Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Happy first week of October!  Are folks getting excited for Halloween?  I’m sure a lot are.  And, of course, TV programming is complimenting this time of the year with lots of Halloween themed viewing.

In the meantime, here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

Peter MacNicol (Ally McBeal and Numb3rs) has joined the cast of Grey’s Anatomy for a multi-episode arc, playing Dr. Stark, a pediatrics attending who will be working closely with Alex (Justin Chambers).  (Natalie Abrams at TV Guide)

Starz has officially started looking for an actor to replace Andy Whitfield on Spartacus: Sand & Blood.  Whitfield left the show earlier due to being diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma and has recently been advised by doctors to resume aggressive treatment against the disease.  (Michael Ausiello at Entertainment Weekly)

ABC Family has canceled its freshman drama series Huge, which was based on the young adult novel by Sasha Paley.  The series averaged 1.9 million viewers.  (James Hibberd at Live Feed at The Hollywood Reporter)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Looks like David E. Kelley (the many behind Ally McBeal and The Practice) has secured a deal with Warner Bros. to bring Wonder Woman to the small screen.  (Yes, you read that right: the small screen).  The question now is which actress will fill those infamous boots?  There is a lot of speculation but nothing concrete for quite some time.  (E! Entertainment Online)

Lifetime has ordered a pilot for an untitled drama about the female head of a university hospital psych department.  The show would revolve around a woman who moves to Philadelphia to work as chief of staff in the psychiatry department alongside her sister and a diverse staff.  (Variety and Televisionary)

MADE-FOR-TV MOVIES

Charles Dance (Alien 3, Bleak House and Gosford Park) has joined the cast of the Syfy 4-hour movie event Neverland based on the prequel to author J.M. Barrie’s classic Peter Pan.  He will play the role of Dr. Richard Fludd, a 400-year-old former alchemist to Queen Elizabeth and the genius who holds the key to the “bridge” between our world and Neverland.  He joins cast members Rhys Ifans, Anna Friel, Bob Hoskins, Raoul Trujillo and Charlie Rowe.  (The Futon Critic)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

According to Exhibitor Relations (via E! Entertainment Online), here are the top 10 box office movies for this past weekend:

1. The Social Network, $23 million

2. Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole, $10.9 million

3. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, $10.1 million

4. The Town, $10 million

5. Easy A, $7 million

6. You Again, $5.6 million

7. Case 39, $5.4 million

8. Let Me In, $5.3 million

9. Devil, $3.7 million

10. Alpha and Omega, $3 million

Olivia Wilde (House) is set to play the mother of Justin Timberlake in the as-yet titled sci-fi movie formerly known as I’m.mortal.  The story is set in a society where people are engineered to stop ageing at 25-years-old and time has become the currency of the realm.  The wealthy are practically immortal while the majority of the populous struggles to bank what extra time they can. Timberlake plays a ghetto rebel wrongly accused of murder who is forced to go into hiding with a beautiful and rich hostage (Amanda Seyfried).  They soon begin a steamy romance whilst being pursued by a ruthless law enforcement officer (Cillian Murphy). Vincent Kartheiser (Mad Men) co-stars.  (The Wrap and Dark Horizons)

Emily Blunt will join Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis in the time travel sci-fi movie Looper.  The complicated plot involves a killer (Gordon-Levitt) who works for the mob of the future.  He, along with other so-called Loopers, dispose of people that are sent from the future. When he recognizes one victim as his future self (Willis), he hesitates, letting the man escape. Now, in order to save his immediate future, the man needs to track down and kill his future self, while his future self is trying to find and kill a young boy who is the key to his survival in the future.  Blunt will play the mother of the boy.  (The Hollywood Reporter and First Showing)

Liev Schreiber (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) and Alison Pill (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) have joined the indie hockey comedy Goon, which follows a bouncer (Seann William Scott) who joins a rag-tag hockey team and inspires them to greatness.  Jay Baruchel (who co-wrote the script) co-stars.  (The Wrap and First Showing)

Thomas Haden Church (Easy A) has joined the dark comedy Killer Joe alongside Matthew McConaughey and Emile Hirsch. The story follows a brother (Hirsch) who, along with his sister, plot the death of their mother for insurance money and hire “Killer Joe” Cooper (McConaughey) to get the job done.  (Variety and First Showing)

Summit Entertainment has bought the rights to develop Tempest, the first book in a forthcoming trilogy by first-time author Julie Cross.  The young adult novel follows a 19-year-old time traveler who witnesses his girlfriend’s murder and inadvertently jumps back two years.  Stuck there, he’s recruited by a shadowy government agency run by the man he thought was his father and vows to save his girlfriend no matter the cost.  (Dylan Stableford at The Wrap)

That’s it.  Enjoy!