The Weekly Round-Up for Sept. 28 to Oct. 2

By Rueben | October 2, 2009

Here are the entertainment news items for this week (Sept. 28 to Oct. 2):

NEW SEASON TALLY

What three returning shows have built on their ratings from last season? NCIS is number 1, followed by House and rounded out by The Big Bang Theory at number 3. What three returning series that were big in the ratings previously, but are now struggling a bit this time around? The Mentalist, CSI: Miami and Desperate Housewives.

What are the top 10 new shows for the first week of the 2009-2010 season? Here is the list in order: NCIS: Los Angeles, The Good Wife, Modern Family, FlashForward, Cougar Town, The Forgotten, The Cleveland Show, Accidentally on Purpose, Eastwick and Mercy. Please keep in mind this is just in terms of ratings for their premiere week. This list will change significantly from here on out, though.

How are the networks fairing after the first week of the new season? As mentioned earlier, NCIS and its sequel as well as The Good Wife and The Big Bang Theory are all performing very well. CBS has seen a slight decrease in viewers for CSI and Cold Case, but not significant enough for the network to worry. As stated above, Cougar Town, Modern Family and FlashForward performed very well on ABC and Grey’s Anatomy is holding its own too. Desperate Housewives took a big hit in viewership and while returning Castle and newcomers The Forgotten and Eastwick are holding their own, the ratings are hovering well below 10 million despite less drama competition in those timeslots.

Surprisingly, the new NBC drama Mercy performed well in its two weeks and The Office had a solid performance. Unfortunately, once stellar series Heroes has failed to grow more viewers and Law & Order: SVU was down significantly. House packed in viewers for FOX during its two-hour opener and Bones held steady with the comedies Family Guy and The Cleveland Show ranking very well among adults. Regrettably, Fringe got hammered in its new timeslot and Dollhouse faired even worse. The hit of premiere week for the CW was The Vampire Diaries and while Smallville had a small ratings share it did well enough to make the suits at the network happy for now. The same cannot be said for new series The Beautiful Life, which after only two episodes was pulled for good.

GENERAL NEWS

The new ABC series V (the remake of the 80’s mini-series) is already hitting roadblocks BEFORE it even airs. After production of the series was put on hiatus for “two weeks” to prepare more scripts, which actually lasted six weeks, the network is now only going to air the first four episodes, starting on November 3. The show will then return after the Olympics have completed in March. This does not bode well for the success of a show that was being hailed as one of the best for the network not that long ago. Shame on you, ABC!

A&E has canceled The Cleaner, the rehab drama starring Benjamin Bratt. The show’s second — and now final — season concluded earlier this month.

AMC announced its six-hour limited series event The Prisoner, starring Jim Caviezel and Ian McKellan, will launch on Sunday, November 15 at 8 PM, airing in three two-hour installments over three consecutive nights, with subsequent installments airing on Monday, November 16 and Tuesday, November 17.

Primeval has been recommissioned for two series under a new co-production deal between ITV and UKTV. ITV1 will premiere series four in early 2011, while Watch will have the first run of series five later that year. ITV1 will then broadcast series five. Stars Andrew Lee Potts, Hannah Spearitt, Ben Miller and Jason Flemyng will all return for the new batch of episodes. The announcement comes three months after ITV axed the series.

NBC is cutting its order on midseason sci-fi thriller Day One, opting to air the show as a four-hour event movie instead. The show will still air after the Winter Olympics but will no longer run as a 13-episode series, as originally planned. This is mostly likely a cost-cutting measure by the network. However, they could still turn the show into a series next season should the mini-series version perform well. Day One stars Adam Campbell, Catherine Dent, Julie Gonzalo, David Lyons, Derek Mio, Carly Pope, Thekla Reuten and Addison Timlin.

SHOWS IN DEVELOPMENT

Barry Sonnenfeld (Pushing Daisies) is attached to executive produce and direct an untitled multi-camera ABC comedy about an overworked mother who finds a special suit that grants her super powers.

