Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here we are on the day after the faux-season finale of Chuck and other great Monday night programming, with lots of interesting news to share with all of you:

TELEVISION

Oscar winner Richard Dreyfuss is the NBC drama Parenthood for a multi-episode arc. He will appear in this season’s final four episodes as Gilliam T. Blount, a once-great theater producer who also happens to be an old friend of Zeek’s (Craig T. Nelson). (Michael Ausiello at TV Line)

Actor Chris Messina (Julie & Julia) has joined the cast of Damages, which will have its fourth season air on DirecTV this summer. He will play a high school friend of Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne) who was a decorated soldier before being recruited to work for a private security firm in Afghanistan. Messina joins John Goodman and Dylan Baker, who were previously announced as new cast members. (The Futon Critic)

Actress A.J. Cook will reprise her role as Jennifer “J.J.” Jareau on Criminal Minds for one episode this spring. (Michael Ausiello at TV Line)

Casting is fleshing out for the Burn Notice prequel TV-movie that will center on Sam Axe (Bruce Campbell). The film, to be directed by Burn Notice star Jeffrey Donovan, is set in 2005, as a faction of Colombian rebels makes trouble for the locally stationed military platoon. When Lt. Cmdr. Sam Axe is deployed to check things out, he uncovers some dark secrets of the area and, in turn, learns hard lessons about deception and sacrifice. Actress Chandra West (The Gates) will play Donna, a sexy and fun woman Sam has recently started seeing. Then, as the action moves to Colombia, RonReaco Lee (The Good Guys) turns up as Dr. Ben Delaney, a field medic who runs a non-profit clinic and now finds himself fending off terrorists. Similarly, Kiele Sanchez (The Glades) plays a humanitarian with a food relief effort who has a hard time trusting soldiers — Sam included. Lastly, our Sam needs someone to report to during the ordeal. That responsibility falls to John Diehl (Stargate) as Rear Admiral Lawrence, a no-nonsense Naval Officer who will stop at nothing to get to the bottom of things. The two hour Burn Notice prequel movie is due to air on the USA Network sometime this spring. (Matt Mitovich at TV Line)

NEW SHOWS NEWS

The ABC Family Channel will debut two new one hour dramas and one half-hour comedy sometime later this year. They include the following (all courtesy of The Futon Critic):

Switched at Birth – This one hour drama tells the story of two teenage girls who discover they were accidentally switched as newborns in the hospital. Bay Kennish (Vanessa Marano from Gilmore Girls) grew up in a wealthy family with two parents and a brother, while Daphne Vasquez (newcomer Katie Leclerc), who lost her hearing at an early age due to a case of meningitis, grew up with a single mother in a poor neighborhood. Things come to a dramatic head when both families meet and struggle to learn how to live together for the sake of the girls. The cast includes Constance Marie (George Lopez), D.W. Moffett (Friday Night Lights), Lea Thompson (Caroline in the City) and Lucas Grabeel (High School Musical).

The Nine Lives of Chloe King – This one-hour drama is about Chloe King (Skyler Samuels from The Gates), who is looking forward to celebrating her birthday with her friends and single mother, just like every other year. That is until she starts developing heightened abilities and discovers she’s being pursued by a mysterious figure. Chloe soon learns she’s part of an ancient race which has been hunted by human assassins for millennia – and that she may be their only hope for ultimate survival. The cast includes Amy Pietz (Caroline in the City, Grey Damon (Friday Night Lights), newcomer Grace Phipps, Benjamin Stone (10 Things I Hate About You), Alyssa Diaz (Southland) and Ki Hong Lee (The Secret Life of the American Teenager).

The Great State of Georgia – This half-hour comedy series starring Raven-Symone as Georgia, an aspiring actress with a larger than life personality, and her science geek best friend, who try to make headway in New York City. The cast includes Majandra Delfino (Roswell) and Meagen Fay (According to Jim).

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars), Glynn Turman (In Treatment) and newcomer Donis Leonard Jr. have joined the cast of the Showtime comedy House of Lies that stars Don Cheadle as a highly successful, cutthroat consultant who is never above using any means (or anyone) necessary to get his clients the information they want. Turman and Leonard will play Marty’s father Jeremiah and son Roscoe, respectively. Meanwhile, Bell is set to play Marty’s associate Jeannie Van Der Hooven, a razor-sharp, cute, Brown grad who has some control and self loathing issues, the self-loathing mostly around finding herself attracted to Marty. (The Futon Critic)

ABC has given the green light to the Marc Cherry pilot called Hallelujah, which is set in the town of Hallelujah, Tennessee. The town is being torn apart by the forces of good and evil. Its fortunes change when a stranger comes to town, bringing justice, peace and faith. (Deadline)

MADE-FOR-TV MOVIES NEWS

The Kennedys mini-series has finally found a home at Reelz Channel and will premiere on April 3. The film stars Greg Kinnear and Katie Holmes as John and Jacqueline Kennedy; Barry Pepper as the president’s brother Bobby, and Tom Wilkinson as their father, Joseph. (Twitter and Zap2It)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actors Jim Caviezel and Chiwetel Ejiofor will star in the historical drama film Savannah, which is based on the true story of early 20th century aristocrat Ward Allen (Caviezel) who develops an unexpected partnership with freed slave Christmas Moultrie (Ejiofor). Bradley Whitford (The West Wing), Jaimie Alexander (Thor and Kyle XY), Jack McBrayer (30 Rock) and legendary actor Hal Holbrook all co-star. (Variety and Dark Horizons)

Multi-hyphenate Tyler Perry is set to star in the film I, Alex Cross, which is a reboot of the franchise based on the James Patterson novel series. Originally this character was played by Morgan Freeman in the films Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider. In the book series, Alex Cross is a forensic psychologist who hunts down various killers, but no details are available yet on the direction of this reboot. (Deadline and Dark Horizons)

Q&A SECTION (with Maureen Ryan from AOL TV Squad)

Question: LittleCrisiM asks: I love ‘Downton Abbey’ so much! Do you have any insight as to when more episodes will be shown? I hope it’s soon.

Question: Karolinatx asks: Do you know why the U.K. iTunes has 7 episodes in season 1 of ‘Downton Abbey’? Did PBS re-cut or are we missing [something]?

Maureen Ryan: Anyone who read my review of ‘Downton Abbey,’ which concluded its PBS Masterpiece run Sunday, knows I was besotted with this English country house drama, so waiting up to a year for new episodes will be hard, but we may have to brace ourselves for a lengthy gap between seasons. (If you haven’t seen ‘Downton’ yet, get yourself over to the Masterpiece site, where you can watch all four season 1 episodes through Feb. 21.) The good news is, there will be a second season. ‘Downton’ was a huge hit in England and a second season was commissioned before the show even aired on this side of the Atlantic. Season 2 goes into production this spring and airs in the U.K. in the fall. As Karolina noticed, the episodes aired somewhat differently in the U.K. — ‘Downton’ was shown in seven installments there and we got four installments here. For American audiences, the show’s content was slightly re-arranged so that it comfortably fit into four Masterpiece airings. Jace Lacob, aka the Televisionary, has the full scoop on what wasn’t lost in translation — apparently there were a few very minor cuts here and there, but we essentially saw the same ‘Downton’ that aired in the U.K. It looks like we’ll get slightly more ‘Downton’ whenever season 2 arrives here: Eight episodes plus a Christmas special air in the U.K. in the fall. But if you’re desperate for more costume drama before ‘Downton’ returns, brand-new episodes of ‘Upstairs/Downstairs’ air on PBS in February.

That’s it. Enjoy!