Finally, something to get us through the Whedonless void that is this year's primetime television schedule.

Tags: Dollhouse, Gilly, SNL, The Commish, The Tudors

You know when summer is coming to an end when all your favorite (or not so favorite) summer shows get picked up for another season. There's everything about these renewals in the news from Playboy ladies to divas (live ones!), to assistants and warriors, so read on!

Tags: Deadliest Warrior, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Joely Richardson, Kendra Wilkinson, Nip Tuck, The Tudors, Ugly Betty, VH1 Divas, Wipeout

Before gorging yourself on Dancing with the Stars tonight, enjoy your daily dose of today's TV news.

Tags: 24, Big Bang Theory, Flashforward, Huge, Joey Lawrence, Mayim Bialik, Melissa Joan Hart, The Tudors

A new season of The Tudors started last night, and it was pretty much as you would expect. Elegantly shot, gorgeous costumes, well-acted and a little bit boring. By all rights I should love this show. I have adored Jonathan Rhys-Meyers since Velvet Goldmine. I'm a sucker for period dramas. There's plenty of nudity and violence. All things I enjoy in a television series. But every time I sit down to watch it, I find myself struggling to stay awake.

Tags: the tudors

Joss Stone is joining the cast of The Tudors. And no, this is not some different show called The Tudors, it's the Showtime period drama. And no, she won't be playing some court jester-y Aretha Franklin impersonator (they had those), she'll be playing Anne of Cleves, the fourth wife of Henry VIII. I'm going to come clean here and admit that I don't know anything about Henry VIII or his wives except that he had mental problems and killed them all, so maybe Anne of Cleves was the one who didn't say much and just kind of belted out blue-eyed soul while barefoot, because that's the only way this stuntcasting makes any sense.

Tags: american dreams, burn notice, enya, eragon, jorja fox, joss stone, the tudors, the west wing

Oooohh! HBO has optioned a scripted series based on a 1989 tell-all-ish book, Fortune's Children, which chronicled the demise of the robber baron clan the Vanderbilts! This would seem to fall under the rubric of that ever-popular moneyed-asshole programming I was mentioning earlier, except that it is slightly (slightly) more high-brow because 1) it is on HBO! 2) it is based on one of those fancy old-fashioned things called "books" and not merely the invention of some money-hungry reality show producer type and 3) it is not a reality show, but a re-enactment of real historical events! That actually happened! And definitely weren't embellished in any way for the book, nor will be for the purposes of dramatic TV effect! Be that as it may, it will still deal with the kind of subject matter that I can really get into, that being rich people who act like dumdums. Throw in Kennedys-meets-Faulkner calibur family dysfunction and (crossing fingers!) a cameo from my very favorite Vanderbilt Andy Cooper and we've got the makings of a goddamned hit, people! It's like The Tudors minus all the tapestry and beheadings and crap!

Tags: Anderson Cooper, Fortune's Children, HBO, The Tudors, Vanderbilts

I started off not being able to find any good news, but then I kinda hit the mother lode. Some very funny guys got cast in some hopefully funny TV shows, Simon Cowell may leave our country for good, and Showtime is going to Camelot. Meanwhile, Tim Robbins is S.O.L. It's all ahead, on Today's TwoP News!

Tags: American Idol, Simon Cowell, The Tudors, Today's TWoP News