Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

TNT has renewed Franklin & Bash for a third season. (TV By the Numbers)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

ABC has bought an untitled heist drama from former 24 executive producer Evan Katz that is being described as a fun, twisty adventure about members of a former army Special Forces team who are betrayed, and decide to become thieves, in order to go after the people who are responsible for the deaths of their friends. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

NBC has teamed with Gale Anne Hurd, executive producer on The Walking Dead, for drama project called 11th Commandment that is an adaptation of the 1998 novel “The Eleventh Commandment” from UK author Jeffrey Archer. The project would center on Connor Fitzgerald who has been leading a secret life as the CIA’s most deadly assassin when he decides to pull back to spend more time with his wife and family. But his worlds are about to collide when he is set up by someone within the CIA for an assassination he didn’t commit. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

CBS has set up a medical drama with Reaper creators Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters (among others) that is going to be based on the book “Your Medical Mind” by renowned physicians Jerome Groopman and Pamela Hartzband. The book is inspired by the doctors’ lives with the show focusing on a husband and wife – one a surgeon, one an internist – who end up working together in the same hospital. Their unique approaches to medicine, and different ways of dealing with tough ethical issues, will lead them to examine the state of their own marriage. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

The Bureau, a new FBI drama project from Bruckheimer TV and writer Aron Eli Coleite has ended up at CBS. The project is described as a character drama set at the New York field office of the FBI. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Executive Producer Jason Katims (Friday Night Lights and Parenthood) is behind the potential comedy pilot About A Boy based on the Nick Hornby book and the 2002 movie that was bought by NBC. The TV version will follow the relationship between a bachelor man-child and the young boy who moves in next door with his kooky single mother. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actor Andrew Garfield has signed to return to the role of Peter Parker and Marc Webb is set to direct the next installment of The Amazing Spider-Man. Emma Stone is also in talks to return to the role of Gwen Stacy. (Mike Fleming at Deadline)

Q&A SECTION (with Team Watch with Kristin at E! Online)

Question: Anything about Emma and her daddy in OUAT season 2? – BICIADE

Team Watch with Kristin: Break out the tissues because Emma’s reunion with her parents, aka Snow White and Prince Charming, will definitely bring on the waterworks. At least at first. Turns out, Emma is kind of resentful over them sending her away, even if it was to save her from the curse. As for David, he’ll be spending a lot of time with his grandson, Henry, in season two.

Question: The Scandal premiere was so good! I need scoop on the rest of the season. – Angela in Detroit

Team Watch with Kristin: According to cast member Columbus Short, you’d better get those oxygen tanks ready. “If you saw season one, it’s going to be bigger, faster, more dramatic, more scandalous, more by the seat of your pants,” he tells us. “Every scene you’re going to be like [gasps for air]. Just be prepared to be short of breath.” As for his character Harrison, Short says that he’ll be developing into something very “interesting,” in his own words. “Harrison is kind of evolving into this all-seeing, all-knowing type of character and it is pretty cool,” he says. “[He’s] one of the most dynamic characters I think I’ve played in my career.”

That’s it. Enjoy!

Have a great weekend!!

Read Full Post »

Hey All

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

Actor John Larroquette will have a major recurring role in the new NBC mid-season drama called Infamous that is an opulent soap about a female detective (Meagan Good) who returns undercover to the wealthy and troubled Lawson family she grew up in — as the maid’s daughter — to solve the murder of the notorious heiress Vivian Lawson who was once her closest friend. He will play Senator Dwight Haverstock, a powerful politician who has a dark history with the Bowers family. The estranged best friend of Robert Bowers (Victor Garber), Haverstock is an unpredictable man with extreme appetites and big secrets. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actor Henry Ian Cusick (Lost and Scandal) will appear in three upcoming episodes of The Mentalist, playing Tommy Volker, a multi-millionaire adventurer playboy who comes under suspicion when a television reporter is murdered. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actress Stockard Channing will appear in at least one episode of The Good Wife as mother to Alicia (Julianna Margulies). Meanwhile, actor Bruce McGill (Rizzoli & Isles) will have a potentially recurring role in the show as a world renowned attorney. The show is back for its new season starting on September 30 on CBS. (Kate Stanhope at TV Guide and Michael Ausiello at TV Line)

TNT has renewed Major Crimes for a second season, consisting of 15 episodes. This new season will air next summer. (TNT)

ONLINE SERIES NEWS

Actress Kate Mulgrew (Star Trek: Voyager and Warehouse 13) has landed a role in the upcoming online series Orange Is The New Black from Jenji Kohan (the creator of Weeds). The series centers on Piper (Taylor Schilling), an engaged Brooklynite whose decade-old relationship with a drug-runner (Laura Prepon) in college results in her arrest and multi-year detention in a federal penitentiary. Mulgrew will play Red, a Russian prisoner who runs the kitchen and serves as a mother figurehead for the women. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Q&A SECTION (with Team Watch with Kristin at E! Online)

Question: Don’t get me wrong, I love hearing about Elena, Damon and Stefan. I really want something on Jeremy though! – Corey in Indianapolis

Team Watch with Kristin: Kat Graham talked to us about Jeremy’s situation in TVD’s fourth season, and it sounds like he’s got a big journey ahead. “Jeremy is going to be become something new that I think the fans will really like,” she tells us mysteriously. Is there a chance he could become Bonnie’s boo again? “You get to see them have some scenes together in the first episode, which is really cool, and we’ve had a lot of scenes since,” she reveals. “[But] I think it’s yet to be determined. I think it was such a heartbreak for the character when she discovered that he was having an affair with a ghost. She’s got a lot of mending and healing to do. So she might give him another chance, or she might think that friendship is really where they should remain.”

