Hey All,
Happy Monday! I hope the start of the new week is treating everyone well. Let’s get into the news items for today, shall we?
TELEVISION
Actress Nia Vardalos – who is the real life wife of actor and Cougar Town star Ian Gomez – will play a woman with more than a passing interest in his character on the show…a woman who just happens to be his brother’s wife. She will appear in April. (Michael Ausiello at TV Line)
Lifetime has given series pickups to two new police dramas to series: Against the Wall and Exit 19. (Variety)
Smallville will conclude its 10th and final season with a two-hour series finale on Friday, May 13 while Supernatural will get a 2-hour finale as well, which will air on May 20. (Michael Ausiello at TV Line)
Actress Rose McGowan (Charmed) will appear in an upcoming spring episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, playing a grafter names Cassandra who strikes swinging men who frequent sex clubs. Actor Ryan Hurst (Sons of Anarchy) will also appear in this episode. (William Keck at TV Guide)
ARTICLE ABOUT FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS
A ‘Friday Night Lights’ marriage that binds in many ways
DEVELOPMENT NEWS
Actress Debra Messing (Will & Grace) is “this close” to landing a lead role in the upcoming NBC hour-long musical pilot called Smash from Steven Spielberg and the duo of Craig Zadan and Neil Meron as well as Hairspray songwriters Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman. The pilot follows a diverse cast of characters who come together to stage a Broadway show about Marilyn Monroe. Messing will play Julia, the musical’s good-natured lyricist who is slow to embrace the commercially-iffy subject matter. (Michael Ausiello at TV Line)
Starz has another project that was ordered directly to series this past November called Boss, which is a political drama starring Kelsey Grammer as the Mayor of Chicago who is diagnosed with a degenerative mental condition that only he and his doctor know about. There are no other details available as to when the show will be broadcast. (The Futon Critic)
Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights) may be teaming with FX for an as-yet untitled new potential drama for the network, but no other details are currently available. (The Futon Critic)
BOX OFFICE NEWS
Actor Ryan Gosling will appear in the upcoming box office film The Place Beyond the Pines as a motorcycle stunt rider who learns he has a baby, and then starts changing his life to be a father. (Shannon Vestal at Buzz Sugar)
Here are the top 10 box offices movies for this past weekend courtesy of E! Entertainment Online and Exhibitor Relations:
1. The Roommate, $15.6 million
2. Sanctum, $9.2 million
3. No Strings Attached, $8.4 million
4. The King’s Speech, $8.3 million
5. The Green Hornet, $6.1 million
6. The Rite, $5.6 million
7. The Mechanic, $5.4 million
8. True Grit, $4.8 million
9. The Dilemma, $3.45 million
10. Black Swan, $3.4 million
BOX OFFICE TRAILERS
Must Watch: Breathtaking Super Bowl Spot for J.J. Abrams’ ‘Super 8’
Must Watch: ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’ Super Bowl Spot
Q&A SECTION (with Matt Roush from TV Guide)
Question: Chuck is one of my favorite shows, but lately it seems to be heading towards an ultimate finale by wrapping up many story lines. Does this mean the producers think it is going to get cancelled? Has NBC indicated that it wasn’t going to get picked up next season? — Stan
Matt Roush: When hasn’t Chuck lived on the bubble? As usual, we’re not likely to know whether Chuck gets a fifth season until the fall schedule is announced in May. Fans are used to that, and so are the producers. Your observations are on point, though, because the writers went into this season with a 13-episode order and constructed the arc involving Volkoff and Chuck’s mom with that in mind. Last week’s episode, the 13th, was designed to work as a season finale or maybe even a series finale, which is why it sometimes felt like they were rushing to wrap things up. Ellie giving birth, Chuck finally proposing to Sarah, lots of closure there. But NBC upped Chuck’s order to a full season, so while there’s now more story to tell, it means fans will once again be sweating out news of the show’s future for the next few months. Complicating matters is the NBC-Comcast merger with new management overseeing the entertainment division. All bets are off right now in predicting what’s staying and what’s going and what NBC prime time will look like next season.
That’s it. Enjoy!
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