Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

Newcomer Michael Malarkey (who appeared in the lead role of Prince Maxon in the second pilot of The CW’s failed-to-be-picked-up series The Selection) has landed a major recurring role on The Vampire Diaries. He will play Enzo, a charismatic but tortured figure from Damon’s past who arrives in Mystic Falls desperate to reconnect with his old friend. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actors Robert Forster (Alcatraz and Breaking Bad) and Lou Diamond Phillips (Longmire) will guest star in the same upcoming episode of the new NBC drama Ironside. Forster will appear as Virgil’s (series regular Pablo Schreiber) father, Michael Burke, an ex-detective and NYPD legend. While Virgil loves and worships his dad’s professional legacy, he fears the job will do to him what it did to his father, causing some friction between the two. Meanwhile, Phillips will portray Stuart White, the head of security for a prestigious New York City university and a former NYPD cop who helps Ironside (series lead Blair Underwood) and his crew track down a car bomber. (Rob Moynihan at TV Guide)

Actress AnnaLynne McCord (90210) will appear in the third season of Dallas (set to premiere this winter on TNT), playing Heather, a twenty-something ranch hand with a troubled ex-husband and a 5-year-old son. (ET Online)

ONLINE SERIES NEWS

Netflix has cast newcomer Madeline Brewer (who made her acting debut in Orange Is The New Black) in Season 2 of their online series Hemlock Grove. She will have a recurring role as a graphic novelist entering the town. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

ABC has picked up a pilot called Allegiance from up-and-coming writer Sue Chung that will be executive produced by Chris Morgan (executive producer and writer on Fast & Furious 6), directed by Len Wiseman (Underworld franchise) and has Jennifer Johnson (Alcatraz and Touch) as showrunner. The project will center on a young female FBI agent who, after a series of devastating, high-tech attacks on the government, pursues the smartest and deadliest domestic terrorist in American history: her own mother. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

The USA Network has added the following three drama pilots to its slate:

Complications comes from Matt Nix, the man behind Burn Notice, and is a gritty medical drama that centers on an ER doctor whose life is transformed when he intervenes in a drive-by shooting, saving a young boy’s life and killing one of his attackers.

Novice comes from Joe and Tony Gayton (the creators of Hell on Wheels), and follows a young man as he enters a life of crime after repeatedly trying to break into corporate America.

Rush from Jonathan Levine (writer of Warm Bodies), and follows an on-call doctor who is highly discreet, accepts cash-only transactions and parties with the best of them. (AJ Marechal at Variety)

CBS is teaming with Janine Sherman Barrois (executive producer on Criminal Minds) for a new crime drama project called Jigsaw that will follow the intersecting lives of homicide detectives, prosecutors, defense attorneys, the Media and the Mayor’s office as they work to solve the most scandalous crimes San Francisco has seen in decades. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

MADE-FOR-TV NEWS

Actress Lauren Ambrose (Six Feet Under) has landed the lead role in the two-hour movie/backdoor pilot Deliverance Creek at Lifetime. The project takes place at the end of the Civil War and centers on Belle Barlowe (Ambrose), a mother of three who attempts to defend her family’s land by any means necessary. When the corrupt bank that runs their town pushes Belle into becoming an outlaw, the stakes become personal, setting off a chain of events that force her to question whether it’s better to be good or to survive. (Michael Ausiello at TV Line)

Q&A SECTION (with TV Scoop Team at E! Online, Natalie Abrams and Adam Bryant at TV Guide and Michael Ausiello at TV Line)

Question: I have a Once Upon a Time question. Will we learn more about Rumplestilskin’s past with his father? – Jamie

TV Scoop Team: Why yes, yes we will. We recently chatted with the OUAT masterminds Eddy Kitisis and Adam Horowitz and they promised us that we were definitely dig into Rumple’s daddy issues this season. “We’ve hinted in the past that his father was a coward. His father’s name was kind of a something that haunted him and that his father left him when he was younger,” Kitsis reveals. “Episode four is called “Nasty Habits” and that will be Rumple’s first back story episode of the new season.” Can’t wait! Hopefully there’s some more Rumbelle goodness headed our way too!

