In what seems like no-brainer of the season-to-date (well, except the CW canceling TBL! ), FOX has decided to give the freshman show another year to delight the key demos!

Press Release:

GLEEKS REJOICE! FOX PICKS UP SECOND SEASON OF “GLEE”  

 

NATIONWIDE OPEN CASTING CALL FOR “GLEE” BEGINS FEBRUARY

AND WILL AIR AS MULTI-PART SPECIAL THIS FALL ON FOX

  

Series Returns with All-New Episodes Tuesday, April 13, on FOX

FOX has ordered a second season of the genre-defying comedy GLEE, it was announced today by Kevin Reilly, President, Entertainment for Fox Broadcasting Company. GLEE has become a bona fide cultural phenomenon boasting winning ratings, critical acclaim, a rabid fan base of “GLEEks,” two certified Gold albums and more than 4 million song downloads. The series has received four Golden Globe nominations, including one for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy; a Screen Actors Guild nomination for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series; two Directors Guild of America Award nominations; and a Writers Guild of America nomination for Best Comedy Series and Best New Series. Additionally, the American Film Institute named GLEE one of the Top 10 TV Programs of the Year, and the series also recently won a People’s Choice Award for Favorite New TV Comedy.

“We’ve loved GLEE ever since it was a pilot script, so it’s been an incredible thrill to watch the show take root and see audiences embrace these characters in such a huge way this season,” said Reilly. “The show is a true and rare gem in television. We couldn’t be more proud of what Ryan Murphy and the GLEE team have created so far, and can’t wait to see what they come up with for Season Two.”

GLEE has also launched the acting and singing careers of its young, talented cast, and turned them into international sensations. Replicating and expanding on the process used to discover the stars from Season One, the series’ executive producers will begin a nationwide casting search this February to fill three new roles that will be added to the show’s second season.

Building upon the show’s incredibly supportive community of GLEEks and with the hope of bringing fans even closer to the series, auditions will be open to amateur individuals as well as professionals between the ages of 16-26, and all hopefuls will be able to submit auditions online. Additional details to be announced soon, please check www.fox.com/glee for updates.

This unique casting search and process will be chronicled in a multi-part special that will air leading up to the premiere of the series’ second season in fall 2010 on FOX, and the new cast members will be revealed in the premiere episode.

“GLEE has always been about finding new fresh exciting voices. Our second season search for young talent will be in the vein of our first season. We launched a nationwide search for talent for our first season with great unexpected results, and Season Two expands that search in an even bigger way,” said executive producer and creator Ryan Murphy. He added, “Anybody and everybody now has a chance to be on a show about talented underdogs. No matter who you are – a Broadway talent or a struggling singing waiter with a dream in the Midwest – you now have an opportunity to make that dream come true by posting your talent video and showing us what you can do. ALL the roles will be chosen from the video audition process, which is exciting and unprecedented. We want to be the first interactive musical comedy on television, and the search is ON.”

“GLEE is the hottest new show of the season, and it’s amazing to look back at the audition tapes of those stars as they were being discovered,” said Mike Darnell, President of Alternative Entertainment for FOX. “Just like GLEE, there’s never really been an unscripted program like this on television before. The stakes are real, and it’s going to be incredibly compelling to watch the lives of these unknowns transformed before our eyes.”

GLEE returns with all-new episodes on a new night beginning Tuesday, April 13 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX.

GLEE follows an optimistic teacher who – against all odds and a malicious cheerleading coach – inspires McKinley High’s Glee Club to conquer the world one singing competition at a time. GLEE stars Dianna Agron, Chris Colfer, Jessalyn Gilsig, Jane Lynch, Jayma Mays, Kevin McHale, Lea Michele, Cory Monteith, Matthew Morrison, Amber Riley, Mark Salling and Jenna Ushkowitz.

GLEE is produced by Ryan Murphy Television in association with 20^th Century Fox Television. Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan are co-creators of the series. Murphy, Falchuk and Dante Di Loreto serve as executive producers, while Ian Brennan serves as co-executive producer.

Joe Manganiello has landed what’s rumored to be True Blood’s most important new role: Sookie’s werewolf crush, Alcide Herveaux.

Alcide was previously described as “Good-looking, rough-around-the-edges, articulate, heroic, and decent, but not what he seems”. He apparently gets along very well with Sookie and there’s even a spark between the two. However, there is still one spot to be filled - Alcide’s psycho sometimes girlfriend, Debbie Pelt.

