The Weekly Round-Up (June 22 to 26)

The following are entertainment highlights for this past week (June 22 through 26):

NEWS

Rest In Peace: Legendary Tonight Show sidekick Ed McMahon passed away on June 23 at the age of 86.

Rest in Peace: Farrah Fawcett who passed away after her long battle with cancer on June 24. She was 62.

Rest in Peace: Michael Jackson who passed away unexpectedly on June 24 at the age of 50.

The comedy Scrubs will be set in a medical school when it returns for its 9th season with Donald Faison and John C. McGinley leading the way. Occasional visits to Sacred Heart Hospital and Zach Braff, Sarah Chalke, Judy Reyes and Ken Jenkins will return as guests throughout the season

Burn Notice will hold a panel at the San Diego Comic Con next month and co-star Bruce Campbell is expected to be part of the panel.

Nip/Tuck will air its final and 100th episode in 2011 after 6 years of “slicing and dicing”.

AMC has ordered 12 episodes of the new series Rubicon, James Badge Dale (24), Miranda Richardson (Phantom of the Opera), Lili Taylor (Side Order of Life), Dallas Roberts (The L Word), and Peter Gerety (The Wire). The series revolves around an analyst (Dale) of a top-secret government think tank whose work leads him to uncover a clue that points him toward an unfolding global conspiracy.

G4 – the network that delivers all of the latest and greatest news on comic books, games, technology and pop culture – and Lucasfilm will present the first ever television panel at the San Diego Comic Con, which means you don’t have to be in the 6,500 seat hall where it is held to be in on the action.   Check the G4 network for more details.

There will be now be 10 best picture nominees starting with the 82nd Oscar ceremony, which is scheduled for March 7, at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood.

Full time returnees on Friday Night Lights include: Kyle Chandler, Connie Britton, Jesse Plemons, Taylor Kitsch, Aimee Teegarden, and Jeremy Sumpter.  Adrianne Palicki, Minka Kelly, and Zach Gilford will likely be back for short-term farewell arcs.

TV MOVIES

Eddie Cibrian (Third Watch) and Lisa Sheridan (Invasion) will appear in the Hallmark Channel movie Healing Hands in November.

James Van Der Beek (Dawson’s Creek) and Doris Roberts (Everybody Loves Raymond) will appear in Debbie Macomber’s Mrs. Miracle in December.

BBC Worldwide and WGBH will co-produce a new Emma mini-series starring Romola Garai (Atonement), Michael Gambon (Harry Potter movies), and Jonny Lee Miller (Eli Stone) and a sequel to Cranford that will star Judi Dench, Imelda Staunton, and Tim Curry (among others), both of which will air stateside on Masterpiece Classic next year.

WGBH has also partnerned with BBC on Framed, an adaptation of Frank Cottrell Boyce’s children’s book, and two-parter Small Island, based on Andrea Levy’s novel about an ambitious Jamaican woman (Naomi Harris) in London after WWII.

CASTING SCOOP

Bobby Cannavale (Cupid) will reprise his role of Det. Eddie Saccardo for at least three episodes on Cold Case, starting with the third episode of the upcoming Season 7.

Recording artist/actress Eve will appear in two episodes of FOX’s Glee, starring as a no-nonsense girls’ choir director from a rival school.

Adrianne Palicki (Friday Night Lights) has signed on to reprise her role as Sam’s ill-fated ex, Jessica, on Supernatural. Details are being kept under lock and key as to particulars.

Kathleen Turner joins Californication on September 27 as an agent who wants David Duchovny’s Hank to turn tricks.

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Mr. Eko on Lost) has roles in the big-screen G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and the USA Network’s Monk, both bowing August 7.  He’ll prove to be the catalyst to Monk unlocking his wife’s murder.

Callum Blue (Dead Like Me, Related and Secret Diary of a Call Girl) has been cast as Phantom Zone baddie Zod for season nine of Smallville.  Blue will be a series regular next year.

Swimsuit supermodel Brooklyn Decker and House star Peter Jacobson play mismatched newlyweds on the July 30 episode of USA Networks’ Royal Pains.  Former Oz alum, Lee Tergesen, will appear in this episode as well

Actress and former Deal or No Deal model Meghan Markle is joining the cast of Fringe next season as another FBI agent.

Kate del Castillo (PBS’s American Family) is joining the cast of Showtime’s Weeds on July 13, playing Pilar Guzman, who drives a wedge between Nancy (Mary Louise Parker) and her unborn baby’s father, Esteban (Demian Bichir).

A&E’s The Cleaner will feature the following guest stars this season: Whoopi Goldberg, Mia Kirschner, Gary Cole, and Joe Don Baker.

Eddie Cibrian (Third Watch) is joining the cast of CSI: Miami as a series regular this fall, playing an officer from the Hollywood division who joins Horatio’s team in Miami.

Melinda Clarke (The O.C.) is starring in a new TV series as a housewife by day and a spy by night. But, the show isn’t real. It’s actually a story arch in an upcoming episode of Entourage.

Daniel Eric Gold is being bumped up to a series regular for next season’s Ugly Betty.

British network ITV has commissioned 26 episodes of season two of Law & Order: UK.  Series stars are Bradley Walsh, Jamie Bamber (Battlestar Galactica) and Freema Agyeman (Doctor Who).

Jeri Ryan (Star Trek: Voyager) has joined the TNT series Leverage as a recurring character.

Noah Wyle (ER) has indeed signed on to the as-yet-to-be titled TNT alien-invasion pilot by Steven Spielberg, playing the leader of a ragtag group of soldiers and civilians who struggle against the occupying alien force.

Joanna Garcia (Privileged) will be seen as a love interest for Nate Archibald (Chace Crawford) in Gossip Girl, starting with the season opener on September 14.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

Another two hours of Merlin will air on NBC from 8 to 10 p.m. (7 to 9/CT).

Have a wonderful (hopefully extended) Fourth of July weekend!

RUMOR PATROL

Actress Kathryn Hahn (Crossing Jordan) is said to be developing a pilot script at Sony Pictures Television with her husband, writer Ethan Sandler, which will be a potential starring vehicle for her. Details about the script’s plot are being kept firmly under wraps.

A CW ‘mole’ tells TVGuide.com that the drama Body Politic, starring Minka Kelly (Friday Night Lights) and Jason Dohring (Veronica Mars and Moonlight) is still in the running for a midseason slot, but that it’s up against the Gossip Girl spin-off, which has a few high-ranking fans in the building.

Have a great weekend!