Rueben's Ramblings

Here is an excerpt of my Comic Con coverage of Falling Skies at NiceGirlsTV:

Last month at Comic Con, cable’s top series launch of 2011 – TNT’s new series Falling Skies – converged on the annual fete, taking one of the ballrooms by storm with an appearance by cast members Noah Wyle (Tom Mason), Moon Bloodgood (Dr. Anne Glass), Will Patton (Captain Weaver), Drew Roy (Hal Mason), Colin Cunningham (John Pope) and Sarah Carter (Margaret) as well as Executive Producers Mark Verheiden, Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey. The panel was overseen by moderator Debra Birnbaum, Senior Editor of TV Guide Magazine.

After a rousing round of applause greeted the cast and creative minds, they were all asked what their favorite episode has been thus far. With Noah and Drew agreeing that the pilot was their favorite; Moon saying she liked the episode where Margaret taught Anne how to shot a gun; Sarah sharing she liked the final episode while Colin and Will both said they don’t have a favorite but Colin though the final episode is pretty good and Will saying he likes the episodes with action scenes best.

You can read the rest of this article via NiceGirlsTV here.

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Here is an excerpt of my coverage of Game of Thrones from NiceGirlsTV:

GAME OF THRONES: The Hit HBO Series Goes to Comic Con

The much acclaimed new HBO series Game of Thrones, based on the popular book by legendary author George R.R. Martin, made its inaugural appearance at last month’s Comic Con, receiving a raucous round of applause, hoots and hollers from a crowd that would make any lord in the world of Westeros proud.

Among the cast members who appeared on the panel included Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister), Kit Harington (Jon Snow), Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister), recent Emmy nominee Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister), Jason Momoa (Khal Drogo) and Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen). Also in attendance were Executive Producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss with George R.R. Martin, himself, presiding as moderator.

You can read the rest of the article at NiceGirlsTV here.

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Here is an excerpt of my coverage of Ringer from NiceGirlsTV:

RINGER: Sarah Michelle Gellar Returns in Twisty New Series
At last month’s Comic Con in San Diego, the creative minds behind the new CW drama Ringer (Nicole Snyder, Eric Charmelo and Pam Veasey), which debuts on September 13 at 9 PM, joined its beautiful cast – Kristoffer Polaha, Nestor Carbonell, Ioan Gruffudd and the one and only Sarah Michelle Gellar – to discuss the twists and turns that this new series has in store for viewers this fall.

But first, let’s get into the intriguing premise of this new series: Sarah Michelle Gellar stars as identical twin sisters – Bridget and Siobhan. Bridget, a recently sober exotic dancer, witnesses a murder, but then goes on the run, hiding out by assuming the life of her wealthy sister Siobhan, who disappears while the sisters are out on a reunion-pleasure cruise. Bridget thinks she’s scored the perfect hiding place, only to learn that her sister’s seemingly idyllic life is just as complicated and dangerous as the one she’s trying to leave behind.

You can read the rest of this article at NiceGirlsTV here.

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Here is an excerpt from my coverage of The Secret Circle from NiceGirlsTV:

THE SECRET CIRCLE: Enter the World of Witches, Bad Girls and High School Principals

The cast of the new supernatural series The Secret Circle, which will debut on the CW on September 15 (following the return of the hit series The Vampire Diaries) made an appearance at last month’s Comic Con in San Diego.

Phoebe Tonkin as Faye in The Secret Circle

Two of the show’s cast members – Phoebe Tonkin and Natasha Henstridge – sat down with members of the press and NiceGirlsTV was there to get the scoop from the pair who play mother and daughter witches.

You can read the rest of this article at NiceGirlsTV here.

Here is an excerpt from more of my coverage of The Secret Circle from NiceGirlsTV:

THE SECRET CIRCLE: Get an Inside Look at Love Triangles, Spells & Magic with Britt Robertson & Thomas Dekker

The cast and creative minds behind the new CW series The Secret Circle debuted their pilot episode at Comic Con in San Diego last month. Additionally, some of the cast members took time to sit down with the press, including NiceGirlsTV, to talk about their show. Actor Thomas Dekker (Terminator: The John Connor Chronicles) and actress Britt Robertson (Life Unexpected) joined us to share details on their characters.

