There are few actors these days that can play just about any part in most geek-driven properties these days. Neal McDonough has gone from playing Bruce Banner in the animated Hulk series, to having a part in Star Trek: First Contact, M. Bison for some reason in Street Fighter, and even playing the fan favorite Dum Dum Dougan in last year’s Captain America: The First Avenger.

Now, McDonough is taking the center stage again with Frank Darabont’s upcoming TNT series based on the video game L.A. Noir. Deadline reports.

LA Noir tells the true story of a decades-long conflict between the LAPD, under the determined leadership of Police Chief Parker (McDonough), and ruthless criminal elements led by mobster Mickey Cohen, a one-time boxer who rose to the top of LA’s criminal world.

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Alfred Molina has signed on to star in David E. Kelley’s new medical drama pilot Chelsea General. The drama is set to air on the TNT network. The story is based on an upcoming novel from CNN chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta.

The story follows the lives of five surgeon who face the difficulties of balancing the professional life of a doctor while trying to not fail at maintaining their personal lives.  The show is based around their hospital’s weekly morbidity and mortality conference, when doctors gather with their peers for a confidential review of complications and errors in patient care. It will provides a unique look at how surgeons come to terms with mistakes and try to learn from them.

“Chelsea General promises to be a smart, witty and extremely powerful medical drama, the kind of series David E. Kelley is renowned for making,” said Michael Wright, executive vice president, head of programming for TNT, TBS and Turner Classic Movies (TCM). “We look forward to working with David and Sanjay in bringing the doctors’ fascinating stories and characters to television.”

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TNT will preempt it’s primetime lineup tonight at 8PM and 10PM E/P to run back-to-back airings of it’s 1999 original movie Pirates of Silicon Valley. This is the only movie, so far, to depict the rise of Apple co-founder and visionary Steve Jobs, who tragically died yesterday at the age of 56.

The film follows the race between computer rivals Apple and Microsoft and stars Noah Wyle as Jobs, Anthony Michael Hall as Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Joey Slotnick as Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.

I haven’t watched the film in quite some time but I’m sure I will be tonight.

I guess it doesn’t pay to be Jada Pinkett Smith these days. First, rumors surface of your alleged affair with Mark Anthony which made Will Smith cry and now TNT has decided not to renew your TV show.

That’s right, for those of you watching Smith and her co-stars each week on Hawthorne, the show will not be back for a fourth season. This news comes after TNT recently canceled another show that, at least in my opinion, was pretty good and worth watching: Men of a Certain Age.

Apparently also “on the bubble” is the Jason Lee starrer Memphis Beat, which has been on for two seasons already. According to reports, the odds of it returning are pretty much even money.

Here’s the official statement about Hawthorne from TNT:

TNT has decided not to order a fourth season of HawthoRNe. TNT truly appreciates the tremendous dedication of everyone involved in HawthoRNe. The series gave TNT the opportunity to work with many outstanding people, including Jada Pinkett Smith and the rest of the show’s talented cast, crew, producers and writers. We wish everyone involved with HawthoRNe nothing but the best.

Nothing but the best. Isn’t that nice? And they say people in Hollywood don’t care.

We’ve been waiting for this as some of us are big fans of Rizzoli & Isles here at The Flickcast offices. Yes Mr. Ullrich, we’re looking at you. Still, that doesn’t mean TNT doesn’t have some other fine programming as well.

To let us all know what the network hsa in store for us for the Fall and Winter, they’ve released their schedule for all to see. The new schedule includes the continuation of the current seasons of The Closer, Rizzoli & Isles and Leverage, which all return with new episodes on November 27 and 28.

It also includes the new season of Southland, which will kick off in January and the first installment of the network’s new original movie franchise TNT Mystery Movie Night, which will debut November 29.

TNT also announces additional castings on several of its movies, including Alfred Molina joining Scott Turow’s Innocent, Dermot Mulroney in Silent Witness, and Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Kevin Alejandro in Hide.

