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Jane Watrel. Photo credit: WESH-Channel 2.

Former WFTV-Channel 9 reporter Jane Watrel will return to Orlando from Washington next month.

And she will jump from journalism into new work: media specialist/public information officer for the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.

“Orlando has always been our adopted home,” Watrel said Tuesday. “My husband and I loved it when we arrived in 1991. The only reason we left is they closed the Navy base.

Her husband, Matt Herzberg, is a Navy dentist, and he will retire next year.

Watrel was seen on WFTV from 1991 to 1999. She shares a memorable moment in local TV history with Marla Weech. In 1996, Weech questioned the completeness of a Watrel report about protests against televangelist Benny Hinn, and the two women had a pointed exchange on the air.

Watrel works at WRC, the NBC-owned station in Washington, and her reports have been shown on MSNBC and NBC stations around the country, including WESH-Channel 2.

She also earned a master’s degree in public relations/corporate communications from Georgetown. She jumped at the new work.

“It was such a perfect opportunity to come back and leave news but be in the news,” she said. “I’ve always liked the Orange County Sheriff’’s Office. I’ve always had a lot of respect for them.”

EXCLUSIVE: In a move that would amount to the Cannes Film Festival‘s very own clip reel of unfinished upcoming movies, Deadline has heard that a screening of footage from select films will take place in an official venue on Thursday. Details are scarce, but pics that could be in the surprise pack include Juan Antonio Bayona’s The Impossible, the tsunami movie starring Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts, and Wong Kar Wai’s martial arts bio The Grandmasters. Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained and Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master might also be included, although the Weinsteins showed footage from those films last night. Other films are expected to be in the mix for what we hear will be an hourlong showing that will be open to all accredited fest attendees. This is a new move for the festival and could drum up some extra heat. The screening, Deadline understands, will take place at the Salle du Soixantième — the same venue where the roof was damaged by heavy winds the other day. Only this time, the festival will look to blow the roof off on purpose.

Pamela McClintock Tommy Lee Jones and Matthew Fox star in the post-World War II epic, which Sierra/Affinity is selling to foreign buyers in Cannes.

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Turns out that Casey Anthony won’t have a big role in the Casey Anthony movie.

Speculation has raged about who might play “the most hated woman in America” in an upcoming Lifetime movie. Could it be Kristen Stewart, Alyssa Milano or Jennifer Love Hewitt?

The role wouldn’t be worth their time because it’s the inside story of the trial, not Anthony. Cast as Casey is a little-known actress, Holly Deveaux, who starred the Canadian series “Baxter.”

“Prosecuting Casey Anthony,” based on former prosecutor Jeff Ashton’s best-selling “Imperfect Justice,” starts shooting Tuesday. So the casting must be finalized quickly.

Alison Cross, the film’s writer, says there are three main roles: former prosecutor Ashton, defense attorney Jose Baez and prosecutor Linda Drane Burdick. Prosecutor Frank George will be featured as well, but the role hasn’t been cast.

Rob Lowe of “Brothers & Sisters” and “Parks and Recreation” plays Ashton. Lowe told TMZ: “It’s gonna be interesting … I think people are gonna dig it … great script.”

Ashton has said he was flattered by the casting. “I wish I had his boyish good looks,” Ashton said. “When I told my wife, she asked, So does that mean I’m married to Rob Lowe now?’ ”

Oscar Nunez will play Baez, Anthony’s defense attorney. Nunez, a Cuban-American actor-comedian, plays Oscar Martinez on “The Office.” His other credits include “The Proposal” and “24.”

“He did a fantastic audition that was so persuasive dramatically,” Cross said. She said she was “wowed” by Nunez’s “range and ability to channel Jose.”

Elizabeth Mitchell of “Lost” and “V” will play Burdick.

Anthony and her parents, George and Cindy, are secondary characters. Veteran actor Kevin Dunn of “Luck” will play George but Cindy hasn’t been cast yet.

Deveaux will be limited in what she can portray because all of Casey’s dialogue in the film comes from public records, Cross said. The movie will rely heavily on news footage to give the picture a documentary look, and it won’t use re-enactments of Anthony’s life, Cross said.

“It’s not our intention to make a movie that tries Casey Anthony for the third time,” Cross said. “She was tried in court and she was tried by public opinion.”

In July, Anthony was acquitted of murder in the death of her daughter, Caylee.

Geraldo Rivera revealed last week that he had declined to play himself in the film.

Cross said Rivera was asked to re-enact a clip from one of his interviews with Baez. The movie shows Ashton watching Rivera conducting a split-screen interview with Baez before the trial started. But that’s the only scene with Rivera, Cross said.

Filming is scheduled to run 20 days. “We have to go very fast because of Rob Lowe’s schedule. But it’s all fine,” Cross said.

