Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

Actress Melina Kanakaredes (CSI: NY and Providence) will guest star in an upcoming episode of Hawaii Five-0, but details on what character she will be playing hasn’t been announced. (Andy Swift at TV Line)

Actress Annie Potts (The Fosters and Designing Women) will guest star on an upcoming episode of Major Crimes, playing Clarissa Fields, astrologer to the stars, who treats her field as a science. She’ll help Major Crimes reverse engineer a decade of murders. Naturally, the detectives will be skeptical until they start to realize that although she may not be able to exactly forecast the future, she can predict the past. (Natalie Abrams at Entertainment Weekly)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

After lots of rumors, it has been confirmed that actor Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock and Star Trek) will play Doctor Strange. (Mike Fleming, Jr. at Deadline)

Q&A SECTION (with Natalie Abrams at Entertainment Weekly)

Question: When will we find out who’s been texting Charleston on State of Affairs? — Daryl

Natalie: Charleston comes closer to uncovering the identity of her mystery texter in the next episode, narrowing down the suspects to someone on her team. But she’ll have other things to deal with when someone uncovers damning information in the report on the convoy attack that cost Aaron his life.

Question: What can you tell us about the Castle midseason finale? — Amy

Natalie: We know from the promos that Castle will have himself “a very mobster Christmas,” but there’s more to that than you’re probably thinking. Not only will Castle find himself dealing with a potential mob war, but thanks to an unexpected blood oath, Castle will soon be considered an “honorary mobster.” I wonder how Beckett will feel about that…

Question: Is Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. about to lose the bus? — Joe

Natalie: You’ll find out the answer to that pretty quickly as Tuesday’s winter finale picks up right after Whitehall had Agent 33 order the plane to be shot down. “Our team is in grave danger,” executive producer Maurissa Tancharoen teases, hinting the writers may have considered a world in which S.H.I.E.L.D. is “left with only quintjets.” “It could happen at any moment,” executive producer Jed Whedon adds.

Question: Excited about seeing Reverse Flash, but is there anything else you can share on The Flash’s midseason finale? — Shari

Natalie: Does this sound like Iris is going to find out Barry’s big secret to anyone else? “There’s a relationship cliffhanger as far as Barry and Iris are concerned,” Grant Gustin tells me. “Some honesty is finally being shed on the situation.”

Question: I thought you said Regina fights with Emma, but the Once Upon a Time promo showed Evil Queen battling Snow White. — Ron

Natalie: It’s both, actually. “Emma escapes and Regina goes out looking for her and she ends up in the sheriff’s office where Mary Margaret and David are locked up behind bars,” Lana Parrilla reveals. “She’s like, ‘Oh, I came here to kill Emma and look who I find. My two favorite idiots.’ Mary Margaret and Regina have a full on battle. We’ll see Regina using a sword for the first time.”

Question: Any scoop on Hart of Dixie?? — Mary Kate

Natalie: If you’re wondering how the Hart of Dixie producers are going to hide Rachel Bilson’s baby bump this season, they don’t. Instead, Dr. Zoe Hart seduces Wade in an attempt to win him back (because sex always leads to love, amirite?) and ends up with a bun in the oven. Oh, and even though Hawaii Five-0’s Ian Anthony Dale would add some welcome diversity to BlueBell, he’s not sticking around. He’s just another one of Lemon’s fake boyfriends in an effort to snatch grandma’s funds for Fancie’s.

That’s it. Enjoy!

Have a terrific weekend!!