Thomas Dekker as Adam

Thomas: I play Adam Conant. He’s a young guy in high school. He’s sort of a pillar of goodness and sanity in this group (of witches). He’s trying to control everyone’s egos and (control) everybody’s desire with their powers. I think the biggest thing (for him is that) he definitely would not have chosen to be a witch; he would have just been happy to work in his dad’s bar and ride motor bikes. He definitely wants to use (his power) for good at this point. We find out later that his element is water and that says a lot about him. He’s very interested in nature.

You can read the rest of this article at NiceGirlsTV here.

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Here are excerpts of my The Nine Lives of Chloe King coverage from NiceGirlsTV.

THE NINE LIVES OF CHLOE KING: Up Close and Personal with Amy Pietz, Skyler Samuels & Grey Damon

The cast of the new ABC Family Channel series The Nine Lives of Chloe King made their inaugural appearance at this past weekend’s Comic Con with cast members Amy Pietz, Skyler Samuels and Grey Damon speaking to the press about their show.

Grey Damon and Skyler Samuels (Photo Credit: Rueben)

Starring in the lead role of Chloe King, Skyler plays a teenage girl who discovers she has special cat-like powers; soon learning she is a descendant of an ancient race called the Mai. Grey plays Brian, the new (human) guy in town who quickly falls in love with Chloe (but who doesn’t know the truth about her) and Amy is Chloe’s caring, adoptive mother Meredith (who also doesn’t know the truth about her daughter).

You can read the rest of this article at NiceGirlsTV here.

THE NINE LIVES OF CHLOE KING: A Chat with Grace Phipps, Ki Hong Lee and Alyssa Diaz

At this year’s Comic Con the cast of the new ABC Family drama The Nine Lives of Chloe King sat down with the press to talk about their show. For those unfamiliar with this new series, Chloe King (actress Skyler Samuels) is a recently turned 16-year-old who discovers on her birthday that she has special cat-like powers, including nine lives, superhuman speed, strength, hearing, agility, night vision and the ability to extend her nails like cat claws. She soon uncovers that she is a descendant of an ancient race called the Mai.

Grace Phipps (Photo Credit: Rueben)

Cast member Grace Phipps (who plays Chloe’s best friend Amy) talked about her love of genre shows such as Firefly, Battlestar Galactica and Buffy, the Vampire Slayer while Ki Hong Lee (who plays Chloe’s other best friend Paul) explained that he grew up in Korea before moving to the United States where he was introduced to the X-Men by a cousin. Having these influences and interests allows both of them to have an appreciation for the fans who gather annually for the San Diego fete.

You can read the rest of my coverage via NiceGirlsTV here.

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Here are excerpts of my Lost Girl coverage from NiceGirlsTV.

LOST GIRL: Anna Silk Talks Season 2, Nightmares, & Relationships

Anna Silk (Photo Credit: Rueben)

Smack dab in the middle of Comic Con this past weekend, the hit Canadian supernatural series Lost Girl made a first-time appearance at the annual fete that honors all things genre- and pop culture-related. In an exclusive interview with NiceGirlsTV, lead actress Anna Silk talked about the excitement surrounding the show’s recent two season pick-up by Syfy, the anticipation of season 2 airing in Canada on Showcase starting on September 4 and much more.

You can read the rest of my coverage via NiceGirlsTV here.

LOST GIRL: Emmanuelle Vaugier Talks About Her Evil Character & the Show’s Creative Minds Discuss Genesis of Series

After appearing in a wide range of TV shows like CSI: NY, Covert Affairs, Human Target and Smallville as well as genre movies like Saw II and Saw IV, Lost Girl‘s Emmanuelle Vaugier knows how to sell a character to the viewing audience and make them come alive.

During an exclusive interview with NiceGirlsTV at Comic Con last month, Emmanuelle described her recurring role on the Canadian hit series Lost Girl, where she plays The Morrigan, as someone who is “fun, (has) a dark sense of humor (and is) vain. She just loves everything about torturing people and making everyone miserable and having fun with that.” She further explained that, “I think the part that I love most is that (this character) allows me to be a little over the top, a little crazy. It’s completely acceptable because we are in a completely fantastical world where vampires, goblins and fairies exis). There are no rules; you can kind of do whatever you want. That gives me an incredible freedom and that is really very fun.”

