Extended Weekly Round-Up for July 22 to 31

By Rueben | July 31, 2009

CONDOLENCES

Rest in Peace: Harvey Frand (Battlestar Galactica). His name may not be well-known, but his 5-year run as a Line Producer on the acclaimed Sci-Fi Channel series (and his 2008 Emmy) held him in high esteem with fans and industry folk alike. He was much beloved by the cast and crew on the series. Mr. Frand was 68.

NEWS

Burn Notice and Royal Pains were each renewed by the USA Network for an additional season.  Burn Notice will have additional episodes running this winter and both shows will return with new episodes in the summer of 2010.

SyFy has renewed Eureka for a fourth season.

The ABC Family Channel has picked up Make It or Break It for 10 more episodes.

Attention Warehouse 13 fans: Leena (played by Genelle Williams) will be featured in at least four more episodes of the new series, including the season finale.

Greek will return to the ABC Family Channel on Monday, August 31 at 9 p.m. for 10 episodes. Guest stars will include Kadeem Hardison, Thomas Calabro, and Tom Amandes.

After only one year on the team, Lauren Lee Smith will be leaving CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

New series on tap for Starz include:

• Waterloo, a one-hour coming-of-age drama from writer/executive producer Rob Thomas (Veronica Mars) about a rock band

• Jonah and the Whale, from executive producers Matthew McConaughey, Mark Gustawes, and Chad Mountain, about a man’s efforts to find his own life outside the shadow of his famous and disapproving father

• An untitled interracial romance from executive producer Martin Lawrence and writer Michael Scoccio.

• An untitled drama about a female fashion photographer from executive producers Chris Albrect and Rob Lee.

HBO has renewed True Blood and Entourage for an additional season; Hung got an early pick-up order despite low ratings and less-than-stellar buzz.  The fates of In Treatment and The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency are still in question, but discussions on their return are being held.  Big Love will return in January.

NBC has turned to House creator David Shore to develop a remake of the 1970s drama The Rockford Files, which starred James Garner (The Notebook) as Jim Rockford, an ex-convict private eye who worked cases out of his trailer in Malibu.

BBC America has reportedly picked up Torchwood for a fourth season, but no word has been released on when it will air or the number of episodes.

FOX is toying with the idea of staging a crossover between Bones and Lie to Me.   This idea is in the VERY early stages and “may not even happen” per a network insider.

Meg Ryan and Christian Slater will be among the A-list guest stars on HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm when it returns for a seventh season on Sunday, September 20 at 9 p.m. Other guest stars will include: the cast of Seinfield, Ted Danson, Bob Einstein, Vivica A. Fox, Richard Lewis, Rosie O’Donnell, J.B. Smoove, Mary Steenburgen, Sharon Lawrence, Catherine O’Hara, Elisabeth Shue and Sherry Stringfield.

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Twilight fans are all in a tizzy over the sudden departure of Rachelle Lefevre from the 3rd movie (Eclipse) in the ‘epic’ series. Her role as Victoria will now be portrayed by Bryce Dallas Howard (Terminator: Salvation).   The casting change is being cited as scheduling difficulties. To hopefully help lessen the ‘pain’, you can see the first glimpse of the Volturi (who will be featured in the New Moon movie this November) via the following link:

http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2009/07/twilight-new-moon-volturi-picture-leaks-online.html

Charlize Theron has signed on to play Florence of Arabia based on the 2005 novel by Christopher Buckley.  The story follows Florence, a U.S. State Department employee who tries to spur women’s rights in the Middle East after her friend there is executed. Despite the grim setup, the novel is a satire.

Amanda Crew (The Haunting in Connecticut) will play a mysterious woman opposite Zac Efron (High School Musical) in Charlie St. Cloud.  Efron will play a cemetery worker haunted since accidentally killing his brother in a car crash 15 years earlier. Charlie can see dead people…so his brother keeps him company. Crew’s love interest may just be a ghost as well.

Sam Worthington (Terminator: Salvation) is attached to star in a remake of the 2008 Danish thriller The Candidate, about a defense attorney who goes on the hunt for a group of blackmailers when he is suddenly accused of murder.

Billy Crudup (Watchmen) will join Julia Roberts, Richard Jenkins and Javier Bardem in the box-office movie Eat, Pray, Love based on the Elizabeth Gilbert best-selling memoir.

Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker and The Unusuals) is expected to join Ben Affleck‘s romantic crime thriller The Town, which follows a bank manager (Rebecca Hall from Vicky Cristina Barcelona), the career criminal (Affleck) who stole more than her heart and the dedicated FBI agent (Jon Hamm from Mad Men) trying to bust the crook and his gang.

MADE FOR TV MOVIE NEWS

Bruce Greenwood (Star Trek), Noel Fisher (The Riches) and Linda Emond (Gossip Girl) will be seen in the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie A Dog Named Christmas, which just started production in Canada.

CASTING SCOOP

Dominic Monaghan will be seen in three episodes of the final season of Lost, which returns to ABC in January.

Franka Potente (Run, Lola, Run andThe Bourne Identity) is set to guest star in the two-hour season premiere of House on September 21.

Supermodel Elle Macpherson and Corbin Bleu (High School Musical) have joined the cast of the CW’s The Beautiful Life as regulars.

Alfre Woodard (Miss Ever’s Boys) has joined the cast of Three Rivers, playing Dr. Sophia Jordan, a brilliant surgeon at the top of her field and head of surgery for the hospital.

Timothy Olyphant (Deadwood and Damages) will star in the 13-episode FX drama Lawman, based on Elmore Leonard’s character U. S. Marshall Raylan Givens, a 19th century-style lawman who enforces his own brand of justice. The series will premiere in the spring of 2010.

Gabrielle Union (Life and Ugly Betty) has joined the cast of FlashForward, the new ABC series to premiere on September 24 at 8 p.m.

Joely Richardson (Nip/Tuck) will appear in the final season of Showtime’s The Tudors, portraying Catherine Parr, King Henry’s fourth and final wife. She will appear in five episodes in 2010.

Michael Nouri (Flashdance and NCIS) will appear in the final two episodes of Army Wives on Lifetime, playing General Walter Ludwig.

Jamie Bamber (Battlestar Galactica) will guest star in the season premiere of Dollhouse this fall. Also expected to make appearances in Dollhouse this fall include Summer Glau (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Firefly), Alexis Denisof (Buffy and Angel) and Felicia Day (Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along-Blog).

A new cast member, Tabrett Bethell, will be added to the second season of Legend of the Seeker when it returns on November 7. Charisma Carpenter (Buffy and Angel) will be featured in the season premiere as well.

Legendary actress Shirley Jones will join her real-life stepson and son (David and Patrick Cassidy) in Ruby & the Rockits, playing – what else, their mother. Ms. Jones’ other son, Shaun Cassidy, is Executive Producer of this series from the ABC Family Channel.

Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson will return to the ABC Family Channel series The Secret Life of the American Teenager, playing a student at Ulysses S. Grant High School who interacts with Jack (Greg Finley) and Grace (Megan Park). This episode is to air in early 2010.

Gilles Marini (Dancing with the Stars) and Marion Ross will both guest star on Brothers & Sisters this fall.

Moon Bloodgood (Terminator Salvation), Jessy Schram (Life), 10-year-old Maxim Knight and Seychelle Gabriel (Weeds) will join Noah Wyle (ER) in the Steven Spielberg alien-invasion pilot for TNT.

Scrubs has officially started casting the three new med students and they are described as:

• Lucy: A 22-year-old, all-American girl from a working class family.  Her entire family has sacrificed all their hopes and dreams on her success.  She has a nervous habit of lying about mundane things in an effort to connect with people.  Series regular.

• Drew – A 30-year-old scruffy yet attractive student.  Think a younger Bill Murray. This is his last shot of making a go of this med school thing – and he knows it. On the surface he’s cool and a bit of a wise-ass. Deep down, he’s neurotic and terrified of failing again.  Series regular.

• Cole: A 22-year-old charming, conservative, insanely entitled med student.  Seems like a sweetheart at first but he’s really an ass.  His wealthy family donated a wing to the med school and he has a residency slot waiting for him at Sacred Heart when he graduates.  Competitive, manipulative, reckless and an enormous irritant to Dr. Cox.  Series regular.

Gregg Henry (Gilmore Girls) will appear as Quinn’s dad in the FOX series Glee this fall.

Jamie-Lynn Sigler (The Sopranos) has joined the cast of ABC’s Ugly Betty, where she will recur as Natalie, Daniel Meade’s new assistant. Her first appearance is set for the second episode of the new season.

