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In trying to chronicle the times we were living a decade ago, a new sitcom dealing with the impact of social media was released on ABC. Selfie, from Suburgatory creator Emily Kapnek, put Karen Gillan’s Eliza Dooley, a social media addict, in the way of John Cho’s Henry Higgs, in an attempt to shake off her superficiality and make her a better person. Selfie was many things: a satire, a journey of self-discovery, an adaptation of My Fair Lady/Pygmalion, a workplace sitcom, a romantic comedy, and – probably its dooming quality – ahead of its time. The show’s broadcast was abruptly cut short because of dwindling ratings. The remaining episodes were dumped on Hulu and the 13-episode first season turned out to be the complete series run. It joins the one-season (or two) cancelled-too-soon roster where we can find comedy gems like Don't Trust the B**** in Apartment 23,...

‘Bridgerton’ star Charithra Chandran will headline the cast of ‘Arzu’, a drama series based on the novel of the same name by Mumbai-based Riva Razdan, according to an exclusive report run by ‘Variety’.

Geetika Lizardi, whose writing credits include ‘Bridgerton’, ‘Mira, Royal Detective’ and ‘Outsourced’, will write the series and also serve as showrunner.

The project comes out of the first-look deal between Fifth Season-backed Blink49 Studios and Canadian YouTuber Lilly Singh’s Unicorn Island Productions.

‘Arzu’ follows a brilliant, young heiress who escapes scandal in Mumbai and lands in New York City. But while training to enter into glamorous Manhattan high society, Arzu risks throwing it all away for the adventure of living life on her own terms, reports ‘Variety’.

“I am delighted to be part of a show that is full of glamour, romance and drama, and fearlessly touches on societal issues,” Chandran said, adding: “Excited for the world to see it.

‘Bridgerton’ star Charithra Chandran will headline the cast of ‘Arzu’, a drama series based on the novel of the same name by Mumbai-based Riva Razdan, according to an exclusive report run by ‘Variety’.

Geetika Lizardi, whose writing credits include ‘Bridgerton’, ‘Mira, Royal Detective’ and ‘Outsourced’, will write the series and also serve as showrunner.

The project comes out of the first-look deal between Fifth Season-backed Blink49 Studios and Canadian YouTuber Lilly Singh’s Unicorn Island Productions.

‘Arzu’ follows a brilliant, young heiress who escapes scandal in Mumbai and lands in New York City. But while training to enter into glamorous Manhattan high society, Arzu risks throwing it all away for the adventure of living life on her own terms, reports ‘Variety’.

“I am delighted to be part of a show that is full of glamour, romance and drama, and fearlessly touches on societal issues,” Chandran said, adding: “Excited for the world to see it.

Matt Walsh is a comedy icon, having founded the Upright Citizens Brigade alongside Amy Poehler, Matt Besser, and Ian Robert. He's been nominated for Emmy Awards thanks to his hilarious work as Mike on Veep, but is probably best known for popping up on just about every great comedy series of the past 25 years.

Seriously, his television appearances track the evolution of the 21st century comedy show. And that's just TV.

Then there's Matt Walsh, who is "a soulless piece of sh*t," to quote Tony Goldmark. Alex Brior asks on Reddit, "Can we all agree that Matt Walsh is human garbage?" The general response he gets from Redditors is that this is an insult to both garbage and the human condition.

Can we all agree that Matt Walsh is human garbage? by u/alex_brior in lgbt

To prevent spreading any confusion, it should be noted that there are many people named Matt Walsh.

NBC has tapped Ben Rappaport (Younger) and Alexandra Chando (The Lying Game) as the leads for its untitled drama based on the award-winning Dutch series A’dam & E.V.A. According to Deadline, the pilot is written by Mike Daniels (The Village) and directed by Stephanie Laing (Dollface). The project is described as a funny and heartfelt drama that traces the epic love and lives of two complete strangers, Adam (Rappaport) and Eva (Chando), who start to believe in fate after their multiple run-ins begin to defy coincidence. Rappaport, who made his on-screen acting debut in the NBC sitcom Outsourced, plays Adam, a former high school teacher trying to rebuild his life in Brooklyn after a devastating breakup. Meanwhile, Chando, who got her big break in the CBS soap opera As the World Turns, portrays Eva, an aspiring artist and force of nature whose relationship and views on fate are tested when she meets Adam.

William Jackson Harper and Cristin Milioti have been cast as Noah and Emma, the leading roles in Peacock’s upcoming comedic thriller series “The Resort.” Additionally, Skyler Gisondo, Ben Sinclair and Parvesh Cheena are set to join the ensemble.

