Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

Actor John Ratzenberger (Cheers) will guest star in an upcoming episode of Drop Dead Diva, playing the estranged father of Kim Kaswell (Kate Levering) who, after decades of loyal service as a janitor at a Fortune 500 insurance company, suddenly loses his job and discovers his pension has been underfunded. Not one to take defeat lying down, he strikes back at his corrupt former employer by moving into the insurance company CEO’s empty Bel Air estate until he’s caught by the CEO, who tries to evict him. Larry will turn to Kim for legal help. (Natalie Abrams at TV Guide)

Actor Ben Browder (Farscape and Stargate SG-1) will guest star in an upcoming episode of Doctor Who. The episode will be set in the Wild Wild West, but there are no specifics on what character he will play. (SFX and Blastr and DoctorWhoTV)

Actor Dominic Purcell (Prison Break) will play a key role in the season finale of the new USA drama Common Law, which is set to premiere on May 11. The new series stars Michael Ealy and Warren Kole as Travis Marks and Wes Mitchell, two well-regarded Los Angeles robbery-homicide detectives who are forced to go into counseling in order to save their “work marriage.” Sonya Walger (Lost) plays Dr. Ryan, the therapist who helps them work through their issues. Purcell will play John Crowell, a swaggering detective who works for the LAPD’s Special Investigative Services. Part of the reason Wes and Travis were forced into couples’ therapy is because Wes pulled his gun on Travis, an incident that got both of them in very serious trouble and forced them into counseling. (Huffington Post)

Actress Sara Canning (The Vampire Diaries) and actor Niall Matter (Eureka) have been cast in lead roles in the spin-off (of sorts) Canadian series Primeval: New World that will air on the SPACE Channel in Canada. There doesn’t seem to be any U.S. distributor as yet. (KSiteTV and The Hollywood Reporter)

Actors Rob Estes (Silk Stalking) and Evan Handler (Sex and the City) will both guest star in episodes of Necessary Roughness. Estes will appear as Rob Maroney, Terrence’s (Mehcad Brooks) agent who is willing to go to any lengths to fulfill his wishes while Handler will play Marshall Pittman, a powerful media mogul who owns the New York Hawks. (Sandra Gonzalez at Entertainment Weekly)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

MTV has given a pilot pickup order to Cassandra French’s Finishing School For Boys, a drama from actress Krysten Ritter and writer Eric Garcia based on Garcia’s novel of the same name. The pilot centers on Cassie French, a 22-year-old over-achiever who gets her dream job as a lawyer for a Hollywood studio but can’t find a guy ready for a real, mature relationship. After the latest disappointment, she locks a guy up in her basement in order to train him to become the perfect gentleman. Ritter, who will star in the midseason comedy Don’t Trust the Bitch in Apartment 23 next month, and Garcia are executive producing the pilot. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Film legend Sigourney Weaver will star in the USA Network six-hour original series Political Animals, playing Elaine Barrish, the divorced former first lady and newly appointed secretary of state who throws herself into the job after recovering from the dissolution of her marriage and losing the presidential nomination. Elaine will rely heavily on her son Doug (James Wolk from Happy Endings and the short-lived Lone Star), an ambitious politico who also serves as her chief of staff but is tormented by his twin brother’s battle with addiction. (Lesley Goldberg at The Hollywood Reporter)

