The Weekly Round-Up for August 24 to 28

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

CONDOLENCES

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the liberal icon who carried on his family name and fight for the poor and working class after his brothers’ assassinations, passed away this week at the age of 77 after battling a brain tumor.  Condolences to his family, friends and supporters.

Dominick Dunne, the novelist and investigative journalist, passed away this week at the age of 83 after battling bladder cancer. Condolences to his family, friends and fans.

FAN GIRLS RULE

If you ever doubted the power of the “fan-girl”, please check out this first part of a series of articles from newsarama.com entitled “FanGirl Invasion”:

http://www.newsarama.com/film/090827-fangirl-invasion-1.html

NEWS

NBC has given a pilot order to legal dramedy Rex Is Not Your Lawyer, about a lawyer with crippling panic attacks who begins coaching clients on how to represent themselves in court. The project is from writer/executive producer Andrew Leeds and David Lampson. Barry Schindle (Law & Order) will serve as showrunner on the project.

MTV is developing a US adaptation of the hit British teen drama Skins.   Co-creator Bryan Elsley will executive produce the new version, which will be shot in Baltimore with unknown actors.  Elsley will write the pilot script for the US version of Skins, which MTV has committed to filming.

FX has ordered a pilot script for sports drama March to Madness, about a corrupt college basketball program that manages to reach the March Madness NCAA basketball tournament through some duplicitous means.  The project is written and executive produced by Joel Silverman, directed by Pete Segal and executive produced by Don Cheadle, Dave Miller, and Michael Ewing.

Do you feel the constant urge to sing the GLEE cast version of “Don’t Stop Believin'”?  Have you rallied your friends to watch GLEE this fall?  Think you’re the biggest GLEEk?  If so, then prove it!  GLEE, the genre-defying new comedy series premiering Wednesday, Sept. 9 at 9 PM on FOX, invites die-hard GLEEks or fans of GLEE to prove their GLEEkiness and vie for the title of “Biggest GLEEk”.   Find out all the details at www.fox.com/gleek.

Laura Linney is coming to series television in a provocative new Showtime ½ hour series about a woman diagnosed with cancer called The C Word (working title).  A pilot has been ordered and will be shot in the fall.  She will not only star but will also be executive producer, delving into the emotional ups and downs of a suburban wife and mother forced to face reality yet also find the light side in a dark situation.

NBC announced they will be pushing the second season premiere of their cop drama Southland to October 23.

Warner Bros Television claims the two-week temporary shutdown of ABC’s much-buzzed about series V was put in place so the writers would have time to beef up future scripts and bring them in line with the quality of the pilot.  How that bodes for the success of the show, well, that’s too soon to say.

TNT has picked up the series Leverage for a 15-episode third season to air next summer.

Janine Turner is not being used as a cast member in the fourth season of Friday Night Lights.  Her character, Katie McCoy, was introduced last season but so far the powers that be behind the show don’t have her in any stories.

Rescue Me’s run on FX will end in 2011, the year that marks the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that inspired the show.  The show’s fifth-season finale airs Tuesday, September 1 at 10 p.m.

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Stephen Moyer (True Blood) and Lily Collins (90210) have joined the cast of the thriller Priest, which also stars Paul Bettany, Cam Gigandet and Maggie Q.

Elizabeth Banks is in final negotiations to star as a would-be conniving murderess on the big screen with Russell Crowe in Paul Haggis‘ upcoming drama, The Next Three Days, based on the 2008 French thriller Pour Elle about a man (Crowe) who sets out on a desperate mission to save his wife (Banks) after she’s arrested and convicted for a murder she claims she didn’t commit.

Susan Sarandon is in negotiations to join the Oliver Stone-directed Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps.  She is expected to play the mother of a young Wall Street trader (Shia LaBeouf) who falls under the seductive influence of Gordon Gekko.

Oscar-winning actress Kate Winslet has signed on to do the English narration on The Sunshine Boy, a documentary exploring autism by famed Icelandic director Fridrik Thor Fridriksson.  The film will have its international premiere in the Reel to Reel sidebar of the Toronto International Film Festival in September.

If you are a fan of the Volturi from Twilight: New Moon, you can check out pictures of them at: http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b141626_first_look_volturi_vamp_it_up_in_new.html

Maggie Grace (TV’s Lost, movie Taken) is in negotiations to join Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz in a spy thriller to be directed by James Mangold. The project centers on a lonely woman (Diaz) whose seemingly harmless blind date suddenly turns her life upside-down when a super spy (Cruise) takes her on a violent worldwide journey to protect a powerful battery that holds the key to an infinite power source.  Grace is playing Diaz’s sister, who is getting married, excited that Diaz will take the place of their late father and walk her down the aisle.

Dreamworks has acquired the film rights to the action-adventure novel Pirate Latitudes, which Michael Crichton wrote just before his death in November.  Steven Spielberg will produce the film and possibly direct.

CASTING SCOOP

Newcomer Amalia Zinser has been cast as Ivy, a surfer chick on 90210.

Jayma Mays (Glee, Ugly Betty) will be appearing in one episode of Heroes this fall, reprising her role of Charlie, Hiro’s ill-fated love interest.

