Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

Actress Army Irving will play a recurring role on the drama series Zero Hour that will debut on ABC this mid-season. The series stars Anthony Edwards (ER) as a man who, after spending 20 years as the editor of a skeptic magazine, becomes involved in one of the most compelling conspiracies in human history. Irving will play a seemingly innocent, philanthropic and ordinary mother who turns out to be anything but. Married into money and well connected to the community through the charity that she runs, her plans border on both mysterious and dangerous. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Oscar winning actor F. Murray Abraham (Amadeus) will have a recurring role in Homeland, playing Dar Adul, a brilliant intelligence operative who has worked all over the world for the Special Activities Division of the CIA. Homeland will return for its second season on Showtime on October 30. (Tim Stack at Entertainment Weekly)

Actors James Caan and Esai Morales (NYPD Blue and Caprica) will both have recurring roles in Magic City when it returns for its second season of on Starz. The series is set in 1959 Miami shortly after the Cuban Revolution, telling the story of Ike Evans (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), the owner of Miami’s glitzy Miramar Playa hotel, who is forced to make a deal with local mob boss Ben Diamond (Danny Huston). Caan will play Sy Berman, the head of the Chicago mob and Diamond’s boss while Morales will play Carlos Ruiz, a former rebel who once fought beside Castro but now works to free Cuba from the man he once considered a brother. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

The CW is putting a contemporary spin on the classic story of Alice In Wonderland by developing a modern-day drama called Wunderland that will center on a young female detective in present-day Los Angeles who discovers another world that exists under the surface of this ultra-modern city. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

CBS is putting an as-yet titled medical drama into production with Peter Lenkov (Hawaii Five-0) set as the executive producer and showrunner. The project centers on an iconic tech billionaire who discovers he has terminal cancer and responds by building a hospital and recruiting a team of the world’s best doctors to take on his disease—but he soon comes to learn that his salvation lies in saving others. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

A new legal drama from David Shore, the creator and executive producer of House, has landed at ABC. The untitled drama is a high-end, character-driven procedural about a former cop who’s now a cunning but charming low-rent lawyer who uses his street smarts to work the system for his clients while battling his own demons and wooing his ex-wife. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)
Josh Friedman, executive producer of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, has set up another drama project at ABC. It is called Chosen and is a unique tale of family struggle, teen romance and California evil, exploring how a family’s life is upended when their 15-year-old daughter is identified as the reincarnated prophet of a mysterious South American religion. But is she their messiah or a pawn in a darker conspiracy? (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actor James Gandolfini (The Sopranos) is set to star in an HBO drama pilot called Criminal Justice that is a New York-set crime drama loosely based on the acclaimed 2008 BBC series of the same name created by Peter Moffat. The original series chronicled the journey of a person charged with murder through the justice system, and each featuring new characters and cast. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actress Rachel Boston (American Dreams and In Plain Sight) has joined the cast of the Lifetime drama pilot Witches of East End. She will play Ingrid Beauchamp, who is cautious, quirky, smart and unaware of how beautiful she is. Also cast in the show are Jenna Dewan (Step Up and The Playboy Club) and Julie Ormond. (Kimberly Roots at TV Line)

BOX OFFICE TRAILER

The Hobbit Official Trailer 2 [HD]: An Unexpected Journey

Q&A SECTION (with Jenna Mullins and John Boone at E! Online)

Question: I just finished all of Downton Abbey and I am dying for scoop! – B.C.

Answer: Elizabeth McGovern tells us what to expect when it comes to Cora’s relationship with her mother, played by Shirley MacLaine. “I think that Cora is very fond of her mother. There is not a lot of tension between them,” she says. “She’s protective of her when she comes over, too, because she’s facing this somewhat suspicious cold front, which is her English family that Cora is now used to and has learned how to manipulate or to live amongst. So I think she is very sensitive to how it must be like for her mother to enter into this atmosphere that she has grown used to.” Sounds like a delicious new season, no?

Question: I’m loving Revolution! Got any spoilers on what’s coming up? – Sammie

Answer: You’re not the only one digging J.J. Abrams’ new post-apocalyptic drama: In its Monday premiere, Revolution attracted 11.7 million viewers, making it the biggest drama debut on NBC in five years! And, according to star Giancarlo Esposito, who plays the seemingly scary Captain Neville, things are going to really start getting interesting in upcoming episodes—even if he wouldn’t tell us exactly what those interesting twists were. “I know some things that might happen,” he coyly told us. “I know more about some personal relationships that Captain Neville has with other characters in the show that the audience would be very surprised by.”

Question: Castle scoop! Not involving Castle and Beckett. I want happy scoop! – Dianna

Answer: So you know how Castle is doing a Firefly-esque tribute in an upcoming episode? Sounds like they are currently casting for…well, Nathan Fillion! Gabriel Winters is described as an actor who quickly rose to fame playing Captain Max Richards on a hit sci-fi series. Of course, unlike Fillion, this leading man spiraled out of control after his show went off the air with booze and one-night stands. Castle’s Firefly-themed episode, titled “The Final Frontier,” is the seventh episode of the new season.

That’s it. Enjoy!