Weekly Round-Up (August 11 to 14)

By Rueben | August 14, 2009

Here are the news items for this past week:

CONDOLENCES

Music legend Les Paul passed away on Thursday at the age of 94.  He was a legend and will be greatly missed.   Deepest condolences to his family, friends and fans.

NEWS

BIG changes are taking place at the USA Network series In Plain Sight.  Not only is Executive Producer and Creator David Maples not returning for its 3rd season, but also Lesley Ann Warren and Todd Williams will no longer be series regulars (they will either be recurring or guest starring only).   It is “believed” that the focus of the new season will be more procedural-based and less focused on the life of Mary. This new focus has NOT been confirmed though.

ABC is giving its V revival an early start: Tuesday, November 3 at 8 p.m.

The summer finale of Burn Notice on the USA Network garnered an impressive 7.6 million viewers.   New episodes will air this winter.

Fox has given a pilot commitment to the Shawn Ryan one-hour drama project Ridealong, about a group of Chicago-based cops ranging from uniformed beat cops to a female police chief.

The 2nd season of Merlin will begin airing soon in the U.K., but a decision has yet to be announced by NBC if they will re-air those new episodes, as they have done this past summer with seas0n one.  Those viewers who will see the 2nd season can expect appearances by Charles Dance (Gosford Park), Mackenzie Crook (Pirates of the Caribbean) and Sarah Parish (Blackpool) as well as a return appearance by Santiago Cabrera (Heroes) as Lancelot.

TNT has picked up its new medical drama Hawthorne for an additional 10 episodes (i.e. its second season).  These episodes are slated to air in 2010.

Stargate Universe Executive Producer Robert C. Cooper has written scripts for a new potential Stargate SG-1 movie and a Stargate Atlantis film, but said it might be a while before they get a green light.  Two previous SG-1 straight-to-DVD movies, Continuum and The Ark of Truth, sold well, but the current economic downturn makes DVD premieres less lucrative than they were in the past.  Should the two DVD films be made, they would follow previous entries in having independent storylines that would not affect the upcoming Syfy original series Stargate Universe.

BBC America beat out Syfy for the rights to air the fifth season of Doctor Who, starring new Doctor Matt Smith.

CSI: Miami will be going back to basics – or more precisely back to its original format – this new season, focusing on more stories in the lab rather than out-of-doors.

CBS has given a pilot script order to a US version of the British crime drama series Wire in the Blood. Ildy Modrovich (CSI: Miami) has been brought on to write the pilot script and Terry McDonough (Breaking Bad) is set to direct.  The original series starred Robson Green as a clinical psychologist who teamed up with a female police detective to solve brutal murders.

NBC.com is currently giving fans the chance to catch up with their favorite shows before the fall premieres.  Please go to their website to check out all the shows you can get caught up on.

Holly Hunter‘s cop drama Saving Grace will wrap up next summer after its third season according to an announcement made today by home network TNT.

Sonic Youth is scheduled to perform an acoustic version of their 1986 song Starpower on the fifth episode of this season of Gossip Girl.

Comedy Central has confirmed that it has cancelled Reno 911! after six seasons.  News of the axe was originally made by co-creator/star Thomas Lennon over Twitter.

ABC has given a script order to a contemporary series take on the 1985 feature film St. Elmo’s Fire.  The project will be written/executive produced by Dan Bucatinsky and executive produced by Topher Grace (That 70’s Show), Jamie Tarses, and Joel Schumacher.  The series would revolve around a group of six friends–three men, three women–who hang out together at a Georgetown restaurant called St. Elmo’s Bar & Grill.

Believe it or not, actor Jerry O’Connell (husband to Rebecca Romijn) has enrolled at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles as a first-year law student in night classes on a part-time basis.  This should not affect his acting schedule, though.

HBO has signed a deal with writer/producer Frank Spotnitz (The X-Files) to develop two new drama series:

• Humanitas, a futuristic drama that Spotnitz has written and will executive produce with Gavin Polone, about a potentially threatening pandemic stemming from major advances in medical science and genetic manipulation.

• Spotnitz and co-writer Adam Rapp will also adapt Robert Silverberg‘s sci-fi novel The World Inside, about a future where, following massive overpopulation, the planet’s inhabitants live inside “carefully controlled urban centers where frustration and anger are eliminated, sex is rampant and fertility is the most prized human attribute.

Spotnitz is also writing a drama pilot Arc for FX about a former spy who tries to leave behind the espionage game and settle into normal life. Based on a true story, it will be produced by Scott Free Prods. and CBS Television Studios.

Kate Winslet will star in a new (supposedly HBO) mini-series adaptation of James M. Cain‘s classic novel Mildred Pierce.  The story follows a bored housewife who gets into the restaurant business, an enterprise that leads to backstabbing, romance and murder.