Stephen King has signed a deal to adapt his 2005 novella The Colorado Kid into a one-hour drama series entitled Haven, which will revolve around a small town in Maine where cursed folk live normal lives in exile.

CBS has given a script commitment to an untitled project from executive producers Craig Wright (Dirty Sexy Money), Mark Burnett and Roma Downey. The project follows a lawyer who gets a second chance at life by the ghost of his ex-wife after a near-fatal accident.

Diane Ruggiero (Veronica Mars) will write the pilot script for an untitled FOX supernatural dramedy in the style of Shaun of the Dead, about a group of dysfunctional siblings who are forced to live together in the family’s haunted house after their father dies.

Craig Zadan and Neil Meron (Drop Dead Diva) have received script commitments for two projects. The first is for FOX and is to be a legal drama entitled Laney Sparrow. The second is for NBC and is to be a dramedy called Inside Mary Baxter, which is set in a women’s prison.

Showtime and BBC Two have joined together to co-produce the new comedy series Episodes, set to star Matt LeBlanc (Friends). This series received a six-episode commitment and revolves around a British couple whose smash-hit British show is adapted into a “dumbed-down” US sitcom starring Matt LeBlanc (who will play himself). The project is slated to air next year on Showtime.

CBS is prepping a Criminal Minds spinoff for next season. It will be created by Minds executive producers Ed Bernero and Chris Mundy. Mundy will write the script for the spinoff, which will appear as an episode of Minds in the spring. Details are still sparse, but the new show is expected to feature a new team of FBI agents, not existing characters.

J.J. Abrams (creator of Felicity and Alias) is returning to the spy business with a new potential series project with writer/executive producer Josh Reims (Felicity and Dirty Sexy Money) and executive producer Bryan Burk (Lost). The untitled project follows a husband and wife who work as spies.

FX has given series orders to dramas Lights Out and Terriers, ordering thirteen episodes of each series. Terriers stars Donal Logue as a former cop who launches an unlicensed private eye firm with his best friend (Michael Raymond-James). It is set to debut in Summer 2010. Lights Out stars Holt McCalleny as a former boxing champ who tries to support his wife and children. It will launch in late 2010.

USA has given a cast-contingent pilot order to legal drama Facing Kate about a divorced lawyer in San Francisco who leaves her job as an attorney to become a mediator.

ABC Family has given pilot orders to two comedies. The first, an untitled multi-camera comedy starring Melissa Joan Hart and Joey Lawrence, will see the duo play a political dynasty wild child-turned-politician who takes in her teenage niece and pre-adolescent nephew when her sister goes to prison and her brother-in-law flees. She turns for help to Jack (Lawrence), who, desperate for a job, moves in and becomes the family’s “many”. The second is an untitled single-camera comedy from writer/executive producer Michael Jacobs about a father who gets laid off from his architecture firm and who begins to mentor his underdog middle daughter, while his veterinarian wife shares a closer bond with their Type A older daughter.

FOX and 20th Century Fox Television have extended options on the cast of single-camera comedy pilot The Station, which will remain in contention for a series order while producers tweak the pilot. Series, from executive producer Ben Stiller, follows a group of CIA operatives, including Justin Bartha, John Goodman and Whitney Cummings, working in Central America on a mission to install a new dictator.

Elsewhere, CBS and ABC Studios have again extended the options on the cast of drama pilot House Rules, including Zoe McLellan, Eion Bailey, Kristin Bauer, Tawny Cypress, Anna Chlumsky and Denzel Whitaker.

HBO has come on board to co-produce Chris Lilley‘s newest series, Angry Boys, an exploration of what it is like to be a man in the 21st century. As in Lilley’s other series Summer Heights High and We Can Be Heroes, he will portray multiple roles as well as write the scripts for the twelve episode mockumentary-based comedy series. Production on the series begins later this month in Australia.

