Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for today, few though they may be:

TELEVISION

Actor Gerald McRaney (Major Dad and Promised Land) will appear in at least five episodes of the TNT cop drama Southland, playing Det. Hicks, a retired police officer who was Officer John Cooper’s (Michael Cudlitz) training officer. He now drinks a little too much and lives on a boat in Marina Del Rey. (Lynette Rice at Entertainment Weekly)

Doctor Who alum David Tennant will star in the three-part legal thriller called The Escape Artist that is set to air on BBC One in the U.K. [fingers crossed that BBC America will provide the mini to us here in the States!] Tennant will play Will Burton, a lawyer nicknamed “The Escape Artist” thanks to his ability to get people out of tight legal corners. But when his talents acquit the prime suspect in a horrific murder trial, his brilliance comes back to bite him. The telefilm will also star Ashley Jensen (Ugly Betty), Sophie Okonedo (Hotel Rwanda) and Toby Kebbell (Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time). (Nancy Tartaglione at Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actor Tom Welling (Clark Kent on Smallville) will co-star in the upcoming box office film called Parkland, the ensemble drama about the hours following the assassination of JFK in Parkland Hospital. The cast already includes Paul Giamatti, Zac Efron, and Billy Bob Thornton (among many others). (Mike Fleming, Jr. at Deadline)

Actor Sam Worthington will star in the upcoming action-thriller called For The Dogs that is about an assassin who agrees to help a college girl exact revenge on the murderers of her parents and younger brother. (The Deadline Team)

Q&A SECTION (with Team Watch with Kristin at E! Online)

Question: Any Once Upon a Time scoop? I’ve been hearing rumors that Jamie Dornan is returning, please tell me it’s true! – Kendra

Team Watch with Kristin: “Thrilled to be able to confirm that we have Jamie Dornan returning to appear again in an episode of Once Upon a Time,” co-creator Adam Horowitz tweeted of our Hot Hipster Sheriff. “So excited.” We can also tell you that Dornan was recently spotted filming with Lana Parrilla (aka Regina) in Sheriff Graham gear, not Huntsman gear. (Oh, how we missed that vest!)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

BBC America is co-producing a TV-movie that will chronicle the genesis of the legendary TV series Doctor Who and the Time Lord’s maiden voyage on November 23, 1963. The movie will be called An Adventure in Space Time and will star David Bradley (Argus Filch from the Harry Potter franchise) will portray William Hartness, the show’s first Doctor while Brian Cox (The Bourne Identity) will play Sydney Newman, the BBC’s Head of Drama credited with the creation of the show. The cast also includes Jessica Raine (Call the Midwife) and Sacha Dawan (History Boys) as producer Verity Lambert and director Waris Hussien, who helmed the “An Unearthly Child” pilot. The 90-minute movie will premiere later this year. (Matt Mitovich at TV Line)

Actress Katie McGrath (Merlin) and actor Nonso Anozie (Game of Thrones) will star opposite Jonathan Rhys Meyers in the upcoming NBC drama series Dracula that re-introduces Dracula (Meyers) as he arrives in London, posing as American entrepreneur Alan Grayson who maintains that he wants to bring modern science to Victorian society. In reality, he hopes to wreak revenge on the people who ruined his life centuries earlier but falls hopelessly in love with Mina Murray (Jessica De Gouw) who appears to be the reincarnation of his dead wife. McGrath will play Lucy Westenra, Aristocratic London’s sexy, social butterfly and Mina’s best friend who has a penchant for gossip, flirting and all things glamorous. Anozie will play R.M. Renfield, Alan Grayson’s fiercely loyal confidante. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actress Melinda Clarke (Nikita and The O.C.) will guest star in an upcoming episode of the new CBS drama Vegas, playing the mother of Mia Rizzo (Sarah Jones). Her character will be Lena, a charismatic, shrewd, strong woman who is attracted to even stronger men. Although Mia’s father (Michael Wiseman) insisted that Lena died when Mia was a baby, she’s alive and well, having been forbidden to see or contact her daughter. Naturally, her arrival at the Savoy will ruffle a few feathers. (Adam Bryant at TV Guide)

SUMMER TELEVISION

ABC has picked up the Canadian drama Motive and plans to air the crime drama this summer. The series has “a unique twist” focusing not on who did the crime, but why the crime was committed in the first place. Here is the basic premise behind the show: When murder is committed, Angie Flynn, a loving, single mother and a damned good detective, along with her partner, Detective Oscar Vega, are on the case, looking for clues that will lead them to the killer. The cast includes Kristin Lehman (The Killing), Louis Ferreira (Stargate Universe), Lauren Holly (NCIS), Roger Cross (24, Continuum and Arrow) and Cameron Bright (The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2). (The Futon Critic)