You can read the rest of my coverage via NiceGirlsTV here.

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One of the new fall shows that premiered at Comic Con last week in San Diego was the ABC series Once Upon a Time, which is the fairy tale based story from Executive Producers-Writers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz (of Lost fame).

Members of the cast who took part in the panel were Josh Dallas (Prince Charming), Ginnifer Goodwin (Snow White), Robert Carlyle (Rumpelstiltskin), Lana Parrilla (The Evil Queen) and Jennifer Morrison (Emma Swan).

Before the cast and creative team took the stage for a short Q&A with a packed audience, Damon Lindelof (Executive Producer of Lost) made a short introduction, leading into the screening of the pilot of Once Upon a Time.

I’m pleased to say that the audience genuinely seemed to like the pilot as it received a rousing round of applause after the screening completed; and as Damon returned to the stage to introduce the panelists, the applause continued with cast and creative team being welcomed with open arms by the audience.

Edward and Adam were then asked if they could talk about the origin of Once Upon a Time. They shared that, “it probably started about eight years ago (when we) finished working on (the TV show) Felicity. Coming off that, our agents asked us what kind of show (we would) like to do now and we kinda started thinking about fairy tales and why we like them…we kept talking about (it, but) there was one big problem: we had no idea how to tell the story. Cut to Lost where we were very lucky to work with Damon who helped us out of an eight-year writers’ block on how to tell the story by virtue of us going to him and crying on his couch that we had no ideas left; and now you see what happened (referencing our watching the pilot).”

Josh Dallas and Ginnifer Goodwin (Photo Credit: Rueben)

Then Ginnifer was asked what made her take the role of Snow White after her involvement in a very successful show (for those who don’t know Ginnifer was a regular on Big Love). She shared that, “I was reading TV scripts because I understood that is where all the great writers have gone (then) I got a phone call that Eddy and Adam were offering me the role of Snow White. I said to my agent ‘I’ll take it’ and he said you need to read it and I said ‘No! Seriously, I’ll take it!’ I did read it that night, again and again and again. I was up all night until I knew my manager was up so I could tell him that I was taking the job. It really didn’t take much – I read it and I was inspired to tell this story and we pray for many years that (we can continue to tell the story). There is (really) nothing else like it on television.”

Jennifer Morrison (Photo Credit: Jennifer Schadel)

Then Jennifer was asked how she felt about playing just the role of Emma when all the other actors on the show have dual roles. She joked, “I’m a little jealous, as it seems fun to be in the pretty costumes, but it’s exciting that (Eddy and Adam) created a character that is brand new, a new fairy tale character. It’s this incredible adventure of letting Eddy and Adam write this incredible stuff and hope that we do it justice.”

Lana was asked what lured her to this project, sharing that “everyone wants to play Snow White, but I always wanted to play someone (a little) bad. When I read the script, I fell in love with it instantly. I couldn’t believe I was up for something like this. I was honored to be part of this project. I read once for Eddy and Adam and they said “thank you very much” and I thought ‘sh*t, I missed that one’. But I didn’t and I am very honored to be here and (to be) working with this cast.”

Then for Josh, he was asked what it is like when people ask him what he is working on; and he answered, “it’s amazing to play (this) part and play that kind of icon. As an actor, you don’t think about playing Prince Charming, you’re playing a man with issues and problems and situations like everyone else.”

Robert Carlyle and Lana Parrilla (Photo Credit: Rueben)

As for Robert, he was asked what it was like to play two different characters. He shared that “it’s fantastic. It’s very theatrical and (it) takes me back to my days in theatre, strangely enough.”

Because of the influence working on Lost had for the executive producers, viewers can be prepared for references to Lost; but unlike the myriad of mysteries that went left unanswered on that drama, Eddy and Adam “hope there will be a balance, but we do want this show to be one that you can sit and watch and relax. But if you are looking (closely), we are putting things there that you will find (that will be reminiscent of Lost). You can examine (the show closely like with Lost) if you want or just watch it (and enjoy it)”.

Make sure to tune in to ABC on October 23 at 8 PM for the debut of Once Upon a Time and judge for yourself.

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Three of the first panels on the first day of Comic Con, that took place last week in San Diego, were for shows on the USA Network: Covert Affairs, Psych and the special Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe movie.

