NBC Casts Its Problem Child

NBC casts its Problem Child
Red-haired Jack Gore, who played Michael J. Fox’s son on The Michael J. Fox Show, is poised to return to NBC to star in the remake of John Ritter’s 1990 film.

Mike Epps is ABC’s Uncle Buck
The Hangover star will be joined by Nia Long on ABC’s American-American take on the John Candy film.

Luther loses The Affair‘s Ruth Wilson, gains Game of Thrones alum Rose Leslie
Wilson won’t join Idris Elba on BBC America’s two-part revival of the BBC crime drama. Instead, he’ll be joined by Downton Abbey and Game of Thrones vet Leslie.

Watch a preview of Conan in Cuba
See Conan O’Brien singing and dancing in the streets.

Carrie Preston will be married to Patrick Warburton for an NBC comedy pilot
The True Blood alum will star in a comedy about a married couple who has to deal with their parents moving back home. MORE CASTING NEWS: Luis Guzman joins CBS’ Code Black, Cody Horn to star in ABC’s Broad Squad, and CBS has cast the Jackie Chan role on Rush Hour.

Mo’Nique: I have proof Empire offered me the Cookie role first
The Oscar-winning actress claims Fox didn’t want her for the job because she was too difficult. But co-creator Danny Strong says she was never offered a role on the show. Mo’Nique says, however, that Lee Daniels “offered me the part of Cookie, and I have the emails and the sides to go along with it, and what he said was, ‘I’m new to this TV thing. This is just a technicality… you have the role.’ Okay. I have the emails. Well, four days have gone by because I didn’t receive a phone call or another email for the location of where I was supposed to go to do this screen test.” PLUS: Daniels would like President Obama to make a cameo, but not as himself, and Malik Yoba denies outing his Empire co-star.

Jennifer Love Hewitt’s pregnancy will be written into Criminal Minds
“She’s been acting out a little bit, and we reveal … it’s because Kate is gonna have a baby,” says exec producer Erica Messer.

Hawaii Five-0 books “Urkel,” Pauley Shore and Chris Farley’s brother for a Hangover-themed episode
Jaleel White, Shore and Kevin Farley will guest as a group of bachelors in a “quintessential spring break episode.”

Bob Odenkirk: At SNL, I was a “d*ck” who struggled with “my own immaturity”
The Better Call Saul star was a writer on Saturday Night Live three separate times between 1987 and 1995. “I brought a lot of challenge to the show just because I was a person who was confrontational and suspicious of the establishment,” Odenkirk tells Michael Ian Black. “When I was there I treated Lorne (Michaels) like a boss, like the boss of some dumb job I had. Only after I left did I go: the guy’s a creative guy and he created that show and he oversees the creative side of it, and he does overall a pretty damn good job . . . but I was like, ‘Who the fuck is this guy to tell me who’s funny, fuck him.’ I was a d*ck.” PLUS: How Michael McKean prepared to play a Better Call Saul recluse.

Mark Cuban had “a blast” filming Sharknado 3, Ann Coulter laughed the whole time
The president and vice president of the United States of Sharknado 3 talked about filming their roles last Friday, with Cuban saying: “I got to shoot guns, fire rifles, throw grenades, and jump out of windows. It was a blast.” PLUS: Sharknado 3 producer mocks striking workers.

Why Community’s Yahoo trailer is so disappointing
With three core cast members gone, will the focus now shift back to Chang?

Supergirls pose together for a picture
Helen Slater, star of the 1984 film Supergirl, took a photo with new CBS Supergirl Melissa Benoist. Slater is slated to appear with Benoist on the CBS pilot.

Ellen’s Design Challenge plagued by a woodworking plagiarism scandal
The winner of the competition was disqualified after it was discovered that the winning entry resembled the furniture creation of a European designer.

Spike TV unveils a new logo and tagline
“Spike: The Ones to Watch” is the cable network’s new slogan.

See Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as a Miami Dolphin for HBO’s Ballers
Johnson stars in a comedy about a group of former pro athletes.

Another Saved by the Bell reunion: Watch Elizabeth Berkley on Tiffani Thiessen’s cooking show
Thiessen has invited several Saved alums for her new Cooking Channel series Dinner at Tiffani’s.

In Season 3, House of Cards became a plodding relationship drama
Politics took a back seat in Season 3, resulting in a dull focus on “Mr. and Mrs. Macbeth” and their relationship. PLUS: House of Cards is going down the wrong path with Frank and Claire, House of Cards is featured in an Israeli political ad, what HoC gets wrong about Russia, Middle East and the U.N., and could America Works actually work?

Fox Sports 1 re-airing The Last Man on Earth
Catch an encore of the first two episodes tonight at midnight ET.

What if Friends had an all-black cast?
Buzzfeed has created a black Friends with such episode titles as “The one where Ross refers to Rachel as ‘bae’ and the internet explodes with think pieces” and “The one where Joey gets racially profiled.”

David Letterman: By the numbers
Dave has read 3,469 Top Ten lists and has had Regis Philbin on as a guest 153 times.

The average TV spinoff lasts about 40% of the length of time of the original show
Based on FiveThirtyEight’s projection, expect Better Call Saul to last about 25 episodes.

Daniel von Bargen, Seinfeld‘s Mr. Kruger, dies at 64
Besides playing George Costanza’s boss on Seinfeld‘s final season, von Bargen is also best remembered as Commandant Edwin Spangler on Malcolm in the Middle. Von Bergen died Sunday due to complications from diabetes.