I just heard that well-liked veteran show The Unit "probably picked up at CBS".

2ND UPDATE: I hear How To Teach Filthy Rich Girls (WBTV/Alloy) is "probably" picked up at CW, It was considered a slam dunk, like 90210. (Is it true HTTFRG's title has been changed to "Surviving The Filthy Rich"?)

UPDATE: I've just been told that, as expected, the CW has picked up 90210, the spinoff to Beverly Hills, 90210. I reported earlier that it received the OK to hire writers. I hear the deal is closed with Gabe Sachs and Jeff Judah to run the show, and the script is being rewritten. CW renewed The Game for another season. Both are CW/CBS Paramount shows. Meanwhile, the town is still waiting on CW news for Reaper. The network is pairing the Tyra Banks/Ken Mok contest show Stylista with that duo's America's Next Top Model. And Variety reports that the CW has pacted with indie producers Media Rights Capital to program the Sunday night lineup this fall, with MRC on board to produce two comedies and two dramas for the block aimed at adults 18-to-49, not CW's younger demos, and the specific shows will be announced at Tuesday's upfront presentation.

I'm told FBC has picked up Joss Whedon's new Dollhouse (20th Century Fox TV) for mid-season. Given his rabid Whedonesques, who don't take rejection well, I don't see how the network could have said no this time around. 

As one of my sources complains, "They are secretive fucks." But I'm told CBS is giving two drama pilots, The Mentalist (WBTV) and also 11th Hour (WBTV/Jerry Bruckheimer TV) pickups. And the network is saying "maybe yes" to Mythological X (CBS/20th Century Fox TV) for midseason or possibly even fall. As for CBS comedies, I'm told the Untitled Ed Yeager and Ric Swartzlander laffer (ABC TV Studios) is picked up. The duo are the writers and exec producers. But the town is still waiting on renewal news for a lot of shows at CBS, like The Unit or Moonlight.

I hear that, after intense negotiations with David Kelley about cutting the show's licensing fee, ABC has renewed Boston Legal for a 5th season. A source tells me: "Watch for the cast to be scaled down to Spader, Shatner, Candace, and fewer people around them." Sources are telling me that Kelley's other show for ABC, Life On Mars, "probably will be ordered" and is "looking like it should be officially picked up any minute." But insiders say it will have new showrunners: October Road alum Josh Applebaum and André Nemec.

I'm told the Directors Guild is getting involved same as the Screen Actors Guild vis a vis the indie Nailed and Capitol Films' financing woes. (Previous, ON SET DRAMA UPDATE: SAG Orders Actors On David O. Russell Film To Leave)

SUNDAY AM: Showing just how fiercely competitive the summer box office is right now, rival Hollywood movie studios are complaining to me they don't believe Warner Bros' domestic gross numbers released today claiming its disastrous Speed Racer came in 2nd behind Marvel's Iron Man in the weekend's Top 10 contest. All the other majors -- Fox, Sony, Paramount, Universal, Disney, and MGM -- have the anime actioner opening only 3rd. And they dispute WB's reporting that Speed Racer made $20.2 million for Fri-Sat-Sun because its projected Sunday number isn't seen as possible. "That's a very aggressive Sunday estimate to try and claim 2nd," one studio's top marketing and distribution mogul complained to me this morning, echoing the disbelief of most of his colleagues. "Warners is hoping moms want to go to Speed Racer for Mothers Day." (To give Warner Bros the benefit of the doubt, it's true that family pics do well on Mothers Day.) But all the other studios have Fox's romantic comedy What Happens In Vegas in 2nd place with $20 million, and Speed Racer only 3rd with $19.7 million. And the rival execs say that, since Speed Racer's gross was even softer than anyone thought, up only 18% on Saturday because of kiddie matinees compared to Friday, the Warner Bros film couldn't possibly get to $20 million for the weekend barring a box office miracle on Sunday. "Their estimate is utterly laughable!," a top exec at a rival major told me this AM. "That being said, from what I've heard, they are not trying to dress up the pig. They're resigned to it being a disaster... just not enough to stop them from fabricating a number to jump Fox for the #2 position." These kind of controversies don't develop often in Hollywood, but when they do, they can be ugly. That's because there is a certain code of honor among thieves, if you will -- a tacit agreement that every Hollywood studio will try to report weekend box office numbers as accurately as possible, even though there's a significant PR advantage to artifically moving a disappointing film up a slot in the Top 10 by inflating numbers. The irony is that these controversies get settled quickly, as soon as tomorrow when the actual theater by theater grosses for Sunday come in Monday and then determine the "actual" figures as opposed to the Sunday "estimates"...

