Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

Actress Barbara Hershey (Black Swan) will appear on Once Upon a Time as the mother of the Evil Queen (Lana Parrilla). She will first appear the queen’s mom, Cora, later this season with the option of also having a short arc in season 2 (as long as the show gets a series renewal for next season, that is). (Matt Mitovich at TV Line)

Actress Veronica Cartwright (the legendary film The Birds) will play a judge in upcoming episodes of Revenge. (William Keck at TV Guide)

Actress Rachel Miner will be back to play demon Meg Masters on Supernatural but details on her comeback are scarce. (Vlada Gelman at TV Line)

Showtime has given early renewals to Shameless, House of Lies and Californication. (E! Online)

Army Wives will be back for its sixth season starting on Sunday, March 4 at 9 PM on Lifetime. (The Futon Critic)

The new FOX drama Alcatraz has been extended by two weeks while long-running medical drama House will not be on the schedule at all for March. Alcatraz will now continue until March 26 and House will be back on April 2. (The Futon Critic)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

ABC has handed 4 more hour-long pilot orders to the following potential shows (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline): Devious Maids, loosely based on the Mexican telenovela The Disorderly Maids Of The Neighborhood centers on four Latina women who are maids in Beverly Hills. Gotham centers on a female cop who, after pursuing a seemingly unsolvable case, discovers a magical world that exists within New York City. Zero Hour is about a bizarre twist of fate that pulls a man who’s spent 20 years as the editor of a skeptics magazine into one of the most compelling conspiracies in human history. And, Penoza, which centers on the widow of an assassinated criminal who is forced to adopt her husband’s role in a crime syndicate in order to protect her family. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actor Stephen Amell (The Vampire Diaries and Hung) has been cast as Oliver Queen in the proposed Green Arrow pilot at The CW that will simply be called Arrow. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actor Kevin Bacon has been cast in the as-yet-titled Kevin Williamson drama pilot at FOX that is being described as an edge-of-the-seat thriller about a diabolical serial killer who uses technology to create a cult of serial killers, and a retired FBI profiler (Bacon) who finds himself in the middle of it. And, in a twist Bacon has only committed to 15 episodes rather than the standard 22. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

CONDOLENCES

Don Cornelius, the former host of TV’s now defunct nationally syndicated dance music show Soul Train, has died of an apparent suicide. He was 75. (E! Online)

Q&A SPOILER SECTION (with Michael Ausiello at TV Line)

WARNING! Tread lightly if you don’t want to be spoiled

Question: You have anything on Hart of Dixie? I would love to see Zoe get together with Wade! —Muriel

Ausiello: So apparently would Wilson Bethel (a.k.a. Wade), who tells TV Line, “My sincere hope is that by the end of the season there will be something in store for the Zoe/Wade fans. In the meantime, Wade’s gonna have some personal growth. With Zoe he has to step his game up — but that doesn’t mean that he loses his Wadeness!” Bethel also confirms that Wade will get a new love interest that “will drive Zoe crazy.”

Question: Anything on Psych? Maybe about the marriage proposal that never happened? —Ginger

Ausiello: Shawn’s other significant other, Gus, discovers the ring in the Season 6.5 premiere on Feb. 28 and promptly confronts his BFF about it. Shawn shrugs the bling off as an “emergency ring” that’s only to be used if the perfect proposal moment should present itself. I also hear the episode ends with Shawn and Gus engaged in a hilariously epic slap-off.

Question: If you give me some Vampire Diaries scoop. —Juan

Ausiello: A recurring male character’s days are numbered.

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Taylor Swift is out and stage star Samantha Banks is in for the role of Éponine in the new film adaptation of Les Miserables that already includes cast members Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter and Eddie Redmayne. (Variety and First Showing)

Singer-actor Justin Timberlake will team up with legendary actor-director Clint Eastwood for the box office flick Trouble With the Curve. Timberlake will play a former pitcher and friend of an aging baseball scout (Eastwood). Amy Adams and Matthew Lillard will also star. (Variety and First Showing)

Young actor Max Burkholder (Max on Parenthood) and Australian actress Adelaide Kane (Neighbors) will play Charlie and Zoey (respectively) in the box office film Vigilandia that already includes Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey. (Joshua L. Weinstein at The Wrap)

Actor Colin Firth will join actress Reese Witherspoon in the film Devil’s Knot, which is a dramatization of a trio of teens wrongly incarcerated for 18 years after being convicted of the murder of three younger boys. Firth will play Ron Lax, a private investigator who was the first pro bono supporter of the defendants as they headed into their first trial. (Deadline and First Showing)

The long-in-gestation film Winter’s Tale, based on the 1983 novel by Mark Helprin, looks like it might be coming back to life as big name actors Will Smith and Russell Crowe have committed to supporting roles in the film. The story is about a thief, a dying girl and a flying white horse in 19th Century and contemporary Manhattan where magic is abundant. Crowe will play Pearly Soames, a gangster boss, while Smith will play a judge. The lead roles of the thief and the dying girl still need to be cast, though. (Vulture and First Showing)

That’s it. Enjoy!