Recaps
The Weekly Round-Up for May 17 to 21
Here are the entertainment news items for this week:
NEWS
Congratulations to the casts of Modern Family, Glee and In Treatment for being honored with Peabody Awards.
UPFRONT PRESENTATION NEWS
The major networks announced their fall line-ups this past week to the advertisers in New York City. The following is a breakdown of what the networks have decided for the fall and, in some instances, for mid-season:
NBC:
The network decided to bring back the following dramas: Chuck, Parenthood and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. The network picked up the following new dramas for the fall: The Event, Chase, Undercovers, Law & Order: Los Angeles, Love Bites and Outlaw. And, the new show The Cape will air during mid-season.
• The Event stars Jason Ritter as Sean Walker who investigates the mysterious disappearance of his fiancée. The series will also star Blair Underwood and Scott Patterson.
• Love Bites is a romantic dramedy starring Becki Newton (Ugly Betty) and Jordana Spiro (My Boys) as the last women to get married out of their group of friends. Greg Grunberg (Heroes) has been added to the cast.
NOTE: Should Jordana Spiro’s TBS series My Boys be picked up she will return to that show and recasting will need to take place.
• Chase is about “good guys” hunting down fugitives and stars Kelli Giddish (Past Life), Cole Hauser (K-Ville), Amaury Nolasco (Prison Break) and Jesse Metcalfe (Desperate Housewives).
• Undercovers is about a married couple who return to their former spy life, starring Boris Kodjoe (Soul Food) and newcomer Gugu Mbatha-Raw.
• The Cape is about an honest cop who is framed for murders he didn’t commit and is forced into hiding only to become his son’s favorite comic book superhero to fight crime and get his life. The series stars David Lyons (ER), Jennifer Ferrin (Life on Mars) and Summer Glau (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles). The series will air mid-season.
NOTE: Law & Order: Los Angeles needs no explanation, as it is yet another incarnation of the original, which was shockingly cancelled by NBC.
FOX:
The network has renewed the following dramas: House, Glee, Lie To Me, Bones, Fringe and Human Target and it will bring back the summer series The Good Guys. The new drama Lonestar was picked up for the fall and the dramas Ride-Along and Terra Nova will air at mid-season.
• Lonestar is about a charismatic and brilliant schemer who entangles himself with a Texas family who is big in the oil business. The series stars newcomer Jimmy Wolk, Adrianne Palicki (Friday Night Lights), Bryce Johnson (Popular and Damages), Eloise Mumford (Crash) and Mark Deklin (Riverworld) as wella s David Keith and Jon Voight.
• Ride-Along is a gritty drama set in Chicago that follows the most respected and notorious cops in the city. The series stars Jason Clarke (Brotherhood), Jennifer Beals (Lie To Me) and Delroy Lindo. This series will air mid-season.
• Terra Nova is an epic adventure, following an ordinary family as they embark on a journey back in time to prehistoric Earth as part of a massive experiment to save the human race. The series will also air mid-season.
ABC:
The network has renewed the following dramas: Castle, Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters. The new series V will return for a second season during mid-season. The network picked up the following new dramas: No Ordinary Family, Detroit 1-8-7, The Whole Truth, My Generation and Body of Proof. The new series Off the Map will be held until mid-season.
• Body of Proof stars Dana Delany as a neurosurgeon turned medical examiner, who blurs the lines of where her job ends and the police department begins. The show also stars Jeri Ryan.
• The Whole Truth is a legal drama that shows both sides of a case equally following the lives of those in the New York State District Attorney’s office and a rising criminal attorney. The series stars Rob Morrow (Numb3rs), Eamonn Walker (Oz and Kings) and Christine Adams (Pushing Daisies).
NOTE: Joely Richardson was cast in one of the lead roles, but has since dropped out of the project.
• My Generation is a dramedy, done in documentary style, about high school classmates and their lives 10 years after graduation. The series stars Jaime King (Pearl Harbor), Mechad Brooks (True Blood) and Keir O’Donnell (Sons of Anarchy).
• No Ordinary Family is about the Powell family who go from ordinary to extraordinary after a fateful family vacation to Brazil. The series stars Michael Chiklis (The Shield), Julie Benz (Dexter), Tate Donovan (Damages), Autumn Reeser (The O.C.) and Kay Panabaker (Fame and Summerland).
