On May 20 the made-for-TV movie Kiss At Pine Lake will debut on the Hallmark Channel at 8 PM
Barry Watson (7th Heaven) and Mia Kirshner (The L Word) star in a summer romance fifteen years in the making. As star-crossed lovers who finally share that very special first kiss as they unite to save their childhood camp.
Trying to figure out what to watch tonight? Be it new episodes of the TV season, reairs of cable series or a movie, here are some suggestions:
6:30 PM: Fantastic Four movie on Fox Movie Channel
8 PM: Burn Notice on MyNetwork TV NCIS on USA Network Blazing Saddles movie on CMT Twister movie on Encore The Green Mile movie on Showtime My Best Friend’s Wedding movie on WE TV
9 PM: Burn Notice on MyNetwork TV NCIS on USA Network Cars 2 (animated) movie on Starz
10 PM: Revenge on ABC (NEW) White Heat on BBC America (NEW) Game of Thrones on HBO (Reair) NCIS on USA (Reair) The Sorcerer’s Apprentice movie on Encore
Actor Richard Burgi (Desperate Housewives and One Tree Hill) will appear as a villain in an upcoming episode of Burn Notice as Morris, a duplicitous, backstabbing loan shark with a vile temper who’s looking to move up the criminal ladder. Burn Notice will be back with its new season starting on June 14 at 9 PM on the USA Network. (Vlada Gelman at TV Line)
Actress Lorraine Toussaint (Saving Grace) will guest star on a July episode of Drop Dead Diva, as law professor, Gretchen Daily, who invites her former student, Jane, and Grayson (Jackson Hurst) to deliver a lecture to one of her classes at Stanford Law School. The attorneys decide to help one of the students with a complicated case against a Silicon Valley company. But, the pupils will have to take on their mentor when the company hires the best attorney they can find: Gretchen Daily. Drop Dead Diva will be back with a new season on Lifetime on June 3. (Jethro Nededog at The Hollywood Reporter)
DEVELOPMENT NEWS
ABC is also pursuing its long-gestating plans for a Hulk TV series (seems the Hulk’s popularity is bigger than ever because of the success of the box office film The Avengers. And, while the “Hulk” series didn’t come together in time for the 2012-13 season, it could be a possibility for the season after that. (Tim Molloy at The Wrap)
BOX OFFICE NEWS
Actor Amaury Nolasco (Prison Break) and Megalyn Echikunwoke (House of Lies and The 4400) have joined the supporting cast of the upcoming film A Good Day to Die Hard that will star Bruce Willis and Jai Courtney as John McClane and his estranged son Jack (respectively) who take on Russian villains. Nolasco will play Willis’ friend early in the film while Echikunwoke’s role is unknown at this time. (Variety and Dark Horizons)
Actor Channing Tatum (Dear John) will appear in the upcoming action thriller called White House Down. He will play a Secret Service agent and single dad who must save the president when his official residence is taken over by paramilitary group. (Heat Vision and Dark Horizons)
Actor Alan Rickman has landed the lead role as famed New York nightclub owner Hilly Kristal in the upcoming film called CBGB that will tell the real-life story of how Kristal’s CBGB club impacted the underground music scene and made famous such talents as Talking Heads, the Ramones and Blondie. (Variety and Dark Horizons)
Mark Deklin (GCB) has joined the cast of the 3D/CGI motion-capture film Tarzan in which he will play Tarzan’s father, who is exploring the site of a mysterious ancient meteorite and is on the brink of a discovery when he dies alongside his wife (Jaime Ray Newman). Kellan Lutz and Spencer Locke will play Tarzan and Jane respectively. (Heat Vision and Dark Horizons)
BOX OFFICE TRAILER
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (3D) – 4 MINUTE SUPER PREVIEW:
The following are descriptions of the six new ABC dramas; three that will air this fall and the others that are set for mid-season; or in the case of Mistresses, next May. There are cast photos and trailers for all below:
666 PARK AVENUE – (Sunday Nights at 10 PM)
PREMISE: At the ominous address of 666 Park Avenue, anything you desire can be yours. Everyone has needs, desires and ambition. For the residents of The Drake, these will all be met, courtesy of the building’s mysterious owner, Gavin Doran. But every Faustian contract comes with a price. When Jane Van Veen and Henry Martin, an idealistic young couple from the Midwest, are offered the opportunity to manage the historic building, they not only fall prey to the machinations of Doran and his mysterious wife, Olivia, but unwittingly begin to experience the shadowy, supernatural forces within the building that imprison and endanger the lives of the residents inside. Sexy, seductive and inviting, The Drake maintains a dark hold over all of its residents, tempting them through their ambitions and desires, in this chilling new drama that’s home to an epic struggle of good versus evil.
