Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Today’s news is from both today and yesterday, as I mentioned I attended the White Collar panel at this year’s Paley Fest last night and was camped out in line for part of the day yesterday to ensure my friends and I got good seats in the section for which we purchased tickets. It was a great panel that included a sneak peek at tonight’s season finale (which rocked by the way).

Anyway, here is all the news for the past two days:

TELEVISION

Singer-actor Marc Anthony has joined the cast of the TNT medical drama HawthoRNe, reprising his newly expanded role of police Det. Nick Renata. (The LA Times)

Actor Victor Webster (Charmed and Melrose Place) [and who is currently playing Beckett’s boyfriend on Castle] will make a guest appearance on NCIS: Los Angeles as Stanley King, a world-class thief suspected of several high-end heists. He lands on NCIS’ radar after a secure facility housing sensitive materials on a Marine base is compromised. In order to get close enough to keep an eye on King, Kensi (Daniela Ruah) must work alongside him as a savvy thief. His episode is expected to air on March 29. (Adam Bryant at TV Guide)

A newly revamped Law & Order: Los Angeles will be re-launched in April by NBC. It will return with a two-hour episode on April 11 at 9 PM before moving to its regular timeslot on Mondays at 10 PM the following week. Part-time cast members Alfred Molina and Terrence Howard are now full-time regulars, with Molina’s character moving from the district attorney’s office to the police force (to work as a detective alongside Corey Stoll’s character) and Howard’s character will become the show’s sole senior district attorney. Alana De La Garza will reprise her Law & Order role of A.D.A. Connie Rubirosa to team with Howard’s character in the courtroom. (Kate Stanhope at TV Guide)

Congrats to all the winners of this weekend’s NAACP Awards, including Denzel Washington, Halle Barry, Regina King, LL Cool J, S. Epatha Merkerson, Usher, Idris Elba, John Legend and Keke Palmer (among many others).

MUSIC NEWS (WITH A TV-TIE IN)

Blaine and the Dalton Academy Warblers – characters in the popular FOX musicomedy Glee are releasing their own album in April. Be on the look-out for its release if you are a fan. (Denise Martin at TV Guide)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

The NBC series Love Bites that has been on hold for months is looking like it is officially DOA. Reason being: Lead actress Becki Newton (Ugly Betty) has signed on to star in a CBS comedy pilot that revolves around a blue-collar man who lives under the same roof with his wife, their grown daughter (Newton) and her 12-year-old son, and his recently widowed mother. (Michael Ausiello at TV Line)

Actor Jim Caviezel (The Prisoner and Passion of the Christ) has been cast in the CBS drama pilot Person of Interest (that comes from J. J. Abrams). He joins Michael Emerson (Lost) and Oscar-nominated actress Taraji P. Henson in this drama that centers on a paramilitary CIA officer (Caviezel) who is presumed killed in the line of duty, but resurfaces in New York City where he teams up with an eccentric billionaire (Emerson) to clean up the city’s violent underworld. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Actresses Darby Stanchfield and Liza Weil have joined the ABC drama pilot called Damage Control that is about Olivia Price (Kerry Washington), a professional fixer with a dysfunctional staff. Stanchfield is set as Abby, the tireless investigator for Olivia’s firm while Weil will play Julia Tannen, the woman at the center of the pilot’s crisis – an aide that’s going around saying she’s sleeping with the President. Columbus Short and Henry Ian Cusick are among the co-stars. (The Futon Critic)

Actor Chris Egan (Kings) and actress Tabrett Bethell (Legend of the Seeker) have joined the cast of the ABC drama pilot called Poe that is a period drama which envisions famed author Edgar Allan Poe as the world’s very first detective in 1840s Boston. Egan will play the title role while Bethell is set as Sarah Elmira Royster, Poe’s sweetheart in adolescent and muse in adulthood. (The Futon Critic)

