On February 3, the Lifetime original movie The Simone Biles Story: Courage to Soar will debut at 8 PM.
Based on her book, this film follows Simone Biles (newcomer Jeanté Godlock) through the sacrifices and hard work that led her to win 19 Olympic and World Championship medals and ultimately cemented her stake as one of the greatest gymnasts of all time.
The cast includes Tisha Campbell-Martin (My Wife and Kids).
Here is a trailer for The Simone Biles Story: Courage to Soar:
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It was a full night of programming on the major networks last night except for one of the Monday night dramas airing a repeat.
Here is how all of the Monday night dramas, that aired new episodes, fared in the overall ratings last night:
8 PM Shows:
Lucifer (FOX) [NEW] – 3.6 million viewers
Supergirl (The CW) [NEW] – 2.1 million viewers
9 PM Shows:
The Resident (FOX) [NEW] – 4.7 million viewers
Valor (The CW) [FINALE] – 1.1 million viewers
10 PM Shows:
Scorpion (CBS) [NEW] – 5.8 million viewers
The Brave (NBC) [FINALE] – 3.9 million viewers
What did you watch on TV last night? Please share.
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On February 2, the Cinemax drama Strike Back will return for a fifth season at 10 PM.
A new cast join a revived Section 20, facing new threats and new enemies.
The cast includes Daniel MacPherson (The Shannara Chronicles and APB), Roxanne McKee (Dominion), Warren Brown (Luther and Liar), Alin Sumarwata (Neighbours), Nina Sosanya (Love Actually) and Katherine Kelly (Class).
Here is a trailer for Strike Back:
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The Netflix streaming series Altered Carbon will debut online on February 2.
Based on the novel by Richard K. Morgan, the series is set more than 300 years in the future where society has been transformed by new technology. A person’s consciousness can be digitized; human bodies are interchangeable; death is no longer permanent. Takeshi Kovacs (Joel Kinnaman from The Killing and Suicide Squad) is the lone surviving soldier in a group of elite interstellar warriors who were defeated in an uprising against the new world order. His mind was imprisoned – on ice – for centuries until Laurens Bancroft (James Purefoy from The Following), an impossibly wealthy, long-lived man, offers Kovacs the chance to live again. In exchange, Kovacs has to solve a murder that of Bancroft himself.
The ensemble cast includes Ato Essandoh (Copper), Dichen Lachman (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Dollhouse), Kristin Lehman (Motive) and Tamara Taylor (Bones) [among others].
Here is the trailer for Altered Carbon:
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TV viewers were introduced to actress Stana Katic back in March of 2009 when she starred as NYPD Detective Kate Beckett alongside actor Nathan Fillion in the ABC drama Castle, which went on to become not only a fan favorite but also a long-running series for the network.
Katic will be returning to the small screen this Friday in the dark and gripping new series Absentia, where she will portraying FBI agent Emily Byrne, who disappeared without a trace while hunting one of Boston’s most notorious serial killers, and is declared dead. Six years later, though, Emily is discovered held in captivity, with little memory of who kidnapped and tortured her.
Emily is reunited with her family, which includes her retired cop father Warren (Paul Freeman from Raiders of the Lost Ark) and her brother Jack (Neil Jackson from Sleepy Hollow) as well as her husband Special Agent Nick Durand (Patrick Heusinger from Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce and Royal Pains).
She also learns that her young son Flynn (Patrick McAuley from The Conjuring 2) – now a 9-year-old – is being raised by Nick and his…wait for it…new wife Alice (Cara Theobold from Downton Abbey) [Emily was pronounced dead in absentia years before, remember!].
Emily tries to unravel the mystery behind her abduction while reconnecting with her family, but at lot has happened since her disappearance six years earlier. Worse yet, she becomes a suspect herself in a string of new murders that are similar in nature to the serial killer she was investigating before her disappearance.
Without giving too much away, Emily struggles with flashbacks to the torment she dealt with by her kidnapper – some scenes are fragmented but very hard to watch given she was tortured and held captive in a water tank; she has to deal with a troubled brother with his own set of problems; a husband who moved on with a new wife and a son who doesn’t see her as his mother. And, the man convicted of being the serial killer she was investigating, gets out of prison because she was found alive.
