Rueben's Ramblings

Hi All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWAL/CANCELLATIONS

Starz has given a 3rd season renewal to Hightown. (Variety)

FOX has cancelled The Big Leap after only one season. (TV Line)

NBC has pulled the plug on Ordinary Joe after only one season. (TV Line)

SERIES ORDER

AppleTV+ has given a series order to Metropolis, inspired by the Fritz Lang 1927 German sci-fi film which was based on the 1925 novel by Thea von Harbou that takes place in 2026 when the populace is divided between workers who must live in the dark underground and the rich who enjoy a futuristic cidy of splendor. The new drama comes from SamEsmail, the creator of Mr. Robot. (TV Line)

TV CASTING NEWS

Skylar Astin (Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist and the Pitch Perfect franchise) has joined the cast of Grey’s Anatomy in the recurring role of Todd Eames, a charming, gentel soul who holds a PhD in environmental sciences whose sister is a pregnant patient at Grey Sloan Memorial. Also, Richard Flood has left the series after three seasons. (Variety and TV Line)

Kal Penn has joined the cast of the Disney+ limited series Santa Clause that finds Tim Allen reprising his role of Santa alongside Elizabeth Mitchell who is back as Mrs. Claus. Penn will play Simon Choksi, an ambitious game inventor and product developer, who is a devoted single father. (Variety)

Spectrum Originals has ordered the 8-episode dramedy Panhandle that will star Luke Kirby (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) and Tiana Okoye (The Good Place and Nancy Drew). The series will be set in the Florida panhandle, following agoraphobic arm-chair detective Bell Prescott (Kirby) and reluctant traffic cop Cammie Lorde (Okoye) as they wrestle with personal demons, shocking twists and a few Florida gators on their journey to heal themselves and their town. (Variety)

ABC has given a straight-to-series order to the drama Avalon that takes place in the main city of Avalon on Catalina Island, where LA Sheriff Department Detective Nicole “Nic” Searcy heads up a small office. The show is slated to debut during the 2022-2023 broadcast season from David E. Kelley based on a short story by Michael Connelly. (Variety)

Peacock has given a series order to the series Twisted Metal that will star Anthony Mackie (who will also executive produce. The series is based on the video game franchise; the half-hour action comedy will feature Mackie as John Doe, a smart-ass milkman who talks as fast as he drives. With no memory of his past, he gets a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make his wish of finding community come true, but only if he can survive an onslaught of savage vehicular combat. With the help of a trigger-happy car thief, he’ll face savage marauders driving vehicles of destruction and other dangers of the open road, including a deranged clown who drives an all too familiar ice cream truck. (Variety)

Jessica Brown Findlay (Downton Abbey and Brave New World) and Anthony Welsh (Master of None) will star in the 6-episode Paramount+ drama Flatshare that will tell the story of two twentysomethings trying to get by – by sharing not only an apartment but a bed. Brown Findlay will portray Tiffany, a minimum wage worker employed by a clickbait news site, while Welsh will portray Leon, who works night shifts in a hospice. To save money, they capitalize on their opposing timetables and time-share their apartment and their bed, with Tiffany sleeping through the night, while Leon is working, and Leon catching up on his sleep during the day, when Tiffany is at her desk in the office. They communicate entirely by Post-It note. Despite never meeting, however they soon start to develop feelings for each other. (Variety)

Veteran actor Michael Douglas will star as Benjamin Franklin in a new limited series for Apple that will explore the story of one of the greatest gambles of Franklin’s career. At age 70, without any diplomatic training, Franklin convinced France – an absolute monarchy – to underwrite America’s experiment in democracy. By virtue of his fame, charisma, and ingenuity, Franklin outmaneuvered British spies, French informers and hostile colleagues, all while engineering the Franco-American alliance of 1778 and the final peace with England of l783. The eight-year French mission stands as Franklin’s most vital service to his country, without which America would not have won the Revolution. (Variety)

FILM NEWS

Jordan Fisher (The Flash) and Talia Ryder (Never Rarely Sometimes Always) will play the leads in the new Netflix teen rom-com entitled Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between that centers around Claire (Ryder) and Aidan (Fisher) who after making a pact that they would break up before college, find themselves retracing the steps of their relationship on their last evening as a couple. The epic date leads them to familiar landmarks, unexpected places, and causes them to question whether high school love is meant to last. (Variety)

SAG Award winner Ariana DeBose (West Side Story) has joined the cast of the upcoming superhero action-adventure movie Kraven the Hunter that will feature Aaron Taylor Johnson (Avengers: Age of Ultron) as one of Spider-Man’s most deadly antagonists. DeBose will play Calypso, a voodoo priestess who is the on-and-off lover of Kraven. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!