Question: Any scoop on Once Upon A Time? September 30th is not arriving fast enough! – StorybrookeMirror

Team Watch with Kristin: Emma better watch her back because Regina is definitely going to be trying (hard) to win Henry back in season two. “It is heartbreaking because, as we saw in the season finale, she pretty much lost her son. And her final words to him were, ‘No matter what anyone tells you, know that I do love you,'” Lana Parrilla explains. “And this season is about her redemption and trying to get her son back.

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

Actress Claire Coffee, who plays Adalind, the Hexenbiest nemesis of Detective Nick Burkhardt (David Giuntoli) on Grimm, has been promoted to series regular. The next new episode of Grimm will air this Friday, September 28. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actress Annabeth Gish (Pretty Little Liars) has landed a guest role on Once Upon a Time where she will play Anita, the charismatic and mysterious leader of a pack of humans who, like Red (Meghan Ory), turn out to be wolves. The fairytale drama is back for the start of its second season takes place this Sunday, September 30. (Natalie Abrams at TV Guide)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Ilene Chaiken, the creator of The L Word, has sold a crime drama to CBS. The project, called Solve for X, revolves around a young game developer at a social gaming company in San Francisco who agrees to consult for an anti-crime task force. (Lesley Goldberg at The Hollywood Reporter)

A female soap from Holly Sorensen, the creator of Make It or Break It, and producer Mark Gordon (whose projects include Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice and Army Wives) has been put into development at ABC. The untitled drama, based on an idea by Sorensen and Irish actress Victoria Smurfit, revolves around three very average girls who break into New York’s beauty industry with a product that holds a wicked secret. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Thomas Edison, one of the world’s greatest inventors, will be the subject of a new period crime drama at NBC to be called Edison. The show’s fictional storyline has Edison working as a secret consultant to the under-trained and under-equipped New York Police force. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actor Nicholas Gonzalez (Off the Map and The O.C.) has landed a regular role in the Lifetime pilot Witches of East End, which stars Julia Ormond as a mom who has been concealing a shocking secret from her daughters Ingrid and Freya that they are witches. Gonzales will play Matthew, a good-natured local cop who is dating a ditzy co-worker of Ingrid’s (Rachel Boston) but is very much interested in Ingrid. He soon becomes very busy at work when a series of murders and strange deaths strike his township. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Producer Tom Donaghy (The Whole Truth) and Greg Berlanti (Political Animals) have joined together for the NBC drama series Napa that is being pitched as a contemporary take on Emily Bronte’s “Wuthering Heights” which deals with a doomed love affair. (The Hollywood Reporter and Dark Horizons)

MADE FOR TV MOVIE NEWS

Lifetime is close to green-lighting a sequel to its five-part original made-for-TV movie Five, which told five breast cancer stories. The sequel which is tentatively called Five 2, will address mental illness. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

CONDOLENCES

Legendary crooner Andy Williams passed away yesterday, following a year-long battle with bladder cancer. He is best known for the songs “Moon River” and “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year”. He was 84. (E! Online)

Q&A SECTION (with Team Watch with Kristin at E! Online and Adam Bryant and Natalie Abrams at TV Guide)

Question: Can’t wait for Once Upon a Time to return! What can you tell me about season two? – Darielle

Team Watch with Kristin: Before the season-two premiere, we’ve got a little homework assignment for all the young’uns: Watch an episode of the classic show Bewitched! “Do you remember Aunt Clara? Who kind of did everything wrong and she was trying to use her magic and a huge elephant would end up in the living room?” Lana Parrilla aka Regina/Evil Queen teases. “That kind of happens a little bit in Storybrooke. Not that comedic, but magic is different in Storybrooke. It doesn’t work quite the same way that it did in fairy-tale land.” But what does the return of magic mean for Regina specifically? “It comes with its struggles. It’s almost like the Tin Man, he’s been asleep for a long time and needs to be oiled,” she explains. “It’s the same thing for Regina, she hasn’t used magic in 28 years, so it’s going to take her a little bit to get her mojo back.” Let’s just call this season: Once Upon a Time: How Regina Got Her Groove Back.

Question: Loving Revolution! Got any scoop on what’s ahead? – Tom

Team Watch with Kristin: Viewers will meet a young and passionate rebel later in the season named Ashley, a girl who is more than tough enough to run with the big dogs, as well as a military leader who is always looking for a big victory in battle, even if it means facing extreme danger.

Question: Going through Teen Wolf withdrawals. Got anything to ease the pain? – Sean

Team Watch with Kristin: While we hate to enable your addiction, here’s a small scoop for you: Though it seems like almost everyone in Beacon Hills has been let in on the big werewolf secret, there’s still one beloved character in the dark. “It’ll be a challenge next season to see how long they can keep the secret from Sheriff Stilinski,” creator Jeff Davis teases. Still, Davis acknowledges that he’ll probably be clued in pretty soon. “When characters don’t know it gets harder and harder to involve them in the story” he admits. “At a certain point, people just have to know. It’s all about being able to give more to those characters actually.”

Question: Loved the Castle premiere, but what was Castle doing with a half-naked woman in the promos for the next episode?