• Detroit 1-8-7 is a dark comedy, also done in documentary style, that follows the Homicide Unit of Detroit’s finest. The series stars Michael Imperioli (The Sopranos), James McDaniel (NYPD Blue), Aisha Hinds (“True Blood”) and D.J. Cotrona (Dear John).
• Off the Map is about an understaffed, under-stocked medical clinic in the South American jungle. The series stars Martin Henderson (The Ring), Caroline Dhavernas (Wonderfalls), Enrique Murciano (Without a Trace), Mamie Gummer (Meryl Streep’s daughter), Jason George (Grey’s Anatomy and Eli Stone) and Valerie Cruz (True Blood). This series will air mid-season.
CBS:
The network has renewed the following dramas: NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles, The Good Wife, Criminal Minds, CSI, The Mentalist, Medium, CSI: New York and CSI: Miami. The new dramas the network has picked up are Hawaii Five-O, The Defenders and Blue Bloods. The as-yet unnamed Criminal Minds spin-off will air in mid-season.
• Hawaii Five-O is a contemporary take on the classic series about an elite federalized task force whose mission is to wipe out crime on the island. The series stars Alex O’Loughlin (Moonlight), Daniel Dae Kim (Lost), Scott Caan (Ocean’s Eleven) and Grace Park (Battlestar Galactica).
• The Defenders is a comedic drama about two colorful Las Vegas defense attorney who go “all-in” when it comes to representing their clients. The series stars Jim Belushi (According to Jim) and Jerry O’Connell (Crossing Jordan) in the lead roles as well as Jurnee Smollett (Friday Night Lights).
• Blue Bloods is about a multi-generational family of cops in New York City, overseen by patriarch Frank Reagan (Tom Selleck). The cast includes Len Cariou (Damages), Donnie Wahlberg (Boomtown), Bridget Moynahan (Six Degrees) and Will Estes (American Dreams and Reunion).
• The Criminal Minds spinoff is as-yet untitled, but star Oscar winner Forest Whitaker in a drama about an elite team of agents within the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit who use unconventional methods of investigation and aggressive tactics to capture the nation’s most nefarious criminals. The series also stars Beau Garrett (Made of Honor) and Michael Kelly (Generation Kill). This series will air mid-season.
The CW:
The network has renewed the following dramas: 90210, Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill, Life Unexpected, The Vampire Diaries, Smallville and Supernatural. The network picked up two news dramas: Hellcats and Nikita.
• Nikita is based on the popular movie and TV series about a deeply troubled teenager who is rescued from death row by a secret US agency who fake her death and give her a second chance at life, but as a spy and assassin. Coming out of hiding after 3 years, Nikita seeks retribution. The series stars Maggie Q (Live Free or Die Hard), Lyndsy Fonseca (Desperate Housewives), Shane West (ER), Aaron Stanford (X-Men 2), Melinda Clarke (The O.C.) and Xander Berkeley (24).
Hellcats is about a pre-law student, who loses her college scholarship and the only way she can stay in school is by reigniting her gymnastic skills and joining the college’s legendary cheerleading team. The series stars Disney star-singer Aly Michalka, Ashley Tisdale (High School Musical), Matt Barr (Harper’s Island), Sharon Leal (Dreamgirls) and Gail O’Grady (NYPD Blue).
TV SERIES NEWS
The FOX hit Glee has been given the prime spot, airing after the Super Bowl.
Olivia Wilde, who plays Thirteen on House, will be taking some time off from the series to star in the big-budget sci-fi western Cowboys & Aliens.
Kyle MacLachlan is joining Dana Delany and Drea de Matteo in an exodus of the ABC series Desperate Housewives.
Law and Order make have been canceled by NBC, but attempts are being made to have TNT pick up the series for a record-breaking 21st season.
It is looking like ABC MAY rescue recently canceled CBS series Ghost Whisperer; however, the network will not be saving comedy The New Adventures of Old Christine.
Allison Mack will no longer be a series regular of the long-running CW series Smallville when it returns for a new season this fall; however, she will be back for several episodes that will “tie up Chloe’s Smallville legacy properly.”
CBS will air new episodes of the series Flashpoint starting June 4 at 9 PM along with the remaining five episodes of the short-lived series Miami Medical at 10 PM.
The season premiere for the USA Network series Psych has been moved up one week to July 14.
DEVELOPMENT NEWS
The USA Network has picked up two new pilots: A Legal Mind and Necessary Roughness.
