Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

It’s day 2 of the big fall TV premiere week and the question is: Did you make it through all the programming options last night? Hope so, coz there is even more tonight. What will you be watching?

Meanwhile, here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

The HBO series Boardwalk Empire just premiered and already it has been given a second season pick-up, but with the series getting 7.1 million viewers for its first time on the air, I guess it stands to reason they would renew. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Jay Karnes (The Shield) will have a recurring role in the ABC series V when it returns this fall. He will play FBI agent Chris Bolling, a newly assigned partner for agent Erica Evans (Elizabeth Mitchell). The two have some history, having trained together at Quantico. However, Bolling quickly begins to suspect Erica may have divided loyalties when it comes to her dedication to the Visitor resistance group, the Fifth Column. The second season of V is slated to begin airing in November on ABC. (Adam Bryant at TV Guide)

Jim Gaffigan (My Boys and Flight of the Conchords) will guest star in the season two finale of Royal Pains. The comedian/actor will play Pete Stambleck, a by-the-books park ranger who emerges from the woods one day with a massive personality change and no recollection of the evening before. While the series ran over the summer, it will be back this winter with six new episodes. The finale date for Royal Pains has not been set yet. (Joyce Eng at TV Guide)

Showtime announced yesterday they are picking up the ½ hour shows Weeds and The Big C for another season each. Both shows will return with new episodes for these seasons in 2011. (Twitter)

Mena Suvari (American Beauty) will appear in an episode of Psych, playing the only surviving victim of the Yin killer, joining Ally Sheedy, who reprises her role as the psychotic Mr. Yang. This is a planned trilogy, comprising of three season finale episodes, all revolving around a mysterious killer and his links to Shawn Spencer. The show’s season 5 finale is set to air sometime in 2011. (Daemon’s TV)

USA Network has closed a deal to bring Law & Order: Criminal Intent back for an 8-episode 10th season with the series’ original star Vincent D’Onofrio, who will return as Detective Robert Goren, a role he played for the first eight seasons. Discussions are under way with Kathryn Erbe and other CI alums (but not Jeff Goldblum, who recently announced his exit) to come back for the show’s farewell season. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

MADE-FOR-TV MOVIES

Christine Taylor (Zoolander) stars as cynical scrooge and jaded journalist Ann Wahl who is forced by her editor Zoe (Vivica A. Fox) to travel to a Christmas-themed town to meet a man whose passion for Christmas traditions has transformed a town in the made-for-TV movie Farewell Mr. Kringle to air on the Hallmark Channel on December 4 at 8 PM. The cast also includes Christopher Wiehl (Jericho) and W. Morgan Sheppard (Love’s Abiding Joy). (The Futon Critic)

ARTICLE ABOUT TELEVISION

20 of the most epic failures in network science fiction TV

ME: How many of these shows can you say you watched? I can say that I’ve watched nearly 2/3 of these shows. Wanna guess which ones?

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

NBC has picked up a pilot about a CIA agent. The pilot called Legends is about a government operative with an uncanny gift for “legends” — what spooks call false identities — and is sent on a variety of missions while simultaneously coping with the possibility that his own identity may be a “legend” too. The pilot is based on the novel of the same name by Robert Littell. (The Hollywood Reporter Live Feed)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Spanish actor Alex Gonzalez has joined the cast of the box office movie X-Men: First Class”, playing Janos Quested aka Riptide, a mutant with the ability to spin his body at incredible speeds. He can also generate calcium growth in his bones which causes spikes to protrude from his skin. These abilities, when combined together, allow him to shoot his bone spikes at high enough speeds to punch through steel. (CBM and Dark Horizons)

Ron Eldard and Noah Emmerich (among others) have joined the cast of the J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg movie Super 8. The cast already includes Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights) and Elle Fanning (Somewhere) in the lead roles. (Variety and Dark Horizons)

Jodelle Ferland, Samantha Ferris and William B. Davis have joined the suspense thriller The Tall Man. which features star Jessica Biel as a mother whose child is kidnapped by a shadowy figure known only as The Tall Man. She begins an intense hunt to find and retrieve her child. (Bloody Disgusting and Dark Horizons)

Emily Blunt is attached to the box office comedy Engagement Games that follows three sisters in one family who all get engaged at the same time. The only catch is that only one of them can get their mother’s cherished wedding ring. Thus their father comes up with the solution of holding a ‘Family Olympics’ where the winner will score the ring. (Pajiba and Dark Horizons).

INTERVIEW

The UNEXPECTEDly-Ugly Truth About LIFE As The Top Dog

That’s it. Enjoy!