ADAM: As creator Andrew W. Marlowe already teased, that encounter is a consequence of Castle pretending to be single in order to keep his relationship with Beckett a secret from their co-workers. But that doesn’t mean infidelity won’t be an issue. An upcoming case will implicate Castle in the murder of an ex. “It makes everybody question: How well do we actually know this guy?” Marlowe says. But it gets worse: “Castle may have been having an affair with her at the same time he was dating Beckett,” he teases. “That goes to the heart of all of Beckett’s insecurities.”

Question: Belle doesn’t look too happy with Rumple in the Once Upon a Time clips.

NATALIE: She isn’t! Belle’s mere presence will be an unforeseen complication for Rumplestiltskin. “Gold is a meticulous man, as is Rumplestiltskin, and he had a plan that he has been enacting,” executive producer Adam Horowitz says. “The wild card was Belle because he never, ever thought she was going to be coming back, and he is a man who has, in the past, always chosen power over love. I think he’s on a mission, and here he has a second chance with the woman he always regretted letting go.”

Question: I love Matt on The Vampire Diaries. Will he have any good story lines this season?

ADAM: Although Matt was essentially the reason that Elena died, he’ll also play an integral role in her transition. Let’s just say his guilt will lead him to do just about anything for her — especially when she needs to feed.

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

The USA Network has renewed White Collar and Covert Affairs both for a new 16-episode season while Royal Pains has been renewed, getting a two season order for 26 episodes (most likely 13 episodes for each season). Covert Affairs will be back with new episodes of its current season on October 16 while Royal Pains will have a 2-hour holiday movie (Evan and Paige’s wedding) on December 16 and White Collar will be back in January. (Kimberly Roots at TV Line)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Actresses Teri Polo (Meet the Parents) and Sherri Saum (In Treatment) will star in the ABC Family drama pilot The Fosters (from executive produced by Jennifer Lopez). The project tells the story of Stef (Polo) and Lena (Saum) Foster, a mixed race couple who are raising a biological son, along with several adopted children. When Lena decides to take in Callie, a troubled teen with an abusive past, Callie’s disruptive ways threaten to turn the Fosters lives upside down. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Box office directors Joel and Ethan Coen have closed a deal to bring the box office flick Fargo to TV via the cable network FX. This will be an hour-long project loosely based on their 1996 comedic crime drama. The Coen brothers would serve as executive with Noah Hawley (The Unusuals) as writer/executive producer. The original film starred Frances McDormand as a pregnant Minnesota police chief who follows the trail of two bumbling criminals (Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare) hired by a car salesman (William H. Macy) to kidnap his wife. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

BOX OFFICE MOVIE NEWS

Actress Rachelle Lefevre (the first two Twilight Saga films) has joined the cast of the box office film White House Down, which stars Channing Tatum as a secret service agent forced to save the White House. Lefevre would play Tatum’s ex-wife in the film. She will also appear in the box office film called Homefront, which is about an ex-DEA agent (Jason Statham) fighting a local drug lord in a small town. In this film Lefevre will play a school psychologist who tries to warn the family about the dangers of living there. (Borys Kit at The Hollywood Reporter)

Q&A SECTION (with Michael Ausiello at TV Line)

Question: I love Grimm! It is the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me! It hurts to have to wait until Friday for new episodes, and I would be really, really, really happy if you could share a few scoops with me. —Oliver

Ausiello: Oliver, grab a paper bag and start blowing into it — your question has been selected for this week’s Ask Ausiello. The Event‘s First Lady ala Lisa Vidal has been tapped to guest-star in this season’s 11th episode as Lauren Castro, Portland’s ambitious DA who intends to run for mayor and won’t let anything — or anyone — get in her way. FYI: Vidal shows up in the same episode in which Jason Gedrick appears.

Question: Could you spare any information on Justified — maybe something you found out at the Emmys? — Audrey

Ausiello: Production on Season 4 starts Oct. 3 and, according to co-star Joelle Carter (Ava), the action will pick up “a couple of weeks” after the Season 3 finale. “I visited the writers, and there’s some exciting new stuff [planned],” she told us at HBO’s post-Emmy bash. “I think it will be the best season ever. They’re going to stick [closer to] home a little bit more and work with already-developed storylines.”

Question: I’m ecstatic Lifetime has renewed Army Wives, but what’s going on with Kim Delaney? Will she be part of the new season? —Diana

Ausiello: If she is, I hear it will be a limited capacity. The actress doesn’t have a Season 7 deal in place and word is, she’s unlikely to return as a series regular. A source close to the show, however, insists no final decisions have been made — and they most likely won’t be until closer to the start of production later this year.

Question: Anything on Suits? —Jessica

Ausiello: Remember how exec producer Aaron Korsh told us that Hardman’s absence will “shift the perception” of the firm in the legal community and “possibly make them a little bit more vulnerable”? Well, I think the show is on the lookout for someone to capitalize on that vulnerability. Producers are searching for a Brit or Aussie actor to play the fortysomething head of a London-based international law firm on a recurring basis. “Avuncular, unassuming, likeable, you’d think he inherited his position — but he didn’t,” reads the casting notice. “He uses his simple-man charm to cover the fact that he’s deceptively smart.”

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

NEWS

Congrats to all of the Emmy winners from last night, including (but not limited to) Damian Lewis, Claire Danes, Homeland, Maggie Smith, Martha Plimpton, Jeremy Davies, Jessica Lange, Danny Strong, Julianne Moore, Game Change, Kevin Costner, Tom Berenger, Game of Thrones, Downton Abbey and Great Expectations [among countless others].