Needless to say, this is a much different character for Katic to be playing, but one that she pulls off very convincingly. The storyline is obviously much darker than that of nearly all of the episodes of the 8-season-long Castle but pulls you in wondering whether there is more to Emily than meets the eye, who was behind her horrible six-year captivity and who is really a villain or victim.
The rest of the cast includes Angel Bonanni (Shots Fired) as Boston Police Detective Tommy Gibbs, who is in charge of Emily’s case; Ralph Ineson (Game of Thrones) as Special Agent Adam Radford, Nick and Emily’s boss; Bruno Bichir (Narcos) as Dr. Daniel Vega, an FBI psychologist and profiler and Richard Brake (Ray Donovan) as Conrad Harlow, the prime suspect in the serial killer case.
Here is the trailer for Absenita:
You can learn more about the series Absentia at the show’s website and make sure to watch all 10 episodes of Absentia on Amazon Prime when it debuts on Friday, February 2.
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Here is the list of the new programming options to expect on TV this coming holiday week:
On January 29, the season finale of Valor will air at 9 PM on The CW.
Viewers should be forewarned that The State of the Union Address will air on all of the major and many of the cable networks on January 30.
On February 2, the new streaming series Absentia will debut online today on Amazon, starring Stana Katic (Castle), Patrick Heusinger (Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce), Neil Jackson (Sleepy Hollow) and Cara Theobold (Downton Abbey) [among others].
The Netflix streaming series Altered Carbon will debut on February 2, starring an ensemble cast that includes Joel Kinnaman (The Killing), James Purefoy (The Following), Ato Essandoh (Copper), Dichen Lachman (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Dollhouse), Kristin Lehman (Motive) and Tamara Taylor (Bones) [among others].
Also on February 2, the Cinemax drama Strike Back will return for a fifth season at 10 PM, starring a new team including Daniel MacPherson (The Shannara Chronicles and APB), Roxanne McKee (Dominion), Warren Brown (Luther and Liar), Alin Sumarwata (Neighbours), Nina Sosanya (Love Actually) and Katherine Kelly (Class).
The Lifetime original movie The Simone Biles Story: Courage to Soar will debut on February 3 at 8 PM, starring newcomer Jeanté Godlock in the lead role and Tisha Campbell-Martin (My Wife and Kids).
On February 3, My Secret Valentine is the new Hallmark Channel movie that will debut at 9 PM, starring Lacey Chabert and Andrew Walker.
Lastly, This Is Us will air a special episode on February 4 on NBC after the Super Bowl airs.
Mark your calendars!
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Hey All,
Here are the news items for this past week:
CASTING NEWS
Legendary actress Meryl Streep has joined the second season cast of Big Little Lies. She will play Mary Louise Wright, the mother of Perry (Alexander Skarsgard). (Variety)
Legendary actor John Malkovich will appear in the third season of Billions as Russian billionaire Grigor Andolov. (The Hollywood Reporter)
Actress Cherry Jones (24) will appear in the second season of The Handmaid’s Tale as Holly, the feminist mother to June/Offred (series lead Elisabeth Moss). (The Hollywood Reporter)
Film star Helen Mirren will appear in the HBO telefilm Catherine the Great. (Variety)
Actor Brett Dalton (Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) will appear in the upcoming ABC mid-season drama Deception, playing CIA agent Isaac Walker, who teams with Cameron (series lead Jack Cutmore-Scott) & Co. for a counterintelligence case. Isaac also shares a romantic past with the magician’s partner in crime-solving, FBI agent Kay Daniels (series lead Ilfenesh Hadera). (The Futon Critic and TV Line)
Actors Michael Shannon and Alexander Skarsgard and newcomer Florence Pugh have joined the cast of the upcoming AMC mini-series The Little Drummer Girl about a brilliant young actress, Charlie (Pugh), who strikes up an acquaintance with an intriguing stranger while on vacation in Greece, but it rapidly becomes apparent that his intentions are far from romantic. The man is Becker (Skarsgard), an Israeli intelligence officer who entangles her in a complex and high-stakes plot orchestrated by Israeli spymaster Kurtz (Shannon). (The Hollywood Reporter)
Actress Joanne Whalley (The Borgias) has appear in Marvel’s Daredevil, playing Sister Maggie, a strong-willed nun who speaks her mind and cares deeply about Matt’s safety. (The Futon Critic)
Actor Kip Pardue (Marvel’s Runaways) will guest star in Once Upon a Time as the fiancé of Zelena’s (Rebecca Mader) cursed alter-ego Kelly. (The Futon Critic and Entertainment Weekly)
Actress Hannah Waddingham (Game of Thrones) will appear in Krypton, the upcoming Syfy Superman prequel. She will play Jax-Ur, formerly one of Krypton’s greatest scientists with deep ties to Krypton’s past; now determined to bring radical change to Krypton as leader of the underground terrorist organization, Black Zero. (Deadline)
Actress Lolita Davidovich (Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders) will recur on How To Get Away with Murder. There are no details about what role she will play though. (Deadline)
CANCELLATION NEWS
The USA Network has cancelled the new drama series Damnation after only one season. (Variety)
NEW SERIES NEWS
The Grey’s Anatomy spin-off finally has an official title: Station 19. (Deadline)
MOVIE NEWS
Actress-singer Jennifer Hudson will play the one and only Aretha Franklin in an upcoming biopic about the life of the Queen of Soul. [NOTE: Hudson is hand-picked by Franklin to play the role]. (Deadline)
That’s it. Enjoy!
