Hey All,
Quite a bit of casting and development news to share today along with other TV and movie news so let’s get right into it:
TELEVISION
Victor Garber (Alias and Eli Stone), French Stewart (3rd Rock from the Sun), Kathleen Quinlan (Prison Break) and former Stargate franchise stars David Hewlett and Robert Picardo will be guest starring in upcoming episodes of Stargate Universe, which returns for its second season on September 28 at 9 PM. (The Futon Critic)
Tracie Thoms (Cold Case) and Roger Bart (Desperate Housewives) will guest star in the same upcoming episode of Human Target on FOX. (Michael Ausiello at Entertainment Weekly)
Candice Bergen will guest star in a multi-episode arc on House, starring as the mother of Dr. Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein). (Michael Ausiello at Entertainment Weekly)
Law & Order: UK will be coming to US television sets via BBC America starting on October 3 at 10:30 PM before moving to Fridays at 9 PM. The series is set, of course in London, starring Jamie Bamber (Battlestar Galactica), Bradley Walsh (The Old Curiosity Shop), Ben Daniels (The State Within) and Freema Agyeman (Doctor Who). (The Futon Critic)
TNT has renewed their new series Memphis Beat for a second season. The series received a 10 episode order for the new season. (Twitter)
Elizabeth Reaser (The Twilight Saga franchise) and Lili Taylor (Six Feet Under) are joining The Good Wife. Reaser will play a sports writer who will serve as a new love interest for Will (Josh Charles) while Taylor will guest-star as a possible romantic foil for Kalinda (Archie Panjabi). It is not yet known when each actress will make her first appearance on the CBS legal drama. The Good Wife returns on September 28 at 10 PM. (Kate Stanhope at TV Guide)
Rachel Ticotin is replacing Wanda De Jesus on the upcoming NBC series Law & Order: Los Angeles, playing the new Lieutenant who heads the LAPD Robbery Homicide Division. She will star alongside Skeet Ulrich, Corey Stoll, Alfred Molina, Terrence Howard, Megan Boone and Regina Hall. The series debuts on September 22, at 10 PM. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)
MADE-FOR-TV MOVIES
Jewel Staite (Firefly and Stargate: Atlantis), Eric Johnson (Rookie Blue) and Lauren Holly (NCIS) will star in the Hallmark Channel movie Debbie Macomber’s Call Me Mrs. Miracle that is set to air on November 27 at 8 PM. The film is about Mrs. Miracle (Doris Roberts) who is back to ensure that this Christmas is the most magical and meaningful of all. When Mrs. Miracle appears as a seasonal employee in the toy department at the financially troubled Finley’s Department Store, neither the store’s owners, nor the customers, have any idea of the saintly events that are about to unfold. (The Futon Critic)
Lifetime has ordered the four-hour miniseries Marry Me, which will star Lucy Liu (Charlie’s Angels), Steven Pasquale (Rescue Me), Bobby Cannavale (Third Watch), Enrique Murciano (Without a Trace) and Annie Potts (Designing Women). The movie revolves around a woman (Liu) looking for Mr. Right. (Variety and Televisionary)
DEVELOPMENT NEWS
FOX has giving a pilot order to the much buzzed about J.J. Abrams and Elizabeth Sarnoff Alcatraz project, that revolves around the infamous San Francisco island prison that was shut down in 1963 (Variety and Televisionary)
Lou Diamond Philips (Stargate Universe) has been cast in the as-yet untitled Josh Berman drama pilot for Lifetime. He will play a police lieutenant and the boss to Sherry Stringfield’s (ER) Molly Collins and Jamie-Lynn Sigler’s (The Sopranos) Brooke Kross. (Deadline and Televisionary)
Dylan Baker (The Good Wife) has been cast in a potentially recurring role on the USA Network series Burn Notice, where he will play Max, a power broker who could hold Michael’s fate in his hands. He will first appear in the fourth season finale and could return in Season Five. (Deadline and Televisionary)
CBS has given a script order to an untitled New Jersey crime drama pilot Gary Lennon (Justified). The project revolves around the first female police chief of Newark who must battle crime and law-enforcement corruption as well as a difficult home life. (Hollywood Reporter and Televisionary)
ABC is developing a show based on the Pat Conroy best-selling novel The Prince of Tides, which was adapted into a film in 1991, starring Barbra Streisand and Nick Nolte. The TV project will follow the novel more closely, telling the story of a married Southern football coach from an abusive and dysfunctional family who falls in love with a New York psychiatrist. (James Hibberd Live Feed at Hollywood Reporter)
ABC has picked up the Darren Star-produced dramedy based on the Kim Gatlin book Good Christian Bitches. The as-yet untitled project centers on Amanda Vaughn, a recently divorced mother of two who, to get a fresh start, moves back to the affluent Dallas neighborhood where she grew up to find herself in the whirling midst of salacious gossip, Botox, and fraud. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)
The network has also made a pilot commitment to a thriller from Paranormal Activity writer-director Oren Peli and Michael R. Perry. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)
BOX OFFICE NEWS
Jennifer Garner is in talks to star in the dramatic thriller Better Living Through Chemistry, which follows a small-town pharmacist (Jeremy Renner) who is stuck in a loveless marriage and rediscovers himself through an affair with a trophy wife (Garner) who introduces him to the pleasures of prescription drugs. Things spin out of control when the affair escalates and the lovers begin plotting to kill the woman’s husband. (The Hollywood Reporter and Dark Horizons)
Malin Akerman (Watchmen) is set to join the comedy film Wanderlust that centers on a couple (Paul Rudd, Jennifer Aniston) who, after losing all of their money and move from New York to Atlanta, take refuge at a hippie commune. Akerman’s role has not been specified yet. Lauren Ambrose and Justin Theroux also star. (Variety and Dark Horizons)
BOX OFFICE TRAILER
Watch: Second New Full-Length Trailer for Disney’s ‘Tangled’
ME: I cannot say enough how much I really want to see this movie and it’s animated (not the typical movie I clamor to see I should add); but it’s because of the terrific Zachary Levi providing the voice of the “hero” that has been enamored more than anything.