TELEVISION

Actress Anatasia Griffith (Once Upon a Time and Copper) will guest star in the upcoming Cinemax drama Banshee from True Blood creator Alan Ball, which will debut in January. The series centers on Lucas (New Zealand actor Antony Starr), an ex-convict and master thief who assumes the identity of the sheriff of Banshee, Pennsylvania and continues to carry out his criminal activities even as shadowy gangsters hunt him. Griffith will play a prison psychiatrist who treats Lucas. (Michael Ausiello at TV Line)

Actress JoBeth Williams (most recently seen on Private Practice) will appear in the ABC midseason drama Mistresses, playing the mother of Alyssa Milano and Jes Macallan’s characters. The series is based on the British show of the same name, which follows four women (Milano, Macallan, Yunjin Kim from Lost and Rochelle Aytes from Work It) as they balance their turbulent romantic and personal lives. The series is expected to beginning airing in May 2013. (Vlada Gelman at TV Line)

The folks over at Castle will be heading to a Comic Con-like fan convention this season and actor Ed Quinn (Eureka) will play Captain Max Richard (a wink to the character played by Castle lead Nathan Fillion in the short-lived series Firefly). Max, it would seem, is the former star of a sci-fi cult-favorite TV show whose career and personal life has gone down the tubes. Castle returns tonight on ABC. (James Hibberd at Entertainment Weekly)

The HBO series Treme will return for a fourth and final season sometime next year. The series follows a group of people living in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. The third season just got started last night. (Michael O’Connell and Aaron Couch at The Hollywood Reporter)

Actor Jason Gedrick will guest star in an upcoming episode of Grimm, playing Craig Wendell, a murderer that Hank (Russell Hornsby) helped land on death row. But with only days until his sentence is carried out, a claim that his crime was in self defense against a pair of “monsters” begins to sound less and less like the rantings of a lunatic to the man that put him away. This episode will this fall and Grimm will be back with new episodes starting on September 28. (Michael Ausiello at TV Line)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

The CW has picked up a potential new drama if the form of Oxygen, an alien drama similar to the box office movie District 9. The project follows a high school pilot program, the first attempt to integrate a group of humanoid aliens stranded on earth who until now have been living in forced segregation. The program is complicated by the prejudices and competing agendas on all sides, and could be saved or destroyed by a burgeoning romance between a human girl and alien boy. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Oscar-nominated filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron has teamed with J.J. Abrams on a high-concept drama that has landed at NBC. The unnamed project is about a girl in possession of a great gift/powers — which will come into their own in seven years — and the man who is sprung from prison to protect her from those trying to hunt her down. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Here are the top 10 box office movies for this past weekend courtesy of Exhibitor Relations and E! Online:

1. End of Watch, $13 million
2. House at the End of the Street, $13 million
3. Trouble With the Curve, $12.7 million
4. Finding Nemo, $9.4 million
5. Resident Evil: Retribution, $6.7 million
6. Dredd 3D, $6.3 million
7. The Master, $5 million
8. The Possession, $2.4 million
9. Lawless, $2.3 million
10. ParaNorman, $2.297 million

BOX OFFICE TRAILER

Official Trailer for ‘Winnie’ with Jennifer Hudson & Terrence Howard

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

Flashpoint will return for its fifth and final season on ION Television starting on October 16 at 11 PM. (Matt Mitovich at TV Line)

Army Wives has been renewed for a 7th season by Lifetime. It will be back for 13 episodes next year. (TV By the Numbers)

Actor Anthony Michael Hall (The Dead Zone) will guest star in an upcoming episode of Psych, playing Harris Trout, an impeccably dressed and eccentric police consultant who is recruited by the mayor to help make the SBPD run more efficiently. The new season of Psych has yet to be scheduled by the USA Network. (Matt Mitovich at TV Line)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

North Country writer Michael Seitzman has sold drama called Intelligence to CBS. This project is based on the unpublished book called “Dissident” by John Dixon. It centers on a man, gifted and cursed with a top secret experimental microchip implanted in his brain that makes him computer-like in the way he sees and processes information. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

FX has put into development a drama from playwright and screenwriter Stephen Belber that is currently untitled. This project is a thriller, chronicling a murder and a cover up that is set in New York. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Director Guillermo del Toro is bringing his vampire novel trilogy “The Strain” to television as a drama series to be run by Carlton Cuse (former Lost co-show runner. FX has landed the project, which is being envisioned as having a limited run. In the opening of the book series, a Boeing 777 lands at JFK with no communication or signs of life. Eph Goodweather, who investigates biological threats for the CDC, is called in and discovers all the passengers dead, and signs that a strange being had been aboard the vessel. Soon, he teams with ex-professor and Holocaust survivor Abraham Setrakian and they assemble a ragtag group that represents mankind’s only hope when a swarm of vampires quickly turn civilization into a buffet spread. (Nellie Andreeva and Mike Fleming at Deadline)

Ron Moore, the man behind the reboot of Battlestar Galactica, is adapting the 2001 feature A Knight’s Tale for the small series, which was bought by ABC. The series is expected to stay close to the premise and the style of the movie, which was a 14th century romantic adventure set in the world of jousting to a music score of popular rock songs that centered on William Thatcher (the late Heath Ledger), a peasant posing as a knight. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actor Matt Bomer (White Collar), actress Lucy Griffiths (True Blood) and legendary actress Eva Marie Saint are set to star alongside actors Colin Farrell, William Hurt, Will Smith and Russell Crowe as well as actress Jessica Brown Findlay (Downton Abbey) in the film called Winter’s Tale that will be directed by Akiva Goldsman. The film is based on the Mark Helprin novel about a dying young woman (Findlay) who falls in love with a thief who breaks into her palatial home on the West Side of Manhattan. It will take place in the 19th century and contemporary Manhattan. Farrell plays the thief and Bomer will play his father while Griffiths plays his mother. It is unclear what role Saint will play in the film. (Mike Fleming at Deadline)

