DUH NEWS
... Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch may have spilled a poorly kept secret when he revealed that he's already signed on for a fourth season of the BBC drama (the show is just starting production on its third season, which is set to air in the U.K. this fall). Cumberbatch reportedly said, "We've agreed to two more series but I could get into trouble for saying that," at the South Bank Show Awards. The biggest obstacle for the series to continue isn't demand, it's the availability for its stars Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, who have become quite the in-demand actors. [Radio Times]
BUSINESS TIME
... NBC thinks it has the recipe to stop its ratings slide in Food Fighters, a reality competition show where amateur chefs compete against pros. It's like Pros vs. Joes except a lot lamer and the only Joes are sloppy ones. Human food trough Adam Richman (Man vs. Food) will host and probably eat the losing contestants. [EW]
... Mickey Mouse is returning to the Disney Channel with a series of 19 animated shorts beginning in late June. And this won't be "Yo dude!" skateboarding rad Mickey, this will be throwback Steamboat Willie Mickey, an homage to the old 1920s cartoons the rodent first starred in. Check out a peview over at Disney.com. I'm not embarrassed to say it looks cool, but then again I have zero pride, if this pajama-pants-no-shirt wardrobe combo I'm wearing is any indication. [TV Guide]
CASTING NEWS
... Karl Urban (Star Trek) is sticking with J.J. Abrams. The actor has landed the lead in Abrams' new sci-fi drama pilot about near-future cops and their android partners. Urban will play John Kennex, a human cop partnered with an android (Michael Ealy) who might know humans better than he does. Also, the project might finally have a title: Human. I'm no professional television-titler, but I think that sucks. [TV Line]
... James Spader (Boston Legal) has joined NBC's drama pilot The Blacklist. The thriller follows a most-wanted criminal (Spader) who agrees to turn in all his crooked partners to the authorities, but only if he can do it through a new FBI agent he seemingly has no connection with. [THR]
... Muscly old person Stephen Lang (Terra Nova, Avatar) will kick your ass. But before he gets to that he's going to do some acting in ABC's political thriller pilot Reckless, the weird story about a man who fights to get his wife out of a foreign prison but gets caught up in all sorts of international intrigue. Lang will play the wife's father who's the boss at a military manufacturing company, and I hope he benchpresses a bunch of tanks because the man is like Jack LaLanne. [Deadline Hollywood]
... Vince Vaughn has been booked to host Saturday Night Live on April 13, so look out ladies (from 1997). Miguel will be the musical guest. [NBC via press release]
... Skeet Ulrich (Jericho) is boarding CBS's drama pilot Anatomy of Violence. The show comes from the producers of Homeland and is about an FBI criminal psychologist (Ulrich) who specializes in crazy sociopaths. [TV Line]
... ABC has a comedy pilot in production called Pulling, based on the British series, and it originally cast Mandy Moore in the lead. Now Mandy is out and the very different Kristen Schaal (Flight of the Conchords) is in, because the show apparently is nothing like it was before. The premise follows three women in their 30s who live their lives the way they want. [Deadline Hollywood]
Follow TV.com writer Tim Surette on Twitter if you want to: @TimAtTVDotCom
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