Recaps
The Weekly Round-Up for Nov. 2 to 6
Here are the entertainment news items for this week (November 2 to 6):
NEWS
As expected, TNT has picked up the critically acclaimed series Southland, airing all six episodes that have been shot for the second season, as well as the seven episodes from the series’ first season with the episodes starting to air on January 12.
90210 executive producer Rebecca Rand Kirshner has decided to kill off one of the original Beverly Hills, 90210 players. On the November 17 episode of the CW drama, Kelly and Silver’s alcoholic mother, Jackie Taylor (Ann Gillespie) will succumb to breast cancer.
Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin have been tapped to co-host the 82nd Annual Academy Awards, which will be broadcast from the Hollywood Kodak Theatre on March 7, 2010.
CBS has cut Numb3rs’ episode order from 22 to 16. It appears Flashpoint will likely take over the Friday 10 PM timeslot in February. And, word has it the powers that be behind the show will have the ability to provide closure for the series since this reduction is leading to an end of the show.
The Starz comedy series Party Down will return for its second season in April.
NCIS: Los Angeles has been sold into syndication after seven weeks on the air to the USA Network. This is an industry record to say the least. Not to be undone, but The Mentalist has also gotten a syndication deal with TNT.
Showtime recently announced the 2010 premiere dates for: Secret Diary of a Call Girl – January 25 at 10 PM; Nurse Jackie – March 22 at 10 PM; United States of Tara – March 22 at 10:30 PM and The Tudors on April 11 at 9 PM.
NEW DEVELOPMENT SLATE
NBC has given a script order to hostage crisis drama Zeroes, which depicts the final hour of a hostage crisis. The project will be written by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, who are attached to direct should the project be ordered to series.
Ghost Whisperer executive producers Ian Sander and Kim Moses have three projects in development at ABC including the following:
• The legal drama Jane and Dick, about an all-female law firm and its newest partner whose life is sent spinning when she crosses paths with her high school boyfriend from writers Jennifer Weiner and Michael Reisz;
• Police Surgeon, about a female cop who also happens to be a medical surgeon in Chicago, from writer Lance Gentile; and
Jim Belushi, Diane English, and Barry Levinson have teamed up to develop a drama project that would star Belushi as a defense attorney based on the real-life lawyer Mickey Sherman. The project has yet to be pitched to studios or networks.
FOX is developing an untitled espionage drama with writer Harris Wilkinson that will revolve around a specialized division of the CIA that uses remote viewing (intelligence gathering) using paranormal means. The project will be executive produced by Peter Chernin, Katherine Pope, and Lauren Stein. Len Wiseman is attached to direct the pilot.
Colin Hanks (Roswell and Mad Men) is set to star in the Matt Nix (creator of Burn Notice) 13-episode drama Jack and Dan, alongside Bradley Whitford (The West Wing). The series centers on Jack (Hanks), an ambitious, by-the-book detective whose habit of undermining himself has resulted in a dead-end position at the Los Angeles Police Department. Worse, he has been partnered with Dan (Whitford), a drunken, lecherous, wild-card cop who hangs onto his job only because of a heroic act years before. Filming is slated to begin early next year.
Life on Mars creators Ashley Pharoah and Matthew Graham have been commissioned by BBC Worldwide to write the script for an ABC drama pilot described as a “California cop show with a British twist.” Should the project, which will be executive produced by Julie Gardner, go to pilot, it would be produced by BBC Worldwide’s Los Angeles.
FX is developing the period piece Western Reconstruction, which is about a wealthy East Coaster shaken by war who takes refuge in a Missouri town during the post-Civil War reconstruction. The project is from executive producers Joshua Brand and Peter Horton. Brand will write the script while Horton is attached to direct.
NBC has signed a first look deal with Don Cheadle‘s production company Crescendo, which has several projects already set up at NBC, ABC, TNT, and FX, including an ABC drama based on feature film The Star Chamber with writer Zack Estrin attached and an NBC cop drama from The Shield‘s John Hlavin.
The folks behind the hit USA series Monk are developing a number of projects with ABC, including:
• The workplace comedy Kegs, about a family that runs a beer distribution company from writers Jason Filardi and Mark Perez;
• Drama Tarrytown, about a single mom who moves in with her brother and his daughter when they inherit their father’s rundown house in Tarrytown, Texas, from writer R. Lee Fleming;
• Crime drama 1-8-7 Detroit from writer Jason Richman;
• Drama Dorchester Heights, about five friends in Boston whose friendship is put to the test when secrets spill out following the death of one of their close friends, from writer Nikki Toscano; and
• An untitled drama about a man in his forties who begins to live the life of a twenty-something after suffering a head injury, from writer Joy Gregory.