Nobody is disputing distributor Paramount's figures that Marvel's summer blockbuster Iron Man made a platinum $15 million on Friday from 4,111 venues, and $21.6 million on Saturday, giving it an estimated FSS total of $50.5 million, or more than double the  domestic box office gross of its nearest weekend competitor, to stay No. 1 again. Its new cume is a monster $177.1M. But Warner Bros' Speed Racer, whether its weekend total is $19.7 million or $20.2 million from 3,606 plays, made only half what the studio hoped, even with lowered expectations because of bad buzz and poor tracking. Not only is the anime actioner this summer's first summer bomb, but it's also doing dismally in key areas of its 30+ day and date opening foreign territories. The pic has gone bust in many international markets, with some disastrous openings in Europe in particular. Besides a too-long running time and a too-small audience of younger boys, the Wachowski siblings spent at least $160M making the pic, whereas Fox's What Happens in Vegas cost only $35 million. Hollywood is convinced Warner Bros has a major writedown on its hands. Vegas took in $7.1 million Friday and $7.5 million Saturday from 3,215 runs for a $20 million weekend. For much more analysis, see my 'Speed Racer' Crashes & Burns To Become First Summer Bomb and Weekend Prediction.

The rest of the Top 10 were holdovers: #4 Sony's Made Of Honor took in $7.6M for a new cume of $26.2M; #5 Universal's Baby Mama, $5.7M weekend, $40.3M cume; #6 Universal's Forgetting Sarah Marshall, $3.7M weekend, $50.7M cume; #7 Warner Bros' Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay, $3.1M weekend, $30.7M cume; #8 Lionsgate/The Weinstein Co's The Forbidden Kingdom, $1.9M weekend, $48.2M cume; #9 Fox's Nim's Island, $1.3M weekend, $44.2M cume; #10 Sony Classics' Redbelt, $1.1M weekend, $1.2M cume.

It didn't help that Nina Tassler is a longtime best pal of Exit 19 star Geena Davis because I'm told the CBS drama pilot (CBS Paramount TV / ABC TV Studios) is DOA. Sheesh, what are friends for? But I hear the script wasn't up to snuff.

UPDATE: I also just heard that FBC gave a "cast contingent" pilot pickup to the Shaun Cassidy drama Inseparable (ABC TV Studios). A source just told me he thinks the pilot will be re-shot.

Despite all the buzz, and exec producer McG, and a "phenomenal cast", Spaced is a no-go, I'm told. FBC just turned thumbs down on the WBTV/Wonderland pilot, which was adapted from the successful British TV series.

UPDATE: The Beverly Hills, 90210 Spinoff 90210 (CW/CBS Paramount), a slam dunk pickup, is hiring writers at the CW. I hear the deal is closed with Gabe Sachs and Jeff Judah to run the show, and the script is being rewritten. Original alum Jennie Garth is joining. I bet Ian Ziering would pay the network to be cast...

I hear already-on-the-air one-hour Eli Stone and half-hour Miss/Guided, exec produced by Ashton Kutcher, are "really in the mix" at ABC. The network also picked up Ashton's family oriented game show, Opportunity Knocks.

UPDATE: As expected, FBC is picking up the J.J. Abrams pilot Fringe (WBTV/Bad Robot). He's the writer/exec producer. Network was really high on it all along.

UPDATE: After Fox cancelled, Back To You now being shopped to other networks.

FBC has picked up the animated comedy from Mitch Hurwitz Sit Down, Shut Up (Sony Pictures TV / Granada / Tantamount) to series. It's a 13-episode order. All star voice cast: Jason Bateman, Will Forte, Will Arnett...

As was expected, FBC also has picked up Cleveland (20th Century Fox TV), the spin-off of Family Guy, for 13 episodes.

I hear the pilot Bob & Doug (aka The Adventures of Bob and Doug McKenzie) is cooling back off, though not dead yet. FBC will take a look at the completed pilot when it's shot in July -- on hold til then.

The pilot The Pitts (20th Century Fox TV) is dead.