“The Resort” is a multi-generational coming-of-age romance disguised as a fast-paced mystery about the disappointment of time. An anniversary trip puts a marriage to the test when the couple finds themselves embroiled in one of the Mayan Riviera’s most bizarre unsolved mysteries, which took place fifteen years prior.

Noah and Emma are both teachers who are celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary. Noah is described as perfectly content to float through the mundane reality of his existence, while Emma has found herself at a plateau in their marriage before they’re pulled into the Mayan mystery.

Gisondo will star as Sam, who is on vacation with his parents and girlfriend in 2007 at the Oceana Vista Resort.

Exclusive: Oscar and Emmy winner Kathy Bates, two-time Oscar nominee and Emmy winner John Malkovich and Lewis Pullman have signed on to star in Thelma, an indie directed by two-time Emmy nom Ken Kwapis.

Thelma recounts the true story of the mother of John Kennedy Toole (Pullman), the Pulitzer Prize winning author of A Confederacy of Dunces. Toole died by suicide before finding a home for his masterpiece, and his mother Thelma (Bates) made it her life’s mission, through outrageous gamesmanship, to see the book published. She eventually succeeded in getting the manuscript into the hands of writer Walker Percy (Malkovich), who became the novel’s champion. It would be published in 1980, eleven years after Ken’s death, thereafter becoming a widely celebrated cult classic.

Black List screenwriter Andrew Farotte penned the original screenplay.

Celebrating its 15th year in amplifying emerging diverse writers, NBCUniversal’s annual Writers on the Verge program has selected comedy writers Kim Tran, Shawn Parikh­, and Hakim “Kimo” Hill along with drama writers Cristina Boada, Julian Johnson, Hussain Pirani, Sujana Gowni, and Eric Anthony Glover for its 2020-21 class. The new class was selected from an applicant pool of more than 2,400 submissions. This year’s program is taking place virtually.

Like the name suggests, the program provides talented writers who are “on the verge” of breaking into episodic television with a final polish to their writing and pitch presentation skills in order to prepare them for a staff writing position following the completion of the program. The program counts executive producers Brandon Margolis and Brandon Sonnier (LA’s Finest), Keto Shimizu (DC’s Legends of Tomorrow) and Gina Monreal (NCIS), among its alumni.

After NBCUniversal’s recent announcement that the company’s diversity,...

Bollywood actor Asif Basra, best known for his role in the 2006 comedy feature Outsourced, was found dead Thursday at a private guest house in Dharamsala, northern India. His death is being investigated as an apparent suicide, according to Indian news outlets. He was 53.

Born in Amravati, western India, Basra has appeared in several international English-language productions, but is known best as one of the leads in the 2006 American romantic comedy film Outsourced (see photo above), directed by John Jeffcoat and written by Jeffcoat and George Wing. He made his feature film debut in 2002 in Sam Firstenberg’s U.S./India co-pro Quicksand, then went on to appear in acclaimed Indian independent films such as Black Friday and Parzania.

In 2006, he also appeared alongside Omar Sharif and Peter O’Toole in Michael O. Sajbel’s One Night with the King.

Basra also starred in several popular Hindi movies, including Once Upon a Time in Mumbai,...

Indian actor Asif Basra, known for his starring role in 2006 film “Outsourced,” was found dead in Dharamsala, northern India, on Thursday. He was 53. The police are treating the death as a case of suicide.

Basra was born in Amravati, western India, in 1967. One of the few Indian actors to have several international credits, he debuted in Sam Firstenberg’s U.S./India co-production “Quicksand” (2002), starring Michael Dudikoff. He was also noticed for his roles in acclaimed Indian indies such as Anurag Kashyap’s “Black Friday” (2004) and Rahul Dholakia’s “Parzania” (2005).

Basra rose to international prominence as one of the leads in John Jeffcoat’s “Outsourced” (2006). The same year, he was in Michael O. Sajbel’s “One Night with the King,” where the cast also included Omar Sharif and Peter O’Toole.

In Bollywood, Basra had significant roles in “Jab We Met” (2007), “Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai” (2010) and “Kai Po Che...

For standard broadcast fare, it's impressive how innovative NBC has been with not just outside of the box hits but shows about communities you might not often see over the last decade.

One of the channels being known for the hallmarks of American television introduced us to shows like Outsourced (set in India), Sunnyside (a community of immigrants in New York), Perfect Harmony (the South), Superstore (the working-class American Midwest).

