Even though this is technically a blog, we like to think of ourselves primarily as writers here at The Flickcast. Many of us have even been paid to write over the years and you can bet that pretty much everyone here has one or two screenplays, comic books or other literary works they are currently working on. It’s just the nature of things.

So, when the Writer’s Guild of America announces the nominations for outstanding writing for Television, we take notice and bring you all the details. That’s especially true when the top nominees are shows we really like.

One such show is Showtime’s freshman drama Homeland, which received 3 nominations including best drama series, best new series and best episodic drama. Homeland tied with perennial favorites Modern Family, Breaking Bad and Boardwalk Empire for the most nominations.

In addition to Homeland, Game Of Thrones, The Killing, New Girl and the Matt LeBlanc comedy Episodes all received nominations with Showtime getting a first time record of six for its shows. You may be wondering where Mad Men is in all of this?

Sadly, as the fifth season of the show was delayed, it didn’t make the cut for eligibility for this year’s awards. That’s probably okay as it gives a few other shows, like Homeland and Game of Thrones, a chance to shine. Can’t have Mad Men taking up all the awards, now can we?

The winners will be announced at the 2012 Writers Guild Awards on Feb. 19, 2012, at simultaneous ceremonies in Los Angeles and New York. Click through for the full list of nominee.

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If you’ve never read Brian K. Vaughn’s comic series Y: The Last Man, you’re really missing out. It’s very well written and has enjoyed tremendous popularity.

So much so, in fact, that it’s one of the reasons Vaughn ended up as a writer for ABC’s LOST for several seasons. Now, it looks like Vaughn’s TV writing career is going to continue.

According to Deadline, he has been signed to write Showtime’s drama series adaptation of Stephen King’s 2009 novel Under the Dome, from DreamWorks Television. According to the report, Vaughn was chosen after a long search by the show’s producers and will begin writing the adaptation immediately.

In case you’re not familier with the story, the supernatural thriller concerns locals at a Maine vacation spot who battle one another when a force field suddenly surrounds their town and cuts them off from the rest of the world. Yes, it takes place in Maine. Try to contain your surprise.

To be honest, this is not my favorite Stephen King novels. However, Vaughn is one of my favorite writers so hopefully he will bring his trademark wit and style to the project. The series expects to begin filming early next year for a debut sometime next Fall.

Arrested Development is one of those series not really appreciated in its time. When it was on the air originally, it had rather low ratings and was cancelled by Fox after three seasons. It was a great show but sadly, a lot of people just didn’t “get it.”

Since its original run, the show has enjoyed newfound success in reruns as well as on DVD and Netflix and has attained cult status among those who appreciate great TV. There’s also been talk of a movie version of the series for years as well and now it seems those plans are finally coming to fruition.

But wait, there’s more. According to reports the show’s creator, Mitch Hurtwitz, plans to bring the Emmy-winning series back to television for 9 or 10 episodes before making movie. That’s right, a new series and a movie. Awesome.

Hurwitz didn’t say where the potential series would air but reportedly the two front runners are Netflix, which is looking for original programming, and Showtime, whose new entertainment president David Nevins used to work at Imagine TV and served as an executive producer on the original series.

Original series star Jason Bateman also confirmed the news on Twitter. “It’s true,” he posted. “We will do 10 episodes and the movie. Probably shoot them all together next summer for a release in early ’13. VERY excited!”

Pretty sure he’s not the only one.

In the interest of full disclosure, I have to reveal I’ve had Stephen King’s Under the Dome on my Kindle for about a year and still haven’t gotten around to reading it. Not that I think it won’t be good, it’s just that other things have come up.

Fortunately, it seems I may not ever have to bother reading the book. Why? Well, today it was announced Showtime is partnering with Steven Spielberg and Stephen King for an Under the Dome drama TV series, which will be produced by DreamWorks Television.

In case you haven’t had the time either and don’t know the story of Under the Dome, it’s a supernatural thriller which revolves around locals at a Maine vacation spot who battle one another when a force field suddenly surrounds their town and cuts them off from the rest of the world. Wasn’t that the premise of an old Twilight Zone episode? Huh.

Anyway, now that the deal appears to be done with Showtime, the search is now underway for a writer (or writers) to adapt the novel into series form. No word yet on who that may be.