The new hour-long pilot Sugarloaf, starring Australian actor Matt Passmore has been greenlit by A&E. The show centers on Jim Longworth (Passmore), an ex-Chicago cop who gets kicked off the force after being shot by his ex-captain, who wrongfully accused him of having an affair with his wife. After receiving a payout, Longworth, an observant detective with a sly sense of humor, moves to a small Florida town and joins the state police.
Also at A&E is the new drama pilot The Quickening, starring Radha Mitchell as Maggie Bird, a homicide detective demoted to a desk job after being diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Jeffrey Nordling has been added to the cast, playing her former partner, an ex-cop who left the force to run a detective agency after Maggie took a bullet for him and saved his life. John Heard and Michael Arden will also co-star.
The new J.J. Abrams pilot Undercovers, about a husband and wife working together as spies, from NBC is expected to be directed by Abrams himself. He will co-write and executive produce with Josh Reims.
BOX OFFICE NEWS
Katie Holmes is replacing Liv Tyler in the star-studded indie flick The Romantics, which centers around eight college friends who reunite for the wedding of pal Anna Paquin. Holmes plays the maid of honor who also happens to have had a romantic past with the groom (Josh Duhamel). Malin Akerman, Elijah Wood, Adam Brody and Jeremy Strong also star.
Morgan Freeman is attached to star in an untitled comedy for Warner Bros. Pictures in a script by Josh Cagan and Greg Coolidge, which revolves around an aging playboy who finally meets the love of his life and his best friend and wingman for the past 40 years (Freeman) who does everything to break up the new couple.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan will star in The Courier with Hany Abu-Assad directing from a script by Michael Brandt and Derek Haas.
George Clooney is in talks to join the family dramedy The Descendants, which is based on Kaui Hart Hemmings‘ debut novel that centers on a wealthy landowner who takes his two daughters on a search for his wife’s lover in the hopes of keeping his family together. The film begins shooting this February in Hawaii.
Gerard Butler will starr in Ralph Fiennes‘ adaptation of Shakespeare‘s tragedy Coriolanus. The play follows the exploits of a prideful Roman war hero (Fiennes) who turns against his own people with the aid of his former foe (Butler).
Sigourney Weaver, John C. Reilly and Alia Shawkat have joined the comedy Cedar Rapids, joining Ed Helms (The Hangover), who plays a sad-sack insurance agent who attends an industry convention to try and save the jobs of his colleagues. Weaver plays Helms’ former seventh-grade teacher. Anne Heche also stars.
Patrick Dempsey (Grey’s Anatomy) has joined the cast of an untitled bank-heist comedy, which is about a man caught in the middle of two different robberies at the same bank who tries to protect a bank teller with whom he’s secretly in love. Filming kicks off in April.
Alan Cumming has joined the cast of the musical Burlesque, joining Christina Aguilera, who plays an ambitious small-town girl with a big voice who finds herself at a neo-burlesque club. Cumming will play the club’s gender-bending host and master of ceremonies. Cher, Stanley Tucci, Cam Gigandet, Kristen Bell and Julianne Hough also star. The project begins shooting next week.
Jerry Bruckheimer is developing a new movie based on The Lone Ranger, the popular western hero from radio plays and movie serial, and Johnny Depp is attached to play the Native American sidekick, Tonto. The Lone Ranger is in development for a tentative 2012 release date.
Summer Glau (Firefly and Teminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) has joined the cast of the movie The Legends of Hell’s Gate: An American Conspiracy. The cast includes Eric Balfour, Henry Thomas and Jenna Dewan. The story follows three men who cross paths with three gunmen and are forced to go on the lam while being pursued by a sheriff’s posse and a tribe of Indians.
Anthony Hopkins and Annette Benning will star with Andy Garcia (who will also direct) in the movie Hemingway and Fuentes, which follows the two decades in which Hemingway (Hopkins) spent in Cuba fishing with his best friend Gregorio Fuentes (Garcia) onboard the Pilar, the 34 foot Wheeler Playmate boat. The author falls in love with an Italian girl who prompted him to write his greatest work – “The Old Man and the Sea.” Benning will play Hemingway’s third wife, Mary Welsh Hemingway. Hemingway’s granddaughter Hilary co-wrote the story with Garcia.
Elizabeth Mitchell (Lost and V) will star in the indie ensemble drama Answers to Nothing, which is set against the backdrop of a child abduction chase and focuses on lost Angelenos in search of redemption. Mitchell is a woman consumed by her desire to have a baby with her husband (Dane Cook). The film is currently shooting in Los Angeles and also stars Julie Benz, Barbara Hershey, Zach Gilford and Eric Palladino.
