Despite multiple failed efforts, Matthew Perry is still trying to make his way back to television and sadly, it’s not for a Friends reunion show.

With a rush of former Friends cast members off hitting the digital airwaves, it’s only fitting that Perry wants a piece of the action via a single-camera comedy for Sony Pictures TV. Perry, who played Chandler Bing on the award-winning show for NBC, will star, co-write and executive produce.

The 40-year-old will play a “self-involved manager of a second-rate sports arena who begins to re-evaluate his life on his 40th birthday.” The untitled project will be co-written by Family Guy scribes Alex Barnow and Mark Firek and is being pitched to networks this week.

Also on board to executive produce is Thomas Schlamme, who worked with Perry on Friends, the critically acclaimed but under-viewed Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and The West Wing.

If Perry’s new comedy is picked up, it will be the funny-man’s first return to television since his dark comedy The End of Steve failed to be picked up by Showtime after the pilot. The show was pitched to the premium cabler in the summer of 2008, where Perry played “an egomaniacal TV talkshow host, confined to working on an afternoon gabber in Rochester, N.Y., and seeking redemption both personally and professionally.”

Matthew Perry has had a rich television career including appearances on Charles in Charge, Beverly Hills 90210 and Growing Pains in the ’80s and early ’90s. He was nominated for an Emmy and Golden Globe for his performance in the TNT 2006 biopic The Ron Clark Story.

Other former Friends cast members have also had a brush of good news this week as Courteney Cox’s new comedy Cougar Town has been picked up by ABC for a full season while Matt LaBlanc has recently signed on to star in a Showtime/BBC series entitled Episodes.

Perry has also gone the Hollywood path with notable performances in 2000’s The Whole Nine Yards and its sequel The Whole Ten Yards. He was last seen in the film 17 Again opposite Zac Effron. The film garnered $129 million worldwide; the most for any credited Perry film.

Pirates are suddenly hot again and Johnny Depp in eyeliner has nothing to do with it this time. Spike TV announced today that they are filming a new docu-reality series about the United States Navy’s ongoing fight against modern piracy off the African coast. The series is tentatively titled Pirate Hunters: USN and is produced by 44 Blue Productions.

The Navy will give Spike unprecedented access on two of its warships, the USS Boxer and the USS San Antonio. Filmmakers will live aboard the ships and follow the crews from their home base at Djibouti to their patrols and engagements with Somalian pirates and hijackers on the open water in the Gulf of Aden.

“Piracy off the coast of Africa is a real and deadly threat,” said Rasha Drachkovitch, president and founder of 44 Blue Productions. “With ‘Pirate Hunters: USN,’ our goal is to capture that drama for the TV audience in order to highlight the heroic work undertaken by the US Navy every day in this fight against terrorism.”

Piracy in the region, primarily fueled by the lawless turmoil in Somalia, has seen a sharp rise recently. The announcement about the new Spike TV series comes only a day after Captain Richard Phillips of an American cargo ship carrying relief goods to Kenya was freed when the pirates who held him hostage were killed by Navy SEAL snipers. The standoff and resolution has made news headlines around the world.

Simon Cowell hints that he might be leaving American Idol when his contract expires after next season. He explains to the Daily Mirror that commuting between America and the United Kingdom for his three shows, American Idol, Britain’s Got Talent, and The X Factor, have exhausted him and one may have to go.

The logical choice, he says, is the one show that’s not filmed in his home country of England. He also says he’s got a fourth show in the works, which would divert even more of his time and attention.

While American Idol has seen a steady decline in the ratings the last few years, it is still undeniably popular and the number one show in the United States. The acerbic yet savvy Cowell can arguably be credited with a large part of that success. His chemistry with host Ryan Seacrest and fellow judge Paula Abdul, in particular, often create watercooler buzz.

The show would undeniably suffer without him but would it suffer enough for the ratings to plunge and knock American Idol off its top spot? Should Cowell actually depart, would FOX be better off letting American Idol go out still at the top of its game after the ninth season? Creatively, that would be the best. However, if FOX thinks it can eke out a few more seasons with the show at least in the top 20, they may look for a replacement or simply continue the show with Randy, Paula, and Kara.

