Hey All,
Friday is finally here – YES!! Can you tell I really wanted this week to end? Just need some down time for the day job, ya know?! I’m looking forward to seeing some movies this weekend and visiting with some friends. Got anything fun planned for your weekend?
In the meantime, here are the news items for today:
TELEVISION
Idris Elba will star in the new BBC America thriller Luther, which premieres on the network on October 17 at 10 PM. The series is about a brilliant detective tormented by the darker side of humanity. Luther shines a light into the hearts and minds of psychopaths and killers, and the shadowy spaces of his own soul. (The Futon Critic)
Jeremy Davidson (Roswell and Army Wives) will have a recurring role in Brothers & Sisters this fall as a love interest for the widowed Kitty Walker (Calista Flockart). His character will debut in late October/early November. The series returns to ABC for its 5th season on September 26. (Michael Ausiello at Entertainment Weekly)
Michael B. Jordan (Friday Night Lights) will be playing the love interest to rebellious teen Haddie Braverman (Sarah Ramos) on the NBC series Parenthood this fall. Right now, he will only appear in two episodes. Jordan will be back on Friday Night Lights as a series regular when the show returns to DirecTV starting October 27. (William Keck at TV Guide)
ARTICLE ABOUT TV
ME: My top guesses would be The Office and then Chuck, simply because Steve Carrell is leaving the show; and it would make sense – because of that departure – that they have his character marry (not that I watch the show so…) and then 2nd would be Chuck and Sarah on Chuck simply because this could potential be the show’s last season and what better way to go out with a bang than with a wedding of two of the more beloved TV characters on the air right now, right?
DEVELOPMENT NEWS
More cast members have been added to the Syfy pilot called Alphas, which already stars David Strathairn, Ryan Cartwright, Malik Yoba, Warren Christie and Laura Mennell. The new cast members are Azita Ghanizada (who has appeared in episodes of Castle, Psych and The Closer, among others) and Callum Keith Rennie (Due South and Battlestar Galactica). Alphas follows a team of ordinary citizens whose brain anomalies imbue them with extraordinary mental and physical abilities. (The Futon Critic)
ABC is planning to do an adaptation of the hit British series Spooks (also known as MI-5). Spooks follows the work of a group of MI5 officers based at the service’s Thames House headquarters in highly secure offices known as The Grid. It is still to be determined if the “spooks” will be American or British. (Deadline Hollywood Daily)
Neal McDonough will executive produce and star in the Starz drama pilot called Vigilante Priest, which is about an ex-cop turned priest who is cleaning up the streets of Los Angeles ‘one sinner at a time. (Deadline Hollywood Daily and Televisionary)
Ben Esler (The Pacific) has been cast as a series regular in the AMC Western drama pilot Hell on Wheels, where he will play Sean, an Irish immigrant who opens a show for railroad workers. (The Hollywood Reporter’s The Live Feed and Televisionary)
DVD ANNOUNCEMENTS
MADE-FOR-TV MOVIES
Jennifer Love Hewitt and Betty White will star in the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie called The Lost Valentine, which will air on CBS in early 2011. The project, based on the novel of the same name by James Michael Pratt, will revolve around a journalist working on a profile of a woman (White) whose husband was declared MIA during WWII. (Variety and Televisionary)
BOX OFFICE NEWS
Jamie Bell (Billy Eliot) will star alongside Cillian Murphy and Thandie Newton in the box office movie The Retreat, a British thriller that focuses on a couple vacationing on a remote island as they try to repair their marriage. When they find a soldier washed up on the beach in a biohazard suit, they discover everyone else has been killed by an airborne virus. (Deadline Hollywood Daily and Dark Horizons)
The “Terminator” franchise is coming back sooner than anticipated, but in an unexpected format. Hannover House and Red Bear Entertainment are teaming to develop “Terminator 3000”, a $70 million 3D animated feature based on the characters and storyline of the franchise. The project will tone down the violence as it plans to target a PG-13 rating. Story details, however, are being kept top secret. (Dark Horizons)
The new issue of Entertainment Weekly confirms that the splitting point between the two parts of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will take place later in the book than expected. SPOILER ALERT!!: According to the magazine, Part 1 will end (around) Chapter 24 of the book, with Voldemort gaining possession of the Elder Wand. This comes later than expected as the book itself is 36 chapters long, making the cut off point at the end of the first film around the two-thirds mark of the story. This would mean the second film opening next July would mostly consist of the Battle of Hogwarts, while the Gringotts break-in would likely kick off the film. (Entertainment Weekly, Hollywood News and Dark Horizons)
Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Watchmen) will play the lead role in the upcoming action film The Courier. He will play the title character, a renegade courier who takes on near-impossible missions and yet has never failed. When he’s given a job to deliver a briefcase to a shady crime lord that can’t be found, he finds himself being pursued by everyone from crooked cops, shady federal agents and underworld rivals to the mysterious crime boss. (Deadline Hollywood Daily and Movie Web)
That’s it. Enjoy! Have a great weekend!!
Rueben's Ramblings 
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