First TV Promo for Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The corporate synergy alone made Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. a done deal to make the fall schedule on ABC. Unsure if it can make it on the airwaves long enough to lead into The Avengers 2, to be honest. Have a strong suspicion this could be a high-concept one season wonder.

You know a show that gets nonstop press building up to its premiere and then its vapor a few weeks into its run. Too soon to know, of course, and if anyone could bulk the trend it's the House of Ideas.

Here's the first promo:

The Walking Dead Season Four Photo Looks Like Every Other Season & Photo

Hard to get excited about The Walking Dead anymore after A) that cock-block of a finale and B) how much more mileage there is left to a TV show about a zombie apocalypse. When me, the guy who grew up and adored even the schlocky Italian Dawn of the Dead knock-offs, tires of the zombie trend, you know it's wearing itself out.

AMC sent out the first official photo for season four to commemorate the start of production. That is to say get fans riled up about the return of more KNB-produced head explosions, Rick's leadership called into question for the umpteenth time and the next red-shirt, well The Walking Dead equivalent to one, gets his brains gnawed on.

Sherlock Is Getting a Fourth Series

Benedict Cumberbatch is getting a lot of work, all thanks to Sherlock. Martin Freeman too has plum gigs lined up, also thanks to Sherlock.

With their growing star-power and busy-schedules, you wouldn't be the only one to think their time as Mr. Holmes and Dr. Watson was drawing to a close. Refreshingly that isn't the case. Cumberbatch confirmed to Radio Times he and co-star Freeman have reaffirmed their loyalty to the BBC mystery/adventure series:

"'We've agreed to two more series but I could get into trouble for saying that,' revealed Cumberbatch at the South Bank Show Awards this afternoon.

'All I know at the moment is I'm doing these three [episodes of the upcoming series] and another three.'"

Filming on the third series begins next week. Knowing how the show has transgressed so far, he may have inadvertently revealed this also ends on a cliffhanger. So any chance of fans freaking out and live-tweeting the finale has been avoided. Thanks, Benedict.

The Kid from Two & a Half Men is Kind of an Idiot

Let's be fair, this is not the same as Charlie Sheen.

Sheen was a self-destructive jackass who didn't take into account, no less care about, the people whose jobs he was putting into jeopardy. Let alone his small children who are depending on him, as their father, to support them. Instead his drug-binges and descent into oblivion is gloried. A VH1 Celebrity Roast, for example...

Angus T. Jones, the formerly "Half" component of Two & a Half Men, is an idiot, and hypocrite. But it's not in the same galaxy as Sheen, as some have suggested. A new testimonial video appeared online of Jones speaking out against the sitcom that made his career (Starts at 7:44):

He's entitled to his views and I get where he's coming from. The kid is getting in touch with God. That's great. Really, it is. But I have no respect for biting the hand that feeds you. You're bad-mouthing Two & a Half Men and yet the sitcom, still a huge ratings-winner, provided you with "Set for Life" money. You gonna stop cashing those paychecks?

I'm sure Chuck Lorre appreciates it.

Sherlock Series Three Delayed

Series three of Sherlock is coming. That was never in no doubt. Just set your watches back. Preferably to the end of next year or for us fat Americans early 2014; possibly even later depending on when the BBC gets first dibs.

Entertainment Weekly reports the third run of the acclaimed series has pushed its start-date back from January to March 2013. Stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman are becoming big deals beyond UK television sets. Freeman headlining Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy and Cumberbatch the villain in Star Trek Into Darkness.

So the production has to fit around their schedule accordingly. I don't want to hear anyone complain. Were it not for the BBC commissioning the second and third series at the same time, Sherlock might have ceased after its initial run. Given its stars' higher profile endeavors, Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat must know series three is it. As long as it gets a proper exit, that's fine.

"The Farm" Bought the Farm

Dwight Schrute didn't need his own show. Having played on television screens for seven years, little comedic material was left for Rainn Wilson's off-beat paper salesman/beet farmer.

Geared as one of NBC's highlights this season, plans for The Office spin-off The Farm have been scrapped, Wilson reported on his Twitter feed. Clearer heads prevailed.

While NBC gave no official reasoning behind the move, a look at The Office's dismissal ratings in its much-publicized final season is reason enough. The pilot will instead air as an episode of The Office later this season.

Wonder Woman Pilot in Development: Strike Two

The David E. Kelley Wonder Woman pilot will go down by many as one of the all-time great failures. Assuming you can get your hands on a copy. I got pals who could hook me up, sure. But seeing the few minutes that leaked online (Like here for example) didn't entice me to see the rest.