Keith Carradine (Dexter) will guest star in two episodes of Dollhouse, where he will play Matthew Harding, a powerful businessman.

Lennie James (Jericho) has snagged one of this fall’s most sought-after roles: Tim Roth’s Lie to Me nemesis, Ray Marsh.  The character, who will be introduced in this season’s fifth episode, is described as a charming Brit who ran scams with Lightman way back when and who is now on the FBI and Scotland Yard watch lists.  Ray once took the fall for Lightman and spent time in prison as a result.  Now, after a 20-year estrangement, Ray is back to collect what he believes he is owed.

Melissa McCarthy (Gilmore Girls) is joining the cast of the ABC series Hank, starring alongside Kelsey Grammer.  She will appear on a recurring basis.

A new character for the final season of Lost has just been announced, described as the following.  Paul: An overworked, harried male age 30-60 who finds himself in a highly adrenalized situation that forces him to remain calm and tests his ability to keep his wits about him — a test he fails miserably.

Beau Bridges will guest-star in one episode of the TNT cop drama The Closer this December.  Bridges will play George Andrews, a former partner of Provenza (G.W. Bailey).  Andrews returns to help close a case that has been turned over on appeal.

Ed Quinn (Eureka, True Blood) will appear on the CW’s new series The Beautiful Life, playing Elle Macpherson‘s character’s husband.

Summer Glau is officially joining Dollhouse for a multi-episode arc that will have her playing a character named Bennett who shares a past with Echo (Eliza Dushku).  Alexis Denisof (Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, Angel) will also be making a guest appearance.  In addition, recurring actors Amy Acker and Miracle Laurie will reprise their respective roles in multiple-episode story arcs as well.

Rumer Willis is guesting on an episode of 90210 this fall, playing a punky, cute lesbian named Gia who works on The Blaze Newscast with Adrianna, Navid and Silver.

Brandon Routh (Superman Returns) is joining Chuck for a multi-episode arc, playing a mysterious new spy who takes control as the new leader of Operation Bartwoski, becoming a mentor to Chuck and a rival in his affections for Sarah.

Garret Dillahunt (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) will be seen in an episode of Burn Notice when the show returns this winter.  He will play Simon, a scary-smart new client of Michael’s (Jeffrey Donovan) — and perhaps the first person to outsmart him.

Campbell Scott (most recently seen in Royal Pains) will be joining Damages in its third season, which is slated to debut in January.   No details are available yet on the part he will be portraying.

Christian Clemenson (Boston Legal) has been cast in at least two episodes of CSI: Miami next season, where he will recur as a medical examiner on the long-running procedural crime drama.

RUMOR PATROL

Mad Men’s very pregnant Betty Draper seems about to burst any day now.  In recent episodes, Betty’s been calling the baby in her belly a “she,” but the AMC show put out a casting call for twin boys to play the part of the newest Draper tot.

Talk is underway to get Zooey Deschanel (500 Days of Summer) to guest star with her older sister Emily in Bones this December. No other details are available at this time.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

Being Human’s first season finale will air on BBC America on Saturday, August 29 at 9 p.m. and will run for one hour and 15 minutes.  Please tune in for what will assuredly be an intense finale.

The Disney movie Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie will air on Saturday, August 29 at 8 p.m. and will follow the family from Waverly Place on a Caribbean family vacation, which turns into a disaster after a frustrated Alex (Selena Gomez) wishes her parents had never met and her wish is granted.

The Syfy movie Mega Shark Versus Giant Octopus (I do not make up these titles) will air on Saturday, August 29 at 9 p.m.  This movie stars Lorenzo Lamas and 80’s teen pop queen Deborah Gibson about two colossal monsters fighting each other for supremacy of the sea.

The Daytime Emmy Awards will air on Sunday, August 30 on the CW at 8 p.m.

Masterpiece Mystery brings Inspector Lewis and the Moonbeams Kiss the Sea about two murders to PBS on Sunday, August 30 at 9 p.m.

The movie High Plains Invaders about aliens who invade the Old West, forcing a train robber to fight back with a ragtag group of survivors will air on Syfy on Sunday, August 30 at 9 p.m. This movie stars Buffy alum James Marsters.

ABC will air the CMA Music Festival at 8 p.m. on Monday, August 31. Performers include Trace Adkins, Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley, Brooks & Dunn, Kenny Chesney, Julianne Hough, Jamey Johnson, the Judds, Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert, Martina McBride, Reba McEntire, Jake Owen, Brad Paisley, Kellie Pickler, John Rich, Darius Rucker, Sugarland, Taylor Swift and Zac Brown Band.

The pilot episode of Glee will be reaired on FOX on both Wednesday, September 2 and Friday, September 4 at 8:58 p.m. and running until 10 p.m.

Here is a list of new episodes for the summer series that are finishing up their summer runs:

Sunday, August 30:

Mad Men on AMC at 10 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 31:

The Secret Life of An American Teenager on ABC Family at 8 p.m.
Greek on ABC Family at 9 p.m.
Weeds on Showtime at 10 p.m.
Nurse Jackie on Showtime at 10:30 p.m.

Tuesday, September 1:

10 Things I Hate About You on ABC Family at 8 p.m.
Ruby & the Rockits on ABC Family at 8:30 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, September 2:

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