Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

It’s better late than never, right? That saying applies for Friday’s update, which is finally done and ready for your perusal. Hope all of you are having a great weekend so far.

TELEVISION

Actress A.J. Cook (formerly of Criminal Minds) will play opposite Jeremy Irons in an upcoming episode of Law & Order: SVU. (William Keck at TV Guide)

NBC has decided to cut back on the episode order of the upcoming new mid-season series Love Bites. Rather than having 13 episodes there will now only be nine. The series is a romantic anthology that will star Becki Newton (Ugly Betty) and Greg Grunberg (Heroes and Alias). (Vulture)

Actor Michael Gross (Family Ties) will guest star on an upcoming episode of Brothers & Sisters, as a man who tries to come between Saul (Ron Rifkin) and his boyfriend (to be played by Richard Chamberlain). Gross is only expected to appear in one episode, but the role could be expanded. (Kristin at E! Entertainment Online)

TNT has announced the 7th season of The Closer will be its last, getting 15 episodes out of that season. (Michael Ausiello)

Comedian/Actor Dane Cook has been cast to play the brother of Danny “Danno” Williams (Scott Caan) on Hawaii Five-0. Yes, you’re ready that correctly; it’s not a joke. He is set to appear in one February episode. (Lynette Rice at Entertainment Weekly)

Jurassic Park actor Sam Neill (who was last seen in the short-lived TV series Happy Town) will star opposite Sarah Jones in the J.J. Abrams FOX pilot Alcatraz. The project follows a cop (Jones) and a team of FBI agents trying to track down a group of missing Alcatraz prisoners and guards who reappear in the present day after disappearing thirty years earlier. He will play Emerson Hauser, the intelligent and authoritative head of a government agency. (Kate Stanhope at TV Guide)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Actress Ashley Williams will now star in the TNT pilot Bird Dog, replacing Eliza Dushku as the lead. Williams will play Gail McGrath, a cop who is forced to partner with her estranged father, also a policeman, who will be portrayed by Gerald McRaney (Undercovers and Major Dad). (Natalie Abrams at TV Guide)

Actor Michael Gambon (the Harry Potter franchise) has joined the new HBO drama Luck, which is set in the provocative world of horse-racing, following the owners, gamblers, jockeys and industry players. The cast includes Dustin Hoffman and Joan Allen. (Gina DiNunno at TV Guide)

Syfy is reportedly considering redeveloping the drama pilot Three Inches as a comedy. The story revolves around professional daydreamer and underachiever, Walter Spackman (Noah Reid) [who] is struck by lightning, and develops a unique “super” power — the ability to move any object using just his mind… but only a distance of three inches. He’s soon recruited by a covert team of superheroes each gifted with their own extraordinarily ordinary abilities. The cast includes James Marsters, Kyle Schmid, Naoko Mori and Stephanie [among others].  (The Futon Critic)

Actor Mandy Patinkin (Criminal Minds) has joined the cast of the Showtime drama pilot Homeland, which stars Claire Danes. The story is about an American soldier taken prisoner during the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Left for dead, the soldier miraculously returns to the U.S. after years in captivity. Danes plays Carrie Anderson, a driven CIA officer battling her own psychological demons, who becomes convinced that the intelligence that led to his re-capture was a setup and that this national hero may be connected to an Al Qaeda plot to be carried out on American soil. Patinkin is set as the smart and politically savvy CIA Division Chief emeritus Saul Berenson who is Carrie’s main champion in the intelligence upper echelon and her sounding board. (The Futon Critic)

A contemporary re-imagining of the classic novel The Count of Monte Cristo taken from a female perspective is being considered for TV by ABC Studios and Temple Hill, the producer of the Twilight movie franchise. In this reboot the story would chronicle a mysterious young woman who comes to the Hamptons to exact revenge on the people who destroyed her family. The team of ABC Studios and Temple Hill are also considering a series adaptation of Romeo & Juliet. Temple Hill also has the drama Garden Spells set up at the CW. (Deadline)

MADE FOR TV MOVIES NEWS

The next Hallmark Hall of Fame movie The Lost Valentine will air on CBS on January 30 at 9 PM, starring Jennifer Love Hewitt as a TV reporter whose own love life is impacted by her Valentine’s Day-themed assignment to profile a woman (Betty White) whose love for her husband remains as strong as when she last saw him several months before he was declared MIA while serving during WWII. The movie also stars Meghann Fahy, Billy Magnussen and Sean Faris. (The Futon Critic)

