Handler With Care: E! has ordered eight episodes of a comedy starring talk show host Chelsea Handler that will air in the time slot immediately following her nightly show. Modeled off of The Larry Sanders Show, it will be scripted and focus on the backstage shenanigans of the cast and crew. [Variety]
The New Reality: Bravo announced four new reality shows. One will follow a celebrity hair guru, another will follow a celebrity fashion designer, even another will follow a celebrity caterer (presumably as he makes roast beef), and the final one will cry all the way the home: it will be a documentary series chronicling the lives of a sprawling, multi-generational family. [THR]
Strong Hand: Weeds executive producers Jenji Kohan and Matthew Salsberg are working with Showtime to make another comedy about the price of vice. It’s called Whales, and it “revolves around a group of brilliant and quirky young people, some of them Harvard and MIT graduates, who move to Las Vegas to live in a lavish apartment while pursuing the $10 million prize at the World Series of Poker.†[Deadline]
Detective Story: Any Given Sunday writer Daniel Pyne is working on a noir series for TNT. The network ordered a pilot of Hollywood&Vine, which will be set in post-WWII Los Angeles and feature “a savvy private eye with a stoic charm and an uncompromising set of personal values who is dedicated to searching for the truth.†He will encounter mobsters and starlets. [Deadline]
Delayed: The planned opening dates for Miramax films The Debt (Dec. 29) and Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (late January) will be pushed back, due to ongoing complications with Disney’s sale of the studio. [Deadline]