Hey All,
Here are the news items for today:
TELEVISION
Actor Matthew Atkinson (Jane By Design) will have a multi-episode arc on Parenthood when the show returns for its fifth season this fall. He will play Zach, the drummer in the band fronted by new arrival Oliver (Tyson Ritter from the band All American Rejects), who bonds with Amber (series regular Mae Whitman) while recording at the Luncheonette. Parenthood returns to NBC on September 26. (Michael Ausiello at TV Line)
Actor Freddie Prinze Jr. will be showing up in the new Lifetime drama Witches of East End, that is set to debut on October 6. He will play Leo Wingate, an entomologist with a chivalrous streak who has a crush on Wendy Beauchamp (actress Madchen Amick). (Entertainment Weekly and TV Equals)
Actress Allie Gonino (The Lying Game) has joined the cast of the Sundance Channel six-episode drama series The Road (previously called The Descendants). The mini-series will revolve around a weathered sheriff struggling to keep his family together while policing two clashing communities: the folks in the small town in which he grew up and those in the neighboring Ramapo Mountains. She will play Rachel, the eldest daughter of the as-yet-uncast local cop struggling to keep his family together. She has a Romeo and Juliet-type relationship with a 16-year-old Native American from the neighboring mountains. The cast already includes actors Tim Sizemore and Jason Momoa. (Lesley Goldberg at The Hollywood Reporter)
Actor Doug Jones (Falling Skies and Hellboy) will appear this season on the MTV thriller Teen Wolf as a “known killer” named Barrow. He will appear in a 2014 episode of the series, which airs its mid-season finale on August 19. (Kimberly Roots at TV Line)
Syfy has acquired the first two seasons (23 episodes in total) of the popular New Zealand scripted series The Almighty Johnsons that follows the Johnson boys, four typical fun-loving guys – who have inherited the power of Norse Gods. But these four brothers are no flashy superheroes. Everyday Gods have everyday struggles – searching for love, overcoming sibling rivalry and fulfilling their God-like destiny – while still enjoying a few beers with their mates. The series will premiere on Syfy sometime next year. (Seat42F)
Lifetime has official renewed their new soap opera Devious Maids for a 13-episode second season. This renewal was actually announced by NBC Latino back on August 1, but this is the official word from the network. (The Futon Critic)
DEVELOPMENT NEWS
NBC has landed a prison drama pilot from novelist-feature film writer Seth Grahame-Smith (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter) called Paradise that will be set in the late 21st century in the city of Las Vegas, which is now the world’s largest maximum-security prison, known as Paradise. Matthew Turner, M.D., is its newest inmate, who was convicted of a murder he didn’t commit. Desperate to get back to his family and prove his innocence, Matthew will have to find a strength he never knew he had, and stay alive long enough to do the one thing no inmate has ever done: escape. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)
Actress Leslie Hope (24 and Revolution) has joined the cast of the FX drama pilot The Strain from director-writer Guillermo del Toro. The thriller will star Corey Stoll (House of Cards) as Dr. Ephraim Goodweather, the head of a Center for Disease Control team in New York City. Unexpectedly, the group is tasked with investigating a mysterious viral outbreak with the hallmarks of an ancient, evil strain of vampirism. Hope will play Joan Luss, one of the few survivors of the outbreak. (Michael Ausiello at TV Line)
Actors Chris Diamantopoulos (The Starter Wife and Arrested Development) and Jake Sandvig (the box office film Sky High) will have starring roles in the Syfy 90-minute pilot called High Noon that is an imaginative, out-of-this-world adventure series exploring what happens when Earth establishes colonies to mine the Moon’s resources and discover a new form of life. Chaos erupts in a genuinely emotional, humorously thrilling and always unexpected fashion as the colonists of the Moon race to uncover this life form’s powerful secrets. The project is based on the novel “The Lotus Caves” by John Christopher and will be executive produced by Bryan Fuller (Hannibal, Pushing Daisies and Wonderfalls) [among others]. Diamantopoulos will portray Ian, a chief investigator for the American federal government who has been dispatched to the moon to figure out the causes of an explosion, and becomes stunned by what he discovers. Sandvig will play Marty, whose felony conviction requires that he serve prison time as a moon laborer. (The Futon Critic)
MADE-FOR-TV MOVIE NEWS
The Weinstein Co. has acquired the TV rights to best-selling narrative nonfiction book, “The Hours of Peril” by Daniel Stashower with plans to make it a TV mini-series. The project will tell the true story of how the legendary detective Allan Pinkerton and his most trusted operative, Kate Warne, America’s first female private eye, raced against the clock to detect and prevent a plot to assassinate President-Elect Abraham Lincoln before he could take the oath of office. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)
BOX OFFICE NEWS
Actress Kirsten Dunst is set to play the female lead in the upcoming box office film Midnight Special, starring alongside Michael Shannon and Joel Edgerton. The film will focus on a father and his 8-year old who go on the run when dad realizes the boy has some kind of special powers. There is no word yet what role Dunst has in the film though. (Mike Fleming, Jr. at Deadline)
Australian actor Sullivan Stapleton (Strike Back and the upcoming 300 sequel) will star in the upcoming crime thriller film called Kill Three Times. There are no details available on the film at this time. (Mike Fleming, Jr. at Deadline)
Q&A SECTION (with the staff at E! Online)
Question: LOVED all the Scandal spoilers from Shonda and the cast, thank you! Anything else you can share? Will the new season actually be just as good as season two? – Brenda
E! Online: From what I’ve seen so far, the intensity does not waiver! Episode three in particular looks to be bananas, with a sniper and SWAT team and secret service galore.
Question: Literally dying for any scoop on the new season of TVD! Please deliver me some goodies! – Beth
E! Online: There will be zero deaths this season. Just kidding! Come on now, this is The Vampire Diaries, where there are more deaths than good-looking people…and that’s saying a lot! We can tell you that Elena and Caroline will experience the death of one of their fellow freshman when they hit college come October. But with mourning comes potential romance as their classmate’s death will lead one of the ladies to meet a possible new love interest: Aaron, a handsome co-ed who may have a connection the dearly departed.
Question: Revenge scoop? Is anyone else going to die? – Marrissa
E! Online: Yes, there will be at least one death this season. We can also tell you that someone notable ends up in the emergency room in episode four. It’s a life or death situation that requires defibrillator paddles, so if you’re an uberfan, you might want to have your own pair on standby!
Question: I know the first episode is pretty far off, but any chance for White Collar spoilers? – Andy
E! Online: What do you know, we were just onset to talk to the cast about the season-five premiere, and we’ll let you in a on a little secret: it’s a big episode of Peter and Elizabeth, and not in a good way. Someone from Peter’s past will show up and really put a strain on the couple’s relationship. And here’s another hint: the person from Peter’s past is a woman.
That’s it. Enjoy!
Rueben's Ramblings 