It's perhaps in this tradition that NBC is branching out into far-off settings by adding a show about a Syrian refugee who faces marginalization despite his brilliance as a doctor on Transplant Season 1 Episode 1.

This highly relevant tale of a modern-day medical Maguyver of sorts starts off with an emotional wallop of a first episode. The only problem is where the show goes from here.

The show starts out with about three minutes of set-up as we see our protagonist,...

Exclusive: Outsourced alum Parvesh Cheena is returning to the NBC fold as a series regular in the network’s comedy series Connecting, from Blindspot creator/exec producer Martin Gero, his frequent collaborator Brendan Gall and Universal Television.

Written and executive produced by Gero and Gall, Connecting, which has received an eight-episode straight-to-series order, is an ensemble comedy about a group of friends trying to stay close (and sane) through video chats as they share the highs and lows of these extraordinary times.

Cheena will play Pradeep. He loves his kids, but is not used to being around them this much.

He joins previously cast Otmara Marrero.

Universal Television, a division of NBCUniversal Content Studios, is the studio.

Cheena previously starred as Gupta in comedy Outsourced which aired for one season on NBC. Cheena has also recurred in CW’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, CBS’ All Rise and ABC’S The Goldbergs. He is repped by Singular Talent,...

A funny, light, and heartfelt situation comedy, Go Back to China finds a fashion school graduate Sasha (Anna Akana) in her father’s toy factory after she’s cut off, blowing half a million dollars on food, drink, and fashion in Los Angeles. Written and directed by Emily Tang, the film feels like a pilot concept and that’s not entirely negative criticism thanks in part to its likable lead whose adventures to find herself don’t involve meeting the man of her dreams but rather landing a dream job after learning the value of hard work.

Failing to land a gig in Los Angeles, she’s either a wise capitalist who knows her worth or a brat after she discloses to several hiring managers she doesn’t want to work for free. Sasha now finds her trust fund and credit cards suspended when the bill comes on her lavish birthday party.

If you wanted to have a romantic comedy movie night, you better get going because a number of classics are leaving Netflix in September.

“Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and Jennifer Garner’s “13 Going on 30” are departing the streaming service on Sept. 1, as well as “Just Friends” with Ryan Reynolds and Amy Smart. For dramatic fare, catch “Dead Poets Society,” “The Imitation Game,” and Christopher Nolan’s “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight” before they leave at the beginning of the month.

And with Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga’s “A Star Is Born” hitting theaters on Oct. 5, it might also be a good idea to check out the 1976 remake with Barbra Streisand before it leaves Sept. 15.

Here’s the full list of what’s leaving Netflix this month:

Sept. 1

13 Going on 30

A Royal Night Out

Batman Begins

Casino

Dead Poets Society

Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man...

KollywoodFrom an Indonesian policeman who made it viral in his country to the Commonwealth Games, this song from 'Dil Se' ('Uyire') is still popular.Tnm StaffIf you want to feel old, just know that it's been 20 years since 'Chaiyya Chaiyya' or 'Thayya Thayya' released. The song from Mani Ratnam's Dil Se (Uyire in Tamil), is best remembered for Malaika Arora dancing on top of a moving train with Shah Rukh Khan. Probably the most popular number from the album, Ar Rahman's 'Thayya Thayya' and the Hindi version 'Chayya Chayya' became overnight superhits. The Hindi song, in fact, featured as one of the top 10 songs of all-time in an international poll conducted by BBC World Service. People from 155 countries voted for the song, making it bag the ninth place in the list. This was no mean feat, considering there was no Internet back then to make local songs go viral internationally.

Hey "Grey's Anatomy" fans. Wow, the new season 15 reports just keep on flowing these days. We've got another brand new piece of intel to share with you guys for the upcoming season. It turns out that the producers are bringing back someone who is pretty close to Meredith. In fact, this person is family to Meredith. According to recent report from the folks over at Entertainment Weekly, They are bringing back Meredith's father Thatcher Grey. He will be played by the same actor Jeff Perry. This couldn't come at a better time for Jeff because he just recently become unemployed from the now defunct "Scandal" show. He played character Cyrus Beene in Scandal. It's currently not yet known how many season 15 episodes Thatcher will appear in, or what his storyline will entail. However, the folks over at TV Line have a theory that Thatcher could be in a very emotional...

We’ve got questions, and you’ve (maybe) got answers! With another week of TV gone by, we’re lobbing queries left and right about shows including Roseanne, NCIS: New Orleans, Grey’s Anatomy and Arrow!

1 | Having seen how Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.‘s Hale and then Ruby were raised, are you kinda hankering for a Hydra High School spinoff via Disney Channel?