Actor Bruce Greenwood has joined the cast of the ABC drama pilot called The River, which is about a family who travels to the deep Amazon to locate and rescue their missing father, a famous TV explorer. He will play the missing man, Emmet Cole who is billed as part Don Herbert, part Carl Sagan, and part Doctor Henry Walton Jones. Eloise Mumford and Joe Anderson co-star. (The Futon Critic)

Anjelica Huston has joined the growing cast of the NBC drama pilot called Smash that is to be a show-within-a-show about a group of people who come together to put on a Marilyn Monroe-themed Broadway musical. She will play Eileen, a shrewd Tony-winning producer. Among the cast members are Debra Messing, Jack Davenport, Katharine McPhee and Megan Hilty. (The Futon Critic)

Actor Brandon T. Jackson (Tropic Thunder) will play the lead role opposite Minnie Driver in the CBS pilot called Hail Mary, that centers on Mary Beth Baker (Driver), a suburban single mom in Atlanta who, after her teen son gets killed, teams up with her son’s best friend KZ (Jackson), a fast-talking con artist from the streets, to solve her son’s murder and other crimes. (Deadline)

Actor Robert Carlyle (Stargate Universe) is set to portray Rumplestiltskin in the ABC drama pilot Once Upon a Time, about a woman drawn into a town where the magic and mystery of fairy tales may be real and hold the key to unlocking the mysteries of her troubled past. An expert on black magic, Rumplestiltskin agrees to help Snow White and Prince Charming counteract the Evil Queen’s dark spells, but for a price. (Deadline)

Actress Emma Bell (The Walking Dead) has been added to the NBC drama pilot now called Reconstruction (formerly called The Crossing) that is set in a Missouri town during the post-Civil War Reconstruction era and centers on Jason (Martin Henderson from Off the Map), a soldier who crosses the country and settles into a complicated town where he is welcomed as its savior. Bell will play a strong-willed woman who denounces Jason as a coward. (Deadline)

Actress Emily VanCamp (Everwood and Brothers & Sisters) has landed the lead in the ABC drama pilot called Revenge that is a contemporary re-imagining of The Count of Monte Cristo. It centers on Emily Thorn (Van Camp), a mysterious woman who comes to the Hamptons to exact revenge on the people who destroyed her family. (Deadline)

Actress Meredith Hagner (Lights Out) has been cast as the second lead opposite actress Lucy Griffiths in the CW zombie pilot called Awakening that is about two sisters, Jenna (Lucy Griffiths) and Jayce (Hagner), who are coming of age and facing off against one another amidst the beginning of a zombie uprising. Also, actor Brian Hallisay (Privileged) will play Jenna’s Calvin Klein-handsome boyfriend. (Deadline)

Actor Riley Smith (24) is set to co-star in the CW pilot Cooper & Stone that is about Jenna Cooper (Alex Breckenridge) and Stone (yet to be cast), two smart young female detectives on Chicago’s North Side who are best friends, equally adept at discussing fashion, music and pop culture as they are solving homicides. Smith will play a hot-shot vice detective with the Chicago PD who is transferred to the Northside from the Southside after his cover is blown in a high-risk operation. He enjoys needling Stone, whom he competed against at the academy, and it seems they have a history of sexual tension as well as professional tension. (Deadline)

Actor Chris Carmack (The O.C.) has joined the cast of the ABC drama pilot called Grace, which centers on famous choreographer and womanizer Michael Grace (Eric Roberts). He will play a musician. (Deadline)

Actress Nancy Travis has joined the CW drama pilot Hart of Dixie in a guest-star/recurring role. The comedic drama centers on a young New York City doctor, Zoe Hart (Rachel Bilson), who inherits a medical practice in a small Southern town inhabited by an eclectic group of characters. Travis will play a no-nonsense nurse who becomes a surrogate mother to Zoe. (Deadline)

