Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for yesterday and today:

TELEVISION

Pretty Little Liars has been renewed for two more seasons (its 6th and 7th) by ABC Family. The series just got its fifth season underway on Tuesday night. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Starz has renewed its new series Power for a 10-episode second season. (The Futon Critic)

Actors Raza Jaffrey (Smash) and Michael O’Keefe (King & Maxwell) will have recurring roles on Homeland. Jaffrey will play Aasar Khan, a decorated lieutenant-colonel in the Pakistan intelligence service while O’Keefe will play deputy station chief John Redmond who is stationed in Afghanistan and will clash with Carrie. (Sadie Gennis at TV Guide)

Actress Nicole Gale Andereson (Ravenswood) will be returning to Beauty And the Beast for its third season as a series regular. She plays Catherine Chandler’s (series lead Kristin Kreuk) younger sister. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Veteran actors Marion Ross (Happy Days) and Ed Asner (The Mary Tyler Moore Show) will appear in the new ABC Family series Chasing Life, playing April’s (series lead Italia Ricci) grandparents. Chasing Life debuted on Tuesday. (Rebecca Iannucci at TV Line)

TV TRAILERS

TV Trailer for MTV’s Finding Carter

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actress Tracy Spiridakos (Revolution) has landed the female lead in the upcoming romantic comedy Byrd & the Bees that will star Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Dracula). She will star as Rebecca Byrd, a young woman who travels to Scotland to find and meet her biological father and winds up meeting her dream guy along the way. (Jeff Sneider at The Wrap)

Actor Guy Pearce will join actress Kristen Stewart and actor Nicholas Hoult in the upcoming futuristic love story called Equals that is set in a future society where emotions have been eradicated and the new breed of humans is called Equals. They live peacefully; but when a disease begins activating in its victims, everything they thought they’d escaped, they are sent away and never seen again. When Silas (Hoult) is infected, he becomes an outcast, but he notices one person who seems to understand what he’s going through, Nia (Stewart), who is able to hide her emotions. The only way for them to ensure their survival is to escape. (Nancy Tartaglione at Deadline)

BOX OFFICE TRAILERS

Q&A SECTION (with Natalie Abrams from TV Guide and Michael Ausiello at TV Line)

Question: Forget Emily, how will Victoria handle David’s return on Revenge? — Micah

Natalie: David won’t be Victoria’s first concern. That honor belongs to Emily, since she put Victoria in the psych ward. “[Victoria] takes stock in the horrible things that Emily has done and the chaos she has rained down on the Grayson family,” executive producer Aaron Harberts told my colleague Robyn Ross. “She’s going to be pissed and she’ll come out swinging. As Emily is trying to create a new, more positive life for herself… Victoria is going to be coming up behind her.” But David will eventually be caught in the middle of that battle. “He’s going to cause a lot of problems because he’s at a point where these two women’s lives intersect,” Harberts says.

Question: What’s coming up for Abbie and Jenny on Sleepy Hollow? — Harriet

Natalie: A sibling love triangle! Although executive producer Heather Kadin says the formerly estranged sisters will be on the “same side” more in Season 2, “there may be a male who might get in the middle of that,” she teases. But what brings the duo closer together? Mommy issues! “Abbie’s story this year really has to do with the relationship with her mother and a lot she didn’t know about as a child,” Kadin says. Even though their mom supposedly died years ago, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see her in the flesh this season. Hit the comments with your casting ideas!

Question: What can you tease about the new characters on Under the Dome this season? — Bekki

Natalie: Two of the new faces — science teacher Rebecca (Karla Crome) and Big Jim’s not-to-be trusted brother-in-law Sam (Eddie Cahill) — will create plenty of drama, particularly with Barbie and Julia. What kind of drama, exactly? Perhaps the kind that ends relationships. “Julia and Barbie face a very, very trying situation in Episode 3 that really puts their relationship to the test,” executive producer Neal Baer tells me. Then again, if the couple can survive Barbie killing Julia’s husband, what can’t they get through?

Question: I cannot wait for White Collar to come back! What can you say about the new season? — Thomas

Natalie: Although I can’t reveal exactly how Peter and the team will — spoiler alert! — find Neal after his abduction in the Season 5 finale, Neal will be back on the job by the second episode. But things won’t be completely back to normal. In fact, it will be Peter who has to run a con in order to get Neal out of a jam. Unfortunately, Peter’s acting talents will be further put to the test when he has to start a fight to create a diversion. Let’s hope he’s not just pretending he can throw a right hook!

Question: Got any Covert Affairs scoop? — Rachel

Natalie: Annie isn’t the only person who has history with Max Martini’s character, Nathan Mueller, a former operative who also went off the grid. Turns out, Auggie worked with him back in the day, and when Nate resurfaces, Auggie calls on another old contact to find out why Nate went rogue in the first place. The reason is the last thing he expects.

