Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

First of all, congratulations to last night’s Golden Globe Award winners, including (but not limited to) Meryl Streep, Octavia Spencer, Michelle Williams, Homeland, Downton Abbey, Claire Danes, Idris Elba, Peter Dinklage and Morgan Freeman.

Now, let’s get into today’s news:

TELEVISION

Actor Joe Lando, best known for his role of Byron Sully on the long-running CBS drama Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, will appear as Cassie’s (Brit Robertson) father, John Blackwell, on The Secret Circle. Blackwell will return to Chance Harbor in Episode 15, claiming to be a changed man and determined to protect Cassie and her Circle. (Natalie Abrams at TV Guide)

Actress Cassidy Freeman (Smallville) will guest star in an upcoming episode of The Vampire Diaries, playing Sage, a character seen in 1920s flashbacks whose allure is felt by both the Salvatore brothers and the Original family. She will make her series debut in Episode 16, and this role has the potential to recur. (TV Line and TV Guide)

Actor Justin Hartley (Smallville) will be guest star in Hart of Dixie, playing Jesse, a charming Southerner and war hero who becomes a potential love interest Zoe (Rachel Bilson). He will show up on the show sometime this spring. (Michael Ausiello at TV Line)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

It looks like the proposed FX pilot called Powers, which is based on the comic series about a cop, to be played by Jason Patric, who works in the Powers division of the police force that deals with crimes involving those endowed with special abilities may not be happening after all because the network is “mulling over reshoots of the project”. It is likely that a decision will made in a couple months, though. (The Hollywood Reporter)

NBC is moving forward with more pilot orders for the following three new, potential dramas: The Frontier – from writer (and former actor/singer) Shaun Cassidy, which chronicles the journey of a group of disparate travelers from Missouri to the West Coast in 1840; Midnight Sun, which is a thriller following the mysterious disappearance of a group living on a commune in Alaska and Do No Harm, which is a medical drama about a brilliant neurosurgeon who wrestles with his dangerous alter-ego that threatens to wreak havoc on his personal and professional life. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Here are the top 10 box office films for the past weekend courtesy of Exhibitor Relations and E! Online:

1. Contraband, $24.1 million
2. Beauty and the Beast 3D, $18.5 million
3. Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol, $11.5 million
4. Joyful Noise, $11.3 million
5. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, $8.4 million
6. The Devil Inside, $7.9 million
7. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, $6.8 million
8. Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, $5.8 million
9. War Horse, $5.6 million
10. The Iron Lady, $5.4 million

Actress Jessica Chastain (The Help), Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) and actor-comedian Martin Short will lend their voices to the upcoming animated film Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted. Chastain will play Gia the jaguar, Cranston as Vitaly the Siberian tiger, and Short as Stefano the sea lion. The story follows our regular quartet of escaped zoo animals (Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer and Jada Pinkett Smith) continuing their way back home who end up joining a European traveling circus. That’s where they come across these three new characters. Frances McDormand and Sacha Baron Cohen also star in the film that will hit theatres on June 8. (Heat Vision and Dark Horizons)

Actress Emily Browning (Sucker Punch) has replaced actress Ophelia Lovibond in the period-drama called Summer in February that stars Dominic Cooper and Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey) in the story of a love triangle within a group of UK Bohemian artists at the start of the 20th century. (Screen Daily and Dark Horizons)

Actors Jonny Lee Miller (Eli Stone) and Tom Hollander are joining the cast of the sci-fi thriller Byzantium that stars actress Gemma Arterton as a vampire who has to protect herself and her daughter (Saoirse Ronan) from those seeking to plunge a stake through their hearts. (The Daily Mail and Dark Horizons)

That’s it. Enjoy!