Hey All,
Here are the news items for today:
TELEVISION
TNT has given the greenlight to the new as-yet untitled private-eye drama that will star actor Jon Tenney (The Closer) and actress Rebecca Romijn (X-Men franchise) and is based on the popular characters of Sean King and Michelle Maxwell by best-selling author David Baldacci. The series is slated to premiere in the summer of 2013; and will be about Sean King (Tenney) and Michelle Maxwell (Romijn), who aren’t your typical pair of private investigators. Both are former Secret Service agents, and their unique skills often give them a leg up on suspects and conventional law enforcement. (TNT)
Actor Colin Morgan (Merlin) has been cast in the new British drama called Quirke for BBC One (one of the major networks in the U.K.), which is based on the acclaimed novels by Benjamin Black (a pseudonym for the award-winning Irish writer John Banville). Quirke will air as a 3-part series about a titular chief pathologist in the Dublin City Morgue, both charismatic and a loner, whose job takes him to places he never expected. (Film Thrasher)
Lifetime has canceled the fan favorite series Drop Dead Diva. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)
It looks like actress Ruth Wilson may be back in the upcoming season of Luther, the hit BBC drama that stars Idris Elba in the lead role. (Digital Spy and Dark Horizons)
Actors Debra Jo Rupp (That 70’s Show) will guest star in an upcoming episode of Hart of Dixie as Betsy Maynard, Wanda’s gin-loving mom who comes to Bluebell for a visit. Unfortunately, she becomes such a handful; her daughter pawns her off on Zoe. (Megan Masters at TV Line)
Legendary actor Lance Henriksen will guest star in an episode of the new NBC thriller Hannibal, a contemporary take on the characters from the Thomas Harris novel Red Dragon that focuses on the fledgling relationship between FBI agent Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) and his mentor Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen), his mentor. There are no details on what role Henrisken will play, though. (Michael Ausiello at TV Line)
Actor James Marsters (Buffy, the Vampire Slayer and Caprica) will guest star in an upcoming episode of Warehouse 13, which is set to return for the remainder of its current season starting in April. (Twitter)
Actor Edi Gathegi (X-Men: First Class) will have a recurring role in the new CW series Beauty And the Beast, playing Kyle, a “composed agent for a top-secret organization with killer looks and instincts to match. He doesn’t like his time to be wasted, and can easily assess anyone’s weaknesses and happily exploit them.” (James Hibberd at Entertainment Weekly)
DEVELOPMENT NEWS
Syfy and Ron Moore are finalizing a deal for a 13-episode straight-to-series order for his new project called Helix that will be about a team of scientists investigating a possible disease outbreak at an Arctic research facility who find themselves trying to protect the world from annihilation. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)
CONDOLENCES
Actor Conrad Bain, who played wealthy widower and adoptive father Phillip Drummond on the TV comedy Diff’rent Strokes, passed away today at the age of 89. (The Deadline Team)
ME: Rest in Peace, Mr. Bain. Condolences are extended to his family, friends and fans. Moment of silence, please.
Q&A SECTION (with Team Watch with Kristin at E! Online and Natalie Abrams and Adam Bryant at TV Guide)
Question: Hey, what about Revenge? – The Juan D
Team Watch with Kristin: It’s going back to basics! “The show’s resetting itself and they’re going back to what the origins were, which is a more personal thing,” Madeleine Stowe says. “You’re not going to have this Initiative out here and this thing happening out here. They are going to concentrate on the central character.” To this we say: Wheeee! As for Victoria, Stowe teases, “I’m once again being the targeted villain and doing horrible things to Emily, and Emily’s going to be doing horrible things to me. It’s on again, which is really, really good. It’s really going to be us trying to destroy each other.”
Question: I want to know about the president and Olivia Pope on Scandal and if their relationship will continue now he’s awake. – SavannahRidout
Team Watch with Kristin: Rest assured, Fitz will be up out of bed and back to work soon on Scandal, but he might have to put Olivia on the back burner, so to speak, for the time being. The POTUS will have his hands full with a very scary hostage situation that will lead to a Seal Team raid. How’s that for a warm welcome back to work?
