Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

There is a lot of interesting news to share with you so let’s get started.

TELEVISION

David Anders (Vampire Diaries, Heroes and 24) will guest star in an upcoming episode of Warehouse 13. He will play Jonah Raitt, “a suspected serial killer with a dangerous object who escaped Warehouse capture back in the 1960’s, whom Pete (Eddie McClintock) and Myka (Joanne Kelly) set out to hunt down and recapture once and for all. Warehouse 13 returns for its second season on July 6, at 9PM. (The Futon Critic)

Funny lady Judy Greer has joined the CBS pilot Mad Love, replacing Lizzy Caplan. The series now stars Sarah Chalke (Scrubs), who replaced Minka Kelly (Friday Night Lights). (Deadline Hollywood Daily and Zap2It).

Katie Cassidy (Melrose Place) will have a multi-episode arc on Gossip Girl, playing a student at Columbia and a love interest for fellow undergrad Nate (Chace Crawford). She will appear in the season four premiere. (Michael Ausiello from Entertainment Weekly)

David Strathairn is in talks to star in the Syfy action-adventure pilot Alphas, which revolves around a team of people with extraordinary abilities. He would play the “the overseer/team leader/prescribing doctor and all around mother hen to the team: an eccentric, absent-minded professor at times, who is also a cunning and manipulative power-player willing to bend the rules in pursuit of his objectives.” Ryan Cartwright (Mad Men), meanwhile, would play a team member with Asperger’s Syndrome who is able to receive wireless transmissions. (Deadline Hollywood Daily and Televisionary)

It looks like the fan efforts to support recently “fired” Criminal Minds cast member A.J. Cook paid off – at least a little bit. The network has closed a deal for Cook to appear in two episodes early in the new season to tie off her character’s storyline. Her co-worker Paget Brewster will appear in 17 out of the 22 planned episodes of the new season. (Deadline Hollywood Daily)

Sam Witwer (Smallville) has signed on to play vampire Aidan in Syfy’s in-the-works U.S. remake of the U.K. supernatural dramedy Being Human. Also, Meaghan Rath (The Assistants) has inked a deal to play ghost Molly, and Sam Huntington (Superman Returns) is up for the role of werewolf Josh. Being Human revolves around three twentysomething roommates who attempt to blend in despite, you know, being a vampire, a werewolf, and a ghost. (Michael Ausiello from Entertainment Weekly)

Marvel Entertainment created a new Television division, to be headed by Jeph Loeb, an iconic comic book writer with a lengthy TV resume. The new division is still in the early stages however. (Entertainment Weekly)

AWARD WINNERS

Congrats to the following winners of the Daytime Emmy Awards:

Outstanding Drama Series: The Bold and the Beautiful
Lead Actress in a Drama Series: Maura West, As the World Turns
Lead Actor in a Drama Series: Michael Park, As the World Turns
Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: Julie Pinson, As the World Turns
Supporting Actor in a Drama Series: Billy Miller, The Young and the Restless
Younger Actor in a Drama Series: Drew Tyler Bell, The Bold and the Beautiful
Younger Actress in a Drama Series: Julie Berman, General Hospital
Drama Series Directing Team: General Hospital
Drama Series Writing Team: The Bold and the Beautiful

Congrats to the winners of the BET Awards, who include the following:

Best Female R&B Artist: Alicia Keys
Best Male R&B Artist: Trey Songz
Best Female Hip-Hop Artist: Nicki Minaj
Best Male Hip-Hop Artist: Drake
Best New Artist: Nicki Minaj
Best Collaboration: Jay-Z & Alicia Keys – “Empire State of Mind”
Video of the Year: Beyoncé featuring Lady Gaga – “Video Phone”
Viewer’s Choice: Rihanna featuring Young Jeezy – “Hard”
Centric Award: Monica
Best Actress: Mo’Nique

Best Actor: Idris Elba

Young Stars Award: Keke Palmer

Best Movie: “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”

Subway Sportswoman of the Year: Serena Williams

Subway Sportsman of the Year: LeBron James

Humanitarian Award: John Legend
Lifetime Achievement Award: Prince

Thanks to TheWrap and E! Entertainment Online for the above lists.

MOVIES

Here are the box office results for this past weekend courtesy of E! Entertainment Online:

1. Toy Story 3, $59 million
2. Grown Ups, $41 million
3. Knight and Day, $20.5 million
4. The Karate Kid, $15.4 million
5. The A-Team, $6 million
6. Get Him to the Greek, $3 million
7. Shrek Forever After, $2.9 million
8. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, $2.8 million
9. Killers, $2 million
10. Jonah Hex, $1.6 million

Jon Tenney will star as the father of Ryan Reynolds’ title character in next summer’s Green Lantern. His scenes as Hal Jordan’s dad, Martin, will take place early in the film when the future Green Lantern is just a young boy. (Entertainment Weekly)