I’m betting this is all moot anyway. This isn’t the first time Cowell has teased a departure, then signed a new multi-million dollar contract. I think it’s an early negotiation ploy and we’ll see Simon offering his snarky critiques on American Idol 10 and beyond.

Despite mixed reviews, the number one movie in America over the Easter holiday weekend was Hannah Montana: The Movie. The film made $34 million, most of which came from preteen and teenage girls. Insiders estimated that the movie would bring in approximately $20 million, so the bigger opening was a surprise to many. It effectively recouped its $35 million budget.

Hannah Montana: The Movie is the second feature film based on Disney’s popular Hannah Montana TV series starring Miley Cyrus. The first, Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour, made $31 million in 2008. Although it made less overall than the second movie, it had a better per-theater average, driven by higher ticket costs because it was entirely in 3-D.

Hannah Montana is about a teenage girl named Miley Stewart who has a second identity as a famous pop star, Hannah Montana. Only her family and close friends know her secret, because she wants to have a normal teenage life. The TV show and new film also stars Miley Cyrus’s real life father, Billy Ray Cyrus, as Miley/Hannah’s father, Robby Stewart. The series is currently in its third season, although rumors are swirling this will be its last. Undoubtedly Disney will do whatever it takes to hold into its star after an opening weekend like this, however.

Bravo has decided to take a break from its exhaustive and exhausting Real Housewives series and focus on a different rich, spoiled demographic. They’ve greenlight NYC Prep, which is being billed as the real-life Gossip Girl. The docu-drama will premiere on Tuesday, June 16 at 11:00 pm Eastern/10:00 Central, then move to its regular 10:00 pm Eastern/9:00 Central timeslot on June 23.

The new series will follow six privileged teenagers who attend Manhattan’s elite high schools. The stars of the series are:

Camille – A 16 year old junior who excels at academics and sports but has trouble finding a boyfriend. She enjoys clubbing and playing the peacemaker when drama arises.

Jessica – A 17 year old senior who wants to attend FIT and pursue a career in fashion. She’s also heavily involved in charity organizations and events.

Kelli – A 17 year old junior who shares an apartment with her brother while her parents live in the Hamptons. As such, her place becomes party central. Kelli wants to be a singer.

PC – An 18 year old senior, PC is a popular ladies’ man. He enjoys photography, music, and working out. He wants to reconnect with Jessica, an old friend whom he dated at one time.

Sebastian – A 16 year old sophomore who is a native French speaker and makes the girls swoon with his accent. He loves sports, hitting the clubs with his best friend, and being involved in charities.

Taylor – A 15 year old sophomore who attends public school but crashes the parties of her elite prep school peers. She trains every day in dance and enjoys being politically active.

Do any of these kids sounds like the real life Serena, Blair, or Chuck? Or, like with most things, is fiction more interesting and watchable than reality?

Kings has been dethroned. The critically-acclaimed yet viewer-challenged drama about a modern fictional take on the King Saul story from the Bible has lost its Sunday night timeslot. NBC announced today that Kings will be moving to Saturday nights at 8:00 pm starting on April 18, which essentially means it’s been canceled. Dateline, which was Kings’ lead-in, will be expanding to two hours.

In the four weeks since its debut, Kings, which stars Ian McShane, has gone from bad to worse in the ratings. The ambitious, creative series started out in fourth place for the night with a mere 6 million viewers and 1.6 in the 18-49 demographic. By this past Sunday’s episode it had dropped to a pitiful 3.6 million viewers and a 1.1 in the demo. Not even its strong showing on new media, such as iTunes where its latest episode is the most downloaded show, is enough to save it.

The move to Saturday night should somewhat placate the series’ small but devoted audience. It’s better than being yanked unceremoniously from the air entirely. This way, viewers won’t have to wait and see if NBC burns off the remaining episodes online or makes fans shell out money for the DVDs.

Heather Locklear and Grant Show have passed, but one original Melrose Place cast member has signed on for The CW’s reboot. Laura Leighton, who played the scheming but mostly good-hearted Sydney Andrews in the first incarnation of the campy nighttime soap opera, will join the pilot as the drama-ridden apartment complex’s landlady. If When the show gets picked up to series, Sydney will continue to appear on a recurring basis.