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

Question: Will the secret that the Five rigged the presidential election come out on Scandal? — Hailee

NATALIE: That’s what the — oh my goodness, I love what Shonda Rhimes calls them — Illuminati will hope to prevent in the coming episodes. “There’s a splintering of the Illuminati in terms of everyone’s agendas and what they’re willing to do and who they feel is to blame,” she says. “It becomes more fractured as it goes along, and it starts to feel like, for Olivia, that this is the one problem that she can’t fix.”

Question: What’s coming up for Oliver’s love life on Arrow? — Clark

NATALIE: Sorry to disappoint the Laurel and Oliver fans, but this week’s episode will introduce McKenna Hall (True Blood’s Janina Gavankar), a former party girl and Oliver’s old friend. “She isn’t the same person she used to be, so both of them are rediscovering each other,” executive producer Marc Guggenheim says. “She’s a very cool and interesting foil for Oliver, as well as a very different kind of love interest, both in terms of what her past is, as a completely crazy party girl who could keep up with the old Oliver Queen, as well as her present day existence as a cop.”

Question: What’s coming up for Juliette on Nashville? — Andrea

ADAM: Although things seem to be looking up for Juliette and her addict mom at the moment, don’t count on that to last — especially when Mommie Dearest finishes her rehab stint and moves back in with her daughter. Although one rough patch will force Juliette to hire a sober coach for her mom, Juliette might be the one who truly benefits from his work. Look for her to open up to him about a painful childhood memory — an exercise that perhaps both explains Juliette’s troubled relationship with her mom and finally helps Juliette repair it.

Question: Jeremy and Bonnie seem to be close again on The Vampire Diaries. Any hookups in their future? — Gabi

NATALIE: They’ll have some pretty intense scenes coming up, but not romantically. “It’s more partnership and companionship than anything too sexual,” Kat Graham tells us. “Even if they wanted to take another stab at it, Bonnie has so many trust issues stemming from her parents and some of her friends that she has a bit of a wall up now and she’s like, ‘Let’s just be friends for now.'”

Question: How long before Catherine’s family finds out about Vincent on Beauty and the Beast? — Jacob

NATALIE: Cat’s sister Heather will soon find herself heavily involved in their relationship. Not only will she finally meet Vincent (under false pretenses of course), but Jay Ryan tells us their meeting will turn deadly. “Heather has got herself in with a bad crowd and so Vincent has to save her life. In doing so, he mistakenly kills someone very close to one of our series regular cast members. It’s going to have the whole city after this guy because they think he wrongfully killed this man.”

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

Actor Brant Daugherty (Pretty Little Liars) will have a major recurring role in Army Wives, which returns to Lifetime on March 10. He will play 2nd Lt. Patrick Clark, son of Jackie (Kelli Williams) and Kevin (Robert John Burke), who is described as an intelligent, capable infantry officer freshly minted from West Point eager to prove himself in combat. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actress Annie Wersching (24) will guest star on Revolution, playing Emma, the first love of Miles (series regular Billy Burke). The series returns to NBC on March 25 and Wersching’s episode will air on April 22. (Sadie Gennis at TV Guide)

Actor Eric Mabius (Ugly Betty) will guest star on an upcoming episode of Blue Bloods, playing Richard Rourke, a likable and sexy multi-millionaire philanthropist with an unblemished record who may not be as perfect as he appears. (Kimberly Roots at TV Line)

Actor Scott Wolf (Party of Five and V) will have a recurring role on the TNT drama Perception, playing Donnie, a charismatic, fast-rising Assistant U.S. Attorney recently transferred back to Chicago, who just happens to be the soon-to-be ex-husband of Special Agent Kate Moretti (series regular Rachael Leigh Cook). (Michael Ausiello at TV Line)

Cinemax renewed their new drama Banshee for a second season (already). (Kimberly Roots at TV Line)

It looks like BBC America is heading toward a renewal of their new period piece drama Ripper Street, as BBC 1 (one of the main networks in the U.K.) has announced the show will get a second season. (Jon Weisman at Variety)

Q&A SECTION (with Sandra Gonzalez at Entertainment Weekly and Team Watch with Kristin at E! Online)

Question: Could you tell me something about the aftermath of NCIS’ double death? What are the long-term effects that they have on Ziva and Vance? — Jenny de Jong