EXCLUSIVE! 3rd UPDATE: See new details about Capitol Films below. I'm told by knowledgeable sources that David O. Russell's indie political comedy Nailed which began filming in April was shut down by the Screen Actors Guild on Friday because of insufficient funds on deposit with the guild. I've also learned the Columbia, S.C. shoot is in trouble with both IATSE and Teamsters, and some of those union members have left the beleaguered $25 million budgeted production. Rumors also are circulating that the state of South Carolina could withdraw its incentive monies because of the financing problems. Filmmakers hope to resolve the cash crunch and re-start shooting next week since principal photography is only at the halfway point. "I am confident we will finish," an insider on the pic just told me. "The financing on this like most indies is based on bank loans and bridge loans. This is a matter of waiting on the bridge loan. Hopefully, it will all be resolved."

But new information coming my way says David Bergstein's Capitol Films behind the pic is troubled. In 2006, he acquired a leading UK-based international sales company which over the years had built a good reputation in the movie biz and made a wide range of commercial and critical successes, including Robert Altman's Gosford Park. But now I'm hearing from NYC film financing circles that "a shitload of people are owed a lot of money," in the words of one expert in the field. "I heard this week that his major financing source, a hedge fund, has shut down and left him in the lurch."

The filmmakers were able to get in a full day of shooting Thursday until SAG put its figurative foot down to protect its members during traditionally more dicey independent productions. I'm told co-stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Jessica Biel and the other name actors are all standing by to see if the movie can continue to completion. Some left the location for the weekend to spend Mothers Day with their families. My sources say James Brolin, who replaced Jimmy Caan after the veteran thesp got into a creative battle with Russell and quit, flew in early in the week and completed all his scenes before the movie was shut down. An insider confirms for me: "It's been touch and go the entire time. The financiers are doing the best they can. There's been a cash crunch, that's for sure. It's a drag, but they'll muddle through. Everyone seems happy and committed to the movie and hopeful all this stuff will get worked out."

Nailed is based on the novel Sammy's Hill authored by Al Gore's daughter Kristin (once a staff writer on the TV series Futurama) who co-wrote the script with Russell. The pic's predicament is unrelated to its helmer. True, the temperamental director is known for turbulent shoots especially when it comes to actors. Already on Nailed, Jimmy Caan stalked off the South Carolina set two weeks ago after he and the helmer couldn't agree on the best way for the actor to choke to death on a cookie during a scene. The film focuses on a naive small town waitress (Biel) who gets a nail lodged in her head and discovers a new-found sexual drive. When she travels to Washington to fight for better health care for the "bizarrely injured", she meets an unscrupulous U.S. congressman (Gyllenhaal) who attempts to take advantage of her. Brolin plays the U.S. Speaker Of The House. The movie also stars James Marsden, Catherine Keener, and Tracy Morgan. Those are a lot of name actors to be sidelined. One source with insider knowledge about the production told me Friday, "The actors are waiting to see if the movie will continue. It's kind of amazing, really."

See my previous from Friday night: EXCLUSIVE: David O. Russell Film Drama! 

SUNDAY AM UPDATE: WHAT A DISASTER!
'Speed Racer' $20M Weekend Half What Warner Bros Hoped 
Rival Studios Accuse WB Of Inflating #s

SATURDAY NOON UPDATE: I'm just receiving reports that Speed Racer also isn't doing well overseas where it opened day and date Friday in 30+ territories. Says a marketing and distribution source for another studio: "It is a disaster in the worst way. It was No. 6 in the UK and No. 9 in Germany and the numbers are horrific. Only Latin America showed signs of life -- but it was barely a pulse." I haven't seen any official international figures from Warner Bros yet. But the film was supposed to do better overseas where anime is a bigger draw than in the U.S.

As expected, Marvel's Iron Man is the blockbuster No. 1 for the second week in a row. According to distributor Paramount, it took in a str0ng $15 million Friday from 4,111 theaters (-62% from its opening) for what should be a $50 million weekend. Its new cume is a monster $141.4M. (I loved how star Robert Downey Jr. told Jay Leno this week that it's much better to have a blockbuster than an Oscar.) But the big story this weekend is what a big bomb Warner Bros' has released. It's now official: Speed Racer is the first domestic box office disaster of the summer. It placed only No. 3 Friday, well behind Fox's romantic comedy What Happens In Vegas, which opened with $7.1 million from 3,215 venues for what should be a $20 million weekend. (Photos of Robert Downey Jr at the Iron Man premieres in the UK and Australia...)

