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Children's action heroes the Power Rangers are to be decommissioned.

Disney bosses have decided to drop the long-running series, which has been shot in New Zealand since 2003.

The 17th season of the show, which began earlier this month, will be the Power Rangers' last.

The news has stunned Antipodean actors working on the series, who insist they were not told the project was under threat.

Voiceover actor Charlie McDermott, who has portrayed the General Crunch character for the last three years, told the New Zealand Weekend Herald newspaper he had not been told about the cancellation.

He says, "It's a bit of a bummer."

Ironically, New Zealand was one of the few countries to ban the show; the series was cancelled 1993 when the Broadcasting Standards Authority deemed it too violent.

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Injured stuntman Steve-o was a no show on U.S. TV series Dancing With The Stars on Monday night, prompting reports he'll be the new season's third casualty.

The Jackass star told WENN he was dancing through the pain on the show last week (ends13Mar09) after pinching nerves in his back.

He said, "I'm doing everything I can to let it heal; icing it, taking Advil, drinking water, visiting a chiropractor and continuing to be worked on by the physical therapist."

But that wasn't enough to get him to the show on Monday - host Tom Bergeron revealed Steve-o would not be dancing and his partner Lacey Schwimmer appeared solo to explain the daredevil was in a lot of pain.

As WENN went to press, there was no news as to whether Steve-o would be quitting the show.

Pop star Jewel and U.S. TV presenter Nancy O'Dell have already been replaced after suffering leg injuries and Sex & The City: The Movie hunk Gilles Marini has separated his shoulder in rehearsals and needs regular steroid shots to stay in the competition.

Meanwhile, comedienne Kathy Griffin's ex-boyfriend Steve Wozniak - who is also a competitor - is dancing with a fractured foot.

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Alex O'Loughlin just can't seem to get away from blood. As has been rumored, the star of CBS' ill-fated Moonlight is thisclose to signing on to headline the pilot for Three Rivers, a new Eye show about organ transplants.

In Three Rivers, each story is told from the point of view of the doctor, the recipient and the donor. And with Carol Barbee (Jericho) writing the pilot and exec-producing alongside 8 Mile director Curtis Hanson and longtime collaborator Carol Fenelon, odds are pretty good that it won't suck.

So what do you think, peeps? Are you happy with the project CBS found to keep the erstwhile vampire busy? (He's already bound to the Eye through a development deal.) Or were you hoping for something with a little more... bite? Sound off below. (Additional reporting by Andy Patrick)

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Trip through any reportage or recappage on Fox's Dollhouse and you'll spy a recurring refrain:

Where is Joss Whedon's trademark wit?

It's a fair cop. After all, snappy and snarky dialogue laden with "Whedonisms" and pop-culture references became a calling card of such series as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.

But at the risk of putting too fine a point on it, we're not in Sunnydale anymore.

"[Dollhouse] is not the light-hearted romp that the other shows were," Whedon tells TVGuide.com. "There are moments of funny, but it doesn't build like — nor was it designed to be — a comedy. It's not going to play that instrument."

"If there is a typical Whedon show," he adds, "this is not it."

So while Echo occasionally may be imprinted as a tart-tongued thief and Topher may regularly crack wise about his God complex, you won't ever hear Sierra bitch to Adelle, "Ugh, you're such a Blair."

Explaining his venture into darker waters, Whedon says, "You have to do different things at different times. And if people are feeling like [Dollhouse] is too serious, then either their expectation has to be changed or we need to lighten up a little. But I don't think they're ever going to see the same long, six-page runs of pure humor. This is not that show."

Especially and if only because Dollhouse's inherent premise — childlike, personality-wiped "actives" are rented out for engagements of an oft morally questionable nature — hints at issues of human trafficking and other unethical business practices.

"You can do a little [humor on Dollhouse]," says Whedon, "but you can't turn it into a pop-culture, referential funhouse."

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Freddie Prinze Jr. has been cast in the ABC comedy pilot No Heroics, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The pilot revolves around around four B-list superheroes living among us, three of whom will be played by Paul Campbell, Eliza Coupe and Arielle Kebbel.

Campbell plays the group's leader Pete, a Canadian-born superhero who can freeze small objects. Prinze Jr. will play his nemesis and tormentor Bradley, who is everything Pete despises and secretly wishes he could be.

Bradley is described as a handsome, cocky and egotistical Alpha male.

Prinze Jr.'s wife Sarah Michelle Gellar is also on pilot duty, headlining HBO's The Wonderful Maladys.

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Aussie supermodel Elle MacPherson will find it easy getting into character for her small screen return - she's been signed up to star as a model in a new TV show.

