Disney's smash hit High School Musical franchise is expanding its reach even more, with a new musical talent show due to hit network TV this July. High School Musical: Summer Session will debut on the ABC on July 20, and is described as a reality show spinoff, inspired by the hit teen High School Musical movies.

Producers are holding casting sessions around the United States for aspiring Troys and Grabriellas over the next few weeks, looking for budding stars aged 16-22. Finalists from the "nationwide search" will be invited to take part in a summer musical programme to "hone their singing and dancing skills".


Some of the stars of the original movies (possibly even Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens) are expected to make guest appearances as weekly judges and mentors. In traditional TV talent show fashion, competitors will be progressively eliminated each week, with the eventual winner receiving "the opportunity of a lifetime, becoming part of 'High School Musical' history"...

(This sounds suspiciously like an onscreen role of some sort in Disney's forthcoming big screen movie High School Musical 3: Senior Year (due to hit US theatres in October), but with producers able to adjust the size and scale of the part depending on the talent of their winner.)

Pop singer, Actor, and Reality TV star Nick Lachey (98 Degrees, Charmed, Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica) will host HSM: Summer Session. Lachey is preparing to release a followup to his hit solo CD 'What's left of me' later this year.

* ABC - High School Musical: Summer Session - Casting Call Information

Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro has been confirmed as the Director for the forthcoming movie adaptations of 'The Hobbit'.

Two Hobbit films will be shot back-to-back in New Zealand (aka "Middle Earth" ;-), based on J.R.R. Tolkein's classic novel. The project is the long-awaited prequel-followup to the Lord of the Rings legacy.

Guillermo del Toro (Pans Labyrinth, Hellboy) has been in talks for many months with major studios MGM and New Line over the project, and will emigrate to New Zealand for four years to direct 'The Hobbit' and its sequel.

Tolkein's three-volume book The Lord of the Rings was brought to the big screen by New Zealand director Peter Jackson in three films, The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002), and The Return of the King (2003).

Jackson felt he was too busy with other projects to again sit in the Director's chair, but will still be Executive Producer of the films. He'll also work on the scripts for the new movies with del Toro, along with his longtime collaborators Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens.

Jackson's creative teams at Weta Workshop (including and Wingnut Films (who worked on the original trilogy) will again work their magic on the two prequel movies.


Also hoping to return from Jackson's hit trilogy are Ian McKellen (Gandalf in Lord of the Rings) and Andy Serkis (Gollum). New Line and MGM will co-finance the films (estimated at costing up to US$150 million each), with shooting due to begin sometime next year, for likely release in 2011 and 2012.

'The Hobbit' and its as-yet-unnamed sequel cover the 60-year period before the Lord of the Rings trilogy. J.R.R. Tolkein's book was first published in 1937, introducing characters like Bilbo Baggins (and his family), the wizard Gandalf, and the land of Middle Earth.

ABC's hit TV series Desperate Housewives look set to get a major revamp and it heads into its fifth series next year. The series has slipped by a few million viewers in the US, after being off-air for 3 months because of the writers' strike, but still attracts a solid 16 million viewers.

The Desperate Housewives and their families have just been through a major shakeup, with a Tornado devastating homes and lives in Wisteria Lane in a special double episode.

But show creator Marc Cherry has an even bigger shakeup in mind for next year, but rumours growing that the show will make a "five year jump" in the final episode, continuing from that point next season.

There's conflicting views on whether the television jump will go forwards or backwards, but either option will mean the end of the road for some cast members.

The main four housewives seem safe... Gabrielle (Eva Longoria), Lynette (Felicity Huffman), Bree (Marcia Cross), and Susan (Teri Hatcher)... but Edie (Nicollette Sheridan) looks set to leave the neighbourhood.

Apparently Marc Cherry told Huffman that what he's got planned has "never been done on TV, and Wisteria Lane would never be the same"... That would indicate either a jump back in time, or simply that Cherry doesn't watch CW's teen drama One Tree Hill, which jumped forward in time by 4 1/2 years for its Season 5. (Meanwhile, another popular ABC Lost has used both "flash backs" and "flash forwards" in recent years).

A rewind of time would likely see series narrator Mary Alice "come back from the dead", but would also force the exit of the Lane's younger residents, and the suburb's more recent arrivals.

However, some entertainment websites remain confident Desperate Housewives is planning to leap 5 years in the future at the end of Season Four, with Bree's son Andrew to be seen shacking up with one of Wisteria Lane's house-husbands.