Recaps
The Weekly Round-Up for Dec. 13 to Dec. 17
Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:
TELEVISION NEWS
Gwyneth Paltrow will reprise her role as substitute teacher Holly Holiday on Glee, but no word yet on when the episode will air.
AMC has ordered the pilot Hell on Wheels to series. The series will have a 10 episode order and is a 1860s drama that centers on former confederate soldier Cullen Bohannan (Anson Mount) whose quest for vengeance has led him westward to work on the construction of the first Transcontinental Railroad. This series as well as the new show called The Killing will both premiere sometime next year.
BBC America has acquired the basic cable rights to the racy Showtime costume drama The Tudors. All four season will be aired with a kick off, all-day marathon of Seasons 1 and 2 on January 16, with subsequent episodes running every Tuesday at 10 PM.
Not that this comes as a surprise to (hardly) anyone, but The Good Guys will not return for a second season on FOX.
Syfy announced that Stargate Universe will not be back for a third season, which means the upcoming 10 episodes – expected to air in the Spring -will be the series’ last.
Actor Jack Huston has been made a series regular for the second season of Boardwalk Empire.
DEVELOPMENT NEWS
Actor Eric Mabius (Ugly Betty) has joined the cast of the TNT drama pilot Bird Dog, which centers on Gail McGrath (Ashley Williams), a patrolling officer whose new partner is her cop dad Sam McGrath (Gerald McRaney). He will play Tim Burke, the boyishly handsome County Sheriff who is secretly attracted to Gail.
Actress Carla Gallo (Bones and Men of a Certain Age) is set to star opposite Amanda Walsh in the CW pilot Danni Lowinski, which is about a scrappy hairdresser (Walsh) who graduates from law school but is brushed off by law firms and sets up her own practice in a shopping mall kiosk. She will play Danni’s best friend Kaz who is brassy, a little slutty and fiercely protective of Danni.
One of the major US networks has signed on for a TV series based on the Jason Statham-led action film franchise The Transporter. The series is aiming to premiere early November next year with a 12 episode order.
Ethan Hawke is in talks to star in an upcoming CIA-set drama for FOX called Exit Strategy, which follows CIA operatives who are sent in to extricate other agents when situations go dangerously awry. Hawke would play the head of the team.
A&E has ordered two new hour-long pilots: Big Mike is about a plus-sized detective and a force of nature in the San Diego PD. One of the best in his field, he gets things done, knows all the right people, gets along with everyone, and knows all the best places to eat. His greatest challenge is his romantic life. The other is The Package Deal, based on the Walt Longmire Mystery series of novels by Craig Johnson. Walt Longmire is the local sheriff in rural Wyoming.
Actress Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix) has the lead in the as-yet untitled Lifetime pilot, which centers on Ann Brown (Moss), New York’s premiere celebrity psychologist. With her life and marriage in shambles, she leaves town to join her sister, the Dean at a teaching hospital, to become the chief of staff of the hospital’s psych ward. There, she rediscovers her love for helping people while reconnecting with her sister, despite their volatile history. This pilot is just one of many pilots ordered by Lifetime this year, including Against the Wall, Exit 19, Meet Jane and an untitled project from Josh Berman. The other four are in various stages of production.
Desperate Housewives’ creator Marc Cherry is developing a new drama for ABC called Hallelujah, which will revolve around the town of Hallelujah, Tennessee. The town is being torn apart by the forces of good and evil, but its fortunes change when a stranger comes to Hallelujah, bringing justice, peace and faith.
Actor Don Cheadle (Iron Man 2) has signed on to star in the Showtime pilot House of Lies, a half-hour, dark comedy based on the hit tell-all book House of Lies: How Management Consultants Steal Your Watch and Tell You the Time by Martin Kihn. The production will start in February 2011. The pilot is about Marty (Cheadle), a subversive, scathing look at a self-loathing management consultant from a top-tier firm.
Looks like even though the show is still on in Canada and airing here in the states on SOAPnet – at least until the end of 2011 when the network will no longer exist – being replaced by Disney Junior, ABC is developing a US version of hit Being Erica. Maggie Friedman (Eastwick) will write the US version and executive produce. The series centers on a woman who travels back in time to relive a regret from the past and manages to correct those wrongs in the present.
