABC drama 'Edgar Floats.' He'll play a police psychologist who is also a bounty hunter, so I'm thinking it's will be sorta kinda a mix of things like 'CSI' and 'Castle' and 'House.' No, he last name won't be floats. The title actually...

Several well-known actors -- including Tom Cavanagh, Jean Smart, Rob Morrow and Kathy Bates -- headline the latest flurry of pilot casting activity.

Scott Foley, Michael Cassidy, "Almost Famous" star Patrick Fugit, Kyle Bornheimer, Aly Michalka, Gail O'Grady and Nicholas Bishop have all landed roles as well. The rundown:

- Cavanagh, who last starred in TNT's short-lived "Trust Me," will play the title role in ABC's drama "Edgar Floats," according to The Hollywood Reporter. The pilot, which will also star Alicia Witt and Robert Patrick, is about a psychologist by training who works as a bounty hunter. Cavanagh's other TV credits include "Ed," "Scrubs" and "Love Monkey."

- Smart, an Emmy winner for "Frasier" and "Samantha Who?" and two-time nominee for "24," will play the governor of Hawaii in CBS' "Hawaii Five-o" remake. She'll be billed as a guest star in the pilot, the Hr says. Like its predecessor, the new...

I'm sure many of you have step-fathers, so help me out here. I have this theory that at least 65 percent of all step-fathers are bearded and do bad impressions, and by bad impressions, I mean bad impressions of actors that nearly everyone already does 100 times better: Nicholson, John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, etc. My step-father, of course, specialized in his impression of Yogi Bear, a character that's probably only familiar to half of you under the age of 25, and only then because there's probably a character statue of him in front of your favorite campground. That impression, of course, consisted of only on line, "Hey-a Boo Boo!" No matter: 11-year-olds are easily entertained, and even bad impressions go a long way toward erasing the idea that your step-father is trying to replace your real father.

Anyway, the news here is that the Yogi Bear movie that's been in development for some...

The sheer quantity of festivals on the calender in the U.K alone has begun to reach far into the hundreds. Every 60's throw back farmer with a field in Suffolk or any double-barreled named family with an estate in some sparse woods between villages in Norfolk seem to be more than happy to allow the cider swilling, barefoot, dancing masses to camp with them for three days. What's becoming harder and harder is deciding which ones to get yourself to. Green Man Festival in Glanusk Park, Wales felt right this time around; It was my birthday weekend, it was a relatively young festival (6 years old), only 15000 tickets and 100 bands on a small beautifully kept site which, as local legend would have it, harbors 3,000 mischievous spirits... cool. All of this and, as a completely independent music festival, not a pint of Carling or a pink skinned, sun stroked Oasis fan in sight.

Evan Agostini/Getty It’s a boy for Tom Cavanagh! The actor and wife Maureen Grise welcomed a son, James Joseph Cavanagh, on Wednesday, August 5th, People has learned exclusively.

Baby James – who weighed 7.8 lbs. and was 20 inches long – joins older siblings Thomas Patrick, 2, and Alice Ann, 3 ½.

The former Ed and Love Monkey star and his wife, a photo editor at Sports Illustrated, have been married for five years.

Tom, 45, was recently on TNT’s Trust Me opposite Eric McCormack and is currently prepping to star in Hairbrained.

Source: People

– Elizabeth Leonard

Posted in Births, Dads, Main, Top News...

It's a boy for Tom Cavanagh! The actor and wife Maureen welcomed a son, James Joseph Cavanagh, on Aug. 5, People has learned exclusively. Baby James - who weighed 7.8 lbs. and was 20 inches long - joins older siblings Thomas Patrick, 2, and Alice Ann, 3 ½. The former Ed and Love Monkey star and his wife, a photo editor at Sports Illustrated, have been married for five years. Cavanagh, 45, was recently on TNT's Trust Me opposite Eric McCormack and is currently prepping to star in Hairbrained.

Better hurry up! "We're supposed to have the [baby] room ready!” says Tom Cavanagh of the impending birth of his third child with wife Maureen Grise. With his wife, a photo editor at Sports Illustrated, due "in a week or two," the former Ed and Love Monkey star is otherwise prepared. "We're loaded up, We're ready," Cavanagh told People at the Cinema Society and Brooks Brothers screening of 500 Days of Summer, held Thursday evening in Manhattan.The new baby - who does not yet have a name - will join older siblings Tommy, 2, and Alice Ann, 3 ½. Cavanagh and Grise have been married five years.