CAST: Rachael Taylor (Charlie’s Angels and Grey’s Anatomy), Dave Annable (Brothers & Sisters), Robert Buckley (One Tree Hill), Mercedes Masohn (The Finder), Helena Mattsson (Nikita), Vanessa Williams (Desperate Housewives and Ugly Betty) and Terry O’Quinn (Lost).
CREATIVE TEAM: David Wilcox, Matthew Miller,, Leslie Morgenstein, Gina Girolamo and Alex Graves are all Executive Producers. Alex Graves directed the pilot.
TRAILER FOR 666 PARK AVENUE:
LAST RESORT – (Thursday Nights at 8 PM)
PREMISE: 500 feet beneath the ocean’s surface, the U.S. ballistic missile submarine Colorado receive their orders. Over a radio channel, designed only to be used if their homeland has been wiped out, they’re told to fire nuclear weapons at Pakistan. Captain Marcus Chaplin demands confirmation of the orders only to be unceremoniously relieved of duty by the White House. XO Sam Kendal finds himself suddenly in charge of the submarine and facing the same difficult decision. When he also refuses to fire without confirmation of the orders, the Colorado is targeted, fired upon, and hit. The submarine and its crew find themselves crippled on the ocean floor, declared rogue enemies of their own country. Now, with nowhere left to turn, Chaplin and Kendal take the sub on the run and bring the men and women of the Colorado to an exotic island. Here they will find refuge, romance and a chance at a new life, even as they try to clear their names and get home.
CAST (includes): Ande Braugher (Men of a Certain Age), Scott Speedman (Felicity), Daisy Betts (Persons Unknown), Dichen Lachman (Being Human and Dollhouse) Autumn Reeser (No Ordinary Family and The O.C.), Jessy Schram (Falling Skies and Once Upon a Time)
CREATIVE TEAM: Shawn Ryan, Karl Gajdusek, Martin Campbell and Marney Hochman Nash are all executive producers. Martin Campbell direced the pilot.
TRAILER FOR LAST RESORT:
NASHVILLE – (Wednesday Nights at 10 PM)
PREMISE: Chart-topping Rayna James is a country legend who’s had a career any singer would envy, though lately her popularity is starting to wane. Fans still line up to get her autograph, but she’s not packing the arenas like she used to. Rayna’s record label thinks a concert tour, opening for up-and-comer Juliette Barnes, the young and sexy future of country music, is just what Rayna needs. But scheming Juliette can’t wait to steal Rayna’s spotlight. Sharing a stage with that disrespectful, untalented, little vixen is the last thing Rayna wants to do, which sets up a power struggle for popularity. Could the undiscovered songwriting talent of Scarlett O’Connor be the key to helping Rayna resurrect her career? Complicating matters, Rayna’s wealthy but estranged father, Lamar Hampton, is a powerful force in business, Tennessee politics, and the lives of his two grown daughters. His drive for power results in a scheme to back Rayna’s handsome husband, Teddy, in a run for Mayor of Nashville, against Rayna’s wishes.
CAST: Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights and American Horror Story), Hayden Panettiere (Heroes), POwrs Boothe (24), Eric Close (Without a Trace), Jonathan Jackson (General Hospital) and Robert Wisdom (Prison Break and Burn Notice).
CREATIVE TEAM: Callie Khouri, R.J. Cutler and Steve Buchanan are executive producers. R.J. Cutler directed the pilot.
TRAILER FOR NASHVILLE:
RED WIDOW – Mid-Season (No Night or Timeslot Scheduled Yet)
PREMISE: When Marta Walraven’s husband is brutally murdered, her first instinct is to protect her three young children. Her husband’s business partners – Irwin Petrova, Marta’s scheming and untrustworthy brother, and Mike Tomlin — were involved in an illegal drug business deal with rival gangsters, and Marta’s husband paid the ultimate price. She already knows the violent world of organized crime; her father, Andrei Petrova, and loyal bodyguard Luther are gangsters too. She and her sister Kat had always wished for a safer life without bloodshed and fear. For a while Marta lived happily as a stay at home housewife in San Marta’s cooperation, FBI Agent James Ramos now promises justice. Marta discovers a tenacity she never knew she had, and takes on the gangsters and the FBI to unveil the truth about her husband’s death. As she digs into this dark underworld, she’ll test her own strength, relying on her resourcefulness, determination and family ties like never before. To get out of this mob, she needs to beat the bad guys at their own deadly game.