Despite a wide release into 3,606 theaters, the anime actioner starring Emile Hirsh opened Friday with only $6.1 million (and some studios said it was merely $5.7M). Even if today's kiddie matinees generate some of the usual high-octane and the movie moves up a notch to second place, it still won't move Speed Racer out of the slow lane or approach Warner Bros' own expectations of a mid-$30s million debut (and that was down from a hoped-for $40 mil a few days before...). The alarming fact is this film will struggle to even make $20 million for the weekend. At an estimated cost of at least $160 million (talk about a writedown!), this family fare is yet another case of a studio letting talent run amok: the Wachowski siblings delivered a long, loud, and lousy movie. (The Industry scuttlebutt is that Warner Bros Pictures Group prez Jeff Robinov, a one-time agent, gave way too much power to his former clients. Of course, the success of their Matrix franchise justified a certain degree of autonomy.) The film's biggest handicap is its 2 hour, 15 minute, running time, bucking the current trend of kid movies clocking in at a mercifully short 90 to 100 minutes. And then there are the bad reviews: only 27% positive among the cream of the crop of Rotten Tomatoes film critics. In addition, the pic should have been "aged up": it plays too young and limits its audience by appealing mostly to little boys. According to the "Parents and Kids" premium tracking, Speed Racer was first choice among parents and boys aged 7 through 11. Unfortunately, the Warner Bros film will get creamed by the competition from the Disney/Walden blockbuster Narnia 2 opening next weekend.

As for Fox's What Happens in Vegas and its tired "been-there, done-that" plot, stars Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz didn't deliver much box office firepower playing newlyweds. But the first-time-paired duo haven't been hot at the cineplex individually for a long while. Again, this is a case of movie stars, not box office stars. Some marketing mavens are hanging this on Ashton. "Guys just do not like him. He's a pretty boy toy and not someone guys feel they connect to," said an insider. "The upside is that the film cost only $35 million." Fox's well-oiled marketing machinery can make something out of nothing, and did that again here. 

The rest of the Top 10 are holdovers.

FRIDAY PM: Here are very early numbers for Friday's domestic box office gross...

Marvel's Iron Man still the easy No. 1 blockbuster. -61% for $15M tonight. Looks platinum for Paramount distributed pic: $50+M weekend and cume $177M.

Fox's What Happens in Vegas #2 tonight with $6.8M for $19M-$20M wkd.

Warner Bros' Speed Racer only $6.6M tonight. Probably gets the kids matinee bump tomorrow and still ends up an oil-leaking #2 for the weekend at awful $23M-$24M.

Sony's Made of Honor #4 with $2.5M tonight for $8M weekend and cume of $26.6M.

Overall, this weekend's box office should be up at least 20% over last year's.

More analysis later...

See my Wkd Prediction: Problem-Plagued 'Speed Racer' Distant No. 2 To 'Iron Man'

SATURDAY UPDATE: ON SET DRAMA: SAG Shuts Down David O. Russell Film.
All new details... 

FRIDAY PM: Details are sketchy, but sources tell me that David O. Russell's risque political comedy Nailed has been put on hold while shooting in South Carolina because of a "cash crunch" that's causing problems with SAG, IATSE and the Teamsters. Co-stars Jessica Biel and Jake Gyllenhaal (the pic also stars James Marsden, Catherine Keener, and Tracy Morgan) "are waiting to see if the movie will continue. It's kind of amazing, really," one source with insider knowledge about the production told me Friday. There are a lot of rumors circulating, and I'm trying to separate what's fact and what's fiction. But I can confirm the pic's predicament is solely related to its financing, not to its helmer. True, the temperamental director is known for turbulent shoots especially when it comes to actors. Already on Nailed, Jimmy Caan quit two weeks ago after he and the helmer couldn't agree on the best way for the actor to choke to death on a cookie during a scene. Russell also had well-documented differences with George Clooney (the two came to blows on the set of Three Kings) and Lily Tomlin (profane exchanges on the set of I Heart Huckabees... See my previous Lily 'Liberated' By F-Bomb/C-Word Video). But now the pic's woes go way beyond just a tense set.