Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

The cable network Starz has cancelled Magic City after two seasons. The series finale will air this coming Friday. (AJ Marechal at Variety)

Fan favorite actor Mark Sheppard will have a “substantial arc” on White Collar when the popular USA Network returns this fall for its fifth season. Sheppard will appear in seven episodes, reprising a role he played in the show’s pilot. He played Curtis Hagen, a shady art forger nicknamed “The Dutchman,” who was apprehended by Peter Burke and sent to prison. Neal will strike a deal with Hagen in order to help Peter, who took the fall for the shooting of a senator at the end of Season 4. But the kinds of demands that Hagen makes of Neal could lead Neal back to his old life as a criminal and con man. (Maureen Ryan at The Huffington Post)

Actress Leslie Hope (24 and Revolution) will guest star in an upcoming episode of NCIS this fall, playing Sarah Porter, a high-level Navy official. NCIS will back for season 11 starting on September 24. (Matt Mitovich at TV Guide)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Last Resort creator and executive producer Karl Gajdusek and executive producer Shawn Ryan are teaming up for another drama series project called Freedom at ABC. The project is based on an original idea by Gajdusek who will write the script. The story will follow a group of brilliant, eclectic, freethinking Ivy League students who help create “Freedom,” the next resistance movement to government and corporate powers modeled after hacker collectives like Anonymous or Wikileaks that are now dominating the public’s attention. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Netflix has acquired the rights to Marco Polo, the upcoming 13th century-set series about the legendary adventurer that had been previously set up a Starz. The series would follow the true story of the world’s greatest storyteller, an epic and cinematic adventure of high politics, masterful manipulation and deadly warfare. The nine-episode series will chronicle the famed explorer’s journey during his early years in the court of Kublai Khan. It is believed the series will hit Netflix sometime in 2014. (Michael Schneider at TV Guide)

Bravo has ordered an hour-long dramedy pilot called Girlfriend’s Guide to Divorce from Marti Noxon (of Buffy and Angel fame). The pilot is based on the book series by executive producer Vicki Iovine, following a best-selling author of a self-help book series who is secretly hiding her separation from her husband as she starts to navigate her life as a single woman in her 40s in Los Angeles. She starts to side with and take advice more from her divorced friends rather than her married ones, and it leads her to some unexpected and life-changing experiences. (Lesley Goldberg at The Hollywood Reporter)

NOTE: This sounds eerily like a web series “Dating in LA and Other Urban Myths” that my friend and fellow entertainment news blogger Danielle Turchiano just directed with blogger Patricia Steffey. Ironic? I think not!

BOX OFFICE TRAILER

Watch: Naomi Watts in ‘Diana’ Romantic Biopic International Trailer

Hot Teaser Trailer: ‘Muppets Most Wanted’

Must Watch: Second Trailer for Gavin Hood’s ‘Ender’s Game’ Movie

That’s it. Enjoy!