LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Longtime Fox television executive Mike Darnell, who helped shepherd "American Idol" to the top of U.S. TV ratings, will leave the network, Fox said on Friday, after the network lost its lead among the younger audience most appealing to advertisers. Darnell, 51, the network's president of alternative …

By Lucas Shaw NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - Mickey Fisher, an unknown and unsigned writer until recently, has film studios drooling over his script "Extant" for weeks. There's just one twist: it's not a film script. Fisher wrote "Extant" as a TV pilot. It's a one-hour sci-fi drama about John and Molly Watts and their son, a …

By Greg Gilman LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - So much for taking it easy after directing "Behind the Candelabra" for HBO. Stephen Soderbergh is in talks to team up with Clive Owen on a 10-episode period medical drama for Cinemax, an HBO spokeswoman told TheWrap. "The Knick" is set in downtown New York at the beginning of the …

By Greg Gilman LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - FX's border-cop drama "The Bridge" will premiere on July 10, the cable network said on Thursday. After its debut, the new 13-episode series will continue to air on Wednesdays during the 10 p.m. timeslot. Oscar-nominee Demián Bichir ("A Better Life") and Diane Kruger ("National …

By Jethro Nededog LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - ABC Family is getting into the game show business. The cable network has greenlit "Spell-Mageddon" for a summer premiere. The show basically takes the traditional spelling bee and introduces "hilarious distractions" as the contenders try to spell difficult words (while simultaneously …

By Steve Pond LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Primetime television shows are eligible for the Primetime Emmy Awards, of course. So are programs that don't air during primetime, and commercials, and webisodes and apps, and Netflix's "House of Cards" and "Arrested Development" which are not by most standard definitions a television …

By Jethro Nededog LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - It came as a surprise to the "Falling Skies" fandom (and some within TNT) when news that the series' showrunner, Remi Aubuchon, had resigned ahead of Season 3's June 9 premiere date. Aubuchon decided to leave the show after two seasons to pursue his dream of writing a science …

By Jethro Nededog LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - A&E is canceling its long-running docu-series "Intervention." The cable network announced on Thursday that it will begin airing the show's Season 13 with five final episodes on Thursday, June 13 at 9 p.m./8c. "As ‘Intervention' comes to an end, we're proud to have paved the …

By Todd Cunningham LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - With the strike by nine writers on E! Entertainment's "Fashion Police" nearly five weeks old, both sides were digging in for the long haul Wednesday. While the writers were preparing to set up an 11 a.m. picket line and rally in front of E! TV's Los Angeles headquarters Thursday …

By Tim Molloy NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - Robin Roberts will release a memoir in April 2014 detailing her battle against her life-threatening illness and return to the "Good Morning America" anchor desk. Grand Central Publishing, a division of Hachette Book Group, is publishing the book, which Jamie Raab, president and publisher …

By Steve Pond LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - It was an adventure that somehow turned into a career. When Sofia Vergara got a call to audition for a Barry Sonnenfeld movie called "Big Trouble" back in 2001, the 29-year-old Colombian wasn't an aspiring actress. She was a TV hostess on the Spanish-language Univision network, …

By Andrea Burzynski NEW YORK (Reuters) - Country singer Kellie Pickler won the 16th season of ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" on Tuesday night, winning over judges and TV audiences with her graceful style and high-jumping jives with partner and professional dancer Derek Hough. Pickler, who first grabbed attention as a contestant …

By Jethro Nededog LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - There was some top secret excitement on-set of NBC's "The Voice" on Tuesday, which TheWrap learned was caused by none other than Oprah Winfrey. She was on-set shooting for an episode of "Oprah's Next Chapter," which will air Sunday, June 2 at 9 p.m. ET/8c on OWN, confirmed representatives …

NEW YORK (Reuters) - British CNN host Piers Morgan is writing a book about his career, his job as news show anchor and his interviews with Hollywood stars and world leaders, his publisher said on Wednesday. "Shooting Straight: Guns, Gays, God and George Clooney," to be published in October, will be written in a diary format …

By Tim Kenneally LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - The Tony Awards are sticking with CBS. The network has reached a new agreement with The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing to broadcast the Tonys through 2018. "The Tony Awards give viewers across the country the opportunity to experience the excitement of Broadway …

By Tim Kenneally LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - HBO's "Girls" is getting a little extra oomph for its third season, in the form of Jon Hamm's gal. Jennifer Westfeldt, known to jealous women everywhere as the gal who's romantically attached to "Mad Men" star Hamm, has booked an appearance on the HBO series, the premium cable …

By Jehtro Nededog LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Fugitives, beware. "Dog and Beth" fans, rejoice! CMT has ordered 11 more episodes of bounty hunters "Dog," Beth and Leland Chapman's new series bringing its Season 1 order to 22 episodes. Production on the back 11 episodes will begin immediately. "We knew Dog and Beth would …

By Lucas Shaw NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - Ricky Gervais' "Derek," a new Netflix series from the creator and star of "The Office" and 'Extras," will premiere on Netflix September 12. Netflix will release all seven episodes at once, the same approach it has taken with its latest original series "House of Cards" and "Hemlock …

By Jethro Nededog LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Lisa Kudrow and Dan Bucatinsky-produced celebrity genealogy series, "Who Do You Think You Are?," can add a new branch to its family tree. TLC has picked up the former NBC documentary series for eight new one-hour episodes set to premiere on July 23. Production is already underway. …

By Tim Kenneally LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Mia Maestro is moving on from the vampires of "Breaking Dawn" to sink her teeth into a new role with another bunch of suckers. Maestro, who played Denali coven member Carmen Denali in "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn" films, has been cast as one of the female leads in "The Strain," …

By Lee Hernandez LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" and NBC's "The Voice" both honored the victims of the Oklahoma City tornado last night on their Monday night broadcasts. On DWTS, co-host Tom Bergeron requested that the audience not applaud coming back from a commercial break during season 16's …

(Reuters) - Actress and comedienne Carol Burnett will be honored with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, the top award for American comics, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts said on Tuesday. Burnett, 80, whose Emmy-winning sketch comedy program "The Carol Burnett Show" was a mainstay on U.S. television …

By Tim Molloy NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - VH1 will air the new pop culture morning show "The Gossip Table" beginning Monday June 3, the network announced Tuesday. The 9 a.m. show will group together five gossip columnists each weekday morning in June. It will fill in while "Big Morning Buzz Live with Carrie Keagan" is on summer …