Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for this “Over the Hump” day:

TELEVISION

The USA Network has picked up another pilot. The new series Common Law has been given an 11 episode order. The series stars Michael Ealy (FlashForward) and Warren Kole (Mental), who play wildly different cops who are the elite team in the LAPD homicide squad until their constant bickering gets them put on probation. To fix their problems, their captain (Jack McGee) sends them to couples therapy. (Deadline)

Actor Adrian Pasdar (Heroes) has joined the cast of the new ABC Family Channel drama The Lying Game, which is based on the books by Sara Shepard (who also authored Pretty Little Liars). The series is about separated-at-birth twins Emma Becker and Sutton Mercer (both played by Alexandra Chando). The sisters switch places so that Emma can experience the trappings of wealth while Sutton pursues the identity of their birth mother. But it gets much darker when Sutton doesn’t show on the night the girls are supposed to reunite. Pasdar will play the father of Sutton’s best friend Madeleine (Alice Greczyn) and her brother Thayer. The Lying Game premieres on August 15 at 9 PM. (TV Guide)

Actresses Stephanie March and Diane Neal will be returning to Law & Order: Special Victims Unit next season as Assistant District-Attorneys. It is unknown for how many episodes they will be returning, though, nor if they will be splitting the ADA duties. (TV Line)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Author Stephenie Meyer (the woman behind the Twilight books) and female director-writer Jerusha Hess (co-writer of Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre) will be working together on the film adaptation of the chick-lit novel Austenland. The novel focuses on a young woman obsessed with Colin Firth’s character, Mr. Darcy, in the BBC production of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. The cast of this film includes Keri Russell (Felicity), JJ Field (Captain America), Bret McKenzie (The Flight of the Conchords), Jennifer Coolidge (Legally Blonde), Jane Seymour (Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman) and James Callis (Battlestar Galactica). (The Hollywood Reporter and SlashFilms)

Some big names will be appearing in the upcoming box office comedy film called Gods Behaving Badly. Based on the novel by Marie Phillips, the story deals with a mortal couple (Alicia Silverstone and Ebon Moss-Bachrach) who encounter the Olympian Gods who are currently residing in a brownstone in modern-day New York. Among the big names are: Christopher Walken as Zeus, John Turturro as Hades, Sharon Stone as Aphrodite, Oliver Platt as Apollo, Edie Falco as Artemis, Phylicia Rashad as Demeter, Nelsan Ellis as Dionysus and Rosie Perez is Persephone. (The Hollywood Reporter and Dark Horizons)

Actor Rodrigo Santoro (Lost and Love Actually) is set play Jennifer Lopez’s husband in the upcoming film What To Expect When You’re Expecting, which is an adaptation of the best-selling pregnancy guidebook. Cameron Diaz, Anna Kendrick and Brooklyn Decker also star in the film, which tracks several couples who suffer the joys and pains of the childbirth process. Santoro will play a music business executive who isn’t quite ready to have a child but goes along with his wife’s plan to adopt. (The Hollywood Reporter and Dark Horizons)

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

Question: Will NCIS resolve Tony’s investigation in the season opener? — Jennie C., via Twitter

ADAM: I’m hearing Tony’s mole hunt will be mostly wrapped up in the premiere. And if you’re worried that the investigation is going to tear our beloved team apart, let executive producer Gary Glasberg assure you otherwise. “Our group will be working together as a team more often [this season] and not be quite as splintered as they sometimes are,” he says. “There are certain things that [the new Secretary of the Navy] may want them to do, and they’re going to have to unite in certain ways to take on those challenges.”

Question: So excited to hear about the new villain on Bones. What else have you heard about the new season? — Linda

ADAM: Executive producer Stephen Nathan confirms that the Nov. 3 premiere deals with an amnesia victim, which forces Booth and Brennan to reflect on their own pasts. That means that Ryan O’Neal will be returning as Brennan’s father, but will we meet any of Booth’s family in the process? “We’ll be dealing with an important aspect of Booth’s family as well,” Nathan says. “Both of them had quite unique and difficult upbringings. It’s about finding out how memories affect [them] going forward.”

