The Weekly Round-Up (Nov. 9 to 13)

By Rueben | November 15, 2009

Here are the entertainment news items for this week (November 9 to 13):

NOTE: Typically the weekly round-ups are posted each Friday evening or early Saturday morning, but unforeseen circumstances delayed that from happening this week.

NEWS

It looks like Balthazar Getty is trying to get his full-time series-regular gig back at Brothers & Sisters. Word has it that new show runner David Marshall Grant is planning a new love interest for his embattled character Tommy – so goodbye to estranged wife, Julia (Sarah Jane Morris) and rumor has it Tommy may strike up a romance with Holly’s (Patricia Wettig) kid sister.

Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson will have her first TV special air on ABC on December 14 at 8 PM. The special is to be called I’ll Be Home for Christmas and will feature guest star Michel Buble.

ABC has confirmed that no new episodes of their brand new series Eastwick will be produced beyond the original 13-episode commitment. ABC higher-ups are considering moving Ugly Betty to Wednesdays at 10 PM in January as part of a flashy re-launch of the show in an effort to save it. What that means for the return of Lost, which normally holds the Wednesday at 10 PM time slot, is uncertain. The Ugly Betty move is only speculative at this point.

In somewhat related ABC news, the network has ordered five more episodes of the Christian Slater-led series The Forgotten; but ABC has also canceled the Kelsey Grammer comedy Hank after only five episodes.

Producers at True Blood are now casting for Caroline Compton (Bill’s wife), who, in another flashback to his earlier life, is surprised to discover her man was not killed in the Civil War, as she had thought.

The CW is expected to roll out their new drama Life UneXpected, which stars Shiri Appleby (Roswell), Kerr Smith (Dawson’s Creek) and Kristoffer Polaha (North Shore) on Monday, January 18 at 9 PM. The new series will temporarily take over for Gossip Girl at 9 PM for several weeks. Then on March 8, it will move to 8 PM and be followed by new episodes of Gossip Girl at 9 PM. On April 19, when Life UnExpected’s 13-episode run is done, One Tree Hill will return to the 8 PM timeslot followed by Gossip Girl at 9 PM.

Christine Baranski (The Good Wife) will reprise her role of Leonard’s mother in a January episode of The Big Bang Theory.

The CW has decided to package Smallville’s upcoming (and highly-anticipated) Justice Society-themed two-parter into a two-hour movie event airing on January 29. The Geoff Johns-penned episodes — titled “Society” and “Legends” and featuring such DC Comics characters as Stargirl, Hawkman, and Dr. Fate — were originally designed to air separately. But, according to Smallville insiders, CW execs felt they could get more mileage out of combining them.

UPDATE: It’s been stated online that this special two-movie has been moved to February inside of January.

Dollhouse has been canceled by FOX, but the show is expected to finish its 13-episode order. The remaining episodes will air on December 4, 11 and 18 as well as January 8, 15 and 22 (which will be the finale, of course).

It looks like the British favorite TV series Torchwood will be back for a fourth season. Things will hopefully star to move in January.

Congrats to Taylor Swift for winning all of the Country Music Awards for which she was nominated. She is the youngest ever winner of Entertainer of the Year at the CMA’s.

NEW DEVELOPMENT SLATE

Martha Plimpton, Lucas Neff, and Olesya Rulin have been cast in the FOX single-camera comedy pilot Keep Hope Alive, from writer/executive producer Greg Garcia. The project follows Jimmy, a 25-year-old man (Neff) who is forced to raise his infant child with the help of his quirky family after the mother, with whom he had a one-night stand, ends up on death row. Plimpton will play Jimmy’s no-nonsense mother.

Author Ray Bradbury has signed a deal with indie producers White Oak Films to develop The Bradbury Chronicles, a six-hour miniseries based on six of his short stories. No network is currently attached to the project, which will be executive produced by Bradbury, John Dayton, Merrill Capps, Todd Klick, Cory Travalena, and Dale Olson, with Bradbury himself adapting his own work.

