Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

TNT has picked up the new Steven Bocho drama Murder in the First to series. The series will
follow homicide detectives played by Taye Diggs and Kathleen Robertson, focusing on one major case a season; this season’s being about the murder of an apparent drug addict with ties to a Silicon Valley mogul. (Lesley Goldberg at The Hollywood Reporter and Variety)

British actor Richard Coyle (Covert Affairs) will co-star alongside John Malkovich in the NBC pirate drama Crossbones that is set to air mid-season. The series is set in 1715 on the Bahamian island of New Providence where the diabolical pirate Edward Teach, aka Blackbeard (Malkovich), reigns over a rogue nation of thieves, outlaws and miscreant sailors. To gain control of this fearsome society, Tom Lowe (Coyle), a highly skilled undercover assassin, is sent to the pirates’ haven to take down the brilliant and charismatic Blackbeard. But the closer Lowe gets, the more he finds that his quest is not so simple. Lowe can’t help but admire the political ideals of Blackbeard, whose thirst for knowledge knows no bounds. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actor John Noble (Fringe) will recur on the FOX thriller Sleepy Hollow as Henry Parrish, a kind and reclusive man who possesses supernatural powers that have the potential to help the series’ protagonist, Ichabod Crane (series lead Tom Mison). (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actress Melora Hardin (The Office) will guest star in the mid-season ABC drama Killer Women, playing Nan Reed, the long-suffering spouse of a yahoo husband who browbeats her into getting plastic surgery whenever the mood strikes. Or at least he does until she’s finally had enough. Killer Women stars Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica) as Molly Parker, the only woman in an elite squad of Texas Rangers. (Adam Bryant at TV Guide)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

NBC is developing Ghost Projekt, a drama based on the Oni Press graphic novel that centers on an American UN weapons inspector and a Russian FSB agent who are forced to team up to chase a group of thieves before they end up spreading dangerous supernatural material stolen from an old abandoned Soviet weapons lab. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

British newcomer Tom Austen has joined actor William Moseley and actress Elizabeth Hurley in the hour-long E! pilot called The Royals that is a contemporary drama about a fictional royal family informed by the regal opulence of the British monarchy and framed by Shakespeare’s Hamlet. He will play Jasper, the new security detail/love interest to Princess Eleanor. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Syfy has teamed with Bryan Singer (director of X-Men) for a new drama project called Creature At Bay that is set in the wake of the US military taking down a giant, rampant creature, a modern-day “Kaiju” monster, just off the Northern California coast. A middle-management Undersecretary from the California Emergency Management Agency is charged with leading the clean-up efforts as the small town becomes the focus of the entire world. (Nellie Andeeva at Deadline)

Q&A SECTION (with Matt Mitovich at TV Line)

Question: Will Once Upon a Time fans see how Regina adopted Henry this season? –Ishan

Mitovich: “Yes,” series co-creator Adam Horowitz confirms. “Before our Christmas break, we plan to show the why and the how of how baby Henry came to his new mother.”

Question: Any scoop on Suits’ Harvey and Donna? – Ro

Mitovich: The midseason finale may have deflated your ‘shipper balloon some, given Harvey’s resolve to make a go of real romance with Scottie, but rest assured, that won’t box a certain ravishing redhead out of his life. As EP Aaron Korsh previews, “Donna, regardless of what her feelings may or may not be about Harvey and Scottie, cares about Harvey. She wants him to be happy and is going to try to help him in this relationship like she did last year in [Episode] 216. That’s what’s going on for them in these last six.”

Question: Will Natalie Zea’s pregnant Winona be appearing on any episodes this season of Justified? I would love to see her back for the whole season. –Karen

Mitovich: Zea is very likely to return for Season 5 in a capacity TBD, but the smart money says that Winona will be toting her child, not expecting one, when next we see her.
Question: I’m really tired of all White Collar spoilers being about Neal’s love life. I watch the show for bromance, not romance! Give us some good Peter and Neal scoop, please! –Donna

Mitovich: Come midseason, one bromance will help out another when Peter and Neal (…and Jones and Diana) scramble to solve the potentially fatal poisoning of — wait for it — Mozzie!

That’s it. Enjoy!

Have a great weekend!