Eric Jonrosh will live to (drunkenly) tell another televised tale.
Jonrosh, the blowhard, horndog author played by Will Ferrell on “The Spoils of Babylon” — IFC’s spoof of overwrought 1970s-era miniseries — will “star” in the show’s sequel, “The Spoils Before Dying,” set to air next summer on IFC. There’s no cast yet — the original counted Kristen Wiig, Val Kilmer, Tobey Maguire, Michael Sheen and Tim Robbins among its stars — but “Before Dying” will be yet another adaptation of a Jonrosh book, this one the (oft-sloshed) author’s first best-seller about a ’50s-era jazz-pianist-turned-private eye “positively buzzing with erotic charge.” Ferrell-as-Jonrosh will once again introduce each episode. “Eric Jonrosh is a drunk who urinated in my sink when he came to our house for dinner, but damn he writes great miniseries,” co-executive producer Andrew Steele said in a (tongue-planted-firmly-in-cheek) statement.
Elsewhere: Sam Waterston (and his eyebrows) have joined the cast of “Grace and Frankie,” the Netflix series starring Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, whose husbands (Waterston and Martin Sheen) announce they’re in love (with each other) and want to get married. And Taye Diggs, currently headlining “Murder in the First” on TNT, will appear next season on “The Good Wife” (CBS) as a partner at Lockhart/Gardner” who accompanies Diane (Christine Baranski) to Alicia and Cary’s (Julianna Margulies, Matt Czuchry) new firm.
Hsu-in Saturday at 9
CBS-owned Ch. 55 is expanding its 9 p.m. newscast to include Saturday and Sunday. The newscast will be anchored by Ch. 2’s Cindy Hsu — with meteorologist Elise Finch and sports anchor Steve Overmyer — and will start airing this weekend, replacing “Law & Order: SVU” reruns (cutting the number of “L&O” repeats airing on TV down to rough 878).
Alice Gainer and Dick Brennan will continue to co-anchor the 9 p.m weekday newscast with weather guy Lonnie Quinn and sports anchor Otis Livingston. The newscast averaged 49,000 viewers during May sweeps — up a significant 53 percent from May 2013 (32,000 viewers).
Last, but not least …
SiriusXM’s “The Moms” (Melissa Musen Gerstein, Denise Albert) host a “Mamarazzi” event Tuesday featuring a private performance with Richard Marx at Millesime Restaurant (The Carlton Hotel) … “Real Housewives of New Jersey” co-star Rosie Pierri will be at the grand opening Wednesday (noon-1 p.m.) of Just Salad in West Caldwell, NJ … Open auditions for the 14th season of “American Idol” will be held Wednesday, July 23, at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale … New Yorkers Lisa Punch and Jesse Kinch head into the “Duels” Sunday on “Rising Star” (9 p.m./ABC).