2 | Did Hawaii Five-0 totally skip the part where they figured out who it was that shot Danny…?

3 | What are the chances any of the Jesus Christ Superstar Live cast members have completely removed...

Let's be honest: By all accounts, The Good Place shouldn't work.

It's a primetime network comedy – NBC, former home of Outsourced and Sean Saves the World – that breaks every primetime network comedy commandment, having spent its sophomore season blowing up its own premise every Thursday night. Other than Ted Danson and Kristen Bell, the show features an ensemble of mostly unknowns. It refuses to shy away from thorny ethical questions, regularly quoting the sort of moral philosophers that usually get namechecked in university lectures and symposiums. (You should actually have...

More feds are coming after Mr. Robot.

Rizwan Manji (Outsourced) will recur during Season 3 of the USA Network drama as Norm, the new partner of Grace Gummer’s FBI agent Dominique Dipierro, our sister site Deadline reports.

RelatedMr. Robot Season 3 Pushed to October, Bobby Cannavale Joins Cast

Norm will work with Dominique to investigate the Five/Nine hack.

Manji currently recurs on Syfy’s The Magicians. His other TV credits include Schitt’s Creek, Backstrom and Better Off Ted.

Ready for more of today’s newsy nuggets? Well…

* Check out a teaser promo for the Full Frontal With Samantha Bee...

In June 2014, comedian Pete Holmes’ TBS talk show “The Pete Holmes Show” was cancelled after just nine months on the air. But now, Holmes is set to make a comeback with a new stand-up special and a half-hour sitcom, executive produced by Judd Apatow. His new series “Crashing” follows a young comedian (Holmes) whose wife (Lauren Lapkus) abruptly leaves him for an Italian boxer. Holmes wrote the pilot and it will be directed by Apatow. Watch a sneak peek trailer from the series below.

Read More: Listen: Over 2 Hours Of Interviews With Judd Apatow, Plus Over 25 New ‘Trainwreck’ Photos

Holmes has performed stand-up for over ten years. He has appeared on Comedy Central’s “Premium Blend” and “John Oliver’s New York Stand-Up Show,” and has previously performed a half-hour “Comedy Central Presents” special as well an hour-long special entitled “Pete Holmes: Nice Try, the Devil!” Holmes has also...

Hollywood — also known is “Hillarywood” since the 2016 presidential election kicked off last year — is in a state of disbelief following Donald Trump’s stunning victory over Hillary Clinton on Tuesday. But perhaps no one is feeling the election aftershock more than its Muslim community, whose despair quickly turned to crippling fear. “I’m scared,” actor Rizwan Manji, best known for playing Rajiv in the now-canceled NBC series “Outsourced,” said, adding that he was worried for his seven-year-old daughter, who refused to believe him when he told her Trump had won. Also Read: How the Khans Inspired Hollywood Muslims to Stand...

Kirsten Howard Dec 7, 2017

You can watch the trailer for the very last episode of Mr Robot's new season right here...

Hello, friend. One of our most favourite shows is back for a third season - ratings be damned - and its award-winning star Rami Malek is also back on fine form as beleaguered hacker extraordinaire Elliot Alderson.

See related Steven Spielberg's Duel: An Appreciation Top 10 Simon Pegg film and TV roles Zak Penn interview: Atari: Game Over, Ready Player One

New episodes of Mr Robot are now streaming weekly on Amazon, and if you're all caught up you might want a little glimpse ahead at what's coming next.

Here's the trailer for episode 10, entitled 'eps3.9_shutdown-r'...

And here's the (as always, very brief) synopsis...

Elliot tries to save Darlene, but things don't go as planned; Mr. Robot needs to step up or step back; and Angela considers the price.

Pasadena Playhouse and Lythgoe Family Productions Lfp welcome John O'Hurley 'Seinfeld,' Broadway's Chicago, 'Dancing With The Stars,' National Tour and Vegas production of Spamalot as Captain Hook, Chrissie Fit 'Pitch Perfect 2,' 'Teen Beach Movie' as Tinker Bell, and Parvesh Cheena NBC's 'Outsourced', 'A to Z' and 'Transformer Rescue Bots.' as Smee in this year's Panto at the Playhouse Peter Pan And Tinker Bell - A Pirates Christmas.