Showtime is developing single-camera comedy pilot Mouthpiece, from writer/executive producer Carol Liefer (Seinfeld). The project would star Marlee Matlin and Mario Cantone and is set at a high-powered law firm.

Elsewhere, Carol Liefer has set up You and Me and He, a multi-camera comedy project at CBS about a recently divorced woman who enters a same-sex relationship only to discover that she is pregnant with her ex-husband’s child.

NBC has given a script order to drama Midnighters, based on Alloy Entertainment‘s novel series about a group of people, each born at midnight, who have the ability to access the 25th hour of the day in order to fight crime.

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Charlie Cox (Stardust), Donald Sutherland (Dirty Sexy Money), and Gillian Anderson (The X-Files) have been cast opposite William Hurt and Ethan Hawke in the big-budget Moby Dick movie. Cox will play Ishmael; Sutherland will play Father Mapple; Anderson will play Elizabeth, the wife of Captain Ahab (Hurt).

Olivia Wilde (House) has joined the cast of Paul Haggis‘ thriller The Next Three Days. The movie stars Russell Crowe and Elizabeth Banks in a story that revolves around a woman imprisoned for a murder she claims she didn’t commit and her husband who tries to vindicate her. Wilde will play a young mother who befriends the husband.

James Purefoy, Mark Strong and Thomas Haden Church have joined the cast of John Carter of Mars, which is an adaptation of the Edgar Rice Burroughs book series, centering on a Civil War veteran (Taylor Kitsch) who finds himself mysteriously transported to Mars, where he becomes embroiled with the planet’s warring people. Church plays Tal Hajus, an ambitious and vicious Thark warrior who is biding his time to be a ruler. Purefoy plays Kantos Kan, the captain of the Xavarian, the kingdom of Helium’s grand warship. Strong is Matai Shang, the ruler of the Thems with godlike status. Lynn Collins, Willem Dafoe, Samantha Morton, Dominic West and Polly Walker also star. Andrew Stanton helms the film, which is scheduled for release Summer 2012.

Jamie Foxx has joined the cast of the ensemble comedy Due Date. Robert Downey Jr. plays an expectant father who finds himself on a road trip with a mismatched partner (Zach Galifianakis from The Hangover and Tru Calling), as he races to get there before his wife (Michelle Monaghan) gives birth to his first child. Foxx will play Downey’s longtime pal, who once dated his wife and secretly keeps in touch with her.

Josh Brolin has replaced Sean Penn in the movie Cartel, playing a man on a mission to protect his son after his wife is brutally murdered in the gritty world of Mexican drug cartels. Shooting kicks off in January in Mexico City. Brian Grazer is producing this movie.

Daniel Dae Kim (Lost) and Michael Kelly (Generation Kill) have joined Matt Damon, Emily Blunt and John Slattery (Mad Men) in the upcoming movie The Adjustment Bureau, which will begin filming this fall.

MADE FOR TV MOVIE NEWS

Annie Potts (Designing Women), well-known soap actress Kim Zimmer, Drew Seeley (Another Cinderella Story) will star in the Hallmark Channel movie Freshman Father, which is about a Harvard student who finds himself in a shotgun wedding and must juggle school and parenthood.

Summer Glau (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles), Chris Carmack (The O.C.) and Zoe McLellan (Dirty Sexy Money) will co-star in the Lifetime Movie Network movie Deadly Honeymoon inspired by the real-life mysterious disappearance of groom George Allen Smith. The movie follows two young newlyweds, Lindsey (Glau) and Trevor Forrest (Carmack), as they embark on their 10-day honeymoon cruise. But the dream vacation devolves into a night of wild partying, infidelity and strange encounters with a group of Eastern European passengers, and the next morning, Trevor is missing, presumed to have fallen overboard to his death. However, one investigator (McLellan) begins to question if his death really was an accident. Filming is slated to begin in October for a 2010 premiere.