Mnnganiello isn’t exactly the actor I picked for this role, but having seen him in both One Tree Hill and How I Met Your Mother I can see how he fits the bill.

Country Star Trace Adkins has joined Nashville based drama Tough Trade, THR.com is reporting.

Joey Lauren Adams, Boyd Holbrook and Claire van der Boom have also bee cast in the pilot.

via THR.com

Nashville native Adkins will play Scared, a friend and bodyguard to Linwood Tucker (Shepard) who is fiercely loyal to the family.

Adams will play Shawnelle, the strong and blunt fifth Mrs. Linwood Tucker who is determined never to be the newest ex-wife.

Holbrook will play the youngest Tucker, Jackson, who is poised to become the crown prince of country music by following his family’s legacy.

Van der Boom (“The Pacific”) will play Jackson’s half sister Billie, the only woman in the world of the Tucker men who holds the family together with her strength and will.

EW are reporting that Grant Bowler has joined that cast of HBO’s True Blood.

Bowler most recently appeared as Wilhelmina’s lover, Connor Owens, on Ugly Betty. He is joining the cast to play  Coot, the leader of a pack of werewolf bikers.  Theo Alexander (Chuck, Pushing Daisies ) has been also been cast for the third season as Talbot, the significant other of Denis O’Hare’s, Russell Edgington.

This really has been a week full of True Blood Casting, after Shannon Lucio was cast as Bill’s wife and Marshall Allman was cast as a series regular playing Sam Merlotte’s long lost brother.

A casting scoop that is an indication of how Sendhil Ramamurthy thinks Heroes’ renewal prospects are faring…

Ramamurthy has joined NBC’s comedic drama pilot “Rex Is Not Your Lawyer” as a series regular.

Ramamurthy will play an ambitious but good-natured lawyer who was in Rex’s shadow until Rex’s career switch and whose friendship with Rex becomes complicated when he falls in love with his pal’s fiancee (Abigail Spencer).

Jane Curtin has also been cast in the pilot that stars David Tennant as Rex Alexander, a top Chicago litigator who begins suffering panic attacks and takes up coaching clients to represent themselves in court.

The Rex pilot will be in second position to Heroes should the network pick it up, but there is a chance that even if Heroes stays on the air Ramamurthy will end up on Rex.

The former O.C. and Prison Break guest star has joined True Blood as Bill’s wife.

The actress will be playing Caroline, the wife that Bill never returned after becoming a vamp during the Civil War. We have briefly seen a flashback of the character during season 1, not played by Lucio.

A day full of True Blood scoop! And more to come soon, as the producers are on the lookout for an actress to play Sam’s mom and a mysterious beauty to shake things up.

Wowza.

It looks like our will-they wont-they couple Cappie and Casey are getting serious – it’s time to meet his hippie parents!

Lea Thompson, of Caroline in the City and Back to the Future fame has been cast as Cappie’s mother, April and Jim Abele (24) will play his father, Tobias in the upcoming second half of the third season.

via EW:
“Meeting his parents will have a big impact on Casey,” says a Greek insider, adding that the modern-day hippies will appear during the second half of the show’s upcoming 10-episode cycle (debuting Jan. 25).

I think this is some good casting, especially that they decided to name the father Tobias (all Arrested Development fans know what I mean!)

Wow, the Chuck producers continue to pull out the big guns, casting wise.

Terminator actor, Robert Patrick has been cast in an upcoming episode of fan favorite, Chuck to play “Col. Keller, a mysterious figure from Casey’s past in “Chuck Versus the Tic Tac,” which I hear will be a big episode for Adam Baldwin’s newly-minted colonel.”

Unfortunately though, there’s still no news on Chuck’s return date. Patrick’s episode will air mid-way through the recently extended 3rd season.

In other nerd-tastic news, Scott Bakula has recently said that he’s willing to reprise his role as Chuck’s Dad on the show but is still waiting for the call…

via IMDB.com

If nothing else, NCIS‘ upcoming 150th episode will be remembered for one thing: introducing us to Tony’s dad! Veteran actor Robert Wagner — yes, the former Jonathan Hart himself! — has been cast as the dad of Michael Weatherly’s TV sleuth, sources confirm to me exclusively. Father and son will reunite in NCIS‘ milestone episode, slated to air in January. Got a case of déjà vu? It’s probably because Weatherly played Wagner in the 2004 TV movie The Mystery of Natalie Wood. TV’s No. 1 show has an impressive track record when it comes to casting fathers of its lead characters. »