BOX OFFICE TRAILER

Hot Trailer: Jackie Robinson Biopic ’42′

Q&A SECTION (with Team Watch with Kristin at E! Online)

Question: What’s coming up for Bonnie on The Vampire Diaries this season?! – Gemma

Team Watch with Kristin: “Bonnie’s going to meet someone who’s going to have a huge impact on her future. That’s really exciting,” Kat Graham teases. So, who’s the new someone? Shane, a professor at the local college, played by David Alpay, who believes in the occult and shares a history with our resident witch. “[He]’s going to take her down a different kind of road. We’ll see how that plays itself out.”

Question: Any details on Revenge. – Jessica

Team Watch with Kristin: Prepare to meet the domineering and self-made Miriam, a woman in her 60s, who is so intimidating even her own family is kind of scared of her. And the wealthy older gentlemen of the Hamptons should definitely watch out for this one because she knows how to turn on the charm when they’re around.

Question: Any #NCISLA scoop? I’m totally intrigued about what the new season will offer. – @mizdozmama

Team Watch with Kristin: Things will be heating up between Eric and Nell this season. That’s the exact wording Renée Felice Smith used when we talked to her and Barrett Foa recently. “There is some potential making out,” Smith tells us coyly. And just when we were getting excited for some nerdy action, Foa totally rained on our parade! “We work together, so you can’t just be hot and heavy off the bat,” he says. “It’s going to take at least nine seasons for a peck on the cheek.”

That’s it. Enjoy!

Have a terrific weekend!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

Royal Pains will air a two-hour movie event on USA Network on December 16 that will featured the return of former cast member Jill Flint and a look at bachelor and bachelorette parties for the bride and groom (Evan and Paige); but the winter wedding for which Paige has dreamed about all her life could end in disaster because of a snowstorm. (Kimberly Roots at TV Line)

Supernatural guest actors Mark Pellegrino (Lucifer), Todd Stashwick (Dracula) and Colin Ford (young Sam) will also guest star on the new NBC drama Revolution. Pellegrino will play a militia officer while Stashwick will play a drug lord and Ford will be the brother of a boy who’s been taken by the big, bad militia. (Vlada Gelman at TV Line)

Actor Tim DeKay will guest star in a spring episode of the ABC medical drama Body of Proof, playing a forbidding, deeply religious father whose teenage daughter dies dramatically in the ER, who may have been possessed by the devil prior to her death. (Michael Ausiello at TV Line)

Actress Sherilyn Fenn (Twin Peaks) has joined the cast of the Starz period drama Magic City. She will play Madame Renee, a beautiful former call-girl who runs a brothel that Ben Diamond (Danny Huston) financially backs. The second season of Magic City will return sometime next year. (Lesley Goldberg at The Hollywood Reporter)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

The executive producers of The Ghost Whisperer – Ian Sanders and Kim Moses – have set up dramas at ABC and CBS. Gaslight at ABC is described as a lavish soap opera of passion, greed and hope set in a present-day Steampunk World in which three rival families battle for power and redemption in a re-imagined San Francisco. Reckless at CBS is set in Charleston where sex and crime walk hand in hand as two adversaries, a gorgeous Yankee litigator and a Southern city attorney, struggle to hide their attraction while clashing over a police sex scandal that threatens to implode the city. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

NBC has put a drama series based on characters from the Vertigo comic books and graphic novels called Midnight Mass. into development. The project is about a sophisticated, sexy, globe-trotting husband and wife paranormal investigator team — based in Midnight, Massachusetts — that takes on supernatural foes, macabre mysteries and the most frightening creature of all: marriage. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Film actress Diane Kruger has landed the lead role in the FX drama pilot called The Bridge, which is an adaptation of the Scandinavian series i Bron. The Bridge centers on two detectives from the United States and Mexico who must work together to hunt down a serial killer operating on both sides of the American-Mexican border. Kruger will play El Paso Police Homicide Detective Sonya North, a dogged cop who lacks tact, warmth and empathy. Shockingly candid, she calls the world like she sees it – which can be off-putting to her colleagues, but also refreshing and funny. The role of her partner, Marco Ruiz, is still being cast. (Michael Ausiello at TV Line)

FOX has bought the drama pilot America’s Son from writer Paul Redford, Amblin TV and Sony Pictures TV. The project is described as part juicy soap, part paranoid political thriller set in Washington DC and is a sophisticated contemporary spin on William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. When a beloved presidential hopeful dies in a tragic car wreck, a renegade JFK Junior type returns home to D.C. to discover that his father’s death was no accident – and he makes it his mission to untangle a complicated web of family secrets, expose the truth and ultimately avenge the murder. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