Here’s all the details on TNT’s upcoming premiere dates from the official press release:

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If you’ve been following the saga of a group of ragtag survivors agains seemingly overwhelming alien invaders, aka Falling Skies, then you’re going to be happy about this news. TNT has ordered a second season of the show.

Coming from Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks TV, the show premiered last month with 8 Million viewers, making it cable’s top series launch of the year. Since that time the series has averaged 6.4 Million viewers for its first three episodes and is attracting strong ratings overseas as well.

The network has ordered 10 episodes for Season 2, which is slated to air in Summer 2012. Although that may not seem like a lot of episodes, it’s about average for basic cable.

Falling Skies stars Noah Wyle, Mood Bloodgood, Will Patton, Sarah Carter and Drew Roy. It airs Sundays at 10/9C on TNT.

This week’s pick is The TNT original film Andersonville (1996) from acclaimed film maker John Frankenheimer (Seven Days in May, Against the Wall). The film stars Jarrod Emick (Pvt. Josiah Day), Frederic Forrest (Sgt. McSpadden), Ted Marcoux (Martin Blackburn) Gregory Sporleder (Dick Potter), Cliff De Young (Sgt. John Gleason), William Sanderson (Munn), Peter Murnik (Limber Jim), Frederick Coffin (Collins), Olek Krupa (Olek Wisnovsky), Jan Triska (Captain Henry Wirz), and William H. Macy (Col. Chandler).

Andersonville was the most infamous of Confederate prisons during the American War between the States. It was made to house only eight thousand or so Union troops, but in its short existence, it housed nearly thirty thousand Union POWs. From 1864-65 nearly seventeen thousand men lost their lives due to starvation, disease, and at the hands of marauding gangs of prisoners known as the “Raiders”who murdered and stole from their fellow inmates.

The film opens in Virginia in April of 1864 where Union troops are pushing back Confederate forces. Josiah Day (Emick) acts as a runner between his unit and the main force which has encountered heavy resistance.

While running back to tell his Sergeant that their commanding officer has ordered them to break through the rebel positions, Pvt. Day is shot and taken prisoner. When he arrives at a clearing, he realizes that Confederate forces have overrun his unit who have now joined him as prisoners.

The men are ordered to lay down and to stay put until they’re moved in the morning. If any of them attempt to rise or flee, they’ll be shot. Josiah’s cousin attempts to escape and he is shot down instantly. The rest of the men lay quietly until the following morning.

The next day the men are taken to a rail head where officers and enlisted men are separated. Pvt. Day and Sgt. McSpadden’s (Forrest) Captain tells them that they are in charge and to look after the rest of the men. Sgt. McSpadden assures the Captain he will, and that they will all one day meet again in Boston.

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In honor of the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the American War between the states, this week’s pick is the 1993 epic Gettysburg directed by Ronald F. Maxwell and adapted from the novel The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara. The film dramatizes the events of the Civil War’s most decisive battle. The film stars Tom Berenger (Lt. General James Longstreet (CSA), Jeff Daniels (Col. Joshua L. Chamberlain (USA), Martin Sheen (General Robert E. Lee (CSA), Kevin Conway (Pvt. Buster Kilrain (USA), C. Thomas Howell (Lt. Thomas Chamberlain (USA), Richard Jordan (Brigadier Gen. Lewis A. Armistead (CSA), and Sam Elliot (Brig. Gen. John Buford (USA).

The film opens with narration and a map concerning the movement of the Confederate States of America’s Army of Northern Virginia which was planning an offensive into the north in order to lure the Federal Army of the Potomac into a decisive action which could end the fighting and allow total succession of the south from the rest of The United States of America. The narrator (Morgan Sheppard) tells how Lee’s army advanced through the mountains of West Virginia into Pennsylvania undetected.

Lee hopes that the army will succeed and if so, A letter has been prepared by Confederate President Jefferson Davis and is to be delivered to the desk of President Abraham Lincoln once the Army of the Potomac is destroyed, and Lee’s army controls a huge area north of Washington D.C. What both armies don’t realize yet, is that the most decisive and bloodiest battle ever fought on American soil is about to commence in and around the small Pennsylvanian town of Gettysburg.

