NBC tightens ‘Raines’

The belt-tightening 2006-07 TV season has claimed another victim, at least partially: Jeff Goldblum.

NBC has cut back the order on Goldblum’s midseason series “Raines,” a noirish drama that stars Goldblum as an L.A. detective who hallucinates that the dead victims in his cases speak to him. Although he’s at first shaken by this development, he comes to realize it helps him find their killers.

The network originally ordered 13 episodes when it picked the show up as a midseason entry. Now, though, NBC has decided it needs only seven hours of “Raines.”

USA gambles on ‘Casino Royale’

USA Network held the winning hand when it came to the “Casino Royale” high stakes game.

The cable channel won the bidding war to land the latest Bond flick, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The five-year deal is worth about $20 million. USA won’t get access to global blockbuster until June 2009.

Bidding was fierce for the 21st Bond film and pit USA against the broadcast networks, Spike TV, TNT and FX.

Daniel Craig steps in as the first blond 007 in “Casino Royale,” which has earned more than $138 million domestically and more than $384 million in worldwide ticket sales.

Despite the cut in the episode order, NBC still plans to air “Raines,” which also stars Nicole Sullivan (“The King of Queens”), Malik Yoba (“Thief”), Matt Craven (“xxx”) and Linda Park (“Star Trek: Enterprise”). It’s likely to spell “Las Vegas” on Friday nights sometime in the spring.

“Raines” is hardly the first show this season to have its order cut before it even makes it to the air. NBC has done similar trimming with its comedy “The Singles Table,” which is set to run for only six episodes, and ABC sliced the order for its midseason drama “Traveler” from 13 episodes to eight.

On the flip side, though, networks have been relatively patient with some underperforming shows. Numerous series, including “Friday Night Lights,” “30 Rock,” “Standoff,” “The Class,” “What About Brian” and “Studio 60,” have been picked up for a full season (or at least a few additional episodes) despite ratings that fall well below hit status.