Faded action star Christian Slater has turned his attention to television, as he is now in negotiations to star in ABC’s upcoming series The Forgotten.

The series will be a mystery drama revolving around a group of amateur detectives led by a former cop (played by Slater) whose 11-year old daughter was kidnapped three years ago.

A pilot was already shot with British actor Rupert Penry-Jones, who will be replaced by Slater. Another role is being recast also, though no name has been attached yet.

The Forgotten is set to start September 22. This will be Slater’s second appearance on TV after last year’s short-lived NBC spy drama My Own Worst Enemy.

Piper Parebo is set to take on the lead role in USA Network’s upcoming spy thriller Covert Affairs.

She will play Annie Walker, a CIA trainee who speaks six languages and excels at any endeavor she undertakes. She joins the CIA after going through a bad breakup with her boyfriend who appears to be of particular interest to her bosses.

The project, quite surprisingly, hasn’t even received a firm pilot order yet, though the green light is expected in a couple of weeks. It has been written by Matt Corman and Chris Ord.

They are now looking to cast the other lead role – Auggie Anderson, a blind tech expert who helps Parebo’s character in her assignments.

About three years ago, I joined most of the rest of humanity and got cable.  Dish Network, specifically–great stuff.  But it was about that time that I pretty much stopped caring about what network TV had to offer.  It seemed like they could never put out much that wasn’t already available.  Thus, when I got my hands on a box set of the second season of Third Watch on DVD, I found myself pretty surprised by what they saw.

Third Watch, so named for the period of time between three and eleven PM, follows the lives and adventures of various cops, firefighters and paramedics in the world of first responders.  And as they tackle situations of every size and variety, from the small ones of people with a penchant for dialing 911 over the least little thing and killer parakeets run amok to the nigh-apocalyptic of cop-killing snipers and kidnapping victims buried alive, we discover that life isn’t all about chasing perps and patching wounds.  These people who we call heroes are just as human as the rest of us.  They make decisions, just like we do.  They have tragedies, just like we do.  And over the course of several months, we’ll get to see a lot of them.

Third Watch is a strange little animal.  It manages to do two things, and equally well.  It manages to humanize the men and women of the police, fire and rescue departments of New York City, and it also manages to regularly annoy the viewer with more schmaltz than a chicken ranch.  In case you’re wondering, schmaltz is both the Yiddish word for chicken fat and a colloquial term for maudlin sentimentality, at least one of the two is well represented in Third Watch.

The worst part of it all was how differently this show would make me feel WITHIN episodes.  They would literally manage to make me glad I was watching, by putting in something really exciting or something funny or even just something interesting, and then they would proceed to blow all that solid good feeling by doing something so cheesy in an attempt at a tearjerker moment  that I couldn’t help but be put off.

There’s a lot to like here–if you were fond of shows like ER and NYPD Blue and suchlike, you’ll probably be into this one.  The real advantage is that it manages to combine several different subgenres–it’s part cop show, and part doctor show, and part firefighter show and even some comedy and drama thrown in for added flavor.  The only real problem with it is that some times they’ll jack up the drama a whole lot more than I care for myself, to where it goes past a slight extra flavoring and into an overpowering force that just goes way too far.

But if you’re okay with that sort of thing–if you can handle a little extra drama in your television, and if you like cop drama and firefighter drama and medical drama with just a little extra slug of comedy and of course that extra heaping helping of drama–then you’ll definitely enjoy Third Watch.

Season two will hit your DVD players July 7th.

A spin-off of the 1988 film Alien nation is being developed by Sci-Fi Channel, reports Variety.

The film saw alien refugees coming to Earth and attempting to integrate into Los Angeles. It followed a detective cop and his newly assigned alien partner as they tried to stop a businessman from selling a dangerous narcotic to the aliens.

The success of the film saw a television spin-off spawned, though it lasted for only a year. Several TV movies aired after that wrapped up the show’s storylines.

The new version is set in the Pacific Northwest of the 2020s, two decades after the first alien ship arrived on Earth. It will use serial mythology and will explore racial and cultural issues. Tim Minear (X-Files) is writing.

The winner of the Royal Pains Grand Prize worth over $300 is Israel Y. (130) — Congratulations!

USA will launch the 75-minute limited commercial premiere of ROYAL PAINS, the network’s newest original scripted series, on Thursday, June 4 at 10/9c immediately following the Season 3 premiere of BURN NOTICEat its new time slot 9/8c. 

ROYAL PAINSstars Mark Feuerstein  as  Hank Lawson, a young E.R. doctor who, after being wrongly blamed for a patient’s death, moves to the Hamptons 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 series also stars Paulo Costanzo, Jill Flint and Reshma Shetty. 

Visit the official site at USA Network, follow Royal Pains on Twitter and be a fan on Facebook.

First Heroes, then Reaper and now Missy Peregrym has found herself in the lead role of Canadian cop drama Copper, which will air on ABC.

The series is being billed as Grey’s Anatomy set in the world of rookie cops. It will follow Andy McNally, a newly minted cop fresh from the academy and the daughter of a homicide detective. While she is anxious about her first day on the job, things don’t go as well as she had thought.

They will start shooting in Toronto soon; ABC has ordered thirteen episodes.

News of this show has been around for almost a year now, and anything following the HBO series Hung will finally be able to see the first episode tonight. It was developed by Alexander Payne, director of About Schmidt and Sideways, and tonight’s show was also directed by him.

The plot is rather a strange one. Thomas Jane (The Mist) plays Ray Drecker, a once-famous sports star who is unhappy in his life as a school sports teacher, not to mention still suffering from a recent divorce. Seeking some extra cash, Ray decides to avail of his one great asset, his rather enormous….er….. manhood.

