The hit USA Network drama series Burn Notice is back with its remaining episodes for Season 6.  Already renewed for Season 7, which will likely be the show’s last season, things are on a dark trajectory for Michael Weston (Jeffrey Donovan), that will culminate with a shocking season finale, in which he makes a decision that affects not only his friends, but will be a huge betrayal.  From creator Matt Nix, the show also stars Bruce Campbell, Gabrielle Anwar, Coby Bell and Sharon Gless.

During this recent interview to promote the return of the popular TV show, actor Jeffrey Donovan talked about how much fun it is to play so many different cover characters on the show, his favorite villains, maintaining chemistry among the cast, where things are headed with the storylines, how long he sees playing this character, the major challenges in directing episodes of the show, his responsibilities as a producer, how different he is from Michael Weston, and what he likes to do on hiatus.  Check out what he had to say after the jump, and be aware that there are some spoilers. 

Fans of USA Network’s summer programing will be happy to know that White Collar, Royal Pains, and Covert Affairs have all been renewed for further seasons.  THR reports that Royal Pains has been given a 26-episode order for seasons five and six (each running 13-episodes long), while White Collar and Covert Affairs have been picked up for their respective 15-episode fifth and fourth seasons.  Fans won’t have to wait until next summer for more Royal Pains, however, as a two-hour TV movie called Off-Season Greetings is set to air on December 16th.

USA has yet to make a decision concerning its other series, but the trifecta of White Collar, Royal Pains, and Covert Affairs still brings in strong ratings, especially in the coveted 18-49 demographic.

We’ve got a couple of television casting stories to share with you today. First up, the incredibly funny Will Forte has been tapped to lead the Fox comedy pilot Rebounding. Deadline reports that Forte will play Danny in the uplifting comedy which centers on “a man recovering from the death of his fiancée with the help of the idiots on his pickup basketball team. It’s not exactly MacGruber: The Series, but I could definitely see Forte having fun with the premise. The single-camera pilot comes from writers/executive producers Joe Port and Joe Wiseman (The IT Crowd), executive producer Steve Levitan (Modern Family), and director Jason Winer. Forte has an excellent recurring role on 30 Rock, and while a part of me would genuinely love to see MacGruber turned into a TV show, I’m glad to see Forte is getting the chance to lead a series of his own.

Hit the jump for casting news concerning USA’s Political Animals.

His series White Collar has found a comfortable home at USA with a decent audience following on the cable network, and now Deadline Jeff Eastin has lined up the pilot for a new one-hour drama series. The currently untitled series is likely to have the same blend of comedy and drama as White Collar as it follows agents from various federal and local agencies (DEA, FBI, LAPD) who all live at an undercover house in Southern California. Likely the dynamic of the agencies working together and living under one roof will be the source of the lighter side of the series with the drama coming from the various cases they’re working on. If it’s half as successful as White Collar, which already has a fourth season order, then USA will keep their track record going strong.

After renewing White Collar, Suits and In Plain Sight, USA Network has now made three more renewals for a handful of their ongoing series. TV Line has word that the cable network has given a third season order to Covert Affairs and a fourth season order to Royal Pains. Meanwhile, the new series Necessary Roughness will get a second season at bat as well. In a bit of standard publicity fluff, USA Co-Presidents Chris McCumber and Jeff Wachtel said:

“USA’s original programming blew through all expectations this summer. We had an unprecedented number of original series on our air — and every single one of them was great.”

As for the conclusion of the current seasons of Covert Affairs and Royal Pains, the former will begin airing the final six episodes of the second season on November 1st at 9/8c while the latter will finish out its season sometime later this winter.

I’ve often wondered who watches USA series’ such as Burn Notice, In Plain Sight, and White Collar. Honestly, I’ve never seen an episode of any of the above, so it has nothing to do with my thinking they aren’t quality programs. It’s just that I’ve honestly never talked with someone who watches them with any regularity. And, with that in mind, I’m proud to introduce to you another installment of “Jason is wrong about a lot of things.”

Apparently someone watches White Collar (more than 5.5 million per episode, actually) because Variety reports that the network has renewed the series for a 16-episode fourth season. The second half of the third season is set to air early next year with production on the newly announced fourth season beginning shortly thereafter. For those unfamiliar with the series, White Collar stars Matt Bomer as a con-artist who enjoys an unlikely professional relationship with Tim DeKay’s character, an FBI agent.

