Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

Actress Merrin Dungey (Alias and Betrayed) has landed a recurring role on Once Upon a Time, playing The Little Mermaid villain Ursula. She will be teamed with actress Victoria Smurfit (Dracula), who will play Cruella de Vil and actress Kristin Bauer van Straten (True Blood), who returns as Maleficent. (Natalie Abrams at Entertainment Weekly)

Actor Riley Smith (True Blood) has landed a recurring role on the second season of True Detective, playing Steve Mercier, a boyish Sheriff’s deputy, the boyfriend of Rachel McAdams character. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actor Michael Ealy (Almost Human) has landed a series regular role on The Following where he will play the new face of evil, a brilliant, chameleon-like killer who will push Ryan Hardy (series lead Kevin Bacon) to the brink. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

The A&E drama Longmire may have been cancelled, but it has been saved by Netflix, who has picked up the show for a 10-episode fourth season that will air sometime in 2015. (TV Guide Magazine)

Actor Billy Baldwin (Parenthood) will guest star in an upcoming episode of Forever, playing Oliver Clausten, a work-hard, play-hard Wall Street CEO who’s accustomed to getting things his way and lives his life with a master-of-the-universe charm and top-predator charisma. When his protégé Jason Fox winds up dead, the show will peel back the layers of Jason’s humble beginnings and introduction to Oliver, his company, and the dangerously cutthroat world that ultimately lead to his demise. (Natalie Abrams at Entertainment Weekly)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actress Ahna O’Reilly (The Help) and actor Richard Armitage (The Hobbit franchise) will appear in the big screen psychological thriller Sleepwalker that has O’Reilly playing a grad student who goes to a campus sleep clinic to treat her insomnia and nightmares, but instead starts experiencing unsettling changes in her waking reality every time she wakes up. With the help of a doctor (Armitage), she attempts to find her way back to normalcy by unraveling the tangled knot of her dreams, reality, and shockingly tragic past. (Jen Yamato at Deadline)

BOX OFFICE TRAILERS

Cinderella

The Age of Adaline

Q&A SECTION (with Adam Bryant at TV Guide)

Question: What have you got about Tony on NCIS? — Marla, via Twitter

Adam: You definitely haven’t seen the last of Keats, Tony’s former partner with whom some sparks flew recently. “That connection…will come up again at some point,” executive producer Gary Glasberg tells us. “It was a tough year for Tony DiNozzo last year. We’re going to continue down the road of getting back to what we call the old Tony DiNozzo — [seeing him] spreading his wings a little bit and enjoying himself.” But not all the character’s exploration will come through love interests. Glasberg teases that Robert Wagner will return as Tony Sr. in a winter episode that offers “more insight into Tony DiNozzo when he was younger.”

Question: What can you tell me about Castle’s mid-season finale? Will it deal with Castle’s disappearance at all? — Caleb

Adam: Executive producer David Amann suggests that the writers won’t be picking up that mystery again until probably February, during this season’s big two-parter episode. But the midseason finale should pack plenty of punch. Because it serves as this season’s Christmas episode, it has a bit of a lighter touch…right up until the end. “We’re looking at a bit of a game-changer for Castle at the end of the episode,” Amann teases, although he promises that Castle and Beckett aren’t getting a quickie divorce. “The events of the episode will cause a shift…in Castle’s life in a fairly significant way.” Bah humbug!

Question: Will Keller be a thorn in Neal’s side now that he’s working for Interpol on White Collar? — Chris

Adam: Because Keller and Neal ultimately have the same goal — to take down the Pink Panthers — they find themselves as unlikely allies. And working together might perhaps change how Neal feels about Keller — and himself. “That’s a relationship I’ve always loved because they’re always the shadowy reflection of each other, that yin and yang,” creator Jeff Eastin says. “It gives Neal a chance to dig in and look inside and ask, ‘Who am I?’ Ultimately, that’s what I think the series has been about: Neal trying to figure out who he is. Is he a good guy or a bad guy?”