Question: I am beyond pissed at the premiere of Hart of Dixie! How could Zoe do that to my poor Wade? – Kayla

TV Scoop Team: Trust us girl, we feel your pain—and so does Wilson Bethel! We caught up with him on the Hart of Dixie set and he shared that even though Wade is bummed that he lost his lady love, he’s not going to be sulking around Bluebell. “Wade got his feelings hurt but he’s also not the type of guy to hold grudges so I think he’s pretty quick to forgive and forget,” he says. “But it looks at least in the short term that Zoe has moved on so that is kind of a bummer.” So what’s Wade’s new mission? Bethel says with a smile, ” I think his M.O. is kind of just giving this dude a hard time as one would when one is hanging around their ex-girlfriend’s new fella.” FYI punches may be thrown…

Question: Counting down the days until Grimm premieres. Help a sister out with some spoilers? – Helen P.

TV Scoop Team: The premiere is on Oct.25 and episode nine is titled “Red Menace”, and we’ll meet a pretty Russian woman who has an intriguing connection to the big bad in the episode. She’s also quite the flirty one, so Nick should definitely watch his back…and his front

Question:  Now that Beckett is presumably back in New York to stay, when can we expect a Castle wedding? — Ashley

ADAM: Not anytime soon. Although Stana Katic was one of the most vocal proponents of getting Castle and Beckett together ASAP, she’s not in as much of a rush for her character to walk down the aisle. “I don’t know if the wedding needs to happen in the next few months or not,” she says. “It’s not as much of a push for me because they’re together and they’re a solid couple. … There’s so much juice to be mined from the complications of getting a wedding together, especially when you have characters like Martha or Lanie or Captain Gates on the outskirts. I think that that will make for a really fun wedding-planning scenario.

Question: How long before Stefan is saved on The Vampire Diaries? —Peach

NATALIE: You know those visions Elena has been having along with that big pit in her stomach? Well, the dreams are about to get even clearer. The nail in the coffin — pun intended — will be that Katherine is having the same exact visions, but it’s she who recognizes the location, leading them to where Stefan might be found.

Question: What can you tell me about Ziva’s replacement on NCIS? — Julie

ADAM: There will be a bit of a revolving-door situation at Ziva’s old desk for the next few weeks, and viewers won’t get a look at who will most likely be the permanent new team member until November. Fortunately, when Emily Wickersham’s NSA Analyst Ellie Bishop finally does report for duty, she will make a strong first impression during the NCIS team’s hunt for terrorist Benham Parsa. “He is a new face that we haven’t seen before and has a new approach to things,” executive producer Gary Glasberg says of the season-long villain. “Bishop will actually have a strong view and position on [Parsa]. She’ll be bringing something extra to the table.”

Question: What’s going to happen to Charming on Once Upon a Time?! — Mary

NATALIE: “He dies,” jokes executive producer Adam Horowitz. Relax. He’s not dead — yet — but Peter Pan did say that Emma would leave Neverland as an orphan. “Peter Pan is a guy of his word. This is a terrible circumstance he’s found himself in. It’s also a circumstance that’s going to get worse and more complicated,” says Horowitz. Fellow executive producer Edward Kitsis adds that the Dreamshade poisoning will bring out the true essence of Prince Charming’s noble, heroic nature. “The way he deals with adversity is truly practicing what he preaches. He’s going to put his family first even at the risk of his own life.”

Question: Do you have any scoop on Arrow’s version of Amanda Waller? — Sam

NATALIE: This will be the proto-version of Amanda Waller (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), who is not yet the head of A.R.G.U.S. “One of the things we’ll be exploring is: What is this organization? What do they know? Who are they working with?” executive producer Marc Guggenheim says. “We’ve got a couple of surprises up our sleeves about that. We just started talking about something that actually won’t come into play until Season 3, but is a pretty exciting way to use Amanda.” However, there will be a nod to the Waller fans know and love. “Once she gets promoted, she’s going to start stress-eating,” Guggenheim jokes.

Question: Any scoop on Beauty and the Beast? –Gail

Ausiello: As seen in Monday’s premiere, Cat met her biological dad yet she didn’t meet her biological dad. But that introduction is on the horizon. “Once Cat finds out the man she thought was her dad isn’t, that’s going to really throw her for a loop,” says Kristin Kreuk. “Then, because she’s a detective, she’ll start to find out who her [biological] dad is fairly quickly, and it’s tough for her. She believes that everyone from her past has lied to her… and this man is going to be the only thing that ties her to anything that she was, any of her history.”

Question: I’m a big fan of the Lanie character on Castle. Any scoop? —Ana

Ausiello: Stana Katic told Matt Mitovich that Beckett and her bestie — whom we haven’t seen together since the engagement — have “a few scenes coming up,” during which they hash out a delicate issue facing the betrothed “Caskett.”

That’s it. Enjoy!