Winnipeg stands in for Orlando, because it’s cheaper to film in Canada and the film is largely set indoors.

EXCLUSIVE: Paramount Pictures has acquired the action-thriller script, The Gun Eaters, written by Alex Paraskevas & Jordan Goldberg. The script made the 2011 Black List, and follows two hardened detectives in a race to apprehend a man on relentless, day-long killing spree across New York. Oasis Media Group’s David Lonner and Benjamin Rowe are producing.

Goldberg has worked with Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas for nearly a decade, earning his first production credit as director’s assistant on Batman Begins. He was associate producer on The Prestige and The Dark Knight and co-producer on Inception. Goldberg is co-producer on this summer’s The Dark Knight Rises. The scribe team is repped by UTA, Oasis Media Group and Bloom Hergott.

Andy Lewis, Brandon Kirby The comedian will write about her eldest child's fight against cancer.

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Good News: SMASH’s Ellis and Dev have been officially handed their walking papers. Bad News: Julia’s son Leo and husband Frank are still waiting word. [Source]

Good News: Showtime has just announced that a sexy killer has signed onto DEXTER for a multi-episode seventh season arc. Bad News: By killer, we of course mean notorious showkiller in the form of actor Jason Gedrick. [Source]

Good News: The hunt continues for DOG THE BOUNTY HUNTER. Bad News: Specifically, the hunt for a new job, after A&E opts to cancel the popular eight year-old series after failing to reach an agreement with star Duane “Dog” Chapman. [Source]

ReelzChannel has snagged U.S. premiere rights to the eight-hour miniseries World Without End, the sequel to Scott Free Films and Tandem Communications’ mini The Pillars Of The Earth that aired last year on Starz and garnered seven Emmy nominations. The two projects were based on the Ken Follett epic novels. ReelzChannel, which had great success with airing The Kennedys miniseries via its TV About Movies platform — it competed with Pillars in last year’s Emmy Miniseries or Movie category —  plans a fall 2012 airdate; it acquired and aired the nine-part Pillars for its second U.S. window last year after Starz. “With The Kennedys we conditioned our audience to know that our network is home to the biggest miniseries, and World Without End is exactly that,” ReelzChannel SEO Stan Hubbard said.

Related: Tandem & Scott Free Set Cast For $44 Million Miniseries ‘World Without End’

World Without End, with a budget of $46 million, picks up 200 years after Pillars in 14th century England with a new cast of characters including Caris (Charlotte Riley), who inspires her medieval town to confront the Church and the Crown as they fight to save their town from ruin and, ultimately, usher in a new era of freedom, innovation and enlightenment. Cynthia Nixon, Miranda Richardson, Ben Chaplin, Peter Firth and Sarah Gadon co-star.

Joan Rivers will join Kim Kardashian, Patty Duke, Serena Williams and Brandy Norwood as a guest star on Lifetime’s Drop

With NBC generally faring poorly this season in the Nielsen ratings, the network’s narrow win over ABC and Fox for prime time Monday night in the key 18-49 demo is reason to take notice. NBC averaged a 2.6 rating for the night, according to Nielsen overnights, narrowly edging ABC’s 2.5 and Fox’s 2.4, with CBS and Univision tied for fourth place at 1.5, TVbytheNumbers.com reports.A closer look reveals that CBS basically took itself out of the running with a mostly repeat lineup -- reruns of “How I Met Your Mother,” “2 Broke Girls,” “Two and a Half Men” and “Mike & Molly,” followed by the interesting-sounding but clearly not mass-targeted “Clash of the Commercials: USA vs. the World,” which averaged a 1.4 in viewers 18-49 at 10 p.m.That left the night to a few reality shows -- ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” (2.8 average in 18-49) and two-hour “The Bachelorette” (2.4) vs. NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” (3.1) and its brand-new entry, “American Ninja Warrior” (2.4) -- along with Fox’s “night of ‘House’”: a retrospective at 8 p.m. (2.0 average) and the series finale at 9 p.m. (2.9).In the end, it was close, with the top three networks all within two-tenths of a ratings point for the night.On a night when “America’s Got Talent” was off substantially from a week ago -- down six-tenths of a ratings point from the 3.7 it earned last week -- NBC should find encouragement in winning the night of its two-hour premiere of “Ninja.” The obstacle course show battled to a tie with ABC’s “Bachelorette” in the 9-11 p.m. block -- although both reality shows trailed the finale of “House.” But the weeks ahead -- and whether the numbers go up or down for “Ninja” -- will fill out the picture.In total viewers the night belonged to ABC with an average of 10.6 million for prime time, well ahead of Fox (7.4 million), NBC (7.2 million), CBS (5.7 million) and Univision (3.9 million).

