TV NEWS: Palicki, Brooks, Benz, Kranz, and McPhee get new shows

• Adrianne Palicki (left), like the rest of her "Friday Night Lights" compadres, must've realized how difficult it is to get great film roles, considering the box office bomb, Legion, that she recently starred in, because she just signed on for a new FOX drama. "Midland" is about "a con artist (newcomer Jimmy Wolk) juggling two lives in two Texas cities with two women (Palicki and newcomer Eloise Mumford)." Thats like a cross between polygamy and whatever it is Tiger Woods thought he was doing. Then again, he could just be weighing his options.

• I guess it's official. "Deep End" is cancelled. Mehcad Brooks just joined ABC's hourlong documentary-style dramedy "Generation Y." It "revolves around a disparate group of former high school classmates, tracking their paths during the past 10 years and the events that have shaped their lives." It might do well on form alone, but considering the failure of shows like "Reunion," there's a chance that people won't be interested in flashback-type shows that don't revolve around high-intensity mysteries a la "Lost" and "Flashforward." Of course, "Desperate Housewives" succeeded in returning last year after jumping forward a few years and choosing to divulge everything that happened in sporadic flashbacks, so it could work.

• Speaking of "Desperate Housewives," I haven't seen this weekend's episode yet, but it would seem that Katherine's lesbian love affair won't last for long, since Julie Benz has just signed on for the ABC drama "No Ordinary Family." She'll play Michael Chiklis' ("The Shield" and Fantastic Four) wife, the matriarch of a family that suddenly develops new abilities.

• Fran Kranz (Topher on "Dollhouse") scored a role on NBC's new comedy "Friends with Benefits," which is exactly what you think it is.

• They say imitation is the best form of flattery. So HBO's "How to Make It in America" must be blushing, because it's already getting clones. NBC has announced that American Idol contestant (winner? who remembers?) Katherine McPhee will star in the sitcom "The Pink House," which is about two guys who move to L.A. to get their dream jobs.