Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

The legend himself – Stan Lee – will be making a guest appearance on Chuck in the 7th episode of the final season. Chuck will get to meet Lee “in the most unexpected places,” but no other specifics are being provided. Chuck will be back on October 21 at 8 PM on NBC. (Kate Stanhope at TV Guide and HitFix.com)

Actor John Benjamin Hickey (The Big C) will guest star on the new CBS medical-supernatural-laced drama A Gifted Man as Ben, an upscale limo driver for an elite car service, who has a condition that causes him to break into uncontrollable fits of rage that dissipate almost as quickly as they arrived. And, what’s more he also is hiding a terrible secret; and it’s when he brings his son into the late(-ish) Anna’s Clinica Sonando that he decides he needs to be treated himself. (Matt Mitovich at TV Line)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Carlton Cuse (one of the men behind Lost) will team with author/pastor Rob Bell for Stronger, a drama project with spiritual overtones that has been sold to ABC. The potential project revolves around Tom Stronger, a musician and teacher, and his spiritual journey as he becomes a benefactor and guide to others. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

ABC has picked up the drama project called Turner Loose from Barry Schindel (executive producer of Numb3rs). The project is about Bobby Turner, a disgraced Wall Street banker turned jailhouse lawyer. Turner can get plenty of other inmates out of prison, but can’t win his own freedom — until he gets a chance to work with the female prosecutor who put him away. (Tim Molloy at The Wrap)

Reaper creators Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters have sold projects to CBS and the CW. The CBS project is called Notorious, a character-based procedural that follows an attention-loving LAPD detective who has become famous after solving a murder that made national headlines. The CW project is an as-yet untitled Alien Bounty Hunter project about a young woman who, on the first day of her new job, discovers that the cosmetics company for which she is working is actually a cover business for a secret governmental project that monitors alien activity on Earth. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Writers Cyrus Voris and Ethan Reiff (who co-wrote Kung Fu Panda) have sold a project to NBC set in Shanghai. The project is about a pair of fugitive recovery agents working in China’s (and the world’s) largest city. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actress Ellen Page has joined the cast of the upcoming thriller called The East that focuses on a group of eco terrorists. Page will play a member who was formerly romantically involved with the group’s head (Alexander Skarsgard). Brit Marling also stars as a law enforcement agent who goes undercover to infiltrate the group. (Variety and Dark Horizons)

Actor Sebastian Stan (Captain America), actress Katie McGrath (Merlin) and acting legend John Hurt have signed on to star in the three-part adventure thriller mini-series called Labyrinth that is an adaptation of the novel by Kate Mosse. The story jumps between modern and Medieval France and centers on a search for the Holy Grail. This mini-series is expected to air in mid-2012. (The Hollywood Reporter and Dark Horizons)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Have a terrific weekend!

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Hey All,

Here is the news for today:

TELEVISION

Actor Dillon Casey, who has been recurring on the current second season of The CW drama Nikita, playing new Division operative Sean Pierce, has now been promoted to a series regular status. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actor Michael Weston (House and Six Feet Under) will guest star in an upcoming episode of CSI:NY as Frank, a former FBI crime lab agent who worked with Jo (Sela Ward) in Washington, but the duo’s reunion likely won’t be a happy one. They worked together on a case involving the rape of a U.S. senator’s daughter, which was Jo’s last case before leaving the FBI for New York. Because of Frank’s mistake in processing evidence, and Jo’s refusal to hide the mistake, serial rapist John Curtis (Jason Wiles) was released. When he strikes again in New York, Frank comes to visit Jo. (Adam Bryant at TV Guide)

Actors Dean Cain and Eric Roberts and actress Kristanna Loken will make guest appearances on Burn Notice, which returns starting on November 3 with the final six episodes of Season 5. Cain will play Ryan, a cocky and dangerous CIA officer with years of experience in both field work and intelligence gathering who can sometimes be his own worst enemy. Roberts will play Reed, who makes his living supplying foreign, unfriendly governments with sensitive information about the US. And, Loken will potentially recur as Rebecca, a hotshot young CIA agent with counterterrorism experience who gets assigned to Michael’s team. All three will turn up in the season finale set for December. (Michael Ausiello at TV Line)

Actress Sofia Vassilieva, who spent seven seasons on Medium, will have a pivotal guest-starring role as a rape victim on Law & Order: SVU. She will play Sarah Reese, a self-reliant, bohemian girl and shining star of her middle-class suburban family who comes to New York City on a piano scholarship, but loses her inner light after she’s attacked in her own apartment, according to an SVU insider. Her role will coincide with the debut of Andre Braugher, who has signed on as a defense attorney hired by Sarah’s attacker. (Michael Slezak at TV Line)

Actress Melinda McGraw (Mad Men) will guest star on NCIS as Diane, one of the three women for which Gibbs (Mark Harmon) married after his first wife was killed. Diane is the woman who married Gibb’s friend and colleague, FBI Agent Tobias Fornell (Joe Spano). (Adam Bryant at TV Guide)

FOX has given the new comedy New Girl the “back 9,” which means the sitcom is the first new show of the fall to get a full season order. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Tony winner Sutton Foster (Anything Goes) will star in the lead role on the new ABC Family series called Bunheads (from Amy Sherman-Palladino, the woman behind Gilmore Girls). The series follows Michelle (Foster), a Las Vegas showgirl who impulsively marries a man and moves to his sleepy coastal town, and takes an uneasy role at her new mother-in-law’s dance school. (The Futon Critic)

CSI creator Anthony Zuiker has set up a drama project at ABC with writer Andrea Berloff (World Trade Center). The project centers on a female undercover FBI agent who is a master of disguise. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Chris Carter, the creator of The X-Files is set to write, direct and executive produce a mystery drama with a female lead for MRC that will be pitched to various networks in the next few weeks. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