This just in BroadwayWorld is excited to report that Pasadena Playhouse and Lythgoe Family Productions Lfp will welcome John O'Hurley 'Seinfeld,' Broadway's Chicago, 'Dancing With The Stars,' National Tour and Vegas production of Spamalot as Captain Hook, Chrissie Fit 'Pitch Perfect 2,' 'Teen Beach Movie' as Tinker Bell, and Parvesh Cheena NBC's 'Outsourced', 'A to Z' and 'Transformer Rescue Bots.' as Smee in this year's Panto at the Playhouse Peter Pan And Tinker Bell - A Pirates Christmas.

This just in The Pasadena Playhouse Sheldon Epps, Artistic Director and Lythgoe Family Productions Lfp announces John O'Hurley 'Seinfeld,' Broadway's Chicago, 'Dancing With The Stars,' National Tour and Vegas production of Spamalot as Captain Hook, Chrissie Fit 'Pitch Perfect 2,' 'Teen Beach Movie' as Tinker Bell, and Parvesh Cheena NBC's 'Outsourced', 'A to Z' and 'Transformer Rescue Bots.' as Smee in this year's Panto at the Playhouse Peter Pan And Tinker Bell - A Pirates Christmas.

A big congrats to Lenny Abrahamson's "Room" for winning the Grolsch's People's Choice Awards at the recently concluded 40th Toronto International Film Festival! It's safe to say that "Room" will see a future at the Academy Awards. Previous winners that went on to grab the Best Picture Oscar were "Slumdog Millionaire," "The King's Speech," and "12 Years A Slave."

Here's the complete winners and press release from Tiff:

The Toronto International Film Festival® today announced award winners from the 40th Festival, which wraps up this evening. See a free screening of Room, the winner of the Grolsch People's Choice Award, Sunday, September 20 at 8pm.

The short film awards below were selected by a jury comprised of the head of the shorts program and creations unit at Canal+ France, Pascale Faure, film writer John Anderson (The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times), and actor Rizwan Manji (Outsourced, The Wolf of Wall Street...

This fall’s TV schedule is full of rom-coms, and the latest entry into the club on Thursday night is NBC’s How I Met Your Mother-meets-(500) Days of Summer-eseque A to Z. Was it A for adorable? Or Z for zzzzzz?

Related Fall TV Spoiler Spectacular: Exclusive Scoop and Photos on 42 of Your Returning Favorites

Before you ghit the comments with your thoughts, a recap of the pilot: Andrew (played by Mad Men‘s Ben Feldman) is a guy’s guy with a secret romantic side, evidenced — as the narrator(Sons of Anarchy‘s Katey Sagal) tells us...

Who is Sacha Dhawan?

Ever since his star-making role as Doctor Who's first director Waris Hussein in Mark Gatiss' brilliant drama An Adventure in Space and Time, this up-and-comer has seemingly not left our television screens.

From parts in cult series In The Flesh and Utopia to a guest stint on flashy Us drama 24, not to mention his latest gig on BBC One's In The Club, Dhawan has had quite the year.

Digital Spy spoke to Sacha about his career thus far and the range of different characters he's brought to life in some of UK television's best dramatic series.

"I was a child actor - when I was about 12, I was doing children's TV on Citv - but I was still in school," Dhawan recalls of his beginnings as an actor.

"When I left college, I decided to focus on acting full-time. I went to London,...

Chicago – Matt Walsh has been more visible lately, and it has much to do with his approach to character roles, beginning as Mike McLintock on the HBO series “Veep” and currently in the new film “Into the Storm.” For a Chicago native who began doing comedy improvisation here, he is moving on up.

Matthew Paul Walsh was born in Chicago, and graduated from Hinsdale High School. After college at Northern Illinois University, he became enamored of the improv scene in Chicago in the early 1990s, and studied under the master instructor Del Close. While dividing time between the Annoyance Theater and the ImprovOlympics (iO) in the city, he helped to found the “Uptight Citizens Brigade” (Ucb), which also featured Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts and Matt Besser. The troupe got its own show on Comedy Central, and has opened Ucb theaters in New York and Los Angeles.

Matt Walsh as Pete...

Mexico City -- Mind Puppets, an Itaca Films comedy from first-time Mexican director Juan Curi, has completed its cast with Yvonne Zima (Iron Man 3), Josh Zuckerman (Austin Powers in Goldmember), Pippa Black (Outsourced) and Christopher von Uckermann (Kdabra).  Filming began this week in New Orleans. Story: Gerard Butler Drops Out of 'Point Break' Remake Mind Puppets centers on five characters stuck in an altered hypnotic state after the hypnotist falls into a coma. The recently added talent join a cast featuring Kevin Pollak (The Usual Suspects), Vinnie Jones (Snatch), John de Lancie (Gamer), Esme Bianco (Game of Thrones) and Daniel

read more...