HBO has a reputation for being explicit, and some say that a lot of such moment fel unnecessary, like a desperate attempt to provoke and gain an audience. And while Hung could indeed feel like a poor man’s Boogie Nights, I’m confident that Alex Payne has envisioned this to be more than an excuse for puns and double-entendres. Indeed, early reviews have seen the show as a witty attempt to explore life in an America rocked by economic uncertainty.

Hung starts tonight at 10pm on HBO.

The winner is Betty C. (240) — Congratulations!!!

This is what she won:

-Burn Notice Season 1 DVD

-Burn Notice Season 2 DVD

-Burn Notice Frisbee

-Burn Notice Suntan Lotion Pack

-Burn Notice t-shirt

-Burn Notice Novel

Burn Notice is back at an all new time, 9pm/8c! Season 3 picks up right where season 2 left off with Michael swimming in the Atlantic. Michael emerges from the water free from interference by the organization that burned him.  He’s not under their protection, either, and is under investigation by the police.  He gets out of prison with help from his old friend, who has a job for him: extraditing a thug who’s displacing landowners in a Latin American country. Join fans on the official site www.burnnotice.usanetwork.comand on Facebook www.facebook.com/BurnNotice . 

Former ER star Noah Wyle will be fighting aliens for Steven Spielberg, marking his reunion with the legendary director. All this is being done for TNT’s untitled alien-invasion plot that is being written by Robert Rodat from an idea he conceived with Spielberg.

The pilot is set shortly after aliens have wiped out most of the human population. Wyle is set to play the leader of a group of soldiers and civilians who struggle against the alien forces.

Wyle, so far, has starred in four films for TNT: the Librarian action-adventure franchise, which spawned three movies, and Pirates of Silicon Valley.

The pilot is being produced by DreamWorks TV.

My good friends over at NBC sent me the extended preview of Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince that ran during Sunday’s episode of “Merlin.” The preview has some old footage already seen, but there is also some new stff that will draw you into the story.

My daughter gleefully tore the plastic wrapping from the box of Tom and Jerry: Chuck Jones Collection, and then she popped the first disc in the player while I nuked a bag of popcorn.

I wasn’t sure how my daughter and her friends would react to “such old” cartoons without today’s computer animation. Yet, the kids were laughing and literally jumping up and down with delight.   Roars of laughter came as they watched Jerry suck an ice cube up a straw, remaining square-shaped into his little tummy, such a simple scene yet so funny. Needless to say, I sat down with the kids and laughed along with them as we watched cartoons like Of Feline Bondage, Puss ‘n’ Boats and The Cat’s Me-Ouch.

We devoured the popcorn and watched both discs laughing all the way – a true treat for my daughter and her friends. I highly recommend the Tom and Jerry: Chuck Jones Collection for any child’s library, even for those who are only young at heart.

Tom and Jerry: Chuck Jones Collection will be available June 23, 2009. Collection includes 34 re-mastered theatrical shorts available together on DVD for the first time and all-new documentaries  

Entertainment Tonight’s film clip of Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds is so far the best one I have seen yet.  ET grants the wild, horrific comedy lots of viewing time and worth the watch just to get a better feel for the film.

Entertainment Tonight promotes a glimpse of Beastly and The Last Airbender.  ACIN reports that Airbender trailer will be attached to Transformers 2 when it hits the theaters.

The Associated Press is reporting that Katherine Heigl is still in, but T.R. Knight is out over on Grey’s Anatomy.

Their source is claiming that contract negotiations with Heigl proved successful and that she is expected to return as Dr. Izzie Stevens. However, Knight’s negotiations fell through, and so his character George is leaving the show.

The season finale saw the fate of both characters remain unclear. Nevertheless, we now know what happens.

ENTER TO WIN A PRIZE PACK FROM THE A&E HIT DRAMA

THE CLEANER, STARRING BENJAMIN BRATT.SEASON 2 PREMIERES JUNE 23^RD AT 10PM ET/PT ON A&E NETWORK 

Season two of the hit A&E original scripted drama series “The Cleaner,” starring Benjamin Bratt, Grace Park, Amy Price-Francis and Esteban Powell premieres Tuesday, June 23 at 10PM ET/PT. 

Inspired by the true story of real life “extreme interventionist” Warren Boyd, “The Cleaner” stars Bratt as William Banks, a recovering addict who must balance his unwavering dedication to helping others get clean with an increasingly rocky personal life and the ghosts of his addictions. Banks and his teammates Akani Cuesta (Park) and Arnie Swenton (Powell) employ an unconventional - and often by any means necessary - approach to getting addicts and those who surround them to realize they’ve reached rock-bottom and help them begin the process of recovery. With every success and failure, William wrestles with his commitment to his work and his love for his wife Melissa (Price-Francis) and their children through an unusual relationship with God. 

Whoopi Goldberg guest stars in the series premiere, “Hello America,” as William’s (Bratt) former sponsor who resurfaces when an addict he is called to help is one she currently sponsors.  

To celebrate the premiere of season 2 of The Cleaner, enter to win a great prize package that includes: 

• The Cleaner season 1 DVD courtesy of CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Entertainment
• A&E T-shirt, hat and pen
• The Cleaner candle set, moleskin journal and set of eco-friendly shopping bags

Post your name and Screenhead will pick the winner of The Cleaner prize package Wednesday, July 8, 2009.

The Cleaner, premieres June 23rd at 10:00PM ET/PT only on A&E Network.  

Visit the official site for more information and to view exclusive content.  Become a fan of The Cleaner on Facebook! 

Click here to purchase the season 1 DVD of The Cleaner.