Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Happy Friday to one and all! I think I hit on the mother lode of news today, as there was quite a bit out there on the web. Let’s get into it all, shall we?

TELEVISION

As I announced yesterday in my breaking news item, Hawaii Five-0 has been given a full season order by CBS, but all the other new shows introduced by the network – Mike & Molly, The Defenders, Blue Blood and $#*! My Dad Says – have also been given full season orders. (Latter part of this from Kate Stanhope at TV Guide)

Omari Hardwick (Dark Blue) will guest star on an upcoming episode of the NBC series Chase as Chris Novak, a hard luck criminal facing prison who escapes prison to exact revenge on those who betrayed him. While being hunted by Annie Frost (Kelli Giddish) and her team of U.S. Marshals, Novak cuts “a swath of terror through downtown Houston.” (Steve Gutierrez at TV Guide)

Fox has ordered two more scripts for the FOX series Human Target, which will return with new episodes starting on November 17. (James Hibberd at The Live Feed Via The Hollywood Reporter)

Actor Daniel Faraday (Lost) will join the FX series Justified in a recurring role as the new nemesis to Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant). He will play a high school rival of Raylan’s, Dickie Bennett, who is the smartest of three brothers whose weed-trafficking family has long been at war with the Givens clan. (Mandi Bierly at Entertainment Weekly)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

It looks like FOX is thinking about developing a potential spinoff series to Bones built around a character that would be introduced as a recurring on the series this season. Casting for the role is expected to begin shortly. If the powers that be can find an actor who can carry a new series, the new character, Walter Sherman, will debut in the December 6 episode of Bones. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Gerard Butler is teaming up with Bob Cochran (co-creator of 24) to produce Pinkerton, a short series showcasing fictional events surrounding the man responsible for founding the first detective agency in the United States, Scottish-born officer Allan Pinkerton. Starz has already drafted a pilot script for the 8-10 hour limited show run. (Deadline and Anglophenia)

Syfy Plots Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome Pilot: Where Does that Leave Caprica?

MADE-FOR-TV MOVIES

Kiernan Shipka (Mad Men) joins Kellie Martin (Life Goes ON and ER) and Simon Kassianides (Quantum of Solace in the Hallmark channel movie called Smooch that is slated to premiere around Valentine’s Day 2011. The movie is an updated loosely-based, live-action homage to the Brothers Grimm short story — The Frog King. Shipka plays Zoe, a young girl obsessed by fairytales and happy endings who is searching for the perfect man for her widowed mother Gwen (Martin). It is Zoe’s belief in a frog’s potential charm that compels her to abduct one from her middle school science class, carrying him to the San Francisco Bay in a water-filled lunchbox where she intends to set him free. Having skipped class, Zoe is surprised to see another schoolmate at the Wharf, and in her anxiety, accidentally drops her green friend overboard. As she surveys the scene, a male monarch (Kassianides) in full royal regalia emerges from a dinghy in which he fell after a wild night of partying. The dazed prince looks more like Humpty Dumpty, sporting a giant goose egg on his head, courtesy of his fall from the pier. Though the prince has little memory of who he is or how he got into such a predicament, he is in luck. Zoe knows precisely how this fairytale ends. (The Futon Critic)

Bill Pullman and Matthew Modine have joined the cast of the HBO movie Too Big to Fail as two big financial CEOs. The movie dissects the 2008 financial crisis and the power brokers who brought the world’s economy to the verge of collapse. Pullman will play Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JP Morgan Chase. Modine will play John Thain, former chairman and CEO of Merrill Lynch who sold the company to Bank of America to avoid following Lehman Bros. into bankruptcy. They join a star-studded ensemble cast led by William Hurt, James Woods and Paul Giamatti. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

British actor Martin Freeman will be playing Bilbo Baggins in Peter Jackson’s two-part Lord of the Rings prequel. The rest of the announced cast includes Richard Armitage, playing Thorin Oakenshield, head of the company of dwarves who are off to recapture his lost inheritance; Aidan Turner (Being Human) and Rob Kazinsky as Kili and Fili; Graham McTavish as Dwalin; John Callen as Oin; Stephen Hunter as Bombur; Mark Hadlow as Dori and Peter Hambleton as Gloin. (Natalie Finn at E! Entertainment Online)

