Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Happy Friday to one and all. Got any fun plans for the weekend? I’ll be seeing The Town tomorrow and then spending every waking moment (however long or short that might be) writing. Hope you have a good weekend regardless of what you’ve got planned.

Meanwhile, here are the news items for today:

AWARDS

Glee, Modern Family, The Good Wife, Nurse Jackie and the box office movie Precious were name winners of the 2010 Humanitas Prize, an honor given to films and TV shows that “explore the human condition in a nuanced, meaningful way.” Congrats to all involved. (Rick Porter at Zap2It)

TELEVISION

Geoff Stults (October Road and Happy Town) will guest star in the fifth episode of How I Met Your Mother, playing Max, the new guy in Robin’s (Cobie Smulders) life at least for that one episode. (William Keck at TV Guide)

Lee Tergeson (Oz) will appear in Castle as Gates, a shrewd, hardened, and violent felon who becomes the prime suspect in this season’s big “3XK” serial-killer investigation. He will turn up in episode 7. Castle is back on September 20. (Posted by Castle cast member Jon Huertas at Twitter followed up by more details from Michael Ausiello at Entertainment Weekly)

Nancy Travis (Becker and The Bill Engvall Show) will play the mother of Brian Austin Green’s character in Desperate Housewives. The series is back with new episodes on September 26. (Michael Ausiello at Entertainment Weekly)

Warehouse 13 will be back with a third season although an official announcement from Syfy will probably not be made until October (Executive Producer Jack Kenny via Twitter)

FALL TV EXCITEMENT

10 reasons to watch Chuck (even if you’ve never seen it before)

ME: I cannot WAIT for Chuck to be back on the air; but I should also say I’m anxious for the returns of Castle and Supernatural too. Just too much good TV this fall (well, at least among the returning favorites that is).

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Ryan Murphy (the man behind Glee) and Howard Gordon (one of the men behind 24) are teaming up for a new procedural TV drama that is near to getting a deal from FOX for a pilot order. Details are scarce on the project but it is being called a “high-concept character-driven supernatural procedural about a psychiatrist that deals with people facing their worst fears and phobias”. (James Hibberd at Hollywood Reporter)

Jennifer Love Hewitt (Ghost Whisperer) just may be coming back to TV in the form of a half-hour comedy described as a female Big Bang Theory. The project would reunite Hewitt with FOX where she got her break as co-star on Party of Five. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

J.J. Abrams is a busy man lately. Yet another one of his project, teaming him with Jonah Nolan (brother of Christopher Nolan, the man behind such films as Dark Knight and Inception), has gotten the attention of the folks at CBS. The project currently called Person of Interest and is to be a crime thriller. (Vulture)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Bryan Fuller (Dead Like Me and Pushing Daisies) has been selected to write the live-action feature film Pinocchio. (Variety and Dark Horizons)

Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat) will portray Queen front man Freddie Mercury in an as-yet untitled movie that will follow Queen’s formative years, leading up to the band’s performance at Live Aid in 1985. (Deadline and Movie Web)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Have a great weekend!