Scott Cohen (Gilmore Girls) and Stephanie Childers (Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip) have been cast in ABC Family’s untitled Michael Jacobs single-camera comedy pilot, where Cohen will play an unemployed architect who begins to mentor his underdog middle daughter, while his veterinarian wife (Childers) shares a closer bond with their Type-A older daughter.

ABC has given a script order to a comedy pilot based on Howard J. Morris and Jenny Lee‘s book Women Are Crazy, Men Are Stupid, which will focus on a couple with a failed marriage behind them who are looking to make it work the second time around. Morris and Lee will adapt their own book, with Morris and Elliot Webb attached as executive producers.

The CW is developing medical drama series HMS, about a group of promising medical students at Harvard Medical School which is being described as a younger Grey’s Anatomy.  The project will be written and executive produced by Amy Holden Jones (Mystic Pizza) and co-executive produced by Heroes star Hayden Panettiere.

ABC is close to giving a pilot order to a modern version of the classic 1970s TV actioner Charlie’s Angels. Josh Friedman, who recently adapted the Terminator franchise for his Fox series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, is onboard to write and exec produce the new Angels.

NEW SEASON TALLY

The shows that have been canceled so far this season are: Dollhouse, Hank, Eastwick, Trauma and The Beautiful Life. Numb3rs has essential been canceled in lieu of a minimized season this year. The shows that are still in jeopardy are: Brothers, Cold Case, Fringe, Gary Unmarried, Law & Order, Melrose Place, Three Rivers, ‘Til Death and The New Adventures of Old Christine.

And given the growing prevalence of DVR viewing, a number of shows have increased their viewership – in some cases quite significantly. Over the course of the fall season – from September 21 to October 25 – the following series, in order of appearance, had the biggest gains thanks to DVR viewership:

Grey’s Anatomy
The Office
Criminal Minds
The Big Bang Theory
Private Practice
FlashForward
NCIS
Desperate Housewives
Glee
CSI: Miami
NCIS: Los Angeles
Castle
The Good Wife
Modern Family
CSI: NY
House
Heroes
Brothers & Sisters
30 Rock
Law & Order
Numb3rs
Cougar Town
Ghost Whisperer
Medium

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Vincent Cassel, Winona Ryder, and Barbara Hershey have joined the cast of the movie Black Swan, which stars Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis as rival ballet dancers at a dance school. Ryder will play Beth, who is a friend of Portman’s character and the lead in all of the school’s productions. She’s nearing the end of her career, so all the other dancers are aiming to take her place as Odette, the Swan Queen, in the next big ballet: Swan Lake. Cassel will play the handsome but sinister Yevna, director of the new stage production. Darren Aronofsky is the director.

MADE FOR TV MOVIE NEWS

Gabrielle Anwar(Burn Notice) and Craig Sheffer (One Tree Hill) have been cast to star in Murder Among Friends (which is the tentative title), a Hallmark Channel Original Movie about a group of college friends who reunite for a bridal shower that turns into a crime scene investigation when one of the friends is found dead and is presumed to have been murdered. One of the friends is devastated and becomes fixated on solving the crime. The movie will premiere in 2010.

Winona Ryder and Barry Pepper have been cast in CBS‘ latest Hallmark Hall of Fame movie When Love is Not Enough: The Lois Wilson Story, which is slated to air later this season. Ryder will play Lois Wilson, the wife of alcoholic Bill Wilson, one of the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, who went on to co-found Al-Anon.

AS HEARD ON/MUSIC NEWS

Songs featured in this past weekend’s episode of Brothers & Sisters included “Never Say Never” by The Fray and “Friends Like You” by Joshua Radin.

The songs “I’m On Fire” by Locksley and “Coming Fast, Coming Hard” by Salme Dahlstrom were heard in this week’s episode of Castle.

The cast of Glee sang the following songs in this week’s episode: “Proud Mary,” “Defying Gravity,” and “Dancing with Myself.”