Actress Madchen Amick (Twin Peaks and Damages) has landed the female lead in the NBC drama pilot S.I.L.A., which is a complex drama in the vein of Traffic set in the world of crime, law enforcement and politics in modern-day Los Angeles. She will play Mary, who came from a blue-collar background to become a successful Century City lawyer. (Deadline)

Kelli Garner (My Generation) is set to co-star opposite Christina Ricci in the ABC drama pilot called Pan Am that is a sexy soap set against the Jet Age about a group of pilots and flight attendants working at Pan Am Airlines in the 1960s. She will play Kate, a well-educated, sharply intelligent and tri-lingual stewardess who is also a bit of a rebel. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

It looks like it’s been confirmed that Kristen Stewart (The Twilight franchise) will appear as Snow White in the upcoming box office film Snow White and the Hunstman, joining Viggo Mortensen as the huntsman and Charlize Theron as the evil queen. (MTV, Twitter and First Showing)

Alec Baldwin (30 Rock) has joined the cast of the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Rock of Ages, playing the part of Dennis Dupree, an ex-rocker hanging onto his glory days while he runs the Rock of Ages nightclub. Julianne Hough, Mary J. Blige and Tom Cruise are among the cast. (Dark Horizons)

Actress Brie Larson (United States of Tara and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World) has landed the coveted lead role of Molly in the remake of 21 Jump Street. She will star opposite Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum and Ice Cube. (Deadline)

Here is the list of the top 10 movies at the box office for this past weekend courtesy of Exhibitors Relations and E! Entertainment Online:

1. Rango, $38 million
2. The Adjustment Bureau, $20.9 million
3. Beastly, $10.1 million
4. Hall Pass, $9 million
5. Gnomeo & Juliet, $6.9 million
6. Unknown, $6.6 million
7. The King’s Speech, $6.501 million
8. Just Go With It, $6.5 million
9. I Am Number Four, $5.7 million
10. Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, $4.3 million

BOX OFFICE TRAILER

Watch: New Action-Packed Official Trailer for Universal’s ‘Fast Five’

Q&A SECTION (with E! Entertainment Online and TV Guide)

QUESTION: Supernatural!!!

ANSWER: All we dare tell you is that the final episodes of the season are dark, dark, dark. No more funny meta episodes for the duration.

QUESTION: Chuck intel, por favor!

ANSWER: Zachary Levi was gracious enough to give us the goods on how much trouble Lauren Cohan will be causing. “We’re going to get some super secret weapon component,” he tells us. “Then [Vivian] shows up unexpectedly and all hell breaks loose and Bob’s your uncle.” Sidenote, when was the last time you heard someone use the phrase “Bob’s your uncle?” Keep being you, Zach.

Question: Chuck scoop pretty, pretty please with chocolate sauce on top (just not the way Morgan and Alex used it…ewww). — Ann

Answer: Since you brought up couples, what about some news on one of our favorite TV couples: Chuck (Zachary Levi) and Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski)? When Gary Cole reprises his role as Sarah’s papa, expect not only to learn more about Sarah’s backstory, but also to witness the pair seeing new sides of each other. “I think when you decide to take the leap, and you’re engaged to be married, you’re going to learn more about the person you’ve decided to spend the rest of your life with, but you often learn what they’re like in the most grueling of life situations,” co-creator Chris Fedak says. “And that isn’t disarming a bomb of prepping for a mission — it’s preparing yourself for a wedding.”

Question: Any idea what’s going to happen on the Nikita finale? Maybe a little Mikita action? I know you love them. — Lizzy

Answer: Guilty as charged. As for the finale, Maggie Q teases the following: “Let’s just put it this way, by the end of season 1 it’s going to be a different show. When I think about where we started, and I think about how we’re going to end this season, it makes me laugh. It’s a different show. We’re going to go, fingers crossed, season 2, and people’s heads are going to roll.” Um, like, literally? “Well, I guess it depends on how much you love people — how devastating it’s going to be.” Gulp.

That’s it. Enjoy!