HBO has picked up Treme, a New Orleans-set drama series from The Wire creator David Simon, and is aiming for a fall debut, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The show chronicles the rebuilding of post-Katrina New Orleans through the eyes of local musicians. Simon co-created the project with fellow Homicide writer, and longtime New Orleans resident, Eric Overmyer.

CBS is considering remakes of the game shows Let’s Make a Deal and The Dating Game, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The network is weighing pilot orders as possible replacements for the morning time slot vacated by the recently canceled soap opera Guiding Light, which ends its historic run in September.

EW’s Whitney Pastorek reports from the set of American Idol that rumors of an accident this evening are indeed true. At the start of dress rehearsals, stage manager Debbie Williams fell from the top of a flight of stairs, dangled from a railing, and dropped to the floor. Paramedics were called, and Williams, an integral part of the AI production team, was rushed to the hospital. A crew member says that Williams badly cut her leg and may have injured her hand, although apparently there are no broken bones. Fox, meanwhile, has released an official statement: "During rehearsal today a crew member had a mishap on the set and was immediately taken to the hospital as a precautionary measure." (Reporting by Whitney Pastorek and Michael Ausiello)

Although there have been rumors that Kara DioGuardi, American Idol‘s fourth judge, might not be returning to the show next season, Simon Cowell has told Ellen DeGeneres that "everyone’s going to be back." On Tuesday’s episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Cowell said that the addition of DioGuardi was initially "awkward," but that her presence ultimately improved the program. Fox had no comment for EW on whether all of the judges would be returning next year.

In a Ladies’ Home Journal cover story, American Idol judge Paula Abdul speaks openly about her past with painkillers, revealing that for the first time in 12 years she’s no longer dependent on medication. According to the article, Abdul checked herself into the La Costa Resort and Spa, in Carlsbad, Calif., on Thanksgiving 2008, after years of medicating what is described as "chronic debilitating pain caused by an unusual series of accidents." An initial back injury suffered as a 17-year-old cheerleader was followed by: a broken leg during a rehearsal in 1991; a neck injury in a car accident in 1992; and partial paralysis requiring 15 spinal surgeries from a 1993 airplane crash. To deal with the pain — and keep dancing — Abdul began using a combination of painkillers, which included regular shots of lidocaine, the magazine says. "I couldn’t cancel my tour," Abdul explained. "I didn’t want anyone to count me out. I tried to keep everything hush-hush."

By 2005, Abdul was diagnosed with reflexsympathetic dystrophy syndrome, described as a chronic pain condition that disabled her with pain, made her teeth chatter, and produced shingles-like lesions. "Paula wore a patch that delivered a painmedication about 80 times more potent than morphine and took a nervemedication to relieve her symptoms," the magazine reports. "Sometimes she took a musclerelaxer. But the pain was so bad it often left her sleepless and shewould, as she says, ‘get weird.’ It was the combination of thesefactors that may have led to the impression that she was high at timeswhen she was on [American Idol]." Abdul, however, told the magazine that she never shot an Idol episode under the influence.

Last month, when asked by Nightline‘s Cynthia McFadden whether she had ever abused prescription drugs, Abdul answered, "Never."

More Paula Abdul on EW’s Music Mix:
Paula Abdul remakes, improves on Kylie’s ‘Here for the Music’

Lifetime series Army Wives will return for an 18-episode third season on June 7 at 10 p.m. ET/PT. The show follows a group of women –- and one man –- living with their spouses and families on an active army post in Charleston, S.C..  It stars Kim Delaney, Sally Pressman, Brigid Brannagh, Brian McNamara, Sterling K. Brown, Wendy Davis, Drew Fuller, Terry Serpico, Katelyn Pippy, and Catherine Bell. It is the most popular series Lifetime has ever had.

Lifetime released the following description of the upcoming third season:

Season Three opens with the Army wives banding together to support Claudia Joy (Kim Delaney) after her daughter, Emmalin (Katelyn Pippy), disappears on the eve of the family’s imminent overseas transfer.  As Claudia Joy prepares to uproot her entire life for her husband’s new job (Brian McNamara), she struggles to remain strong for all of those around her.  Roxy (Sally Pressman), fighting to hold onto her bar, is forced to reevaluate the business and the emotional toll it’s taking on her.  Pamela (Brigid Brannagh), whose husband is often away on assignment, must be both mother and father to her children.  New father Roland (Sterling K. Brown) wrestles with the news of Joan’s (Wendy Davis) deployment, and Denise (Catherine Bell) faces devastating consequences when her affair becomes the talk of the post.  As all of these events unfold, Claudia Joy, Roxy, Pamela, Roland and Denise navigate their friendship while continuing to face the unique challenges of being Army wives.