South By Southwest is the perfect stage for the collision of music, film and hungry artistic urges, thus "Big in Japan" may be the perfect film for the fest. Director John Jeffcoat follows the real-life band Tennis Pro on tour, where the performers hope to get their break as a recognizable name in rock and abandon their dayjobs. Sound familiar, ye Austin-bound? Today, we get the honor of debuting the colorful posters for "Big in Japan," "a semi-fictionalized rock 'n roll road movie," below. I prefer the pink and red one because it's like candy plus a seizure. Here's the full synopsis: When an opportunity arises for Seattle rock band Tennis Pro to take their act on the road to Japan - where the allure of a second chance at recognition awaits them - they can’t refuse. On their Tokyo musical odyssey, the guys experience the thrills and setbacks...

(Cbr) FX will expand its lineup with an adaptation of "Redshirts", the comedic sci-fi novel by author John Scalzi. The book, which tackles tropes from the original Star Trek series, follows the adventures of "Intrepid" ensign Andrew Dahl, who quickly realizes he and his ilk are basically cannon fodder. The novel gets meta from there, as Dahl and company discover they’re actually characters on a TV show. The novel won a Hugo Award in 2013. Deadline reports the series will be produced by Jon Shestack ("Waiting…", "Disturbing Behavior"), Ken Kwapis ("The Office", "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants") and Alexandra Beattie ("Outsourced")....

Trekkies around the world may have to wait a while longer before seeing Star Trek return to the small screen, but perhaps an adaptation of John Scalzi’s Hugo Award Winning novel Redshirts is the next best thing. Deadline is reporting that FX is developing a limited series based on Scalzi’s work, from producers John Shestack (Air Force One, Dan in Real Life), Ken Kwapis (The Office) and Alexandra Beattie (Outsourced).

Anyone familiar with the original Trek series knows of the often tragic fates of the more, shall we say, disposable crew members of the USS Enterprise, who accompanied Captain Kirk and his crew as they visited strange new worlds. It became common knowledge that any crewman sent on an away mission wearing a red Starfleet uniform would surely be killed, and Scalzi’s novel examines that aspect of the show quite cleverly.

Here’s the description of the...

Feature Louisa Mellor 28 Jan 2014 - 07:00

A spate of promising-sounding Us comedy pilots is on its way from the likes of Tina Fey, Charlie Kaufman, Amy Poehler and Louis C.K…

With new seasons of Veep, Louie, Orange Is The New Black and It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia on their way to join successful new arrival Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Us sitcom is already looking not too shabby for the months ahead.

Add to that little lot new sitcom projects from the likes of Louis C.K., Tina Fey, Charlie Kaufman, Steve Carell, and Amy Poehler, and 2014 could well turn out to be a special year for Us TV comedy.

With the best information available at the time of writing, here’s our pick of the year ahead's most promising-sounding Us comedy pilots (many of which are already confirmed as going to series) by that guy who did that thing you liked...

New Delhi, Jan 3: Rizwan Manji, an Indian origin actor who resides in the Us and appeared with Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio in "The Wolf of Wall Street", says he now wants to be part of movies made by Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan.

Best known for Us TV show "Outsourced", Manji thinks the "Dhoom:3" actor is one of the few people who can bring different emotions together on the big screen at the same time.

"He has a specific way to make you laugh and cry at the same time. As an actor and producer, he has a way of bringing those emotions together. So, if Aamir Khan Productions is interested, I will fly to India tomorrow,".

The Tractate Middoth

Once upon a time, ghost stories were an integral part of the BBC’s Christmas line-up. Mark Gatiss (Sherlock) is attempting to revive that tradition and he took his first steps in that direction with tonight’s broadcast of M R James’ The Tractate Middoth.

I love a good ghost story but M R James isn’t really my cup of tea. That being said, Mark Gatiss did well to turn this short story into a fairly entertaining half-hour of TV. It always helps when you have a good cast and for The Tractate Middoth, Gatiss signed up some big-hitters. The cast included Sacha Dhawan (Outsourced), Louise Jameson (Doc Martin), John Castle (I, Claudius), Eleanor Bron (Ab Fab) and David Ryall (The Village). The aforementioned A-listers all put in a good shift but the show was fun rather than scary. It wasn’t exactly Randall and Hopkirk...

