Will Kristin shoot J.R. again and end up floating in the Ewing pool? Will Pam dream that Bobby was murdered by her crazy, jealous half-sister, only to find him stepping out of her shower the next morning, again? Will Sue Ellen still be a drunken mess? Will J.R. still be a tomcattin’ snake? Will Lucy again have an uber-icky affair with the man who turns out to be her uncle?!

All questions we’ll soon have answered, as TNT has given the thumbs up to a pilot for an updated version of the 1978-91 classic TV drama Dallas. No casting info yet – more on that in a sec – but the show is being created by Cynthia Cidre, who wrote the screenplay for the movie The Mambo Kings and created the all-too-short-lived Jimmy Smits/Nestor Carbonell CBS drama Cane. According to the official press release from TNT, Cidre’s do-over sounds like it’ll be generally faithful to the original, as the story “focuses on the offspring of bitter rivals and brothers J.R. and Bobby Ewing, who clash over the future of the Ewing dynasty while the fate of Southfork itself weighs in the balance.”

Now, back to casting … again, no word yet about who’s on TNT’s list, but here are my suggestions for the new J.R. Ewing and his younger brother/rival Bobby:

J.R.: Gary Cole. Okay, partly, I think Gary Cole should be cast in almost everything, because he’s so awesome. In particular, I think he’d be especially good as J.R. He’s great as a good guy, and I think that’s probably the way most people see him, but he’s played his fair share of more villainous characters (evil Wayne on Desperate Housewives, real-life convicted family killer Jeffrey MacDonald in the made-for-TV movie classic Fatal Vision and, of course, the terminally lame Lumbergh in Office Space, for example). And though he’s got a fine head of hair (seriously, check out that photo), and it might seem like a shame to cover it with a big ol’ Stetson, I think he can handle it. Particularly if his brother is played by …

Ron Livingston. Yep, the Office Space dudes, Lumbergh and Peter Gibbons, together again, this time as oil baron Texas brothers. Aside from the cool factor of the Office Space reunion, I think Livingston would be a good little bro to Cole’s J.R., and it would be nice to see him finally land in a series that has a shot at sticking around for a while if the pilot works.

Or perhaps you all have other ideas about who should don the tall hats as the new J.R. and Bobby? Or suggestions about who should be the new Sue Ellen, Pam, Lucy, Miss Ellie, Jock, Ray, etc.? Let’s hear ’em if you do …

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• Filed in Classic TV, Drama
• Tags: Dallas remake, Dallas TNT

All the tube news that’s fit to surf …

– The campaign to get 30 Rock Emmy nominee Tracy Morgan on Twitter has been successful: Morgan launched his official Twitter account on Thursday. And if the hope was that the comedian would share some of his trademark off-the-wall thoughts on Twitter, his followers didn’t have to wait long. Morgan’s second Tweet, isn’t quotable on a, ahem, family blog, so suffice it to say it describes, using Star Wars references, his little Tracy. Or not so, as the Tweet alludes ….

– More 30 Rock news: Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) wants a duplex apartment, but there’s something standing in her way … an upstairs neighbor, who’ll be played by former Daily Show correspondent Nathan Corddry in the show’s sixth episode this seasson.

– And more naughty primetime TV star behavior: Marge Simpson will be the Playboy mag cover girl for November, and yes, she will be nekkid. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of The Simpsons, Playboy will also feature a Q+A and data sheet on the blue-haired Simpsons matriarch, but, as E! Online points out, readers are probably going to be more interested in those naked drawings, to see if “the rug matches the (blue) drapes.” D’oh indeed.

– CBS is re-making the cop drama Hawaii 5-0, while TNT is mulling a remake of the Ewing oil drama Dallas. The new Dallas would focus on Ewing offspring John Ross (J.R.’s son) and Christopher (Bobby’s son).

– Project Runway the TV show will become Project Runway the Wii videogame.

– Modern Family, The Middle and Cougar Town have gotten full-season pick-ups from ABC. Not so much for Kelsey Grammer‘s Hank, the worst-reviewed, least-watched of ABC’s new comedy offerings.

– West Wing and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip star Bradley Whitford is headed back to the tube in Jack and Dan, a new Fox buddy cop action-dramedy created by Burn Notice creator Matt Nix.

– It’s not a Desperate Housewives spin-off, but DH creator Marc Cherry is developing a new drama for ABC, and it will have the same tone as the soapy DH.

– Food Network, make room for the Cooking Channel.

– Jerry’s the only one who had the same job throughout the series, but Mainstreet.com points out the many job-hunting lessons we can learn from the Seinfeld gang.

– Showtime will premiere Dexter: Early Cuts, a 12-part animated series of Webisodes that unfolds some of the serial killer’s early years, on Oct. 25.