Question: Please tell me that Killian is alive on Witches of East End! — Kitra

Natalie: Killian’s fate will be revealed quickly in Season 2 — and where he ends up is not as important as who he ends up with. But the Beauchamp clan has more important issues to deal with, including the fact that they’ve yet to find a cure for Joanna, who is progressively getting worse after being poisoned by Penelope. Though whatever (or whoever!) came through that door from Asgard could be Joanna’s savior, Wendy believes it will be her undoing. Let the catfights begin!

Question: It’s been awhile since Hank had some romance in his life on Royal Pains. Any new love interests on the horizon? — Ramon

Natalie: Yep! Hank will romance a spa owner named Charlotte. And while they have smoking-hot chemistry in the bedroom, they can’t quite get their act together when they’re not between the sheets. Also getting a new love interest is Jeremiah, who’ll put aside his long-standing feelings for Divya when a new woman named Viviana catches his eye.

Question: What’s coming up on Teen Wolf this season? — Mitch

Natalie: When the show returns, the gang goes south of the border to find Derek. Little do they know, Derek is actually with Kate, whom Scott & Co. will be shocked to discover is still alive. But the real surprise waiting for the gang has nothing to do with Kate! Let’s just say Derek has changed in a very peculiar way.

Question: Anything on Castle? The hiatus is already too long. —Rachael

Ausiello: Viewers will witness the immediate fallout from Rick’s fiery car wreck, confirms series creator Andrew Marlowe. Translation: no time jump. (And thus more Beckett wedding dress, albeit possibly singed.) “We feel like, given the way we left off, we have an obligation to start exactly where we ended,” explains the EP. “So we’ll be picking up in real time.”

Question: Revenge Season 4 — hit me! —Jacob

Ausiello: I am not a violent person, Jacob, but I’m about to smack you upside the head with a doozy of a Revenge scoop: Emily’s getting a major new love interest this fall. Details are sparse, but I hear the recurring character will be sexy (duh), charming (double duh) and full of secrets (I made that last one up, but, um, triple duh). Jack/Emily ‘shippers shouldn’t throw in the towel though. Revenge exec producer Aaron Harberts hinted to Variety.com that the bond between the star-crossed lovers will likely intensify in the wake of David’s resurrection. “There’s really only one character on the show who knows the relationship between David Clarke and the girl who was Amanda Clarke, and that’s Jack Porter,” he said. “In a year of Emily asking herself, ‘Who is Amanda Clarke? How do I get back to that?’ Jack’s going to play such a huge component in that.” Harberts also revealed that Season 4 will represent a major shift for the drama. “So much of the show was built on the past, but with Conrad being taken down and with [flight] 197 being put to bed, what we’re most excited about is now the show can start living and breathing in the present.”

Question: Will Dana Tomas, Wu’s childhood crush and good friend, played by Tess Paras, return for Grimm’s fourth season? —Ole

Ausiello: There are no current plans for Dana to resurface, but I’d be shocked — shocked, I tell you — if we don’t see here at least once in Season 4.

Question: Loved the gut-wrenching season opener of Major Crimes. Any idea when we will meet Sykes’ date? –Marijke

Ausiello: “Eventually” seems to be the answer. The very pretty MCDetective “is dating someone,” show boss James Duff confirms, “but she doesn’t want the others to know who yet. No police officer ever wants that — if you only knew the truth about what goes on in a precinct, especially when flowers show up! — so you have to throw down the gauntlet. But yes, we will eventually have to reveal all of that.”

Question: Last Sunday’s Devious Maids flashback revealed that Opal pushed Nicholas’ first wife Dahlia off a bridge, then bought his silence by threatening to expose his role in a second killing. I want to know, though, if Opal was somehow involved in Death No. 2, or if this one’s all on her rich boss. –Liesel

Ausiello: File under “there’s a first time for everything”: Opal bears no guilt in whatever nasty secret Nicholas is hiding — although the latter character’s portrayer, Mark Deklin, reveals that wasn’t initially the writers’ vision. “For quite a long time while we were shooting, the idea was that [Opal] was a part of [the second murder],” Deklin tells TVLine. “But at some point, that changed… Opal wasn’t directly involved. It’s something Nick and Dahlia did — but, of course, you can’t keep anything from your maid.”

Question: Can I please have whatever you have on Teen Wolf? —Natalia

Ausiello: By now, you’ve probably heard a lot about Dylan Sprayberry’s Liam, one of the new lacrosse players in Season 4, but a crucial question still lingers: What is he? That, Natalia, will be answered in the season’s third episode — and it’s not even close to the hour’s wildest reveal. Prepare for a gasp-attack.

Question: I’ll take whatever you got on Suits. —Matt

Ausiello: The new season (premiering Wednesday) will finally shed light on the all-knowing Donna. Explains EP Aaron Korsh: “We [get] some backstory into Donna through some of the things she talks about with Louis. Then we have one pretty fun episode where we get to see what Donna’s doing outside the office. You get to hear her talk about her decision to become a legal secretary and some of her family dynamics growing up.”

That’s it. Enjoy!