Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for today and yesterday:

TELEVISION

AMC has renewed The Walking Dead for a sixth season while MTV has renewed their dramedy Awkward for a fifth and final season. (The Futon Critic and Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actors Brian Dennehy (Death of a Salesman and Presumed Innocent) and Neal McDonough (Desperate Housewives and Boomtown) have book major recurring roles on the upcoming TNT drama series Public Morals that is set in 1967 in New York City’s Public Morals Division, where cops walk the line between morality and criminality as the temptations that come from dealing with all kinds of vice can get the better of them. It centers on cop Terry Muldoon (Ed Burns), who knows the line between the good guys and bad guys is thin, and he is determined to raise his sons to be honest and hardworking as he deals with the dark underbelly of the vice world. Dennehy will play Joseph “Big Red” Patton, a powerful mobster who controls the west side of Manhattan while McDonough will play Rusty, Joseph’s youngest son who is charming and handsome but ultimately power-hungry and dangerous. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actor Brian Letscher (the Secret Service Agent who killed the president’s son on Scandal) will have a recurring role on Grimm, playing a sinister and mysterious individual with a horrific ability to “absorb” memories of his victims for sale to enemy powers. (The Deadline Team)

TNT has picked up Grimm’s syndication rights and will begin airing the episodes from the first three seasons in early 2015 with season four available next fall. (The Deadline Team)

BET has announced its long-running comedy The Game that was just renewed for an 8th season will get one more season, its ninth, before the show comes to a close. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Veteran actor Peter Fonda (Easy Rider) will guest star in an upcoming episode of The Blacklist, playing Geoff Perl, a CEO and philanthropist who funds millions of dollars for animal rights groups. (Michael Schneider at TV Guide)

Actor Will Rothhaar (National Geographic’s Killing Kennedy) will be joining Grimm as Officer Acker, a cop with a dark side, who will be a new co-worker for Nick (series lead David Giuntoli) and Hank (Russell Hornsby). He will appear in at least three episodes. (Kimberly Roots at TV Line)

Actor Derek Philips (Friday Night Lights) and Rob Belushi (How I Met Your Mother) will be playing brothers to Agent Lisbon (series regular Robin Tunney) on The Mentalist. Belushi will play Jimmy Lisbon, the smart yet underachieving younger brother, who happens to be an enthusiastic gambler while Phillips will play Lisbon’s other younger brother, Stan Lisbon, a hardworking family man. (Natalie Abrams at Entertainment Weekly)

MADE-FOR-TV MOVIE NEWS

Lifetime has official given the greenlight to the fourth and final “Flowers in the Attic” film based on the V.C. Andrews novel. Seeds of Yesterday will find Jason Lewis (Sex and the City) and Rachael Carpani (Against the Wall) will reprise their roles as Christopher and Cathy Dollangager from If There Be Thorns, which is set to premiere sometime next year. The fourth film will follow the family as they continue to co-exist miserably as their deeply troubled relationships, dark secrets and tragedy come to a head in a way that will haunt the family and its progeny forever. (Philiana Ng at The Hollywood Reporter)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actor Tom Welling (Smallville) has landed a lead role in the upcoming movie The Choice that is an adaptation of the Nicholas Sparks novel that will star actor Benjamin Walker (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter) as Travis Parker while actress Teresa Palmer (Warm Bodies) will play Gabby Holland. The movie is about Travis and Gabby, neighbors in a small coastal town who end up pursuing a relationship neither expected. Welling will play Kevin McCarthy, a doctor at his father’s practice who is Gabby’s boyfriend. The triangle plays out over the course of a decade in North Carolina. (Mike Fleming, Jr. at Deadline)

Actress Kerry Washington (Scandal) will star in the upcoming romantic comedy The One. The comedy begins with a woman dressing for her wedding, and it ends with a walk down the aisle. Washington will play the bride with the story told in flashbacks that cycle through the three major relationships of her life. (Mike Fleming, Jr. at Deadline)

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

Question: Please tell me that Avery and Juliette are getting back together on Nashville! — Carrie

Adam: Would that I could, Carrie, but it sounds like Avery will continue to nurse his heartbreak with another blonde. “[With] what he’s going through with Juliette, there’s a natural instinct to gravitate toward Scarlett,” Jonathan Jackson says. “Their relationship-slash-friendship runs fairly deep.”

Question: What’s going to happen to Hetty on NCIS: Los Angeles? — Will

Adam: Bad news first: As the end of the last episode suggested, Hetty is in major trouble. “Someone has bought her personal information off the Dark Web, and they know where she lives,” Eric Christian Olsen says. The only silver lining: It doesn’t seem like whoever is pulling the strings wants Hetty dead… yet. “These guys are coming specifically for Hetty,” Olsen teases. “[It’s] like a brown-bag operation in the night… to kidnap her.”

Question: What’s next for Ichabod on Sleepy Hollow? — Kini

Adam: His wife left him for her former fiancé and his son is the Horseman of War — needless to say, Ichabod is struggling right now. But his partner’s got his back. In other words, expect some hilarious bonding time. “Abbie’s trying to teach him to chill out and we do yoga together,” Tom Mison says. “She says, ‘You know, it’s the 21st century. You’re allowed to show your emotions. You’re allowed to open up.'” Ichabod takes Abbie’s advice, but it doesn’t end well. “Things go wrong when he starts following his emotions,” Mison says. Why can’t anything be easy for these guys?

