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Campos carves out new pilot gig

Former “Nip/Tuck” star Bruno Campos is playing his own personal game of musical pilots, jumping from an NBC comedy to a one-hour project at Fox.

Elsewhere in the casting world, Leslie Hope (“24,” “Commander In Chief”) is joining The CW’s drama “Runaway,” Jason O’Mara (“In Justice”) has taken the lead in ABC’s “Drift” and Vanessa L. Williams, most recently of UPN’s “South Beach,” is taking over for Charlotte Ross in “Ugly Betty.”

Campos, whose “Nip/Tuck” character was unveiled as the Carver last season, was previously set to star in an untitled comedy from writer Chris Sheridan at NBC, about two brothers who operate on opposite sides of the law and also live next door to each other. Instead, he’ll star in “The Wedding Album” at Fox, the showbiz trade papers report.

In the show, he’ll play a wedding photographer who shoots big-deal nuptials in New York while searching for romance in his own life. British actress Tara Summers will play his assistant and Ashlie Atkinson (“Rescue Me”) their office manager.

Hope, who’s had a recurring part on “Commander In Chief” this season, has joined “Runaway,” one of the few drama pilots at new network The CW. The ex-“24” star, who’ll appear on “Everwood” later this season, will play the wife of a man wrongly convicted of murder who takes his family on the lam.

At ABC, O’Mara will star in “Drift,” a drama about a detective whose trauma-induced insomnia affects his job. The former “Agency” star is still attached to “In Justice,” so if that show somehow returns to the Alphabet next season – ratings have been mediocre – the part would be recast.

Also at ABC, Williams has taken over for Ross in “Ugly Betty,” the network’s adaptation of a telenovela about a homely but efficient secretary (America Ferrera) at a fashion magazine. The former “NYPD Blue” star is staying with the network, however, joining Alicia Silverstone in the comedy “Pink Collar.”

‘OFFICE’ STAYS OPEN FOR SUMMER

Just like in real life, some of the cast from “The Office” won’t a whole lot of time off this summer.

NBC is planning to shoot 10 online-only “webisodes” of its critically acclaimed comedy to air during the offseason. The new material will bring some of the show’s supporting players front and center as the Dunder Mifflin accounting staff searches for a stash of cash that’s gone missing from the Scranton office.

Angela (Angela Kinsey), Kevin (Brian Baumgartner) and Oscar (Oscar Nunez) will lead the search for the missing money, with no one above suspicion. The web episodes will also feature “Office” regulars Rainn Wilson, Melora Hardin, Phyllis Smith, Leslie David Baker, Kate Flannigan and David Denman.

A debut date for the online episodes, which will stream at NBC.com, hasn’t been set.

“The Office” has been a big part of NBC’s efforts to attract viewers through non-traditional outlets. The network webcast an episode on MySpace prior to its premiere last year, and the show has been one of NBC’s more popular downloads on Apple’s iTunes.

The show has seen its ratings grown since it and “My Name Is Earl” made the move from Tuesday to Thursday nights in January. Since the switch, “The Office” has drawn about 8.7 million viewers per week and a 4.5 rating in the adults 18-49 demographic NBC prizes. The 18-49 number is a 22 percent improvement over its Tuesday average; viewers are up about 12 percent since the move.

NBC PAYS RANSOM FOR ‘KIDNAPPED’

NBC has taken another step toward filling out its schedule for next season, picking up the drama “Kidnapped” for a fall premiere.

The show, a serialized thriller a la “Prison Break,” chronicles the efforts of police, the FBI and a private kidnap-and-retrieval expert to locate the abducted teenage son of a New York millionaire. It will also follow the kidnappers.

“This is one of those shows that sizzled from pitch to script to finished pilot,” says Kevin Reilly, president of NBC Entertainment. “Michael Dinner (“Invasion”) directed a pilot that you can’t take your eyes off of. It will certainly be one of the most compelling new fall series, so we wanted to express our confidence in it now and give the producers the extra lead time to develop the series.”

The story is set in motion with the kidnapping of teenager Leopold Cain (Will Denton); his bodyguard (Mykelti Williamson, “Boomtown”) is left for dead after the abduction. The boy’s parents, Conrad (Timothy Hutton, “Kinsey,” “Ordinary People”) and Ellie (Dana Delany, “China Beach,” “Presidio Med”), hire a professional kidnap expert (“Six Feet Under’s” Jeremy Sisto), even as the FBI, led by veteran Agent Latimer King (Delroy Lindo, “Domino”) is called in.

Carmen Ejogo (“Lackawanna Blues”) and Linus Roache (“Batman Begins,” “Find Me Guilty”) also star. Jason Smilovic (“Karen Sisco”) wrote the pilot script and will executive produce with director Dinner, Sarah Timberman and Carl Beverly.

“Kidnapped” is the second new drama NBC has picked up for the 2006-07 season. The Paul Haggis mob drama “The Black Donnellys” also has secured a place for fall, and Aaron Sorkin’s “Studio 60” is a likely addition as well.