1. Ryan Phillippe is CBS' 'Golden Boy,' 'Pan Am' star flies to new gig at FOX

A slew of actors landed roles in pilots at the end of the week. The rundown:

- Ryan Phillippe has taken his first starring role in a TV series in a CBS drama (formerly called "Golden Boy") about a young officer who's rising quickly through the ranks of the NYPD. He joins Chi McBride and Kevin Alejandro in the show from Nicholas Wootton ("NYPD Blue," "Chuck") and Greg Berlanti. [EW]

- "Pan Am" is a pretty long shot to get a second season on ABC, and one of its stars, Mike Vogel, has taken another gig. He'll star in "Living Loaded," a comedy about a hard-partying blogger who has to clean up his act when he gets a new job. Rob McElhenney and Rob Rosell ("It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia") are the creators. [Deadline]

- Also at FOX, John Stamos has signed on to star in a comedy called "Little Brother," about a guy who discovers he has a half-brother (T.J. Miller) -- who's also an ex-convict. Stamos has been considering the project for a while and signed on after seeing a rewrite of the script from creator Mike Royce ("Men of a Certain Age"). [Deadline]

- A second "Parenthood" alumnus has joined executive producer Jason Katims' new NBC pilot "County." Michael B. Jordan, who also worked with Katims on "Friday Night Lights," will play an intern at the county hospital of the title. Jason Ritter and Aimee Garcia are also in the cast. [Hollywood Reporter]

- "Perfect Couples" star Christine Woods and Brenda Song have joined NBC's comedy "Daddy's Girls," about a woman (Woods) who returns home from overseas to find her father has married her high-school nemesis. Song will play one of the new wife's friends. [Deadline]

- ABC's period drama "Gilded Lilys" has cast Blythe Danner ("Up All Night," "Little Fockers"), Madeline Zima ("Californication") and Sarah Bolger ("The Tudors"). The drama, set in 1895 New York, will center on the family that owns the city's first luxury hotel. Danner will play the family matriarch, Bolger her granddaughter and Zima a maid who attends to Danner's character. [Hollywood Reporter]

- Ving Rhames will star in TNT's medical drama pilot "Chelsea General" from creator David E. Kelley. Rhames will play a former football player who's now a renowned trauma surgeon. [Deadline]

"The Walking Dead" returns to AMC on Sunday (Feb. 12) to complete it's second season. We left off outside the barn where a massive zombie massacre just went down that included the death of a zombified Sophia (Madison Lintz), who was MIA for most of the first seven episodes.

Zap2it talked to executive producer and showrunner Glen Mazzara and Robert Kirkman ("The Walking Dead" comic book creator and also and EP on the show) about what to expect from the second half of the zombie fest's second season.

"We hurtle to the finale here," says Mazzara, suggesting that the second half of the season is going to unfold at a much faster clip than the first seven episodes. Which, by the way, they're quick to defend as setting a calming tone to contrast with what's ahead.

Here are a few more insights about what lies ahead:

We probably won't find out how Sophia turned into a zombie.

Glen Mazzara: "I would say that as showrunner, I am hesitant to go back in time and do flashbacks and I know people might not like that, but I'm hesitant to do that because I feel it slows up the narrative.

"We hurtle to the finale here, I'm very excited about the material that's in the pipeline, so the idea of going back in flashbacks is a great idea, but it's not something I want to do unless there's a real puprose in that it also pushes the story forward in some way"

It looks like we'll be on the farm -- or near it -- for the rest of the season.

Robert Kirkman: "The farm is a big part of our story and the fact that they thought it was a safe haven they could live in for a while and hunker down there for a while is really what our second season deals with to a certain extent, but starting with episode 7 and the barn massacre they're starting to find out that it isn't a very safe place. And so over the life of these episodes they're going to be encountering more and more danger and I don't think people will be concerned with 'are they on the farm' -- it'll be much more about the events."

Glen Mazzara: "It may have felt that some of the episodes on the farm felt like a stall, or slower than people expected. That changes because the outside world comes crashing in. The farm is not as safe as people expected. They're getting painted into a corner."

