Hey All,
Today’s news isn’t very long, but there are some interesting things to share with everyone. Let’s get into it then:
TELEVISION
Actor Mark Moses (Desperate Housewives) will guest star in Covert Affairs as a NASA employee who never quite made it to space and becomes suspected of leaking confidential information. The show returns to the USA Network starting June 7. (Entertainment Weekly and TV Guide)
Actress Camilla Luddington (the Lifetime movie William and Kate) has landed a major recurring role in Californication. She will appear in an 8-episode arc, playing a nanny who gets fired from her job and comes to work for Charlie and Marcy. (Deadline)
CBS has decided not to renew its deal with the Hallmark Hall of Fame after 16 years of airing their movies. It seems low ratings are to blame. There are no details on whether this once prestigious series of yearly movies will be shopped around to another network or not. (Deadline)
Actor Colin Hanks (Roswell, The Good Guys and Mad Men) is joining the cast of Dexter for a major arc in the new season. The specifics of his role are being kept under tight wraps, though. (Michael Ausiello at TV Line)
Actors Adrian Pasdar (Heroes) Bryan Batt (Mad Men) will guest star in an upcoming episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Pasdar will play a wine collector named Mason Kent while Batt will portray a premiere wine sommelier. The episode is expected to air on May 22. (TV Guide)
DEVELOPMENT NEWS
Actor Charles S. Dutton (Roc) is the first actor to be cast in the FX drama pilot Powers, which is based on the graphic novel by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming. The project is a police procedural set in a world where superpowers are relatively common and centers on two detectives, Christian Walker and Deena Pilgrim, in a Homicide department that deals with cases involving “powers” (people with superpowers). Dutton will play Captain Cross, the head of the department. Powers is one of two drama pilots FX is eying for an early January launch. (Deadline)
BOX OFFICE NEWS
Here are the top 10 box office movies for this past weekend according to Exhibitor Relations and Entertainment Weekly:
1. Thor, $66 million
2. Fast Five, $32.5 million
3. Jumping the Broom, $13.7 million
4. Something Borrowed, $13.2 million
5. Rio, $8.2 million
6. Water for Elephants, $5.6 million
7. Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family, $3.9 million
8. Prom, $2.4 million
9. Soul Surfer, $2.1 million
10. Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil, $1.9 million
Actor Stanley Tucci will appear in the film adaptation of The Hunger Games, playing the role of Caesar Flickerman, the iconic host of the Hunger Games. Meanwhile, newcomers Annie Thurman and Imanol Yepez-Frias will play the tributes for District 9. (Philiana Ng at The Hollywood Reporter and Dark Horizons)
Looks like Johnny Depp will be working with Rob Marshall again for a remake of the classic movie The Thin Man – the 1934 film that starred William Powell and Myrna Loy. (Jeff Labrecque at Entertainment Weekly)
Actor Michael Fassbender is in talks to appear in the thriller called Trance that follows an assistant at an auction house who masterminds an art heist with a gang of crooks. Afterwards, he suffers a blow to the head and wakes up with amnesia. The problem is he’s the only one who knows where the painting’s location is. The gang begins to get suspicious and hire a female hypnotist to get into his brain. Fassbender would play the shady leader of the gang. (The Hollywood Reporter and Dark Horizons)
Actor Garret Dillahunt (Raising Hope and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) will have a cameo appearance in the box office film called Cogan’s Trade. The film stars Brad Pitt, Ray Liotta, James Gandolfini, Richard Jenkins and Ben Mendelsohn. (The Playlist and Dark Horizons)
Q&A SECTION (with Matt Roush at TV Guide)
Question: I am one of your fans, both online and in TV Guide Magazine. I’ve been wondering how I could find out when some of my favorite “summer” shows would be coming back, and then realized I could “Ask Matt.” So … do you know when Rizzoli & Isles, Burn Notice, The Glades, Fairly Legal and White Collar will return? Also, I was distressed to read in your Q&A column that Lie to Me and Human Target might not be renewed. Is that true? I’m so sad, since I think Human Target is a perfect role for Mark Valley. I loved him on Boston Legal and Fringe, but this role seems tailor-made for him. — Kathy
Matt Roush: Well, since you asked so nicely, how can I say no? Keep an eye out for TV Guide Magazine’s summer preview issue in a few weeks, where we’ll lay out the torrent of summer programming that will keep us busy until fall. Rizzoli & Isles will return July 11, paired once again with TNT’s breakout hit The Closer. USA’s Burn Notice is back June 23, and White Collar is back June 7, paired with the second season of Covert Affairs. The Glades returns June 5 on A&E. But Fairly Legal, which ended its first season recently and just got renewed for a second season, isn’t part of the summer fun. Look for it sometime in 2012. And regarding Lie to Me and Human Target: We’ll just have to wait until the network upfronts next week to see what Fox has planned for next season. I’m hoping at least one of these shows is back, even if it’s as a midseason backup.
That’s it. Enjoy!
Rueben's Ramblings 