However, if I may make a suggestion, I hear Frank Darabont is available. I think he would be a great choice.

Showtime, you listening?

While we are kinda sorry that ABC decided to cancel V (hey, it had potential) we are glad at least one of our favorite actresses from the show is moving on to something new. That’s right folks, you’ve loved her since she starred as Inara, the companion with a heart of gold, in Firefly and now you’ll be able to see Morena Baccarin next on Showtime’s upcoming new series Homeland.

The new thriller, from 24 executive producers Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa, centers on Marine Sergeant Scott Brody (Damian Lewis), who returns home eight years after going missing in Iraq, and Carrie Anderson (Claire Danes), a driven CIA officer who suspects he might be plotting an attack on America.

Baccarin will play Jessica Brody, Scott’s smart, strong wife. She replaces Laura Fraser, who played the role in the pilot. The series, which also co-stars Mandy Patinkin, is slated to debut in the fall.

Sounds like a cool show — as long as Mandy Patankin doesn’t sing in every episode. Plus, always liked Damian Lewis since he was in Band of Brothers and through his stint on the under appreciated series Life . Could be fun.

Until we know for sure, check out a trailer for the show after the break, coutesy of the folks at Showtime. Sadly, Morena Baccarin isn’t in it.

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Recently, we told you about Showtime’s pickup of two new series. One of those series was Homeland and now the network has released the first advance look at the show, which is set to begin production this Summer.

The thriller, based on Gideon Raff’s Israeli series Prisoners of War, was written by former 24 showrunner Howard Gordon, Raff and Alex Gansa. It tells the story of Carrie Anderson (Claire Danes), a CIA officer battling her own demons who becomes convinced that the intelligence that led to the rescue of Scott Brody (Damian Lewis), a U.S. soldier who had been missing and presumed deal for nine years, was a setup and may be connected to an Al-Qaeda plot to be carried out on American soil.

Mandy Patinkin plays Saul, a veteran CIA Division Chief who is Carrie’s boss and mentor. As I said before, sounds interesting. I guess we’ll get a look at the other new Showtime series House of Lies soon enough as well.

Until then, check out the teaser for Homeland after the jump. Homeland comes to Showtime later this year.

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In addition to HBO, Showtime has also usually been a home for good original drama and comedy programming. From Weeds to The Tudors, Californication, Dexter and the recent The Borgias, the network has been pulling out all the proverbial stops to up the ante for pay cable entertainment.

Following that line, Showtime has given series commitments to two new show: the drama Homeland and the comedy House of Lies. Both have received 12-episode orders.

Homeland, which comes from 24 showrunner Howard Gordon, stars Claire Danes, Damien Lewis and Emmy-winner Mandy Patinkin. House of Lies stars Don Cheadle and Kristen Bell.

Here’s more info on each show:

Homeland, produced by Fox 21, is based on Gideon Raff’s Israeli series Prisoners of War. written by Gordon, Raff and Alex Gansa, it tells the story of Carrie Anderson (Claire Danes), a CIA officer battling her own demons, who becomes convinced that the intelligence that led to the rescue of Scott Brody (Damian Lewis), a U.S. soldier who had been missing and presumed deal for nine years, was a setup and may be connected to an Al Qaeda plot to be carried out on American soil. Mandy Patinkin plays Saul, a veteran CIA Division Chief who is Carrie’s (Danes) boss and mentor.

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Welcome to another edition of  On the Radar where we delve into all corners of the entertainment, tech and geek Internets for news, views and whatnot that may have escaped our regular coverage during the week. Let is know if we missed something interesting.

Let’s get started!

• The first reboot of the Spider-Man franchise hasn’t even gotten a trailer yet, but James Vanderbelt is already locked in to write a sequel for Sony.

• We love the original series The Wire, but one question we never asked was “What if it was Written as a Classic Novel?”

• Turns out millennials aren’t the only reason for the degradation of the English language, as both LOL and OMG seem to have a pretty deep history.

• If last night’s episode of Community wasn’t enough Pulp Fiction for you, how about these original Pulp Fiction action figures?

• In more casting news for Superman: Man of Steel, star of Boardwalk Empire Michael Shannon is in talks to play the film’s villain.