BOX OFFICE NEWS
Anthony Hopkins and Dustin Hoffman will star in the movie The Song of Names about a man who investigates the disappearance of a violin prodigy 40 years after he vanished.
Adrien Brody has joined the Woody Allen movie Midnight In Paris, which aksi stars Owen Wilson, Marion Cotillard, Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates and Michael Sheen.
Hilary Swank is expected to star in the post-Iraq War film Dreams of a Dying Heart as a soldier who finds it difficult to adjust to civilian life after surviving a helicopter crash.
Matthew Goode (Watchmen) will appear in the romantic comedy Burning Man about an English chef with a hot restaurant trying to get his life together and re-establish his relationship with his son. The cast includes Rachel Griffiths (Brothers and Sisters).
It looks like the 1950’s/1960’s surfing icon Gidget will be making a comeback at the box office and on television. No firm plans are set, however.
Sean Penn has joined the feature This Must Be the Place, following an aging rock star who decides to hunt down the ex-Nazi criminal who ordered his father’s execution in a concentration camp. Frances McDormand is in advanced negotiations to join the cast as well.
Jessica Biel will star in the suspense thriller The Tall Man about a mother whose child is kidnapped by a shadowy figure known only as The Tall Man.
Brendan Gleeson (Harry Potter Franchise) and Donald Sutherland will appear in the outlaw movie The McLean Boys, which is based on a true story set in British Columbia in 1879.
Carla Gugino and Stanley Tucci will join Kevin Spacey and Zachary Quinto in the film Margin Call, a corporate thriller about eight people at a prominent investment bank in a tumultuous 24-hour period during the early stages of the financial crisis as the characters struggle to position themselves ahead of the coming storm.
Pierce Brosnan, Billy Bob Thornton, Maria Bello and Giovanni Ribisi will star in the film St. Vincent, which follows a hitman (Brosnan) who goes undercover as a priest to get close to his target, a gangland traitor (Thornton).
Kristen Scott Thomas, Jeremy Irons and Tony Shalhoub have joined the conspiracy thriller Tangier, which follows a young soldier (Emile Hirsch) who goes AWOL in Tangier and gets hired as the minder of a wealthy socialite whose husband appears to be involved in espionage.
Ellen Page (Juno) is set to star in the film Freeheld, which is based on the true story of Stacy Andree (Page), a New Jersey car mechanic who with her girlfriend, police detective Laurel Hester, fight to secure Hester’s pension benefits after she is diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Alfred Molina had joined the action thriller Abduction, which stars Taylor Lautner as a young man who realizes he was kidnapped as a child, and is forced to run for his life after he reaches out to find his real parents.
John Hurt (Hellboy) will join Kirsten Dunst, Donald Sutherland, Stellan Skarsgård and Alexander Skarsgård in the disaster movie Melancholia.
Channing Tatum (Dear John) will star in the movie What’s Left of Us, which tells the true story of a heroin addict (Tatum) going through 7 excruciating days in detox.
A writer has been hired to write the script for the film version of the 1980’s series MacGyver.
MADE FOR TV MOVIES NEWS
The Hallmark Channel movie Jack’s Family Adventure will air on Saturday, July 17 at 9 PM. Jonathan Silverman stars as a successful advertising executive who takes his family to a cabin where he enjoyed his youth (after the death of his uncle) for some quality, family bonding. The cast includes DeDee Pfeiffer and Peter Strauss.
Cheryl Ladd and Bruce Boxleitner will appear in the Hallmark Channel movie Love’s Resounding Courage, the second prequel Love Comes Softly (the movie that started the successful movie series). The movie is about Clark (Wes Brown) whose beloved wife Ellen (Julie Mond) passes away from scarlet fever, leaving him with his young daughter to overcome the loss and save their land from drought. Ladd and Boxleitner portray Clark’s parents. The movie is expected to air in 2011.
CASTING SCOOP
Comedy legend Carl Reiner has been cast as the love interest to Betty White in her new TV Land series Hot in Cleveland, which also stars Valerie Bertinelli, Wendie Malick and Jane Leeves.
Linda Hamilton (Sarah Connor herself) will appear in a multi-episode arc in the Showtime comedy Weeds, playing an eco-conscious marijuana grower who helps Nancy’s (Mary-Louise Parker) endeavors in Seattle.
