Welcome to an all new edition of The Pit. I hope you like our new format. As always, feel free to send suggestions and news to us through our contact form.

We have some good news and bad news for you in regards to the upcoming Robocop reboot from director José Padilha of the Elite Squad series. The very talented Hugh Laurie has sadly left the project. He was set to portray the villainous CEO of OCP.

On the up side though is that the underused and just as talented Michael Keaton is stepping into the role. The former Batman just isn’t in nearly as many movies as he should be these days. He was last seen on the big screen in The Other Guys and a guest spot on the NBC comedy 30 Rock, both of which he stole the scenes he was in. Other recent cast additions to RoboCop include Jackie Earle Haley and Jay Baruchel.

It is official! The movie and television rights to Daredevil, “man without fear”, are heading back to Marvel Studios and their parent company Disney. This is especially good news with the announcement of a Joss Whedon led SHIELD television series [SEE: Marvel’s SHIELD to Save TV!].

What better way to distance Daredevil from the forgettable Mark Steven Johnson directed 2003 flick than to reintroduce him as his alter ego, the blind lawyer Matt Murdock, in a multiple episode arc that establishes him as part of the overall universe. Maybe he is defending a villain against SHIELD in court before he teams up with the agency to take out a bigger threat? Or agents recruit him for an assignment that only he can handle because of his unique senses?

Finally, someone somewhere has come to their senses and after its sixth season (that is six too many), MTV’s Jersey Shore is coming to an end. I’m sure the network will continue to find ways to make New Jersey and fake Italians look bad. They already have too many spinoffs, including Snooki & JWoww and The Pauly D Project (for the record, any amount of spinoffs from this trash is too many).

The sixth season begins on October 4th with a special marathon and retrospective/preview for the final season on September 6th before the MTV Video Music Awards. I would have preferred it if the series had been cancelled before the sixth season, but beggars can’t be choosers.

The original RoboCop was one of my favorite movies as a kid. Sadly the sequels didn’t hold up to the original, and the television spinoff are better left unseen. When I heard that they were remaking the movie I was annoyed. Ugh. Yet another remake of one of my favorite 80s movies (grumble, The Karate Kid, grumble). But this one is shaping up to be something special.

José Padilha, the director behind the Elite Squad flicks, took over the project from Darren Aronofsky (who is one of the most interesting directors that keeps coming close to doing genre movies – Wolverine, Batman Year One, and now RoboCop). I’m not familiar with Padilha’s work, but his casting choices have been inspired. In the past month, both Gary Oldman and Samuel L. Jackson were announced in roles; Oldman as the scientist that invents RoboCop and Jackson as an over the top television personality/mogul. Now they have stepped up the game even more by casting House MD‘s Hugh Laurie as the villainous CEO of OCP –the company in the original RoboCop that practically owns Detroit. The title role is being played by The Killing‘s Joel Kinnaman, with Abbie Cornish rumored to be portraying his wife.

So far the RoboCop remake is doing something very right with its casting. Hopefully they have worked just as hard on getting the script right and everything else will follow suit. I’m still hesitant, but getting more and more excited for this flick.

Sometimes when a show runs for a lot of seasons, they can run out of stories to tell. That is not what happened on Monday night on House though, no, the writers just got damn creative in this dream sequence where House faced down with zombies! (click the image to watch)

You know what? If House went in the direction of a zombie apocalypse, I think I’d start watching it again…

Tonight is an all new episode of House.  With his license back and the show’s status quote returning, who will be a part of House’s “Dream Team”? I’d love to see Foreman, Thirteen. Chase, Cameron, and Taub all part of a mega team of sorts. We’ll see who House picks tonight. House airs on FOX at 8pm.