On June 4, USA Network premieres their latest series: Royal Pains. Royal Pains stars Mark Feuerstein ("What Women Want," “The West Wing,” “Good Morning, Miami”) as “Dr. Hank Lawson,” who, after being wrongly blamed for a patient's death, moves to the Hampton’s and becomes the reluctant "doctor for hire" to the rich and famous. When the attractive administrator of the local hospital asks him to treat the town’s less fortunate, he finds himself walking the line between doing well for himself and doing good for others. The Royal Pains pilot was written by Andrew Lenchewski ("Uc: Undercover"), who also co-executive produced the series, as well as executive producer Michael Rauch ("Love Monkey"). To mark the event, BuzzFocus and USA Network are teaming up to giveaway (1) Royal Pains Prize Package. A perfect bag is a perfect prescription for fun! Filled with all the essentials for a lazy summer weekend, ...

Much like Transformers turned Megan Fox into an instant star, Watchmen has created yet another, Malin Akerman. Aside from the obvious fact that they are both beautiful women, who are they and what makes them so special? How did they make their way to Hollywood stardom? PopStar takes a look at the career paths of these two extraordinary women... Malin Ackerman Malin, who turns 31 next month, hails from Stockholm, Sweden. She made her debut in Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict in an episode called "Truth" as the Avatar. This was during its first season, which would go on to produce a total of four. It would be three years before we would see her again, this time playing a small role in the movie, The Skulls. She was Caleb's roommate, played by Paul Walker. That same year, she played in the pilot episode of a television show called The Others,...

Much like Transformers turned Megan Fox into an instant star, Watchmen has created yet another, Malin Akerman. Aside from the obvious fact that they are both beautiful women, who are they and what makes them so special? How did they make their way to Hollywood stardom? PopStar takes a look at the career paths of these two extraordinary women... Malin Ackerman Malin, who turns 31 next month, hails from Stockholm, Sweden. She made her debut in Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict in an episode called "Truth" as the Avatar. This was during its first season, which would go on to produce a total of four. It would be three years before we would see her again, this time playing a small role in the movie, The Skulls. She was Caleb's roommate, played by Paul Walker. That same year, she played in the pilot episode of a television show called The Others,...

Much like Transformers turned Megan Fox into an instant star, Watchmen has created yet another, Malin Akerman. Aside from the obvious fact that they are both beautiful women, who are they and what makes them so special? How did they make their way to Hollywood stardom? PopStar takes a look at the career paths of these two extraordinary women... Malin Ackerman Malin, who turns 31 next month, hails from Stockholm, Sweden. She made her debut in Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict in an episode called "Truth" as the Avatar. This was during its first season, which would go on to produce a total of four. It would be three years before we would see her again, this time playing a small role in the movie, The Skulls. She was Caleb's roommate, played by Paul Walker. That same year, she played in the pilot episode of a television show called The Others,...

Trust Me</i>" style="margin:0 5px 5px" />Are you buying what Tom Cavanagh and Eric McCormack are selling this Monday at 10 pm/Et? In the new TNT dramedy Trust Me, TV's former Ed Stevens and Will Truman play Connor and Mason, creative partners at a (modern day, ahem) ad agency. As the series kicks off, the buds' professional and personal bonds are tested by the departure of a cold body and the arrival of a hot blonde. Can TV's newest ad men draw eyeballs? Cavanagh gave us a sneak peek. TVGuide.com: I think you and I last talked during your Love Monkey days.

Tom Cavanagh: That show [about an indie music label] was a massive success. [Laughs] But thank you for your support!

TVGuide.com: Better to have a show go off the air and have a few people saying, "Darn it," than...

Cavanagh: Yeah, we got that a lot. We shot it in New York,...

Trust Me</i>" style="margin:0 5px 5px" />Are you buying what Tom Cavanagh and Eric McCormack are selling this Monday at 10 pm/Et? In the new TNT dramedy Trust Me, TV's former Ed Stevens and Will Truman play Connor and Mason, creative partners at a (modern day, ahem) ad agency. As the series kicks off, the buds' professional and personal bonds are tested by the departure of a cold body and the arrival of a hot blonde. Can TV's newest ad men draw eyeballs? Cavanagh gave us a sneak peek. TVGuide.com: I think you and I last talked during your Love Monkey days.

Tom Cavanagh: That show [about an indie music label] was a massive success. [Laughs] But thank you for your support!

