Rueben's Ramblings

ABC made their upfront presentation to the New York advertisers yesterday, announcing their plans for programming for the fall, featuring the new shows Charlie’s Angels, Once Upon a Time, Pan Am and Revenge (for which I reported on in February and in early April).

In addition, they will air the new shows The River, Scandal, Good Christian Belles and Missing during mid-season, which will, most likely, be in early 2012.

Here are details on the new fall shows:

The remake of the 1970’s classic Charlie’s Angels will be set in modern-day Miami, starring Minka Kelly (Friday Night Lights), Rachael Taylor (Transformers and Grey’s Anatomy) and Annie Ilonzeh (General Hospital) as the Angels. Ramon Rodriguez (Transformers II) will star as Bosley. The voice of Charlie was to be provided by legendary actor Robert Wagner (Hart to Hart), but his voice is not featured in the trailer.

Here is the trailer for Charlie’s Angels.

The fairy tale inspired drama called Once Upon a Time is about what happens when a young boy who purports to be a woman’s (Jennifer Morrison from House) son shows up on her doorstep, drawing her into a town where the magic and mystery of fairy tales may be real and could hold the key to unlocking the mysteries of her troubled past. The cast includes Ginnifer Goodwin (Big Love), Lana Parrilla (Miami Medical), Robert Carlyle (Stargate Universe), Josh Dallas (Thor) and Raphael Sbarge (Prison Break).

Here is the trailer for Once Upon a Time.

The 60’s-themed Pan Am follows the stewardesses and pilots of the titular airline and their glamorous world full of exciting adventures. Stars include Christina Ricci (Sleepy Hollow), Kelli Garner (My Generation), Jonah Lotan (Generation Kill), Michael Mosley (Scrubs) and Will Chase (Rescue Me).

Here is the trailer for Pan Am.

In the new drama Revenge, Emily Thorne (Emily Van Camp from Brothers & Sisters and Everwood) has a secret.  She’s new to the Hamptons. She’s rented a beautiful house on the water for the summer and she has been welcomed into the spectacular community by her neighbors. Little do they know, though, that every kind gesture is an invitation to their own downfall. Among the cast are Nick Wechsler (Roswell), Connor Paolo (Gossip Girl), Gabriel Mann (Mad Men), Ashley Madekwe (Secret Diary of a Call Girl), Madeline Stowe (The Last of the Mohicans) and Henry Czerny (The Tudors).

Here is the trailer for Revenge.

And here are the details on the shows expected to air in mid-season:

When a famed adventurer and TV personality (Bruce Greenwood) goes missing in the Amazon, his family (Joe Anderson and Leslie Hope) tries to find him in the drama The River. The rest of the cast includes Eloise Mumford (Lone Star), Thomas Kretschmann (Valkyrie) and Paul Blackthorne (The Gates and The Dresden Files).

Here is the trailer for The River.

The drama Scandal (formerly Damage Control) stars Kerry Washington (Ray) as a professional “fixer,” based on the career of Judy Smith, the legendary crisis management consultant, who over the course of the last 20 years has guided numerous corporations, politicians, celebrities and public figures through crises and scandals. The cast includes Henry Ian Cusick (Lost), Liza Weil (Gilmore Girls), Columbus Short (Stomp the Yard), Jeff Perry (Grey’s Anatomy), Darby Stanchfield (Jericho), Katie Lowes (Easy Money), Guillermo Diaz (Weeds) and Tony Goldwyn (Ghost).

Here is the trailer for Scandal.

The drama Good Christian Belles (formerly Good Christian Bitches) is about former high school mean girl Amanda (Leslie Bibb), who returns to Dallas after her marriage ends in scandal, hoping for a second chance with those she once bullied. Among the cast are Kristin Chenoweth (Pushing Daisies), Jennifer Aspen (Glee), David James Elliott (JAG), Annie Potts (Designing Women), Mark Deklin (Lone Star), Marisol Nichols (The Gates) and Miriam Shor (Damages).

Here is a clip from Good Christian Belles

Missing is about Becca Winstone (Ashley Judd) who learns that her son, Michael, disappeared while studying abroad. It is a race against time when she travels to Europe to track him down. A surprising turn of events reveals just how far one mother will go to protect her family. The cast includes Sean Bean (Game of Thrones) and Cliff Curtis (Trauma) [among others].

Here is the trailer for Missing.

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NBC made their upfront presentation to the New York advertisers yesterday, announcing their plans for programming for the fall, featuring the new shows The Playboy Club, Prime Suspect and Grimm (for which I reported on in both February and in early April).

In addition, they will air the new series Awake, Smash and The Firm during mid-season, which will, most likely, be in early 2012.