The men behind the Hawaii Five-0 reboot and the successful Star Trek remake have landed a new project with CBS. The as-yet untitled project is based on Robyn O’Brien, an author, researcher and mother of four who has become an unlikely advocate for cleaning up the food supply. It centers on a congresswoman, wife and mother who fights for the underdog. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

MADE FOR TV MOVIE NEWS

Actor Matt Barr (Hellcats) has joined the cast of the History Channel’s miniseries The Hatfields and McCoys, which is about America’s most infamous family feud. The mini centers on “Devil” Anse Hatfield (Kevin Costner) and Randall McCoy (Bill Paxton). Barr will play Hatfield’s oldest son. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actor Tom Everett Scott (Southland) is set to play the husband of Marisa Tomei in the upcoming box office comedy called Us & Them that stars Billy Crystal and Bette Midler as grandparents who are left alone to care for their grandkids, but their old-school methods soon clash with the more modern parenting style of their daughter and son-in-law (Tomei and Scott). (The Hollywood Reporter and Dark Horizons)

Actor Jai Courtney (Spartacus: Blood and Sand) has landed a lead in the upcoming film One Shot based on the Lee Child-penned Jack Reacher novel series. In One Shot, Reacher (Tom Cruise) investigates what seems like an open and shut case of a sniper who guns down five random victims. The film is also set to star Rosamund Pike. Meanwhile, legendary actor Robert Duvall will have a small, but pivotal role in the film as well. (Variety and Dark Horizons)

BOX OFFICE TRAILER

Must Watch: Official Trailer for ‘Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close’

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Happy Over the Hump Day! Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

Legendary actor James Caan will make a guest appearance alongside his son Scott on Hawaii Five-0. This will be the first time father and son have worked together. (Midweek)

Actress Sonya Walger (Lost and FlashForward) has landed a series regular role in the new upcoming USA Network series Common Law, which is a buddy cop drama that stars Warren Kole and Michael Ealy as homicide detectives whose constant quarreling gets them sent to couples therapy. She will play their shrink, Dr. Emma Ryan, a smart, attractive psychiatrist with a keen sense of humor. Common Law is expected to debut sometime in 2012. (James Hibberd at Entertainment Weekly)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

The CW has bought the dramedy pilot Legal Aid from writer Jonathan Abrams, which centers on a young first-year law associate whose world is turned upside-down when her estranged father, an iconic 1990s TV star, joins her firm. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actress Sally Pressman (Roxie on Army Wives) has signed a talent holding deal with NBC, which means the network will either develop a project for her for next fall or have her join an already running series. What does this mean for Army Wives? All of the actresses’ contracts run out at the end of the upcoming sixth season and Lifetime has not announced another season beyond that. It would seem that Pressman, much like her counterpart Catherine Bell, is preparing to move on. Bell will next be seen in the TNT movie Good Morning, Killer which is being eyed as potential backdoor pilot, and next month she will appear in the 4th The Good Witch movie on Hallmark. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

NBC has picked up an as-yet untitled western project from former Will & Grace star Sean Hayes (one of the men behind the upcoming NBC fairytale series Grimm) that would be set in the 1880s, centering on Jacob Morris, a young, eccentric East Coast doctor of mental disorders who moves to a primitive Western town at the foot of the Colorado Rockies. There he immediately stands out as he doesn’t fight with a gun but rather uses new theories that are being practiced in the East. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actress Brittany Snow (formerly of American Dreams and Harry’s Law) has joined the cast of the upcoming box office comedy Pitch Perfect that is set to star Anna Kendrick (the Twilight franchise) as the new singer of the Divisi, an a cappella group determined to beat their male counterpart The Treblemakers. Snow will play Chloe, one of the singers with a hardened personality. (Risky Biz Blog and Dark Horizons)

Actor Sam Trammell (True Blood) and Zach Gilford (Friday Night Lights) have joined the cast of the indie film called Long Time Gone that follows a broken family who must cope when Gordie Iris, (Anthony LaPaglia) leaves his wife, Augusta (Virginia Madsen), for another woman. Their disparate sons, Matthew (Gilford) and Henry (newcomer Graham Rogers), have no idea what to do when their mother refuses to come out of her bedroom for days on end which turns into weeks. When carefree Bette (Amanda Crew) enters their lives, her outlook on the world revolutionizes the way each has been viewing this situation. Trammell will play Jeff, an easy-going landscaper, who hires Henry as a day laborer and befriends his distraught mother. (True Blood Online and Dark Horizons)

Actress Susan Sarandon has joined actor Dwayne Johnson in the new action-thriller called Snitch that tells the true story of a suburban father (Johnson) who goes undercover to take down a high-level drug dealer in exchange for a reduction on his son’s 30-year prison sentence. Sarandon will play an attorney working with Johnson’s character who’s looking for a big drug bust to further her career. (The Hollywood Reporter and Dark Horizons)

Actor John Goodman (most recently seen on Damages) has joined the cast of the upcoming box office film called Flight that will star Denzel Washington. The film follows a commercial airline pilot named Whip Whitaker (Washington) who is hailed as a hero after landing a malfunctioning plane that was close to crashing. However, an investigation into the cause of the crash actually reveals he was flying under the influence of drugs and alcohol. Goodman will play a friend of Whip’s who tries to help him come to terms with his problems. Other cast members include Kelly Reilly, Don Cheadle, Bruce Greenwood and Brian Geraghty. (Deadline and First Showing)

BOX OFFICE TRAILER

Watch: Midnight is Coming in Theatrical Trailer for ‘New Year’s Eve’

That’s it. Enjoy!

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