Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

NBC renews ‘Smash’ for second season. (Variety)

Academy Award winning actress Patty Duke and actresses Megyn Price and Emily Rutherford will all make guest appearances in upcoming episodes of the Lifetime series Drop Dead Diva. Price (Rules of Engagement) will appear in the season premiere as Emily Horn, an intelligent but manipulative socialite who was a former law school classmate of Jane’s. She will turn to Jane for help when she’s brought up on murder charges. She only knew the old Jane, which makes it awkward when this Jane begins to suspect she really is a cold-blooded killer. Duke will appear in the third episode as Rita O’Reily, a career floor-greeter who is fired after heroically stopping a shoplifter. When Jane takes on her case, she begins to wonder whether Rita may also be inhabited by someone else. In that same episode, Rutherford (The New Adventures of Old Christine) will play Olivia French, the quick-witted sister of Jane’s boyfriend Judge Owen French (Lex Medlin). Owen will enlist Kim’s (Kate Levering) help in navigating Olivia’s divorce. Why not ask Jane? Because the old Jane broke the heart of Olivia’s friend. Drop Dead Diva will be back with new episodes this summer. (Natalie Abrams at TV Guide)

Legendary actress Doris Roberts (Everybody Loves Raymond) will guest star in one of the final episodes of Desperate Housewives, as the long-running soap comes to a close this season. There are no details on what character she will play, though. (Kate Stanhope at TV Guide)

Actor Ciarán Hinds (Rome and The Phantom of the Opera) has been cast in the upcoming USA Network drama Political Animals that will debut this summer on the cable network. The 6-episode series will center on newly-appointed Secretary of State Elaine Barrish (Sigourney Weaver) balancing both personal and political crises. Hinds will play Bud Hammond, a jovial former president (and Elaine’s ex-husband) who was once loved by the American public, but whose out-of-office antics caused a tumble in his popularity. He still holds a candle for his wife, and eagerly awaits the call to become her elder statesman. (Alyse Whitney at TV Line)

Actor Ed Speleers (the box office film Eragon) has joined the cast of Downton Abbey for its much-anticipated third season. He will play the new footman Jimmy. Also joining the cast is actor Matt Milne (War Horse) as Alfred, a footman who’s also the nephew of is-she-or-isn’t-she-evil lady’s maid O’Brien. Season 3 won’t air in the US until January 2013. (Nancy Tartaglione at Deadline)

Actress Rebecca Mader (Lost) will guest star in the FOX drama Fringe, appearing in the last two episodes of the season as a character named Jessica. Any additional details about her character are being kept under wraps, but Jessica is being described as a strong, brave woman involved in a case linked to super villain David Robert Jones. (William Keck at TV Guide)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Not only is Netflix in talks with 20th Century Fox TV about possibly picking up the recently cancelled FOX series Terra Nova, but they are also looking at another new series that is facing cancellation: ABC’s The River. It’s all speculation at best right now; but the rumor mills are filled with assumptions. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actress Megan Good (Californication) will play the lead in the NBC drama pilot called Notorious that is an opulent soap in which detective Joanna Locasto (Good) returns undercover to the wealthy and troubled Lawson family for which she grew up in — as the housekeeper’s daughter — to solve the murder of celebutante Vivian Lawson, who was once her closest friend. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actress Maggie Grace (Lost) will play a key recurring role in the as-yet untitled FOX serial killer drama pilot that will star James Purefoy as infamous serial killer Joe Carroll, who is being tracked by an FBI investigator, who will be played by Kevin Bacon. Grace will play a young doctor who’s the only surviving victim of Carroll. (James Hibberd at Entertainment Weekly)

Actress Jennifer Beals (Flashdance and The Chicago Code) is set to star opposite John Corbett in the CBS drama pilot called Widow Detective that will center on Denny Brennan (Corbett), a decorated police detective who, after losing three partners in the line of duty, becomes surrogate husband, lover and father to their families. Beals will play Lainey, the sexy, wry-humored owner of a San Fernando Valley hair salon who is one of the widows as her LAPD detective husband was partnered with Denny and died on the job. Married again but about to be amicably divorced, Lainey knows Denny the best out of all the wives, and has the best shot at a real relationship with him. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actress Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine) will join Halle Berry the upcoming box office thriller called The Hive that will be set against the backdrop of a 911 call center. Berry plays an emergency operator who must face her own fears in order to save a teenage girl (Breslin) from a disturbed killer. (Variety and Dark Horizons)

Actresses Cate Blanchett and Mia Wasikowska and actor David Wenham will all make their directorial debuts shooting segments for the upcoming anthology called The Turning, which is based on the short story collection of the same name by author Tim Winton. The trio joins fourteen other directors on the project; each creating a chapter out of Winton’s work. The ensemble piece explores the extraordinary turning points in seemingly disparate but connected people’s lives, each chapter is self contained though characters and elements overlap. (The Hollywood Reporter and Dark Horizons)

That’s it. Enjoy!