Question: Is McQuaid’s wife really dead on Covert Affairs? What if she’s alive and working with Belenko? — Justin

Adam: That would be something, right? Alas, creators Matt Corman and Chris Ord promise that McQuaid’s late wife, whom he casually mentioned in the summer finale, is just part of his backstory. “The stakes of these [remaining episodes] are so high and focused on Auggie that we’re not really finding time for other things, so that’s not something that will come up,” Ord says. “But never say never in the future.”

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for today and yesterday:

TELEVISION

Actress Lolita Davidovich and actor James Frain (Intruders and True Blood) will have recurring roles in the second season of True Detective that will revolve around three police officers to be played by Colin Farrell, Taylor Kitsch and Rachel McAdams and a career criminal (Vince Vaughn) who must navigate a web of conspiracy in the aftermath of a murder. Davidovich will play Kitsch’s mother Nancy Simpson, a girly girl, a former showgirl continually sucking on cigarettes and margaritas as she mourns the loss of male sexual attention. While Frain will play Jeff Hunt, a ruthless police lieutenant. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actress Samantha Mathis (The Good Wife) has joined the FX drama series The Strain, playing Justine Feraldo, a no-nonsense City Councilwoman for Staten Island who manages to use her cadre of hardcore cops to cleanse Staten Island of bloodsuckers. (Denise Petski at Deadline)

HBO has ordered the new drama Westworld to series, starring Anthony Hopkins, Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood, James Marsden, Thandie Newton, Jeffrey Wright, Miranda Otto and Rodrigo Santoro (among others) in the dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the future of sin.  (The Futon Critic)

FX has picked up the high-profile BBC period drama Taboo that will star Tom Hardy. The drama will be set in 1813, centering on James Keziah Delaney (Hardy), a rogue adventurer who returns from Africa with 14 ill-gotten diamonds to seek vengeance after the death of his father. Refusing to sell the family business to the East India Company, he sets out to build his own trade and shipping empire and finds himself playing a very dangerous game. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actor Stuart Townsend (Betrayed) has landed a multi-episode arc on the CBS drama Elementary where he will play Joan’s new boss, Del. When Joan embarks on a part-time gig as an investigator for a global insurance firm, she expects a fresh source of fascinating cases, but it’s her appealing new supervisor who proves to be the most interesting thing about the job. He will appear in the show’s first episode back in 2015. (Natalie Abrams at Entertainment Weekly)

Actress Callie Thorne (Necessary Roughness) will guest star in an upcoming episode of NCIS: New Orleans, playing Sasha, the daughter of a mob boss who started a non-profit organization to give back to the community and try to rehabilitate her image. When someone close to her becomes the suspect in a recent murder, she must work with investigators to help solve the case. (Natalie Abrams at Entertainment Weekly)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

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

1. Dumb and Dumber To – 38 million
2. Big Hero 6 – 36.1 million
3. Interstellar – 29.2 million
4. Beyond the Lights – 6.5 million
5. Gone Girl – 4.6 million
6. St. Vincent – 4 million
7. Fury – 3.8 million
8. Nightcrawler and Ouija – 3 million
10. Birdman – 2.4 million

Actor Paul Wesley (The Vampire Diaries) will produce and star in the box office sci-fi action film called Convergence. Details on the film, however, are being kept under wraps. (Jen Yamato at Deadline)

BOX OFFICE TRAILER

Q&A SECTION (with Matt Roush from TV Guide, Kristin dos Santos at E! Online and Michael Ausiello at TV Line)

Question: Regarding Supernatural’s 200th episode, a musical done-by-a-girls-school version of a prophet-written series of poorly received paperbacks about the Winchester brothers who hunt things that go bump in the night. As a musical? No, it wasn’t exactly Andrew “Floyd” Webber. As a tip of the hat to “watchers?” No, it wasn’t exactly as much of a valentine to the fans (TV viewers, fan-fic writers, artists, ‘shippers, i.e., the formidable “Destielers”) who’ve kept the show on the air for 10 seasons. No it wasn’t exactly what anyone thought it would be. But … As a 200th episode? It was exactly what keeps us coming back to watch Supernatural. It was about family — whether you’re in the cast or in the audience. So, kudos to everyone concerned. — Deana

Matt Roush: What a blast that episode was: so clever, so funny, and it seems to me that the most loyal and passionate fans couldn’t have asked for a more playful, affectionate and tuneful valentine to celebrate this milestone. Maybe this meta smorgasbord didn’t quite hit the heights of Buffy’s classic “Once More With Feeling” musical episode, but what could? I think my favorite joke, which says more about me than it does the show, was less about Supernatural and more about musical theater, when one of the theater nerds said, “Did he just quote Rent?” and the other responded, “Not enough to get us into trouble.” Hee. All together now: “Ghost Facers!” And really, what a gorgeous cover of “Carry On Wayward Son.”