Expect more "scare" factor.

Glen Mazzara: "I feel that [flashbacks] break the timeframe and it's not something that's usually done in horror movies ... we want to keep the show scary and driving forward.

Robert Kirkman: "One of the things that appeals to the fans of the comic book series is that you never know what's going to happen. Any character can die at any moment. When it came time to do this TV show one of the things I wanted to maintain was that element of shock that you get from this kind of story."

Hershel (Scott Wilson) becomes a bad***?

Glen Mazzara: "There's more than enough danger to go around in the second half of the season. Actually, Hershel becomes a bad***, I love that."

So do we.

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Fast national ratings for Thursday, Feb. 9, 2012

"American Idol" managed to topple "The Big Bang Theory's" mighty reign Thursday night, pulling in more viewers during the 8 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. time period than the ratings favorite sitcom. "Idol" nabbed 16.6 million viewers during its first half hour, while "Big Bang" scored 16.0 million. A small difference, sure, but a big victory for "Idol."

When last we left the Upper East Side, Blair (Leighton Meester) and Louis (Hugo Becker) were heading off for their honeymoon while Dan (Penn Badgley) and Serena (Blake Lively) were busy not getting anywhere. But in a sneak preview of Monday's (Jan. 13) episode of "Gossip Girl," it looks there's change in the air.

In the cleverly-titled show "Crazy, Cupid, Love," Blair has returned to NYC and is ready to find love again...for someone else. She looks to match make for the former item of Dan and Blair. This should be an interesting effort because, believe it or not, Lonely Boy still has feelings for Queen B.

Perhaps the most interesting preview is it appears that Dan was the one responsible for sending the Chuck (Ed Westwick) and Blair video to Gossip Girl. Yes, the same video that basically ruined Blair's marriage before it even began. This was hinted last week as Dan skulked while Blair and Louis got into their limo.

Uh oh. Uh oh.

Here's the video...

It's Group Day on "American Idol," but before we get to all the screaming and tears, we check in with Symone Black from last night. That was straight-up scary when she fell off the stage - it kinda looked like she had a stroke or a seizure or something. And we love how the judges just kind of sat and stared at her. Don't all rush to help at once, guys.

Jennifer decides she can compliment her back to life - "I was just gonna say, that was one of the prettiest sounds I've heard all day." What does that even mean? Like, you can't say it anymore? She's not dead. And Randy offers some medical advice about it probably being low blood sugar. And Steven just stays at the table, presiding over the incident like Death himself.

Sorry. This is a very serious situation and the judges probably don't know what to do, but it's still funny to make fun of them.

We get back to Symone's group and they replay a snippet of Lauren Mink's audition of "Alone," but they put this weird echo on it so that it now sounds like something that should be playing in a trailer for a movie about a house haunted by a vengeful spirit - "How do I get you alone," indeed.

The judges put through most of Symone's group, but Ethan James is cut, which is a shame. I remember liking him in auditions. Anyway, there are 185 people being lined up for the slaughter that is Group Day. Bring it on.

Seacrest voice-overs us in by talking about how this day is so critical to everything, when in reality it's just good TV. Being able to sing in a group has absolutely no bearing on being successful on this show. Doesn't mean we don't love Group Day, we're just sayin.'

In the montage of past seasons, there are of course people crying and yelling (hey there, Tatiana and one of those giant chubby twin brothers!), but the absolutely best is this young, thin girl in a white shirt huddled against the wall and a chair, mouth agape as if she's some kind of feral child who was just found in a cave. WTF? That made us cry with laughter, y'all. We rewound to watch it again.

There is still that silly (for them) awesome (for us) rule about having to have a mixture of Day 1 and Day 2 singers in each group. Everyone is acting surprised - um, have you watched this show? Not only is this the exact manipulative crap this show would pull, but also - they've done it on past seasons! Pay attention, people.