DVD NEWS

Doctor Who “A Christmas Carol”

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actress Lily Collins (who play Sandra Bullock’s daughter in the movie The Blind Side) will play Clary Fray in the adaptation of The City of Bones, the first book in Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments series. The description of book one of the trilogy goes like this:

When Clary Fray witnesses three tattoo-covered teenagers murder another teen, she is unable to prove the crime because the victim disappears right in front of her eyes, and no one else can see the killers. She learns that the teens are Shadowhunters (humans who hunt and kill demons), and Clary, a mundie (i.e., mundane human), should not be able to see them either. Shortly after this discovery, her mother, Jocelyn, an erstwhile Shadowhunter, is kidnapped. Jocelyn is the only person who knows the whereabouts of The Mortal Cup, a dangerous magical item that turns humans into Shadowhunters. Clary must find the cup and keep it from a renegade sector of Shadowhunters bent on eliminating all nonhumans, including benevolent werewolves and friendly vampires. (First Showing and Collinder)

BOX OFFICE TRAILER

Bam! Kapow! Explodey New Thor Trailer Is Here!

*SPOILER ALERT* – tread lightly over this last section if you don’t want to be spoiled on the TV shows V, Brothers & Sisters, Leverage and Supernatural:

SPOILER ROOM (from Sandra Gonzalez at Entertainment Weekly)

‘V’: A TRAITOR AMONG THEM?

Fun Fact: When a season ends with the sky turning red, there’s cause for concern — and we learn all sorts of reasons why in the Jan. 4 season opener. For one, it can cause your face to melt off — kidding. Sort of. Gruesomeness aside, the premiere gives reason to believe this season could be faster-paced than the freshman run. Here’s what goes down: We learn a bit about the meaning of the red sky (clue: an environmental scientist has a piece of the puzzle); we learn the consequences of accusing Anna of becoming more human (clue: don’t mess with a woman who has a tail with a pointy end); we see Decker make a bold move to support the V (clue: goodbye, journalistic integrity); and we learn of a possible traitor in the Fifth Column. No clue for that one, but prepare to be devastated by the answer.

‘BROTHERS AND SISTERS’: THE WALKER WHO STOLE CHRISTMAS

Moms are the greatest, aren’t they? Especially around the hectic holidays when they, you know, do everything. So, when Karl sees Nora fraying at the edges during her own quest for the perfect Christmas, he offers to take her to Santa Fe to escape the madness (because nothing says holiday cheer like paper bag lanterns) — and she takes him up on it! Meanwhile, the Walker children are left Christmas orphans. What results is plenty of campy Walker-ness, mostly between Kitty and Kevin as they battle for the right to host Christmas — and ownership of the village and train that come along with the honor. (Admit it; you do like the camp as long as it’s in small doses.) At the heart of the episode: some very surprising scenarios, like lucid Holly, Justin drunk off his a**, and Kevin with a rather disturbing mustache that falls somewhere between Clark Gable and Billy Dee Williams on the facial hair scale. Oh, I’ve said too much…

‘LEVERAGE’: MOREAU WHERE THAT CAME FROM

The final two episodes of Leverage‘s third season (airing Dec. 19) will easily be fan favorites. There’s plenty of what you love about the show: Parker wit, scheme-offs with international crime man Damien Moreau (Goran Visnjic), and Alec showing us how big his brain is. But there are also touches of things we don’t see as much on the show. For one, there’s a tender moment between the team and tough guy Eliot, following a huge revelation. Other highlights: Alec’s brush with death after he takes a swim…while wearing handcuffs; guest star Visnjic in a robe (yum!); Sophie acting as first lady to a country in peril; and the season’s huge cliffhanger.

Side Dishes:

Question:  Laura P. asks: Is Crowley REALLY dead on Supernatural?

Answer:  The sight of Crowley’s burning bones last week sent chills through me, too. And while my Supernatural sources can’t say for certain if Mark Sheppard will return to the show this season, I am told that fans should “never say never to seeing him again in the world of Supernatural.” I think we can all agree that bringing a character back from the (presumed) dead is just another day at the office for the show, no?

That’s it. Enjoy!

Have a great weekend!