Question: Viva La Revolution! What’s coming up for my favorite character Neville when the show returns in March? – Josh
Team Watch with Kristin: A whole lot of tension, according to Giancarlo Esposito! “[Neville] starts to become estranged from his son. His son has this soft spot for [Charlie] and also has questions about brutality. Monroe Republic now has power and now has big guns and the question of brutality is why would you take all those people out who only have crossbows?” Esposito also teases “major strain” coming up for Neville and Monroe. Yikes!
Question: I am loving Deception! Any scoop on what’s coming up? – Helen
Team Watch with Kristin: If you are digging the love triangle drama developing on the show, you should know there will be plenty more juicy romantic tangles ahead for Joanna. “There is a love triangle. And what’s crazy is that she actually loves both guys,” Meagan Good tells us. “One of them is her teenage heartthrob, her first love, her first everything. There’s this love growing between them that was always there and now it’s on a different level. And now you have Will, this guy was her best friend and her partner and there for all her adult years. The relationship could’ve potentially been something, but he left. Now they’re working together again. So, she cares about both guys.” As for the murder mystery, don’t you dare think you have it all figured out yet. “What you find about every episode is it starts to point in every direction,” Good teases. “Nothing is what it seems.”
Question: What have you heard about the upcoming Abby flashback episode on NCIS? — Jill
ADAM: Unlike previous “origin story” episodes (we’re looking at you, DiNozzo!), Abby’s tale is not about how she joined NCIS. “The goal was step all the way back and see when Abby started to develop an interest in putting clues together and solving mysteries,” executive producer Gary Glasberg says. The (somewhat painful) flashbacks, which are brought on by a present-day investigation of a Marine’s car accident, will also feature Abby’s brother Luka. “There’s almost a To Kill a Mockingbird quality to it,” Glasberg says. “It’s really emotional, and it ends with a beautiful scene of Gibbs pointing out to Abby just how special she is.”
Question: So excited about Rena Sofer as Snow White’s mother on Once Upon a Time. Is there anything you can share about her role? — Phyllis
NATALIE: Executive producer Adam Horowitz confirms that Queen Eva has a “surprising connection to someone else in our world.” If your first guess is Cora — since it seems likely that the Evil Queen’s evil mother may have had a hand in Queen Eva’s death — you may be in for a treat. “That would be a feud that goes back so long,” executive producer Edward Kitsis says. But what you may find more interesting? “You would think it would be easy to be Snow White’s mother, but perhaps Snow White wasn’t always Snow White,” Kitsis says.
Question: Will we ever find out why the power really went off on Revolution? — Winston
NATALIE: We know the how since Rachel was working on a device to turn it off, but the who and the why in regards to the big blackout will soon be uncovered. “Rachel knows why the power went off in the first place,” executive producer Eric Kripke tells us. “She says it way earlier than anyone thinks, so we reveal it. We say it because she would. And eventually it evolves into a really epic quest to just turn the power on for everybody.”
Question: Is Wren coming back this season on Pretty Little Liars? — Brittany
ADAM: Yep, and he’ll run straight into the arms of Spencer. “When Spencer finds out about Toby… somehow Wren just shows up at the right time,” Troian Bellisario tells us. “It’s like he has a sixth sense [about] when she’s hurting!” Or perhaps he too has dangerous intentions for Spencer? “There’s a side to Wren that hasn’t been explored yet. There’s a lot more fun waiting to happen there that’s not what you’d expect,” Bellisario says.
Question: Roy Harper is coming to Arrow! — Matt
NATALIE: Yes, he is! And that Speedy will get very close to the other Speedy. “Our interpretation of Roy is hopefully unexpected,” executive producer Marc Guggenheim says. “Roy is from the Glades, which is part of Starling City that is the slum of the slums, and obviously he’s from a very different side of the tracks from Thea, so that gives us a fun dynamic to play around with. We’re designing it to be a longer-term relationship.”
That’s it. Enjoy!
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