• Just after Netflix’s deal with Showtime’s original series went sour, Starz has issued a 90-day delay for new original programming to hit the instant servers.

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Ever since The Walking Dead went off famously on AMC, it seems like other networks are ready to jump on the “indie comic” bandwagon. Showtime has recently picked up a script based on the comic book series Chew about a detective who gets a psychic impression of things he eats. From Deadline.

Showtime has bought a script for Chew, a quirky half-hour cop show based on John Layman and Rob Guillory’s bestselling comic book of the same name. Stephen Hopkins is attached to direct and executive produce the project, which hails from Circle of Confusion, the company behind AMC’s hit series adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead.

Chew tells the darkly comic story of federal agent Tony Chu, a “cibopath” able to get psychic impression from the things he eats who is assigned to the most usual and bizarre crimes.

Not only is Circle of Confusion the studio behind the brilliance of bringing The Walking Dead to screen, but they’re also the company that is working on bringing Brian Michal Bendis’ Powers to FX. Expect the next few years to be quite huge for the lesser-known comic book world. Which is not a bad thing at all.

With news of Chew hitting, who would you like to see as the titular character Tony Chu? John Cho? Stephen Chow? Are these all too easy?

You tell us.

Well, I guess it was too good to last, right? If you’re a fan of Showtime original series like Dexter and Californication but like to watch them via Netflix’s Instant service, you better watch and enjoy them now because they won’t be there for long.

Showtime’s current deal with video streaming company Netflix is over in the summer and as part of its renegotiation, the pay cable network has informed Netflix that it will no longer make its current original series available for streaming. Right now, all Showtime series are accessible for Netflix subscribers.

However, Showtime CEO Matt Blank doesn’t want that to be the case any longer.“With all the options out there, we want to be sure people know they have to subscribe to see Dexter or The Borgias,” Blank said.

The network clarified that under the proposed new Netflix deal, series such The Tudors and Sleeper Cell, which no longer air original episodes on the premium cable newtork, will continue to be available to Netflix subscribers. As for current and past seasons of Showtime’s current original series, they “will be available to our authenticated subscribers via our TV Everywhere service Showtime Anytime.”

Well, I guess Showtime doesn’t like that Netflix is going to start developing and producing original programming for itself, including a new series featuring Kevin Spacey. Let’s hope this doesn’t start a trend with other cable networks and more deciding they don’t want their programming on Netflix. That would be a shame.

Back in the old days we had three TV networks and they scheduled new shows to premiere in the Fall and reruns all Summer. That scheduling model is now a distant memory as new shows premiere pretty much any time of the year these days.

One of the biggest times for networks to bring out new shows is during what is known as midseason. This midseason is no exception with many new shows hitting the air for the first time or previous ones coming back after the holiday break. So, to help you get your DVRs ready, here is a list of the major premiere dates on broadcast and cable compiled by the extremely helpful folks over at Deadline.

It includes season/series premieres and many return dates for series with split seasons. Now to find that DVR remote and get to programming.

Jan. 3
The Bachelor, ABC, season premiere
Pretty Little Liars, ABC Family, winter season premiere
Greek, ABC Family, season premiere

Jan. 4
V, ABC, season premiere
Live to Dance, CBS, series premiere
The Biggest Loser: Couples, NBC, season premiere
Southland, TNT, season premiere
Chopped, Food Network, season premiere
Caprica, Syfy, final 5 episodes

Jan.5
Ghost Hunters International, Syfy, season premiere
Are We There Yet?, TBS, season premiere
Flying Wild Alaska, Discovery, series premiere

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Costume dramas featuring sex, violence, intrigue and political machinations are always welcome if well done. This new one from Showtime called The Borgias and we’ve got a trailer for it right here.

The Borgias is set in Renaissance Italy and tells the story of the crime family’s rise to power and their eventual decline. It features Jeremy Irons, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Derek Jacobi and Joanne Whalley. It’s produced by Michale Hirst and Neil Jordan and many of the episodes are directed by Jordan as well.

Looks pretty interesting to us. Kind of like The Tudors set in Italy — which makes sense considering Hirst’s involvement. It could be cool and we’ll be tuning in.

Showtime hasn’t set an air date for the series as of yet but we’ll let you know when they do. In the meantime, take a look at the trailer after the jump.

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