MADE FOR TV MOVIE NEWS

Actress Vanessa Marano (Switched at Birth) and actor Charlie Carver (Desperate Housewives) have been cast in the upcoming Lifetime original movie called Restless Virgins, which is inspired by the book “Restless Virgins: Love, Sex And Survival In Prep School” by Abigail Jones and Marissa Miley, which rocked venerable Massachusetts prep school Milton Academy during the 2004-05 school year. The movie depicts a world where privileged teens run wild at a New England prep school, thriving on exploitation and manipulation, culminating in a sex controversy. Marano will play a scholarship student and the editor of the school newspaper who exposes a sex tape made by the senior hockey players that blows the lid off the controversy. Carver will play one of the students embroiled in the scandal — a wealthy and calculating senator’s son. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actor Nonso Anozie (Game of Thrones) will have a role in the upcoming film Jack Ryan, which is a reboot of the legendary character that will star Chris Pine in the lead role. The story goes back to Ryan’s post-Marine/pre-CIA analyst days. There are few details about the role Anozie will play, but his character’s name will be Embee. (Black Film and Dark Horizons)

BOX OFFICE TRAILERS

Hot Trailer: ‘Beautiful Creatures’

Colin Firth & Alan Rickman in Coen Brothers Scripted ‘Gambit’ Trailer

‘Les Miserables’ Extended Look: Video

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

Actress Army Irving will play a recurring role on the drama series Zero Hour that will debut on ABC this mid-season. The series stars Anthony Edwards (ER) as a man who, after spending 20 years as the editor of a skeptic magazine, becomes involved in one of the most compelling conspiracies in human history. Irving will play a seemingly innocent, philanthropic and ordinary mother who turns out to be anything but. Married into money and well connected to the community through the charity that she runs, her plans border on both mysterious and dangerous. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Oscar winning actor F. Murray Abraham (Amadeus) will have a recurring role in Homeland, playing Dar Adul, a brilliant intelligence operative who has worked all over the world for the Special Activities Division of the CIA. Homeland will return for its second season on Showtime on October 30. (Tim Stack at Entertainment Weekly)

Actors James Caan and Esai Morales (NYPD Blue and Caprica) will both have recurring roles in Magic City when it returns for its second season of on Starz. The series is set in 1959 Miami shortly after the Cuban Revolution, telling the story of Ike Evans (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), the owner of Miami’s glitzy Miramar Playa hotel, who is forced to make a deal with local mob boss Ben Diamond (Danny Huston). Caan will play Sy Berman, the head of the Chicago mob and Diamond’s boss while Morales will play Carlos Ruiz, a former rebel who once fought beside Castro but now works to free Cuba from the man he once considered a brother. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

The CW is putting a contemporary spin on the classic story of Alice In Wonderland by developing a modern-day drama called Wunderland that will center on a young female detective in present-day Los Angeles who discovers another world that exists under the surface of this ultra-modern city. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

CBS is putting an as-yet titled medical drama into production with Peter Lenkov (Hawaii Five-0) set as the executive producer and showrunner. The project centers on an iconic tech billionaire who discovers he has terminal cancer and responds by building a hospital and recruiting a team of the world’s best doctors to take on his disease—but he soon comes to learn that his salvation lies in saving others. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

A new legal drama from David Shore, the creator and executive producer of House, has landed at ABC. The untitled drama is a high-end, character-driven procedural about a former cop who’s now a cunning but charming low-rent lawyer who uses his street smarts to work the system for his clients while battling his own demons and wooing his ex-wife. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)
Josh Friedman, executive producer of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, has set up another drama project at ABC. It is called Chosen and is a unique tale of family struggle, teen romance and California evil, exploring how a family’s life is upended when their 15-year-old daughter is identified as the reincarnated prophet of a mysterious South American religion. But is she their messiah or a pawn in a darker conspiracy? (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actor James Gandolfini (The Sopranos) is set to star in an HBO drama pilot called Criminal Justice that is a New York-set crime drama loosely based on the acclaimed 2008 BBC series of the same name created by Peter Moffat. The original series chronicled the journey of a person charged with murder through the justice system, and each featuring new characters and cast. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actress Rachel Boston (American Dreams and In Plain Sight) has joined the cast of the Lifetime drama pilot Witches of East End. She will play Ingrid Beauchamp, who is cautious, quirky, smart and unaware of how beautiful she is. Also cast in the show are Jenna Dewan (Step Up and The Playboy Club) and Julie Ormond. (Kimberly Roots at TV Line)

BOX OFFICE TRAILER

The Hobbit Official Trailer 2 [HD]: An Unexpected Journey

Q&A SECTION (with Jenna Mullins and John Boone at E! Online)

Question: I just finished all of Downton Abbey and I am dying for scoop! – B.C.

Answer: Elizabeth McGovern tells us what to expect when it comes to Cora’s relationship with her mother, played by Shirley MacLaine. “I think that Cora is very fond of her mother. There is not a lot of tension between them,” she says. “She’s protective of her when she comes over, too, because she’s facing this somewhat suspicious cold front, which is her English family that Cora is now used to and has learned how to manipulate or to live amongst. So I think she is very sensitive to how it must be like for her mother to enter into this atmosphere that she has grown used to.” Sounds like a delicious new season, no?

Question: I’m loving Revolution! Got any spoilers on what’s coming up? – Sammie

Answer: You’re not the only one digging J.J. Abrams’ new post-apocalyptic drama: In its Monday premiere, Revolution attracted 11.7 million viewers, making it the biggest drama debut on NBC in five years! And, according to star Giancarlo Esposito, who plays the seemingly scary Captain Neville, things are going to really start getting interesting in upcoming episodes—even if he wouldn’t tell us exactly what those interesting twists were. “I know some things that might happen,” he coyly told us. “I know more about some personal relationships that Captain Neville has with other characters in the show that the audience would be very surprised by.”

