Abrams’ company, Bad Robot Productions, will be teaming with Warner Bros. Television for a 30-minute medical-themed comedy.

There’s no title yet and no word on casting, but we know that Mike Markowitz (”Becker”) will be writing the show and executive producing. Bryan Burk, from Bad Robot, will also executive produce.

J.J. Abrams’s Bad Robot also produces the FOX drama “Fringe,” and Abrams made the recently successful Star Trek reboot.

“We believe that the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince video game represents a milestone in the movie tie-in genre,” said Harvey Elliott, Head of EA Bright Light studio in the UK where the Harry Potter franchise has its home. “Building on the technological advancements of previous games in the series and with a particular focus on the unique control system of Nintendo’s Wii, the team here is working closely with the filmmakers to create an immersive interactive experience that captures the story, the action, the excitement and, above all, the fun of the film. ”

“Working with EA, we look forward to offering fans a compelling Harry Potter video game, one which captures the thrilling storyline and high visual quality of the movie,” said Scott Johnson, Vice President, Business Development for Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “The adherence to the rich fiction is a trademark of this franchise and with Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince fans will experience the most authentic and enjoyable game in the series to date.”

In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Voldemort is tightening his grip on both the Muggle and wizarding worlds and Hogwarts is no longer the safe haven it once was. Harry suspects that dangers may even lie within the castle, but Dumbledore is more intent upon preparing him for the final battle that he knows is fast approaching. Together they work to find the key to unlock Voldemort’s defenses and, to this end, Dumbledore recruits his old friend and colleague, the well-connected and unsuspecting bon vivant Professor Horace Slughorn, whom he believes holds crucial information. Meanwhile, the students are under attack from a very different adversary as teenage hormones rage across the ramparts. Harry finds himself more and more drawn to Ginny, but so is Dean Thomas. And Lavender Brown has decided that Ron is the one for her, only she hadn’t counted on Romilda Vane’s chocolates! And then there’s Hermione, simmering with jealously but determined not to show her feelings. As romance blossoms, one student remains aloof. He is determined to make his mark, albeit a dark one. Love is in the air, but tragedy lies ahead and Hogwarts may never be the same again.

In the game of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, players will return to Hogwarts to help Harry survive a fraught sixth year. They will also have a chance to engage in exciting wizard duels, mix and brew magical ingredients in Potions class and take to the air to lead the Gryffindor Quidditch team to victory. Players may even get sidetracked by Ron’s romantic entanglements as they journey towards a dramatic climax and discover the identity of the Half-Blood Prince.

There is no official release date yet, but the game will be available for Wii, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Playstation 2, PSP, DS, computer and mobile platforms.

This will serve as a huge problem for the HD DVD format. Warner Bros sells 18 to 20 percent of all home videos. This now leaves only Universal, The Weinstein Company and Paramount (and their child companies like Dreamworks) supporting the now falling behind HD DVD format.

Paramount switched to HD DVD only when they received a $150 million payoff last summer.

Conversely, the Blu-ray camp now has Sony Pictures, Disney, Fox, Lions Gate and now the Warner exclusivity.

Sony owns MGM and Columbia TriStar. Disney Owns Touchstone, Pixar and Miramax. This gives Blu-ray a much stronger position as far as this generation’s format war is concerned.

Prediction: If Paramount goes back to both formats or somehow decides to make just Blu-ray when their HD DVD contract expires, the war will be over quickly.

Toshiba was quick to respond, and they’re pissed off.

“Toshiba was quite surprised by Warner Bros.’ decision to abandon HD DVD in favor of Blu-ray, despite the fact that there are various contracts in place between our companies concerning
the support of HD DVD,” the company said in a statement Friday. “We will assess the potential impact of this announcement with the other HD DVD partner companies and evaluate potential next steps.”

The next step appears to be a step back. The HD DVD group canceled its CES press conference.

The reason behind Warner’s move — it looks like they’d rather support one than risk both next-gen HD formats failing.

People seem to like downloadable content from places like the iTunes, and Xbox Live has done well so far at selling videos. If the format wars continue, it looks like consumers could skip both Blu-ray, and HD DVD and go straight to downloadable.

“The window of opportunity for high-definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger,” Barry Meyer, Warner Brothers chairman, told Yahoo! Tech. “We believe that exclusively distributing in Blu-ray will further the potential for mass market success and ultimately benefit retailers, producers, and most importantly, consumers.”

Consumers just don’t want to buy the same movie — often a movie they may have had on VHS — a second, third or fourth time. Warner says that both formats are having an impact that caused consumers to say, “let’s wait a bit to buy anything, even a standard-definition DVD.”

Well, we can’t have that now, can we?