One of the songs featured during the two-hour season finale of Lincoln Heights was “Little Child” by Chris Pierce.

The song “Unthought Known” by Pearl Jam was featured in this past week’s episode of FlashForward.

The episode of Grey’s Anatomy from this past week included the following songs: “Sunny Day” by Joy Williams, “Vertical Rhythm” by Gossip, “End of All Time” by Stars of Track and Field, “In Spite of Me” by Greg Laswell and “Poison & Wine” by The Civil Wars.

“The Big Middle” by Juliette Commagere, “Drop It” by Basko, “I Lie” by The Leaning Eaves, Thank You in Advance” and “Looking Out for You” by Hazy Malaze were featured in this past week’s Private Practice.

The songs featured in this week’s The Vampire Diaries included “Come Back When You Can” by Barcelona, “Houses” by Great Northern, “Lies” by Pablo Sebastian, “Post Electric” by Idlewild, “The Spectator” by The Bravery and “Think I Need It Too” by Echo & The Bunnymen.

New albums coming out on November 17 include “The Fall” by Norah Jones; “Echo” by Leona Lewis; “Waking Up” by One Republic; “Battle Studies” by John Mayer and Avril Lavigne’s 4th album, that is still untitled will also be released.

CASTING SCOOP

Fringe is on the hunt for a fortysomething actress to play Walter’s wife.  She’s described as being strong, broken, intelligent, attractive, likable, lovely and extremely versatile. This could be a possible recurring role.

The USA Network’s new pilot called Facing Kate has added Battlestar Galactica star Michael Trucco and actress Virginia Williams to its cast. Sarah Shahi (Life and The L Word) was previously cast in the lead.

Pam Grier (The L Word and Jackie Brown) is joining the cast of Smallville for multiple episodes, playing DC Comics villainess Agent Amanda Waller. She is expected to be seen starting in late January.

Jennifer Stone (Wizards of Waverly Place) will top line the Disney Channel tele-picture Harriet the Spy, loosely based on Louise Fitzhugh‘s novel. The plot will be updated with Harriet now a movie producer’s daughter whose aim is to become her class blogger. The picture is set to air next year.

Sheila Kelley (L.A. Law) will play the recurring role of Kendall, an intellectual beauty with a sharp edge to her wit who is caught committing corporate espionage and has to lie her way out in the final season of Lost.

Melissa George (Alias and Grey’s Anatomy) is joining the Fox drama Lie To Me as an Anna Nicole Smith-type who will go toe-to-toe with Tim Roth. Her character, Clara Martin, is the sassy wife of an older billionaire who has been murdered. She will begin her recurring role in the 11th episode of the series.

Sean Faris (Reunion) will appear in a multi-episode arc on The CW hit The Vampire Diaries. He will play Ben, an ex-high school football star-turned-bartender at the Mystic Grill, who is friends with Matt and there are hints that a possible romance will happen between Ben and one of the show’s females.

Mitch Ryan (HBO’s The Pacific) has been cast in a recurring role on One Tree Hill, where he will play Alexander, a handsome pro surfer-turned-young mogul.

Robert Patrick (The Unit and The X-Files), will appear in the 10th episode of Chuck, playing Colonel Keller, a mysterious figure from Casey’s past. In this episode we also meet Alex, a young Marine; Kathleen, a strong, independent, attractive woman around 40; and Stanley, a short guy in his mid-30s who is a total geek.

Minnie Driver has booked a guest appearance on Modern Family. In an episode slated to air in January, she will play a friend and former co-worker of Claire’s (Julie Bowen). The two reconnect after years out of touch and things are not exactly how they remembered.

Troian Bellisario and Ian Harding will star opposite Lucy Hale in the drama pilot Pretty Little Liars for ABC Family.

Actor Matthew Del Negro, who had recurring roles on The West Wing and The Sopranos, but most recently turned up on United States of Tara and Trauma, has been cast as Danny Torcoletti in Eastwick despite the show not getting a full season pick-up.