There's a rather abrasive police officer named Alicia who can't find a group. I'm not sure the best tactic is getting on the microphone and brow-beating people into being in your group. There's a reason you don't have a group, lady. She ends up snagging girl-from-the-woods Amy Brumfield, who has the plague, and some kid, but then she is so obnoxious that these other two people without a group steal her group members.

Hilariously, all these people think "Joy to the World" is the Christmas song. People are stupid.

Back from break, stupid Alicia is still running around and now she's getting in people's faces about liking cops. She should really work for the California Highway Patrol, because she clearly has a massive chip on her shoulder. BOOM, roasted. I'll be here all week.

We join a group with Brielle Von Hugel, Shannon Magrane and some other people. Brielle has a crazy stage mom who thinks she knows everything. I swear to god, if I was there and my mom was hanging around, I'd tell her to hit the bricks. Actually, my mom's awesome, so that wouldn't be a problem. But for these people, that's what I'd do.

Symone Black is back and has to find a group, while her creepy stage dad follows her around like a drunk hobo. Seriously, he's like the dad from the Jackson family. She finds a group and creepy dad makes them huddle up. I'm with Symone - just get outta here, dad.

Hilariously, we now have a montage like something out of "The Stand" - everyone girl-from-the-woods Amy has come into contact with is getting sick with her crazy Tennessee flu that probably is only cured with moonshine or something. But Amy will be OK, because she's got Jesus helping her out.

Meanwhile, in the MIT group, pasty cowboy Richie fancies himself quite the harmonizer and choreographer. It's rather awkward to watch. There's also a whole kidney stone issue, it's kinda weird. Poor guys - this bossy cowboy needs to go. Who died and made him king? He's so smarmy, I just want to smack him.

Alicia the Cop's group has a plague-stricken member named Christian, and are also having some problems on "Stuck Like Glue."

A group called The Betties is arguing over the classic Go to Sleep vs. Stay Up and Practice conundrum. I'm always on the side of going to sleep. You'll work so much better when you're rested, there is no reason to work yourselves into utter exhaustion.

Two of the girls, Jennifer and Rhianna, stay up and keep working until after 5 a.m. Rhianna doesn't know the words to "Hit 'Em Up Style," which kinda surprises me. But she is like 12, so I guess that explains it.

We leave the episode with a montage of the groups doing last minute preparations. The Betties are first, but that will have to wait 'til next week.

After a few weeks of deviating from the norm, "The Big Bang Theory" is back to where it should be, and we couldn't be happier.

[Spoiler Alert]

Sheldon (Jim Parsons) is required by the university to take a vacation. To no surprise, the workaholic isn't terribly interested in taking any time off, mostly because he's emotionally and intellectually capable of processing such an activity. So he decides to spend the week working alongside Amy (Mayim Bialik) at her biology lab.

"It's going to be romantic" she says, comparing their situation to Marie and Pierre Curie.

"Way to kill the mood," Sheldon responds.

While in the lab, Amy hands Sheldon the most mundane of tasks. Being the genius that he is, Sheldon is resentful of this. He ultimately acts completely inappropriate (in a Sheldon kind of way), which draws Amy's ire and some of his own blood.

In a well-fashioned subplot, Bernadette (Melissa Rauch) is getting pressure from her father into securing a prenup with Howard (Simon Helberg). But she's afraid to broach the topic with her betrothed. So the gossiping geeks share the news until it makes its way to Howard himself. The rocket scientist is nonplussed by this possibility and needs time to reevaluate their relationship.

Luckily for both Sheldon and Howard, Penny (Kaley Cuoco) serves as the voice of reason. She tells Sheldon to go apologize. Penny also instructs Howard that he's lucky to have Bernadette and to sign the document.

When they both do as instructed, it's a tender moment showing emotional depth we rarely see from these characters. It's hard to remember a time that Sheldon has said he's sorry for anything. And Howard does a pretty good job at it too.

This episode offered it all. It had great laughs, sweet moments and balanced time given to each story line.

On a scale of 1-to-Pi, this episode was a 3.14158, or nearly perfect.