Watch: ‘The Nutcracker 3D’ Official Trailer with Elle Fanning
TV INTERVIEW
Vampire Diaries’ Katerina Graham: Bonnie “Will Do Something Unthinkable”
GUIDE TO UPCOMING TV
A complete guide to 68 midseason genre shows, movies and miniseries
Q&A SECTION (with Michael Ausiello at Entertainment Weekly)
Question: Fringe scoop please?
Ausiello: Here you go: The first one comes courtesy of John Noble, who reveals exactly how Walternate plans to pull Peter’s strings from the alt-universe. “[Walternate] has to ensure that [Peter] continues to work on our side,” says Noble, “and he’ll do that through alt-Olivia.” Okay, I’ll bite: How exactly will Bolivia manipulate Peter? Noble hesitates before whispering, “She seduces him… Did I just say that? Did I just drop a big teaser?” I believe you did, sir!
Question: Does the fact that Fringe is setting every other episode “over there” mean that we’re going to see more of Charlie this season? —Melissa
Ausiello: That’s precisely what that means. Charlie remains active in the alt-world’s Fringe division, so look for him to appear in multiple episodes—beginning with next Thursday’s season premiere.
Question: The DirecTV press release about the final season of Friday Night Lights doesn’t mention anything about Gaius Charles returning. Does this mean Smash is not in season 5? If so, did they want to bring him back and couldn’t for scheduling reasons, or was it a creative choice? —Jake
Ausiello: Smash will not be back for the fifth and final season, and, according to exec producer Jason Katims, creative and scheduling considerations came into play. “It was a combination of [Gaius’] availability and the storytelling,” he tells me. “With only 13 episodes, we ended up having to pick and choose which stories and characters to service. The story drives everything. We didn’t want to bring [alums] back just to bring them back. We wanted to make sure we had a good story for them.” That said, Katims says Smash is “referenced” in one of the episodes. “We find out how he’s doing in school.”
Question: I have a craving for anything Castle! —Trish
Ausiello: I’ve got three words for you: Castle. Beckett. Nudity. Allow exec producer Andrew Marlowe to explain: “They have to go to a strip club to investigate a murder, and Castle is very excited about this. Unfortunately for him, it turns out to be a male revue with crazy bachelorettes running around. He, of course, ends up being fresh meat.”
Question: Can I have a scoop on Bones please? —Pauline
Ausiello: The rumors are true: Angela, who had a little pregnancy scare last season with boyfriend Wendell, is actually having a baby with husband Hodgins. Actress Michaela Conlin expects Angela to “weave in some of her craziness” to their impending parenthood. “I think we may see her interviewing some doulas and wild pediatricians and things like that. And hopefully, she’ll be eating a lot of weird stuff,” Conlin says. “I think it’s going to be nice to see another side of her this season.”
Question: I love Sweets on Bones, but I hate to see him get the short end of so many sticks. Any news on what’s in store for him this season? —AJ
Ausiello: A possible reunion with Daisy is in store—provided he’s able to forgive her for choosing her career over him. “He’s taking baby steps to finally let [Daisy] back into his heart,” reveals Sweets’ portrayer, John Frances Daley. “He has a very fragile heart. He’s been through a lot. Obviously, they have very strong feelings for each other, and they can’t really stay apart for too long—as we establish [in the premiere]. He’s a good guy generally, so I think ultimately, yeah, he’ll take her back.”
That’s it. Enjoy!
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