Camryn Manheim (Ghost Whisperer) has been cast in the Lifetime movie Pregnancy Pact, starring opposite Thora Birch and Nancy Travis. She’ll play a local nurse who alerts the school to the rising rate of teen pregnancies. The movie is slated to air in early 2010.

ABC Family Channel will air the sequel movie The Prince & Me: Holiday Honeymoon on Sunday, November 8 at 8 PM. The movie follows newlyweds Queen Paige (Kam Heskin) and King Edvard (Chris Geere) as they try to escape the spotlight by honeymooning in Belavia amidst ancient castles and glittering snowcapped mountains but instead end up uncovering a plot against the Danish monarchy.

AS HEARD ON

The songs featured on last weekend’s Drop Dead Diva episode included “Love Is a Battlefield” by Pat Benatar (as performed by lead Brooke Elliott); “Free” by Malbac and “Happy” by St. Lola in the Fields.

The songs that appeared in the most recent episode of Army Wives included “You and I” and “Never the Same by The Kin – the same duo who sang “Together” in the “12:04” episode of Moonlight; “All Over Now” by Eric Hutchinson and “Country Roads” by Ryan Bingham.

The songs featured in Brothers & Sisters this past weekend were “Shut Your Eyes” by Snow Patrol and “Running on Faith” by Quincy Coleman.

Here are the songs that were featured in this week’s episode of Glee “Somebody to Love”, (from the band Queen), “Last Name” (by Carrie Underwood), “Maybe This Time” (from Cabaret) and “Alone” (from the band Heart). Music that was playing in the background in two separate scenes during the episode belonged to Huey Lewis and the News and Hall & Oates.

The song “Crazy” – made famous by Patsy Cline – but written (and, in this instance, performed) by Willie Nelson was featured in various scenes of this past week’s episode of Eastwick.

The songs featured in this week’s episode of The Vampire Diaries include: “I’m A Lady” by Santigold; “Opposite Direction” by Union of Knives; “Shadows of Ourselves” by Thievery Corporation, “Back in Time” by V.V. Brown; “Believer” by Viva Voce; “Brightest Hour” by The Submarines; “Wild Place by Glass Pear; “All We Are” by Matt Nathanson; “Fallout” by Sofi Bonde and “It’s Not Over” by Carolina Liar.

How cool was it to hear a 50’s song – “Do You Love Me” – in the most recent episode of Supernatural. There is usually a strict policy of only 70’s music by creator Eric Kripke so perhaps a visit into the future is the only time a different music era can be played on the show?

EDITED TO ADD:  Songs featured in this week’s Grey’s Anatomy included In My Head by Until June, The Chain by Ingrid Michaelson, Pop Goes the World by Gossip and Brown Eyes by Rachael Yamagata.

CASTING SCOOP

Crista Flanagan (Mad Men) is joining ABC’s new Kelsey Grammer sitcom, Hank, as Dawn, the wife of Grady (David Koechner) and sister-in-law to Grammer’s Hank. She replaces Melissa McCarthy (Gilmore Girls), who dropped out when she landed a supporting role in the Katherine Heigl–Josh Duhamel romantic comedy, Life as We Know It.

Actor Omar Miller (Transformers and Eleventh Hour) has joined the cast of CSI: Miami as a series regular, portraying Walter Simmons, a Louisiana native and art theft specialist who transfers over from the night shift to join Horatio’s team.

Ashley Jones (True Blood and The Bold and the Beautiful) will be seen in upcoming episodes of FlashForward and The Mentalist.

Kevin Zegers (The Jane Austen Book Club) will play an international bad-boy who becomes a love interest for Jenny Humphrey (Taylor Momsen) on Gossip Girl.

Seattle Grace is about to merge with Mercy West on Grey’s Anatomy and that will bring new characters onto the show, including Sarah Drew (Everwood and Mad Men) who will have a recurring role as a doctor named April. Drew joins previously announced Mercy West newcomers Robert Baker, Jesse Williams and Nora Zehetner on the show. Their characters will compete with Seattle Grace regulars for jobs and patients.