For its 18th cycle, "America's Next Top Model" is hosting a British invasion. Seven American girls will compete side-by-side with seven imports from "Britain's Next Top Model."

Guest judges for this cycle include singer Kelly Osbourne, reality star Kris Jenner, singer Estelle, fashion designer Georgina Chapman, "So You Think You Can Dance" host Cat Deeley, former Pussycat Doll Jessica Sutta, model Beverly Johnson, designer Barney Cheng and more.

We cannot wait to see all the "British" things Tyra Banks incorporates. We hope she does every elimination in a cockney accent - "I only 'ave one pitcher in moi 'and."

The season premieres Wednesday, Feb. 29 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on the CW. The models are as follows:

Name: Laura
Age: 20
Hometown: Scotia, New York
Height: 5'10 ½
Favorite fashion label: Calvin Klein
Favorite musician: Mickey Avalon, Ani Difranco and Ed Sheeran
Favorite model: Mosh

Name: AzMarie
Age:  24
Hometown: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Height: 5'9 ¾
Hobbies: Taking photos, playing basketball and writing
Favorite musician:  Patti LaBelle
Favorite model: Grace Jones

Name: Eboni
Age: 18
Hometown: Seattle, Washington
Height: 5'9
Favorite movie: Ray
Favorite musician: Nacho Picasso
Favorite model: Chanel Iman

Name: Kyle
Age: 20
Hometown: Magnolia, Texas
Height: 5'10
Hobbies: Modeling, wake boarding, going to the beach
Favorite musician: Kings of Leon, Jay Z and Belle Epoque
Favorite model: Adriana Lima

Name: Candace
Age: 22
Hometown: Brooklyn, New York
Height: 5'9
Hobbies: Going to events like art galleries, dance competitions and lounges, watching movies
Favorite musician: Lil Wayne, T.I., Adele and Evanescence
Favorite model:  Tyra Banks and Milla Jovovich

Name: Mariah
Age: 20
Hometown: Pendleton, Oregon
Height: 5' 10
Favorite Musician: Drake
Favorite Model: Irina Shayk
Favorite Fashion Label: Betsey Johnson

Name: Seymone
Age: 19
Hometown: Augusta, Georgia
Height: 5'11
Hobbies: Cheerleading, track, dancing and all things music and fun
Favorite musician: Michael Jackson
Favorite model: Tyra Banks and Adriana Lima

Name: Louise
Age: 25
Hometown:  Essex, England
Height: 5'9
Hobbies: Running, gym, walking my dog, seeing new places
Favorite musician: Emeli Sande
Favorite model: Crystal Renn

Name: Jasmia
Age: 24
Hometown: London, England
Height: 5'8 ½
Favorite fashion label: Louis Vuitton and Burberry
Favorite musician: Drake, J Cole, Movado, Beres Hammond
Favorite model: Lilly Cole and Naomi Campbell

Name: Annaliese
Age: 24
Hometown: London, England
Height: 5'7
Hobbies: Trampoline, gymnastics and dance
Favorite musician: Drake
Favorite model: Eva Marcille

Name: Catherine
Age: 22
Hometown: Folkestone, England
Height: 5'9
Favorite movie: Terminator 2
Favorite musician: Marilyn Manson
Favorite model: Milla Jovovich

Name: Sophie
Age: 21
Hometown: Oxford, England
Height: 5'9
Favorite movie: Devil Wears Prada, Mean Girls, Factory Girl
Favorite musician: My boyfriend's band, Bob Dylan, Pulp and Britney Spears
Favorite model: Kate Moss

Name: Ashley
Age: 22
Hometown: Armadale, Scotland
Height: 5'8
Hobbies: Tae kwon do and kickboxing
Favorite musician: Rihanna and Beyonce
Favorite model: Tyra Banks and Kate Moss

Name: Alisha
Age: 20
Hometown: South London, England
Favorite movie: Roots
Favorite musician: Rihanna & Mavado
Favorite model: Jessica White