Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Congrats to the folks over at Pretty Little Liars, The Vampire Diaries, Teen Wolf and Awkward for the wins at the Teen Choice Awards this weekend.

Now for today’s news:

TELEVISION

Actor Adam Baldwin (Chuck and Firefly) will play Capt. Steven Harris, the new interim captain, on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, taking over the duties of Capt. Donald Cragen (Dann Florek), who was suspected of murder in the season finale. He will appear in the first three episodes of the new season while Cragen’s fate is being determined. The series returns for its 14th season with a two-hour premiere on September 26 on NBC. (TV Guide)

Actor Jack Coleman (Heroes and The Vampire Diaries) will guest star on Castle this fall, playing a popular U.S. senator who becomes an antagonist to Beckett (Stana Katic). (TV Line and TV Guide)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actor James Marsden (The Notebook) will replace Matthew McConaughey as former U.S. President John F. Kennedy in the historical drama flick called The Butler, which will chronicle the life of Eugene Allen, who served as a White House butler under an incredible eight presidents and through the years 1952 to 1986. Forest Whitaker and Aml Ameen will play Allen at different ages. The cast of this upcoming film will include Oprah Winfrey, Alan Rickman, Jane Fonda, John Cusack, Robin Williams, Liam Neeson, Minka Kelly, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Terrence Howard, Lenny Kravitz, Alex Pettyfer and Vanessa Redgrave [among others]. (Variety and Dark Horizons)

Actor Jackie Earle Haley has joined the cast of the upcoming remake of the film Robocop. He will play Maddox, the man who dispenses the military training to Robocop (Joel Kinnaman). Gary Oldman, Hugh Laurie, Samuel L. Jackson and Abbie Cornish are also set. (Deadline and Dark Horizons)

Actor Emilie Hirsch has joined the cast of the upcoming military film Lone Survivor, which is based on the book of the same name by real life Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell. The story follows a Navy SEAL team which fought to stay alive after being ambushed in Afghanistan in 2005 by Taliban forces during a covert mission in the Hindu Kush mountain region, where the team went to kill a terrorist leader. Mark Wahlberg will star as the author and Taylor Kitsch and Ben Foster will play two of the other team members. There are no details yet on what role Hirsch will play. (Variety and First Showing)

Q&A SECTION (with Matt Roush at TV Guide)

Question: Since Eureka was left wide open for a new and improved show, when will Syfy be stepping through the portal and giving us back our show? Can we expect a fall offering or will we have to wait a year until next summer? My eldest thinks they are going to drop the ball on this. I hope he’s wrong. — Debbie

Matt Roush: Your eldest is right. What you saw as “wide open” the rest of us saw as closure. This was Eureka’s swan song, unmistakably billed as a series finale, and giving the town and its characters a happy open ending is probably as much as we could have hoped for given the circumstances. I found the finale to be very satisfying, although as a fan of course I would have liked there to be more. But that’s not going to happen. It’s over. Job well done.

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

First of all, let’s all take a moment to remember the people who were senselessly murdered in Aurora, Colorado last night while trying to see The Dark Knight Rises. Such sad news to wake up to this morning…

MOMENT OF SILENCE

Now, on to the news for today (with a heavy heart):

TELEVISION

Actress Jennifer Jason Leigh (Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Single White Female) will play mom to Emily Thorne (aka Amanda Clarke) on Revenge this fall. (Kristin at E! Online)

Actress Clean Duvall (Carnivale) will appear in multiple episodes of American Horror Story. Details are scarce on the character she will be playing but she will appear in scenes with returning co-star Sarah Paulson. (TV Line)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Lifetime has ordered the drama pilots The Secret Lives of Wives, which is the working title and Witches of East End. Both pilots are slated for next year. The Secret Lives of Wives, inspired by the book by Iris Krasnow, will explore the unvarnished truth behind the marriages of four different women, breaking down the creative ways each close friend nurtures, maintains and endures what many see as an impossible convention of modern life. Meanwhile, Witches of East End, based on Melissa de la Cruz best-selling novel, centers on the adventures of a mother and her two adult daughters — both of whom unknowingly are their family’s next generation of witches — who lead seemingly quiet, uneventful modern day lives in Long Island’s secluded seaside town of North Hampton. When one of the daughters becomes engaged to a young, wealthy newcomer, a series of events forces her mother to admit to her daughters they are, in fact, powerful and immortal witches. (Deadline)

Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (the men behind the Star Trek reboot) and director Len Wiseman (Underworld) are working on a drama project based on the tale of Sleepy Hollow. This version would be a modern–day supernatural thriller that would follow Ichabod Crane as he partners with Sleepy Hollow’s local female sheriff to solve the mysteries of a town ravaged by the battle between good and evil. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actress Lena Headey (Game of Thrones) and Jared Harris (Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows) have joined the cast of the upcoming film The Mortal Instruments (written by Cassandra Clare), the latest young adult fantasy book series being adapted to film. They join Lily Collins (Mirror Mirror), Jamie Campbell Bower (Twilight saga) and Kevin Durand (Lost and I Am Number Four) who were cast earlier). The books follow NYC teen named Clary Fray (Collins), who finds out she is the latest in a line of “Shadowhunters,” a secret society of half-angel warriors caught up in an ancient battle against demons. The first film is set to release on August 23, 2013. (Hit Fix)

Actress Abigail Breslin will star as the daughter of Julia Roberts in the upcoming film called August: Osage County. She will play Jean Fordham, the 14-year old angry and acerbic pot smoking child of Barbara (Roberts). The film is based on the Tracy Letts Pulitzer- and Tony-winning play, which chronicles several summer weeks in the life of a severely dysfunctional Oklahoma family and the crisis that gathers them back together. Meryl Streep and Juliette Lewis are also set to star in the film. (Deadline)

Actor/Director Kenneth Branagh may be appearing in the upcoming Jack Ryan reboot. He is in negotiations to play the Russian villain in the franchise based on the famous Tom Clancy literary hero. In this version, Chris Pine will play Ryan, an ex-Marine who now works as a successful financial analyst in Moscow. He discovers a plot by his employer to finance a terrorist attack designed to collapse the U.S. economy. (Variety and Dark Horizons)

Actor Josh Holloway (Lost) has joined the cast of the upcoming film Paranoia, which is an adaptation of the Joseph Finder thriller that finds Liam Hemsworth (The Hunger Games) playing a blue-collar guy who is blackmailed by his boss into spying on a rival company. Holloway will play the investigating FBI agent keeping a close eye on Hemsworth. (Variety and Dark Horizons)

Q&A SECTION (with Sandra Gonzalez at Entertainment Weekly)

Question: Supernatural scoop please!! — Remy

Sandra: Want a follow-up to the hyper-meta episode “The French Mistake”? Ben Edlund told reporters after the show’s panel at Comic-Con that he has an idea that could produce a part 2 — but he’s not sure if it’ll work. He’s also into dinosaurs, but “I’ve never been able to get them on.”

Question: So Jim Beaver was at the SPN panel at Comic-Con. Does that mean he’s coming back? I love him, but… — Sarah

Sandra: Everyone I chatted with after the panel was hesitant to confirm or deny a return, but Beaver would certainly be up for it. And, he added, he doesn’t think it’d be one too many trips back to the land of the living. “Dramatically speaking, you’ve hit on one of the dilemmas of the show and I think they’ve managed very well to walk the line without crossing over too much into making death less meaningful,” he says. “It’s dangerous if your show is about threatening people with destruction every week but destruction doesn’t matter because you get to come back. You don’t always get to come back and you don’t always get to come back well. What the show has done really well is creating characters that fans love so much that any step over that line gets attenuated by the fact that the audience is so happy to see the character back.”

Question: Is there anything new on the upcoming season of Supernatural? I’m hoping that we get a few episodes centered on Purgatory. — Annabelle

Sandra: As I’m sure you heard, it’ll be more than a few. And these flashbacks will be intense, I hear. Especially episode 2, which is when we see Castiel again. That’s when we’ll find out whether he left Dean seemingly fending for himself in Purgatory for a good reason (to find help/provisions)…or a bad one.

Question: You know what sucks? Waiting for Hart of Dixie to come back! So any and all scoop is appreciated! — Lucy

Sandra: The show is currently looking for a musically talented gal to play Wade’s ex-bandmade — and former flame!

That’s it. Enjoy!

Have a great weekend!

And, again, deepest condolences to those affected by the shooting in Colorado. No words can make the pain dissipate; but time will heal the wounds. Sympathies extended to all!

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Hey All,

Well after yesterday’s long news update today’s update seems much simpler. Here are the news items for today:

NEWS

Congrats to all the Emmy nominees (they were announced this morning). Some of the big “winners” (at least for now) include Downtown Abbey, Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Homeland, Game of Thrones and Sherlock (among others). The official awards ceremony will be televised on September 15. (E! Online)

TELEVISION

Actress Camilla Luddington (from William & Kate, the Lifetime movie and True Blood) has landed a recurring role as a young doctor on Grey’s Anatomy. (Deadline)

Actor Richard Burgi (Desperate Housewives) will appear in the season premiere of Blue Bloods when it returns this fall to CBS. HE will play Councilman Anthony Russo, the powerful, wealthy chairman of the Committee on Public Safety. Blue Bloods will be back on September 28. (TV Guide)

Actress Megalyn Echikunwoke (The 4400 and CSI: Miami) will be a series regular on the new CBS legal drama Made in Jersey that tells the story of how working-class Jersey girl Martina Garretti (Janet Montgomery from Human Target) shows her stuffy New York law-firm colleagues a thing or two. Echikunwoke will play Riley, the daughter of an ambassador and a Silicon Valley pioneer and a second-year associate at the law firm of Stark & Rowan. The series will debut on September 28. (TV Line)

Actor Santiago Cabrera (Heroes and Merlin) will appear in a number of episodes of Dexter during the show’s 7th season. He will guest star as Ethan Price, the author of a true crime book series about famous murders. Dexter returns to Showtime on September 30. (Entertainment Weekly and TV Line)

Actress Grace Phipps (The Nine Lives of Chloe King) will appear in episodes of The Vampire Diaries when the series returns to The CW for its new season this fall. She will play April, a natural beauty with a bit of an edge, who has some history with both Elena (Nina Dobrev) and Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen), but Elena will try to protect her from the supernatural secrets of Mystic Falls. The Vampire Diaries will be back on October 11. (TV Guide)

Actor Patton Oswalt (Caprica) and actress Sonja Sohn (The Wire) will make guest appearances on upcoming episodes of Burn Notice. Oswalt will play Colin Schmidt, a notorious smuggler who is just the man the gang needs in order to escape the grasp of the CIA and disappear indefinitely. While Sohn will play a high-level CIA director. (Sandra Gonzalez at Entertainment Weekly)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Marlene King, executive producer of the ABC Family teen drama Pretty Little Liars is in the early stages of developing a TV project based on her 1995 feature film Now and Then. The film centered on four friends during the summer of 1970 and starred Christina Ricci, Demi Moore, Rosie O’Donnell, Melanie Griffith and Rita Wilson. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Bryan Fuller, the man behind the quirky but short-lived TV shows Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls and Pushing Daisies announced some news about the latter of his creations. It seems that the tale of pie maker Ned (Lee Pace), who was able to bring the dead back to life with a single touch, could be making its way to Broadway as a musical. Fuller told TV Line the following: “We’re working on something that is definitely a Pushing Daisies revival, and the idea would be to have as many cast [members] as we can to participate in it.” No other specifics are known at this time, however. (TV Line and Blastr)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

I’m back from Comic Con 2012 and boy is there a lot of news for which to catch up on. Today’s update needless to say is going to be very long and has taken me the better part of three days to put together.

Here goes:

TELEVISION

Actress Paget Brewster (Criminal Minds) will guest star in the two-hour premiere of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, which is set to air on CBS on September 26. (The Futon Critic)

The CBS series Unforgettable is getting a second chance with 13 all-new episodes that will air next summer, but the supporting cast will be changing significantly. Season one co-stars Kevin Rankin, Daya Vaidya, Michael Gaston and Britt Lower will not be back; but Jane Curtin, who joined as a series regular halfway through the first season will be back along with series stars Poppy Montgomery and Dylan Walsh. (Deadline)

Actor Will Chase (Smash) will make a guest appearance on Necessary Roughness, playing a band member who goes to Dr. Dani to resolve past conflicts before going on a reunion tour. (TV Line and TV Guide)

Actor Todd Williams (In Plain Sight) has landed a recurring role on The Vampire Diaries where he will play Connor, a mysterious and powerful new vampire hunter who comes to Mystic Falls when the show returns this fall. The Vampire Diaries will be back on October 11 on The CW. (TV Guide)

Actress Amanda Peet will have a multi-arc role on The Good Wife, playing a military lawyer who enlists the law firm’s aid when the show returns for a 4th season this fall. The series returns on September 30 on CBS. (TV Line and TV Guide)

Well-known actress Linda Hamilton (Chuck and the Terminator franchise) will guest star in a season 3 episode of the Syfy series Lost Girl. She will play Acacia, a tough, sexy and ruthless assassin who has enjoyed a storied and deadly career. Her arrival will spell trouble for Bo and company. Lost Girl will move to Friday night this Friday with the finale set to air on September 14. Season 3 will return some time next year. (TV Line)

Actor Mark Consuelos will appear in the upcoming season of American Horror Story, playing a patient named Spivey. (Entertainment Weekly and The Futon Critic)

Actor Gaius Charles (Friday Night Lights) has landed a recurring role on Grey’s Anatomy. It is being presumed that he will play a young doctor at Seattle Grace. (TV Line and The Futon Critic)

Actor Ty Olsson (Eureka and Men In Trees) has landed a recurring role on Supernatural. He will play Benny, a darkly handsome survivor with a tell-it-to-you-straight sense of honor. The series will air its 8th season premiere on October 3. (Deadline)

Actor Devon Sawa has been made a series regular on The CW series Nikita. (Deadline)

It looks like the web series Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog from Joss Whedon will air on The CW sometime next year; but a date or time has not been announced yet. (Deadline)

Actress Shannyn Sossamon (Moonlight and A Knight’s Tale) has landed a role on the upcoming ABC soap Mistresses. She will play Alex, one-half of a lesbian couple who become a client of Josslyn (Jess Macallan) and are on the search for an expensive house. Mistresses will also star Alyssa Milano, Yunjin Kim and Rochelle Aytes. The soap will debut next May for a summer run. (Deadline)

Actor Iain Glen (Game of Thrones and Downton Abbey) will guest star in the season of Haven, playing Roland Holloway, a refined yet bitter man who’s been trapped inside his house for more than 27 years and is bent on vengeance. Haven will return to Syfy on September 21. (Deadline)

Falling Skies has been renewed by TNT for a third season. (Deadline)

MTV has renewed Teen Wolf for a third season. (Deadline)

Actors Sean Murray and Michael Weatherly and actress Pauley Perrette have signed contracts to return for the 10th season of NCIS. (Deadline)

Legendary actress Diana Rigg (the original TV series The Avengers) has joined the cast of Game of Thrones for its third season. She will play Olenna Redwyne the Queen of the Thorns. (Deadline)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Ron Moore (the executive producer of Battlestar Galactica) will develop the best-selling Outlander series of books by Diana Gabaldon for TV. The project will be taken to cable networks this week. The book series starts off in 1945, following Claire, a married WWII combat nurse who accidentally steps back in time to the Scottish Highlands of 1743. (Deadline)

TNT has given a pilot order to The Last Ship, an action drama series to be executive produced by Michael Bay. The project is based on the popular novel by William Brinkley and will be written by Hank Steinberg (Without a Trace) and Steven Kane (The Closer). The project centers on the crew of a naval destroyer who, after a global catastrophe decimates the earth’s population, are forced to confront the reality of their new existence in a world where they are among the only survivors. (Deadline)

Author Neil Gaiman will collaborate with artist J.H. Williams III (Batwoman) on a new limited series based on his classic graphic novel The Sandman. The mini-series will be published next year. (Deadline)

Hung co-creators Dmitry Lipkin and Colette Burson are developing a new series for Starz entitled Called Sleep No More, a supernatural thriller that will tell the tale of a town where the dead keep returning to life. (Deadline)

The drama pilot The Joneses by Liz Tigelaar, the series creator of The CW series Life Unexpected has been picked up by Bravo. The family drama follows the All-American Joneses, who have just moved into an upscale suburb to start a new life; but they have a secret they must keep from their new friends and neighbors — they aren’t a real family at all. (Deadline)

The cable network Starz has two original projects in development: Incursion, a sci-fi action thriller from Steven S. DeKnight (creator of Spartacus) and Vlad Dracula from the team of J. Michael Straczynski, Roy Lee and Rob Tapert. Incursion follows a squad of soldiers caught in a war against a hostile alien race while Vlad Dracula will blend historical facts of the 15th century Prince of Wallachia with the fictional Dracula. (Deadline)

A&E has secured the rights to Those Who Kill, the Danish crime series based on the books by Elsebeth Egholm. The cabler has also ordered a pilot. The original series revolves around a police detective and a forensic profiler who possess a deep understanding of the serial killers they hunt. (Deadline)

CONDOLENCES

Queen of Country Music, Kitty Wells, passed away last week after suffering complications from a stroke. She was 92. (E! Online)

Oscar-winning actress Celeste Holm passed away last week at the age of 95. (Deadline)

Actor-director Sage Stallone, son of Sylvester Stallone, passed away last week. He was only 36. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Here are the top 10 box office films for last weekend courtesy of online research:

1. Ice Age Continental Drift – 46 million
2. The Amazing Spider-Man – 34 million
3. Ted – 22 million
4. Brave – 11 million
5. Savages – 9.3 million
6. Magic Mike – 9 million
7. Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Witness Protection – 5.6 million
8. Katy Perry: Part of Me – 3.8 million
9. Moonrise Kingdom – 3.7 million
10. Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted – 3.6 million

Actress Dianna Agron (Glee) is in negotiations to play the daughter of the characters to be played by Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer in the dark action comedy called Malavita. De Niro plays an American mob boss in Witness Protection hiding with his family in the Normandy region of France. But the man can’t stop his Mafia ways and begins to impose his will on the unsuspecting small town. (Heat Vision and Dark Horizons)

Actress Viola Davis and actors William Hurt and Ciarin Hinds (among others) have joined the cast of the upcoming film The Disappearance Of Eleanor Rigby that will be dual films following a love story between a New York City couple (James MacAvoy and Jessica Chastain) during a difficult time in their marriage. (Screen Daily and Dark Horizons)

Actress Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) and actor Sam Claflin (Snow White and the Hunstman) have joined the cast of the upcoming film Overdrive that will star Karl Urban in a story about two American brothers who decide to take their careers as car thieves to the next level by fleeing to the South of France, where they run afoul of a black marketeer. (Deadline)

Actress Jessica Biel will appear as Viper from the X-men mythology in the upcoming movie The Wolverine. (Deadline)

Actor Richard Armitage, who will be seen in The Hobbit, will star alongside Sarah Wayne Callies (The Walking Dead) in an upcoming untitled tornado film. (Deadline)

Actor Tobey Maguire has joined the cast of the upcoming film called Labor Day, which is an adaptation of the Joyce Maynard book that centers on 13-year old Henry, who learns valuable life lessons over a five-day Labor Day weekend. Maguire will play the adult version of the boy. (Deadline)

Actress Britt Robertson (Life Unexpected and The Secret Circle) has joined the cast of the upcoming dark bully drama called White Rabbit that will also star Sam Trammell (True Blood). (Deadline)

Actor Billy Campbell (The Killing) will play Abraham Lincoln in the National Geographic Channel docu-drama called Killing Lincoln, based on the book by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard that chronicles the conspiracy behind Lincoln’s assassination. (Deadline)

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

Question: Vampire Diaries scoop, please and thank you! – Beth

WWK Team: Matt Donovan fans, you may want to avert your eyes: “Matt’s going to have a tough year. I’m not kidding you, Matt’s going to have a really tough year. I feel bad for Matt,” Ian Somerhalder warns of Damon’s feelings toward Mystic Falls’ No. 1 quarterback/busboy after learning that Stefan chose to save him over Elena.

Question: I’ll take anything you’ve got on Once Upon a Time! – Samantha:

WWK Team: Princess Aurora comes in a package deal! The ABC hit series is currently looking for a Prince Phillip to go hand-in-hand with Aurora and he kind of reminds us of Charming: He is known to selflessly shoulder the burden for those around him and is a skilled warrior. Oh, and he’s very handsome.

Clarissa: Any news on the Mad Hatter from Once Upon a Time? – _serenachan

WWK Team: Showrunner Edward Kitsis was pretty tight-lipped about season two, but did say fans will “absolutely” see Sebastian Stan in season two, so Jefferson/Mad Hatter’s story is far from over. Small victories, people!

Question: Any scoop on NCIS: LA would be greatly appreciated! – Clarissa

WWK Team: The show will be adding a new potentially recurring character this season, an 18-year-old girl named Astrid (how Fringe of the CBS hit!), who has high-functioning autism and a punk style. Though she’s socially awkward and low on the empathy, she’s brilliant and has a knack for numbers and patterns. New team member alert, anyone?!

Question: Teen Wolf, when will we find out more about Lydia’s immunity? – Paigerzz22

WWK Team: Holland Roden would only tell us that episode nine is a big one for Lydia, but Colton Haynes let a bit more spill when we asked who the bigger threat was, Jackson or Lydia: I think Lydia is a huge threat because in the show we make you think Lydia is fully unaware of what’s happening and is kind of off in space, but I think it could be otherwise,” he says. “Jackson is a huge threat, but I think one character in the show will find a way to possibly cure something in all of us. Someone could have a cure.” Can Lydia cure lycanthropy? Things that make you go hmmm…

Question: ANYTHING on the Hart of Dixie Wade/Zoe/George situation? This wait is killing me! – Charlottexoxo

WWK Team: How about that both men won’t stay in the dark about their situation with the town’s resident shorts-lovin’ doc for long? In fact, the whole town will find out about George and Zoe, branding her the home wrecker of Bluebell.

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

Actress Liane Balaban has landed the enviable role of new love interest for Sam Winchester (Jared Padalecki) on Supernatural when the series returns this fall. She will play Amelia, who is described as a tragedy-damaged soul who soon reveals herself to be a brave, sweet, smart, sarcastic woman. (Matt Mitovich at TV Line)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

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

1. The Amazing Spider-Man, $65 million
2. Ted, $32.6 million
3. Brave, $20.2 million
4. Savages, $16.2 million
5. Magic Mike, $15.6 million
6. Madea’s Witness Protection, $10.2 million
7. Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted, $7.7 million
8. Katy Perry: Part of Me, $7.2 million
9. Moonrise Kingdom, $4.6 million
10. To Rome With Love, $3.5 million

Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman has signed on to play Plutarch Heavensbee in Catching Fire, the second installment in the Hunger Games trilogy. Heavensbee is the new Head Gamemaker who may (or may not) be more loyal to reigning champ Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) than the diabolical President Snow (Donald Sutherland). (The Hollywood Reporter and E! Online)

Actress Radha Mitchell (who will be seen this fall in the new ABC drama Red Widow) has joined the cast of the upcoming film called Olympus Has Fallen. She will play Leah, the wife of Gerard Butler’s Secret Service character in the White House thriller. The film sees the president (Aaron Eckhart) and key members of his administration taken hostage. Butler’s character tries to stop the terrorist plot. (Dominic Patten at Deadline)

Actor Kevin Durand (Lost) has joined the cast of the film adaptation of The Mortal Instruments novel by Cassandra Clare. Lily Collins plays a seemingly ordinary teenager who discovers she is the descendent of a demon-hunting clan. Durand will play one of the antagonists. (Variety and Dark Horizons)

Actor Kevin McKidd (Grey’s Anatomy) and Ashley Jensen (Ugly Betty) will play the leads in the upcoming film called Indian Summer that follows an orphaned boy, his embittered uncle, and beautiful but lonely aunt, whose lives are changed forever by the arrival of an exotic stranger – a Native American Indian U.S. Marine. (Movies.ie and Dark Horizons)

Actor Michael Fassbender (X-Men: First Class) will co-produce and star in the film adaptation of the popular video game franchise Assassin’s Creed. (Variety and First Showing)

Actress Keri Russell (Felicity) has joined the cast of the supernatural thriller called Dark Skies. She will play the lead role, but details on the film have yet to be revealed. (Mike Fleming at Deadline)

Legendary actor Anthony Hopkins will appear in the Biblical epic film Noah that is set to star Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly as Noah and his wife. Hopkins will play Metheselah, Noah’s grandfather who dies seven days before the great flood. (Twitter and First Showing)

CONDOLENCES

Legendary film and TV actor Ernest Borgnine passed away over the weekend. In addition to being an Oscar winner, he appeared in the classic TV show McHale’s Navy and the popular 80’s actioner Airwolf [among countless other movies and TV shows]. He was 95. (Variety)

ME: Rest in Peace, Mr. Borgnine. Condolences to his family, friends and fans.

MOMENT OF SILENCE, PLEASE…

ONLINE SERIES NEWS

Actor Aaron Douglas (Battlestar Galactica) has joined the cast of the upcoming online series from called Hemlock Grove. He will appear as Sheriff Sworn, the local lawman investigating a young girl’s gruesome murder in a Pennsylvania steel town. The online series is based on a novel by Brian McGreevy and will stars Famke Janssen and Dougray Scott (among others). (The Deadline Team)

That’s it. Enjoy!

NOTE: I leave for Comic Con tomorrow and won’t be back until Sunday so there won’t be any daily entertainment updates until next week.

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Hey All,

Here are the news items (few though they may be) for today:

TELEVISION

Actress Sarah Bolger (The Tudors) has been cast as Sleeping Beauty while actress Jamie Chung (Hangover 2) will play Chinese fighter Mulan on Once Upon a Time. (Matt Mitovich at TV Line and James Hibberd at Entertainment Weekly)

There will be a lot of interesting guest stars on Alphas this summer, including some returning guest stars. Those returning include John Pyper-Ferguson, Kathleen Munroe , Mahershala Ali and Summer Glau. The new faces popping up with include Sean Astin, C. Thomas Howell, Lauren Holly, Steve Byers, Kandyse McClure and Noah Reid. (TV By the Numbers)

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

Question: I am desperate for some new Vampire Diaries scoop. – Chloe

WWK Team: Pretty soon you’ll (have plenty of) TVD scoop, because the show and its stars are headed to Comic-Con next week! But because we love you so much, we’ll tell you something now: there’s a new vampire hunter in town next season! His name is Connor, and word on the street is that he’ll be sticking around for awhile after he pops up in episode two.

Question: Can I get some Once Upon a Time season-two scoop? – Leslie

WWK Team: What’s interesting about next season is really in the way the cast has been describing it to us. For example, check out Ginnifer Goodwin’s take on season two: “We’re going to remember our parallel lives, so we’ll be creating essentially a third character. They are going to blend the two characters we’ve already been playing.” Never fear, fans of OUAT’s first season won’t be forgotten. “It’s going to be a brand-new show. But I think it will still be all the characters the fans know and love,” she says.

Question: Got anything on Covert Affairs? – Riley

WWK Team: We’re happy you asked, because we just finished watching the July 10 season premiere of Covert Affairs and it’s crazy. Crazy, we tell you! And crazy hot, too! After a top-secret plot twist, Annie (Piper Perabo) will find herself with a new boss, new job and a new hot man. But are any of these things permanent? Let’s not kid ourselves, they are all going to put her in danger.

Question: I would like some Psych scoop. Please and thank you. – Trey in Houston

WWK Team: Juliet is getting a new roomie. Laura is a bubbly, perky, upbeat, positive, and a complete and total copycat. In episode eight, we’ll see Laura start to change her appearance, and mannerisms to become more and more like her new BFF. Creepy. Not surprisingly, Shawn has some serious “issues” with this new Juliet duplicate, especially when she starts to flirt with him. Gasp! Shawn and Gus decide to follow the twenty-something in hopes of finding out why she’s trying to become the new Juliet.

That’s it. Enjoy!

Have a terrific weekend!!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for today, few though they may be:

TELEVISION

Actor Kristoffer Polaha (Ringer and Life Unexpected) has joined the cast of this fall’s new CBS legal drama Made in Jersey as a series regular. This new series will follow Martina Garretti (Janet Montgomery from Human Target), a working-class Garden State gal who holds her own among the snooty lawyers at Stark & Rowan, a New York law firm. Polaha will play Nolan, a handsome, charming third-year associate at the firm. Though Nolan came of age against a backdrop of private schools and wild getaways in the Hamptons, his dad’s squandering of the family fortune means he doesn’t have much in the bank. Nevertheless, Nolan’s a well-established member of the Manhattan elite. (Kimberly Roots at TV Line)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actor Samuel L. Jackson and actress Angela Bassett will join singer-actress Jennifer Hudson in the holiday musical film called Black Nativity, which is an adaptation of the Broadway musical by Langston Hughes. Be prepared for both A-listers to sing on the big screen too. The story follows a young black teen from Baltimore who is sent by his single mother (Hudson) to Harlem to spend Christmas with the grandparents he’s never met (because she hasn’t spoken to her father since they had a falling out after she got pregnant). Through his grandfather’s Christmas Eve sermon and a stylized, dream-sequence retelling of the classic Nativity story, he learns about the importance of faith and family. The teen son has not been cast yet; but Jackson and Bassett will play his grandparents Reverend Clarence and Aretha Cobbs respectively. (Variety and First Showing)

Q&A SECTION (with Natalie Abrams and Adam Bryant from TV Guide and Michael Ausiello at TV Line)

Question: I know it’s early, but got any scoop on Revenge? —Jennifer

NATALIE: Daniel isn’t the only Grayson making a play for the family business. Conrad’s son from his first marriage will pop up next season. Intelligent and effortlessly handsome, this other heir apparent will attempt to reclaim his role in Conrad’s life and company, throwing the family and corporate dynamic into chaos. Anyone else hoping Emily sets her sights on him next?

Question: I still miss Jill on Royal Pains! Are there any more details on Hank’s new possible love interest? —Allison

ADAM: You mean love interests, plural! Co-creator and executive producer Andrew Lenchewski says there will be two new women coming into Hank’s life, one he meets through a matchmaker (as we first reported, Kat Foster plays a pediatrician who has zero interest in dating another doctor) and a woman we meet “because of an adventure Boris invites Hank on,” he says.

Question: Sadie is my favorite character on Awkward! I hope she stays sassy! —Lonie

NATALIE: Sadie will always be sassy! But will she be sassy enough to deal with “the Julies”? Creator Lauren Iungerich tells us that later in the season viewers will meet Julie (Tru Collins) and Julie (Sophia Tilson), who Iungerich says “are even more queen bee than Sadie.” But when we asked Molly Tarlov if Sadie will lose her reigning title, she told us, “I don’t think in the world of Awkward it can happen.”

Question: Any Lying Game scoop?! —Georgia

Ausiello: Although it may seem like fans are enduring an epic poem between seasons — even now, Season 2 is only penciled in for “winter” — I can exclusively report that only 10 days will have passed since the events of the freshman finale, which included Alec’s arrest for suspicion of murder and the reveal that Rebecca is the twins’ mother. Adrian Pasdar, who plays Alec (as well as portrays POTUS in USA’s Political Animals, debuting July 15) recently lunched with Lying Game EP Chuck Pratt, and tells us, “It sounds like [Season 2] is going to go in a direction that nobody is going to expect.”

Question: Do you have a tidbit on the series finale of Eureka? —Eric

Ausiello: I’ll see your tidbit and raise you an 87-word review, courtesy of TVLine’s Matt Mitovich: “The finale is a real crowd-pleaser, featuring gobs of closure, a storyline moment that allows for a ‘clip reel’ which will make many an eye well up and appearances by all of the usual suspects (plus at least one good surprise). You’ll be subject to at least one fake-out, one dismemberment (sad face), the proffering of a ring box, one teeny-tiny secret revealed and a final twist that is 100-percent Eureka. Oh, and Felicia Day’s Holly reclaims and lays sole ownership in perpetuity to the word ‘adorkable.’”

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for the day before the Fourth of July:

TELEVISION

Actor Peter MacNicol (Ally McBeal) will guest star in an upcoming three-episode arc on Necessary Roughness. He will play a former psychology professor Dr. Gunner, a former mentor of Dr. Dani (Callie Thorne). (Kate Stanhope at TV Guide)

Actress Christine Lahti (Chicago Hope) will have a recurring role on Hawaii Five-0 this fall, playing Doris McGarrett, the thought-to-be-deceased mother of Steve McGarrett (Alex O’Loughlin). (CBS)

Actor David Tennant has joined the cast of the upcoming 8-part drama called Broadchurch that will on ITV in the U.K. This mini-series explores what happens to a small coastal community when a media frenzy comes to town after a young boy is murdered. Tennant will play the police detective leading the investigation. (Nancy Tartaglione at Deadline)

MADE FOR TV MOVIE NEWS

Actress Barbara Hershey (The Black Swan) will star in the upcoming Lifetime movie called Left To Die, playing an innocent woman thrown in an Ecuadorian jail for drug trafficking. Rachel Leigh Cook will play her daughter Tammi, who believes in her mother’s innocence and fights to free her. (Dominic Patten at Deadline)

TV TRAILER

Watch Trailer for Lifetime’s ‘Steel Magnolias’ Remake

ONLINE SERIES NEWS

Actresses Lili Taylor (Six Feet Under) and Kandyse McClure (Battlestar Galactica) have joined the cast of Hemlock Grove from Netflix. When a young girl is killed, both a Gypsy teen (Landon Liboiron from Terra Nova) and a spoiled young man (Bill Skarsgard, brother of Alexander Skarsgard from True Blood) are suspects in her death. Taylor will recur as Liboiron’s mother, whose way of life is anathema to the rich teen’s mom, played by Famke Janssen (Nip/Tuck). Meanwhile, McClure will play Dr. Chausser, an animal behaviorist with a PHD with a history of self-destruction. Dougray Scott (Desperate Housewives) will play Janssen’s character’s brother-in-law. (Kimberly Roots at TV Line and The Deadline Team)

CONDOLENCES

Andy Griffith, who starred in the classic comedy The Andy Griffith Show as Sheriff Andy Taylor as well as the long-running whodunit series Matlock, has passed away. He was 86 years old. (E! Online)

ME: Rest in Peace, Mr. Griffith. Condolences to his family, friends and fans!

MOMENT OF SILENCE, PLEASE…

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actress Sharon Stone will join actress Andie MacDowell (Jane By Design) and her real-life daughter Rainey Qualley in the indie drama Mother’s Day about the relationship between 12 mothers and their daughters. Previously announced cast members include Susan Sarandon and her real-life daughter Evan Amurri Martino and Christina Ricci. (Dominic Patten at Deadline)

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

Question: I. Need. Nikita. – Megan in Portland

Team WWK: In the season three premiere, Nikita and Michael will come face-to-face with Martin, an ex-Division agent who is ruthlessly dangerous, but also handsome with an “evil sexuality.” Martin has been working in Hong Kong as an undercover fashion photographer, but once Percy died and Division gained new leadership, he cut out his tracker (ouch!) and went rogue. Now Martin is working with Hong Kong Intelligence Agent Li Bai, leaving a trail of dead CIA members who all had horrible “accidents.”

Question: Love that Mekhi Phifer is on White Collar! What can you tell me about his character in the season premiere? – Jessica

Team WWK: Only that he’s nothing but trouble for our poor, handsome Caffrey. Collins (Phifer) is going to do some very illegal things to bring our favorite blue-eyed fugitive to justice. And by the end of the episode, Collins will be way too close to arresting him, and that’ll be thanks in large part to a double-cross from a very surprising source. White Collar’s new season is starting off with a bang, folks!

That’s it. Enjoy!

Have a safe Fourth of July!!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

A&E has renewed its new drama Longmire for a second season. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actress Elizabeth Mitchell (Lost and V) will appear in the new NBC drama Revolution that will debut this fall. She replaces actress Andrea Roth will play Rachel Matheson, the mother of Charlie Matheson (Tracy Spiridakos) and Danny Matheson (Graham Rogers), who will be seen in flashbacks. The show follows a group of people, led by Miles (Billy Burke), struggling to survive in a world where all forms of energy have ceased to exist. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

A&E has given a straight to series order to Bates Motel, a Psycho prequel about the formative years of Norman Bates. The series will explore his relationship with his mother, Norma, and offer a look at the back story that helped forge the famed serial killer. It is scheduled for a 2013 premiere. (Lesley Goldberg at The Hollywood Reporter)

Legendary actress Diana Rigg (the classic 60’s series The Avengers) will play opposite her real-life daughter, Rachael Stirling, in an episode of Doctor Who. Character details are under wraps though. (BBC America)

HBO has renewed True Blood for a sixth season and their brand new drama The Newsroom for a second season (after airing only two episodes). (TV By the Numbers)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Here are the top 10 box offices movies for this past weekend courtesy of Exhibitor Relations:

1. Ted, $54.1 million
2. Magic Mike, $39.2 million
3. Brave, $34 million
4. Madea’s Witness Protection, $26.4 million
5. Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted, $11.8 million
6. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, $6 million
7. Prometheus, $4.9 million
8. Moonrise Kingdom, $4.87 million
9. Snow White and the Huntsman, $4.4 million
10. People Like Us, $4.3 million

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

Actor Jose Zuniga (CSI: Miami and the first Twilight film) will make a guest appearance on an upcoming episode of Burn Notice, playing a vicious cocaine smuggler named Vasquez, who is being described as clever and sadistic who isn’t shy about using torture to locate a missing cocaine shipment. (Kimberly Roots at TV Line)

Actor Charles S. Dutton (Roc) will appear in the season finale of the new A&E drama Longmire, playing a detective from Colorado who comes to Absoroka County to follow up on a mysterious case from Walt’s past. (Matt Mitovich at TV Line)

Actor Chris Zylka (The Secret Circle and 10 Things I Hate About You) has joined the cast of American Horror Story. There are no details on what role he will play when the FX thriller returns for a second season later this year, though. (Carrie Bell and Tim Stack at Entertainment Weekly)

The USA Network has picked up the new drama called Graceland from White Collar creator Jeff Eastin. The series will star Daniel Sunjata (Rescue Me), Aaron Tveit (Gossip Girl), Manny Montana (The Chicago Code), Vanessa Ferlito (CSI:NY) and Brandon Jay McLaren (The Killing) as agents for the FBI, DEA and U.S. Customs who are forced to live together in an undercover beach house in Southern California. The pilot will also feature guest stars Scottie Thompson (NCIS), Courtney B. Vance (Law & Order: Criminal Intent) and Jay Karnes (The Shield). (Vlada Gelman at TV Line)

TNT has given a fourth season pick-up order to Rizzoli & Isles and renewed the new reboot of Dallas for a second season. (The Futon Critic)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

It looks like the Lost Boys – the ones from Peter Pan lore – will be getting their own show, as long as the powers that be can find a home network for them, of course. Twentieth Century Fox and Imagine TV are developing The League Of Pan, a fairytale-themed drama series that takes on the story of Peter Pan. The series will be based on an idea by up-and-coming writer Brian McCauley Johnson and is described as a re-imagining of the Peter Pan mythology. It will be set in modern day, centering around the Lost Boys and takes place 10 years after they’ve left Neverland. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actor Dylan McDermott (American Horror Story) has joined the cast of the box office film Olympus Has Fallen that will star Gerard Butler and Aaron Eckhart. The story follows a former Secret Service agent (Butler) who becomes America’s only hope when the building is overtaken by terrorists. McDermott will play another Secret Service agent. (Variety)

Actor Tommy Lee Jones (Men in Black franchise) will join actor Robert De Niro and actress Michelle Pfeiffer in the dark comedy film called Malavita. De Niro and Pfeiffer play a married couple with Mafia ties who relocate to France under the witness protection program. But of course, while trying to fit in, they quickly go back to their old mafia ways of dealing with certain problems. Jones will play an FBI agent tasked with handling the mob couple and all their problems. (Variety and First Showing)

Q&A SECTION (with Sandra Gonzalez at Entertainment Weekly)

Question: Please tell me there’s something in store for Abby this season on NCIS. There wasn’t nearly enough of her last season. — Lorie

Sandra: According to Pauley Perrette, this season will not only see returns from Abby’s brother and bestie (played by Meredith Eaton), but it will also take us deeper into her life beyond NCIS. “The only thing I do know in general [about the season] is we’re going to go a little bit more into Abby’s life more. People have been asking for it for a long time,” she says.

Question: Could you at least offer some seriously juicy spoilers for Teen Wolf so I’ll have *something* spooky to look forward to? — Lyssandri

Sandra: As we saw this week, Jackson turned out to be the kanima, but Crystal Reed (who plays Allison) tells me the trouble really starts for the teen when he starts to put the pieces together for himself. And the audience, she says, will “see how it psychologically affects him.” Meanwhile, something will rock Allison’s family life in the next two episodes, introducing an Allison we’ve never seen before. “People don’t recognize her anymore or — she becomes a little psycho,” she says. “But she’s doing it for justice. That’s her rationale.”

Question: I know you can’t say who bites it on Covert Affairs. But got any other good scoop? — Angie

Sandra: Oded Fehr will be back! “He’ll be in the summer season and we’ll see him a lot in the fall season as well,” reveals executive producer Chris Ord. Meanwhile, I urge you to mark July 10 on your calendars. This is a premiere that is NOT to be missed.

That’s it. Enjoy!

Have a great weekend!!

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