Rueben's Ramblings

ausHi All,

Here are the news items for all of last week:

TELEVISION

Actress Dora Madison Burge (Friday Night Lights) has landed a recurring role on Chicago Fire, playing Jessica “Chili” Chilton, the new paramedic in charge replacing Mills (Charlie Barnett), who left to move to North Carolina with his family. (Kate Stanhope at The Hollywood Reporter)

ABC has canceled Revenge after four seasons on the air. The series finale will air on May 10. (Variety)

Syfy has also canceled the drama Helix with the show’s April 10 finale serving as its series finale. (Denise Petski at Deadline)

Actress Amber Stevens (Greek) will appear in the upcoming season of Chasing Life, playing Frankie, the best friend of Leo (series regular Scott Michael Foster, who also appeared in Greek). (Andy Swift at TV Line)

TV TRAILER

MINI-SERIES NEWS

Lifetime, A&E and the History Channel will be teaming up for a reboot of the classic War and Peace. The limited series will simulcast next year with the cast including Paul Dano (12 Years a Slave), Lily James (Downton Abbey and Cinderella), Gillian Anderson (The X-Files), James Norton (Death Comes to Pemberley and Grantchester) and Jim Broadbent (Cloud Atlas). (Lesley Goldberg at The Hollywood Reporter)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Here are the top 10 box offices films from last weekend courtesy of Box Office Mojo:

1. Furious 7 – 18.2 million
2. Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 – 15.5 million
3. The Age of Adaline – 13.3 million
4. Home – 8.3 million
5. Unfriended – 6.2 million
6. Ex Machina – 5.4 million
7. The Longest Ride – 4.3 million
8. Get Hard – 3.9 million
9. Monkey Kingdom – 3.55 million
10. Woman in Gold – 3.5 million

Actress Jennifer Garner will star in the next Christian-focused film Miracles From Heaven that will be based on the book by Christy Beam. The story follows a young girl who is suffering from a rare digestive disorder and finds herself miraculously cured after surviving a terrible accident. (Justin Kroll at Variety)

MOVIE TRAILER

Q&A SECTION (with Kristin Dos Santos at E! Online and Michael Ausiello at TV Line)

Question: What’s coming up for Snow and Charming on Once Upon a Time? – Hannah

Kristin: Don’t shoot the messenger, but it sounds like they are headed to trouble! Also you really shouldn’t shoot the messenger because the messenger is Josh Dallas, who just stopped by our E! News set. He told me this about what’s ahead: “There’s big stuff going down, things that are going to shock the fans, things that a lot of the characters, particularly Snow and Charming, something that they don’t want to happen.”

Question: I’ll take anything you’ve got on Pretty Little Liars! I’m literally counting down the days until season six! – Lauren D.

Kristin: Grab a nightlight because PLL is getting even darker. “We are going to be punished for our actions for trying to escape from Charles and once we do escape, there are going to be some serious repercussions and scares, emotional as well as physical,” Janel Parrish previews of what’s in store in season six. “It’s going to get dark.” And except to see all of the Liars handle their dollhouse-related-PTSD in different ways. “They’re all going to be messed up in different ways,” Parrish teases. In other news, we’ll be meeting two new characters next season: Lorraine Stone aka Lesli’s formidable mother, and Zoe, a pretty new friend of Emily’s. And no, the show is not recasting Emily’s other friend Zoe, played by Rumer Willis, as we’ve learned it’s a different character. You can never have enough Zoes, right?!

Question: Outlander scoop, please! – Renee

Kristin: Honestly? Saw a bit more of what’s to come down the road, and I can’t say a word about it. Mostly because I can’t even breathe when I start thinking about it. You book fans know what I’m talking about. In the meantime, I can tell you in the next episode, airing this Saturday, Jenny goes into labor, some dangerous men arrive, and the episode does not end on the happiest note. Basically: Get ready and start preparing for the worst. Is there a word than means even worse than the worst? Yes, there is. Spoiler Alert: That word is JACK RANDALL.

Question: I’ll take anything you’ve got on Switched at Birth. – Ilana

Kristin: We hear that the ABC Family show is about to tackle pregnancy in a way that’s going to have fans talking. You thought the rape storyline was powerful? You haven’t seen anything yet.

Question: I need Chasing Life spoilers! – Felicia

Kristin: It’s a good thing April has a lot of wedding planning to look forward to because she’s going to need all the happy times she can get in the light of some terrible, awful news she gets almost immediately in the season two premiere. We can’t reveal what that is, but we can say that it’s going to change the entire show moving forward in a way that is going to affect everyone.

Question: I’ll take whatever spoilers you have on Arrow! – Sophia

Kristin: Here’s some not-so-great news: the Arrow cave is done. “[Team Arrow is] going to end up hanging out a great deal at Palmer Technologies,” executive producer Marc Guggenheim says. “We had to expand Ray’s workshop to allow for scenes with now suddenly a whole large group of people rather than just Ray and Felicity. So we did a little bit of set redesign and set redecoration. That basically is the lair for the remainder of the season. That said, you haven’t seen the last of the lair yet. It makes one final appearance in [episode] 21.”

Question: What is Arrow the show going to look like now that Oliver is staying in Nanda Parbat? —Amir

Ausiello: For one, don’t worry about a rehash of the midseason arc that robbed Starling City of its hero. “The tricky thing about [the next episode] is making it different from… when Oliver was missing and presumed dead,” says showrunner Marc Guggenheim. “One of the things we talked about is, How is Team Arrow functioning post-Oliver? We didn’t want to get into ‘crime on the rise,’ because I felt like we did that with Brick, but you’ll see with [the next two episodes] what Team Arrow is up to and how they’re working to continue to protect the city.” And no, that doesn’t mean the Atom will simply step in to fill the void. As Guggenheim notes, “Every time Ray interacts with or allies himself with Team Arrow, there’s a story reason behind it, as opposed to just the assumption that, ‘OK, he’s part of the team now.’ [This week] is a very Team Arrow-centric episode, and Ray, for all of his charms and for all of the help he can provide, is not a member of Team Arrow.”

Question: May I have some scoop on Gotham? —Monica

Ausiello: Yes you may, and then some. Here’s a report from Matt Mitovich, who has already seen Monday’s freshman finale: “It’s true, I audibly groaned at the close of last episode, seeing that a(nother) mob war would fuel the finale. But know what? It kinda works — though make no mistake, there are some sloppy twists. (Like the characters who make a bold escape only to be recaptured 15 seconds later.) Elsewhere, something involving Cat kinda broke my heart; we bid adieu to a character I was very sad to see go; and while the big Bruce reveal is teased in promos, it’s still pretty cool (yet absolutely should not have been spoiled). Also: The Riddler promises to be a quite different sort of villain.”

Question: Outlander — anything about the finale will be devoured and appreciated. –Erin

Ausiello: I can tell you what likely won’t be in the finale: Any mention of Jack Randall’s brother, a minor point in Diana Gabaldon’s first book but a major one in the second (and therefore likely important in the second season of the Starz drama). “I don’t think that made it into the edit,” series creator Ron Moore tells TV Line, and Tobias Menzies — whose character would have uttered the mysterious line (familiar to fans of the book) during a harrowing scene in the finale — says he can’t recall the mention, either.

Question: I’m worried about Forever not coming back next year. Take my mind off it by giving me some finale scoop, please. —Barb

Ausiello: Remember when star Ioan Gruffudd told TV Line Henry wasn’t going to worry about Adam much in the future? The finale makes the why behind that statement abundantly clear — and not in the way you’re thinking.

That’s it. Til next weekend!!