Mark Steven Johnson, the man behind “Daredevil” and “Ghost Rider” has been working t bring the Vertigo comic book series “Preacher” to HBO.

He has recently told Comics Continuum, however, that the deal has fallen apart. “We were budgeting and everything and it was getting really close to going,” Johnson told The Continuum. “But the new head of HBO felt it was just too dark and too violent and too controversial. Which, of course, is kind of the point!” said Johnson.

Personally, I’m not disappointed by this news. I tried to read “Preacher” not too long ago, and I just couldn’t get through it. It is a very dark, very over-the-top comic book.

If HBO is unwilling to bring this to the screen, there is very little chance of it ever doing so. The 70+ issue epic would probably not translate into a 2 hour film very well, but who knows?

For right now, it is safe to say that “Preacher” will not

Jack Donaghy’s nemesis Devon Banks, played by comedy genius Will Arnett, will be appearing on the first season premiere of “30 Rock”, which is filming now.

Arnett has been given an Emmy nomination for his appearances on the show last season, and I can certainly see why. Arnett’s character was a highlight of the show, and when you see him – you know that insanity is on its way.

I’d really like to see Devon Banks become a full cast member – of for Arnett to get his own series. The man is one of the funniest people to come out of Hollywood in the last few years, and I can’t wait to see what he does next.

I have to admit that I love SNL. I have always loved SNL, and I always WILL love SNL. I love the original cast, I love the Christopher Guest/Billy Crystal season, I love Mike Myers, Will Farrell, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Myers, Tina Fey, Amy Pohler – you name it. I love the damn show and there is nothing I can do about it.

SO – I’m excited to see that they’re coming out with guns blazing this season.

Michael Phelps was the star of the summer, and he’s going to be hosting the premiere episode of the 34th season of the long running late night show. You can bet executives will be watching this episode closely. If Phelps shows even the SLIGHTEST bit of acting talent he’ll be cast as Aquaman or Namor (Marvel Comics under water character) in a matter of minutes.

I can’t wait to see what kind of job he does.

RFD-TV is labeled as “A 24-hour Television Network for Rural America”, and it features shows like “Crook and Chase” (which is a country music talk show that used to air on The Nashville Network), “Big Joe Polka”, and way too many shows about horses and farming to mention. Oh yeah – they also run “Hee Haw”.

Country music legend Marty Stuart is joining the network this November for “The Marty Stuart Show”, a program that is going to continue on the “Hee Haw” tradition. I have to be honest, folks – I’m from Texas, and I’ve always dug country and bluegrass music. I have a bad feeling that this show is going to be…less than amazing…but I’m going to HAVE to check it out.

UK channel ITV is trying something a little different with their latest comedy. It’s about the social lives of super heroes. The show is called “No Heroes”…you can see a trailer below…

After watching it, I’m really not sure what to think. So far, I’m not really terribly impressed. It’s not that don’t get British humor. I’m a huge fan of Mitchell & Webb, The UK Office, Spaced, Black Books, Coupling, and many, many more. I just didn’t really laugh at this.

I’ll still check out the first episode, and I am reserving judgement until then.

Robert Orci & Alex Kurtzman recently sat down with Fox Movie Channel’s “Life After Film School” series and spoke about being the co-writers of the upcoming “Star Trek” feature film.

They discuss how challenging it can be to deal with the weight of the Star Trek “cannon” which is over 5,000 hours of television history. These two guys have been pretty busy, having written “Transformers” and the upcoming sequel, as well as writing and executive producing the Fox series “Fringe” with J.J. Abrams.

You can see the interview here.

Yeah, you read that right. People Magazine is coming to a TV near you. ABC has greenlit an hour long special for the print publication on Sept. 30 at 10:00pm. The special will be entitled “Half Their Size: The People Magazine Weight Loss Challenge”.

The show is based on a series of articles from the magazine which have been running since 2002. The goal is for people to shed half of their body weight. This special will focus on eight residents of Mississippi, and chronicle their journey over a 9 month period.

The shows sounds quite a bit like “The Biggest Loser” on NBC. There is no word on if the special will continue past this one night event, but assuming ratings are good, you can bet there will be more.

Spike has ordered 10 episodes of a new series starring Jesse James of “Monster Garage”. The show will be stunt-themed and James will also be serving as the executive producer of the series.

We’re not sure yet if we’re talking Evil Knievel styled stunts, or Jackass styled shenanigans, but I sincerely hope they’re going with the former route.

The program is set to debut in Feb of next year.

ABC’s dancing with the stars will return on Sept. 22 for a seventh season. 13 new contestants will put on their dancing shoes and show their stuff.

They include: Lance Bass, Toni Braxton, Brooke Burke, Rocco Dispirito, Maurice Greene, Kim Kardashian, Cloris Leachman, Cody Linley, Susan Lucci, Misty May-Treanor, Ted McGinley, Jeffrey Ross and Warren Sapp

Even though 13 of them will appear on the first episode, only 11 will make on to the next show.

Saturday evening saw a showdown between the Olympics, and the Disney Channel movie “Cheetah Girls: One World”, and the Cheetahs took the gold.

The Disney Channel Original movie scored 6.2 million viewers, and was the No.1 prime-time telecast among kids and Tweens. This now marks Disney’s second #1 movie this summer, joining “Camp Rock” at the top of the summer ratings charts.