Question: Castle scoop! Not involving Castle and Beckett. I want happy scoop! – Dianna

Answer: So you know how Castle is doing a Firefly-esque tribute in an upcoming episode? Sounds like they are currently casting for…well, Nathan Fillion! Gabriel Winters is described as an actor who quickly rose to fame playing Captain Max Richards on a hit sci-fi series. Of course, unlike Fillion, this leading man spiraled out of control after his show went off the air with booze and one-night stands. Castle’s Firefly-themed episode, titled “The Final Frontier,” is the seventh episode of the new season.

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

Actor Tahmoh Penikett (Battlestar Galactica and Dollhouse) will guest star in at least one episode (if not more) of Arrow. He will play Tom Salvati, the right-hand man to mob boss Frank Bertinelli (Jeffrey Nordling), who is the father to Helena Bertinelli, aka The Huntress. Arrow debuts on October 10 on the CW. (Lesley Goldberg at The Hollywood Reporter)

Actress Amanda Tapping (Stargate franchise and Sanctuary) will have a major recurring role on Supernatural, playing Naomi, who is part of a new group of angels never seen before. The show will be back starting on October 3 on The CW. (Michael Ausiello at TV Line)

ONLINE SERIES NEWS

Actress Laura Prepon (That 70’s Show) will star opposite actress Taylor Schilling (The Lucky One and Mercy) in the Netflix 13-episode hour-long online series called Orange Is The New Black from Jenji Kohan (creator of Weeds). The series is based on the book by Piper Kerman that tells the story of Piper (Schilling) an engaged Brooklynite whose decade-old relationship with a drug-runner (Prepon) in college results in her arrest and multi-year detention in a federal penitentiary. Lacking any real-world experience to deal with this harsh new environment, Piper immerses herself in women’s prison culture. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

DEVEOPMENT NEWS

The CW has teamed with Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Television to adapt for television the recently published young adult novel Embrace from the book series by Jessica Shirvington. The book centers on twentysomething Violet Eden, who discovers that she is half-angel and the key to a centuries-old war between fallen angels and their earthly protectors. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Executive producer Laurie Zaks (Castle) has set up a drama pilot called Rise & Fall at ABC. The project is a high-concept thriller about the events that precipitate and immediately follow the kidnapping of a wealthy Chicago businesswoman, told from the point of view of her ne’er-do-well son who must unravel the truth about what happened in order to clear his name. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

NBC has closed a deal on a drama pilot from Peter Berg (Battleship and Friday Night Light) based on the Israeli series M.I.C.E. (which is an acronym for Money, Ideology, Coercion and Ego, used to understand the motives of spies in betraying their countries). The project revolves around the Gordin family and centers on Israeli-born Eyal Gordin, a decorated Israeli Air Force officer in a high-security post who loves his country and family. His parents Michael (Miki) and Diana, Grandmother Nina and elder sister Natalia emigrated from the USSR in 1990. Eyal has no idea that his parents were Russian spies. When Miki and Diana’s former handler appears one day, demanding that they recruit their son into espionage activity (watch the scene below with English subtitles), Eyal faces an impossible dilemma: his cooperation with Russian intelligence determines his family’s fate, while his dedication to Israel’s homeland security tests his family allegiance. His country, or his family who will he choose to betray? (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

BOX OFFICE TRAILER

Penn Badgley Carries a Tune in ‘Greetings from Tim Buckley’ Trailer

Q&A SECTION (with Jenna Mullins at E! Online)

Question: I recently watched Scandal now I’m addicted! Any scoop on season two?! – kbenko6

Jenna: According to series lead Kerry Washington, “In the very first episode, you will find out who Quinn Perkins; but typical Scandal style, you’ll also leave with about four more questions.” We only have one question: what’s going on with Olivia and the president?! “At the end of the first season, Olivia really is trying to let go of her relationship with Fitz and not interact at all, but there is a strong pull there, so we’ll see.” We won’t see soon enough! The premiere (Sept. 27) is still too far away.

Question: Can I get just a bit more scoop on the Halloween episode of Pretty Little Liars? – Leslie B.

Jenna: It’s funny you should say “bit,” because Lucy Hale described the episode in just three words. Sort of. “OK, if I can give you three words that will describe the Halloween episode: Adam Lambert, which is two words,” she laughs to us. “So technically I have one more word to fill. OK: Adam Lambert, a box and red lips.”

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

A&E has chosen their new Norman Bates for the new prequel thriller series Bates Motel. The winner is: Freddie Highmore (from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Finding Neverland). Additionally, actor Max Thieriot (House at the End of the Street) will play Norman’s older brother. The series will debut next year. (Lesley Goldberg at The Hollywood Reporter)

Actress Nikki Blonsky (Hairspray) will have a recurring role on Smash when it returns mid-season on NBC; but there are no details on what character she will be playing. (Lesley Goldberg at The Hollywood Reporter)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Actor turned TV producer/series creator Shaun Cassidy (Invasion) has teamed with Howard Gordon, Executive Producer for Homeland on a pilot for FOX that is being described as an adrenalized, dysfunctional family adventure series, centering on two former CIA operatives — now married with teenagers — who are forced to face their past when their identities are exposed and they’re nearly killed. Now they’ll need to start over, under new cover, this time with their children in on the secret as they tackle cases, come together as a family, and elude those who would rather see them dead. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

