Hey All,
Well folks, the BIG week has arrived. Tonight starts the season or series premieres for a great majority of the major networks’ shows and it’s going to be insane to keep pace with all the shows. Rev up those DVR’s and make sure you figure out what to watch, record or view online at a later time because it’s gonna be one hell of a ride.
In the meantime, here are the news items for today:
TELEVISION
Actor Andy Whitfield is departing the Starz TV series Spartacus: Blood and Sand again due to his cancer diagnosis. Even though he was in remission and returned to the show, that is not the case now. Best wishes are extended to Whitfield during this difficult time. (E! Entertainment Online)
Peter Coyote (last seen in FlashForward) will recur in the new fall NBC series Law & Order: Los Angeles, playing the District Attorney overseeing Peter Morales (Alfred Molina) and Joe Dekker (Terrence Howard). The series will debut on September 29 at 10 PM. (Matt Mitovich at Fancast)
Gwyneth Paltrow will be appearing in two episodes of Glee in November, playing a substitute teacher and possible love interest (of sorts) for Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison). She will sing and dance in the show too. (Kristin at E! Entertainment Online)
Oded Fehr (The Mummy and Resident Evil franchises) will guest star in V when it returns to ABC this fall. He will play Eli Cohn, an ex-Mossad, who is the leader of a new radical Fifth Column resistance movement that will have a much more uncompromising stance against the Visitors and will pose some problems for the resistance led by Erica (Elizabeth Mitchell). (Blastr)
BOX OFFICE NEWS
Kate Beckinsale will star opposite Mark Wahlberg in Contraband, which centers on a security guard and former alcohol smuggler who is tempted back into illicit business by a dubious friend after encountering financial problems. (Latino Review and Dark Horizons)
It looks like Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights) and Elle Fanning (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) [and little sister of Dakota Fanning] have joined the super-secret movie being done by J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg called Super 8. No details are available on their roles or what the movie is really about but rumor has it the film centers on three siblings who discover footage of an alien. (Vulture)
Wondering what the top 10 box office movies were for the past weekend. Here’s the list from Exhibitor Relations via E! Entertainment Weekly:
1. The Town, $23.8 million
2. Easy A, $18.2 million
3. Devil, $12.6 million
4. Resident Evil: Afterlife, $10.1 million
5. Alpha and Omega, $9.2 million
6. Takers, $3 million
7. The American, $2.8 million
8. Inception, $2.02 million
9. The Other Guys, $2 million
10. Eat Pray Love, $1.7 million
DEVELOPMENT NEWS
Callie Thorne (Rescue Me) has landed the lead role in the hour-long USA pilot Necessary Roughness. The potential series, which is inspired by a true story, centers on a female shrink (Thorne) who becomes the therapist for a professional football team. After succeeding beyond expectations, she is sought after by other athletes, musicians, politicians, and those living in the spotlight who all want her unique brand of tough-love therapy. (Michael Ausiello at Entertainment Weekly)
Showtime is near to making a pilot-order deal for the drama Homeland, which is based on the Israeli format “Prisoners of War.” The domestic version centers on the discovery of a U.S. soldier who was presumed killed in Iraq 10 years ago. The soldier returns home, but questions arise as to whether he truly was a wartime POW or a member of a sleeper cell sent to cause the next terrorist attack. (James Hibberd at Live Feed at The Hollywood Reporter)
J. J. Abrams and frequent collaborators Josh Applebaum and Andre Nemec are pitching a comedic drama to the networks that would have Lost alums Michael Emerson and Terry O’Quinn playing former black-ops agents. Nothing is set in stone nor has any network stepped forward yet, though. (Vulture)
Syfy is developing the drama script Metadocs, which is based on the Antarctic Press comic book series created by Joe Dunn and Rod Espinoza that follows a team of specialists tasked with treating a small percentage of the world’s population who have become ‘afflicted’ with extraordinary abilities. (The Futon Critic)
FIRST LOOK
First Look: Smallville’s Chloe Makes Her Comic Book Debut
Q&A SECTION (with Matt Roush from TV Guide)
Question: I wanted to find out your thoughts on all the shows on Monday night. It seems like it has almost become the go-to night for TV viewing with the returning favorites and some of the more buzz-worthy new shows. My TiVos are going to get a workout that night. What do you think should be watched live, DVR’ed for viewing later and forgotten altogether? — Melissa
Matt Roush: No night this season is easy to navigate, but Mondays and Thursdays (see next question) are particularly packed. I’m getting a lot of questions concerning the face-off between Lone Star and The Event at 9/8c on Mondays, and that’s probably the trickiest choice to have to make, as both are among the few distinctive pilots of the new season. (NBC is making it easier for at least the first week by repeating Event’s pilot on multiple cable platforms, and Fox is repeating Lone Star late night Saturday. Don’t know how long this will last, but if you can’t record two things at once, that and going online are your best options.) I was very impressed with the Lone Star pilot, so that’s my priority pick, but The Event is going to appeal (at least in theory) to many of those who visit this column, if past experience is any indication. I felt the Event pilot was terribly flawed by an overly convoluted time-jumping set-up, but some of the mysteries are intriguing and the final twist is such a WTF that I can’t imagine not watching episode 2. I was not, however, nearly as emotionally connected to it as I was to Lone Star, which I truly can’t wait to see a second episode of.
For the rest of Monday, the battles are much as they’ve always been. Many people (including me) will not be able to resist the train wreck of Dancing With the Stars, but will have to find room as well for How I Met Your Mother, Chuck and House (suddenly more interesting again now that they’ve committed fully to the “Huddy”) in the first hour. And at 10/9c, Hawaii Five-0 will likely hold the former CSI: Miami crowd, while Castle loyalists will stay put. (You can forget NBC’s Chase, easily the most forgettable show on any network this night. And I broke up with CW’s Monday soaps a while back, so they’re not an option for me, but they may be for you.) So with all that in mind, if I had to pick shows to watch live, I’d go Chuck or House, then Lone Star, then Castle, though I’ll also be following Mother, The Event and even Hawaii as close to same night viewing as possible. And because of its watercooler potential, I’ll also need to be watching Dancing on the night it airs as best I can. Good thing I’ve got recorders in multiple rooms. But if it holds up, Lone Star is going to be the Monday night show that I’ll most eagerly await each week of all of them.
Question: I can’t believe how jam-packed with shows the new Thursday-night lineup is going to be! I will hardly know what to DVR vs. what to watch! Thank goodness they moved Supernatural to Fridays. What will your plan be for Thursdays this fall? — Debby
Matt Roush: Thursdays are tough, and the CW made it tougher by premiering The Vampire Diaries and Nikita early, and I’m now hooked on both, especially the new season of Vampire, which has gotten off to a fun start. The shows that I will feel the greatest need to watch night-of-air will be (at 8/7c) The Big Bang Theory (then probably switch to 30 Rock and catch up with Community as best I can, since $#*! My Dad Says is pretty lousy), but also keeping an eye on Vampire and Bones as best I can; then at 9/8c, watching Grey’s Anatomy and recording Fringe (or vice versa, depending on the week; CSI and The Office, and probably Nikita will take a back seat); and at 10/9c, The Mentalist would be my first choice, but most weeks, I’ll use that hour to play back stuff I was recording in the earlier hours. I’m exhausted just thinking about it. But in a good way. (The shows I will most likely not be bothering with include ABC’s mawkish My Generation, CBS’s Dad and NBC’s Outsourced. Life’s too short, and so’s the week.)
That’s it. Enjoy!
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