Question: Please say everything’s going to be OK with Castiel on Supernatural. — Pippa

Adam: Although it won’t be smooth sailing, all hope is not lost for the angel with the stolen grace. He just might have to team up with some unseemly allies to save himself. “As long as Metatron is not dead, you can always assume he’ll factor in somehow,” executive producer Jeremy Carver teases. Since Metatron is the one who stole Cas’ grace in the first place, could this mean he’s the key to getting it back?

Question: I’m still devastated that White Collar is ending! What can you say about the Season 6 premiere? — Daniel

Adam: Neal will actually use being kidnapped to his advantage when he learns his captor(s) are the gateway to an elite criminal organization the FBI has been tracking for decades. But after the FBI decided not to release Neal (again!) at the end of last season, will Neal share this information with the Feds or use it to secure his freedom?

Question: How much stock should we put into Kate and Rick’s new wedding date on Castle? —Carrie

Ausiello: They weren’t fibbing, Carrie. The wedding is happening in November.

Question: Got any new information on Captain Cold’s (Wentworth Miller) role on The Flash, beyond his first episode on Oct. 28? —Andy B

Ausiello: DC Comics’ CCO Geoff Johns says the producers “look at Heat a lot, with [Robert] De Niro” for inspiration on Miller’s villain (pictured, below). “He is this guy who pulls jobs very carefully, and, suddenly, [The Flash turns up] and he has to change his game,” Johns explains. “He has to figure out how to deal with this new threat in Central City to his way of life. It’s all about him evolving and surviving the new world order. Guns aren’t going to do it, so he’s got to have something a little bit stronger.” Adds executive producer Andrew Kreisberg: “He’s not the villain that we see in the comics yet. [But] we’re going to get there.”

Question: Loving Scorpion. Any news you can share? —Dylan

Ausiello: Major Spoiler Alert: Paige can sing! It was only a matter of time before CBS’ rookie drama made use of Katharine McPhee’s Smashing pipes, and I’m told that Paige will show off her skills to the team in November. “You don’t hire Katharine McPhee and not have her sing,” a Scorpion insider notes, adding that the musical interlude in Episode 8 is “not long, but it’s very sweet.” It’s hardly a coincidence that the episode in question centers on the death of a prolific music blogger.

Question: I’m really sad to hear that the ratings for Sleepy Hollow have thus far been less than stellar this season. I will be even sadder if it gets cancelled. Should we be worried? —Ross

Ausiello: No one is a bigger worrier than yours truly, Ross, and I’m not the least bit concerned about the axe falling on Ichabod and Abbie. While it is true Sleepy has been losing a decent chunk of its Gotham lead-in, the fact is Fox loves and is completely committed to the show.

BONUS SCOOP: A series regular tells TVLine there will be a “power vacuum” in the second half of the season, and said vacuum “will be fought for.”

Question: I think I might die without some Reign scoop, so please gimme some. —Omotola

Ausiello: Interesting choice of words because death is on everyone’s mind at Court this season — especially newcomer Narcisse, who’s got Mary in his target. “His son has been murdered, and as much as [Narcisse] is seen as a villain, it was his baby boy that Mary threw into that room of plague,” actor Craig Parker says. “There’s an absolute father’s fury there, but it’s tempered by a very savvy political mind. Throughout the episodes we’ve shot so far, there are a number of personal sides to this man, but he’s always playing a political game.”

Question: The wait for Arrow‘s return feels almost cruel. Can you give us an Olicity morsel to help dull the pain until Wednesday’s premiere?! —Sophia

Ausiello: Due to the events of the season premiere — some of which are expected, and some of which are not — Oliver and Felicity’s “relationship is going to take ups and downs and twists and turns,” executive producer Marc Guggenheim teases. “I think part of the fun — or agony — of watching these two people is they’re together, they’re apart, they’re together, they’re apart. We’ll see what the future holds for them.”

Question: Any news or spoilers on Gotham? I’m hooked after only three episodes and I’m curious what’s ahead. —Eric F.

Ausiello: A better question is who’s ahead, and the answer is… Dr. Leslie Thompkins. DC Comics’ aficionados know her as Bruce Wayne’s Godmother, but I hear Gotham is tweaking Batman lore a smidge by also making her a love interest for James Gordon.

Question: What’s coming up this season on Supernatural? – Callie

E! Online: Get ready to see a lot of soul-searching! “This season we’re exploring in terms of theme, ‘You are who you are,'” executive producer Jeremy Carver told us. “Every character is going to have a bit of a reckoning in coming to terms with who they are and making some very hard decisions about the kind of person or the kind of angel or the kind of demon that they are going to be.”

Question: Any scoop on Arrow? – Mark

E! Online: Now that Roy’s suited up in his own (and awesome) version of Ollie’s leather getup, he’s made the transition to a real part of the team, and there will be an episode that dives deep into what that means for the new, young hero. “We made a big deal about Roy joining the team and then didn’t get a chance to do that much with it because we were pushing a lot of other story,” executive producer Marc Guggenheim said about Roy’s earlier storylines that revolved around joining Team Arrow. “You really feel like Roy is a part of Team Arrow and it’s more than just wearing a costume. He’s really present and a member of the group. The trio becomes a quartet.” Plus, episode six will be all about Roy and explore his mentee/mentor relationship with Oliver.

Question: So happy Reign is back in my life. But will there actually be ghosts this season? – Nellie

E! Online: Oh yeah. “We’re seeing some ghosts this season it’s because people were really superstitious,” EP Laurie McCarthy previewed for us. “It’s a castle full of guilty people. Even people who aren’t villains feel a certain guilt for the way they live and what they’re given.” But are they vengeful spirits that may attack? “They’re ghosts that one could imagine n their psyche really,” McCarthy teased. “It’s your personal demons.”

That’s it. Enjoy!