With the recent resurgence of fairy tale themed shows such as NBC’s Grimm and ABC’s own Once Upon a Time, the Disney-owned company is now prepared to launch their second fabled show in the form of a live-action retelling of the children’s classic Beauty and the Beast, originally written by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve.

The pilot will be written by Jonathan E. Steinberg (Human Target, Jericho with Steinberg acting as executive producer with Gary Fleder and Mary Beth Basile. It is also speculated that the series, if picked up, will air after the networks already highly successful Once Upon A Time. This version of the tale is intended as a period piece and will feature a hardboiled princess who develops a connection with a wild beast. No word yet on casting.

As if one Beauty and the Beast show wasn’t enough, the CW has also ordered a reboot of the CBS-produced version which ran on the network from 1987-1989. It starred Ron Pearlman (Hellboy, Sons of Anarchy) as Vincent, a lion-faced creature who wanders the New York sewers and occasionally quotes Shakespeare.

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Sherlock Holmes is a popular character these days, between a popular film franchise and an acclaimed BBC TV show, there are several ways to enjoy his particular brand of inductive reasoning. So popular in fact that BBC has ordered up a third round of Sherlock episodes, according to the trustworthy official twitter of show creator Steven Moffat.

Add that popularity with a recent trend of taking quality foreign programming  and re-purposing it for American audiences and it will come as no surprise that CBS has ordered their own Holmes pilot as well. Elementary is planned as a modern take on the classic detective, putting Holmes in the middle of New York City.

This is not the first time a network wanted to put a Holmesian character on the mean streets of the big apple. Law and Order spin-off Criminal Intent was originally conceived as a way to put a detective like Sherlock in the Law and Order universe. That worked well, but the character was only loosely based on Holmes, it will be interesting to see how the character fits into the CBS style drama mold.

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We may have the entirety of the original Star Trek series on Blu-Ray and in HD online, but for the first time ever, we’re getting Pricard and his entire crew in glorious 1080p with the release of Star Trek: The Next Generation – The Next Level on Blu-Ray for the very first time.

It may not be the entire series, but it’s certainly a start to hold us over until it gets a full release next year. What exactly took so long? Well apparently the folks who boldly brought us where no man has been before, they didn’t think to preserve the original footage on film. Here are the details from the press release:

Transferring STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION® to high-definition presented numerous challenges – The series was originally shot on film and then transferred to videotape, which was used to edit episodes together.

In order to create true HD masters, CBS is going back to the original uncut film negative – all 25,000 plus film reels of it – and cutting the episodes together exactly the way they originally aired. The visual effects were all shot on film and will be painstakingly recompositioned, not upconverted from videotape.

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While all of the drama happened between former star of CBS’s Two and a Half Men, Charlie Sheen, the show’s creator, Chuck Lorre, and the new replacement, Ashton Kutcher, one question never got raised: How do you explain to the fans what happened to Charlie’s character on the show?

That’s one detail Lorre seems to have down all too well, as the details of Charlie Harper’s gruesome death have been revealed to those who saw the taping of the show. Needless to say, it’s not very funny. Here’s the report from ScreenRant.

Charlie is going to be murdered by being pushed in front of a subway car, and his body literally explodes from the impact.

According to those at the taping, here’s how Charlie Harper’s death happens:

• In the Two and a Half Men season 8 finale, Harper flew off to Paris with Rose – his neighbor/stalker.
• Harper and Rose got married (during the fictional summer), but the relationship took a turn for the worse when she found him with another woman in the shower.
• The day after catching Harper in the shower with another woman, they were waiting for the Paris subway when Harper “slipped” in front of a moving car where his body blew apart upon impact.
• It’s implied that Rose pushed Harper in front of the subway and got away with his murder.

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If you’ve been the star of one of the most successful film franchises of all time and now that’s over, you might want to consider trying to go in a different direction with your career. If you’re Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe, that’s kinda what you’ve done with your upcoming film The Woman In Black.

