Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

Actor Bobby Cannavale (Third Watch) has joined the cast of the HBO drama Boardwalk Empire for Season 3. He will play Gyp Rosetti, a charming gangster who poses as a threat to Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi). (Movie Web)

Sons of Anarchy has been picked up for another season; it’s sixth. (Natalie Abrams at TV Guide)

The A&E series Breakout Kings will be back for its second season on March 4 at 10 PM. (The Futon Critic)

Actor Terry O’Quinn (Lost) will appear in the final two episodes of the second season of Falling Skies, which returns this summer. He will play a former history professor and mentor to Tom Mason (Noah Wyle). (Entertainment Weekly)

Actor Jonathan Groff (Glee) and film star Sanaa Lathan (Something Borrowed ) will be part of the cast of the Starz series Boss. Lathan is expected to play Mona, the incorruptible new chief of staff, who becomes an obsession for Tom Kane (Kelsey Grammer) while Groff will play Ian Todd, a smart and ambitious staffer in Kane’s office who steps into the void Ezra Stone (Martin Donovan) has left to offer astute council to Kane. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

CONDOLENCES

Legendary actor Ben Gazzara passed away late last week from pancreatic cancer. He was 81 years old. He was in such films as Anatomy of a Murder, Road House and The Thomas Crowne Affair. (The Wrap)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

The Dave Cullen 2009 book about the tragic events surrounding the deadly 1999 school shootings in Columbine is being developed as a mini-series by Lifetime. (The Hollywood Reporter and The Futon Critic)

Actor and Emmy winner Andre Braugher (Men of a Certain Age) is set to lead the ensemble cast of the ABC drama pilot Last Resort that centers on the crew of the U.S.S. Nevada, a nuclear submarine, who, after disobeying a suspicious order, become fugitives. They land on the island of Sainte Marina, where they take over the NATO Listening Station and declare themselves an independent nuclear nation. Braugher will play Capt. Marcus Chaplin, the commander of the U.S.S. Nevada, a veteran of real combat, a leader by nature and a patriot, but will not follow any man blindly. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actress Jane Levy (Suburgatory) is in talks to play the lead in the remake of Evil Dead, replacing Lily Collins, who recently exited the film. In the planned remake Levy is to play Mia, a character that corresponds to Ash played by Bruce Campbell in the original 1981 movie. Mia is one of five young people who head to the remote cabin where evil awaits. Recovering from a recent overdose, Mia is particularly vulnerable. The movie is targeted to open April 12, 2013. (Mike Fleming at Deadline)

Here are the top 10 box office films for this past weekend according to Exhibitor Relations:

1. Chronicle, $22 million
2. The Woman in Black, $21 million
3. The Grey, $9.5 million
4. Big Miracle, $8.5 million
5. Underworld Awakening, $5.6 million
6. One for the Money, $5.3 million
7. Red Tails, $5 million
8. The Descendants, $4.6 million
9. Man on a Ledge, $4.5 million
10. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, $3.9 million

BOX OFFICE TRAILER

Watch: Extended Super Bowl Spot for Marvel’s ‘The Avengers’ Online!

Q&A SECTION (with Matt Roush at TV Guide)

Question: I’ve been watching Once Upon A Time from the beginning, and I thought by now, we’d start to see some real movement towards the present-day fairy-tale folks realizing that something was amiss. But it seems to be dragging and dragging, and while the “fairy tale” portions are fun to watch, there’s nothing there that gives one hope that finally, someone other than Henry knows something’s amiss. It’s getting boring. Any tidbits as to when that might finally happen? — Holly

Matt Roush: We’re only 11 episodes into the first season (which didn’t even premiere until late October), which seems awfully early to be getting impatient for game-changers. Although I’ve felt from the start that the Storybrooke stories tend to pale next to what’s going on back in fabulous Fairy Tale Land. And judging from the questions I’ve been fielding lately, the entire convoluted premise of the town living under this curse has thrown lots of fans into a nit-picking frenzy. I won’t project what’s down the road because this isn’t a spoiler column, but your dissatisfaction with the present-day stuff seems more a reflection of the show’s overall unevenness — and I’m speaking here as someone who’s learned to enjoy the show — than a problem with pacing, because they’re actually breaking a fair amount of story from week to week. Just not the story you’d like to see being played out quite yet. But give it time. These are early days, and Once Upon a Time is going to be with us for a long time to come.

Question: I was wondering with Alcatraz and the new show Touch on Fox, where does that leave Terra Nova for Monday nights? Terra Nova started out with a bang, but it fizzled midway through the season then had an interesting cliffhanger for the winter finale. Is Terra Nova gone the way of The Event, or is it coming back at a different time and or day? — Stephanie

Matt Roush: Terra Nova is done for the season, so is currently in limbo, and its renewal chances are probably dimming, given the solid performance of Alcatraz and the strong opening of Touch in its sneak-peek premiere. If Touch and Alcatraz hold up, Fox may not need to bring back Terra Nova, which was already pretty much “on the bubble” at the time of its December finale. On the other hand, if Fox were to plot out a schedule where some of these shows were renewed for shorter 13-episode seasons (if the economics made sense) and shared time periods the way Terra Nova and Alcatraz (and later, Touch) have done this year, maybe the show could be saved.

Question: I watched Touch, and I really enjoyed it. However, I have my concerns over whether the premise could be stretched out into a series that could potentially last years. The idea, in fact, seemed far more conducive to a two-part miniseries or movie-length format. Interestingly, I’ve found that problem with a lot of shows: The premise is awesome, the pilot interesting, and then over time the idea becomes stretched so thin that the story starts running out of steam. I’m thinking of shows like Touch or Alcatraz or even a show like Ringer. Do you think American television will ever take a note from Spanish-language TV and its concept of telenovelas? That is, shorter-run series that have a defined running period? Or is that a pipe dream? — Barb

Matt Roush: This is a question that dogs any long-running serialized show built around a tantalizing high concept. It’s almost inevitable that whenever an out-of-the-box pilot captures our attention, especially those that play more like a movie than a formula TV show, that we end up asking: How long can they sustain it? Even something as captivating as Showtime’s Homeland has us wondering, after the first season: What next? How can they top it? Should they even try? Currently, I’m wondering how far they can take the thrill ride of ABC’s riveting The River beyond the first eight-episode season should it explode the way it deserves to. Some premises do seem better suited for miniseries (the telenovela concept) than for the long-run, but the networks have turned away from that format, and if a show somehow becomes a hit, the bottom line typically demands more, not less. I do think we’ll see (and to a small degree are already seeing) the networks moving closer to the cable model, and this midseason could provide a few watershed moments in watching limited-run series — like The River and NBC’s fascinating Awake — try to break through.

That’s it. Enjoy!