A quasi-street-dance collective most famous for performing an interpretive dance at this year’s Oscars — and having Glee’s Harry Shum Jr. as co-choreographer — the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers has now spawned a namesake series of episodic web shorts. Each one shows a step in “the Uprising,” in which fictional members of the Legion discover their extraordinary dancing abilities. Yes, “extraordinary dancing abilities” was the important part of that sentence. The first episode, “The Tale of Trevor Drift” — which you can watch here — features a gravity-defying break routine. The second episode is almost entirely composed of what might be described as a roundhouse leap battle. Surprise: Narrative doesn’t seem to be the LXD’s strong suit. And Shum’s character, Elliot Hoo, while listed for episode one, hardly makes an appearance. We support director Jon M. Chu’s ambition to create stars for all dance genres, and it’s encouraging to see a cameo from the ever-hilarious Ryan Hansen. But to move beyond a glitzier So You Think You Can Dance, this series needs some credible drama. And maybe more Ryan Hansen.

Watch the first episode with Ryan on Hulu here

Kristen was also attended the LXD Premiere on Wednesday.

From Oscar and Emmy winner Brian Grazer, Friends With Benefits is a half-hour comedy revolving around a group of twentysomething singles as they navigate the difficult, and often confusing, world of dating. Ben Weymouth (Ryan Hansen, Party Down) is on the hunt for the perfect woman who meets his unique set of standards, while his best friend, Sara Maxwell (Danneel Harris, One Tree Hill), is just looking for a man to settle down with and raise a family. Ben and Sara have fallen into the habit of turning to each other for moral and physical support as they wait for Mr. and Ms. Right to arrive. Their friend Aaron (Fran Kranz, Dollhouse), a romantic at heart, doesn’t approve of Ben and Sara’s complicated friendship, but he, along with womanizer Hoon (Ian Reed Kesler) and straight shooter Riley (Jessica Lucas, Cloverfield), are all distracted with their own dating trials and tribulations.

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“Veronica Mars” alum Ryan Hansen has been tapped to lead the cast of NBC’s comedy pilot “Friends With Benefits,” and Orlando Jones is set as a lead in Fox’s comedy pilot “Tax Man.”

Additionally, Mircea Monroe is set as a regular on Showtime’s new comedy series “Episodes,” starring Matt LeBlanc, and Ritchie Coster has landed a lead role in HBO’s drama pilot “Luck.”

The IRS project is a workplace comedy set at an Internal Revenue Service district office and centers on a proud auditor (David Krumholtz) hounded constantly by his boss (Martin Short). Jones will play a co-worker.

“Benefits” revolves around five twentysomething friends who, until they find “the one,” are content to have “friends with benefits.”

It centers on Ben (Hansen), an Everyman who, while waiting for Ms. Perfect, enjoys a relationship with Sara (Danneel Harris), a doctor trying to find Mr. Right.

Hansen replaces Patrick J. Adams, originally cast in the role.

Gersh-repped Hansen has co-starsred on Starz’s “Party Down.”

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No I figured you wouldn’t sell out anybody. And so can you give a little teaser of what might happen on Season 2 of Party Down? Especially now that you have this new role on a movie, and Ron may be running a Souper Crackers?
Yeah, so obviously, in Party Down style, not everything that says it’s going to happen, happens for the better. So, obviously everything goes to shit, and we all end up catering still. You can be sure that we’ll still be catering. I think Jane Lynch gets married, that’s a fun episode. She’s coming back, and Kristen’s coming back — Kristen Bell.

Can we expect any more Veronica Mars cast member cameos on the show?
Last season there was a bunch. This season, well Kristen’s for sure coming back. I don’t think anyone else this season. Maybe, but I can’t remember.

And Party Down is such a unique show with a unique premise. What do you think makes this show work so well as a comedy?
Well I think that they’re really playing a lot of the realities of Los Angeles, which is a lot of people come out here to make it and they end up doing a crappy job until then. And a lot of the reality is — you don’t really make it. So I feel like it’s a very real, and it’s like the opposite of the Entourage scene, so it’s kind of just refreshing to see something that’s not always the jack pot. It’s kind of a funnier, darker side of Hollywood, which a lot of people don’t really talk about. They like to talk about the Hollywood dream, and not the Hollywood dreamers. Ooh that was good.

And you do a lot of charity work. Do you still work with Invisible Children?
Oh yeah, I’m still heavily involved with Invisible Children. We’re actually going to a little event, I think Vanity Fair is throwing them a party which is super cool. You know, Vanity Fair, that’s like bad ass. So yeah, still heavily involved with Invisible Children and I haven’t been back to Africa in like a year but I’m planning on going very soon. It’s pretty cool!

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