Also on…

8PM

• CBS: How I Met Your Mother/Accidentally on Purpose (Comedies)
• CW: One Tree Hill (Drama)
• FOX: House (Medical Drama)
• NBC: Heroes (Supernatual Drama)
• AMC: The Prisoner (Drama)

9PM

• CBS: Two and a Half Men/The Big Bang Theory (Comedies)
• CW: Gossip Girl (Teen Drama)
• FOX: Lie to Me (Crime Drama)
• NBC: Trauma (Medical Drama)
• USA: WWE Monday Night Raw (Wrestling)

10PM

• ABC: Castle (Crime Comedy Drama)
• CBS: CSI: Miami (Crime Drama)
• NBC: Jay Leno Show (Talk/Sketch Comedy)

Truth be told, I usually Tivo House and watch it later in the night (or the following weekend), but with Chuck having aired its season (hopefully just season) finale, I have my 8 o’clock hour free.  This week continues House’s spiral into… insanity? I’m not sure, but he continues to be haunted by visions of Amber, his best friends dead girlfriend. A death that House was responsible for.  In addition to that, House and his team are dealing with the case of a ballerina whose lungs collapse and her skin falls off. Jamie Tisdale and Anne Dudek guest star.

Also on tonight?

8PM

• ABC: Dancing With the Stars (Reality)
• CBS: The Big Bang Theory/How I Met Your Mother (Comedies)
• CW: Gossip Girl (Teen Drama)
• NBC: Deal or No Deal (Gameshow)
• MNT: Masters of Illusion (Reality)
• ABCFAM: Greek (Drama)

9PM

• CBS: Two and a Half Men/Rules of Engagement (Comedies)
• CW: One Tree Hill (Drama)
• FOX: 24 (Action Drama)
• NBC: Medium (Supernatural Drama)
• ABCFAM: Roommates (Comedy)
• USA: WWE Monday Night Raw (Wrestling)

10PM

• ABC: Castle (Crime Drama/Comedy)
• CBS: CSI: Miami (Crime Drama)

An all new episode of my of my favorite shows on TV, the Fox medical drama House starring Hugh Laurie, is on tonight at 8pm. One of the best aspects of the series is that it focuses on the puzzle of the illnesses and the trial and error to find out how to save the patients. Unlike other melodramatic medical dramas, we haven’t even learned the full names of most of the doctors let alone be over saturated in their lives. This makes it all the more effective when we finally do learn of just what is going on outside of the hospital.

Tonight’s episode is titled “Painless”, and the team is working on the case of a man who suffers from a chronic and excruciating pain, much like our title character. Along with that we have advancements on both the Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein) baby storyline and Foreman (Omar Epps) and Thirteen’s (Olivia Wilde) Huntington’s disease drug trial.

Check out these new stills from “Painless” (click to enlarge).

Also on the tube tonight:

8PM

• ABC: The Bachelor (Reality)
• CBS: The Big Bang Theory/How I Met Your Mother (Comedies)
• CW: Gossip Girl (Teen Drama)
• NBC: Superstars of Dance (Reality)
• ABCFAM: The Secret Life of the American Teenager (Teen Drama)

9PM

• CBS: Two and a Half Men/Worst Week (Comedies)
• CW: One Tree Hill (Drama)
• FOX: 24 (Action Drama)
• ABCFAM: KyleXY (Sci Fi Drama)

10PM

• ABC: True Beauty (Reality)
• CBS: CSI: Miami (Crime Drama)
• NBC: Momma’s Boys (Reality)
• ABCFAM: The Secret Life of the American Teenager (Teen Drama)

Tonight at 8pm is an all new episode of House, starring Hugh Laurie. The Fox medical drama is in its fifth season and is still as strong as ever. The new episode is holiday themed and is titled “Joy to the World”.

The network’s official description of tonight’s episode: “A troubled teen collapses during her high-school Christmas program; Foreman and Thirteen learn more about each other as they work together on the Huntington’s disease drug trial; House gives and receives holiday gifts, leading to team speculation; and Cuddy receives a gift as well.”

Clink on any of the pictures below to enlarge.