You know how some things are so bad, they're good? This was so bad, what shit did Warner Brothers/DC Comics snort to commission this? They get props in my book for taking the risk on the unorthodox Kelley, the final results notwithstanding.

A year and change after NBC passed on the infamous Adrianne Palicki-non-starter, they're taking a second swig at the sauce, per Vulture. This attempt for the CW and this time they plan is to "Smallville it." Even picked a title reeking of the Superman-cock tease waste-of-time: Amazon. Diana would be Wonder Woman in everything but name, costume and spend 10 years deciding if she wanted to use her powers for good. In between fighting her rogues gallery and meeting her allies WB would allow.

On a positive note, Wonder Woman headed back to television suggests Justice League is looking less like a sure-thing on the movie-front. Why bother developing a pilot, with serious intentions to go to series, if WB hires a separate actress for the films?

Joss Whedon's Marvel TV Show is S.H.I.E.L.D.

It was never going to be anything as big as say The Avengers: The Series. Imagine the cash Disney would bleed to fund that sucker! Nobody thought that was the case, to be fair.

No, everyone assumed that Marvel show Joss Whedon would tinker with in between punch-ups on The Avengers 2 was gonna be more S.H.I.E.L.D. catered. Guess what? It is. Oh, and S.H.I.E.L.D. is also the title and it has the greenlight from ABC.

Whedon’s brother Jed and sister-in-law Maurissa Tancharoen will co-author the pilot for Joss to direct. And since every actor used their blood for ink on their Marvel contracts (Robert Downey Jr. probably the sole exception), don't be surprised if you randomly see Marc Ruffalo getting a cup of coffee at the S.H.I.E.L.D. kitchen or Sam Jackson, the movie-player we'll see the most, ordering in Chinese.

Watch it be about the guy playing Galaga.

Beverly Hills Cop Headed to TV?

That laugh, all those bananas stuffed in tailpipes, Judge Reinhold getting a paycheck. How has Beverly Hills Cop 4 not been made!?!

They say "script problems," but that's a lark. Everything that made the 1984 original what it is came about by Eddie Murphy and helmer Martin Brest throwing out the script (Awful, according to those who reading it) and improvising whatever was scheduled for that day's shoot. And any concerns with stinky screenplays didn't stop Beverly Hills Cop 3 now did it (John Landis will get first in line to tell you how bad it turned out)?

So whatever the reason a fourth Axel Foley adventure didn't happen is anyone's guess.

Its inability, and more importantly the falling star-power of its lead, might explain why Murphy in the coming years opened up to the chance of a weekly TV procedural version, an idea dating back to the late 80s. He confessed as much to Rolling Stone a year back and, reports Vulture, is teaming up with The Shield creator Shawn Ryan to bring Axel to the small-screen.

Details, early as they are, understandably remain on the mum-side save for its design as a "buddy cop show" and Murphy's limited onscreen involvement (The pilot, obviously, where his mug getting all the exposure/promotions and here & there pop-up appearances).

If they're serious, cable television is their safest bet. Imagine Murphy standing next to the USA "Characters Welcome" banner or TNT's "We Know Drama." Doesn't ring as the idea to work for twenty-two shows a year.

The Office Closing This Season

Tried my best to stomach the Michael Scott-absent eighth season of The Office, and the best I could muster was the opening two episodes and closing few. The single-camera comedy was never going to be the same without star Steve Carell. Much as NBC and executive producer /showrunner Paul Lieberstein said otherwise, that wasn't lost on them. A feeling most certainly not lost on viewers as the series suffered its lowest ratings since it premiered in 2005.

So to hear executive producer Greg Daniels confirm this ninth season will be its last comes as too little, too late. They had their chance at a classy swan-song, leaving viewers wanting more (You can count with one hand how many popular comedies had the balls to do that!)

In addition to Carell, Lieberstein, Mindy Kaling (Watch The Mindy Project, NBC passed on, be this season's breakout hit) and B.J. Novak are gone, Rainn Wilson gearing for his Dwight Schrute-focused spin-off The Farm and remaining series MVPs Jenna Fischer, John Krasinski and Ed Helms in limited use thanks to their film careers and on platinum pay.

Daniels promises this closing season will have "drama" to Jim & Pam's marriage, the identity of the Scranton Strangler and who is working on the documentary on the series-within-a-series.