Lost is currently looking for several Latin actors for its ninth episode of its upcoming final season. The roles include a loving wife and devout Catholic named Isabella, who has been suffering an illness for many years; a religious man named Ignacio who has turned to crime; a stern Catholic priest named Father Suarez, and a wealthy Latino doctor. Rounding out the guest cast for this episode, is a 30-something English military officer man named Jonas Whitfield.

Gina Torres (Firefly and Serenity) will guest star on the The Vampire Diaries’ 10th episode as Bree, a past associate of Damon’s, who holds the key to the more sinister Salvatore brother acquiring something he desperately wants – access to a tomb.

Kate Vernon (Battlestar Galactica) will soon join the cast of Heroes. Not much is known about the character she’ll portray, however.

Jeffrey Tambor (Arrested Development) will star opposite David Tennant in NBC’s legal dramedy Rex is Not Your Lawyer, where he will play the psychiatrist of the panic attack-prone titular lawyer (Tennant) who is described as a specialist in anxiety disorders who himself suffers from them and who also becomes romantically involved with Rex’s mother.

Alyssa Milano (Charmed) has signed on to play a former love interest of Nathan Fillion in an upcoming episode of Castle. The episode will air in early 2010.

RUMOR PATROL

Rumor has it that Three Rivers MIGHT be trying to get Gilles Marini on their show (or at least someone JUST like him). The medical drama has put out a casting call for an actor in his early 30’s to possibly recur in 2010, as Dr. Luc, a heart surgeon with perfect hair, a strong accent and a wide stance.

Kevin Sorbo is reportedly close to agreeing to a schedule to play a bad guy on The Legend of the Seeker.

Zachary Quinto (Star Trek and Heroes) is “loosely attached” to star in the Canadian indie romantic dramedy Whirligig, which centers on a man who, in a misguided attempt to woo an older woman, befriends the woman’s adopted son. Chaz Thorne is directing from a script by The Listener TV series creator Michael Amo. Filming kicks off early next year.

Julian McMahon, Ernest Borgnine, Richard Dreyfuss and Brian Cox are in negotiations to join the all-star cast of Red, which tells the tale of a former black ops agent (Bruce Willis), now in retirement, who has to contend with younger, more high-tech assassins who show up to kill him.  McMahon would play a Vice President with a dark side who is at the center of a shadow conspiracy. Borgnine will play the keeper of the CIA’s darkest records, while Dreyfuss will be a wealthy man who builds a fortune out of lucrative government contracts. Cox is a former Cold War spy and nemesis of Willis. The actors join a cast that includes Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, John C. Reilly and Mary Louise Parker.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

The following movies will air this coming weekend and next week:

The Lifetime Movie Network will air Ann Rule’s Everything She Ever Wanted on Sunday, November 15 at 6 PM, starring Gina Gershon, Ryan McPartlin (Chuck) and Victor Garber (Alias and Eli Stone).

NOTE: This movie will be reaired on the same network on Thursday, November 19, starting at 8 PM.

NEW EPISODES OF EXISTING SHOWS

Here is a list of new episodes for the returning and new fall shows:

Sunday, November 15:
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.
The Prisoner on AMC at 8 p.m. and 9 p.m.

NOTE: Check your local listings for channel, date and time for next new episode of The Legend of the Seeker.

Monday, November 16:
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.
House on FOX at 8 p.m.
Lie to Me on FOX at 9:01 p.m.

Tuesday, November 17:
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.
The Forgotten on ABC at 10 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.
The Prisoner on AMC at 8 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Wednesday, November 18:
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: Eastwick is being pre-empted tonight because of a special dedicated to Janet Jackson; and while the show has essentially been canceled, the network will air the remaining filmed episodes.

Thursday, November 19:
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.

NOTE: This will be the last new episodes of The Vampire Diaries and Supernatural until January 14, 2010.

Friday, November 20:
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!