Actress Carrie-Anne Moss has landed the female lead opposite Dennis Quaid and Michael Chiklis in the as-yet untitled Ralph Lamb drama pilot for CBS. The pilot will be set in the 1960s and will chronicle the true story of Ralph Lamb (Quaid) – rodeo cowboy turned longtime Sheriff of Las Vegas – and Johnny Savino (Chiklis), a Chicago mob fixer whose entrepreneurial vision for transforming Las Vegas collides with the law-and-order mandate of Sheriff Lamb. Moss will play A.D.A. Katherine O’Connell, the daughter of a local rancher who grew up a neighbor to the Lambs and is now cutting her teeth in the D.A.’s office. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actor John Barrowman (Torchwood) has landed the last series regular role on the ABC period drama pilot called Gilded Lilys that will be set in 1895 and will center on the Lilys, who are looking to revive their family’s fortunes by opening the most lavish hotel in New York history. Barrowman will play playboy brother Julius Lily. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actress Christine Adams (Terra Nova) has joined the cast of the ABC drama pilot called Americana, a family soap that centers on iconic fashion designer Robert Soulter (Anthony LaPaglia), the patriarch of a sprawling family who just welcomed a new member, Alice Clarke (Ashley Greene), a young designer whose shocking arrival turns the family and the legendary label inside out. Adams will play Robert’s wife Sierra, a bronze-skinned East African beauty and former supermodel. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actress Keri Russell (Felicity) will star in the FX period drama pilot called The Americans that will center on two KGB spies posing as Americans in suburban Washington, DC in the early 1980s. The arranged marriage of Phillip Jennings and Elizabeth Jennings (Russell) grows more passionate and genuine by the day but is constantly tested by the escalation of the Cold War and the intimate, dangerous and darkly funny relationships they must maintain with a network of spies and informants under their control. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actor Anthony Edwards (ER) will be possibly be back on TV as he has joined the cast of the ABC drama pilot called Zero Hour that centers on Hank Foley (Edwards) who, after spending 20 years as the editor of Modern Skeptics magazine, becomes involved in one the most compelling conspiracies in human history when his wife is kidnapped. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actor Rhys Coiro (A Gifted Man) has landed the lead role alongside Rachelle Lefevre (the Twilight saga films and ironically A Gifted Man) in the CBS drama pilot called Applebaum that is based on the Ayelet Waldman series of books called Mommy Track Mysteries. The pilot centers on Juliet Applebaum (Lefevre), a former public defender who becomes a private investigator to keep from being bored to death as a stay-at-home mom. Coiro will play Juliet’s husband Peter, a successful comic book artist who is crazy about his wife. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actor Anson Mount (Hell on Wheels) will play a nasty villain in the indie racial drama film called Supremacy that is set to star Danny Glover, Joe Anderson, Derek Luke, Stacey Dash and Dawn Olivieri. The drama is based on a true story about a paroled white supremacist who has just killed a cop, and takes an African American family hostage over a long night of terror as authorities cordon off the neighborhood where he and his lady accomplice are laying low. Mount plays the role of Sobecki, a heavily tattooed maximum security prison inmate who’s the head of the Aryan Brotherhood and oversees his criminal empire from behind bars. He’s the kidnapper’s leader and not thrilled when he learns of his charge’s screw-up when he’s called in by authorities to negotiate with the kidnapper. (Mike Fleming at Deadline)

Actor Michael Pena (Crash and Observe and Report) will star in the lead role in the bio-pic about Cesar Chavez, the labor organizer of the 60’s and 70’s. (Variety and First Showing)

Q&A SECTION (with Natalie Abrams and Adam Bryant from TV Guide)

Question: What’s coming up for Emily and Nolan on Revenge now that she knows he’s been working with Takeda? —Holland

NATALIE: They’re going to butt heads big time, but the damage isn’t permanent. Executive producer Mike Kelley sees them as siblings. “Nolan sees David Clarke as a de facto father figure and [Emily] didn’t get the benefit of knowing her father as an adult. They both think of each other like family, so no matter what we throw at them, they’re going to remain connected.”

Question: When will we learn what Snow White did that made the Evil Queen hate her so much on Once Upon a Time? — Sarah

NATALIE: April 1 is the magical day. So much is revealed in the hour that Lana Parrilla says she was surprised the story wasn’t spread over several episodes. “You’ll meet young Regina,” she says. “I look totally different — fresh-faced, doe-eyed, young, fun, excited about life, in love, and then it just gets really dark. It’s way before she becomes the Evil Queen.” Adds Ginnifer Goodwin: “Folks will sympathize with the Evil Queen in ways they’re not expecting

Question: I’m kind of bummed Castle killed off Sophia (Jennifer Beals). I liked the way she challenged Castle and Beckett. Is that weird? — Ashley

ADAM: It’s a little weird. But we may not have seen the last of the Russian spy after all. “I always knew that she was going to be the bad guy and we were going to kill her in the end. But I also know that in any sort of CIA-inspired story, nobody is ever really dead for certain,” creator Andrew W. Marlowe tells us. “I like to have my cake and eat it too. It’s all depending on where our storytelling takes us and assuming that Jennifer had a good time and wants to come back and play with us.” (OK, maybe it’s not so weird after all…)

Question: I miss Covert Affairs. What’s coming up in the new season? — Lois

NATALIE: Annie is getting a new mentor and confidant this season. If Joan is the “cold mom,” think of Lena as the “cool mom,” something Annie greatly aspires to be. Though Lena’s a consummate professional, she’s also very inclusive and treats her operatives as equals. Sound too good to be true? That’s because it is. Sorry, Annie!

Question: Got any scoop on Grimm? — Joshua

NATALIE: Get ready to meet Cinderella! She’s led a half-tragic, half-magical life with her mean stepmother and stepsisters, and a “Prince Charming” whose company has just sunk the family fortune. Oh, and did we mention Cinderella likes the dark and has got a wingspan that Batman would be jealous of?

Question: Now that Neal has run away, what will we see next season on White Collar? — Tom

NATALIE: Though Neal will be off living the life — with a new lady love in tow — he won’t be missing for long, not if Internal Affairs has anything to say about it. They’ll send their most dangerous agent to track him down, which is bad news for Neal because said agent will take his targets dead or alive.

That’s it. Enjoy!

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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!

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