Actors Brian Austin Green (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) and Harold Perrineau (Lost) will lead the cast of the TBS hour-long comedy pilot called The Wedding Band that follows a group of guys who try to escape the stress and craziness of their lives by performing in a wedding band. Anchored by lifelong best friends – one a perennial bachelor and the other a married father of two – the band will stop at nothing to make every wedding, birthday or bar mitzvah a concert to remember. The pilot stars Peter Cambor (NCIS: Los Angeles) and Derek Miller (Secret Girlfriend).
Actors Nick D’Agosto (Heroes) and Enver Gjokaj (Dollhouse) are set as the two leads in the USA pilot called Eden, which centers on a young hotel worker (D’Agosto) who, with the help of his escaped con artist cousin Eddie, gets a job as the concierge at an elite NYC hotel. Together they manage to provide the hotel guests with whatever they desire, at whatever the cost.
Twilight screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg is planning to bring Marvel superhero, Jessica Jones, to television. This potential project is being considered for the slate of new ABC shows for next fall.
Scottish actress Laura Fraser has landed a lead role in the Showtime drama pilot Homeland, which centers on Marine Sergeant Scott Brody, who returns home eight years after going missing in Iraq. Carrie Anderson (Claire Danes) is the driven CIA officer who suspects he might be plotting an attack on America. Fraser (A Knight’s Tale) will play Jessica Brody, Scott’s smart, strong wife. Mandy Patinkin will co-star.
CONDOLENCES
Blake Edwards, the writer-director who helmedBreakfast at Tiffany’s, and turned Peter Sellers loose in the original Pink Panther movies, died last night at age 88 of complications from pneumonia. His longtime wife, screen-legend Julie Andrews, was said to have been at his hospital bedside.
MOMENT OF SILENCE PLEASE…
BOX OFFICE NEWS
Actress Neve Campbell is in negotiations to star in the drama Singularity, which takes place in 1778 and 2015, involving intertwining souls, past lives and a ring. Josh Hartnett is playing two characters: an archeologist who falls into a coma and a British captain in colonial India. Campbell would play Hartnett’s wife and fellow archeologist in 2015 who gets stuck in a sunken ship while trying to retrieve a ring.
Actress Jessica Chastain (the upcoming films The Tree of Life and The Help) will star and Shia LaBeouf has officially signed onto the Prohibition-era drama The Wettest County, which is an adaptation of the historical crime drama novel by Matt Bondurant. The story is based on the author’s grandfather and two grand-uncles – three infamous brothers who made up a fierce criminal gang at the center of the American South’s moonshine trade. Thomas Hardy and LaBeouf play two of the brothers while Chastain will play Hardy’s love interest, a big city woman now living in a small town who at one time was mixed up with gangsters.
Actor Colin Firth is in talks to star in the remake of the 1966 British caper comedy Gambit, which originally starred Michael Caine and Shirley MacLaine in a story about a cat burglar who tries to rob a billionaire of a priceless statue. He enlists the help of a waitress who is a dead ringer for the victim’s late wife, but the job’s execution is complicated by his relationship with his accomplice.
Country singer-actorTim McGraw (The Blind Side and Country Strong) has landed a role in the thriller Safe House starring Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds. The story follows a young CIA agent (Reynolds) who becomes the house sitter of a governmental safe house when a criminal (Washington) in hiding there must be transported to another location when the house comes under attack. There are no specifics on McGraw’s role, however.
Actress Kelly MacDonald (Boardwalk Empire) will be seen in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II, playing the small, but pivotal, role of The Grey Lady, the daughter of Rowena Ravenclaw and ghost of the Ravenclaw house at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Actor Angus Macfayden (Californication) has joined the Cameron Crowe adaptation of We Bought a Zoo, which is the story of a zookeeper named Benjamin Mee (Matt Damon), a struggling single father who moves his family to an estate that turns out to be a zoo. Scarlett Johansson is also slated to star in the film. No details on the role Macfayden will play yet, though.
Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica) is set to star in the dark indie comedy called Sexy Evil Genius, playing a woman who brings all of her ex-boyfriends together in a downtown Los Angeles bar; where over the course of the night she gets her revenge on some, rekindles romance with others, and solidifies her reputation as a Sexy Evil Genius.
Sarah Jessica Parker has joined while Zac Efron and Halle Berry are in negotiations to star in the holiday romantic-comedy ensemble movie New Year’s Eve that follows several characters as they make their way through the year-end holiday in New York City. Parker will play the mother of Abigail Breslin’s character, who is too clingy with her daughter. Efron is expected to play a bike messenger who tries to keep a promise to Michelle Pfeiffer’s character by scoring tickets to a big party. Berry is in talks to play a caterer who runs into an old lover. Robert De Niro, Ashton Kutcher, Jessica Biel, Hilary Swank, Sofía Vergara and Lea Michele also star.
