Is Elisabetta Canalis on the way out? Clooney has an M.O. of taking his girlfriend to one last red carpet affair, making sure she’s set up with some kind of career opportunity, and then moving on to date other cocktail waitresses and women who don’t threaten his commitment-phobic ego. Judging from Clooney’s grumpy, drunken demeanor at the Oscars, he probably wasn’t thrilled with his either his chance at taking home at statue again or his date. As Kaiser reported yesterday, Clooney is looking much happier at work in Hawaii, presumably without Elisabetta. Maybe he added an Italian bauble to his anti-marriage shrine and is breathing a sigh of relief.

Now that we’re hearing that Elisabetta will guest star on TNT’s Leverage, I’m thinking a split announcement is imminent. I’m probably just hoping that Clooney is single again after that dream I had last night where I was sipping champagne with him in a hot tub. (I know it’s cliche, but it was a pretty good dream.)

n America, Elisabetta Canalis is best known as George Clooney’s girlfriend. Now, she’s about to give audiences in the U.S. a taste of her acting talents.

Canalis, 31, will appear in five episodes of the TNT drama Leverage when the show, starring Timothy Hutton, begins its third season this summer. She will play a mysterious woman simply known as “the Italian.”

Canalis, who began dating Clooney, 48, last summer and has been by his side throughout Hollywood’s award-show season, is a popular TV presenter and actress in her native Italy. She made her professional debut 10 years ago on the satirical daily news show Striscia la Notizia and has appeared in various movies and TV series, including this year’s Fratelli Benvenuti.

Leverage features a gang of con artists who exact revenge against those who use power and wealth to victimize people.

[From People]

My mom loves Leverage and I’ve watched a couple of episodes. It’s a fun ensemble show that’s like The Italian Job meets A Team. The premise is that a team of smart, trained people help right wrongs with high tech gadgetry and swift action. The scenarios are highly implausible, but that’s a minor complaint.

Mild spoilers for past Leverage episodes
Leverage stars Timothy Hutton and he has this really gorgeous charismatic right hand woman played by a dark-haired British actress named Gina Bellman. Last month they brought in a new member, though, actress Jeri Ryan, and although I like her she kind of threw off the dynamic of the show. Bellman’s character was then relegated to videoconferencing appearances, but now she’s back and Ryan is probably leaving. I really hope that whatever they do with Canalis she won’t be joining their team. It doesn’t sound promising that she’ll be in a full five episodes, though. They already screwed things up by marginalizing Bellman. I don’t particularly like Canalis or have much faith in her acting ability, but her guest stint is likely to raise viewership at least. If you’re in the US, you can watch full episodes of Leverage on TNT.com.