TV Bulletin Board (Mon., April 18) -- Dreyfus joining HBO as high-level politico in new comedy series

By ED BARK
Broadcast sitcom luminary Julia Louis-Dreyfus hopes to step up in class by starring in a new HBO comedy series.

She'll play a U.S. senator elevated to vice president in Veep, which the Cadillac of cable networks officially picked up Monday. A fall 2012 debut is planned, with Louis-Dreyfus cast as Sen. Selina Meyer, who becomes vice president for reasons unexplained in HBO's publicity release.

Louis-Dreyfus, who starred in NBC's Seinfeld and CBS' recent The New Adventures of Old Christine, says that "although everyone says this is a comedy, I don't think there is anything funny at all about me being a heartbeat away from the presidency." Although set in Washington, D.C., Veep is "expected to shoot in Baltimore," HBO says.

***NBC has yet another bizarro idea for a reality competition series -- and it's coming soon.

Love in the Wild, set to premiere on June 1st, will send 10 single men and a like number of unattached women "deep into the remote jungles of Costa Rica to see if they can find that special someone they've been looking for."

After a weekly "quest," the winning couple gets to spend the night together at the "Oasis," which NBC describes as "a five-star bungalow overflowing with everything they could possibly desire for an intimate night of romance." Meanwhile, the losers get to stay in run-of-the-mill vans down by the river, also known as "Cabins."

Later in these proceedings, all of the couples will come together -- so to speak -- to decide if a "connection has been formed with their current partner." Otherwise they can change partners while "two heartbroken singles" are sent home at the end of each episode.

Love in the Wild will be hosted by Darren McMullen, who otherwise has presided over the Australian version of Minute to Win It.