Carey Mulligan (An Education) is in talks to star in the family drama Stoker written by Wentworth Miller (yes, the actor from Prison Break), which follows an eccentric teenager “whose enigmatic and estranged uncle returns to the family after the death of the girl’s father”. Jodie Foster is in talks to co-star, while Ridley and Tony Scott’s Scott Free Productions in talks to produce. (Dark Horizons)

Alice Eve (She’s Out of My League) will appear as Emma Frost, the “White Queen” in the prequel movie X-Men: First Class. It has also been confirmed that Michael Fassbender (Hex and 300) will play Magneto in this movie. (Heat Vision, Deadline Hollywood Daily and First Showing)

DVD ANNOUNCEMENTS

Being Human

http://tvshowsondvd.com/news/Human-Season-2/13980

Doctor Who (Matt Smith Version)

http://tvshowsondvd.com/news/Doctor-Series-5/13981

FIRST LOOK

First Look: Summer Glau Takes Off As Supergirl

http://www.tvguide.com/News/Look-Summer-Glau-1019973.aspx

MADE FOR TV MOVIES

Lolita Davidovich and Kathleen Quinlan have joined the cast of HBO made-for-TV movie Cinema Verite, which revolves around the making of the landmark reality series An American Family. (Deadline Hollywood Daily and Televisionary)

Emily VanCamp (Brothers & Sisters) has been cast in CBS’ upcoming Hallmark Hall of Fame made-for-TV movie Let Them Shine, where she will play a novice teacher who makes a difference in the lives of several homeless students. Project is written by Camille Thomasson and directed by Jeff Bleckner. (Variety and Televisionary)

MUSIC INTERVIEW

Pat Benatar for the Sunday Conversation

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-0627-conversation-20100627,0,3916088.story

Q&A SECTION (with Matt Roush from TV Guide)

Question: I know you’re not a fan of Criminal Minds, but I was wondering what your thoughts are about the situation with the producers’ decision to write AJ Cook out of the show and reduce the number of episodes for Paget Brewster. On Twitter, Brewster says she believes these moves are being made for financial reasons. I feel bad for both actresses as they obviously didn’t see this move coming. In the end, I think the producers along with CBS are to blame for this debacle. — Allan

Matt Roush: It’s not unusual for a long-running show to make cast changes and adjustments along the way, but it does seem especially odd for this show to be doing away with its primary female leads (excepting good old Garcia, that is, one of the few characters I’ve ever enjoyed on a show that tends to sap the life force from any actor who comes aboard). If it is a budget issue, which seems to be the case, my suggestion would be to scrap the spin-off — which looked pretty terrible from the “backdoor” pilot that aired last season — and focus the financial resources on shoring up the original series. Selfishly, though, I’ve always been a Paget Brewster fan (up until this role), so am happy to know she’ll be back on the market and could end up on a show I’d be more likely to watch. A comedy, perhaps?

Question: Do you think that the Emmy categories (or at least the series ones) should be expanded to 10 nominees, similar to the Oscars? It just seems with more channels and shows out there, there are so many deserving picks that get passed over, i.e. Friday Night Lights. Expanding the nominees would also be great press for the shows themselves. Your thoughts? — Nathan

Matt Roush: I wasn’t a big fan of the Oscars rule change, being of a mind that it dilutes the best-movie category to open it up to so many contenders, which ultimately results in populist pandering. It would be even worse at the Emmys, which already splits the series candidates into drama and comedy, giving a dozen shows (6 for each these days) a chance to break through. As bitterly disappointing as it is to see shows like Friday Night Lights be neglected year after year, I’m not sure that the flaws in the nominating system would be remedied by opening up the drama category to even more nominees. The ensuing clutter would likely make the honor of being nominated a lot less significant. I don’t see it happening at the Emmys — although I’m sure the networks, who feel so disadvantaged going up against cable series with less content restrictions, would like the playing field to be either expanded or leveled.

Question: I am surprised that ABC has been relegating Castle repeats to the dead zone of Saturday nights. I understand that truly serialized shows do not repeat well and do not make financial sense to rerun. However, Castle seems to be the type of show that would benefit greatly from the exposure since you don’t have to watch it in order. ABC should learn a lesson from two hits on CBS. The Big Bang Theory didn’t really seem to catch fire ratings-wise until it repeated last summer. Then it became a habitually viewed show by fall. And of course the biggest example is NCIS, a popular show that didn’t become a mega-hit until constant airings on USA made it so familiar to viewers that they began showing up during first-run episodes too. Summer is a time for light, escapist viewing and Castle could fit the bill perfectly. I just think it would make sound fiscal sense to bombard the viewers now so Castle could also become a habit for the public by the fall season. — Sheila

Matt Roush: Couldn’t agree with you more that Castle is exactly the sort of show that ABC should make a summer priority, especially knowing that it will be going up against one of the most hyped shows of the fall season in CBS’ Hawaii Five-O. The good news is that with the collapse (again) of the dreadful Happy Town, ABC is moving Castle into the Wednesday night 10/9c time period effective this week and, I’m hoping, for the rest of the summer. A charming and purely entertaining show like this will only benefit from increased exposure, and now’s the time to do it.

That’s it. Enjoy!

Lee Ann