Lesley Goldberg Raza Jaffrey and Jaime Cepero will not return to the NBC Broadway drama under new showrunner Josh Safran.

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Lesley Goldberg UPDATED: Brian d'Arcy James, Raza Jaffrey, Jaime Cepero and Will Chase will not return to the NBC Broadway drama under new showrunner Josh Safran.

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The National Association of Broadcasters is taking the Federal Communications Commission to court in an effort to put the brakes on proposed rules governing disclosure of political advertising rates, Adweek reports.The FCC voted last month to require that TV stations put their political advertising files online to make them more readily accessible, as previously reported. On Monday the NAB filed an appeal with the U.S. Federal Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia asking for a court review of the requirement.The story reports: “In the notice of appeal, the NAB alleges that the FCC's rule is ‘arbitrary, capricious, in excess of the commission's statutory authority, inconsistent with the First Amendment, and otherwise not in accordance with law.’ The NAB is requesting that the court rule it unlawful and set aside the FCC order.”Broadcasters campaigned vigorously against the rule, but were rebuffed in their efforts. They argued that “moving the political advertising rates from paper files to online would skew the market by giving other local media outlets a competitive advantage and commercial advertisers new negotiating leverage,” the story reports. “Dismissing those arguments, the Democrats on the commission, led by chairman Julius Genachowski, pushed the rule through in late April with the lone Republican commissioner voting against it.”An FCC spokesman responded to the NAB's case in a statement, saying: "The public file rules are a common-sense update by the FCC to move from paper to online access to public information in the digital age. The rules are consistent with Congress' directive to ensure public availability while providing cost-savings for broadcasters."

EW has confirmed that The Office star Oscar Nuñez has been cast in Lifetime’s Prosecuting Casey Anthony. Nuñez will play

EXCLUSIVE: Franklin & Bash co-creator Kevin Falls has closed a two-year overall deal with Sony Pictures TV where he has been based for the past four years. Under the deal, he will continue as executive producer/co-showrunner on Sony TV’s TNT series Franklin & Bash alongside co-creator Bill Chais. The light legal drama starring Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Breckin Meyer returns for its second season on June 5.

Falls also serves as executive producer/showrunner on Sony TV’s upcoming CBS legal drama Made in Jersey, which launches this fall. WME-repped Falls previously worked as a writer-producer on Aaron Sorkin’s The West Wing and Sports Night, sharing in three best drama series Emmy awards for The West Wing. He also created the NBC series Journeyman starring Kevin McKidd.

Sam J. Porcello, the Nabisco scientist credited with inventing Oreo filling and earning himself the nickname “Mr. Oreo”, has passed away at his home in New Jersey at the age of 76. Needless to say, we owe this man more personal gratitude than, give or take, just about every other human who’s ever lived (is that an exaggeration? He’s at least Top-5).

In honor of Porcello’s passing, here are 10 sad cookies paying their respects to Mr. Oreo for his immeasurable contribution to cookie-dom:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Farewell, Mr. Porcello – at least you’re now reunited with the inventor of milk for all of time. (Who was that, by the way? Like, Da Vinci or something? Eh, either way he’s there too, so it’s all good.)

THR Staff Earning by far the most mentions for any entertainment publication or website, noms include Editor-at-Large Kim Masters and Senior Film Editor Alex Ben Block, both up for Journalist of the Year awards.

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Facebook’s much-hyped initial public offering hasn’t exactly gone according to plan -- at least not for small investors. The stock price fell further today, and that’s the least of the company’s problems, Deadline.com reports.The story reports: “SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro said that her agency plans to investigate ‘issues’ involving the IPO. While she wasn’t specific, her comment came as Reuters reported that the consumer Internet analyst for Morgan Stanley, Facebook’s lead underwriter, recently slashed his revenue forecasts for Q2 and all of 2012 -- and that news was passed along to institutional investors during the company’s road show but not to the public. If true, then it could have violated laws that bar companies from selectively disclosing important information to certain shareholders. It also could explain why institutional buyers chose not to buy Facebook shares as the price fell on Monday and today.”The share price dropped 8.9% today to land at $31.01 -- $6.99 below the price of Friday’s offering.Vanguard CEO Jack Bogle, appearing on CNBC, said: “This is a classic example of investor greed, including institutional greed and underwriter greed and company greed. So the message is, when all the parties to a transaction are greedy, this is the kind of outcome you can expect.”And there’s more: “Yesterday, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority said it will review what happened on Friday, when investors trading about 30M Facebook shares weren’t given confirmations for their transactions, a major snafu,” the Deadline story reports.

Two infamous characters on NBC’s Smash are expected to leave the show — and we suspect fans are not going