In the film Radcliffe plays a lawyer who travels to a remote English village and discovers that the ghost of a scorned woman is terrorizing the locals. The horror thriller is a remake of a 1989 TV movie which was adapted from a play which, itself, was adapted from a novel by Susan Hill. You follow all that? Good.

We’v got a new trailer for the film to share with you today. In it, Radcliffe does his best to overcome the notion that he should just pull out his wand and blast the ghost with his magical powers. Does he succeed? You be the judge.

Check out the trailer after the jump. The Woman In Black is set to hit theaters on February 3rd of 2012.

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Remember back when The Next Generation was a big deal, and everyone wished that those touch pads the medics like Beverly Crusher and engineers like Geordi had would be real? Well we basically live in that future, and to add an extra layer of this geeky meta sandwich, the official Star Trek app is showing us how.

Out from CBS Interactive, the app is called the Star Trek PADD (Personal Access Display Device), the same name those cool futuristic devices were called in the show. Here’s a breakdown on why this app is so cool for fans of the Trek anywhere:

Developed in conjunction with CBS Mobile by app development studio  ArcTouch, the STAR TREK PADD app transports fans back through the extensive 40-year history of the STAR TREK television franchise, including its amazing universe of characters, planets and technology spanning from STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES all the way to STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE.  The app also includes a recognizable computer voice as well as familiar STAR TREK-related sounds.

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Probably a bit too late for it to be popular, but Comedy Central has been scraping the bottom of the “who’s funny right now” barrel with Hasselhoff and Donald Trump being the last few names to grace the Comedy Central Roast stage. Now it seems they’re still trying to catch up with the viral webgoers, as Charlie Sheen has agreed to star in his very own roast. They even have a hashtag reserved!

NEW YORK, July 5, 2011 – COMEDY CENTRAL has secured one of Hollywood’s most notorious bad boys.  The network announced today that Charlie Sheen will be the next Roastee.  The “COMEDY CENTRAL Roast Of Charlie Sheen” (#SheenRoast) will tape in Los Angeles on Saturday, September 10.

The Roast will premiere on COMEDY CENTRAL on Monday, September 19 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT.

“You could say I’ve been providing kindling for this Roast for a while,” said Sheen.  “It’s time to light it up.  It’s going to be epic.”

The true hilarity of this whole thing is that the Roast is set to air on the debut night of Ashton Kutcher on CBS’ Two and a Half Men. Coincidence? We absolutely think not. Be sure to catch them (both) on September 19th.

As with ABC yesterday, CBS is next out of the gate with the announcement of its Fall TV premiere dates. As with other networks, CBS has some shows we’re looking forward to seeing again as well as some new ones we might check out.

Some of the ones we’re glad to see back include NCIS, The Good Wife and, of course, The Big Bang Theory. And, as Lost‘s Terry O’Quinn is joining the cast, we’re going to have to give Hawaii Five-O another look as well.

New shows that look interesting include 2 Broke Girls and Person of Interest, although we don’t hold out all that much hope for either. Here’s all the premiere dates (all times are Eastern/Pacific):

Wednesday, Sept. 14

8:00-9:00 PM SURVIVOR: SOUTH PACIFIC (23rd edition premiere)

Monday, Sept. 19

8:00-8:30 PM HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER (7th season premiere)

8:30-9:00 PM HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER (S)

9:00-9:30 PM TWO AND A HALF MEN (9th season premiere)

9:30-10:00 PM 2 BROKE GIRLS (series debut)

10:00-11:00 PM HAWAII FIVE-0 (2nd season premiere)

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Even though it kinda ended poorly, ABC’s Lost was still a pretty great show. One of the reasons we liked it so much was the terrific work of one of its stars: Terry O’Quinn.

You may remember he played the enigmatic John Locke for the show’s entire run and played it to the hilt. We’ve always hoped he would return to the island for some more action and now it seems we are getting our wish. How?

Well, according to TV Line, O’Quinn is heading back to the island for a protracted guest arc on the CBS show Hawaii Five-O. The gig not only brings the Emmy winner back to the island, it also reunites him with Lost castmate and Five-0 regular Daniel Dae Kim.

