Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

Actor Tom Cavanaugh (Ed) and actress Rebecca Budig (All My Children) will appear on Blue Bloods, playing Mickey, a longtime pal of Danny’s (series regular Donnie Wahlberg) who comes into town harboring ties to a crime family and Mickey’s wife Connie, a lovely woman who has moved back East with her family, ostensibly to be near her ailing parents. Their episode is expected to air on December 20. (Matt Mitovich at TV Line)

Actress Marla Sokoloff (The Practice) will have a recurring role on the new ABC Family drama The Fosters, which is set to return for the rest of its debut season on January 13. She will play a sober companion for Mike (series regular Danny Nucci). (Vlada Gelman at TV Line)

Actress Daisy Betts (Last Resort and Persons Unknown) will appear in multiple episodes of Chicago Fire, playing a love interest for Severide (series regular Taylor Kinney). (Michael Ausiello at TV Line)

FX has picked up the high concept thriller The Strain, which is based on a vampire novel trilogy Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan that tells the story of Dr. Ephraim Goodweather (Corey Stoll from House of Cards), the head of the Center for Disease Control Canary Team in New York City. He and his team are called upon to investigate a mysterious viral outbreak with hallmarks of an ancient and evil strain of vampirism. As the strain spreads, Eph, his team, and an assembly of everyday New Yorkers, wage war for the fate of humanity itself. The cast also includes Mia Maestro (Alias and the Twilight franchise), Kevin Durand (Lost and Dark Angel) and Sean Astin (Lord of the Rings franchise). (AJ Marechal at Variety)

Former NFL star turned actor Fred Dryer (from the classic cop show Hunter) will have a recurring role in the NBC mid-season drama Crisis that centers on Washington’s most powerful players as they are pulled into an international conspiracy when an unlikely puppeteer brings everyone from CEOs to the president of the United States to their knees by threatening the things they hold most dear. Dryer will play Thomas Jefferson Smith, a powerful and imposing and confident wise seasoned CIA agent who, while he’s in his 60s, can still kick butt. The cast includes Dermot Mulroney (My Best Friend’s Wedding), Gillian Anderson (The X-Files) and Rachael Taylor (666 Park Avenue and Charlie’s Angels). (Lesley Goldberg at The Hollywood Reporter)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

FX is developing a six-hour mini-series called Desperadoes about one of the most dangerous gangs of the Old West: the Dalton Brothers. The mini will be based on the 1979 novel by Ron Hansen that chronicles the infamous Dalton Gang’s dangerous crime spree in the 1890s, as seen through the eyes of the youngest brother Emmett Dalton. The gang, which included three Dalton brothers, specialized in bank and train robberies. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

The CW is developing an as-yet-titled terrorism project ala Homeland and Hostages that would center on a young female FBI agent with the New York City Joint Terrorism Task Force whose undercover assignment at a prestigious New York university becomes the focus of the entire agency when she discovers a vital terrorist cell hiding in plain sight.  An official airdate for Crisis has not bee announced yet.  (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

HBO is developing a drama series project to be written by Billy Ray (the writer of this year’s box office film Captain Phillips) that will be based on the final, but unfinished novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald that will be inspired by the life of film mogul Irving Thalberg. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Q&A SECTION (with TV Scoop Team at E! Online)

Question: Arrow is ridiculously good this season. What’s coming up for my favorite character Roy? – Jenna

TV Scoop Team: Answers and revelations! Colton Haynes previews, “He’s getting really busy still trying to find Arrow, but at the same time, he is slowly starting to find out who the Arrow is and that it could possibly be Oliver.” Hmm…combine that tease with Haynes’ super-secret fitting coming up and it seems like Team Arrow may have another full-fledged member on its hands soon.

Question: Will we see more scenes between Katrina and Abbie on Sleepy Hollow? – Barbara

TV Scoop Team: Katia Winter tells us she hasn’t shared another scene with Nicole Beharie since their encounter in episode six, “but I’m pretty sure we’re going to meet one day,” she says with a laugh. And for now, Winter assures Katrina harbors no ill will towards the Leftenant. “There’s not much jealousy there yet. I think she’s more grateful for her taking care of Ichabod and helping him.”

Question: Please give me anything you can on Beauty and the Beast! That show is perfection. – Cameron

TV Scoop Team: Are you loving this season? Great! It’s only going to get better and better from here. By episode 11 prepare to meet two of the biggest bads in BaTB history. Vlad and Omar are two of Eastern Europe’s most dangerous men and they will go to great lengths to get what they want—Even if that means harming some of New York’s finest police officers….

Question: I love Scandal scenes involving Mellie and Olivia! Will we get to see any more scenes like that any time soon? – Tamara

TV Scoop Team: According to our chat with Bellamy Young, that doesn’t seem to be out of the question, “I don’t know that she’s a person to draw lines in the sand like that, because she’s playing the long game, so any sort of short-term casualties are like pawns, right, they can be sacrificed within her tribe. She sacrifices her tribe constantly to get to her ultimate goal of this identity that she has of being in the White House, so you know, I wouldn’t put anything past her.” As a little bonus – Young says that there’s some stuff involving Quinn in episodes 3×09 and 3×10 that she “doesn’t even know how to prepare [us] for.”

Question: Ravenswood is the only thing getting me through the week! Please tell me you have spoilers? – Layla

TV Scoop Team: This week it’s the mid-season finale of Ravenswood, and even though we’re so sad to say goodbye to our ultra-creepy town, we can’t wait to learn more about Caleb’s past. We recently chatted with star Tyler Blackburn and he promises that this flashback-filled episode is packed with vital information. “Original Caleb and Miranda were in love, very deep in love,” he revealed. “And it’s an interesting point that they look exactly like modern Caleb and Miranda, whereas the other members of the curse, their relatives don’t look anything like them. So it sort of raises the question of, is it them? Are they just the same people but reincarnated?” Dun dun dunnnn!

Question: I’m super excited that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is going to deal with what happened in Thor 2! What can you tell me about that episode? – Shannon

TV Scoop Team: We’re glad you asked, because we just got the scoop from Chloe Bennet herself: “It is the aftermath of Thor, and we kind of go to clean up the mess that these great-looking gods so easily came down to make, and we find an Asgardian relic, and that relic, when you touch it, it makes you have this internal and external rage, and it emotionally and physically kind of, for lack of a better word, effs you up. … It’s a big episode for Ward. I can’t wait for people to learn more about his backstory. And ladies can expect to see Brett Donovan with no shirt on, so if you didn’t have a reason to watch it, you now do.”

That’s it. Enjoy!