Back for a second season starting tonight at 10 PM on FX, Tyrant has shed a lot of its old skin and successfully streamlined itself into a compelling soap that also steps onto some of the deadliest geopolitical territory of our times. To that end, as my video review above says, the series created by Gideon Raff and…

FX has dropped the Season 2 trailer for Tyrant, the Middle East-set drama that was renewed back in the fall, increasing its order from 10 episodes in Season 1 to 13. The order for the Howard Gordon-produced series was sealed thanks to notable bumps in Live+3 viewing — on a weekly basis, Tyrant averaged 5.1 million…

Shannon Tarbet has landed a regular role on Virtuoso, HBO’s classical music drama pilot from True Blood creator Alan Ball. Set against the complex and volatile backdrop of 18th century Vienna, it follows a class of young musical prodigies from all over Europe at the prestigious Academy of Musical Excellence. Tarbet…

Reed Diamond (Franklin & Bash) has landed a role in Underground, WGN America's pre-Civil War straight-to-series drama about the Underground Railroad. The series from Sony Pictures TV and Tribune Studios follows a group of slaves who plan a daring escape from a Georgia plantation to cross 600 miles to freedom. They…

Denis Leary has an official return date to FX. The co-creator, writer and star of the cable net’s firefighter drama Rescue Me has the same roles in Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll, which FX today set for a July 16 premiere. FX also said it will bow the Louie multihyphenate’s latest hourlong stand-up special Louis C.K.: Live From T…

Saturday Night Live alum Cheri Oteri has been boosted to series regular on NBC’s comedy pilot Not Safe For Work.  The role originally was a guest star/potential recurring but was upgraded after the table read and now has a series option. Written by Aseem Batra and directed by Betsy Thomas, Not Safe For Work is a…

The Fosters‘ Teri Polo and One Tree Hill alum Paul Johansson have landed starring roles in Last Resort, a Hallmark Channel original movie slated to premiere in June. Last Resort follows a couple (Polo and Johansson) on the brink of divorce, only to take an unexpected journey when they work together on planning and…

For cable series, the run is often not a sprint but a marathon, and FX’s freshman drama Tyrant proved that in a major way. The cable network has given a 13-episode renewal to the Middle East-based political family series, increasing the order from 10 episodes in Season 1. Filming on Season 2 will begin next spring for…

No word yet if the Howard Gordon produced political family drama is coming back for a second season or not, but FX are looking at some mixed results when it comes to how Tyrant's first run ended. With 1.51 million total viewers the 1-hour 13-minute 10 PM finale was up 4% over its August 19 show. While that is…

With the violence in Gaza showing no signs of subsiding and the US Department of State today warning Americans against traveling to Israel and the Gaza Strip, Fox 21 has made a decision to finish the first season order of its FX series Tyrant in Turkey, where the series relocated on a temporary basis a week ago when…

“This is an adopted child for me,” Howard Gordon told TV critics this afternoon about FX‘s controversial drama series Tyrant. “I’m the midwife… it came to me and this is what it is.” Gordon came to TCA Summer TV Press Tour 2014 to discuss the series that debuted last month. He was joined onstage by representatives of…

Leslie Hope has booked a recurring role on FX’s Tyrant from Homeland executive producers Howard Gordon and Gideon Raff and Six Feet Under alum Craig Wright. It tells the story of an unassuming American family — Barry (Adam Rayner); his strong, smart and idealistic wife Molly (Jennifer Finnigan); and their kids Emma…