Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

The end of the week is FINALLY here and I hope you folks have some fun activities planned for this weekend. Whatever you have planned – have a great time.

Meanwhile, here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

Broadway star Laura Bell Bundy has landed a recurring role on How I Met Your Mother. She will play Robin’s new co-host on Metro News One. (Kate Stanhope at TV Guide)

Looks like Jane Badler will be returning to her infamous role in V this fall. Executive Producer Scott Rosenbaum let slip at Comic Con that he’d be introducing Anna’s mother in V’s November season premiere — and that her name would be Diana. When V returns, we will learn that Anna (Morena Baccarin) is keeping her mother prisoner on the mother ship in a never-before-seen section that has been designed to look like the Visitors’ home planet. (William Keck at TV Guide)

Andie McDowell and Rosa Blasi (Make It or Break It and Strong Medicine) will guest star in the new FOX fall drama Lone Star. MacDowell is expected to play the love interest of Jon Voigt’s oil tycoon. Blasi is set to play the role of Blake, the Lady Macbeth-esque trophy wife of Mark Deklin’s character, Trammell. (Michael Ausiello at Entertainment Weekly)

James Marsters (Buffy) is looking to reprise his role as Captain John Hart on Torchwood, which is jumping from BBC America to Starz for its upcoming fourth season. (io9 and Televisionary)

Monique Curnen (CSI: Miami and Sons of Anarchy) – will recur in the fall as Detective Wallowski, a new love interest for Tim Roth’s character on the FOX drama Lie to Me. (TV Fanatic)

Bronson Pinchot (Perfect Strangers) will appear in the second episode of Chuck, playing Victor, a tacky and audacious wannabe-matchmaker Chuck (Zachary Levi) meets at Milan’s Fashion Week. Then two episodes later, Chuck goes on vacation with Armand Assante reprising his January 2010 role as Premier Alejandro Goya, the amorous leader of Costa Gravas. Indebted to Captain Awesome (Ryan McPartlin) for saving his life last season, the Generalissimo shows his gratitude by inviting the gang to his beautiful island. (William Keck at TV Guide)

The new HBO drama series Boardwalk Empire will debut on September 19. Mark your calendars. (TV By the Numbers)

THE “LOST” EPILOGUE

OMFG It’s The Official Lost Epilogue

ME: Watch it while you can.

DVD ANNOUNCEMENT

Caprica

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Noah Reid (Strange Days at Blake Holsey High) has been cast as the lead of the Syfy drama pilot Three Inches, which revolves around a twenty-something slacker named Walter (Reid) who gains the ability to move objects three inches with his mind after he is struck by lightning. Walter then brings together a group of other heroes, each of whom has a similarly lackluster power. (Deadline Hollywood Daily)

BOX OFFICE

Taraji P. Henson (The Karate Kid and Benjamin Button) has joined the sports drama movie From the Rough, which is inspired by Dr. Catana Starks, the first female head coach of an NCAA Division 1 men’s team. Henson would play a fictionalized version of Starks called Cassandra Turner. (Dark Horizons)

William Petersen (CSI) has accepted his first screen role since leaving the long-running series. This will be his first part in a feature in 10 years. He joins Adrien Brody in the indie drama Detachment, which centers on a normally detached substitute teacher (Brody) who becomes invested in the students and teachers at the troubled school where he works and grows close to a homeless teen working as a prostitute. Petersen will play a history-teaching Vietnam vet who causes a stir when he shows a gay film in class to promote tolerance. Christina Hendricks (Mad Men) is a fellow teacher and potential love interest for Brody’s character, while Lucy Liu (Ally McBeal) is the school’s frustrated psychologist. (Mandi Bierly at Entertainment Weekly)

Robin Wright is in negotiations for a major role in David Fincher’s adaptation of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Wright is expected to sign a deal to play the part of Erika Berger, the editor-in-chief of Millennium magazine and long-time lover of protagonist Mikael Blomkvist, who will be played by Daniel Craig. (Nicole Sperling at Entertainment Weekly)

Meanwhile, Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgard is in negotiations to play Martin Vanger in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. (The Wrap)

Screen legend Debbie Reynolds has been cast as Grandma Mazur in the box office movie One for the Money, starring opposite Katherine Heigl. This movie is the first installment of Janet Evanovich’s popular novels. Grandma Mazur is the sassy, young-at-heart and gun-shooting maternal grandmother of protagonist Stephanie Plum (Heigl), who’s fallen on hard times and turned to bounty hunting. (Zap2It)

Actor Ethan Hawke is set to star in the indie drama movie A Late Quartet, which follows a string quartet whose members have performed together for 25 years. They’re forced to adjust when one of them retires due to Parkinson’s disease. Hawke will play the second violinist whose desire for more solos leads him to have an affair with his jogging partner, a decision that leaves him remorseful and saddened by the state of his marriage. (The Wrap)

That’s it. Enjoy!