The 2000s were not so great for James Van Der Beek, career-wise. Maybe the 2010s will be better? He's just landed a role on the NBC medical drama 'Mercy' which could become a series regular if the character 'clicks'.

•EW reports that James Van Der Beek is playing "Liam West," a cocky, womanizing doctor with a "deep, dark secret." It would be good to see some success for Van Der Beek, who in the mid-to-late-90s seduced our sisters each week on "Dawson's Creek" while we pretended not to like the show. [EW]

•Gossip Girl's Sebastian Stan has been cast to star in an upcoming paranormal thriller opposite "Twilight" star Ashley Greene. "The Apparition" is about a young couple "haunted by a supernatural presence unleashed during a college experiment." (It is improbably based on a true story?) Please, God, let this not be the next "Twilight." There must be only one. [Variety]

•Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is not just a punchline—he's a set-up too. Q: What do you get when Rod Blagojevich is slated to appear on 'Celebrity Apprentice'?; A: Who cares. Rod Blagojevich needs to go away, forever. [TheWrap]

•Apparently some people thought David Lynch's awesome 1984 adaptation of the classic Frank Herbert sci-fi novel "Dune" wasn't good enough? Paramount Pictures has tapped Pierre Morel ("Taken," "From Paris with Love") to direct a remake. Nerds, sharpen your nitpicks because you know Morel is going to fuck up something about female sandworm mating habits or whatever. [Variety]

•Terrible news: NBC has given Adam Carolla a sitcom pilot. He will star as a contractor whose world is shattered when his wife leaves him—probably because she recognizes him as that douchebag from 'The Man Show.' [Variety]

•Has Imax finally figured out that nobody wants to go to the movies to learn stuff? They want explosions, 3-D movies, and Meghan Fox's boobs projected 10 stories high! Imax's boxoffice for reformatted Hollywood films totaled a record $270 million this year. [THR]