Arielle Kebbel (Gilmore Girls) will appear on the 7th episode of The CW‘s The Vampire Diaries as Stefan’s oldest and best vampire friend, Lexi.

Billie Piper (Doctor Who), Theo James (Untitled Woody Allen Film), Andrew Lee Potts (Primeval), Sue Johnston (Waking the Dead), and Alun Armstrong (New Tricks) have been cast in BBC One drama Kay Mellor’s A Passionate Woman, based on Mellor’s stageplay about a young mother who calls in love with a Polish neighbor and its dangerous consequences over a thirty-year period. The project will air next year.

Jason Priestley will star in the Canadian pay TV comedy Meet Phil Fitz, about a morally bankrupt used car salesman who walks a fine line of acceptable behavior on the lot. The project is from writer/executive producer Sheri Elwood (Defying Gravity) and will air on Movie Central and the Movie Network in 2010.

Kathy Najimy is set to guest star in an upcoming episode of Desperate Housewives as a police officer with a surprising connection to Teri Hatcher’s Susan. This episode is slated to air in late October.

Shakira and model Christy Brinkley will be appearing in a November episode of Ugly Betty.

Michael Ealy (Sleeper Cell) will begin his recurring role in the 10th episode of FlashForward, playing the new thorn in Detective Mark Benford’s (Joseph Fiennes) side.

Reiko Aylesworth (24) has booked a recurring role on the FX drama Damages. Details about her character are being kept quiet. Season three is scheduled for a January premiere.

The Mentalist is finally introducing Patrick Jane’s father – via flashback. In the November 12 episode, Nick Chinlund (Desperate Housewives, The Sopranos) will make his debut as Jane’s TV dad, Alex, in a series of circa ’80s flashbacks that promise to shed light on Jane’s early days as a carnie freak. Viewers will come to learn that young Jane (played by relative newcomer Chris Brochu) worked as a psychic at carnivals under the watchful eye of his overbearing showman dad.

Megan Mullally (Will & Grace) will guest star on Parks and Recreation, playing the ex-wife of Amy Poehler‘s character’s boss. The episode is expected to air on Oct. 29.

Josh Lawson (Chandon Pictures) has been cast opposite Alyssa Milano and Kyle Bornheimer in ABC‘s midseason comedy Romantically Challenged, where he replaces Eric Christian Olsen who played the role in the original pilot episode.

Actress/Director Joanna Kerns (Growing Pains) will play Roxie’s (Rebecca Romijn) mom in an upcoming episode of Eastwick. The episode is expected to air in late fall.

Rachel Bilson (The O.C.) just might the ‘mom’ in How I Met Your Mother, as she’s been booked to appear in at least one episode of the comedy; but not one seems to be talking about her specific role.

Broadway vet Aaron Tveit is reprising his role as Nate’s wealthy cousin, Tripp Vanderbilt, this November for at least six episodes on Gossip Girl. Sarah Steele (Spanglish) has also been cast on Gossip Girl in the potentially recurring role of Kira Abernathy, a Constance Billard student who attempts to befriend queen bee Jenny. Her first episode airs November 9.

RUMOR PATROL

Robert Downey Jr. is in talks to star in the Steven Spielberg-directed remake of the Jimmy Stewart classic Harvey. The original story told the story of a man whose best friend is a large bunny that no one else can see.

Sylvester Stallone just might be starring in a remake of the 1974 movie Death Wish, which featured Charles Bronson as a vengeance-fueled vigilante.

Broadway star Cheyenne Jackson (Xanadu and All Shook Up) just might be appearing in 30 Rock in a recurring role as a love interest to Jane Krakowski’s character. Cheyenne will next be seen the production of Finian’s Rainbow.