Garret Dillahunt (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) will guest star on FOX’s Lie to Me in the 2nd season’s second episode.

Joey Lauren Adams (Chasing Amy) will join the Showtime comedy United States of Tara for its 2nd season, appearing in at least three episodes.

Christopher Gorham (Harper’s Island and Ugly Betty) will star opposite Piper Perabo in the USA Network spy thriller pilot Covert Affairs.

Donal Logue (Life) has been cast as the lead in FX’s gumshoe drama pilot Terriers.

Smith Cho (Knight Rider) will appear in the two-hour season premiere of Ugly Betty as Betty’s quirky new officemate, Megan.

Tessa Thompson (Veronica Mars) will join Heroes this fall as upperclassman Becky, who will be Claire’s (Hayden Panettiere) new sorority pledge master.

India de Beaufort (Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire) will join One Tree Hill as Miranda Stone, a smart, successful record executive who has been sent to oversee the day-to-day operations of boutique label Red Bedroom Records.

Veteran actor Martin Mull has been added as a recurring character to the new ABC drama Eastwick where he will appear as Milton, a retired reporter who may have some serious dirt on the devilish Daryl Van Horne.

Cybill Shepherd (Moonlighting) has also been cast in ABC’s Eastwick, starring as backwoods witch Eleanor Rougemont, one of the three original witches that the devilish Daryll Van Horne seduced back in the 1980’s.

Nestor Carbonell will finally be a series regular next season on Lost.

Brothers & Sisters will add a medical-school study partner for Justin (Dave Annable)—a 16-year-old straight-A student whiz kid this fall. The as-yet-uncast character, potentially of East Indian decent, will challenge Justin’s confidence and cause him to question his priorities.

Veteran actor Orson Bean (Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman) will appear on Desperate Housewives this fall as Karen McCluskey’s (Kathryn Joosten) new (and equally curmudgeonly) boyfriend.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

The Hallmark Channel two-hour movie Mrs. Washington Goes to Smith will air at 9 p.m. on Saturday, August 1, starring Cybill Shepherd (Moonlighting) and Jeffrey Nordling (24).

SyFy will air a two-hour movie called Dragonquest, starring Marc Singer (Beastmater) and Brian Thompson (The X-Files) on Saturday, August 1 at 9 p.m. The movie is about a young hero who seeks out a dragon to defend a beast summoned by a warlord.

The new ABC Family Channel two-hour movie Legally Blondes will air at 8 p.m. on Sunday, August 2. This sequel (of sorts) follows the lives of Elle Wood’s British twin cousins, who come to America to attend a prestigious prep school

The two-hour debut of Defying Gravity will air on ABC on Sunday, August 2. This 13-episode summer series is about a six-year journey in space for eight astronauts.  Stars include Christina Cox (Blood Ties), Laura Harris (24) and Ron Livingston (Standoff).

NOTE:  Please do not confuse this series with the two-hour “movie” Virtuality that recently aired on FOX.

Lesley Ann Warren (In Plain Sight) stars in the Hallmark Channel two-hour movie Bound by a Secret on Monday, August 3 at 9 p.m. The movie is about a dying actress who reveals a long-held secret to a friend.

Monk returns for its final season and Psych is back with more hilarity on the USA Network on Friday, August 7 at 8 and 9 p.m. respectively.

Here is a list of new episodes from this summer’s slew of shows that will air next week:

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

Sunday, August 2:
Merlin on NBC at 8 p.m.
True Blood on HBO at 9 p.m.
Law & Order: Criminal Intent on USA at 9 p.m.
In Plain Sight on USA at 10 p.m.
Drop Dead Diva on Lifetime at 9 p.m.
Army Wives on Lifetime at 10 p.m.

Monday, August 3:
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.
Entourage on HBO at 9 p.m.
Hung on HBO at 9:30 p.m.
Weeds on Showtime at 10 p.m.
Nurse Jackie on Showtime at 10:30 p.m.

Tuesday, August 4:
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 5:
Leverage on TNT at 9 p.m.
Dark Blue on TNT at 10 p.m.
The Philanthropist on NBC at 9 p.m.

Thursday, August 6:
Burn Notice on USA at 9 p.m.
Royal Pains on USA at 10 p.m.

Friday, August 7:
Mental on FOX at 9 p.m.
Eureka on SyFy at 9 p.m.

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

Have a great weekend!!