TVGuide.com: Better to have a show go off the air and have a few people saying, "Darn it," than...

Cavanagh: Yeah, we got that a lot. We shot it in New York,...

CBS has a problem on Tuesday nights at 10pm. Last season, the network aired Love Monkey with Tom Cavanagh (who previously starred in NBC's Ed) in that spot. It lasted three episodes before being pulled off the schedule. They tried the quasi-reality show Tuesday Night Book Club but that only lasted two episodes. Close to Home also performed badly in the timeslot but was moved to Friday nights and survived. CBS started the current season with the Smith series. Though many felt it was one of the best new shows on television, Smith was yanked off the air after only three episodes. To fill the hole left by the Ray Liotta series, CBS inserted the midseason replacement show 3 lbs to take its place. And now, guess what?

3 lbs. (which incidentally refers to the weight of the human brain) debuted on Tuesday, November 14, 2006. Billed as "the next great medical drama," the...

CBS is playing it particularly safe this fall. The Tiffany network is introducing only four new shows, therefore sticking with most of its current schedule and canceling few programs. The few casualties (mostly sitcoms) of the 2005-06 season are:

Courting Alex - The quirky show starring Jenna Elfman and Dabney Coleman started as a mid-season replacement show but never quite caught on. The eighth of the 12 episodes aired in March and the show has been off the schedule since.

Love Monkey - The Tom Cavanagh sitcom was pulled from the CBS schedule after only three episode airings but VH1 started airing the remaining five episodes in April 2006. Viacom owns both VH1 and CBS and no further episodes have been ordered.

Out of Practice - This doctor-family sitcom starred Henry Winkler and Stockard Channing on CBS' big night of comedy. Unfortunately, it didn't perform as well as How I Met Your Mother...

House was on fire Tuesday for Fox, coming out of another volcanic episode of American Idol. Fox's 9 p.m. medical drama starring Hugh Laurie hit its highest-ever Nielsen numbers with an average of 22.2 million viewers and 8.8 rating/20 share in the adults 18-49 demographic, according to preliminary estimates from Nielsen Media Research. The 8 p.m. edition of Idol was off the charts, again, with an average of 30.9 million viewers and 12.8/32 in the key demo. The competition couldn't keep up from 8-10 p.m. NBC only came alive at 10 p.m. with Law & Order: SVU (15.2 million, 5.4/14), which easily bested CBS' Love Monkey (6.2 million, 2.5/7) and ABC's Boston Legal (11.4 million, 3.4/9). CBS held up as well as could be expected against Idol with NCIS (15.9 million, 3.6/9) at 8 p.m., but the had little traction against House with a special Tuesday 9 p.m. airing of rookie Criminal Minds (12.6 million, 3.5/8); ABC was no better off with its pairing of According to Jim (8.6 million, 3.3/8) and Crumbs (7.2 million, 2.6/6) in the 9 p.m. hour. For the night, it was Fox, Fox and more Fox with the network averaging 26.6 million viewers and 10.8/26 in adults 18-49.

Michael Rauch, the writer-producer behind the upcoming CBS drama series Love Monkey, is swinging into the Paramount Network Television fold with a two-year, seven-figure overall deal with the studio. The deal marks Rauch's first long-term producing pact with a studio. At present, he is juggling an eight-episode midseason order from CBS on Paramount Network TV/Sony Pictures TV's Love Monkey, which stars Tom Cavanagh as a lovelorn music biz executive in New York, and the second season of his Sony-produced ABC Family drama Beautiful People. "Michael is one of the most inventive writers we've come across," Paramount Network TV president David Stapf said. "He has a great understanding of how to put a show together. He impressed us all at how hard he worked on the 'Love Monkey' pilot and how it just got better and better and better. He's an impressive piece of man power."...

CBS is launching two new series in January, the comedy The Jenna Elfman Show, which will take over the Monday 9:30 p.m. slot, and dramedy Love Monkey, which will bridge the two installments of The Amazing Race Tuesdays at 9 p.m. Meanwhile, UPN has cut back the order for midseason drama South Beach to eight episodes for scheduling reasons. Beginning in January, the Nuyorican Prods./Flame TV/Paramount Network TV series will run in the Wednesday 8 p.m. hour, linking the two seasons of America's Next Top Model. The Jenna Elfman Show is slated to premiere Jan. 23. The show, from Touchstone TV and Paramount TV, stars Elfman as a successful lawyer looking for true love.