The leggy lovely, nicknamed The Body, appeared in a string of movies, including The Edge, If Lucy Fell, and Batman & Robin, and also had a recurring role on hit TV series Friends in the 1990s before leaving her acting career behind to focus on modelling.

But now the star has been tempted back to TV with a role on CW's drama pilot Beautiful Life, alongside former O.C. star Mischa Barton.

Macpherson will play Claudia, a tough-talking 80s supermodel who owns top New York modelling agency Focus Models.

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Cult sci-fi series Star Trek is set for a return to the small screen - a Hollywood writer is looking to produce a new TV show to tie in with the upcoming movie.

The space age series, starring William Shatner, became a cult hit after it first aired in 1966 and has spawned six spin-off shows and 10 films.

A new prequel movie, directed by Lost creator J.J. Abrams, is set to hit cinemas this summer and Pushing Daisies screenwriter Bryan Fuller is hoping to capitalise on the film's success with a new spin-off TV series.

He says, "I told my agent and told the people of J.J. Abrams' team I want to create another Star Trek series and have an idea that I’m kicking around. I would love to return to the spirit of the old series with the colours and attitude. I loved Voyager and Deep Space Nine, but they seem to have lost the ‘60s fun and I would love to take it back to its origin.

"I would love to do it in the same era as the J.J. Abrams movie, but on another starship on a completely different adventure."

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Christina Applegate is planning a return to Broadway - four years after making her debut on the New York stage.

The California-born actress admits she has longed to return to theatre since her stint in the 2005 revival of Sweet Charity, which earned her a Tony Award nomination for best actress in a musical.

And while she's currently filming her U.S. TV comedy Samantha Who? in Los Angeles, Applegate insists returning to the Big Apple is among her many ambitions, because the city feels like a second home.

She says, "I've always felt so safe and good here. I felt like myself. I want to come back here and do some Broadway. I want to do small films, I want to continue with the show, I want to travel."

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John C. McGinley will not only turn in his scrubs but also take a walk on the dramatic side for his next role, in the CBS pilot Back.

Back revolves around Skeet Ulrich's character, who returns home to mysteriously discover that he was reported missing eight years earlier. Sherry Stringfield (ER) plays Ulrich's wife and the mother of their two kids. The thing is, she has since moved on with — and married — McGinley's firefighter. Awk. Ward.

In other CBS pilot news courtesy of the Hollywood Reporter, Jacqueline Bisset has landed a lead in The Eastmans, a drama about the founding of the Kodak camera company a family of doctors. Bisset, says the Hollywood Reporter, will play the matriarch, an emergency-room nurse.

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The CW's Body Politic is shaping up very nicely, with the addition of Brian Austin Green, Gabrielle Union and others to the Washington, D.C.-centric pilot's growing ensemble.

Should Body Politic get ordered to series and Fox's Terminator is unplugged, Green will play the "boy wonder" adviser to the president of the United States, says the Hollywood Reporter.

Union, in turn, will bring it on as BAG's girlfriend, a legislative director.

Also feeling the CW's Body are Jay Hernandez (Six Degrees), playing a naval officer, and Reaper's Jenny Wade, as an idealistic D.C. up-and-comer.

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Peter Krause's latest role is neither dirty nor inherently sexy. Instead, he has been cast as Adam Braverman — aka what we are calling "the Steve Martin role" — in NBC's Parenthood pilot based on the 1989 movie. Sarah Ramos (American Dreams) will play Krause's TV daughter, who actually was a son on the big screen. Yeah, this project is sounding more and more like "inspired by" than "based on."

Also on board for Friday Night Lights creator Jason Katims' adaptation of the film is ER fave Maura Tierney, as Krause's single-mom sister (the Dianne Wiest role). Mae Whitman (Thief) will cause drama as Tierney's daughter.

Dax Shepard (Employee of the Month) has been cast as the youngest (and slacker) Braverman sibling. Tom Hulce and a really bad hairstyle filled that role in the film.

And who sired the Braverman bunch? TV's former Coach, Craig T. Nelson, will succeed Jason Robards as the family patriarch, who in this interpretation is envisioned as a Vietnam vet-turned-actor/hippie.

What's your take? Might this Parenthood fare better than TV's first, blink-and-you-missed 1990 adaptation?

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Jeffrey Tambor will reunite with the creator of Arrested Development as a cast member of The Bridget Show, a Mitchell Hurwitz-produced comedy pilot for ABC.

The Bridget Show stars Gilmore gal Lauren Graham as a former talk-show queen attempting a comeback after a disastrous romance. Tambor will play Bridget's business manager.

In other ABC pilot news, Kyle Bornheimer's Worst Week may very well be over, now that he has landed a lead — playing Eric Christian' Olsen's needy buddy — on an untitled comedy from Ricky Blitt.