Hermione Norris

Hermione Norris (Mi5), Will Mellor (Casualty) and Sacha Dhawan (Outsourced) have signed up to appear in a new BBC drama series titled The Club. The story centers around a group of expectant mothers who become acquainted when they attend meetings at a pre-natal support group. Beyond the picking baby names and decorating nurseries, the club’s members are an eclectic group with plenty of skeletons in the cupboard. The six-part drama is written by award winning writer Kay Mellor (The Syndicate). One of the characters is pregnant schoolgirl Rosie (Hannah Midgley) whose challenges are partially drawn from Mellor’s own experiences as a teen mom. The Club is expected to air during 2014.

N Conrad

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New Delhi, Dec 11: Rizwan Manji, an American actor of Indian origin, will be seen in Leonardo DiCaprio-starrer "The Wolf of Wall Street".

The "Outsourced" actor plays the role of Khalil, a stockbroker in the firm of Jordan Belfort, portrayed by DiCaprio. Directed by Martin Scorsese, "The Wolf of Wall Street" also stars Margot Robbie and Matthew McConaughey, among others.

Rizwan has also played small parts in Hollywood movies like "The Guru" and "Transformers" in the past, but this is the first time he has bagged a crucial role, said a statement.

"The Wolf of Wall Street", distributed by Mvp Entertainment and PVR Pictures, will release Dec 25.

DiCaprio's another film "The Great Gatsby", which came out this.

On TV this Friday: Nikita‘s back in action, Blue Bloods deals with a wayward brother, a comedy legend heads to Hawaii, The Legend of Korra wraps up and more. As a supplement to TVLine’s original features (linked within), here are 10 programs to keep on your radar.

Related | Bones Gets Caught In a Violent Love Triangle at Her Bachelorette Party

8 pm The Carrie Diaries (The CW) | Samantha takes matters into her own hands when she’s unhappy with an art student’s painting of her in the class for which she’s modeling… nude.

8 pm Doctor Who: Explained...

News

Based on eagle-eyed Amazing Race sleuths, the upcoming season will include the return of Brenchel, cowboys Jet and Cord as well as those awful twinnees. At least we also get to see Margie and Luke, who still own a soft spot in my heart. There’s also a team returning from this season, so watch out for spoilers.

The cast for Gracepoint — Fox’s remake of Broadchurch — just got more amazing with the addition of Breaking Bad‘s Anna Gunn (in Olivia Colman‘s role) and Jacki Weaver as the mysterious lady in who lives in an Rv (though the character is changing, probably to throw off people who’ve already seen Broadchurch).

Anna Gunn and David Tennant? I can’t wait for the Doctor Who/Breaking Bad crossover fanfic this will inspire.

Brace yourselves, there’s another conservative Daily Show in the works, except this one would be syndicated.

“You girls need to learn to fight. When witches don’t fight, we burn.”

So instructs Jessica Lange’s witchy leading lady in the latest promo for American Horror Story: Coven, which bows Oct. 9 — and by the looks of it, fight they will!

Related | Cable Renewal Scorecard: What’s Returning? What’s Cancelled? What’s on the Bubble?

Press Play below for a glimpse into Coven‘s creepy world — watch Lange lob her students across a room with the flick of a wrist — then hit the comments with your snappy judgements.

Ready for more of today’s TV dish? Well…...

On the cusp of breaking away to start their own firm, Alicia and Cary will go after a big fish, as evidenced by these new photos from Season 5 of CBS’ The Good Wife.

Photos | A Good Wife Goodbye and TVLine’s Other Predictions for the Upcoming TV Season

In the coming season’s second episode (airing Oct. 6), Alicia and Cary sue the Nsa on behalf of search engine/frenemy Chumhum — unaware that in doing so, Lockhart/Gardner has landed in the spy agency’s notorious monitoring crosshairs.

The courtroom photos offer a first look at Outsourced alum Ben Rappaport as...

Like bacon, Zeljko Ivanek makes everything better — and the next show to benefit from his presence is White Collar.

Related | Cable Renewal Scorecard: What’s Coming Back? What’s Not?

TVLine has learned exclusively that the Damages Emmy winner will guest-star on the USA Network drama as Brett Forsythe, a businessman who specializes in hostile corporate takeovers and is an avid collector of valuable artifacts from natural history.

Forsythe lands in the FBI’s crosshairs when he is suspected of orchestrated a “dino-mite” heist — that is, the theft of a Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil and its egg, which together are worth millions.

Battlestar Gallactica/Dollhouse fave Tahmoh Penikett is set to take The CW by storm this season, first with his previously reported role on Supernatural and then with a newly announced recurring gig on Star-Crossed.

The futuristic sci-fi drama, bowing at midseason, centers on the aftermath of the government integrating a society of teen aliens (aka Atrians) with a group of humans.