Want to see a cool “if theTVAddict.com ran Entertainment Weekly and decided what was on the cover”, click on the link provided; members of a certain “verse” will be very pleased:

http://thetvaddict.com/2009/08/14/if-we-ran-entertainment-weekly-the-sequel/#more-7673

BOX OFFICE NEWS

More casting news for the remake of the 1984 movie Red Dawn was announced this week.  Chris Hemsworth (Star Trek), Adrianne Palicki (Friday Night Lights) and Josh Peck (Drake & Josh) have already been cast in lead roles with Connor Cruise (Seven Pounds – and son of Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman), Edwin Hodge (Mental), Josh Hutcherson (Journey to the Center of the Earth) and Isabel Lucas (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen) joining up for the movie that is to be released September 24, 2010.

Edward James Olmos (Battlestar Galactica) has joined the cast of the box office movie The Green Hornet, but no details have been released as to the character he will be portraying.

Frank Langella has been added to the cast of the sequel to Wall Street, joining Shia LaBeouf, Josh Brolin, Michael Douglas and Carey Mulligan.

Kevin McKidd (Grey’s Anatomy) will appear as the Greek god Poseidon in the movie Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, based on the Rick Riordan novels, alongside Logan Lerman (Jack & Bobby), Sean Bean, Rosario Dawson, Uma Thurman and Catherine Keener.  Some other names that jumped out within the cast, after a search on IMBD, include Joe Pantoliano, Erica Cerra (Eurkea), Melina Kanakaredes (CSI: NY) and Serinda Swan (Smallville).  This movie will open Feb. 12, 2010.

Jack Huston, grandson of the late, great director John Huston and nephew to actress Anjelica Huston, will appear as Royce King II in Twilight: Eclipse.  Actress Catalina Sandino Moreno (Maria Full of Grace) has also been added to the cast of this movie, playing Maria the one responsible for turning Jasper (Jackson Rathbone).

The Garry Marshall romantic comedy Valentine’s Day keeps adding cast members. The cast already boasts: Julia Roberts, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Biel, Jessica Alba, Patrick Dempsey, Jamie Foxx and Queen Latifah.  But, now includes country singer Taylor Swift, Emma Roberts (convenient that her Auntie Julia is in one of the lead roles, huh?), and Taylor Lautner (Twilight franchise) and “pop” singer Joe Jonas.

The new Paul Bettany movie Legion will include the following cast members: Dennis Quaid, Kevin Durand (Lost and Dark Angel), Doug Jones (Hellboy and Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer), Kate Walsh (Private Practice), Tyrese Gibson (Transformers), Adrianne Palicki (Friday Night Lights), Charles S. Dutton (Roc), Jon Tenney (The Closer), Josh Stamberg (Drop Dead Diva) and Yancey Arias (Knight Rider).

Patrick Duffy (Dallas and Step by Step) has joined the cast of the comedy You Again, which centers on a woman (Kristen Bell) who finds out that her brother (Jimmy Wolk) is planning to marry the girl (Odette Yustman) who made her high school years a living hell.  Sigourney Weaver and Jamie Lee Curtis also star.

MADE-FOR-TV MOVIES

Hilary Duff will star in ABC Family romantic comedy telepic The Business of Falling in Love, based on the book Diary of a Working Girl by Daniella Brodsky about a fashion reporter who goes undercover in the financial world to write an article about dating business men.

Gabrielle Union has signed on to star and executive produce the Lifetime telepic The Vow, based on a Denene Millner novel about three women who attend a wedding and make a pact to all get engaged within the following year.

Barbara Eden, Max Gail, Rena Sofer and Dean McDermott will star in the Hallmark Channel movie Always and Forever on October 24.  The movie is about a pair of high school sweethearts who ended up living happily never after, who bump into each other at the most dreaded of social gatherings: the high school reunion.

Eric Close (Without a Trace), Dreama Walker (Gossip Girl), Rachel Melvin (Days of Our Lives), Jared Keeso (The Guard), Emma Lahana (The Guard), Greyston Holt (Durham County) and Steven Grayhm (Taken) have been cast in Lifetime Movie Network‘s four-hour mini-series Seven Deadly Sins, based on the mystery novel series by Robin Wasserman.  This mini-series is slated to air in 2010.

CASTING SCOOP

Elizabeth Banks (Scrubs) has signed on to guest star on ABC‘s upcoming comedy series Modern Family in a potentially recurring role.

Mike Vogel (Empire State) has replaced Richard Coyle on CBS‘ midseason medical drama Miami Trauma.  He will play a charming and fiercely competitive surgeon with a healthy ego.

Two more cast additions to TNT‘s untitled alien invasion drama pilot, starring Noah Wyle, and which comes from Steven Spielberg have been announced. They are Drew Roy (iCarly’s) and Peter Shinkoda (The Hole).

The Vampire Diaries is casting a new series regular to debut in episode six.  The character, Alaric Saltzman, is a fan favorite from the series of books upon which the series is based.  He is a young twenty-something history teacher.

Oded Fehr (The Mummy) will guest star on a fall episode of CBS‘s Medium, playing a doctor who may have been involved in Allison’s life when she was in her coma.

Callum Keith Rennie (Battlestar Galactica) has signed on to appear in a multiple-episode story arc in Day Eight of 24.  He will play Vladimir Laitanan, a Russian syndicate mobster linked to Jurgen Prochnow‘s mobster Bazhaev.