CAST (includes): Radha Mitchell (Silent Hill and Pitch Black), Lee Tergesen (Army Wives), Mido Hamada (Terra Nova), Luke Goss (Hellboy 2), Jaime Ray Newman (Drop Dead Diva and Eureka), Suleka Mathew (Hawthorne) and Rade Serbedzija (24 and The Saint).
CREATIVE TEAM: Melissa Rosenberg and Howard Klein are executive producers. Mark Pellington directed the pilot.
TRAILER FOR RED WIDOW:
ZERO HOUR – Mid-Season (No Night or Timeslot Scheduled Yet):
PREMISE: As the publisher of a paranormal enthusiast magazine, Modern Skeptic, Hank Galliston has spent his career following clues, debunking myths and solving conspiracies. A confessed paranormal junkie, his motto is “logic is the compass.” But when his beautiful wife, Laila, is abducted from her antique clock shop, Hank gets pulled into one of the most compelling mysteries in human history, stretching around the world and back centuries. Contained in one of his wife’s clocks is a treasure map, and what it leads to could be cataclysmic. Now it’s up to Hank to decipher the symbols and unlock the secrets of the map, while ensuring the answers don’t fall into the wrong hands – a man they call White Vincent (Michael Nyqvist). With his two young associates, Rachel and Arron, in tow, along with Becca Riley, a sexy FBI agent, Hank will lead them on a breathless race against the clock to find his wife and save humanity.
CAST (includes): Anthony Edwards (ER), Carmen Ejogo (Chaos), Scott Michael Foster (Greek), Addison Timlin (Californication), Jacinda Barrett (Poseidon) as Laila and Michael Nyqvist (Mission: Impossible – Ghost Patrol).
CREATIVE TEAM: Paul T. Scheuring, Pierre Morel, Lorenzo DiBonaventura and Dan McDermott are executive producers. Pierre Morel directed the pilot.
TRAILER FOR ZERO HOUR:
MISTRESSES – Expected to air in May 2013
PREMISE: Welcome to a provocative and thrilling drama about the scandalous lives of a sexy and sassy group of four girlfriends, each on her own path to self-discovery, as they brave the turbulent journey together. Meet Savi (Savannah), a successful career woman working toward the next phase in her life — both professional and personal — simultaneously bucking for partner at her law firm while she and her husband, Harry, try to start a family of their own. Savi’s free-spirited and capricious baby sister, Josselyn, couldn’t be more different – living single, serial dating and partying, and regularly leaning on her big sister along the way. Their common best friend, April, a recent widow and mother of two, is rebuilding her life after tragedy and learning to move forward, with the support and guidance of her closest girlfriends. And friend Karen, a successful therapist with her own practice, reconnects with the girls after her involvement in a complicated relationship with a patient goes far too deep.
CAST (includes): Alyssa Milano (Charmed), Yunjin Kim (Lost), Rochelle Aytes (The Forgotten), Jes Macallan (NCIS: Los Angeles and Grey’s Anatomy) and Jason George (Grey’s Anatomy and Eastwick).
CREATIVE TEAM: Robert Sertner, K.J. Steinberg, Rina Mimoun and Douglas Rae are executive producers. Cherie Nowlan directed the pilot.
Most of the Monday night drama line-up on the major networks came to a close last night except for one. Here is how each of the Monday night dramas fared in the overall ratings:
8 PM Shows: Bones (FOX) [Season Finale] – 7.1 million Gossip Girl (The CW) [Season Finale] – 1.2 million
9 PM Shows: House (FOX) [NEW] – 6.5 million Hart of Dixie (The CW) [Season Finale] – 1.5 million
10 PM Shows: Hawaii Five-0 (CBS) [Season Finale] – 11.3 million Smash (NBC) [Season Finale] – 6.1 million
ABC announced its fall line-up for the 2012-2013 TV season in New York City today and here is how it looks:
NOTE: Please keep in mind the network could still make changes to this schedule before September. Nothing is ever set in stone!