Video | Star-Crossed‘s Aimee Teegarden, Matt Lanter, Grey Damon Give Spoilers on Season 1

Per E! Online, Penikett joins as a mysterious Seu (Sector Enforcement Unit) officer whose duties include supervising the Atrian sector’s walls.

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Exclusive: Ben Rappaport, who toplined NBC’s comedy series Outsourced, is set as the lead in USA‘s single-camera comedy pilot Love Is Dead. Written and executive produced by Zev Borow (Chuck) based on the award-winning French short film of the same name, Love Is Dead is a comedic exploration of modern romance in reverse, break-up first. It is set at an agency that specializes in breaking up romantic relationships on behalf of those who are willing to pay to not be around when it happens. It centers on Alex (Rappaport) who, after he’s dumped by a representative of the agency, vows to find out what it is, specifically, that’s wrong with him — by taking a job at the company. Universal Cable Prods and Gaumont International Television are producing. Rappaport is with Gersh, Invictus Entertainment and Rick Genow.

Premium cable channel Showtime just landed two big-name stars for its new comedy pilot Trending Down.

Academy Award-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote) and versatile comedic actress Kathryn Hahn (NBC’s Parks and Recreation, the upcoming Afternoon Delight) will star in the show, which finds ad man Thom Payne (Hoffman) fighting to stay relevant after a company takeover pushes his agency into the age of social networking. Hahn will co-star as Payne’s wife.

Trending Down has been described by its creators as ”a blistering attack on our youth-obsessed culture and a darkly comic examination of what it means to matter” in the age of the internet.

The project was created and written by Shalom Auslander (This American Life). Auslander will also serve as one of the show’s executive producers, alongside Hoffman, Ken Kwapis (NBC’s The Office), Capote associate producer Emily Ziff and Alexandra Beattie (NBC’s Outsourced...

Philip Seymour Hoffman will star in and executive produce Showtime’s failed-ad-guy comedy pilot, Trending Down.

TVLine has learned the Oscar-winner will play Thom Payne, who is adrift when his ad agency is taken over. The project is described as a “blistering attack on our youth-obsessed culture and a darkly comic examination of what it means to matter. Or matter not.”

Related | Showtime Renews Ray Donovan for Season 2

The project was created and written by Shalom Auslander (This American Life), who will executive-produce with Hoffman, Emily Ziff (Capote), Ken Kwapis (The Office) and Alexandra Beattie (Outsourced).

Hoffman took home an...

"The Good Wife" is back in production and HuffPost TV has the exclusive first look at the Season 5 premiere.

The photo features Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies) and Cary Agos (Matt Czuchry) chatting in the hallway. Chatting about what? Perhaps their plans to leave Lockhart/Gardner and make their own firm? You'll have to tune in to find out.

"The Good Wife" Season 5 premiere will feature "Arrested Development" star Jeffrey Tambor as a judge. Plus, Jess Weixler will be back as Robyn. She was last seen being approached by Cary to join the new firm.

In addition to Tambor, there will be a few more new faces on "The Good Wife" this season. Melissa George will appear as Marilyn, the in-house ethics counsel for Peter Florrick (Chris Noth). Former "Outsourced" star Ben Rappaport will play a fourth year attorney at Lockhart/Gardner and Juliet Rylance will play Holly, an Assistant State's...

For George Bluth, there’s always money in the banana stand. For Jeffrey Tambor, there’s always a juicy new gig right around the corner — and his next role’s a Good one.

The Arrested Development fave has landed a guest spot in The Good Wife‘s Sept. 29 premiere (CBS, Sept. 29), HuffPost TV reports. He’ll play a judge ruling over a case involving the death penalty.

Related | The Good Wife Season 5: [Spoiler] Promoted to Series Regular

Tambor joins a group of previously announced Season 5 players, including Ben Rappaport (Outsourced) and Melissa George (Alias).

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News

Out Big Brother alum Ragan Fox has posted an open letter to Big Brother‘s production team challenging CBS’ tendency to leave any bigotry on the cutting room floor, “Characters like Andy, Candice, Howard, and Helen are reduced to mere tokens when production fails to include micro-aggressions that they have to endure on a day-to-day basis. What’s the point of casting racial, ethnic, and sexual minorities if production’s going to edit out the racism, ethnic discrimination, and homophobia that these people encounter inside the house?”

Ragan Fox

Stephen King left a message for fans upset that the TV version of Under the Dome changes the story, “If the solution to the mystery were the same on TV as in the book, everyone would know it in short order, which would spoil a lot of the fun.” That’s right, you can’t look up the ending on Wikipedia.