Rueben's Ramblings

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!