MONDAY
8 to 10 PM – Dancing with the Stars
10 PM – Castle
TUESDAY
8 PM – Dancing with the Stars Results Show
9 PM – Happy Endings (New Night and Time)
9:30 PM – Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23 (New Night)
10 PM – Private Practice
WEDNESDAY
8 PM – The Middle
8:30 PM – Suburgatory
9 PM – Modern Family
9:30 PM – The Neighbors (NEW)
10 PM – Nashville (NEW)
8 PM – Shark Tank
9 PM – Primetime: What Would You Do?
10 PM – 20/20
REVISED:
FRIDAY (In November)
8 PM – Last Man Standing (New Night and Time)
8:30 PM – Malibu Country (NEW)
9 PM – Shark Tank
10 PM – Primetime: What Would You Do?
SATURDAY
8 to 11 PM – College Football Saturday Night
SUNDAY
8 PM – Once Upon a Time
9 PM – Revenge (New Night and Time)
10 PM – 666 Park Avenue (NEW)
NOTES: The three new dramas – Mistresses, Red Widow (formerly Penoza) and Zero Hour – will premiere later in the season. And, Body of Proof will be held until mid-season
[ADDED] SECOND NOTE: Mistresses will be summer bound rather than mid-season.
More details on all six new ABC dramas will be forthcoming soon.
Actress Maggie Grace (Lost) has landed a major arc on Californication, playing Faith, an innocent Catholic school girl who’s been exposed to the evils of rock and roll. As a music groupie, she’s been on the road for years, acting as a muse to elite artists and falling heads over heels in love with them. Despite her fondness for sex, drugs and rock and roll, not to mention, a friendship-turned-more with Hank Moody, Faith remains religious. The network is considering a possible spin-off based on this new character. Californication is back in 2013. (Vlada Gelman at TV Line)
NBC has given a direct-to-series order to a new drama called Crossbone, which is an adaptation of the Colin Woodard novel The Republic of Pirates that is set in the 1700s during the Golden Age of Piracy and revolve around legendary pirate Blackbeard. NBC has ordered 10 episodes of the series. (Lesley Goldberg at The Hollywood Reporter)
Late last week and over the weekend the major networks revealed the shows that are being renewed and cancelled as well as the new pilots that are being picked up to series. Here is how much of those announcements broke down:
NBC: Cancelled Harry’s Law and renewed 30 Rock.
The CW: Renewed Nikita, Hart of Dixie and Gossip Girl while they picked up five new series, including The Carrie Diaries, Arrow, Cult, First Cut, and Beauty and the Beast. They cancelled Ringer and The Secret Circle, though.
ABC: Renewed Scandal, Body of Proof and Private Practice and picked up three new pilots Red Widow (formerly known as Penoza), Nashville and Zero Hour. They cancelled GCB, Pan Am, Missing, and The River though.
CBS: Renewed CSI: NY, but cancelled NYC 22, Unforgettable, A Gifted Man and veteran CSI: Miami. The new pilots that were picked up include Elementary, Vegas (formerly known as the Ralph Lamb pilot), Made In Jersey (formerly known as Baby Big Shot) and Golden Boy.
NOTE: Full details on renewals, cancellations and pilot pick-ups can be found in the separate posts I will be making throughout this week in conjunction with the network’s upfront presentations.
