Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

Justified has been renewed for a 13-episode fourth season by FX. (The Futon Critic)

Fans of Veronica Mars can rejoice. SoapNet has picked up the syndication rights to the show and will be adding 4 episodes to their Saturday and Sunday morning programming schedule. On Saturdays the episodes will air from 10 AM to 1 PM while on Sunday the episodes will air from 10 AM to 1 PM.  (Twitter)

Actress Karina Lombard (The 4400 and The L Word) will guest star in an upcoming episode of NCIS as the longtime friend and mentor of Ziva. (Matt Mitovich at TV Line)

Actress Vanessa Marano (Switched at Birth) will guest star in an upcoming episode of Grey’s Anatomy, playing a patient in the 20th episode of the current season that is set to air in late April. (Lesley Goldberg at The Hollywood Reporter)

FOX has made it official: Terra Nova has NOT been renewed. It will now join the LONG list of shows for which the network has cancelled; but word has it that 20th Century Fox TV is going to shop the series around. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline and E! Online)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Actress Mamie Gummer (Meryl Streep’s daughter and former star of the short-lived series Off The Map) has landed a lead role in the medical drama pilot at The CW called First Cut. The pilot is to center on Emily (Gummer), a newly minted doctor who, glad to leave her nerdy past behind for a fresh start in the adult professional world, discovers that, sadly and comically, life at the hospital where she works is no different than high school. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actor Eric Close (Without A Trace) and actress Connie Britton (American Horror Story and Friday Night Lights) have both joined the cast of the ABC drama pilot called Nashville that will be a family soap about love, country music, family, politics and sex, set against the backdrop of the Nashville music scene. The pilot centers on 40-year-old Nashville superstar Rayna James (Britton) who is stunned to find that her star is fading and her label requires her to team up with teen sensation Juliette Barnes (Hayden Panettiere) on tour – or else face the loss of her own tour and the label’s promotion of her latest record, whose sales have been underwhelming. Close will play Rayna’s husband, who is now living on his wife’s salary. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline and Tierney Bricker at E! Online)

Actress Jessy Schram (Falling Skies and Once Upon a Time) has been added to the cast of the ABC drama pilot called Last Resort that is about the crew of a U.S. nuclear submarine who, after ignoring a questionable order to fire nuclear missiles, escape to a NATO outpost where they declare themselves to be the world’s smallest nuclear nation. Schram will play Sam’s (Scott Speedman) dutiful wife whose patience for his return is growing thin. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Relative newcomer Megan Ketch has landed the female lead in the ABC drama pilot Gotham that will center on Detective Annie Travers (Ketch), a born-and-bred New Yorker investigating the “impossible murder” of a nightclub owner who is stunned to learn that New York has a whole secret magical history of which she (and everyone else) was hitherto unaware. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actor David Harbour (Pan Am) has landed a role in the NBC drama pilot called Midnight Sun that is about the FBI’s investigation into the disappearance of a remote cult in Dugan, Alaska – led by Bennett Maxwell (Titus Welliver) – which taps into a grander political conspiracy. Harbour will play Ethan Davies, a suspicious lieutenant at the local Coast Guard Station. (Deadline and The Futon Critic)

Actress Brianna Brown (General Hospital) has been cast in the ABC drama pilot called Devious Maids (based on the Mexican soap by Marc Cherry, the creator of Desperate Housewives). This pilot revolves around four maids (Ana Ortiz, Judy Reyes, Roselyn Sanchez and Dania Ramirez) with ambition and dreams of their own while they work for the rich and famous in Beverly Hills. Brown will play Taylor Slate, the classy and smart second (trophy) wife to Michael Slate, who’s insecure as his ex, Marisol, continues to be a factor in his life. (Lesley Goldberg at The Hollywood Reporter)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actress Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars and House of Lies) has been cast in Some Girls, the upcoming film adaptation of the Neil LaBute play that will star Adam Brody (The O.C.) as a man who attempts to make amends with several ex-girlfriends on the eve of his wedding. Bell plays Bobbi, a smart, articulate woman he bailed on years before without a word, leaving her without respect or love for him. (Twitter)

Actress Zoe Saldana and actor Casey Affleck are considering joining the cast of the upcoming film called Out of the Furnace that already includes Christian Bale as part of the cast. In fact, Bale will play a freed convict whose brother is murdered, scuttling his plans to go straight in lieu of seeking revenge. Saldana would play Bale’s ex-wife who is married to the town’s sheriff. There are no details on the role that Affleck would play as yet. (Vulture and Dark Horizons)