Question: Please tell me you have Mikita spoilers for the new season of Nikita! — Leslie

NATALIE: Nikita and Michael will use the information contained in the black box to begin undoing the decades-long wrath of Percy. First up: They’ll help a captain who was framed by the now-former Division leader escape from military prison. Unfortunately for the star-crossed — and ass-kicking — couple, Alex will be hot on their trail.

Question: Any word on who will play the new captain on Castle? — Ellen

ADAM: I’m hearing the show auditioned several big-name actresses, but no one’s signed on the dotted line yet. We shouldn’t have to wait much longer, though: I’m told they’ll introduce the new bosslady at Comic-Con in late July.

Question: Jane and Maura are my favorite duo on television right now. Do you have any spoilers on what we’ll see for them this season on Rizzoli & Isles? — Justin

NATALIE: Sadly, their BFF status may be in jeopardy when Maura hides a troubling secret. “Jane comes to the realization that she’s maybe misjudged her relationship with Maura,” Angie Harmon tells us. “She’s always thought she could be herself and be personal around Maura, and the way Maura is acting is proving that to be untrue.”

Question: Got anything juicy on Royal Pains? — Grace

ADAM: Who doesn’t a love a little doctor-on-doctor rivalry? The show is looking for a name actress to recur as Hank’s med school nemesis. Described as beautiful and spunky, she’s now working at Brooklyn Mercy, the hospital that blacklisted Hank in the pilot episode. We hear he’ll have to swallow his pride when he seeks her advice about a clinically depressed patient.

Question: Will Peter come back in Season 4 of Fringe? Will Olivia find out the existence of Fauxlivia’s son? And, if so, how will she react? —Silvia

Ausiello: I don’t have any concrete answers to those questions, but my gut is telling me probably, eventually and not well. Meanwhile, sources confirm that producers are casting a new recurring female character. Interested actresses should be Asian and between the age of 25 and 50.

Question: Are we gonna get a Bones Christmas episode this season? They had one in Season 5, but not in Season 6. So I think it’s time dust off the mistletoe! —Hanna

Ausiello: At this point, “nothing’s planned,” responds exec producer Stephen Nathan. “But since we will be airing in the middle of December, we might toss in a snowman or something. Could be a nice murder, thawing out Frosty and finding the clues in a puddle of water.” You mess with Frosty, you mess with my childhood. Tread lightly, Nathan. Tread lightly.

Question: Will we see Michael’s brother Nate on Burn Notice this season? —Jason

Ausiello: Michael’s dumbass sib actually resurfaces in this Thursday’s episode with a new title: daddy! “He has a kid now” with new bride Ruth, previews series creator Matt Nix. “It’s just another thing Michael is dealing with. We really like having Seth [Petersen] around and part of this whole season is just dealing with who Michael is vis-à-vis his family and the people that he cares about. Nate is part of that.”

Question: Anything on the current season of The Glades? I’ll take anything. —Emily

Ausiello: Vampire Diaries‘ Kayla Ewell is squeezing in a Glades guest spot before she resumes work on the CW hit. The actress will play a Miami bartender who may have ties to a man found murdered at the beach. And by “ties to” I mean “murdered in cold blood.”

Question: I can’t be the only one who is tired of the Neal/Peter tension on White Collar, right? Are they going to resolve this frakkin’ issue soon, or are they going to drag is out all season? I want to see the Neal/Peter friendship and camaraderie back. —Scott

Ausiello: Considering that the episode they’re currently shooting revolves around the treasure mystery, I’m betting the tension will persist at least through the midseason finale “This [episode] has a lot to do with the treasure,” confirms Tim DeKay. “Some questions will be answered, and some may not.”

Question: So Castle and Josh finally get into it on Castle! Amazing! But is it physical blows or just a shouting match? Please tell me it’s physical! —Kelis

Ausiello: It’s physical!

Question: Any scoop on Kristen Bell’s new Showtime series House of Lies? —Karen

Ausiello: The show is casting a love interest for her character, and producers are looking for a twentysomething actor with a dirty sexy rocker vibe who’s comfortable with simulated intercourse, tasteful nudity and endless comparisons to Russell Brand in Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

That’s it. Enjoy!