Is there no justice in the cruel world of TV?
So Hallmark Channel says it’s “pleased to congratulate” Marie Osmond and her talk show, “Marie,” for snaring a Critics’ Choice Television Award nomination. In fact, it was “pleased” enough to put out a press release touting the nomination.
OK — so why won’t it decide the show’s fate already?
“Marie,” which premiered last fall, has played to mediocre numbers all season long, and wasn’t mentioned in March when Hallmark renewed its other freshman talk show, “Home & Family” (Mark Steines, Cristina Ferrare).
So what gives?
“We have not made a firm decision about the show,” a Hallmark spokesman said yesterday. I’m not sure what more they need to make a decision, but whatever.
“Marie” airs Monday through Thursday at noon.
America holds its breath.
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Billy Crystal will headline a pilot for FX called “The Comedians,” in which he’ll play a “superstar veteran comedian” who’s paired with “a younger, edgier comedian” for a late-night sketch-comedy show. It’s adapted from a Swedish show of the same name. Production is scheduled to begin this summer.
The pilot’s showrunners are Larry Charles (“Seinfeld”), Matt Nix (“Burn Notice”) and Ben Wexler (“Arrested Development,” “Community”), who are also executive-producing and writing with Crystal.
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Last, but not least:
* “GMA’s” Robin Roberts, Lara Spencer and George Stephanopoulos were at Hudson Terrace Tuesday night for the show’s Summer Cocktail Party . . . TV’s 866th “food competition series” premieres June 10 on Destination America. It’s called “Last Call Food Brawl” and is hosted by Adam Gertler . . . Producers Neil and Michael Mandt (Mandt Bros. Productions) are keeping busy with four new projects: a Web series for bleacherreport.com called “JaMarcus Russell: The Comeback 2013,” which follows the former NFL first-round draft pick who was released following a drug scandal; “Young Sonoma,” in development for E! (following renowned families in Sonoma Valley); “The Million Dollar Arm,” a Disney film starring “Mad Men’s” Jon Hamm; and an untitled series for Food Network.