Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items covering Friday, Monday and today:

TELEVISION

Actor Tahmoh Penikett (Battlestar Galactica) will be making a guest appearance on The CW period drama Reign, playing John, a sexy nobleman visiting the French Court. (Tierney Bricker at E! Online)

Actor Eion Bailey (Once Upon a Time) will have a recurring role on the Showtime series Ray Donovan, playing a charismatic motivational speaker/self-help guru who needs Ray’s (series lead Liev Schreiber) help. Ray Donovan will be back starting July 13. (The Deadline Team)

Actor Stephen Lang (Avatar and Terra Nova) has landed a recurring role on the WGN America thriller Salem that is set in 17th century Massachusetts, exploring what really fueled the town’s infamous witch trials. It centers on Mary Sibley (series lead Janet Montgomery), the beautiful, ruthless but vulnerable wife of the ancient, ailing but very wealthy George Sibley, one of Salem’s town Selectmen. Lang will play Increase Mather, an old-line, hard-core Puritan who led the way across the ocean to the Promised Land in the late 1600s. Intellectually, spiritually and politically, he’s the most influential man in the country — and the most feared. Salem airs on WGN America on Sunday nights at 10 PM. (The Deadline Team)

Actor Colin Egglesfield (The Client List and Rizzoli & Isles) will guest star in an upcoming episode of the CBS procedural Unforgettable, playing Charles Sewell, a hard-charging agent with the Coast Guard Investigative Services who helps Carrie (series lead Poppy Montgomery) and Al (series regular Dylan Walsh) in their investigation of a boat explosion in New York Harbor. (Joyce Eng at TV Guide)

Actor Nestor Carbonell (Lost and Bates Motel) will guest star in an upcoming episode of CBS drama The Good Wife, playing Daniel Irwin, a charming entrepreneur who catches Alicia’s (series lead Julianna Margulies) eye. (Kate Stanhope at TV Guide)

TV SHOW VIDEOS

Witches of East End Season 2 Promo

Exclusive First Look: Syfy’s Dominion

Falling Skies Season 4 Trailer

WGN America’s Manhattan Teaser

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

ABC Family has made a pilot order for the drama called Stitchers that follows a young woman who is recruited into a covert government agency to be “stitched” into the minds of the recently deceased, using their memories to investigate murders and decipher mysteries that otherwise would have gone to the grave. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

MADE-FOR-TV MOVIE VIDEO

‘Petals on the Wind’ Trailer

MADE-FOR-TV MOVIE NEWS

Actors Rhys Coiro (Hostages and A Gifted Man) and Joe Egender (Alcatraz) have joined the cast of the upcoming History Channel mini-series Texas Rising, which will detail the Texas Revolution against Mexico and the rise of the legendary Texas Rangers. Coiro will play Vern Elwood will Egender will play Beans Wilkins, a Ranger who is always hungry and looking for his next meal. The cast of this mini-series already includes Bill Paxton, Ray Liotta, Brendan Fraser and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. (The Deadline Team)

BOX OFFICE MOVIE NEWS

Actor Reiley McClendon (The Fosters) will appear in the independent film called Shangri-La Suite that will star actor Luke Grimes (True Blood and Brothers & Sisters) and actress Emily Browning (Sucker Punch). The film is set in 1974, focusing on two troubled 20-year-olds who set out to kill Elvis Presley. McClendon will play young Elvis. (The Deadline Team)

Here are the top 10 box office films for this past holiday weekend courtesy of Box Office Mojo:

1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – 26.6 million
2. Rio 2 – 22.5 million
3. Heave is for Real – 21.5 million
4. Transcendence – 11.1 million
5. A Haunted House 2 – 9.1 million
6. Draft Day – 5.9 million
7. Divergent – 5.75 million
8. Oculus – 5.2 million
9. Noah – 5 million
10. God’s Not Dead – 4.8 million

BOX OFFICE TRAILER

Brendan Gleeson & Taylor Kitsch in New Trailer for ‘Grand Seduction’

Q&A SECTION (with TV Scoop Team at E! Online and Matt Roush at TV Guide)

Question: I’m in a serious slump in between Teen Wolf seasons. I will literally take any scoop you have on season 4. – Elizabeth M.

TV Scoop Team: Get ready to meet a new hired gun, named Fahey. He’s in his late 30’s and he’s described as “frightened, yet masculine.” As for who hired him as a gun, we don’t know yet. However, we do know that apparently Fahey has got some explaining to do, Lucy-style, and you’ll meet him in episode six!

Question: I’m dying without my weekly dose of Pretty Little Liars! I need a Rosewood update ASAP! – McKenna G.

TV Scoop Team: We all know that PLL fans want to end the series with a jaw-dropping, mystery-filled movie, and guess what? So does creator Marlene King! “That’s always been the ultimate goal, is that it ends its life in one medium and starts another life on film. I love that.” And the showrunner exclusively spilled to E! that she doesn’t want this to be a made-for-TV movie. We’re talking the silver screen, people! “Oh we want an in-theaters film! Big, big, big opening weekend, with all those Pretty Little Liars fans are coming out. It would be so much fun. And we’d get to do so much like big stuff too,” she smiled. Let’s make it happen, little liars!

Question: I miss Sleepy Hollow so much. Got any season 2 scoop? – Lauren P.

TV Scoop Team: There’s a new sheriff in town, and she’s kind of a far cry from Corbin. Described as “smart, forceful, highly trained and commanding but also has a warm and maternal side,” Sheriff Vasquez apparently used to live in Sleepy Hollow before moving to Texas to work for the U.S. Border Patrol. We hear that’s not a very chill job, so we’re thinking she’s not going to be very tolerant of the headless time-traveling supernatural nonsense that’s taken over the town as of late. We’ll see how that goes.

Question: I’ve been pretty impressed with how Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has managed to fold in the plot line from the new Captain America movie without giving away too much from the film. It seems like a really difficult balance, and given that this is the only time I can think of where a TV show has run concurrent with a film series, I give a lot of credit to the writers for walking that fine line. If only there was something they could do about the mostly bland acting. All the characters seem so “blah” that I’m half-hoping that the resulting fall-out from this arc is that half the team gets replaced with people who are, you know, interesting. Unfortunately, that also includes Clark Gregg, who is a fun actor but just doesn’t seem strong enough to carry a show and is so one-note that when he tries to show emotion of any kind it comes off as really forced. — Chip

Matt Roush: We covered some of this ground in last week’s Q&A, but you’re right that even though the current storyline is S.H.I.E.L.D. at its best to date, a show is only as good as its characters, and this conflict gives the producers a perfect opportunity to make some bold moves in resetting the board and refreshing the ensemble. I can’t imagine S.H.I.E.L.D. without Coulson, and for the most part I still enjoy Clark Gregg’s stoic irony, but I can see how the limited palette with which he’s working could come off as monotonous. Now’s the time for everyone on this show to raise their game, and I’ll be curious where it takes them in what seems an inevitable second season.

That’s it. Enjoy!