The internet was a buzz yesterday with this story: Actor James Franco (Pineapple Express, Spiderman franchise) is (supposedly) checking into the soap opera General Hospital, debuting on November 23, and then appearing off and on for about two months.

Shia LaBeouf, Scarlett Johansson, Ryan Gosling, Paul Dano and Michael Shannon have had their names associated with the Depression-era bootleggers indie drama The Wettest County in the World that John Hillcoat (The Road) is directing. No specifics are available as of yet.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

A few more shows will be back this coming week and one more new debut will happen this weekend. They include:

Sunday, October 4:
Three Rivers on CBS at 9 p.m. – NEW

Friday, October 9:
Sanctuary on Syfy at 10 p.m. (Part 1 of 2)

NOTE: The season premiere of Ugly Betty was to air on Friday, October 9, but it has been moved to October 16 instead and will get a 2-hour premiere.

MOVIES TO AIR THIS WEEK

Lifetime Movie Network will air the movie Flying By at 8 PM on Monday, October 5, starring Billy Ray Cyrus as a family man reunited with his old band who rediscovers his passion for music.

Syfy will air the docu-movie (for lack of a better world) The Possessed on Thursday, October 8 at 9 PM, which follows the accounts of an allegedly possessed girl in Watseka, Illinois in the 1870s.

NEW EPISODES OF EXISTING SHOWS

Here is a list of new episodes for the series that are finishing up their summer runs and most of the returning and new fall shows that are just getting their season started:

Saturday, October 3:
Robin Hood on BBC America at 9 p.m.

Sunday, October 4:
Mad Men on AMC at 10 p.m.
Drop Dead Diva on Lifetime at 9 p.m.
Army Wives on Lifetime at 10 p.m.
Desperate Housewives on ABC at 9 p.m.
Brothers & Sisters on ABC at 10 p.m
Cold Case on CBS at 10 p.m.
Dexter on Showtime at 9 p.m.

Monday, October 5:
House on FOX at 8 p.m.
Lie to Me on FOX at 9 p.m.
Heroes on NBC at 8 p.m.
Trauma on NBC at 9 p.m.
Castle ABC at 10 p.m.
CSI: Miami CBS at 10 p.m.
Durham County on ION at 10 p.m.
Lincoln Heights on ABC Family at 8 p.m.
Greek on ABC Family at 9 p.m.
One Tree Hill on the CW at 8 p.m.
Gossip Girl on the CW at 9 p.m.

Tuesday, October 6:
NCIS on CBS at 8 p.m.
NCIS: Los Angeles on CBS at 9 p.m.
The Good Wife on CBS at 10 p.m.
The Forgotten on ABC at 10 p.m.
Sons of Anarchy on FX at 10 p.m.
90210 on the CW at 8 PM
Melrose Place on the CW at 9 PM

Wednesday, October 7:
Mercy on NBC at 8 p.m.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit on NBC at 9 p.m.
Criminal Minds on CBS at 9 p.m.
CSI: NY on CBS at 10 p.m.
Eastwick on ABC at 10 p.m.
Glee on FOX at 9 p.m.

Thursday, October 8:
FlashForward on ABC at 8 p.m.
Grey’s Anatomy on ABC at 9 p.m.
Private Practice on ABC at 10 p.m.
CSI on CBS at 9 p.m.
The Mentalist on CBS at 10 p.m.
The Vampire Diaries on the CW at 8 p.m.
Supernatural on the CW at 9 p.m.
Bones on FOX at 8 p.m.
Fringe on FOX at 9 p.m.

Friday, October 9:
Dollhouse on FOX at 9 p.m.
Ghost Whisperer on CBS at 8 p.m.
Medium on CBS at 9 p.m.
Numb3rs on CBS at 10 p.m.
Law & Order on NBC at 8 p.m.
Smallville on the CW at 8 p.m.
Stargate: Universe on Syfy at 9 p.m.
Monk on USA Network at 9 p.m.
Psych on USA Network at 10 p.m.
Crash on Starz 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!