Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All

Happy Over the Hump Day Everyone! Hope your work week is going well. Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

Actor Michael Zegan (Rescue Me) will appear as a young Benjamin “Benny” (late known as “Bugsy”) Siegel in the HBO series Boardwalk Empire when it returns for its second season. (Matt Mitovich at TV Line)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Actress Katie Cassidy (Melrose Place and Gossip Girl) will star opposite James Wolk (Lone Star) in the ABC drama pilot called Georgetown, which centers on the young people behind the power brokers of Washington, DC. The main protagonist, Andrew Pierce (Wolk), is an effortlessly charming and brilliant Yale graduate and the youngest Presidential speech writer on record. Cassidy will play Nikki, a smart and quick-witted junior staffer in the White House Communications Office with connections to the First Lady. Also cast in the pilot is Daisy Betts (Persons Unknown) as Samantha, an idealistic young staffer for the Democratic President who shares a romantic history with Andrew. (Nellie Andreeva at TV Line)

Actor Steven Pasquale (Rescue Me) will star in the USA Network drama pilot called Over/Under that centers on Paul (Pasquale), a day trader with a massive gambling problem who is fired from his job six months after a bad trade costs his firm millions. Shut out of the job market, he and his wife move to Brooklyn. There, Paul finds an unlikely partner, expectant father Marino (Anthony Carrigan), to start a high-end bookie business. (Deadline)

Actress Leslie Bibb (Crossing Jordan and both Iron Man films) will play the lead in the ABC dramedy pilot called Good Christian Bitches that is based on the Kim Gatlin book. It centers on Amanda (Bibb), a recently divorced mother of two who moves back to the affluent neighborhood where she grew up to find herself in the whirling midst of gossip, Botox and fraud. She joins previously announced cast members Jennifer Aspen and Annie Potts. (Deadline)

Actress Jennifer Ehle (The King’s Speech) will star opposite Patrick Wilson in the as-yet untitled CBS drama pilot by Susannah that centers on an ultra-competitive surgeon (Wilson) whose life is changed forever when his ex-wife (Ehle), a doctor running a free clinic, dies and begins teaching him what life is all about from the here-after. (Deadline)

Actor Stephen Tobolowsky (Heroes, Glee and Californication) has been cast in the CBS drama pilot called Hail Mary that centers on a single mom (Minnie Driver) who teams up with a hustler to solve crimes. Tobolowsky will play the part of Cox. (The Hollywood Reporter)

FX has announced they are producing a pilot for a proposed series based on the comic books series called Powers, a long-running saga about cops in a city teeming with superheroes. You can think of it like NYPD Blue meets Watchmen or Jack Kirby meets James Ellroy. Charles H. Eglee (formerly of The Shield and Dark Angel) and veteran TV director Michael Dinner will be involved in this project as will comic book scribe Brian Michael Bendis, who created Powers with artist Michael Avon Oeming, will work on the show as an executive producers. Melissa Rosenberg (the writer of the Twilight saga films) is adapting the comic. (Jeff Jenson at Entertainment Weekly)

MADE FOR TV MOVIE NEWS

The made-for-TV movie called Truth Be Told, starring Candace Cameron Bure, David James Elliott and Ronny Cox will premiere on Saturday, April 16 on FOX. The project revolves around Annie Morgan (Bure), a marriage counselor who – fearing her single status will ruin her chance at a dream job hosting a radio advice program – conspires with an old college friend (Elliott), a recent widower with two teenagers, to pass as a married couple after her potential boss (Cox) invites them to spend the weekend at his New Mexico ranch. No airtime has been announced yet. (The Futon Critic)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Katherine Heigl’s bounty hunter comedy called One for the Money has been pushed up a month from July 8 to June 3 where it will now open opposite X-Men: First Class. (Dark Horizons)

British actress Eleanor Tomlinson (The Illusionist) is set to play the female lead in the upcoming box office movie called Jack the Giant Killer. She will play Isabella, a princess who runs away from her kingdom and is kidnapped by giants. Before being taken, she meets a farmer’s son named Jack (Nicholas Hoult) who later leads a mission into the land of the giants to save her. Stanley Tucci, Ewan McGregor, Bill Nighy and John Kassir also star. (Dark Horizons)

Looks like Disney may try to bring their tame boat ride Jungle Cruise into a feature film. Tim Allen and Tom Hanks have been tapped to lead roles. No other specifics seem to be available yet, though. (Deadline and Dark Horizons)

Q&A SECTION (with Adam Bryant and Natalie Abrams at TV Guide and Michael Ausiello at TV Line)

QUESTION: So, will Kurt be back with New Directions on Glee any time soon? — Lizzie

ADAM: Sorry to break it to you, Lizzie, but Kurt will still be singing with the Warblers at least through Regionals. That means he won’t be singing Glee’s original song, the geek anthem “Loser Like Me,” either. But don’t worry, Kurt and the Warblers have their own underdog ode. Hint: It’s by Pink!

QUESTION: Any spoilers for the return of The Event? — Marcus

NATALIE: We’ll learn right away that the message that Thomas (Clifton Collins Jr.) sent was an invitation of sorts, and you’ll soon be reminded of the final scene of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Meanwhile, Sterling (Zeljko Ivanek) will find himself in the middle of a violent break-out at Inostranka that not everyone will survive.

QUESTION: When will we see Wo Fat on Hawaii Five-0 again? Will his story be resolved with the “champ box” mysteries? — Greg

ADAM: Wo Fat’s connections to McGarrett’s father will be brought up again in the next new episode (airing March 21), which also introduces Larisa Oleynik’s new team member. “She brings some of that Wo Fat backstory to light and sheds new light on his character. She sort of reinvigorates McGarrett’s interest,” co-executive producer Paul Zbyszewski tells us. But I wouldn’t expect to see all of Wo Fat’s story wrapped up this year. “We see him more in terms of a series-long character, much like the original Five-0,” he says.

QUESTION: Justified is so good this season. What’s coming up? — J. Baker

ADAM: Even though Boyd roughed up fellow miner Kyle at the end of last week’s episode, the two will soon make peace — at least long enough to plan a robbery. As with most things Boyd gets involved in, the results are both explosive and deadly.

Question: Is Terri returning to Glee his season? I have a sinking feeling she won’t be back next year. —Rion

Ausiello: I can’t speak about next season, but I can tell you that Jessalyn Gilsig reported back to the set this week for an episode to air in late March/early April. And rumor has it Terri’s up to her old tricks again.

Question: Any clues about the big Glee death at Regionals? —Cindy

Ausiello: I never said the death was big — I said the fallout was. And the only other clue you’re getting is the gender of the victim: male.

GREAT ONLINE TV-RELATED LIST

100 Most Memorable Female TV Characters

That’s it. Enjoy!