Tom Cruise is now in talks for a rolein the adaptation of the stage musical Rock of Ages. Rumor also has it that Gwyneth Paltrow has also been offered an unknown role in the musical.
The upcoming box office film Ten Year, which is the story about friends reuniting a decade after their high school graduation will star the talents of Chris Pine (Star Trek), Anna Faris (The House Bunny), Justin Long (Going the Distance), Channing Tatum (G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra), Anthony Mackie (The Hurt Locker), Christ Pratt (Parks & Recreation), Scott Porter (Friday Night Lights), Brian Geraghty (The Hurt Locker), Kate Mara (127 Hours), Jenna Dewan (Step Up) and Oscar Isaac (Body of Lies). Actresses Rosario Dawson (Unstoppable) and Lynn Collins (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) have also added the cast.
Rising, new Australia actress Bella Heathcote has landed the female lead in Twylight Zones, the film David Chase wrote and is directing. She joins John Magaro, Will Brill and Jack Huston in the film that is set in the 1960s and involves three high school friends who form a band inspired by the classic rock influences like the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix. The film follows their rise and the pitfalls of fame.
George Clooney has taken over for Robert Downey Jr. in the film Gravity, which will also star Sandra Bullock, Tom Hanks and newcomer Thomas Horn. Clooney will play the team leader of a space station. He and Bullock’s character are off working on a shuttle and become the sole survivors when the space station is decimated by the debris field from an exploded asteroid. Bullock will carry much of the action adventure, a mother who is hell-bent on returning to her young child back on earth.
Actress Sienna Miller (G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra) and actor Danny Huston (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) will star in Two Jacks, an indie drama based on the story The Two Hussars by Leo Tolstoy. The story follows two different generations of a family starting in 1992, when a legendary filmmaker returns to Hollywood after a lengthy absence to get financing for a new movie. He’s a boozer, a womanizer and wins the money he needs from poker games. Flash forward 20 years later and the filmmaker’s son (played by Jack Huston from Boardwalk Empire) comes to town to make his directorial debut amid curiosity as to whether he’s inherited his father’s gifts.
Actor Dennis Quaid will star in the indie thriller Beneath the Darkness, which is a story following a teen (Tony Oller) who struggles to expose the grim secrets of the house owned by Quaid’s character, a respected local hero. The cast also includes Aimee Teegarden (Friday Night Lights) and Brett Cullen (Lost and The Gates) [among others].
Actress Teri Polo (Meet the Parents) and actor Dermot Mulroney (My Best Friend’s Wedding) have joined the thriller Beyond, that follows a veteran detective and a questionable television psychic who will stop at nothing to find a missing child. Jon Voight also stars.
CASTING SCOOP
Anthony Michael Hall (The Dead Zone) will guest star on a February sweeps episode of No Ordinary Family, crossing paths with Jim Powell (Michael Chiklis), but no specifics on his character were provided.
Actor Quinton Aaron (The Blind Side) will guest star on One Tree Hill in the 14th episode, playing Tommy, a student in Nathan’s (James Lafferty) business class who is singled out by Professor Kellerman (Peter Reigert) for being an athlete. He is slated to appear in just the one episode, which will air sometime during February sweeps.
More casting for True Blood has been announced, including actor Dane DeHaan (In Treatment) as Timbo, a teen resident of Hot Shot and actress Rebecca Wisocky has also been cast as Queen Mab.
Actor Bill Pullman (Independence Day) has signed on to star in the upcoming 4th season of Torchwood as a regular, playing Oswald Jones, a dangerously clever convicted murderer who escapes his lifelong prison sentence on a technicality and quickly becomes a media sensation. Genuinely repentant yet boiling with lust and rage, Oswald gets caught up in a terrifying worldwide crisis. Meanwhile, actor Mekhi Phifer (Lie to Me and ER) has landed a leading role in the series, playing CIA agent Rex Matheson. His character is described as a fast-tracked high-flyer with a lethal sense of humor who starts to feel his mortality when his life is put in danger. Torchwood: The New World will air on Starz in the US and BBC One in the UK in summer 2011.