BOX OFFICE TRAILER

Dakota Fanning and Jeremy Irvine in UK Drama ‘Now is Good’ Trailer

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

Question: I am involved in an intense love-hate relationship with Smash. I can’t quite figure this show out. On the one hand, I adore the main characters: Ivy and Karen, Derek, Julia and Tom, all are entertaining, engaging and obviously talented. From there, though, the show falls down. It seems to me that the Smash writers haven’t quite settled on a personality for the show. Its half straight-forward soap and half over-the-top camp. I, for one, enjoy the straight-forward soap aspects much more. Is it possible to gradually tweak the show to weed out the parts that aren’t working? And what’s your take on the Ellis character, in particular? To me he’s just irritating, and not in an “Oooh, drama!” kind of way. I want him off my TV screen. I don’t think this show needs an outright villain; the drama between these flawed characters is good enough. Thoughts? — Kirsten

Matt Roush: Couldn’t agree more about Ellis. A terribly written and poorly realized character, one of several weak spots in a show that is clearly still trying to find its voice and tone. (The episode in which Karen went back home to Iowa was the show’s worst to date, but then it was followed by the episode in which Ivy shut Karen out during rehearsals, which may have been the show’s best since the pilot.) For me, Smash is at its best when focused on the show, as if it were A Chorus Line: The Series. The showmances, the financial and creative pressures, anything involving that cad Derek, I’m on board. It can take a while for any show that’s truly original to find its legs. I hope Smash gets that chance.

Question: Based off your previous columns, you are a fan of BBC 3/BBC America’s Being Human. So am I! I have seen the first two episodes of the original version’s fourth season, and for lack of a more original word: Wow. I’m not sure where to start almost. One major death off screen, another major death at the end of the first episode, it almost feels like a UK version of Fringe now with such a reboot of storytelling and focus. The show’s dynamic on almost every level has changed, which has to be considered a huge gamble, right? The initial purpose of the show was to almost be a parable at how being human regardless of one’s quirks was hard or different, but now it has this edge to it with what they are trying to do.

Also, unlike American TV, in the U.K. the main star of any show is usually the show itself. Whether it’s Being Human or Spooks (aka MI-5), in the U.K. a character isn’t the star of a show, the show is the star of the show, which enables them to freely kill anyone at anytime. The U.S. is much more based on brands, and TV stars are brands, and people tune in to watch the stars, not the show, so there is a diverging philosophical difference. Another difference is that actors in the U.K., once having proven themselves, will get offers from American TV or even Hollywood as is the case with John Mitchell’s Aidan Turner, who got a part in The Hobbit. So what are your thoughts of the revamped (pun slightly intended) version of Being Human? And do you see America’s version in a different light with its ability to tell a story without the worry of losing its cast to bigger (possibly) and better (possibly) things? Also you once said the U.S. version made a mistake in its casting. Slam on Sam Witwer? And why? — Trenton

Matt Roush: I am very intrigued by this transformative season of the British Being Human, and you make some very interesting points about the willingness of many British series to kill off major characters, even fairly early in a show’s run. (Often precipitated, as in the case of Being Human this season, by the actors deciding to move on.) But I should also note that what I’ve seen of the Syfy version this season, it has improved quite a bit over last year. I still have issues about the principal actors who are not Sam Witwer, but as the show diverges from the original series, it is becoming more interesting.

Question: I was just wondering about your views on Person of Interest and what do you think its chances are for a renewal? I just read that Touch is going to be airing in the same timeslot as Person Of Interest. Do you think it will hurt the ratings for the show? — Ishaan

Matt Roush: I am enjoying Person of Interest more and more as the season continues, and as the world of the show expands with more recurring characters (both heroic and villainous). I’d be very surprised if it doesn’t get renewed. It will be interesting to see how Touch fares on Thursdays, a rather last-minute programming change designed to give this very unusual show a boost from an American Idol lead-in. Person of Interest is more offbeat than the usual CBS series, but I think it will do fine against the new competition. This is one of those time periods where there’s just about something for everyone, from NBC’s comedies to Grey’s Anatomy to Person of Interest and now Touch. That’s a lot of variety in one hour of prime time. Which is good for everybody.

That’s it. Enjoy!