Also, Amanda Bynes (What I Like About You) is one of the Canned employees in a comedy about a corporate shake-up, while Lourdes Benedicto (The Nine) and Laura Vandervoort (Smallville) have boarded ABC's V reboot, playing Morris Chestnut's love interest and a Visitor, respectively.

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Scott Caan of Ocean's Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen has landed the lead in Cop House, Fox's dramedy pilot about a halfway house for lawmen. Caan will play an expert marksman who suffers a nervous breakdown when his wife leaves him for his (guffaw) sister, says the Hollywood Reporter.

Also entering this House is Curtiss Cook (Law & Order: CI), as a cop prone to violent outbursts.

In other Fox pilot news, Alfre Woodard (My Own Worst Enemy Miss Evers' Boys) has been cast on Maggie Hill as the tough chief of cardiothoracic surgery and mentor to the titular — and schizo —  doctor (played by Christina Cole).

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Donald Sutherland has landed a role on CBS drama pilot The Eastmans, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The pilot revolves around a dysfunctional family of doctors. Sutherland will play the rogue and wealthy patriarch, a distinguished cardiologist.

The Dirty Sexy Money star will join Jacqueline Bisset, Saffron Burrows, Gaby Hoffman and Jesse Bradford, who were previously cast in the pilot.

In other casting news, former 24 star Lourdes Benedicto has joined ABC's drama pilot V, and Andrea Parker has landed a lead role on the ABC comedy This Little Piggy.

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This is not, I repeat not, an April Fools prank.

Warner Home video just confirmed that the complete second season of Pushing Daisies -- including the three final, unaired episodes -- will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on July 21.

The 13-episode set will retail for $675 (DVD) and $975 (Blu-ray). Now that was an April Fools prank. They'll sell for $39.98 and $49.99 respectively.

Relieved much?!

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According to Variety, "it's understood" that Showtime has decided to pass on two anticipated series: End of Steve, a Matthew Perry vehicle about a local afternoon talk show host with a chaotic personal life; and The Farm, the Ilene Chaiken's L Word spinoff following Alice (Leisha Hailey) into a state prison. Steve had tapped Rescue Me  co-creator Peter Tolan to help pen the script, while  Farm featured guest stars as Famke Janssen, Melissa Leo and Laurie Metcalf in its pilot. Showtime reps could not be reached for comment.

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Matthew Perry and Peter Tolan thought they had a home for their new series, The End of Steve, at Showtime. Not anymore. Yesterday, Showtime passed on Steve, which is described in its logline as a "dark comedy about a bitter, egomaniacal daytime talk show host who seeks to find some level of happiness and redemption in his personal life." Tolan, the Rescue Me cocreator who exec produced Steve with Perry, confirmed the bad news to EW in an e-mail sent earlier today. "Yes, Showtime passed," he wrote. "It's a wonderful pilot and when I was told the news, I almost could not process it. After twenty years in television, you'd think I could see this sort of thing coming, but this time, I'm truly flummoxed. After an evening of licking my wounds, my overpowering lust for revenge kicked in (it's really the only thing that keeps me going in the business), and I vowed that we would sell the project elsewhere -- quickly. And I truly believe that will happen. The project is just that good."

At least there's some good news. "Talks have already started with HBO," according to Tolan. (HBO could not immediately be reached for comment.)

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Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell will make a special appearance on the May 3 episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, the AP is reporting. The episode will feature Powell meeting with former Army combat medic Jeff Cooper, whose dilapidated home is targeted for a makeover by Ty Pennington and Co. Cooper is confined to a wheelchair but still devotes his time to causes for veterans.

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An NBC insider has told EW that the network's ambitious but poorly rated drama Kings, starring Deadwood's Ian McShane, will move from Sunday to Saturday nights at 10 p.m., beginning on April 18, for its remaining eight episodes. The network has not announced plans to renew the hour-long series yet, and Kings' move to Saturdays seems to be a silent indication that NBC has no plans to.

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Funnyman Chris Rock is planning to end the TV show based on his early life after four seasons.

Everybody Hates Chris hasn't been picked up for a fifth season and the comedian plans to make it easy for bosses at America's CW network by ending the current season with a fitting finale.

Actor Terry Crews, who plays Rock's dad in the series, says, "Chris Rock didn't graduate high school and started comedy when he was, like, 17 years old. Our Chris (Tyler James Williams) is now a sophomore in high school, so the timing is lining up pretty well. Once he becomes a comedian, the show's over."

And Williams, who is currently pursuing a film course at New York University, admits he's happy with the ending of the show, which is unofficially planned for 8 May.

He tells TV Guide magazine, "An envelope arrives (with his high-school equivalency results), but before we find out the results, we fade to black. If it ends here, we ended it the right way."

Rock agrees: "It might not be a bad way to go."