TV quick hits: ‘Criminal Minds’ star’s new gig, Jon Stewart fun, ‘Party Down South’ drama, more

For this edition of TV quick hits, we start with some big news when it comes to Paget Brewster: The former “Criminal Minds” star is getting a chance to shine yet again!

Paget has joined the ABC comedy pilot “Saint Francis” as the wife of Michael Imperioli’s character, who is a straight-laced Long Island cop who becomes very upset following the revelation that his sister, 29, is pregnant out of wedlock. This is a continuation of Paget’s recent comedy trend, and it comes after a brief guest spot on “Community.”

As for some other news…

Jon Stewart has some fun – On “The Daily Show” this week Stewart welcomed in for an interview none other than director David O. Russell, who has to be feeling pretty good about himself right now following “The Fighter,” “Silver Linings Playbook,” and now “American Hustle.” The only thing that could possibly bring him down? Having Stewart tell him that his show could really use an infusion of more “robots,” and that he also looks like a guy being smuggled in from Tijuana after showing a picture of him directing in the back seat of a car.

Luckily, Russell is game to talk a little bit about all of this, in addition to some other stuff that is surprising personal.

CBS hands Nina Tassler more power – Tassler, who has been the programming head for CBS’ primetime lineup for some time, has been given a promotion and new position as chairman of CBS Entertainment. There are some new duties wrapped in here, but what you need to know is that she will be with the network at least until 2017.

Tassler has helped the network stay at #1 in total viewers through most of her entire reign, and helped to further shepherd hits like “The Big Bang Theory” and “NCIS.” Also, she took a smart gamble on “Under the Dome,” and has never strayed away from what the CBS audience is. Everyone jokes that the network skews old, but all Tassler probably sees are dollar signs. She’s got the job everyone wants.

“Party Down South” drama – According to TMZ, there are some problems with this CMT show’s cast over salaries, and it could lead to some of them getting cut. To be fair, we understand where the cast is coming from here in only getting reportedly $500 an episode. But, at the same time, CMT could find new characters who would gladly take that money, and the real source of income you get from this sort of show comes via appearances. Just ask some of “The Real Housewives,” or the “Jersey Shore” cast in the early going before they were paid way too much money to party.