The Melrose Place reboot also stars Ashlee Simpson-Wentz, Katie Cassidy, Jessica Lucas, Stephanie Jabobsen, Michael Rady, Colin Egglesfield, and Shaun Sipos. Ryan Eggold, who plays teacher Ryan Matthews on 90210, will be a resident and making crossover appearances.

Viewers last saw Sydney in the fifth season finale of the original series. She was hit by a car on her wedding day and was presumed dead for the remaining two seasons of the show’s run. I expect the explanation for her survival will be delightfully soapy but it can’t match the iconic moment where Kimberly (Marcia Cross) ripped off her wig.

With the 90210 remake, it took one original cast member signing on to get others on board. Perhaps the same will be true of the new Melrose Place. Now that Leighton is returning, which of the Melrose Place 1.0 residents would you like to see again? Locklear and Show are out for now, while Cross and Leighton’s husband Doug Savant are busy on Desperate Housewives and Jamie Luner just signed on at All My Children. I’m personally rooting for Thomas Calabro’s Michael Mancini to make a return and it would also be a hoot to see Lisa Rinna and Rob Estes return as Taylor and Kyle McBride.

In the TV network business, one day you’re in and the next day you’re out. Auf wiedersehan, Bravo! After a protracted legal battle, fashion-focused reality show Project Runway will officially be moving to Lifetime. The parties involved – Lifetime, NBC Universal (which owns Bravo), and The Weinstein Company (which produces Project Runway) – have resolved their dispute.

Under the new agreement, the Weinstein Company will pay NBC Universal for the rights to move the show from Bravo to Lifetime. The sixth season of the series, which had completed filming at Fashion Week in January, is expected to begin airing on Lifetime this summer. It will be paired with a companion series, Models of the Runway, which is also produced by The Weinstein Company.

All of the principle cast members – host and judge Heidi Klum, mentor Tim Gunn, and judges Nina Garcia and Michael Kors – will be returning. The new season was filmed in Los Angeles, a change from the New York City location of the five Bravo-aired seasons. It is to be the first of five seasons contracted between Lifetime and The Weinstein Company.

Are you excited about the return of Project Runway or has the long legal battle and the move away from Bravo killed your interest? I’m looking forward to it, if only to see if the new season will have someone as crazy as Kenley “cat tosser” Collins.

It appears that the partnership between NBC and DirecTV has proven beneficial to everyone involved. Last year the two companies agreed on a deal where DirecTV would air the third season of Friday Night Lights in the fall, with NBC repeating the episodes starting in January 2009.

This week it was officially announced that the partnership will continue for at least two more years. Friday Night Lights was renewed for two additional 13 episode seasons, to be aired in the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 TV seasons. Like this season, DirecTV will get the first-run rights with NBC to air the episodes at a later date.

The NBC/DirecTV partnership could signal a new way to save critically acclaimed but low-rated series. Friday Night Lights struggled in the Nielsens for its first two seasons and looked headed for cancellation before the deal was struck. With the arrangement, NBC shares the production costs with DirecTV, DirecTV builds their reputation with original programming, and fans are happy to see their show continue. Everyone wins.

Although nothing has been reported regarding similar deals, NBC may possibly use the success of this model to save other low-rated but beloved and acclaimed shows, such as Chuck or Life. Furthermore, DirecTV, an independent satellite broadcaster, is not owned by NBC Universal, which means it could make similar arrangements with other networks.

Yesterday CSI star Marg Helgenberger, 50, filed for divorce from Alan Rosenberg, 58, her husband of 19 years. Rosenberg, also an actor, is currently the president of the Screen Actors Guild. The two met in 1984 and married in 1989. They separated in December 2008. They have one son, who is 18 years old.

Helgenberger cites irreconcilable differences in her filing. She is asking for spousal support and petitioning the court to deny him the same. I don’t know anything about the couple’s entire finances but it does strike me as strange that a star on TV’s number one drama is asking for spousal support. Being the SAG president must be a sweet gig.

Speaking of SAG, does anyone think Helgenberger and Rosenberg might have split over his zeal in pushing for an actors’ strike during a severe economic recession? The timing seems suspect, is all I’m saying.

After a two week hiatus for NCAA basketball, CSI returns with new episodes starting April 2. Let’s hope Catherine Willows doesn’t investigate a case where a middle-aged woman is suspected of murdering her estranged husband.