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Where do you go when most good science fiction stories have already been told on TV? In the last decade or so, we’ve had successful reboots and remakes of already wildly popular sci-fi dramas such as Battlestar Galactica and V. Is there still room on TV for original science fiction programming?

That’s exactly what TNT is hoping to find out with their new summer drama, Falling Skies, starring Noah Wyle and Moon Bloodgood. Here’s a brief synopsis.

FALLING SKIES opens in the chaotic aftermath of an alien attack that has left most of the world completely incapacitated. In the six months since the initial invasion, the few survivors have banded together outside major cities to begin the difficult task of fighting back. Each day is a test of survival as citizen soldiers work to protect the people in their care while also engaging in an insurgency campaign against the occupying alien force.

So it’s got some elements of our favorite series such as Battlestar and V. Maybe it can actually hold up, especially since most original dramas on TNT seem to have legs from birth.

Be sure to check out a new in-depth look at the series after the jump, catch up on the story with TNT’s original web comic, and get ready for the series premiere on Sunday, June 19th at 9/8C.

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Chalk one up for the good guys in blue as TNT has announced they will be giving cop drama Southland a fourth season on the network. The show, which wrapped up its third season March 8, stars Michael Cudlitz, Shawn Hatosy, Regina King and Ben McKenzie.

According to TNT’s head of programming Michael Wright: “Southland has been acknowledged by many critics as one of the sharpest, most entertaining and most authentic dramas on television today,” Wright said. “We are extremely proud to have Southland on TNT and to bring it back for a fourth season.” Kudos Mr. Wright. Good call.

It’s done pretty well for TNT, after its move from NBC where it had been cancelled, and has averaged 2.9 million viewers per episode this season. That’s up 6% compared to Season 2. Don’t worry, although those numbers may seem small, remember that TNT is a basic cable network so those numbers are actually pretty good — especially considering NBC had completely written the show off.

Just goes to show that if you make a quality product, people may sometimes catch on and it will be given a chance to succeed. As a fan of this show from way back when I reviewed the pilot I, for one, am thrilled it will be returning for 10 all-new episodes. If you haven’t had a chance to check it out, you should.

Is ABC’s V not filling that alien invasion quota that you’ve gotten used to on TV as of late, then you’ll be happy to see that the grandfather of alien invasions, Steven Speilberg is now throwing his hat into the ring, and bringing us the brand new trailer for TNT’s Falling Skies.

Unlike V, this series focuses more on the human survivor element of an alien invasion. Consider it more like The Walking Dead of alien invasions. With that said, you’ll still get some sick four-legged aliens and giant robots, so don’t get disinterested just yet.

Serving to the inner nerd in all of us, TNT has even helped move the story along with an original web comic that will get you full inundated in the story by the time it premieres in June.

Fans of TV and sci-fi alone will get Noah Wyle, Moon Bloodgood, and a cornucopia of character actors to instill that fear of the end of the world. Check out the full trailer after the jump.

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TNT and Dark Horse Comics will be teaming up to produce a comic book and webcomic prequel to the upcoming Falling Skies television series.

Falling Skies is an upcoming series that will be produced by Dreamworks Television, with Steven Spielberg serving as executive producer.  The TNT series will star Noah Wyle (ER), and involves the aftermath of an alien invasion, with the hopes for  humanity resting  on a few survivors. It will debut in the Summer of 2011.

TNT and Dark Horse are distributing an exclusive, limited edition comic book that tells the back-story of the series during the New York Comic Con in October. Then, starting in November, fans can begin downloading an extending webcomic every two weeks, via iTunes, TNT.tv, or Darkhorse.com.

The comic and webcomic are a novel way to drum up early interest in the series prior to its debut.

In addition to Wyle, the series will star Moon Bloodgood (Terminator Salvation), Drew Roy (Lincoln Heights), Maxim Knight (Brothers and Sisters), Seychelle Gabriel (Weeds) and Will Patton (Armageddon.)  Wylie and Bloodgood will be signing autographs at the Dark Horse International booth at the San Diego Comic Con on Friday afternoon.