Question: Anything on Castiel from Supernatural? – Lissa

Kristin: Raise your hand if you missed seeing the real Castiel during the 200th episode?! Yeah, us too. Thankfully, Supernatural is going to get Cas-centric for a major chunk of this season. “Castiel is going to be faced with his fading grace yet again,” Misha Collins told us. “But he’s also going to be faced with a character from his past.” And that character is none other than Claire Novak, a.k.a. Castiel’s vessel Jimmy’s daughter!

Question: Are Thea and Roy going to get back together on Arrow this season? – Leah

Kristin: Doesn’t sound like we’ll see these two crazy, butt-kicking kids are reuniting anytime soon, and it’s all thanks to one Carrie Diaries stud. Austin Butler is about to make his debut on the CW superhero drama as Chase, a DJ who catches Thea’s eye. And their first interaction? “It’s incendiary!” executive producer Marc Guggenheim says with a laugh. “Austin Butler plays Chase and he has incredible onscreen chemistry with Willa Holland. Expect some sparks to fly between the two of them.”

Question: Will Octavia and Lincoln be reunited on The 100? – Lil_ksmalls

Kristin: Now that Lincoln’s being held prisoner in Mount Weather for that mysterious Cerberus project, don’t get your hopes up for a happy ending for Linctavia. But Devon Bostick did give us hope for some other characters that are going to reunite…if they can stay alive long enough, that is. “There’s going to be some great reunions,” he teased. “People are still trying to find each other and it’s going to be a tough struggle and battle. Some people are going to get unhinged a little. And there are some shocking deaths pretty much all the time going forward.”

Question: Anything on Red Band Society, my new favorite show? – Madison

Kristin: Is it hard for anyone else to watch Emma’s storyline? Well, it’s about to get even harder when Emma may or may not be released from the hospital before she’s ready, and we see just how much her disease has impacted her family, especially her younger sibling

Question: Rafael and Jane’s big kiss. That was HOT! What’s coming up for them on Jane the Virgin? – Izzie

Kristin: That steamy kiss is actually going to have a very big effect on Jane…and her mother? Oh yes, Xiomara is going to have a lot to say about her daughter moving on so fast from Michael. “Jane is about to make some serious decisions about Michael and Rafael, and the way she’s vocal with her mother is the way that her mother is going to be vocal back to her,” Gina Rodriguez told us on set. “It will be nice to see her mother putting her foot down because that is what Jane needs right now. Is Jane going to be opposed to it? Of course, but it’s going to be nice to see Xo taking on the real mother role and to see Jane’s growing respect for that.”

Question: Any scoop on next month’s Flash/Arrow crossover? —Mason

Ausiello: We’ll learn that The Flash‘s Captain Boomerang (played by Spartacus vet Nick Tarabay) has a surprising connection to Starling City. As exec producer Greg Berlanti teases: “He’s got a relationship to one of our recurring [Arrow] characters, but I shouldn’t say who.”

BONUS SPOILER: The Weather Wizard is returning! No, not the one that brewed a storm in the pilot — his brother. Turns out that Mark Mardon survived the same plane crash that his kin was in, and as such possesses the same, but lethally refined, weather-controlling powers. Oh, and he wants Detective West (AKA Clyde’s killer) dead. Translation: The forecast calls for a s–tstorm.

Question: I would love Arrow spoilers. —Ashley

Ausiello: The official logline for the show’s Dec. 10 holiday episode confirms that Dinah Lance (played by Alex Kingston) is back, which begs the Q: Does that put pressure on Laurel to tell her family the truth about Sara? “Laurel has a really emotional journey about that in that episode, for sure,” Berlanti tells us. “Whenever we get that whole family together, especially subsequent to stuff that’s happened, it will bring a lot of that to surface.”