The Lifetime drama pilot Cinnamon Girl, co-created and executive produced by Renee Zellweger, has announced the casting of newcomers Allie MacDonald, Alexis Knapp, Brooke Anne Smith and Jade Bartlett as well Sebastian Piggott (Being Erica and Bomb Girls) as the leads. The pilot is set against the backdrop of the Los Angeles music and movie scenes of the late 1960s/early 1970s, telling the story of four coming-of-age girls — Cassie (MacDonald), Lola (Knapp), Junie (Smith) and Lou (Bartlett) — and explores their lives at the crossroads of the era’s political, artistic, social and sexual rebellions. Meanwhile, Piggott will play Billy, a heartthrob and future superstar who has immediate chemistry with Cassie. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actress Jenna Dewan (The Playboy Club and Step Up) has landed a role in Witches of East End, a new Lifetime pilot. She will play one of Julia Ormond’s secretly supernatural daughters, Freya Beauchamp, a sexy and fearless former wild child who settles down after becoming engaged to fiancé Dash Gardiner, a rich philanthropist. Though not initially aware that she and her sister are their family’s newest generation of witches, a series of events forces Ormond’s Joanna — also a witch — to tell her daughters the truth. (Kimberly Roots at TV Line)

Q&A SECTION (with Team Watch with Kristin at E! Online and Matt Roush at TV Guide)

Question: Can I please get some scoop on Daniel on Revenge? – Vanessa

Team Watch With Kristin: “At the beginning of the season, we are in a relationship,” Ashley Madekwe told us of Daniel and Ashley at the Nylon magazine and Sony X headphones event for the mag’s annual TV issue. “You’re not really sure what they’re in it for or where it will go.” What does their new relationship mean for Ashley’s friendship with Emily? “They’re not not friends, but they’re definitely not as close as they used to be,” Ashley says.

Question: Dying for some PLL scoop, preferably of the Ezria variety! – Noelle

Team Watch With Kristin: According to Lucy Hale, “What’s so interesting about Aria and Ezra’s relationship is that Ezra up to this point has been flawless, kind of like the perfect boyfriend,” she told us at the Nylon party. “And I think it’s so interesting that now Ezra has this secret and it’s getting deeper. And once we dig in this [season], it gets more intense. Ezra will be gone for a little bit and people are going to be so angry. They’re going to be so mad.”

Question: White Collar has become known for exciting cliffhangers — but with the mid-season finale coming up on Tuesday, there have been few clues as to what to expect. Any inside info? Will we be treated to another exciting, dramatic cliffhanger to keep us in suspense? — Laura

Matt Roush: It’s no secret I’m spoiler-averse, but since I have screened the episode, let me just tease that the show goes on its hiatus with not so much a cliffhanger as it is a reveal that could change everything — about what, I won’t say. But much of the episode, as hinted last week, hinges on the issue of trust. Can Neal ever trust Peter again? Can Peter win back Neal’s confidence and good humor? Can anyone trust Sam? It all sets up the back half of the season (in early 2013) pretty nicely.

Question: I have a couple of questions for you in regards to Army Wives. I’ve heard a couple of rumblings that the season 6 finale was indeed a series finale and not a season finale, but after watching it the other night, it definitely felt like a season finale. If this is what the producers behind the show felt would be a proper way to end a series that I felt by Lifetime standards was actually a very well thought out, provocative series that depicted Army life in a positive manner, then they totally disrespected the loyal viewers by ending with a possible plane crash. Also, what on earth happened to the star Kim Delaney the last several episodes as I was hoping she would re-appear for the finale? Have you heard anything about a season 7? I know the show is still a strong utility player for Lifetime, but I also read that the contracts were up for all the principal actors. Also, what were your thoughts on the finale (if you had a chance to watch it)? — Tom

Matt Roush: My e-mailbag has runneth over for some time with Army Wives questions and concerns, but for now, it’s still wait and see. I only watched the very end of last week’s finale to see if it looked like a wrap-up, which it most definitely did not. And given the show’s importance to the Lifetime brand over the years, I am confident it will get at least another season, and this is one of those cases where when the time comes to call it a day, the network and studio had better be on the same page to give the loyal fans a satisfying ending. A possible plane crash is the very opposite of that scenario. It’s worth noting that just last week, the network’s president was promoted to a new position overseeing all of the A&E Networks (including A&E as well as Lifetime and History), so there was more on their plate than deciding the fate of this one show. It wouldn’t surprise me if some announcement regarding Army Wives is imminent; just can’t say when, or whether it will address the fate of individual cast members, including Delaney, whose recent extended absence on the show has been much remarked by fans but unaddressed as far as I can tell by the show itself, whose response to questions has been “no comment.”

Jackie also wrote in to ask: “Is Sally Pressman (Roxy) really leaving the show? If that’s the case, three of the original five ‘wives’ are now gone, and the show, while still very good, is certainly not the same. The new characters aren’t getting it done for me; if their purpose was to pick up the slack, it didn’t work. I know the show hasn’t yet been renewed for the new season, so maybe these questions are moot, but I do wonder if you have any insight to offer.”

Matt again: The only perspective I can give is that shows like this can be a victim of their own longevity, and when actors decide to move on for whatever reason — for the record, I have no idea who’s returning or not if and when Army Wives is renewed — it does tend to change the dynamic of a show. On a much-larger canvas, I’m always reminded of ER, which by the end was almost unrecognizable character-wise (and to me, quality-wise) from where it started.

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »