Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

Actor Jeffrey Nordling (24 and Body of Proof) will guest star in an upcoming episode of Necessary Roughness, playing a media relations guru named Glen Purlman. The team encounters a major crisis and only Purlman’s PR expertise can get them out of it. The show airs its mid-season finale on August 29 and will be back with more new episodes this winter. (Megan Masters at TV Line)

Actress Tina Majorino (Veronica Mars and Napoleon Dynamite) will have a guest starring role on Grey’s Anatomy, but no details are available on what her role will be in the show. The long-running medical drama will return for a new season on ABC starting on September 27. (Natalie Abrams at TV Guide)

Actor Ciarán Hinds (Rome and Political Animals) will guest star as Mance Rayder on Game of Thrones, who is the leader of wildings. Season 3 of Game of Thrones is set to premiere March 31, 2013. (Matt Mitovich at TV Line)

ABC Family has given a third season pick-up to its sitcom Melissa & Joey, a second season pick-up to comedy Baby Daddy and the drama Switched At Birth and a back-order pick-up for Bunheads. But the bad news is that the network has opted to cancel the drama Jane By Design. (TV By the Numbers)

Actor Enver Gjokaj (Dollhouse) will be guest starring in the new CBS drama Made in Jersey, playing U.S. attorney Tommy Ligand and the ex-boyfriend of the lead character Martina (Janet Montgomery), a working-class woman trying to make it as a first-year associate at an uber-competitive prestigious law firm in New York. Made in Jersey will debut on September 28. (Lesley Goldberg at The Hollywood Reporter)

MATT’S INSIDE LINE [AKA INSIDE SCOOP ON FALL TV] (with Matt Mitovich at TV Line)

Question: News about Mad Hatter/Jefferson? – @RumpleFacts

Mitovich: When I recently spoke to Sebastian Stan (currently playing a different kind of a bad boy on Political Animals), he was totally game to take another trip down the ABC drama’s rabbit hole. “I love that character, and it’s a great show – a very different thing than I’ve ever done,” he raved. “So if the timing works out, maybe!” The better news: The timing worked out. A well-placed source assures me that the manic milliner “is indeed coming back” in Season 2 (premiering Sept. 30).

Question: With Brian Dietzen being promoted to series regular (on NCIS), does this mean we’ll see more of him in Season 10?

Mitovich: Show boss Gary Glasberg told me that Dietzen’s upgrade “was simply long overdue, and something we’d been talking about for a very long time.” The intimation of a steadier presence for Palmer just so happens to make sense storyline-wise, as Ducky is forced to take new stock of life after his season-ending health scare. “Palmer also has an eye-opening experience in the first few episodes [starting Sept. 25], where he really has to step up his game and recognize his own strengths and weaknesses,” Glasberg previews. “He’s basically the acting coroner, and it’s a lot to take on — and that will carry over in the way he handles himself and the rest of the team.”

That’s it. Enjoy!

Have a terrific weekend!