– And this weekend in primetime:

FRIDAY
– The ninth season of Degrassi: The Next Generation premieres on TeenNick at 8PM ET
– Snoop Dogg is in the hizzouse on Brothers (8PM, Fox)
– Eli’s dead mom reveals a secret after his dad has a heart attack on Ghost Whisperer (8PM, CBS)
– Dead men don’t travel with bags of money, which leads to a kidnapping investigation on Law & Order (8PM, NBC)
– On Smallville (8PM, The CW), Lois in infected with a zombie plague, and Clark has to risk revealing his identity to Zod to help her
– Eddie’s new boss is one of his former students on ‘Til Death (8:30PM, Fox)
– I’m Alive (9PM) is Animal Planet’s new series that unfolds the stories of people who’ve survived animal attacks
– New season of the Dog Whisperer on NGC at 9PM
– Echo and Victor mix it up on Dollhouse (9PM, Fox)
– Hilarity and a murder investigation ensue when Monk (9PM, USA) joins group therapy
– Babs Streisand is interviewed on Friday Night With Streisand and Ross (9PM, BBCA)
– Allison suspects foul play when her cancer-stricken friend dies on Medium (9PM, CBS)
– New Stargate Universe at 9PM on Syfy
– The second season of Sanctuary premieres on Syfy at 10PM
– The Rescue Ink Unleashed (10PM, NGC) guys try to locate a doggie who was stolen during a robbery
– David Naughton (An American Werewolf in London) guest stars on a Psych episode (10PM, USA) in which Shawn and Gus work on the case of a guy who believes he’s a werewolf
– More contestants try to win cash to get out of debt on BET’s game show Pay It Off (10PM)
– A ’70s-themed birthday party at an NYC museum in on the slate tonight on Wedded to Perfection (10PM, TLC)
– New Numb3rs at 10PM on CBS
– NFL legend Terry Bradshaw is the guest on The Jay Leno Show (10PM, NBC)
– Sarah Silverman is among the guests on Real Time with Bill Maher (10PM, HBO)

SATURDAY
– Animal Planet’s new series SuperFetch (8PM) is all about teaching all dogs, old and new, new tricks
– It’s the HBO premiere of Marley & Me at 8PM
– Back-to-back new episodes of History Channel’s What Went Down focus on Pearl Harbor (8PM) and The Alamo (9PM)
– Making His Band wraps season one at 9PM on MTV
– It’s a must-watch or TiVo episode of The Suze Orman Show (9PM, CNBC), as a viewer wants to know if Suze thinks a private concert with the band Cracker is a good expenditure
– New Robin Hood ep on BBCA (9PM)
– A woman asks The Locator (9PM, WE) to help her find her brother, who she hasn’t seen in 18 years, since she was just three-years-old
– Cheesy Syfy thriller of the week: Megafault (9PM), about a massive earthquake that would split the world in half!
– Dogs 101 (9PM, Animal Planet) focuses on English sheepdogs, Chow Chows and miniature schnauzers
– Soon-to-be talk show host Wanda Sykes debuts her latest stand-up special, Wanda Sykes: I’ma Be Me, at 10PM on HBO
– Ricky Gervais is among the guests on the sixth-season premiere of The Graham Norton Show on BBCA at 10PM
– It’s the 10th anniversary of Alton Brown‘s Good Eats (10PM) on Food Network
– Drew Barrymore returns as host for the sixth time on Saturday Night Live (11:30PM, NBC), with musical guest Regina Spektor

SUNDAY
– One of the teams loses passports in Cambodia on a new ep of The Amazing Race (8PM, CBS)
– New Extreme Makeover: Home Editor on ABC at 8PM
– Marge is upset that the Punch, Kick and Choke Championships are coming to Springfield on The Simpsons (8PM, Fox)
– It’s all about sugar showpieces on the Food Network Challenge (8PM)
– Cleveland Jr.’s new friend Ernie (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia‘s Glenn Howerton) wants to move in to the Brown household on The Cleveland Show (8:30PM, Fox)
– JFK: 3 Shots That Changed America (9PM, History) is a new documentary on the Kennedy assassination
– It’s down to nine contenders on The Next Iron Chef (9PM, Food Network)
– Gaby’s old fling John (Jesse Metcalfe) returns on Desperate Housewives (9PM, ABC)
– Chevy Chase and Dan Ackroyd guest on Family Guy (9PM, Fox)
– Drop Dead Diva wraps its first season on Lifetime (9PM)
– NGC’s all about dinosaurs with Dinosaurs Decoded (9PM, NGC)
– On Three Rivers (9PM, CBS), a college student needs a lung transplant but may not be eligible for it
– Discovering Ardi (9PM, Discovery) unfolds the story of Ardipithecus ramidus, a 4-million-year-old hominid skeleton and the research to find out if it’s a human ancestor
– One super argumentative Bridezilla (9PM, WE) has it out with her florist – over 12 cents
– Dexter (9PM, Showtime) becomes a fan of the Trinity Killer’s methods
– Larry can’t go anywhere without stirring up trouble, and on tonight’s Curb Your Enthusiasm (9PM, HBO), he mixes it up with an ex-girlfriend and Christian Slater
– New American Dad episode at 9:30PM (Fox)
– Parker Posey guests on Bored to Death (9:30PM, HBO)
– Girls Next Door‘s sixth season premieres on E! at 10PM
– Rick Springfield and Kathleen Turner guest star on Californication (10PM, Showtime)
– David says no to a winter wedding in spring on My Fair Wedding with David Tutera (10PM, WE)
– Army Wives third season finale airs at 10PM (Lifetime)
– Don and Sal have difficult business situations on Mad Men (10PM, AMC)
– Kitty decides to tell the fam about her illness on Brothers & Sisters (10PM, ABC)
– Lily meets up with ex-BF Eddie (Bobby Cannavale) on Cold Case (10PM, CBS)
– E!’s newest celebreality series, Leave It to Lamas (10:30PM), focuses on the warring Lamas fam, where papa Lorenzo is ticked at his son, who allegedly slept with Lorenzo’s ex-wife

• 1 Comment
• Filed in 30 Rock, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, TV News
• Tags: Dallas remake, Dallas sequel, Hawaii 5-0 remake, Marge Simpson Playboy, Project Runway Wii game, Tracy Morgan Twitter