Bruce Campbell (Photo Credit: Rueben)

Starting the big day was Burn Notice Executive Producer Matt Nix, who introduced actor Bruce Campbell to the stage where he was greeted with thunderous applause from the over-capacity audience. The discussion held between Matt and Bruce had the excited crowd in stitches as they talked about the filming of the Sam Axe movie, which they filmed on location in Bogotá, under the leadership of Burn Notice lead actor Jeffrey Donovan, who was the director.

There was a lot of honest ribbing between Bruce and Matt as well as jokes aimed at Jeffrey, including a laugh-out-loud behind-the-scenes documentary called ‘The Fall of Jeffrey Donovan” that is on the DVD for The Fall of Sam Axe movie.

Among the interesting tidbits shared with the audience by Bruce and Matt were that Burn Notice will be back for a season 6, Evil Dead will be made (and Bruce joked that he’ll be the old guy at the end but that’s probably it), Bruce compared the making of The Fall of Sam Axe to the Bad News Bears but with explosives and all the cool gadgets created by Michael, Sam and Fiona on Burn Notice all come from Matt.

The season finale of Burn Notice will air on September 8 at 9 PM on the USA Network. Mark your calendars!

Anne Dudek, Christopher Gorham & Piper Perabo (Photo Credit: Jennifer Schadel)

The cast – Piper Perabo, Christopher Gorham, Anne Dudek, Peter Gallagher, Kari Matchett and Sendhil Ramamurthy– and the creative minds – Doug Liman, Matt Corman and Chris Ord – for Covert Affairs then took the stage after a special Comic Con inspired video was shown to the audience, depicting Annie (Perabo) hooked up to a lie detector, being questioned about her real reason for being at the event. It was really quite comical; then a sneak peek of upcoming episodes as well as a recap of the episodes to date were aired.

Peter Gallagher, Kari Matchett & Sendhil Ramamurthy (Photo Credit: Rueben)

Some of the discussions held during the panel included talk of how difficult it was for Christopher to shoot the scene in which his character – Auggie – loses his sight; how adaptable Piper is to the languages for which her character – Annie – can speak; that the audience will get to see more of Jai (Sendhil’s character) as the season progresses; and the laser cane used by Auggie doesn’t really exist, but it is made from two real objects.

As the panel came to a close, the audience was treated to a blooper reel that is included on the DVD for the first season that is now available.

There are only two more episodes of Covert Affairs, with its season finale set for August 9 at 10 PM on the USA Network.

Dule Hill, James Roday and Maggie Lawson (Photo Credit: Jennifer Schadel)

The final USA Network panel was for the comedy-drama series Psych, which started out with show creator Steve Franks flanked by two others to sing the theme song for the show. They were quickly joined by lead actors Dule Hill and James Roday and then by the rest of the cast, including Maggie Lawson, Kirsten Nelson, Timothy Omundson, Corbin Bernsen as well as Executive Producers Kelly Kulchak and Chris Henze.

In anticipation for the show’s return, a preview of last season and a sneak peek at the new season was shown to the audience. Then the actors talked about how their characters have changed over the seasons, including that James thinks Sean is taking baby steps in growing up; Timothy thinks that Lassiter doesn’t want to like Sean, but he secretly does; Maggie shared that for Jules, Sean is her number one in life while Lassiter is her number one at work and she believes that Jules whole-heartedly believes that Sean is really a psychic.

Timothy Omundson, Kirsten Nelson & Corbin Bernsen (Photo Credit: Rueben)

Chris and Kelly then had the chance to list all of the great guest stars who will appear in episodes this coming season, including (in no particular order): Malcolm McDowell, Polly Walker, Joey McIntyre, Kristy Swanson, Corey Feldman, Buffy alum Tom Lenk, Kurt Fuller, Brad Dourif, Danny Glover, Michael Trucco, baseball legend Wade Boggs, Diedrich Bader, Anthony Anderson, Jason Priestley, Jennifer Finnigan, Tony Hale, Cary Elwes, Jaleel White, Keenan Thompson and the legendary William Shatner.

As the panel came to a close, the new promo ad for the return of Psych was aired, showing the cast performing the song “Don’t You (Forget About Me),” acting out scenes from the Simple Minds music video. That really brought the house down.

Make sure to tune into the USA Network this October for the return of Psych.

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