Tea Leoni and newcomer Nina Arianda have joined the cast of the box office film Tower Heist that stars Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy. The movie follows an overworked building manager who leads some low-level employees at a luxury Manhattan high-rise on a mission to even the score with a Bernie Madoff-like Wall Street crook (Alda) who looted their pensions and is now living under house arrest in a lavish penthouse apartment. Gabourey Sidibe (Precious) and Michael Peña (Crash) co-star. (Variety and Jeff Sneider at The Wrap)

BOX OFFICE TRAILER

Liam Neeson, January Jones, and Diane Kruger in ‘Unknown’ trailer: Watch it here

SEATTLE EXHIBITION

Colonial Culture: Battlestar Galactica Exhibition Opens in Seattle

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Man, where has the week gone already, huh? It’s nearly Friday – YEAH! Hope your week is going well. Now, let’s get into the news for today:

TELEVISION

Six-time Grammy winner John Legend is lined up to appear in the season finale of Royal Pains, starring as himself. He will be the musical guest for an MS fundraiser. Royal Pains will be back on the USA Network starting on January 20. (Matt Mitovich at Fancast)

Actress Amanda Detmer (What About Brian) has been added to the cast of the new USA Network pilot Necessary Roughness, starring Callie Thorne (Rescue Me) as a tough love-dispensing therapist who lands a choice gig with a pro football team. In the wake of her success there, she quickly becomes the go-to talk-to for other big-league athletes, musicians and high-profile figures. Detmer will play the best friend of Thorne’s character. Marc Blucas (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Concetta Tomei (Providence) co-stars. (Matt Mitovich at Fancast)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

CSI show runner Carol Mendelsohn has sold a new crime drama to CBS. The project is currently untitled, but brings to the small screen a series of suspense novels from author Thomas Perry. The thrillers star protagonist Jane Whitefield, a half-white, half-Indian young woman who works as a one-person witness protection program, helping hide people who are in danger. (The Live Feed at The Hollywood Reporter)

The CW is developing two supernatural-tinged projects involving a trio of female veterans of Joss Whedon’s “camp”: Marti Noxon, Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain and one other project. One of the shows is based on a book series from L.J. Smith, the author of The Vampire Diaries. Craft and Fain (both alums of Angel and Dollhouse) are adapting Smith’s three-book Secret Circle series for a one-hour drama about a California teen who moves to her mom’s hometown of New Salem and discovers that she is a witch. Meanwhile, Noxon, a well-known Buffy and Angel writer, is shepherding the CW drama project Chloe with her production partner Dawn Parouse (Prison Break). The potential series revolves around a young female con artist who dies and returns to earth as a Divine Covert Operator. Both Secret Circle and Chloe are just pilot scripts at this point, but there’s a good chance the CW will film at least one of them this spring. Andrew Miller, who has no apparent Whedon connection but did write for the web series Imaginary Bitches, is penning a pilot script and will also exec produce. In addition to its two current CW series, Alloy is also developing the music-themed pilot Confessions of a Backup Dancer for the network. (Vulture)

The CW has also handed out a script order to an untitled drama project starring Michelle Trachtenberg (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), which marks the actress’ producing debut. The project – from Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage – is based on an idea by Trachtenberg and would star the actress as a young criminology student with a gift for profiling and a dark past. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Meg Ryan, Curtis Jackson, John Lithgow, Kevin Zegers, Anthony Anderson, Esai Morales, Joe Anderson and Kat Dennings have all joined the drama box office movie Lives of the Saints, an ensemble tale following several intertwining stories of a group of Los Angeles residents seeking redemption for past mistakes. They soon learn to find forgiveness from unlikely places. (Variety and Dark Horizons)

Dakota Fanning is in negotiations to join the supernatural thriller If I Star” based on the Gayle Forman’s young adult novel. The story revolves around a gifted musician (Fanning), and her boyfriend, a rising indie rock star. Mulling the choice between her art and her relationship, things get tougher when a fatal car accident leaves her stuck considering the choice between life and death. (Variety and Dark Horizons)

Universal has picked up rights to the young adult fantasy series Sweep by Cate Tiernan, which spans 15 books and follows a 16-year-old girl who discovers she’s a blood witch, descended from an ancient and powerful line. Ultimately, she must decide whether to use her powers for good or evil. (First Showing)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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