Rueben's Ramblings

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!