I’m beginning to suspect that it was 30 Rock‘s plan all along to take a season off, all the while accumulating an unbelievable amount of good news attached to its eventual return so that we’d all realize just how much we love, miss, and are compelled to watch it. The latest splendor to come out of the heap of 30 Rock-related developments involves three particularly fantastic guest stars: Emma Stone, Andy Samberg, and Nick Cannon, marking the kind of news you have to make sure you read correctly because it’s just that awesome. The almighty Tina Fey herself has confirmed that these three young stars will be appearing on an upcoming episode of 30 Rock at the end of this month. Fey cites their involvement surrounding a fictitious movie called Martin Luther King Day (a play on the omni-casted New Year’s Eve and Valentine’s Day), in which Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski) will also star. This comes on top of other great 30 Rock news, such as Alec Baldwin’s agreement to continue on through the potential seventh season. 30 Rock‘s sixth season will premiere this Thursday, Jan. 12 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC. –EW
You might think the best conceivable facet of the finale of Archer‘s upcoming third season is its concept: the spy organization ISIS embarks on an outer space mission—and by that, we mean pretty much the entire organization of ISIS (sexual deviant secretaries and boozy HR directors likely included). But there is one thing even better than the entire cast blasting off into orbit: an astronaut played by Bryan Cranston. The Breaking Bad star will be lending his unfathomable talent to Archer to play a diligent, good-natured astronaut hero on the two-part season finale. The Huffington Post also reports that Archer‘s third season will also see guest stars such as The Walking Dead‘s Michael Rooker as a corrupt sheriff and 30 Rock‘s Jack McBrayer as a marijuana farmer and the brother to ISIS intelligence analyst/Tennessee Williams incarnation Ray Gillette (Adam Reed), in addition to the previously mentioned Burt Reynolds. Archer‘s third season premiere airs on Thursday, Jan. 19 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on FX. –HuffPo
Back in November, we heard that Priest star Paul Bettany would be joining the drama series Masters of Sex, based on the lives and work of gynecologist Dr. William Masters and sexologist/psychologist Dr. Virginia Johnson as chronicled in the book Masters of Sex: The Life and Times of William Masters and Virginia Johnson, the Couple Who Taught America How to Love by Thomas Maier. Bettany was cast as Masters, one of the two leads. Now, it appears that Bettany will not be involved with the project at all. There is no public explanation for Bettany’s dismissal of the project. Showtime, the home of the developing drama, will now seek a replacement for Bettany as well as an actress to play Johnson. –TVLine
