TV News: "Lost" and "Scrubs" Casting News, Locklear Returns to "Melrose Place?"

- Well that didn't take long! Hot on the heels of the leak of a character description for a new Lost character, it was announced today that actor John Hawkes will be joining the show as the recurring character Lennon. The casting side described the character as "the spokesman/translator for the president of a foreign corporation" who's "far more powerful than his lowly position would seem to indicate." Hawkes is a veteran of shows including Deadwood and Eastbound & Down. [TV Guide]

- The three new regulars who will play the next generation of Scrubs doctors have been cast.  Dave Franco (yes, he's James Franco's younger brother and has also starred in Greek and Privileged), Michael Mosley (The Proposal) and Kerry Bishé (Virtuality) will be the new med students under the tutelage of series veterans Donald Faison and John C. McGinley. [Hollywood Reporter]

- Speaking of Scrubs, congrats to actress Sarah Chalke and her fiancé, who recently announced that they are expecting their first child! [People]

- Heather Locklear may return to Melrose Place. The erstwhile Amanda Woodward is now in talks to reprise her role on the rebooted series, which now stars Ashlee Simpson-Wentz. Several of Locklear's fellow cast members from the original series have also signed on, including Laura Leighton, Thomas Calabro, Josie Bissett and Daphne Zuniga. [TV Guide]

- Syfy has reupped their new original series Warehouse 13, ordering a 13-episode second season of of the show. Evidently Warehouse 13 is the most-watched show in the channel's history.  [Variety]

- In some groan-worthy tv news, ABC is looking to turn both the '80s "Brat Pack" movie St. Elmo's Fire and the novel The Time Traveler's Wife into television series. A feature film version of The Time Traveler's Wife was, of course, was released into theaters last weekend.  Click here to read Pop Wench Radhika's review of the movie. [TV Guide and MTV.com]

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SCI FI Channel Announces Its Comic-Con Panels

SCI FI Channel has released the schedule of panels it will be hosting at San Diego Comic-Con later this month.  The schedule covers a wide range of their original programming and the talent from those shows, including Edward James Olmos and Esai Morales from Battlestar Galactica and Caprica; most of the cast of the newest installment in the Stargate franchise, Stargate Universe; and Sanctuary stars Amanda Tapping and Robin Dunne.

Schedule from SCI FI Channel as follows:

Friday, July 24
10:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Stargate Universe Ballroom 20. A new chapter of the Stargate saga begins with the all-new original series Stargate Universe. Join stars Robert Carlyle, Brian J. Smith, Elyse Levesque, David Blue, Alaina Huffman, Jamil Walker Smith and Ming-Na alongside series co-creators Brad Wright and Robert Cooper.

11:45 a.m.-12:45 p.m. Caprica/Battlestar Galactica: The Plan Ballroom 20. The present meets the past as the makers of Battlestar Galactica deliver the highly anticipated original series Caprica and the two-hour event, Battlestar Galactica: The Plan, directed by Edward James Olmos. This is your chance to get the inside scoop on these exciting projects and see two generations of Adamas on stage together for the first time. Executive Producers Ronald D. Moore, David Eick and Jane Espenson sit down with Caprica star Esai Morales (Joseph Adama) and Olmos (Admiral William Adama) to reveal the truth about these two new chapters in the mythology of Battlestar. Moderated by Geoff Boucher, Los Angeles Times.

3:15 p.m.-4:15 p.m. Eureka Room 6BCF. Eureka is back this summer with all new episodes, and Salli Richardson-Whitfield (Allison Blake), Erica Cerra (Jo Lupo), Neil Grayston (Douglas Fargo) and Jaime Paglia (executive producer/co-creator) are stopping by to let you in on the fun. Moderated by Josh Gates, Destination Truth.

8:30 p.m.-10:30 p.m. SCI FI Screening Room 6DE. See Warehouse 13 and Eureka on the big screen. Join SCI FI for an exclusive screening of the next all-new episodes of the summer's two hottest series, along with best of clips from Ghost Hunters.

[bxA]Saturday, July 25
12:30 p.m.-1:30 p.m. Sanctuary Bayside Hilton Indigo Room. Before Sanctuary returns for an all-new season, don't miss your chance to go inside the action and behind the scenes. Join stars Amanda Tapping (Dr. Helen Magnus) and Robin Dunne (Dr. Will Zimmerman) as well as executive producers Martin Wood and Damian Kindler for an exclusive conversation about one of television's most innovative shows. Moderated by Michael Logan, TV Guide.

2:15 p.m.-3:15 p.m. Warehouse 13 Room 6A. Join stars Eddie McClintock (Pete Lattimer), Joanne Kelly (Myka Bering), Saul Rubinek (Artie Nielsen) and Allison Scagliotti (Claudia Donovan), along with Jack Kenny (executive producer/show runner) and David Simkins (executive producer) as they reveal confidential information about America's most classified secret. Moderated by Michael Logan, TV Guide.

Tickets for San Diego Comic-Con are sold out, but don't forget that Pop Wenches will be live blogging from the event! [SCIFI Wire]

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Universe of Sci-fi Stars to Guest on Warehouse 13

SciFi Channel's upcoming series Warehouse 13 doesn't debut until July, but it's already boasting an impressive line up of guest stars.

The show centers on a pair of Secret Service Agents -- Pete and Myka (Eddie McClintock and Joanne Kelly) -- who are transferred to Warehouse 13 and now answer to Artie, the location's caretaker and team leader. The Warehouse is a huge, top-secret storage facility for paranormal, mysterious and downright weird objects that have been collected by the US government. Think the Area 51 warehouse from the first and last Indiana Jones movies or the Cigarette Smoking Man's Pentagon storage hideway from The X-Files.

The new show's guest star roster starts with 3-time Emmy nominee CCH Pounder, who will play the boss of the Warehouse's caretaker in the pilot and a second episode later in the season.

Stargate Atlantis lead Joe Flanigan will guest as Jeff Weaver, a handsome and wealthy chamer who catches Myka's eye. He ends up under suspicion when the sculpture on which he bids vanishes in a seemingly impossible theft.

Several Battlestar Galactica veterans will guest star in different episodes. Tricia Helfer will play an FBI agent who initially clashes with the Secret Service agents when they interfere in one of her cases, until the unusual circumstances surrounding the case change her mind. Michael Hogan and his real-life wife, Susan, have been cast as Myka's father, Warren Bering, and mother in an episode that sees Bering's life threatened when he receives a dangerous object through the mail. Mark Sheppard will play Mr. Valda, one of the mysterious representatives of the Regents (the shadowy organization that controls Warehouse 13), who clashes with Artie.

Additional guest stars include Joe Morton, Erica Cerra and Niall Matter from SciFi's Eureka; James Naughton from Gossip Girl, Roger Rees from Cheers and Ivan Sergie from Crossing Jordan. [SCI FI Wire]

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