Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

The Killing which was cancelled by AMC last year but then brought back from the dead for a third season has been, once again, cancelled by the network; but it will be coming back for a six-episode run on Netflix. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actor Frank Grillo (Prison Break) will star in the new DirecTV original drama called Navy St., a 10-episode straight-to-series order from the network over the summer that is a gritty family drama set against the backdrop of a mixed martial arts (MMA) gym in Venice, California. (Michael Ausiello at TV Line)

Actor Nicholas Lea (The X-Files and Kyle XY) will guest star in two upcoming episodes of Arrow, playing Mark Francis, Walter Steele’s close associate, who will have a crucial part in the surprising twist that Moira’s life will take after her murder trial. (Vlada Gelman at TV Line)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

The CW is taking a different direction with the character The Flash, who is set to appear in a couple of upcoming episodes of Arrow. Actor Grant Gustin (Glee) will play this character, but rather than appearing in three episodes of the hit CW series, he will appear in two episodes and then a traditional stand-alone pilot will be made instead of a Flash-centric episode of Arrow, allowing the powers-that-be at Arrow to better flesh out the superhero’s story and his world. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actress Stephanie Szostak (Iron Man 3) and Blair Redford (Switched at Birth and The Lying Game) will co-star alongside Matt Passmore (The Glades) in the as-yet-titled Sean Jablonski USA Network pilot that follows investment banker Neil Truman (Passmore) and his wife, Grace (Szostak), as they struggle to sift through their stagnant marriage, looking for the spark they once had. When Neil discovers that Grace has been seeing a debonaire male escort (Redford) his entire world is turned upside down. As he gains a new perspective on life and what motivates women, Grace contemplates her own needs and whether her marriage is worth saving. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

It looks like AMC is going to order a pilot for a TV adaptation of the Garth Ennis acclaimed graphic novel series Preacher, which follows a down-and-out Texas preacher possessed by Genesis, a supernatural entity conceived by the unnatural coupling of an angel and a demon. Given immense powers, the preacher teams with an old girlfriend and a hard-drinking Irish vampire to set out on a journey across America to find God, who apparently had abandoned his duties in heaven and hold him accountable for his negligence. (IGN and Dark Horizons)

Actress Bonita Friedericy (Chuck) has joined the cast of the Marti Noxon Lifetime pilot Unreal that goes behind the scenes of a hit competition dating series to follow the experiences of a young staffer (Shiri Appleby from Roswell and Life Unexpected) whose lone job is to manipulate the relationships with (and among) the contestants in order to get the vital dramatic and outrageous footage producers demand. Friedericy will play Dr. Wagerstein, the network-mandated show psychologist. The cast includes Francia Raisa, Megyn Price and Freddie Stroma [among others]. (Lesley Goldberg at The Hollywood Reporter)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Here are the top 10 box office movies for this past weekend courtesy of Box Office Mojo and Deadline:

1. Thor: The Dark World – 34.9 million
2. The Best Man Holiday – 34 million
3. Last Vegas – 7.9 million
4. Free Birds – 7.5 million
5. Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa – 7.2 million
6. Gravity – 6.2 million
7. Ender’s Game – 5.6 million
8. 12 Years A Slave – 4.6 million
9. Captain Phillips – 4.3 million
10. About Time – 3.2 million

It would seem, for whatever reason, Star Partners and Hummingbird Prods. are collaborating on a production of a sequel to the classic 1946 movie It’s a Wonderful Life that would be entitled It’s A Wonderful Life: The Rest of the Story. (Don’t shot the messenger, okay?!) The plan is for Karolyn Grimes, who played George Bailey’s daughter Zuzu in the original film to return as an angel who shows Bailey’s unlikeable grandson (also named George Bailey) how much better off the world would have been had he never been born. (Dave McNary at Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!