The TV Zone

Showtime just had one of the bigger announcements of this year's confab. Execs just told the ink-stained Assemblage here that they have picked up that new series-in-development with Edie Falco entitled "Nurse Jackie," about a nurse who's kind of a rough-and-tumble gal in a New York City hospital. Not that this is a huge surprise: Everyone wanted Falco for something, and this one hasn't exactly been under wraps. Showtime previewed the show in an extended trailer, and there was a little of the Edie we all know and love and a little of the Edie many of us aren't too familiar with. F'rinstance, she's a drug user (coke, or something that came up through a straw) and liberally salts her patter with the f-bomb. The logline on this? Bob Greenblatt, Showtime prez of entertainment, told us that "she's a very complicated nurse...You've never quite seen a nurse like this...The show won't be case-driven, or [have a] big medical story of the week." Plus, it's only a half hour. Is this played for laughs? Based on the three-minute clip, probably, though maybe it's more of a dramedy...Said Greenblatt, it'll air on the network "next spring or early summer..."

And -- because I like to bury my lede -- the show also stars Paul Schulze. Remember him? How could you forget: Father Phil Intintola from "The Sopranos," the mooch who came dangerously close to breaking his vows and losing his life in the process. You might call this show the first post-"Sopranos" reunion. He plays a character named Eddie, and sorry, no further details...

Other Showtime notes:

* Clyde Phillips, "Dexter" boss, said that Jimmy Smits' character -- Miguel Prado, a Miami DA -- will "befriend" dear ol Dex, and actually become "the first adult friend he's ever had...as their friendship progresses he becomes a little more open with [Prado] about who he is...That's what we're gonna explore this year."

* David Duchovy, here to promote "Californication," got a Mulder question, of course, and he said, "I can't play him the same way [six years later.] I walk a little slower. I was trying to be Mulder in 2008, not 1993. That was interesting for me."

* Michael C. Hall got the biggest laugh of the day. Someone asked how his family reacted when they learned he was gonna play a sadistic beast of a blood-spattered serial-killer. Not missing a beat -- and in an obvious reference to his "Six Feet Under" lover, Keith Charles -- he said they responded: "'As long as you're not kissing a black man.'"