Bradley Cooper (Alias and The Hangover) is set to star in the thriller Dark Fields, which follows a down-and-out writer (Cooper) who gets his hands on a top-secret pharmaceutical drug that makes one smarter. He experiences sudden financial and social success but soon discovers that the drug has lethal and lasting side effects.
MADE FOR TV MOVIE NEWS
Hillary Duff (A Cinderella Story), Matt Dallas, (Kyle XY and Eastwick), Michael McMillan (True Blood) and Chris Carmack (The OC) have signed to star in the ABC Family original production The Business of Falling in Love. The two-hour original movie is set to premiere in spring 2010. Based on the book Diary of a Working Girl by Daniella Brodsky, Duff stars as Lane Daniels, a bright effervescent fashion journalist whose career and love life come together in a smashing way when she pitches the article “Switching Careers to Find Love” to Cosmopolitan magazine her favorite magazine and ultimate career aspiration. Lane can’t believe her luck when the editor goes for it in a big way, handing her the professional opportunity of a life time a potential cover story
Jennifer Beals (The L Word and Lie To Me) will star in The Night Before the Night Before Christmas, a Hallmark Channel Original Movie about a family that’s too busy to get ready for the holidays until Santa Claus mistakenly leaves the North Pole a day early and crash lands on their roof, and it’s suddenly up to the family to help save Christmas.
AS HEARD ON/MUSIC NEWS
The music featured on this week’s Castle were “Here Kitty Kitty”, “Threshold” and “Underground” all by Anna Waronker.
This past weekend’s episode of Brothers & Sisters included the following songs: “L.O.V.E.” by V.V. Brown; “Swann Song” by Chris Pureka; “How You Like Me Now” by The Heavy and “Hold You Tight” by Lisbeth Scott.
The featured music in the latest episode of The Forgotten included “Silent Movie” by The Boxer Rebellion and “Airstream Driver” by Gomez.
The music heard on this week’s episode of Grey’s Anatomy included “Gold, Guns, Girls” by Metric; “Her Rotating Head” by Bachelorette; “Breathe” by Cinematic Orchestra and “High Green Grass” by Sebastien Schuller.
Albums that will be released on November 10 include “Hello Hurricane” Switchfoot and what was to be Michelle Branch’s new album called “Everything Comes and Goes”, which has been delayed due to recent layoffs at her home label, Warner Brothers.
Matthew Morrison, who stars as History teacher Will Schuester in the cult favorite FOX musicomedy Glee is working on a solo album that he has stated sounds like a cross between Justin Timberlake and Michael Buble.
CASTING SCOOP
Sources confirm that Fisher Stevens is joining Ugly Betty in the potentially recurring role of Mr. Z., Betty’s dry, sarcastic new landlord.
Anthony Michael Hall (The Dead Zone) is set to guest star in the December 10 episode of NBC‘s Community, where he will play a bully who challenges Joel McHale‘s Jeff to a fight in the series’ Christmas-themed episode.
Lyndsy Fonseca will return this season as Katherine’s daughter, Dylan in Desperate Housewives.
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio has joined USA Network‘s Law & Order: Criminal Intent as the new captain taking over the Major Case Squad.
Gregory Itzin will reprise his role as the oily ex-commander in chief on 24 this season. The current president (Cherry Jones) will reluctantly ask for help from Logan with the latest international crisis that drives the season.
Naveen Andrews (Lost) has signed on to film a guest spot on an episode of Law & Order: SVU. The details of his role are being kept under wraps for now, but the episode starts filming in the next week or so in New York.
Veteran actor Robert Wagner has been cast as Tony DiNozzo’s dad in the upcoming 150th episode of NCIS, which is slated to air in January.
Blair Underwood has signed on to reprise his role as Christine’s former flame, Daniel, for one episode of The New Adventures of Old Christine slate to air in December or January.
Actor David Tennant (Doctor Who) is set to make his American TV debut as the title character in NBC‘s hour-long pilot Rex Is Not Your Lawyer. The comedic legal drama centers on a top Chicago litigator (Tennant) who begins suffering panic attacks and takes up coaching clients to represent themselves in court.
Meredith Eaton, who has appeared on CSI, House; and enjoyed an extended run on Boston Legal, will portray Abby’s former college friend and fellow lab tech on an upcoming installment. She’ll visit Abby for advice.
Sarah Wynter (24) will join her Reiko Aylesworth in a recurring role on the FX series Damages. She will play a security specialist. Aylesworth will play the wife of Campbell Scott’s new character.