Vanessa Williams will be joining Desperate Housewives as a series regular when the show returns in the fall.
RUMOR PATROL
British actress Juno Temple (Year One) is in negotiations to play the queen in the new Three Musketeers movie.
Actress Drew Barrymore is rumored to be directing the Wizard of Oz sequel called Surrender Dorothy, which is to follow the great, great granddaughter of Dorothy who has learned to use the power of the magic slippers to keep the Wicked Witch of the West from taking control of not just Oz but Earth as well.
Gerard Butler is the top contender for the male lead in the planned new remake of A Star is Born.
Romola Garai (Emma) may be joining the romantic comedy One Day about two people (Anne Hathaway, Jim Sturgess) who meet for the first time during their Edinburgh University graduation in 1988 and meet on St. Swithin’s day (July 15th) every year for the next two decades. Over that time the pair lead their lives and have relationships with others until they realize they’re meant for each other.
Chris Lowell (Private Practice) may join the cast of the movie The Help, starring Emma Stone, as an aspiring writer living in 1960s Mississippi, who is unhappy with the social norms. The movie chronicles the way black maids are treated by society.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
The following specials will air this weekend as well as next week:
Relive the two-hour pilot episode of Lost as it airs on ABC on Saturday, May 22 at 8 PM.
The movie Witchville will debut on Syfy on Saturday, May 22 at 8 PM. The movie is about a prince who returns home and finds that his father is dead and the kingdom has been overrun by witches.
The special Brooks & Dunn: The Last Rodeo will air on CBS on Sunday, May 23at 8 PM and is a salute to the country-western duo who are disbanding after 20 years together.
A special two-hour recap of the past six seasons of Lost will air on ABC on Sunday, May 23 at 7 PM followed by the 2 ½ hour series finale of the groundbreaking series at 9 PM.
The Masterpiece Mystery movie Miss Marple: The Mirror Crack’d From Side to Side will air on PBS on Sunday, May 23 at 9 PM.
The Lifetime movie Seven Deadly Sins will debut on Sunday, May 23 at 8 PM (part 1) and Monday, May 24 at 8 PM (part 2). The movie is about a school’s most popular girl being unseated by a new transfer student who is later suspected of murder.
NOTE: This movie will air on Monday, May 24, starting at 10 PM.
Saving Grace is back for its final episodes starting at 10 PM on Monday, May 24 on TNT.
The remaining filmed episodes of the short-lived FOX drama Past Life will air at 8 and 9 PM on Friday, May 28.
NOTE: Several more episodes of this series will be burned off over the summer by FOX.
Here are the new episodes of the dramas (and a few others) that will be airing this coming week:
Saturday, May 22:
Doctor Who on BBC America at 9 PM
NOTE: Legend of the Seeker will air its final episode in syndication this weekend. Check your local listings for date, time and channel.
Sunday, May 23:
Breaking Bad on AMC at 10 PM
Treme on HBO at 10 PM
Army Wives on Lifetime at 10 PM
The Tudors on Showtime at 9 PM
NOTE: Legend of the Seeker will air its final episode in syndication this weekend. Check your local listings for date, time and channel.
Monday, May 24:
CSI: Miami on CBS at 10:01 PM – FINALE
24 on FOX at 8 PM – Two-Hour FINALE
Chuck on NBC at 8 PM – Two-Hour FINALE
Law & Order on NBC at 9 PM
10 Things I Hate About You on ABC Family at 8 PM and 8:30 PM – SERIES FINALE
Tuesday, May 25:
NCIS on CBS at 8 PM – FINALE
NCIS: Los Angeles on CBS at 9 PM – FINALE
The Good Wife on CBS at 10 PM – FINALE
Glee on FOX at 9 PM
Parenthood on NBC at 10 PM – FINALE
Justified on FX at 10 PM
Law & Order: Criminal Intent on USA at 10 PM
Wednesday, May 26:
Criminal Minds on CBS at 9 PM – FINALE
CSI: NY on CBS at 10 PM – FINALE
Thursday, May 27:
FlashForward on ABC at 8 PM – SERIES FINALE
Friday, May 28:
Friday Night Lights on NBC at 8 PM
NOTE: Please check your local listings for the correct air dates and times for all of the above.
Have a great weekend!
Please note that I will feature a weekly round-up of sci-fi based (and similar genres) news items at our sister site located at http://scifitvzone.com/. Please visit there as often as you can. Thanks!
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