BOX OFFICE NEWS
Here are the top 10 box office movies from this past weekend courtesy of Exhibitor Relations:
1. The Avengers, $103.2 million
2. Dark Shadows, $28.8 million
3. Think Like a Man, $6.3 million
4. The Hunger Games, $4.4 million
5. The Lucky One, $4.1 million
6. The Pirates! Band of Misfits, $3.2 million
7. The Five-Year Engagement, $3.1 million
8. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, $2.7 million
9. Chimpanzee, $1.6 million
10. Girl in Progress, $1.4 million
Actor Taylor Lautner will play Cam, a bike messenger who gets in hot water with the mob in the upcoming film called Tracers. The film is set in the world of parkour, the physical discipline that centers on moving efficiently around obstacles, be it by jumping, climbing or running. (Brent Lang at The Wrap)
The following are descriptions of the two new FOX dramas; one that will air this fall and the other that is set for mid-season. There are cast photos for both; and [UPDATED] now we have trailers to watch too:
THE MOB DOCTOR – Monday Nights at 9 PM
PREMISE: For most physicians, the Hippocratic oath is sacred. But for one Chicago doctor, who is indebted to the mafia, saving lives isn’t her only concern. A brilliant young female cardiothoracic surgeon is split between two distinct worlds, juggling her promising medical career with her lifelong debt as a doctor to Chicago’s Southside mob. Dr. Grace Devlin is a top resident at Chicago’s Roosevelt Medical Center. Smart and self-assured, she’s heralded as one of the country’s most promising young surgeons. But family ties keep her glued to her Southside roots. To pay off her brother’s life-threatening gambling debt, she makes a deal with the devil and agrees to work “off book” for the mafia men she once despised. During the day, Grace must deal with the emotionally compelling cases at Roosevelt Medical, but in her other vastly different world, she must juggle an onslaught of mob-related demands, including operating in mob-sanctioned locations, removing bullets from dead bodies to hide incriminating evidence, saving a juiced-up race horse and covertly helping an aging mobster with his erectile dysfunction. All the while, Grace must keep her dual life a secret from everyone. The only one who knows the true scope of Grace’s activities is the man to whom Grace owes her debt: the charming and diabolical Southside mob boss Constantine Alexander, an oddly compassionate killer whose relationship with Grace is more than it seems. Recently released from prison, the former head of the Chicago mob looks to reclaim his place in the organization, with the help of his right-hand associate – and Grace’s ex-boyfriend – Franco. As Grace tries to heed the demands of these two conflicting worlds – not to mention the needs of her own slightly dysfunctional family – her moral center comes into direct conflict with the very immoral things she’s asked to do. But with nerves of steel and a tough-as-nails exterior, she somehow manages to make it all work – at least for now.
CAST: Jordana Spiro (My Boys), William Forsythe (Boardwalk Empire), Floriana Lima (Poor Paul), Zach Gilford (Friday Night Lights), Jaime Lee Kirchner (Mercy), Zeljko Ivanek (Damages), James Carpinello (The Good Wife), Jesse Lee Soffer (As the World Turns) and Wendy Makkena (NCIS).
CREATIVE TEAM: Josh Berman and Rob Wright are the Executive Producers and Michael Dinner directed the pilot.
THE FOLLOWING – Mid-Season (No Night or Timeslot Scheduled Yet)
PREMISE: The FBI estimates there are currently over 300 active serial killers in the United States. What would happen if these killers had a way of communicating and connecting with each other? What if they were able to work together and form alliances across the country? What if one brilliant psychotic serial killer was able to bring them all together and activate a following? When notorious serial killer Joe Carroll escapes from death row and embarks on a new killing spree, the FBI calls former agent Ryan Hardy to consult on the case. Having since withdrawn from the public eye, Hardy was responsible for Carroll’s capture nine years ago, after Carroll murdered 14 female students on the Virginia college campus where he taught literature. Hardy is a walking textbook of all-things Carroll. He knows him better than anyone; he is perhaps Carroll’s only psychological and intellectual match. But the Ryan Hardy who broke the Carroll case years ago isn’t the same man today. Wounded both physically and mentally by his previous pursuit of this serial killer, it’s been a long time since Hardy has been in the field. This investigation is his redemption, his call to action. In contrast to nine years ago, Hardy isn’t calling the shots on this case. He works closely with an FBI team, which includes all-business and tough-as-nails Jennifer Mason and young, razor-sharp Mike Weston. The team considers Hardy to be more of a liability than an asset. But Hardy proves his worth when he uncovers that Carroll was covertly communicating with a network of killers in the outside world. It quickly becomes obvious that he has more planned than just a prison escape, and there’s no telling how many additional killers are out there. The FBI’s investigation leads Hardy to Claire Matthews, Carroll’s ex-wife and mother of the criminal’s 10-year-old son, Joey. Close during Hardy’s initial investigation, Hardy turns to Claire for insight into Carroll’s next move. The tension rises when Carroll’s accomplices kidnap his intended last victim from nine years ago. Hardy becomes ever more determined to end Carroll’s game when he realizes that this psychopath intends to finish what he started.
CAST: Kevin Bacon (Footloose and Taking Chance), James Purefoy (Rome), Jeananne Goossen (Alcatraz), Natalie Zea (Justified), newcomer Kyle Catlett, Shawn Ashmore (The X-Men franchise), Valorie Curry (Veronica Mars), Adan Canto and Nico Tortorella (Make It or Break It).
CREATIVE TEAM: The series creator is Kevin Williamson and Marcos Siega directed the pilot.
Rueben's Ramblings 