Here are details on the new shows for the fall:

Grimm is a dark, fantastical cop drama featuring characters inspired by Grimm’s Fairy Tales. The pilot stars David Giuntoli, Russell Hornsby (Lincoln Heights), Silas Weir Mitchell (Prison Break) and Sasha Roiz (Caprica).

Here is the trailer for Grimm.

The drama pilot – The Playboy Club – is, of course, set at the Playboy Club in Chicago in 1963 and explores the lives of working-class Playboy bunnies and the men who loved them. The cast includes Eddie Cibrian (Third Watch), Amber Heard (Zombieland), Jenna Dewan Tatum (Step Up), David Krumholtz (Numb3rs) and Naturi Naughton (Fame).

Here is the trailer for The Playboy Club.

Prime Suspect is an adaptation of the British miniseries that centers on a tough female detective (Maria Bello) who has to make her bones in a tough New York precinct dominated by men. The cast includes Aidan Quinn (Legend of the Fall), Kirk Acevedo (Fringe), Tim Griffin (Star Trek), Toby Stephens (Die Another Day) and Brian O’Bryne (FlashForward).

Here is the trailer for Prime Suspect.

And here are the details on the shows expected to air in mid-season:

Awake (formerly REM) is the new drama about a police detective (Jason Isaacs from Brotherhood and the Harry Potter franchise) who is involved in a traumatic car accident, waking in two fractured realities. Among the cast are Wilmer Valderrama (That 70’s Show), Cherry Jones (24), Steve Harris (The Practice and Friday Night Lights), B.D. Wong (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit), Laura Allen (Terriers), Michael McManus (The Vampire Diaries) and Dylan Minnette (Lost).

Here is the trailer for Awake.

Smash is a Glee-esque copy-cat about a group of people who come together to put on a Broadway show about Marilyn Monroe. The cast includes Debra Messing (Will & Grace), Anjelica Houston (Ever After), Jack Davenport (FlashForward), Katharine McPhee (former American Idol runner-up) and Broadway star Megan Hilty.

Here is the trailer for Smash.

The Firm is based on the blockbuster feature film and best-selling novel by world-renowned author John Grisham. The series continues the story of attorney Mitchell McDeere and his family 10 years after the events of the film and novel. As a young associate, McDeere brought down the prestigious Memphis law firm of Bendini, Lambert & Locke, which operated as a front for the Chicago mob — and his life was never the same. After a difficult decade, which included a stay in the Federal Witness Protection program, Mitch and his family now emerge from isolation to reclaim their lives and their future — only to find that past dangers are still lurking and new threats are everywhere.

NOTE: No cast has been announced yet; therefore, there is no video available.

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FOX made their upfront presentation to the New York advertisers yesterday, announcing their new fall and mid-season plans for programming. While the fall schedule doesn’t feature any new dramas, the mid-season schedule does feature two of the proposed pilots (for which I reported on in both February and in early April).

To keep you up-to-date on what to anticipate from FOX for the new 2011-2012 TV season, here are details on the two new FOX dramas that you will see, mostly likely in early 2012:

Alcatraz is a J.J. Abrams production about a cop (Sarah Jones from Big Love and Sons of Anarchy) and a team of FBI agents who attempt to track down a group of missing Alcatraz prisoners and guards who reappear in the present day after disappearing 30 years earlier. The cast includes Jorge Garcia (Lost), Sam Neill (Jurassic Park), Parminder Nagra (ER and Bend It Like Beckham), Santiago Cabrera (Heroes) and Robert Forster (Karen Sisco and Heroes).

Check out this trailer for Alcatraz.

The Finder is the spin-off from the popular FOX series Bones that is based on The Locator books by Richard Greener, which follows a former military policeman (Geoff Stults from October Road) who has the ability to find anything. The series (naturally) comes from Hart Hanson (the man behind Bones) and co-stars Saffron Burrows (Law & Order: Criminal Intent) and Michael Clarke Duncan (The Green Mile).

Check out this trailer for The Finder.

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ABC has now announced their fall schedule to the advertisers in New York City. Here is how the fall schedule (as of right now) looks. The new dramas Good Christian Belles, Scandal, Missing and The River are expected to appear on the schedule during mid-season:

Monday
8PM: Dancing With the Stars
10PM: Castle

Tuesday
8PM: Last Man Standing
8:30PM: Man Up
9PM: Dancing With the Stars (Results)
10PM: Body of Proof

Wednesday
8PM: The Middle
8:30PM: Suburgatory
9PM: Modern Family
9:30PM: Happy Endings
10PM: Revenge

Thursday
8PM: Charlie’s Angels
9PM: Grey’s Anatomy
10PM: Private Practice

Friday
8PM: Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
9PM: Shark Tank
10PM: 20/20

Sunday
8PM: Once Upon A Time
9PM: Desperate Housewives
10PM: Pan Am

The comedies expected to return and/or debut during mid-season include Cougar Town, Apartment 23 and Work It.

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