Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All

Here we are at the start of another week with more fall TV to look forward to this week. In the meantime, please check out today’s news:

TELEVISION

Michael Badalucco (The Practice) has been cast in a recurring role on the CBS daytime soap The Young and the Restless, where he will play Hogan, who is a tough bookie who helps Jeff (Ted Shackelford) and Kevin (Greg Rikaart) come up with cash to help pay for Jeff’s nightclub/restaurant, Gloworm. He’s set to make his first appearance on October 13th. (Entertainment Weekly and Televisionary)

Lennie James has been promoted to series regular on the HBO series Hung, where he previous recurred as Charlie the pimp. (Hollywood Reporter and Televisionary)

Arie Verveen (Cold Case) has been cast in a six-episode story arc on FX’s Sons of Anarchy, where he will play Liam O’Neill, a high-ranking member of a motorcycle club in Belfast, Northern Ireland. (Hollywood Reporter)

Sean Maher (Firefly) has landed a recurring role on the ABC Family series Make It or Break It, playing Max, a cute new gymnast that the Rock Girls run into when the series makes its mid-season return in early 2011. (Matt Mitovich at Fancast)

Ana Gasteyer (Saturday Night Live) will guest star on Chuck this fall as Dasha, a ruthless operative for the nefarious Volkoff organization. She will appear in the 7th episode. Chuck is back starting September 20. (Matt Mitovich at Fancast)

MADE-FOR-TV MOVIES

Daphne Zuniga (the original Melrose Place) and Faye Dunaway will star in the Hallmark Channel movie “A Family Thanksgiving that is set to premiere on November 6 at 9 PM. The movie is about a wealthy, successful corporate lawyer (Zuniga), who is living the high life in New York City with little time for anything except her lavish lifestyle until a close encounter with a bizarre mystic (Dunaway) drops her into an alternative reality to see what her life might have been like had she made different choices. (The Futon Critic)

Lifetime has given the green light to the made-for-TV movie Unanswered Prayers, an adaptation of the Garth Brooks song, which will star Samantha Mathis, Eric Close, and Madchen Amick. The movie will premiere in November. (Hollywood Reporter and Televisionary)

The Hallmark Channel will debut the sequel movie to Dear Prudence, which starred Jane Seymour (Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman), sometime next Spring. This movie to be called At Home With Prudence will reunite Seymour with her on-screen, Dr. Quinn love – Joe Lando – as well as her real-life husband, James Keach, and her daughter Katie Flynn. The movie will focus on Prudence MacIntyre (Seymour) who is asked to make changes to her successful television show when the network sends in new producers to revamp her image. To her surprise, one of the producers is an old flame, and the other is a seedy womanizer who enchants Prudence’s daughter. With the help of her faithful sidekick Nigel (Matt Jones), Prudence rekindles the love she thought she lost, protects her daughter from the wrong guy, and finds a way to keep her show right on track. (The Futon Critic)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Swedish actress Noomi Rapace (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) has been cast as the female lead in Sherlock Holmes 2, which will reteam Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law as his trusty sidekick Dr. Watson, and Guy Ritchie, returning to his role of director. (Jenna Mullins at E! Entertainment Online)

Lauren Ambrose (Six Feet Under) is set to join the box office movie Wanderlust that is centered on a couple who, after losing all of their money and move from New York to Atlanta, take refuge at a hippie commune. Paul Rudd, Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux also star. (Variety and Dark Horizons)

Saoirse Ronan and James Gandolfini have joined the indie drama Daisy and Violet, which centers on a pair of teenage female assassins who are lured into what is supposed to be just another quick and easy job, only to find complications as the man they’re supposed to kill is not what they expected. (Variety and Dark Horizons)

Gillian Anderson, Dominic West and Rosamund Pike will join Rowan Atkinson in the comedy sequel Johnny English Reborn. The plot finds English trying to stop a group of hit men who are out to kill the Chinese premiere. The movie is to hit theatres in 2011. (Movie Web)

Here are the top 10 movies in the box from this past weekend courtesy of Exhibitor Relations via E! Entertainment Online:

1. Resident Evil: Afterlife, $27.7 million
2. Takers, $6.1 million
3. The American, $5.9 million
4. Machete, $4.2 million
5. Going the Distance, $3.8 million
6. The Other Guys, $3.6 million
7. The Last Exorcism, $3.5 million
8. The Expendables, $3.3 million
9. Inception, $3 million
10. Eat Pray Love, $2.9 million

CONDOLENCES

Legendary actor (and Golden Globe winner) Kevin McCarthy – who starred in the original sci-fi film Invasion of the Body Snatchers – passed away over the weekend. He was 96 years old. (Adam Bryant at TV Guide)

MOMENT OF SILENCE, PLEASE…

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

Question: I absolutely love Drop Dead Diva. It is cute, funny and witty. Do you have any thoughts about it? Also, we haven’t heard if it will be renewed for a third season yet. What’s the hold up? And how is it doing, ratings-wise, on Lifetime? Do critics even like this show? — Christine

Matt Roush: I haven’t a clue why Lifetime’s series (including Army Wives, although its spin-off appears dead) are in pick-up limbo for the moment, but I’m not hearing anything to indicate that Lifetime won’t eventually announce it is bringing this show back. I hope and believe it will get a third season. I find Diva a delightful diversion, a very sweet fantasy-comedy that seems a perfect fit for this channel, and perfect for summer. The critics who pay attention to the show seem for the most part charmed by it, and why wouldn’t they be?

Question: I was trying to find out when Sanctuary will be starting again and I couldn’t find anything about the show being on TV. However, I saw an ad that season 3 is going to be available on Netflix. If I’m reading things correctly, the Kali episode was the end of Season 2, so Season 3 must follow that. Are they going directly to DVD and not showing the program on TV? – Lee

Matt Roush: Nope, it’s still set to return to Syfy, but a little later than first expected. It was originally announced that the second season of Stargate: Universe and year 3 of Sanctuary would be paired on Tuesdays starting Sept. 28. Last week, Syfy changed plans and has decided to return Sanctuary to its original Friday time period (10/9c) starting Oct. 15, following wrestling. SGU will now be paired on Tuesdays with the back half of Caprica’s first season (beginning Oct. 5), so plan accordingly.

Question: I loved Scoundrels and could not believe how good it was for a summer replacement. Will the scoundrels at ABC be bringing the TV show Scoundrels back this fall? I will hate to boycott ABC and their ad products. I can’t believe they would make us wait till next summer to find out what Wolf is going to do about Sgt. Mack. Does he go back to jail for assault? Hold it against his wife? — Betty

Matt Roush: I’m afraid you may not be getting an answer to any of these questions, although you’ll probably have your opinion reconfirmed that the ABC programmers are scoundrels. The jury’s still out on The Gates, which wraps its summer season with back-to-back episodes this Sunday, but the ship has almost certainly sailed for Scoundrels. Neither show exactly caught fire, but Gates enjoyed a bit more fan and critical buzz. It all really depends on what ABC’s strategy is for next summer and whether it includes scripted product besides the Canadian import Rookie Blue, which has already been renewed. If I had to bet on either Sunday show coming back, I’d put my money on The Gates. Sorry.

That’s it. Enjoy!