Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Happy Over the Hump Day! We are getting closer to the weekend. Is anyone getting excited or are you too busy with work, school and/or holiday “stuff” to think clearly. Regardless, sit down for a bit and relax with today’s update:

TELEVISION

Syfy has decided to give their new pilot Alphas an 11 episode order in addition to the 90-minute pilot. The show is expected to get a summer 2011 debut. The series stars David Strathairn and follows a team of ordinary citizens who possess extraordinary and unusual mental skills. The cast also includes Warren Christie, Malik Yoba, Laura Mennell, Ryan Cartwright and Azita Ghanizada. Callum Keith Rennie (Battlestar Galactica) guest stars in the pilot. (Blastr and Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

FOX will not be ordering the “back nine” episodes of Lie to Me, making the third season only 13 episodes long; but the network claims the show has not been canceled. A final decision on the show’s future is expected to be made in the spring. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actress Adrienne Barbeau (Maude and Carnivale) will guest star on CSI: New York in February, playing a clinic manager who plays an important part of an investigation to track down a hit man played by Ne-Yo. (Lynette Rice at Entertainment Weekly)

When the finale of Dexter airs on Showtime this Sunday, viewers will get a 20 minute sneak peek at the network’s new drama Shameless which stars William H. Macy as Frank Gallagher, a far-from-stellar working-class patriarch of an unconventional Chicago brood of six motley kids whose eldest daughter (Emmy Rossum) keeps the home afloat while he’s out drinking and carousing. Shameless will debut on January 9. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Hot on the heels of FOX’s success with the musicomedy Glee, it looks like the CW is developing a struggling rock-band drama for next season. Tentatively dubbed The Prickly Spheres, the show is expected to revolve around a classical-music prodigy who turns down a full ride at Julliard and instead ends up joining an alternative-rock band in Minneapolis filled with quirky but super-talented musicians. (Josef Adalian at Vulture)

FOX has picked up the medical thriller pilot called The Danger List about a doctor with a complicated past who investigates medical abuses, crimes and conspiracies. While the CW has picked up the pilot Beautiful Strangers, about two young thieves who are given a second chance as informants for a new FBI division. The latter comes will be executive produced by Veronica Mars and Party Down veteran Rob Thomas. (James Hibberd at The Live Feed at The Hollywood Reporter)

Author John Grisham is working with NBC to turn his short story collection “Ford County” into a primetime drama. Brothers and Sisters creator Jon Robin Baitz has signed on to write the adaptation, but no other details are available just yet. (Variety)

DVD NEWS

Justified

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Oprah Winfrey may star in an HBO Films adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Lynn Nottage play Ruined, which is set in a brothel in the war-torn Congo and captures the experiences of the women working there. (Dave McNary at Variety)

More names are being attached to the upcoming box office film The Hobbit. Among them is Cate Blanchett, who will reprise here role of the ethereal elf Galadriel. The others are Ken Stott (Charlie Wilson’s War) who will play the Dwarf Lord Balin; Sylvester McCoy (Doctor Who) who will play the wizard Radagast the Brown; Swedish actor Mikael Persbrandt who will play the shape-shifting bear-man Beorn; British actor Ryan Gage who will play Drogo Baggins; and New Zealand actors Jed Brophy and William Kircher who will play the dwarves Nori and Bifur, respectively. (Josh Rottenberg at Entertainment Weekly)

Actress Pauley Perrette (NCIS) will star in the science-fiction romance film The Girl From Mars, which is about a lonely geek whose life is transformed when he meets the girl of his dreams (Perrette) who claims to be a visitor from another planet. (Dark Horizons)

Q&A SECTION (with Natalie and Adam from TV Guide)

Question: Nikita scoop, please! — Monica

NATALIE: Alex is faced with her final test, in which she’ll have to kill or be killed. When she’s unable to pull the trigger, she’s forced to turn over Nikita to Division to save her own life. That doesn’t mean Alex won’t make her first kill though, and wait until you see who the victim is.

Question: Are we going to see Rose again on The Vampire Diaries? — Michelle

ADAM: Yep, and sooner than you think. I’m hearing that she’ll pop back up in order to help Damon and Stefan with a mysterious mission. First stop on their quest: a visit to another vampire savant who knows everything about everything in the world of bloodsuckers. He’s willing to hand over the dangerous info Damon and Stefan seek — but only in exchange for a day-walking ring.

Question: What can you tell us about the V premiere? — Rachel

NATALIE: The premiere picks up four days after the finale, when Anna released that creepy red sky that caused widespread panic and rioting among the humans. Anna’s actions have also stirred unrest among her captains, who fear that she has developed human emotions. Lesson of the premiere: Never doubt Anna, or she’ll kill you with her tail. That’s not a metaphor.

Question: Got anything interesting on NCIS? — Jeffrey

ADAM: Ask yourself this: Which NCIS-er do you think needs to see a shrink? (Correct answer: All of them!) But in the meantime, one team member could log some couch time in the near future, as the show is looking to add a clinical psychiatrist who specializes in combat trauma and stress-related anxiety issues to the cast. She reads people like books and isn’t shy about digging up sensitive memories.

That’s it. Enjoy!