Jack Huston (mentioned earlier regarding his casting in Twilight: Eclipse) is also slated to star in ABC‘s new series Eastwick.

Zachary Ray Sherman (Fifteen and Pregnant) will appear in the new episodes of 90210 this fall, as the nephew of the guy that Annie (Shenae Grimes) hit.

Ernie Hudson (Oz) will have a recurring role as a police officer on the upcoming season of Heroes, playing Captain Lubbock, a Baltimore detective who’s hunting some of the characters on the show.

Scott Foley (The Unit and Felicity) has booked a guest appearance on Law & Order: SVU.  He’ll play a real estate agent involved in a murder.

Yaya Dacosta (America’s Next Top Model) has been tapped to take over the recurring role of Wilhelmina’s defiant daughter Nico on Ugly Betty.  This role was formerly portrayed by Jowharah Jones.  Nico will resurface in the October 9 season premiere and promptly get caught up in one of the show’s new mysteries.

Stand-up comedian, actor and author Lewis Black will guest star this fall in the second episode of The Big Bang Theory, appearing as a brilliant but troubled professor of entomology who works at Caltech with the guys.

Joe Morton (Eureka) will be seen in Brothers & Sisters as a tough, caring anatomy professor for Justin (Dave Annable).  He should be recurring in roughly 7 to 10 episodes.

Anne Dudek (House) will star opposite Piper Perabo and Christopher Gorham in the USA Network’s drama pilot Covert Affairs, where she will play the sister of Perabo’s Annie Walker, a polyglot CIA trainee.

Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad) will appear in Big Love next year, but the actor doesn’t know quite what is in store for his character.

RUMOR PATROL

Paula Abdul is in talks to guest star on ABC‘s Ugly Betty.  Supposedly, she will play a Mode temp who becomes fast friends with Becki Newton’s Amanda.

AMC is reportedly close to signing a deal with Frank Darabont (The Green Mile) to write and direct an adaptation of Robert Kirkman‘s comic series The Walking Dead for the network.  The potential series would be about a group of people who have survived a zombie apocalypse who search for a safe place to call their home.  It will be executive produced by Gale Anne Hurd (Terminator franchise) and David Alpert.  No studio is currently attached.

Nathan Fillion has claimed to E! Entertainment Online that a Dr. Horrible sequel is already in the writing stages; let’s all hope this is indeed fact.

Kim Basinger (8 Mile) is in talks to star in The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud alongside Zac Efron (High School Musical).  If Basinger inks the deal, she will play the mom of Efron’s character, a cemetery caretaker who has weekly meetings with a younger brother whose accidental death he feels was his fault.

It is being reported that Kate Beckinsale has signed to appear in a proposed fourth Underworld movie, the first in a proposed trilogy, to be shot in 3-D and arriving in theaters Jan. 21, 2011.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

The Syfy movie The Terminators will air on Saturday, August 15 at 9 p.m.  This movie, a “knock-off” of the Terminator franchise, stars Jeremy London.  The premise is about humans living in a world where they battle oppression by cyborgs.

Mad Men returns for another season on AMC on Sunday, August 16 at 10 p.m.

The Syfy movie Rise of the Gargoyles will air on Thursday, August 20 at 9 p.m.  Starring Eric Balfour (24) as an American professor who must hurry to Paris before an ancient gargoyle destroys the city.

Here is a list of new episodes for the multitude of summer series that are currently airing all over the dial:

Saturday, August 15:

Being Human on BBC America at 9 p.m. (for 1 ½ hours).

Sunday, August 16:

Merlin on NBC at 7 and 8 p.m.
True Blood on HBO at 9 p.m.
Hung on HBO at 10 p.m.
Entourage on HBO at 10:30 p.m.
Drop Dead Diva on Lifetime at 9 p.m.
Army Wives on Lifetime at 10 p.m.
Defying Gravity on ABC at 10 p.m.

Monday, August 17:

The Secret Life of An American Teenager on ABC Family at 8 p.m.
Make It or Break It on ABC Family at 9 p.m.
The Closer on TNT at 9 p.m.
Raising the Bar on TNT at 10 p.m.
Law & Order: Criminal Intent on NBC at 9 PM
Weeds on Showtime at 10 p.m.
Nurse Jackie on Showtime at 10:30 p.m.

Tuesday, August 18:

10 Things I Hate About You on ABC Family at 8 p.m.
Ruby & the Rockits on ABC Family at 8:30 p.m.
Hawthorne on TNT at 9 p.m.
Saving Grace on TNT at 10 p.m.
Warehouse 13 on SyFy at 9 p.m.
The Cleaner on A&E at 10 p.m.
Rescue Me on FX at 10 p.m.

Wednesday, August 19:

Leverage on TNT at 9 p.m.
Dark Blue on TNT at 10 p.m.

Thursday, August 20:

Royal Pains on USA at 10 p.m.

Friday, August 21:

Eureka on SyFy at 9 p.m.
Monk on USA at 9 p.m.
Psych on USA at 10 p.m.

NOTE: Please check your local listings for the correct air dates and times for all of the above.

Have a great weekend!!!