As part of The CW portion of the TCA Press Tour, network president Mark Pedowitz took some time to discuss current programming, upcoming series and shows in various development stages.  During the interview, he talked about how The Carrie Diaries came about, what attracted the network to Cult, the genesis for the possible The Vampire Diaries spin-off about the Originals (with Joseph Morgan and Phoebe Tonkin, and set in New Orleans), that The Selection and Wonderland are still in pilot contention, how the Wonder Woman project Amazon is progressing, their interest in other DC Comics characters, that they are no longer pursuing a Battle Royale series, and how they feel about current shows Supernatural, Beauty and the Beast, Nikita and Hart of Dixie.  Check out what he had to say after the jump.

As part of the TCA Press Tour presentation for FX, President & General Manager of FX Networks John Landgraf took some time to talk about their current hit series, new shows, and what they see as possibilities for their future line-up.  During the interview, he spoke about the importance of establishing trust with your showrunners, having strong female leads at the center of their upcoming drama series The Americans and The Bridge, what he’s heard about casting for Season 3 of American Horror Story, the plan for the next 90 episodes of Anger Management and the tweaking they’ve done to the show, how he sees It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia having a 10-season run, and broadcaster responsibility, in regard to violence on television.  Check out what he had to say after the jump.

Fox has unveiled a few newsworthy items during the Television Critics Association winter press tour, including the announcement of a new series by M. Night Shyamalan, Wayward Pines, which the network says should be evocative of Twin Peaks (how many times have we heard that before?)  Additionally, a new series called Blood Brothers is also on the slate, focusing on a true story of the West Point Class of 1861.

A few more points of interest:

• The networks’ veteran procedural Bones has been renewed for its ninth (ninth!) season.
• Seth Rogen (Knocked Up) is set to to guest-star on an upcoming episode of The Mindy Project as Mindy’s “first kiss” (The show returns February 19th at 9:30pm)
• Fox is unveiling “Animation Domination High-Def,” a new bloc for “alternative” comedy (translation: more super short-form, Adult Swim kinda stuff)

We just recently found out the nominees for the first Critics Choice Television Awards, but now we have the list of fantastic shows and talents which have been nominated for the long-running Television Critics’ Association awards. This year the 27th annual awards nominees prove that the TCA just knows what they’re talking about when it comes to quality television, even moreso than the primtetime Emmys. THR unveiled the list with Game of Thrones, Justified and Parks and Recreation leading the pack with four nominations each including love for those series’ cast members like Peter Dinklage, Timothy Olyphant and Amy Poehler. Once again it’s also great to see Community and Louie get some respect along with respective cast members Danny Pudi and Louis C.K. also receiving nominations. Check out the full list of nominees after jump.

Adapted from the British series of the same name, Shameless is the latest drama from Showtime that is already off to a successful start. The show follows Frank Gallagher (William H. Macy), a booze-addled, working-class patriarch to a brood of six smart, spirited and independent kids who would be better off without his misguided idea of parenting. While Frank is off bar-crawling and carousing around Chicago, eldest daughter Fiona (Emmy Rossum) holds down the fort, taking care of the irreverent, endearing and resilient Gallagher clan, who are quite certainly a handful.

While at the Showtime portion of the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour, actress Emmy Rossum talked about what attracted her to this television series, what she loves most about her character Fiona, making sex scenes fun and not taking them too seriously, and how much she enjoys being able to do and say just about anything on this show. Check out what she had to say after the jump:

In the five-part HBO mini-series event Mildred Pierce, debuting on March 27^th, Kate Winslet stars in the title role, playing a proud single mother struggling to earn her daughter’s love during the Great Depression in middle-class Los Angeles. Based on James M. Cain’s 1941 novel of the same name, the drama offers an intimate portrait of a uniquely independent woman who finds herself newly divorced and struggling to carve out a new life for herself and her family. The story explores Mildred’s unreasonable devotion to her insatiable daughter, Veda (Evan Rachel Wood), as well as the complex relationships she shares with the less than desirable men in her life.

While at the HBO portion of the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour, actress Evan Rachel Wood talked about working with Kate Winslet and director Todd Haynes, the intense music training she had to go through for the role, and doing her first nude scene. She also talked about her return to HBO’s hit television series True Blood for Season 4 and her upcoming film project The Ides of March. Check out what she had to say after the jump:

Lots of news came straight out of HBO’s panel for the Television Critics Association concerning current and upcoming series for the successful cable network. First up, THR says HBO’s official word has potentially bad news for fans of Vincent Chase and his Entourage with the series (HBO’s longest running series) looking to end once and for all in 2011. Once this season is finished the network is planning on one more short-order season ending with six final episodes next summer. However, HBO programming president Michael Lombardo says that may not be the absolute end for Entourage and definitely won’t be the end of their working relationship with creator Doug Ellin. More details after the jump including news on Game of Thrones and Boardwalk Empire.

The Television Critics Association has unveiled their nominees for the best TV of the year, and as always, there’s plenty to like.  Among the highlights:

• Breaking Bad, Friday Night Lights, Glee, Lost, and Modern Family are up for the prestigious “Program of the Year” award
• Modern Family tops the list with five noms, including two of the five comedic acting nominees for Eric Stonestreet and Ty Burrell
• Breaking Bad received four nominations, including two of the five dramatic acting nominees for Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul
• Usual suspects Mad Men and 30 Rock are mostly absent, with only one nomination between them
• Shows like Friday Night Lights, Party Down, and Sons of Anarchy, which are likely to go unnoticed at the Emmys, all get a nod

The award ceremony will honor the winners on July 31.  Hit the jump for the full list of nominees.

Executive producers Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks are following up their highly successful 2001 mini-series Band of Brothers with the epic 10-part The Pacific, premiering on HBO on March 14^th.

The mini-series tracks the intertwined journeys of three U.S. Marines — Robert Leckie (James Badge Dale), Eugene Sledge (Joe Mazzello) and John Basilone (Jon Seda) — of the 1^st Marine Division, which is the oldest and largest active duty division of the U.S. Marine Corps.

While Band of Brothers followed the experiences of one company of Amy paratroopers in the European Theater of Operations, The Pacific depicts the war a world away in the Pacific Theater of Operations, which encompassed most of the Pacific Ocean and its islands, including the Philippines, the Netherlands East Indies, New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.  With the support of their fellow Marines and comrades in the Navy, Air Force and Army, the 1^st Marine Division was at the forefront of many of the hardest-fought campaigns of the Pacific War.  More after the jump:

Since Lost first debuted in 2004, the mysteries of the Island have been some of the most hotly debated in television history. With all eyes on Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, as fans of the show are looking for answers to all of the still unanswered questions, the executive producers are surely feeling the pressure to deliver.

While taking some time to talk to press, following the show’s Final Season panel at the recent Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour, Damon Lindelof admitted that he’s come across some theories where fans have figured out at least a significant portion of the pieces to the puzzle, but that they just have not been given all the information they would need to figure out the final answers. He also discussed not being able to please everyone with the show’s conclusion, the legacy Lost will leave behind and how he plans to return to Star Trek 2 in April.

Check out what he had to say after the jump.