On the show O’Quinn will play a Navy Seal Lt. Commander who trained Alex O’Loughlin’s McGarrett in Coronado, and served with his father in Vietnam. Described as strong, stubborn and a man you want in your corner when things go south, the character holds some of the answers to the mysteries surrounding the respective murders of McGarrett’s mother and father.

Sounds good to us. Guess we’ll have to start watching Hawaii Five-0 again.

The primetime TV landscape for Fall is almost complete. With NBC, ABC and Fox already releasing their schedules for Fall, CBS now joins in and has announced their primetime schedule for 2011 and 2012 as well.

Some of the changes made by the network for Fall include moving CSI from Thursday to Wednesday nights and launching new drama Person of Interest in its place. In addition, The Good Wife will move to Sundays and Rules of Engagement to Saturdays.

New series from the network include three new dramas and two new comedies. They are as follows: Person of Interest, a crime thriller from executive producer J.J. Abrams starring Jim Caviezel, Michael Emerson and Taraji P. Henson; Unforgettable, starring Dylan Walsh and Poppy Montgomery as a former detective with a rare condition that enables her to remember virtually every detail from every day of her life.

In addition, CBS will debut A Gifted Man about a preeminent surgeon whose life changes forever when his deceased ex-wife returns, starring Patrick Wilson and Jennifer Ehle; 2 Broke Girls, a comedy about two strikingly different young waitresses who form an unlikely friendship, starring Kat Dennings and Beth Behrs; and an odd-couple comedy, How to Be A Gentleman, starring David Hornsby and Kevin Dillon, about a refined magazine columnist and his very unrefined personal trainer.

These new series will be joined by 19 returning shows including NCIS, The Big Bang Theory, 60 Minutes, Hawaii Five-O, Mike & Molly, Survivor and The Amazing Race.

Heres the new Fall schedule:

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In an act that is sure to completely melt Twitter, it looks like Chuck Lorre and CBS Studios have found a replacement for the hard to work with Charlie Sheen, who was fired from Two and a Half Men back in March. That man? Former That 70′s Show star Ashton Kutcher.

The deal is supposedly all done but no official announcement from CBS has yet to appear. However, several sources have all but confirmed it  From THR:

Two sources close to the deal-making tell The Hollywood Reporter that the actor is putting the final touches on a deal to replace Charlie Sheen as the star of TV’s No. 1 comedy. CBS, studio Warner Bros. and Kutcher’s reps at CAA declined to comment on the situation but a deal is said to be all but signed. The exact dollar figure he will be paid is not known but a source says Kutcher is getting a “huge payday” to join the hit sitcom.

The deal came together quickly in the wake of Hugh Grant passing on the opportunity to join the show. Now sources say Men creator Chuck Lorre has crafted a storyline to introduce Kutcher in a way that satisfies the network and studio. “It’s really funny,” says one source. “People are going to love it.”

The news comes as barely a surprise and more of an “I can totally see that!” for most fans of either Men or Kutcher’s previous work in the sitcom world. No word on how this will effect Sheen’s current “Torpedoes of Truth” world tour, but you can expect between Kutcher’s 7.6 million Twitter followers and Sheen’s 3.8 million, people will be pushing their 140-character limit over the next few days as the deal is finalized.

Teenaged girls are the only ones likely to care for this modern day retelling of Beauty and the Beast.  That’s your disclaimer.  For those of us who have discerning tastes, the film is mediocre at best, but I imagine the teen demographic will find the movie charming.

Alex Pettyfer stars as Kyle, an unbelievably narcissistic and self absorbed high school student who eschews those who have the misfortune of not being good looking enough for his liking. Looks, money, and popularity are the things he deems most important in life.  He’s a wretched human being suffering from a massive case of entitlement.

When we meet his father (played by Peter Krause), we see why Kyle has such shallow values. Dad is a preening news anchor with a bluetooth glued to his ear at all times. He has preached the gospel of good looks during Kyle’s entire life. The stagnant apartment they share in New York is devoid of charm; everything is white, and it reeks of wealth.

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