Swayze's Beast leads cable pickups

When actor Patrick Swayze was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer a few months ago, many feared the worst for the man who once made women swoon as the rebellious heartthrob who just wanted to do some Dirty Dancing. But Swayze will not go down without a fight!

The 55-year-old has been given the go-ahead to return to work by his doctors after responding successfully to cancer treatment, and will star in A&E;'s The Beast, reports Variety.

The cable network has ordered 13 episodes of the drama, which will be filmed on location in Chicago and premiere in early 2009. Swayze will star as an FBI agent who does things his own way, often to the chagrin of the department. He'll be partnered up with a greenhorn played by Travis Fimmel (Tarzan), who is tasked with participating in an internal investigation on Swayze's character.

VH1 is also welcoming a new show to its family of reality programming. The onetime music-video channel will be searching for the next big horror-film starlet in Scream Queens, says The Hollywood Reporter. The reality competition will pit 10 unknown actresses against one another for a major role in a future Lionsgate feature film. The first of eight episodes is due this fall.

Finally, Comedy Central is moving forward with one of its projects announced on its development slate in March. The untitled project, starring MADtv's Bobby Lee, has been ordered to pilot, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The comedy will focus on the comedian's experiences growing up as a Korean-American in Southern California. Troy Miller (Flight of the Conchords, Mr. Show) has signed on to direct.