Sandra: Vance will continue to have a tough time as he struggles with grief, and as executive producer Gary Glasberg teases, it will make for quite a few heart-tugging moments. “There’s a tremendous amount for him to tackle and then come back to work,” says Glasberg. “We introduced the Deputy Director Craig character (Greg Germann), who will be around for a while and will come at things in a little bit of a quirkier way than Vance does and that will be present over the next few episodes. And there are definitely some very touching, heartfelt moments that are coming.” But the traumatic loss of Vance’s wife has given both the writers and actor Rocky Carroll just the dramatic meat they were hoping for, he adds. “When Rocky and I first spoke about this arc, the goal was to really open some doors for the Vance character and have him deal with some very personal matters for him as a father and a widower,” says Glasberg. “Vance has to continue raising his kids and going about his life and [we’ll explore] how that affects him at home and at work. It’s going to carry through well through the end of the season.”

Question: Anything more involving Jacob and/or Paul on The Following? – jmnzl

Team Watch with Kristin: Prepare for flashbacks! We’ll learn more about Jacob and Paul’s complicated relationship and what went down when Emma wasn’t around for three years. Fans should also prepare to see Paul do something less than smart when he finally cracks and can’t stand being a third wheel any longer.

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

GENERAL NEWS

Congrats to the winners of the Screen Actors Guild awards that were announced last night, including (but limited to) Daniel Day-Lewis, Jennifer Lawrence, Anne Hathaway, Argo, Downton Abbey, Claire Danes and Game of Thrones.

TELEVISION

Actress Britt Robertson (Life Unexpected and The Secret Circle) has joined the cast of the upcoming summer CBS series Under the Dome based on the Stephen King novel. The series follows residents in the Chester’s Mill community as they deal with the post-apocalyptic conditions that ensue when a strange barrier mysteriously encapsulates the town. Robertson will play Angie, an attractive young waitress and aspiring nurse who has always dreamed of escaping Chester’s Mill. (Lesley Goldberg at The Hollywood Reporter)

Actor Elias Koteas (Combat Hospital) has joined the cast of the AMC series The Killing that is returning to the network even after its cancellation and then resurrection by the network. He will play Sarah Linden’s (Mireille Enos) ex-partner Ed Skinner. (Lesley Goldberg and Philiana Ng at The Hollywood Reporter)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Here are the top 10 box office movies for this past weekend courtesy of Exhibitor Relations:

1. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, $19 million
2. Mama, $12.9 million
3. Silver Linings Playbook, $10million
4. Zero Dark Thirty, $9.8 million
5. Parker, $7 million
6. Django Unchained, $5.005 million
7. Movie 43, $5 million
8. Gangster Squad, $4.2 million
9. Broken City, $4 million
10. Les Misérables, $3.9 million

Actor Shawn Ashmore and actresses Anna Paquin and Ellen Page will be joining the upcoming X-Men: Days of Future Past movie that will also feature Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen as well as returning X-Men: First Class cast members James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence. (The Deadline Team)

Q&A SECTION (with Team Watch with Kristin at E! Online and Matt Roush at TV Guide)

Question: Any Vampire Diaries scoop you can share, preferably about Bonnie? – Janet

Team Watch with Kristin: Take it away, Kat Graham: “I can tell you that Bonnie is going to take a different turn and is going to make some choices that are going to affect the rest of the characters. It’s really, really huge,” she teases. Dark Willow, anyone?!

Question: Will we see more stuff between Ryan and Claire on The Following? I love them together. – Dawson

Team Watch with Kristin: This week’s episode is light on the Ryan-Claire stuff, but coming up you can definitely expect more interaction between those two. And did someone order a flashback to when they first got together? Coming right up…in a couple of weeks. And if you’re (for some odd reason) a fan of Joe and Claire together, they’ve got a really intense scene in an upcoming episode that’ll surely leave you breathless (but not in the sexy way).

Question: I read that Switched At Birth is going to do an all-American Sign Language episode sometime in March. I can’t tell you how excited I am about this! And what’s even better, this doesn’t feel like some kind of gimmick episode. This completely fits into what they’ve already been doing and the storylines that have been set in place. I can’t wait!!! — Lindlee

Matt Roush: It does sound special, doesn’t it? Though not in the “very special episode” sense of so many other TV stunts. Switched at Birth exists in a world where being able to communicate with ASL connects so many of the characters (or not). This promises to be a peak moment for one of TV’s very best family dramas. And in case you want to set your DVRs already, the airdate is March 4.

That’s it. Enjoy!

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