Question: Any intel on NCIS? —Marsha

Ausiello: The Dec. 16 holiday episode (which also doubles as the fall finale) marks the return of three notorious cyber terrorists: Former Systems Administrator Kevin Hussein (played by Ethan Rains), Heidi Partridge (Erin Allin O’Reilly) and Ajay Khan (Vik Sahay). In the wake of a city-wide Internet blackout the week before Christmas, the NCIS team pulls the trio out of prison to help with the case, and, whaddaya know.

Question: Anything on White Collar‘s final season? —Stacey

Ausiello: The series finale will feature quite a few storyline and character callbacks, exec producer Jeff Eastin promises. “My hope is that people who are real fans of the show, who’ve stuck with us this entire time, will not be disappointed,” he tells us.

BONUS SPOILER: Eastin vaguely teases that Diana and Jones will “continue on and move up” in the last episode.

Question: So you will answer some inane question about Monroe and Rosalee’s honeymoon on Grimm, but you won’t answer my question about whether the sharks on Shark Tank ever go back and make a deal with a contestant whom they have turned down on the show but then had second thoughts about a possible deal? I’ve been loyal to you. Don’t you like me anymore? —Mike

Ausiello: Of course I like you, Mike! That’s why I’m going to give you more of the Grimm scoop for which you so ardently clamor! Silas Weir Mitchell recently gave TVLine a little inside intel on the upcoming Christmas episode. “It’s hilarious and it’s totally messed up,” he said. “There’s a thing that happens to a certain subset of Wesen” around the holidays, and “it’s similar to Krampus, in a way, because it has to do with the seasonal thing.” Weir wouldn’t tell us which of the show’s Wesen will be affected, but he couldn’t speak highly enough of the episode. “It’s another level of Grimm: absurd, funny, ugly, dark and great.”

BONUS SCOOP: Go-to TV Big Bad Arnold Vosloo (24, Chuck) will guest-star in an early 2015 episode as Jonathon Wilde, a Manticore bounty hunter from Texas working on behalf of the Wesen Council.

Question: Need Sleepy Hollow scoop! —Liz

Ausiello: New character Orion, who’ll make his appearance after the winter break, may just prove himself a gift from the heavens for Abbie. “She sees in him someone who is actually completely living for what they believe, and finds that really inspiring and maybe even decides to sort of follow him in that,” Nicole Beharie tells TVLine. No word on what Ichabod will think of that…

Question: Whatever happened to Rafael’s sister Luisa from Jane the Virgin? Is the character gone? —Julia

Ausiello: “She is coming back with a bang,” co-star Justin Baldoni teases of his onscreen sibling, played by Yara Martinez. “It’s a very funny situation and wherever your mind takes you, go there, because these writers are hilarious with the things that they have her and us doing.”

Question: Long time no Person of Interest scoop! Anything you could share? – Riddick

Ausiello: How about an exclusive clip from tonight’s episode, in which Reese — who this week is instructing at the police academy to mind the latest POI — touches base with his (almost flirty?) NYPD shrink:

Question: Any news for Covert Affairs? —Melissa

Ausiello: Ugly Betty reunion alert! Ana Ortiz, who has been racking up some serious guest-star credits during her Devious Maids hiatus, will next turn up in the Season 5 finale of Covert Affairs (which stars her onetime Ugly Betty colleague Chris Gorham). She’ll play Karen Coughlin, a political advisor known on the Hill as “the wolf in chic clothing.” Karen approaches a seasoned Beltway insider with the opportunity to enter into the political arena.

Question: Do you know anything about a possible love interest for Major Crimes’ Lt. Provenza? —Luana

Ausiello: As a matter of fact, Matt Mitovich just got off the horn with series creator James Duff, who had this to share about the certain someone who is poised to change the grizzled detective’s life: “Provenza ends up attracted to someone he never thought he would be attracted to. He felt like the book was closed on the romantic part of his life, and now that book is suddenly reopened.”

That’s it. Enjoy!

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