The Office's Rainn Wilson Goes Drama for Fox; Paint the Town with Cougar Town

Wednesday, January 08, 2014

The Office's Rainn Wilson Goes Drama for Fox; Paint the Town with Cougar Town

Fox Broadcasting Company (Fox) has given a 13-episode series order to Backstrom, a one-hour drama from 20th Century Fox Television, based on renowned Swedish criminologist and novelist Leif G.W. Persson's hit series of books of the same name. Created and executive-produced by Hart Hanson (Bones, The Finder), the series centers on Detective Everett Backstrom (three-time Emmy Award nominee Rainn Wilson, The Office), an offensive, irascible detective, as he tries, and fails, to change his self-destructive behavior. Throughout the series, Backstrom leads his team, the Serious Crimes Unit, as they navigate Portland's most sensitive cases.

Hanson serves as executive producer on the series with Persson and Niclas Salomonsson. Emmy Award-nominated director Mark Mylod (Entourage, Shameless, Ali G Indahouse) served as director and executive producer on the pilot. Production is scheduled to begin in early 2014. The series will air in the 2014-15 TV season. In the pilot episode, after the apparent suicide of a Senator's son is ruled a homicide, the Portland Police Bureau's Serious Crime Unit, led by Detective Backstrom (Wilson) must solve the case. Following the team's arrival on the scene, forensics expert Sergeant Peter Nierdermayer (Kristoffer Polaha, Ringer, Life Unexpected) verifies that the death was indeed a homicide. This starts the trail for Backstrom and his team: Detective Nicole Gravely, Detective Sergeant John Almond (Dennis Haysbert, The Unit, 24), uniformed officer Frank Moto (Page Kennedy, Weeds, S.W.A.T.) and the tech-savvy Nadia Paquet (Beatrice Rosen, The Dark Knight, Cuts). Together, they must follow leads, while trying to maintain a low profile in this highly scrutinized case.

Cougar Town

To kick off the fifth season of Cougar Town, which premiered last night (Tuesday) on TBS, the hit series has partnered with Pinot's Palette, pioneer of the upscale social art and wine experience, on an unprecedented promotion bringing fans closer than ever to their favorite characters...wine included. The new partnership will offer Cougar Town viewers and Pinot's Palette fans a chance attend exclusive painting parties by utilizing a Pinot's Palette code that will be posted on the Cougar Town Facebook page. These exclusive parties will feature a Cougar Town inspired painting and guests in select markets will also receive special co-branded merchandise. Pinot's Palette will also extend the Cougar Town celebration through the month of January with Cougar Town themed public painting parties in various markets. The series airs Tuesdays at 10:00pm on TBS!

Sitcoms Airing Tonight

Wednesday, August 21

The Goldbergs - "The Wedding Singer" (ABC, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Barry and Lainey’s wedding date is right around the corner, and Beverly is in her element as she tries to make everything perfect for her schmoopie’s big day. Geoff is concerned about Adam’s shortcomings as a wedding videographer. Meanwhile, Barry begins to have second thoughts.

Schooled - "Be Like Mike" (ABC, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
It’s 1990-something, and since Lainey still hasn’t achieved rock ‘n’ roll greatness, she returns to William Penn Academy as the new music teacher. Lainey has a hard time adjusting to being an authority figure, but she realizes she might not be so bad at it when she discovers a kindred spirit in Principal Glascott’s niece, Felicia. Meanwhile, Coach Mellor struggles with Michael Jordan’s influence on modern-day basketball.

Modern Family - "The Wild" (ABC, 9:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Mitch, Cam and Phil crash Jay’s annual hiking trip to find an elusive bald eagle after Gloria asks them to keep an eye on him. Meanwhile, Gloria, Alex, Claire and Haley get together to plan her baby shower.

Single Parents - "Pilot" (ABC, 9:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Will Cooper has been so focused on raising his daughter, Sophie, he’s lost sight of who he is as a man and has headed deep into the parental vortex. When the other single parents – Angie, Douglas, Poppy and Miggy – at his daughter’s school see just how far down the rabbit hole of PTA, parenting and princesses Will has gone, they band together to get him out in the world and make him realize that being a great parent doesn’t mean sacrificing everything about your own identity.

Younger - "It's All About the Money, Honey" (TV Land, 10:00PM ET/PT)
Liza is shocked to see an unexpected costar in her Infinitely 21 ad campaign. Kelsey and Charles head to Chicago with a plan. Josh considers his options beyond Inkburg.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of August 19)

Wednesday, August 21

Donald Glover (Atlanta/Community) - Watch on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
D'Arcy Carden (The Good Place/Barry) - D'Arcy appears on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Selena Gomez (Wizards of Waverly Place) - Selena is a guest on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:34pm on NBC.
Joe Namath (The Waverly Wonders) - Joe appears on a repeat of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
Fred Savage (What Just Happened??! with Fred Savage/Friends from College/The Grinder/Working/The Wonder Years) - Fred is a guest on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Jane Lynch (Angel from Hell) - Jane drops by Conan at 11pm on TBS.
Jon Cryer (Two and a Half Men/Partners/The Famous Teddy Z) - Jon is a guest on a repeat of The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
Kevin Hart (The Big House/Undeclared) - Kevin stops by LIVE! with Kelly and Ryan, so check your listings.
Jennifer Aniston (Friends/Muddling Through/Ferris Bueller/Molloy) - Jennifer appears on a repeat of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, so check your local listings.
Iain Armitage (Young Sheldon) - Iain is a guest on a repeat of The Real, so check your local listings.
Brian Austin Green (Anger Management/Freddie) - Brian talks about BH90210 on Access Live, so check your local listings.
Melissa Peterman (Reba/Working Class/Baby Daddy) - Melissa guest co-hosts Access Live, so check your local listings.
Justine Lupe (Cristela) - Justine will be on New York Live on WNBC in New York at 11:30am ET.
Queen Latifah (Living Single) - Queen Latifah opens up about how she balances her personal and professional life and her latest mission to combat the stigma of mental health on a repeat of The Dr. Oz Show, so check your local listings.
Valerie Bertinelli (Hot in Cleveland/Sydney/One Day at a Time) - Valerie talks about Kids Baking Championship on the BUILD Series at 2pm.