Abigail Spencer (Mad Men) will play a murder victim’s fiancée while Perrey Reeves (Entourage) turns up as the victim’s wife on the November 23 episode of Castle.
Veteran film star Elliott Gould will guest star on Law & Order, as a disgruntled business owner who takes the law into his own hands after a crime spree in his Harlem neighborhood.
RUMOR PATROL
Reports have it that Julianne Moore shot scenes with Alec Baldwin in Rockefeller Center in New York City this week for an upcoming episode of 30 Rock. In other 30 Rock news, James Franco will appear as himself, pretending to carry on a fake romance with attention-starved “Girlie Show” star Jenna (Jane Krakowski), a scheme concocted by their respective agents. NBC would not confirm Franco’s casting.
Johnny Depp is in talks to star with Angelina Jolie in The Tourist, a remake of a French thriller in which Depp would play an American abroad who gets swept up in an Interpol agent’s web of intrigue as she tracks down a fugitive who used to be her lover, according to Variety. He will replace Sam Worthington, who recently dropped out of the production. Worthington was replacing Tom Cruise and Charlize Theron was to have the female lead taken over by Jolie.
Isla Fisher (Confessions of a Shopaholic) is in talks to star in the movie Desperados, which is a comedy about a woman who sends a scathing e-mail to her new boyfriend; only to find out he’s in a coma in Mexico so Fisher and her friends have to road-trip across the border to prevent him from reading the e-mail.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
The syndicated series The Legend of the Seeker will return for its second season the weekend of November 7 and 8. The first season finale and the season premiere will air back-to-back. Please check your local listings for channel, date and time.
The following movies will air this coming weekend:
The Lifetime Movie Network will feature the movie Ann Rule’s Too Late to Say Goodbye at 8 p.m. on Saturday, November 7. The movie is about a wife who is found shot to death with suspicion falling on her philandering husband and a mysterious man she met online. Stars Rob Lowe and Lauren Holly.
The Prince & Me: A Royal Honeymoon will air on the ABC Family Channel on Sunday, November 8 at 8 p.m. and chronicles the royal couple’s honeymoon.
Masterpiece Contemporary on PBS will feature the conclusion of the movie Place of Execution at 9 p.m. on Sunday, November 8.
NEW EPISODES OF EXISTING SHOWS
Here is a list of new episodes for the returning and new fall shows:
Saturday, November 7:
Robin Hood on BBC America at 9 p.m.
Sunday, November 8:
Mad Men on AMC at 10 p.m.
Desperate Housewives on ABC at 9 p.m.
Brothers & Sisters on ABC at 10:01 p.m.
Three Rivers on CBS at 9 p.m.
Cold Case on CBS at 10 p.m.
Dexter on Showtime at 9 p.m.
Monday, November 9:
Heroes on NBC at 8 p.m.
Trauma on NBC at 9 p.m.
Castle ABC at 10:02 p.m.
CSI: Miami on CBS at 10 p.m.
One Tree Hill on The CW at 8 p.m.
Gossip Girl on The CW at 9 p.m.
Lincoln Heights on ABC Family at 8 and 9 p.m. (Season Finale)
House on FOX at 8 p.m.
Lie to Me on FOX at 9:01 p.m.
Tuesday, November 10:
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.
V on ABC at 8 p.m.
90210 on The CW at 8 p.m.
Melrose Place on The CW at 9 p.m.
Sons of Anarchy on FX at 10 p.m.
NOTE: The Forgotten will be pre-empted tonight for a spotlight special in preparation for the Country Music Awards tomorrow night.
Wednesday, November 11:
Criminal Minds on CBS at 9 p.m.
CSI: NY on CBS at 10 p.m.
Mercy on NBC at 8 p.m.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit on NBC at 9 p.m.
Nip/Tuck on FX at 10 p.m.
Friday Night Lights on DirecTV only at 9 p.m.
Glee on FOX at 9 p.m.
NOTE: All of ABC’s programming will not be seen so the network can air the 43rd annual Country Music Awards.
Thursday, November 12:
FlashForward on ABC at 8 p.m.
Grey’s Anatomy on ABC at 9 p.m.
Private Practice on ABC at 10:01 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, November 13:
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. AND 9 p.m.
Smallville on The CW at 8 p.m.
Ugly Betty on ABC at 8 p.m.
Stargate: Universe on Syfy at 9 p.m.
Sanctuary on Syfy at 10 p.m.
Monk on USA Network at 9 p.m.
White Collar 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!
Please note that I will feature a weekly round-up of sci-fi based (and similar genres) news items at our sister site located at http://scifitvzone.com/. Please visit there as often as you can. Thanks!
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