Syfy gave Eureka the unexpected axe earlier this week, but for every cancellation, there is an equal and opposite renewal.  The Live Feed reports the network renewed Warehouse 13 for a fourth season, appropriately ordering 13 episodes to premiere in 2012.  Led by Eddie McClintock, Joanne Kelly, and Aaron Ashmore, Warehouse 13 is currently airing season three episodes on Monday nights.

In other renewal news, USA renewed two shows: Suits and In Plain Sight.  Suits has been a solid addition to the USA rotation since its June series premiere averaging more than 6 million viewers per episode.  The network ordered 16 episodes for season two.  The news is more bittersweet for In Plain Sight, as The Live Feed hears the newly announced season five will also be its last.  The series, which stars Mary McCormack as a U.S. Marshal, wrapped up its fourth season last Sunday.  Leave your condolences and/or celebration in the comments, depending on the predicament of your favorite show mentioned here.

On the USA drama series Covert Affairs, actress Kari Matchett plays Joan Campbell, a woman who has managed to ascend higher in the CIA than almost any other woman in the male-dominated agency. Joan is hard on her newest employee, Annie Walker (Piper Perabo), because she sees herself in her, not that she would ever actually admit that. In the difficult position of being married to her boss, Arthur, Joan finds that maintaining the balance between home and work is a constant challenge for them.

During a recent exclusive phone interview with Collider, Kari Matchett talked about the how she enjoys playing a character with such strength, what she did to prepare for taking on the role of a woman of power in the CIA, that she’d love to find a way for Joan to do a scene with Annie’s sister, Danielle (Anne Dudek), and how excited she is to not only get to show Joan’s humor this season, but to also get out into the field and kick some butt. Check out what she had to say after the jump:

It’s that time of the year when networks get ready to present their development slate for potential new series that will hit the air later this fall when the new TV season kicks off. The first one out of the gate with a slew of new series in the works is USA Network which has no less than seven new one-hour dramas and five half-hour comedies potentially on the way. The network has had success with series like Psych and Burn Notice, but this new slate makes a big push into half-hour comedy territory and a whole slew of new hour-long dramas. In addition, there’s also a limited series (like how The 4400 or The Starter Wife began). Details on each of the series being developed can be found after the jump.

The entirety of USA Network’s thriving original series will be returning next year. Series like In Plain Sight, Burn Notice, Covert Affairs and Law & Order: Criminal Intent were already set to return and THR reports Royal Pains, White Collar and Psych will all be joining them for another season as well. Their drama line-up is starting to rival that of broadcast networks and they’re still planning to launch a couple more next year (with an eye towards some more comedy and maybe unscripted programming). Royal Pains will deliver 16 or 18 episodes (apparently an 18-episode order is more likely) while White Collar and Psych will be getting 16-episode orders. Fans of these series should count their blessings as broadcast networks can’t seem to hold on to their shows year after year.

Though spinoff Law & Order: Los Angeles gained a name actor in Terrence Howard, it looks like USA’s Law & Order: Criminal Intent is going to lose one of their best: Variety reports that Jeff Goldblum has decided to leave the series after two years leading the crime show.  Though there’s a chance he could change his mind, apparently his decision was “due to the uncertainty” of the show’s future (which means it could be on the verge of cancellation).  There are no hard feelings at Dick Wolf’s production company, but this could push USA away from bringing back the series for a tenth season since its fate hasn’t been decided yet.

After the jump, check out casting news for AMC’s new period drama pilot Hell on Wheels, and a new guest star for NBC’s Chuck.

USA announced today at their Comic-Con panel in Ballroom 20 that a Burn Notice prequel movie centered around Bruce Campbell is in the works.  According to Variety, the telepic will follow “the last assignment of [Campbell's] character, Sam Axe, as a Navy SEAL before his retirement.”  Filming is set to begin after season four (currently airing) wraps and before the start of season five on location in Latin America.  Campbell has long been a geek icon due to his role as Ash in the Evil Dead series, so Comic-Con is truly the perfect venue for such an announcement.

Hit the jump for an update on casting additions to the AMC zombie series The Walking Dead.

USA Network is feeling the burn.  Although the fourth season of Burn Notice, the top-rated show on cable, has not yet finished production, President of Original Programming, Jeffrey Watchel, has re-upped the veteran series for seasons 5 and 6, each running at least 15 and 18 episodes, respectively.  As Watchel told Variety, “Once Saturday Night Live makes fun of you, how can you not committ to extra seasons?”  More after the jump: