Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

The legend himself – Stan Lee – will be making a guest appearance on Chuck in the 7th episode of the final season. Chuck will get to meet Lee “in the most unexpected places,” but no other specifics are being provided. Chuck will be back on October 21 at 8 PM on NBC. (Kate Stanhope at TV Guide and HitFix.com)

Actor John Benjamin Hickey (The Big C) will guest star on the new CBS medical-supernatural-laced drama A Gifted Man as Ben, an upscale limo driver for an elite car service, who has a condition that causes him to break into uncontrollable fits of rage that dissipate almost as quickly as they arrived. And, what’s more he also is hiding a terrible secret; and it’s when he brings his son into the late(-ish) Anna’s Clinica Sonando that he decides he needs to be treated himself. (Matt Mitovich at TV Line)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Carlton Cuse (one of the men behind Lost) will team with author/pastor Rob Bell for Stronger, a drama project with spiritual overtones that has been sold to ABC. The potential project revolves around Tom Stronger, a musician and teacher, and his spiritual journey as he becomes a benefactor and guide to others. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

ABC has picked up the drama project called Turner Loose from Barry Schindel (executive producer of Numb3rs). The project is about Bobby Turner, a disgraced Wall Street banker turned jailhouse lawyer. Turner can get plenty of other inmates out of prison, but can’t win his own freedom — until he gets a chance to work with the female prosecutor who put him away. (Tim Molloy at The Wrap)

Reaper creators Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters have sold projects to CBS and the CW. The CBS project is called Notorious, a character-based procedural that follows an attention-loving LAPD detective who has become famous after solving a murder that made national headlines. The CW project is an as-yet untitled Alien Bounty Hunter project about a young woman who, on the first day of her new job, discovers that the cosmetics company for which she is working is actually a cover business for a secret governmental project that monitors alien activity on Earth. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Writers Cyrus Voris and Ethan Reiff (who co-wrote Kung Fu Panda) have sold a project to NBC set in Shanghai. The project is about a pair of fugitive recovery agents working in China’s (and the world’s) largest city. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actress Ellen Page has joined the cast of the upcoming thriller called The East that focuses on a group of eco terrorists. Page will play a member who was formerly romantically involved with the group’s head (Alexander Skarsgard). Brit Marling also stars as a law enforcement agent who goes undercover to infiltrate the group. (Variety and Dark Horizons)

Actor Sebastian Stan (Captain America), actress Katie McGrath (Merlin) and acting legend John Hurt have signed on to star in the three-part adventure thriller mini-series called Labyrinth that is an adaptation of the novel by Kate Mosse. The story jumps between modern and Medieval France and centers on a search for the Holy Grail. This mini-series is expected to air in mid-2012. (The Hollywood Reporter and Dark Horizons)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Have a terrific weekend!

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Hey All,

Here is the news for today:

TELEVISION

Actor Dillon Casey, who has been recurring on the current second season of The CW drama Nikita, playing new Division operative Sean Pierce, has now been promoted to a series regular status. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actor Michael Weston (House and Six Feet Under) will guest star in an upcoming episode of CSI:NY as Frank, a former FBI crime lab agent who worked with Jo (Sela Ward) in Washington, but the duo’s reunion likely won’t be a happy one. They worked together on a case involving the rape of a U.S. senator’s daughter, which was Jo’s last case before leaving the FBI for New York. Because of Frank’s mistake in processing evidence, and Jo’s refusal to hide the mistake, serial rapist John Curtis (Jason Wiles) was released. When he strikes again in New York, Frank comes to visit Jo. (Adam Bryant at TV Guide)

Actors Dean Cain and Eric Roberts and actress Kristanna Loken will make guest appearances on Burn Notice, which returns starting on November 3 with the final six episodes of Season 5. Cain will play Ryan, a cocky and dangerous CIA officer with years of experience in both field work and intelligence gathering who can sometimes be his own worst enemy. Roberts will play Reed, who makes his living supplying foreign, unfriendly governments with sensitive information about the US. And, Loken will potentially recur as Rebecca, a hotshot young CIA agent with counterterrorism experience who gets assigned to Michael’s team. All three will turn up in the season finale set for December. (Michael Ausiello at TV Line)

Actress Sofia Vassilieva, who spent seven seasons on Medium, will have a pivotal guest-starring role as a rape victim on Law & Order: SVU. She will play Sarah Reese, a self-reliant, bohemian girl and shining star of her middle-class suburban family who comes to New York City on a piano scholarship, but loses her inner light after she’s attacked in her own apartment, according to an SVU insider. Her role will coincide with the debut of Andre Braugher, who has signed on as a defense attorney hired by Sarah’s attacker. (Michael Slezak at TV Line)

Actress Melinda McGraw (Mad Men) will guest star on NCIS as Diane, one of the three women for which Gibbs (Mark Harmon) married after his first wife was killed. Diane is the woman who married Gibb’s friend and colleague, FBI Agent Tobias Fornell (Joe Spano). (Adam Bryant at TV Guide)

FOX has given the new comedy New Girl the “back 9,” which means the sitcom is the first new show of the fall to get a full season order. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Tony winner Sutton Foster (Anything Goes) will star in the lead role on the new ABC Family series called Bunheads (from Amy Sherman-Palladino, the woman behind Gilmore Girls). The series follows Michelle (Foster), a Las Vegas showgirl who impulsively marries a man and moves to his sleepy coastal town, and takes an uneasy role at her new mother-in-law’s dance school. (The Futon Critic)

CSI creator Anthony Zuiker has set up a drama project at ABC with writer Andrea Berloff (World Trade Center). The project centers on a female undercover FBI agent who is a master of disguise. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Chris Carter, the creator of The X-Files is set to write, direct and executive produce a mystery drama with a female lead for MRC that will be pitched to various networks in the next few weeks. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

The men behind the Hawaii Five-0 reboot and the successful Star Trek remake have landed a new project with CBS. The as-yet untitled project is based on Robyn O’Brien, an author, researcher and mother of four who has become an unlikely advocate for cleaning up the food supply. It centers on a congresswoman, wife and mother who fights for the underdog. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

MADE FOR TV MOVIE NEWS

Actor Matt Barr (Hellcats) has joined the cast of the History Channel’s miniseries The Hatfields and McCoys, which is about America’s most infamous family feud. The mini centers on “Devil” Anse Hatfield (Kevin Costner) and Randall McCoy (Bill Paxton). Barr will play Hatfield’s oldest son. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actor Tom Everett Scott (Southland) is set to play the husband of Marisa Tomei in the upcoming box office comedy called Us & Them that stars Billy Crystal and Bette Midler as grandparents who are left alone to care for their grandkids, but their old-school methods soon clash with the more modern parenting style of their daughter and son-in-law (Tomei and Scott). (The Hollywood Reporter and Dark Horizons)

Actor Jai Courtney (Spartacus: Blood and Sand) has landed a lead in the upcoming film One Shot based on the Lee Child-penned Jack Reacher novel series. In One Shot, Reacher (Tom Cruise) investigates what seems like an open and shut case of a sniper who guns down five random victims. The film is also set to star Rosamund Pike. Meanwhile, legendary actor Robert Duvall will have a small, but pivotal role in the film as well. (Variety and Dark Horizons)

BOX OFFICE TRAILER

Must Watch: Official Trailer for ‘Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close’

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Happy Over the Hump Day! Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

Legendary actor James Caan will make a guest appearance alongside his son Scott on Hawaii Five-0. This will be the first time father and son have worked together. (Midweek)

Actress Sonya Walger (Lost and FlashForward) has landed a series regular role in the new upcoming USA Network series Common Law, which is a buddy cop drama that stars Warren Kole and Michael Ealy as homicide detectives whose constant quarreling gets them sent to couples therapy. She will play their shrink, Dr. Emma Ryan, a smart, attractive psychiatrist with a keen sense of humor. Common Law is expected to debut sometime in 2012. (James Hibberd at Entertainment Weekly)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

The CW has bought the dramedy pilot Legal Aid from writer Jonathan Abrams, which centers on a young first-year law associate whose world is turned upside-down when her estranged father, an iconic 1990s TV star, joins her firm. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actress Sally Pressman (Roxie on Army Wives) has signed a talent holding deal with NBC, which means the network will either develop a project for her for next fall or have her join an already running series. What does this mean for Army Wives? All of the actresses’ contracts run out at the end of the upcoming sixth season and Lifetime has not announced another season beyond that. It would seem that Pressman, much like her counterpart Catherine Bell, is preparing to move on. Bell will next be seen in the TNT movie Good Morning, Killer which is being eyed as potential backdoor pilot, and next month she will appear in the 4th The Good Witch movie on Hallmark. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

NBC has picked up an as-yet untitled western project from former Will & Grace star Sean Hayes (one of the men behind the upcoming NBC fairytale series Grimm) that would be set in the 1880s, centering on Jacob Morris, a young, eccentric East Coast doctor of mental disorders who moves to a primitive Western town at the foot of the Colorado Rockies. There he immediately stands out as he doesn’t fight with a gun but rather uses new theories that are being practiced in the East. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actress Brittany Snow (formerly of American Dreams and Harry’s Law) has joined the cast of the upcoming box office comedy Pitch Perfect that is set to star Anna Kendrick (the Twilight franchise) as the new singer of the Divisi, an a cappella group determined to beat their male counterpart The Treblemakers. Snow will play Chloe, one of the singers with a hardened personality. (Risky Biz Blog and Dark Horizons)

Actor Sam Trammell (True Blood) and Zach Gilford (Friday Night Lights) have joined the cast of the indie film called Long Time Gone that follows a broken family who must cope when Gordie Iris, (Anthony LaPaglia) leaves his wife, Augusta (Virginia Madsen), for another woman. Their disparate sons, Matthew (Gilford) and Henry (newcomer Graham Rogers), have no idea what to do when their mother refuses to come out of her bedroom for days on end which turns into weeks. When carefree Bette (Amanda Crew) enters their lives, her outlook on the world revolutionizes the way each has been viewing this situation. Trammell will play Jeff, an easy-going landscaper, who hires Henry as a day laborer and befriends his distraught mother. (True Blood Online and Dark Horizons)

Actress Susan Sarandon has joined actor Dwayne Johnson in the new action-thriller called Snitch that tells the true story of a suburban father (Johnson) who goes undercover to take down a high-level drug dealer in exchange for a reduction on his son’s 30-year prison sentence. Sarandon will play an attorney working with Johnson’s character who’s looking for a big drug bust to further her career. (The Hollywood Reporter and Dark Horizons)

Actor John Goodman (most recently seen on Damages) has joined the cast of the upcoming box office film called Flight that will star Denzel Washington. The film follows a commercial airline pilot named Whip Whitaker (Washington) who is hailed as a hero after landing a malfunctioning plane that was close to crashing. However, an investigation into the cause of the crash actually reveals he was flying under the influence of drugs and alcohol. Goodman will play a friend of Whip’s who tries to help him come to terms with his problems. Other cast members include Kelly Reilly, Don Cheadle, Bruce Greenwood and Brian Geraghty. (Deadline and First Showing)

BOX OFFICE TRAILER

Watch: Midnight is Coming in Theatrical Trailer for ‘New Year’s Eve’

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

There isn’t a lot of news for today, but here is what I found:

TELEVISION

Actress Kate Burton (Grey’s Anatomy) will appear in the new upcoming ABC drama Scandal (yet another Shonda Rhimes series) as Vice President Sally Hewitt in what will be a multi-episode appearance. The series follows a professional fixer (Kerry Washington) who formerly worked at the White House. Scandal is expected to premiere sometime in late February or early March. (Natalie Abrams at TV Guide)

The cable network Starz has given a second season renewal to the Kelsey Grammer drama called Boss that hasn’t even debuted yet. It will begin its first season next month, but the network must have a lot of faith in the show to give it a renewal. The series is about a powerful Chicago mayor (Grammer) who is hiding a deteriorating mental condition. (Cynthia Littleton at Variety)

MADE FOR TV MOVIE NEWS

Coming off the recent success of the newest update to Upstairs Downstairs, BBC One (one of the major networks in Britain) is moving forward with a 6-episode follow-up that will include, among other stars, Alex Kingston (who plays recurring character River Song on Doctor Who). (BBC)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Film District, the company behind this year’s releases Drive and Insidious, is finalizing a deal with MGM to allow the movie studio to finally distribute the remake of Red Dawn sometime next year. The cast includes Chris Hemsworth, who, since the filming of this remake, has gone on to star in this summer’s Thor and Josh Hutcherson, who, also since the filming of this remake, has gone on to film The Hunger Games which will be out next March as well as Adrianne Palicki (from Friday Night Lights and the failed Wonder Woman TV pilot), Isabel Lucas (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and who will be seen in Immortals this November) and Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Watchmen and Supernatural). (24 Frames and First Showing)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

Actor Joe Manganiello (True Blood) will guest star on Two and a Half Men, playing the smoldering hot boyfriend of Bridget, the ex-wife of Walden (Ashton Kutcher). Bridget will be portrayed by Judy Greer, who makes her first appearance on Monday. (Lynette Rice at Entertainment Weekly)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

FX has bought the original drama project called Furlough from crime novelist/comic book writer Charlie Huston. Details of the plot are being kept under wraps but the potential series is described as a private detective/prison drama. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

CBS has bought the drama project called Legacy from Jericho co-creator Jonathan E. Steinberg. The potential series centers on a one-term president who goes back to work at his hometown law firm where he hand-picks the cases that really matter to him. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

TV wunderkinds J.J. Abrams and Eric Kripke are working together on a drama project for NBC that is being described as an epic adventure thriller. But, no other details are currently available. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

ABC has picked up another drama project with “magical elements” – this one from Kings creator Michael Green that centers on a female cop who, after pursuing a seemingly unsolvable case, discovers a magical world that exists within New York City. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Director Lee Daniels is working on a series treatment for the classic 1966 novel Valley of the Dolls for NBC. The book spans over two decades, chronicling the lives, career highs and ultimate self-destruction of 3 female best friends: Anne Welles, who works at a Broadway talent agency, Neely O’Hara, a vaudeville star, and Jennifer North, a showgirl. The title of the book refers to a slang for sleeping pills for which the three women become dependent. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

NBC is hoping to, much like what AMC did with the American version of The Killing, make a US version of the Dutch series Borgen (aka Government), into a hit series. Borgen focuses on the fight for political power and its consequences, centering on a smart and sexy 40-year-old populist party leader, who scores a surprise election victory only to discover the biggest challenge of her life is yet to come. Friday Night Lights executive producer Jason Katims is one of the exeuctives in charge of this new potential project. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Kevin Williamson (the man behind The Vampire Diaries and The Secret Circle) has just landed a drama pilot with FOX. The project is currently untitled is described as an edge-of-the-seat thriller about a diabolical serial killer who uses technology to create a cult of serial killers, and the FBI agent who finds himself in the middle of it. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actress Jessica Chastain (The Debt) will be on one of two female leads in the upcoming sci-fi thriller film previously called Oblivion that will star Tom Cruise. The film revolves around a soldier stationed on a future Earth, the surface of which was destroyed by aliens. When he discovers a mysterious woman in a crash-landed pod, it sets off a chain of events that cause him to question everything he knows. Other actresses up for the other female lead include Olivia Wilde, Brit Marling and Noomi Rapace. (Justin Kroll at Variety)

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

1. The Lion King, $22.1 million
2. Moneyball, $20.6 million
3. Dolphin Tale, $20.3 million
4. Abduction, $11.2 million
5. Killer Elite, $9.5 million
6. Contagion, $8.6 million
7. Drive, $5.8 million
8. The Help, $4.4 million
9. Straw Dogs, $2.1 million
10. I Don’t Know How She Does It, $2.05 million

Israeli actress Ayelet Zurer (Angels and Demons and Munich) has replaced actress Julia Ormond in the upcoming Superman reboot film called Man of Steel. She will play Lara, Superman’s Kryptonian mother. (Deadline and Dark Horizons)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

FOX has given the Kiefer Sutherland-led pilot Touch a 13-episode order with the show planned to debut next spring. (Megan Masters at TV Line)

Lifetime has picked up Drop Dead Diva for a fourth season. (Twitter)

Actress Catherine Dent (The Shield) will appear in a multi-episode arc on The Mentalist as Special Agent Susan Darcy, a seasoned and assertive FBI agent who often downplays her intelligence to get what she wants without causing friction. (Adam Bryant at TV Guide)

Actor Billy Zane (Titanic) will be joining The Playboy Club, starting on the 6th episode (if it last that long, of course), playing the recurring role of Oscar Bianchi, the cool-headed but ruthless younger brother of Chicago Mafia boss Bruno Bianchi, who was murdered in the first episode. (William Keck at TV Guide)

Actor Mitch Pileggi (The X-Files) will make an appearance on the new FOX series The Finder, playing a former cop-turned-death row inmate who reaches out to Walter (Geoff Stults) to help him with something very important. (Give Me My Remote)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Legendary TV series creator Steven Bochco has a new project at ABC called Legal Affairs that is an ensemble legal drama following the partners and associates at a prestigious L.A. law firm who must balance tangled personal relationships with the demands of family and high-profile cases. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Fox has bought The Raiding Party, a drama project from Breakout Kings creator Nick Santora. The project centers on three brothers, overseen by their dominant mother, who carry on the successful family business that was founded by their grandfather and bequeathed to them by their dad. That family business just happens to be robbing banks. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actors Michael Imperioli (The Sopranos) and Adrian Pasdar (Heroes) have landed lead roles in the HBO pilot called 40. They join previously cast Ed Burns and Michael Rapaport in the single-camera ensemble comedy, which revolves around four lifelong friends who help each other navigate life at 40, which isn’t all they expected it to be. Burns plays a married guy and a father who used to work at Bear Stearns making more than $2 million a year, but has now been out of work for almost a year. Rapaport plays another friend, also married, who is described as a neurotic everyman. Imperioli plays a single guy, a hustler who is shameless when it comes to self-promotion. And, Pasdar plays the fourth of the buddies, a Wall Street millionaire. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

ABC has bought Zero Hour, a mystery drama from Prison Break creator Paul Scheuring. The project is described as an epic adventure about a skeptical everyman who gets swept up in one of history’s greatest conspiracies. His search leads him on a dangerous journey around the world collecting clues that will unlock not only a spectacular mystery surrounding the Twelve Apostles but also questions about his own identity. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actor Richard Jenkins has joined the cast of the box office film One Shot, which is adapted from the Lee Child novel, starring Tom Cruise as a former military police officer, who investigates the case of a sniper accused of murdering five people at a mall. Jenkins will play the district attorney prosecuting the sniper. (Variety and Dark Horizons)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Have a terrific weekend!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

Actress CCH Pounder (Warehouse 13) has booked a multi-episode arc on the new ABC drama Revenge where she will play the tough-as-nails Warden Stiles, the woman in charge of the juvenile detention center once occupied by Emily Thorne (née Amanda Clark) [Emily VanCamp]. Her character is slated to appear in both the present day and in the series’ signature flashbacks. (Megan Masters at TV Line)

The 7th season of Doctor Who won’t premiere until autumn 2012, but details are still very murky in terms of details, a schedule prediction has been compiled by fan site Doctor Who TV:

2012
Easter Special
Autumn – Series 7 Part 1
Christmas Special

2013
Spring – Series 7 Part 2
Autumn – Series 8
Christmas Special

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

BBC and Cinemax have commissioned an 8-episode order of a new spy thriller called Nemesis (aka Morton) that will star Melissa George (Alias and Grey’s Anatomy) in the lead role. The new series will be in the vein of Bourne Identity, set in the world of international espionage, centering on a highly skilled operative for an elite private intelligence firm who survives an attempt on her life that may have been orchestrated by members of her own team. Once she returns to the firm, she must perform her secretive duties without knowing who to trust and who wants her dead. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

MADE FOR TV MOVIE NEWS

ABC Family enters into the world of music with its first musical, a two-hour original movie tentatively titled Elixir” that is slated to air on the network sometime in 2012. The story is thus: Harper (Jane Seymour) was one of the best dancers to hit Broadway, but an injury caused her to leave the spotlight, become a choreographer, and raise her daughter, Mirabella (Sara Paxton from Aquamarine). When Mirabella, the star of Harper’s next big production, decides to quit the show to get married, her mother is determined to put a stop to the wedding and show Mirabella that she cannot give up her career for love, especially to marry playboy Marco (Alexander John from 90210). After the long flight to the Italian wedding site, Harper takes a swig from a strange bottle that is supposed to dull the pain of an old dance injury. Instead, the elixir magically turns Harper 30 years younger. Harper’s younger appearance (Chelsea Kane plays Young Harper) allows her to secretly infiltrate the wedding – only to confront a huge obstacle in Mirabella’s father, Ryan (Tom Wopat), who can recognize his ex-wife in any form. After he too experiences the reverse-aging effects of the elixir (Drew Seeley plays Young Ryan), Ryan teams with Harper to reverse the damage she’s done to Mirabella and Marco’s relationship, hopefully in time to save the wedding. Throughout this fairytale romance, Harper, Mirabella, Ryan and Marco express themes of life and love through song and dance in a magical story examining life, love and family bonds. (The Futon Critic)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actress Paula Patton (soon to be seen in Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol) has joined the cast of the indie drama film called Disconnect that follows several disparate lives that intertwine as the digital technologies intended to bring people closer together push families further apart. The cast includes Alexander Skarsgard, Andrea Riseborough, Frank Grillo and Jason Bateman. (Deadline and Dark Horizons)

Actors Don Cheadle and Bruce Greenwood have joined the cast of the upcoming film called Flight that stars Denzel Washington as a pilot who rescues his passengers from a dangerous situation. But, as it turns out, he seems he is not as heroic as he appears as his negligence (due to an addiction) was partly responsible for the danger in the first place. Kelly Reilly also stars. (Moviehole and Dark Horizons)

BOX OFFICE TRAILER

Watch: 4-Minute Trailer for Fincher’s ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’

Watch: First Official Trailer for ‘Big Miracle’ with Barrymore & Krasinski

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

It looks like MTV is going to double the episode order for the second season of Teen Wolf, giving the new season 24-episodes. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actor Michael Zegen (Rescue Me) has joined the cast of The Walking Dead. He will play Randall, a new character that isn’t featured in the original comic book. (Michael Schneider at TV Guide)

Actress Alexandra Daddario (who played Kate on White Collar) will appear on Parenthood as Rachel, the new receptionist at Adam (Peter Krause) and Crosby’s (Dax Shepard) new business venture, The Luncheonette. (Megan Masters at TV Line)

Actor Gilles Marini (Brothers & Sisters) will guest star on Modern Family, as Julian, a friend of a friend of Cameron and Mitchell’s whom they both assume is gay; however, that proves to be erroneous when the boys invite Claire (Julie Bowen) on a rare “fun night out” and end up leaving her with Julian –- and in short order it becomes clear that he is very straight. (Matt Mitovich at TV Line)

Actor Jeff Nordling (formerly of Once and Again) will guest star on two episodes of CSI: NY, appearing alongside Sela Ward who also starred in Once and Again. He will play a U.S. senator who is still miffed at the way Jo (Ward) handled a rape case involving his daughter, Serena (newcomer Jenn Proske). The senator comes to New York City when his daughter’s rapist is arrested on a new case and applies pressure to make sure things aren’t screwed up the second time around. (Lynette Rice at Entertainment Weekly)

Actress Deirdre Lovejoy (who played “The Gravedigger” on Bones) will play the potentially recurring role of Jeannie Morris, the wife of Detective Bud Morris (John Carroll Lynch) on Body of Proof. (Matt Mitovich at TV Line)

Actor Victor Garber (Alias) has been tapped to provide the voice of Charlie on the new reboot of Charlie’s Angels that will debut this Thursday on ABC. (Vulture and Michael Ausiello at TV Line)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Former Columbia Pictures chief-turned-producer Matt Tolmach has sold a female-driven drama project to CBS that is titled Sleepers. It centers on a woman who has the gift to save “sleepers,” people who are caught somewhere between life and death. The network also bought a project from feature film director Sam Raimi that is about a female FBI agent who is placed undercover in a St. Louis homicide unit to solve murders while investigating her own precinct for corruption. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Novel writer Nicholas Sparks is making his first foray into TV writing. He has sold an original story idea to ABC for a drama series titled The Watchers. This project tells the story of a fallen angel looking for his mortal love. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

FOX has bought a CIA drama that is a procedural thriller centered on the orphaned 17-year-old daughter of a CIA operative who is recruited to become an operative herself. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actor Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker) will star in the upcoming box office film King of Heists where he will play George Leslie, a mild-mannered gentleman who quietly assembled a crew and pulled off a $3 million heist from the Manhattan Savings Institution in 1878. (Deadline and Dark Horizons)

Actor Robert Knepper (Prison Break) has joined the cast of the supernatural action thriller R.I.P.D. that is based on the Dark Horse comic, starring Ryan Reynolds as a murdered cop who is recruited to work in the Rest in Peace Department, a police force comprised of ghosts who battle spirits unready to depart this world. Knepper will play one of the spirits, known as a “deado”. Jeff Bridges plays Reynolds’ partner while Kevin Bacon and Mary-Louise Parker [among others] co-star. (Heat Vision and Dark Horizons)

Actress Leven Rambin (who will be seen in the upcoming film The Hunger Games) has joined the cast of the surfer biopic called Mavericks that follows Jay Moriarty (Jonny Weston), a Santa Cruz native who found his calling in the world of surfing at a young age and flourished under the guidance of local elder Rick “Frosty” Hesson (Gerard Butler). Moriarty passed away the day before his 23rd birthday in a free-diving accident in the Maldives. Rambin will play Moriarty’s best friend and potential love interest in the film. (Showblitz and Dark Horizons)

Actor Jackie Earle Haley (Watchmen) will appear in the Steven Spielberg film Lincoln as Alexander Stephens, the Vice President of the Confederate States during the Civil War and a nemesis of Lincoln’s slavery reform agenda. The cast of this film includes Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln and Sally Field as Mary Todd as well as Tommy Lee Jones and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. (Deadline and First Showing)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

Actress Elizabeth Perkins (Weeds) will guest star as the wife of the LAPD Police Commissioner in an episode of The Closer that will air on December 19. Her character, Gail Meyers, gets into some serious trouble when she tries to cover up a potential scandal. Gail’s husband is played by the great Mark Moses (Desperate Housewives). The Closer begins its winter run on TNT on November 28. (Lynette Rice at Entertainment Weekly)

Actor D.J. Qualls (Memphis Beat) will play Garth, a quirky, laid-back hunter on Supernatural who doesn’t hit it off with Dean. The show is back with its season premiere on The CW on September 23 at 9 PM. (Zap2It and TV Line)

Former actor now big-time executive producer Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights) will guest star in an upcoming episode of the NBC drama Prime Suspect, playing a married Deputy Chief, who used to be lovers with Jane (Maria Bello). (James Hibberd at Entertainment Weekly)

Actress Drea de Matto (The Sopranos) will guest star on CSI: Miami, playing a sexy and smart poker player who’s the only woman competing in a dangerous, high stakes illegal game. When the game is robbed and a man is murdered, we learn she’s actually a devoted mother out to avenge the attempted murder of her son in a similar robbery that left him disabled. (James Hibberd at Entertainment Weekly)

Actress Margarita Levieva (Adventureland) will have a recurring role on the new ABC series Revenge, playing a stripper with a sordid past. Revenge debuts on September 21 at 10 PM on ABC. (Entertainment Weekly and TV Line)

Actor Gregory Harrison (who most recently played Julian’s father on One Tree Hill) will guest star as Dr. Cameron Fischer on Body of Proof, which returns tonight with its season premiere on ABC at 10 PM. (Jethro Nededog at The Hollywood Reporter)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Actor Cam Gigandet (Twilight and Burlesque) has landed one of the leads in the TNT Western drama pilot Gateway that is also being called Tin Star, which is an action/adventure project set in the Colorado town of the same name in the 1880s. It tells the story of three brothers who step in to save their town when their sheriff father is murdered, pitting them against a corrupt cattle baron determined to make the town his own. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Executive Producer Gale Anne Hurd (The Walking Dead) and her production company have teamed with Canada’s New Franchise Media to develop The Eleventh Commandment, a series adaptation of UK author Jeffrey Archer’s 1998 novel. The action thriller centers on Connor Fitzgerald, the CIA’s most deadly assassin. Only days from his retirement from the Agency, Connor is framed by the Director of the CIA for a phony assassination on a Russian presidential candidate that could inadvertently trigger World War III. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

ABC has bought two new drama scripts for their development slate: Safehouse, and Murder Season. Safehouse centers on a young, brash CIA agent who joins a crew of agency professionals headed by his long-estranged superspy mother. Murder Season focuses on a gifted but troubled female FBI profiler who, while working with an elite team to catch the country’s worst criminals, struggles to hide a dark secret from her past. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

CONDOLENCES

Dolores DeFina Hope, a singer, philanthropist and the wife of the late, legendary comedian Bob Hope, passed away yesterday of natural causes at her Toluca Lake home in Los Angeles. She was 102. The singer and the comedian were married for nearly 70 years. (LA Times)

ME: Rest in Peace, Ms. Hope. Deepest sympathies to her family, friends and fans.

BOX OFFICE

Actress Lindsay Pulsipher (True Blood) will replace Hilary Duff in the upcoming box office film The Story of Bonnie and Clyde that will deliver a new take on the story of two of the most famous fugitives in modern American history. Duff and Kevin Zegers were both originally cast in the title roles but both have bowed out due to scheduling issues. (The Hollywood Reporter and Dark Horizons)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here is the news for today:

NEWS

Congrats to the Emmy winners from last night’s awards presentation, including the folks from Modern Family and Mad Men, writer/series creator Jason Katims, actors Kyle Chandler, Peter Dinklage, Margo Martindale, Julianna Margulies, Melissa McCarthy, Barry Pepper and Jim Parsons; as well as the folks from the mini-series Mildred Pierce and Downton Abbey.

TELEVISION

Actor Romany Malco (No Ordinary Family and Weeds) will appear in a multi-episode arc on The Good Wife, playing a pro bono lawyer who is renting space at Lockhart Gardner. The Good Wife returns on September 25. (Michael Ausiello at TV Line)

Actor Eric Stonestreet (Modern Family) will guest star on an episode of American Horror Story, playing a patient that sees Dr. Ben Harmon (Dylan McDermott) because of his fear of urban legends. The new FX drama debuts on October 5. (Robyn Ross at TV Guide and Entertainment Weekly)

Actor Dean Norris (Breaking Bad) will guest star on Castle, playing the hostage negotiator who tries to defuse a situation at a bank where Castle and his mother find themselves trapped inside during a heist. Castle is back tonight at 10 PM on ABC. (Matt Mitovich at TV Line)

Actor Jack Coleman (Heroes) will not only be showing up on The Vampire Diaries, but he will also appear in Criminal Minds as Bill, a man who once held a young girl captive for seven years, and in an attempt to recreate a perceived connection with the victim, proceeds to kidnap her mother (played by Brigid Brannagh from Army Wives) in the exact same fashion. (Megan Masters at TV Line)

CONDOLENCES

Actress Frances Bay, who played the grandmother of Adam Sandler’s character in the film Happy Gilmore, passed away late last week at the age of 92. (E! Online)

ME: RIP, Ms. Bay. Deepest condolences to her family, friends and fans.

MOMENT OF SILENCE, PLEASE…

BOX OFFICE NEWS

The following list is the top 10 movies for the box office this past weekend courtesy of Hollywood.com and based on studio estimates. Please note that The Lion King (in 3-D) began its limited, two-week engagement this weekend:

1. The Lion King 3-D – $29.3 million
2. Contagion – $14.5 million
3. Drive – $11 million
4. The Help – $6.4 million
5. Straw Dogs – $5 million
6. I Don’t Know How She Does It – $4.5 million
7. The Debt – $2.9 million
8. Warrior – $2.7 million
9. Rise of the Planet of the Apes – $2.6 million
10. Colombiana – $2.3 million

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

Question: I was pleasantly surprised by the first episode of Ringer. I was a huge Buffy fan because of the writing of the Whedon crew, so I follow the writers and not the cast. But the show seems to be a good fit for Sarah Michelle Gellar, and it was soapy and suspenseful in a very mainstream way. While the “twist” at the end of the pilot was entirely predictable, there are enough questions to keep me coming back for more. What did you think? I am not one of those people who avoids watching a TV show I think will be canceled (thus encouraging networks to cancel it), but I do hope a show like this is produced in sensible 13-episode arcs. More shows seem to be trying to hedge their bets that way. While I’m not asking for spoilers, do you have any sense of whether or not the show has mini-endgames planned in case the show doesn’t go the distance? (Whedon was great at that for most of Buffy’s run). — Rebecca

Matt Roush: I was more fair to Ringer than many critics. I’m not entirely convinced there’s enough material in this set-up to fill an hour every week over the long haul, but I have a soft spot for this kind of glossy mystery melodrama, and I liked her and the cast (especially the two men she’s caught between, Ioan Gruffudd and Kristoffer Polaha). So for now, I’m on board. And while a story like this has to stay open-ended by its very nature of building suspense and twists along the way, I agree it would be wise for the writers to cushion the cliffhangers with some sense of resolution at the end of the first 13 — and the back nine, should Ringer be so lucky (which it probably will be) — so that fans won’t be too perturbed if the show doesn’t make it to a second year. It’s awfully hard to predict the threshold of success and failure on a mini-net like the CW.

Question: Since last week was the final “summer” episode of The Closer, does this mean we will still have a winter series to come? I had believed that this was the end of a wonderful show, but I am not sure. I sincerely hope that I am wrong. I will definitely miss this show. Is there a specific reason that Kyra Sedgwick decided to leave after this year? There are still so many wonderful stories to be explored with her and her team. I have read that there is the possibility that the show may continue with all of the other characters remaining? Is this definite or only a possibility? If so, what will happen to Fritz, Brenda’s husband? — Mary Ann

Matt Roush: There’s still quite a bit of confusion among some fans regarding what’s happening with this franchise. Here’s the deal: After the five-episode run in November and December, The Closer will be back for a final run of episodes next summer, marking the end of Kyra Sedgwick’s participation in the series. This transitions directly into a spin-off, Major Crimes, which will be built around Mary McDonnell’s character of Sharon Raydor but includes many of the Closer ensemble. Can’t really say what part Jon Tenney/Fritz will play in this, because that depends on how they write Brenda out of the show. And I prefer not to know that for now. The main reason Sedgwick has cited for leaving the show at this point is that she prefers to go out on top and not overstay her welcome, plus a desire to get back to her life on the East Coast with her family. Seven seasons is a pretty good run for any character. And who’s to say she won’t pop back into the world of Major Crimes from time to time?

That’s it. Enjoy!

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