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Based on information provided by the Box Office Mojo and some internet research, here are just some of the movies you can expect to see in the movie theatres in January:
Scorched Earth
Opens: February 2
The planet suffered an environmental collapse. The air became dangerous to breathe, the water became toxic, and billions of people died. Generations later mankind has finally re-established a rudimentary society, in which bounty hunters roam the land in search of wanted eco-criminals. Bounty hunter Attica Gage (Gina Carano) has a chance at the bounty of a lifetime: bringing down the ruthless outlaw, Thomas Jackson (Ryan Robbins). Gage infiltrates Jackson’s gang, and everything is going to plan until she meets a slave girl that reminds her of her dead sister. With her loyalty to only herself now tested, Gage learns that there might be more to life than just survival.
The 15:17 to Paris
Opens: February 9
The movie tells the real-life story of three men whose brave act turned them into heroes during a high-speed railway ride. In the early evening of August 21, 2015, the world watched in stunned silence as the media reported a thwarted terrorist attack on Thalys train #9364 bound for Paris—an attempt prevented by three courageous young Americans traveling through Europe. The heroic trio is comprised of Anthony Sadler, Oregon National Guardsman Alek Skarlatos, and U.S. Air Force Airman First Class Spencer Stone, who play themselves in the film. Starring alongside them are Jenna Fischer (The Office), Judy Greer (War for the Planet of the Apes) and Tony Hale (Veep) [among others].
Peter Rabbit
Opens: February 9
Peter Rabbit’s (voiced by James Corden) feud with Mr. McGregor (Domhnall Gleeson) reaches new heights as both compete for the affections of Bea (Rose Byrne), a kind animal lover who lives next door. Other voices will be provided by Margot Robbie, Daisy Ridley, Elizabeth Debicki and singer Sia.
Black Panther
Opens: February 16
After the death of his father, T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) returns home to the African nation of Wakanda to take his rightful place as king. When a powerful enemy suddenly reappears, T’Challa’s mettle as king — and as Black Panther — gets tested when he’s drawn into a conflict that puts the fate of Wakanda and the entire world at risk. Faced with treachery and danger, the young king must rally his allies and release the full power of Black Panther to defeat his foes and secure the safety of his people. The ensemble cast includes Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Andy Serkis, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker, Sterling K. Brown and Winston Duke.
Early Man
Opens: February 16
This animated film follows a plucky cave man named Dug, (Eddie Redmayne) and his sidekick Hognob must unite their tribe against a mighty enemy, Lord Nooth (Tom Hiddleston) and his Bronze Age City. Other voices will be provided by Maisie Williams and Timothy Spall.
Annihilation
Opens: February 23
A group of soldiers enters an environmental disaster zone and only one soldier (Oscar Isaac) comes back out alive, though he is grievously injured. In an attempt to save his life, his wife Lena (Natalie Portman), a biologist and volunteers for another expedition venture into the zone to figure out what happened to him. The cast includes Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez and Tessa Thompson.
Movies coming out in March will be posted at the end of February.
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