Morgan Freeman Blasts Off: Science Channel announced Thursday a new series chronicling the modern-day space race among private entrepreneurs partnering with actor-producer Morgan Freeman will debut next year. New Race for Space is a three-part series that will look at entrepreneurs seeking to embark on various ventures beyond Earth, from backyard dreamers to well-funded moguls like SpaceX founder Elon Musk, Virgin Galactic’s Richard Branson and sci-fi filmmaker James Cameron. “It’s been almost 45 years since we landed on the moon, since we were really excited about going out into space, and I’ve always thought it was a mistake not to continue that exploration,” Freeman says. “I’m personally excited that we now have entrepreneurs who are interested in doing this.” [EW]
American Idol Ratings Slip: The already not-so-stellar ratings of American Idol‘s Season 12 continued to slip this week. Wednesday night’s Top 7 performance show drew 11.5 million viewers and a 3.0 rating, down to an all-time Wednesday low. Ouch. [TVLine]
Westside Is Getting Awkward: Jessica Lu, who plays Ming on MTV’s Awkward, just booked a guest-starring role on the ABC drama pilot Westside. The soap about the haves and the have-not’s of Venice, Calif., focuses on two rival families and a forbidden and dangerous romance emerging between them as them as they battle for control of Venice. Lu will play Eva, Sophie’s (Odette Annable) employee and confidant at her Venice boutique who urges her pursuit of Chris (Luke Bracey). She’ll guest star in the pilot, and will potentially recur if the show gets picked up. [THR]
The Americans Redux: The last seven minutes of FX’s The Americans ran over the show’s allotted hour by seven minutes, which means many viewers didn’t catch the pivotal ending of “Safe House.” Fortunately, the network is making up for the blunder by making the episode available online for free until May 15. Relief! [TVLine]
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