Actress Virginia Madsen (Scoundrels) will have a recurring role in NBC series The Event, playing Catherine Lewis, the widow of a U.S. senator from Alaska. The series will be back with new episodes starting on February 28.
Actress Leven Rambin (Scoundrels) will play the “spunky and sexy” Molly Sloan in multiple episodes of CSI: Miami. Her character is a trace evidence technician, who will be transferred in from Tampa and will form a close relationship with Ryan Wolfe (Jonathan Togo). CSI: Miami will return to CBS on January 9.
Actress Kaylee Defer (The Mountain and The Ware at Home) is joining the CW series Gossip Girl as a recurring character, which is shrouded in secrecy but will be introduced later this season.
Actress Rita Wilson and actor F. Murray Abraham will guest-star in an episode of The Good Wife inspired by The Social Network. The episode is slated to air in February and will center on a wunderkind who creates a successful website. His story is, naturally, created into a film, which prompts him to sue the studio for defamation. Abraham will play Burl, the head attorney representing the studio while Wilson will play Viola, a bright lawyer and old friend of Diana (Christine Baranski), who she turns to for help with a case.
Actor Danny Strong (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) will guest star on How I Met Your Mother, playing a noogey-loving bully from Marshall’s (Jason Segel) past. The episode will air early next year. Alexis Denisof (Alyson Hannigan’s real-life husband and fellow Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel star) will make a return visit as Robin’s (Cobie Smulders) former co-anchor, Sandy Rivers.
Actor John Corbett has been tapped to appear in a multi-episode arc on the NBC series Parenthood as Lauren Graham’s on-screen ex-husband Seth, a recovering alcoholic-musician. His arrival is slated to coincide with Parenthood’s move to Mondays at 10 pm in early March.
Soap actress Alexa Havins will appear on Grey’s Anatomy as the new wife of Meredith and Lexie Gray’s father, Thatcher.
Latin actor Kuno Becker will have a recurring role on the CBS series The Defenders, starring as a Cuban bad boy named Alex Velasco, who is too smart for his own good. His episodes will start appearing in early 2011.
MUSIC NEWS
Actor/singer Matthew Morrison (Glee) is finishing up his solo album and is preparing for a tour once the series wraps its second season. His album is due in May and then the tour will happen while Glee is on hiatus.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
With the fall season fully upon us, there is a lot of programming for which to keep track. The listbelowcovers most of what you can expect this coming weekend and next week:
Saturday, December 18:
CSI on CBS at 8 PM (reair)
CSI: Miami on CBS at 9 PM (reair)
In Treatment on HBO Signature at 8, 8:30, 9 and 9:30 PM (reairs)
Treme on HBO2 at 8:30 PM (reair)
Big Love on HBO2 at 10 PM (reair)
Marry Me movie on Lifetime at 9 PM (reair)
Red: Werewolf Hunter movie on Syfy at 7 PM (reair)
Battle of the Bulbs movie on Hallmark at 8 and 10 PM (NEW)
Sunday, December 19:
Leverage on TNT at 9 and 10 PM (Finale)
Battle of the Bulbs movie on Hallmark at 8 PM (reair)
Marry Me movie on Lifetime at 7 PM (reair)
NOTE: There are a lot of repeats this coming week so I will only be focusing on the new episodes of the TV dramas and the made-for-TV movies that are either new or reairing.
Monday, December 20:
The Closer on TNT at 8 PM
Men of a Certain Age on TNT at 9 PM
Triassic Attack movie on Syfy at 7 PM
The Special Relationship movie on HBO at 7:30 PM
Temple Grandin movie on HBO at 9 PM
Tuesday, December 21:
Tower Prep on Cartoon Network at 8 and 9 PM
Glory Daze on TBS at 10 PM
Alice mini-series on Syfy at 7 and 9 PM (reair)
Wednesday, December 22:
Human Target on FOX at 8 PM
Undercovers on NBC at 8 PM
Friday Night Lights on DirecTV at 9 PM
Psych on USA Network at 10 PM (Finale)
Gift of the Magi movie on Hallmark at 8 PM (reair)
Thursday, December 23:
Three Wise Woman movie on Hallmark at 8 PM (reair)
The Night Before The Night Before Christmas movie on Hallmark at 10 PM (reair)
Friday, December 24:
Doctor Who marathon on BBC America (check local listings for start time)
Battle of the Bulbs movie on Hallmark at 8 PM (reair)
NOTE: Please check your local listings for the correct air dates and times for all of the above.
Have a great weekend!
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