News
The Weekly Round-Up for Dec. 7 to 11
Here are the entertainment news items for this week (December 7 to 11):
CONDOLENCES
Gene Barry, star of the late 1950’s series Bat Masterson and later on Burke’s Law, passed away at the age of 90 of congestive heart failure. Rest in Peace, Mr. Barry.
NEWS
Andrew McCarthy directed an episode of Gossip Girl that will air next year.
After 54 years of being on CBS, the network has pulled the plug on the soap opera As the World Turns, leaving only six soap operas on the daytime airwaves.
Also saying goodbye is the daytime talk show The Bonnie Hunt Show, which will finish its run at the end of this season.
TNT will air the final three episodes of the series Raising the Bar, starting at 8 PM on Thursday, December 24.
Hugh Laurie will be directing this season’s 17th episode of House which will be airing on March 22.
ABC has reduced the amount of episodes for both new dramas V (down to 12) and FlashForward (down to 24). When V returns on March 30, there will be 8 new episodes and when FlashForward comes back on March 4, there will be 14 new episodes. The new series The Deep End that will premiere at some point next year will have 7 episodes and the new mystery series Happy Town will have 8 episodes, again, sometime next year.
TNT has renewed the Jerry Bruckheimer cop series Dark Blue for another season, giving it a 10 episode order.
ABC will air their new drama The Deep End starting on January 21at 8 PM, and it will run for six episodes.
The HBO comedy Flight of the Conchords will not be returning for a third season.
NBC has launched an online “incentive” in honor of the series Chuck called “Mission: Chuck Me Out,” located at Chuckmeout.com where fans can sign up their Twitter, Facebook and MySpace campaigns for the game. Then, every time they preach Chuck or get friends to watch a clip of the show or advertise the series, they earn points. The winner will have their photo used as one of Chuck’s flashes on-air.
NEW DEVELOPMENT SLATE
Cynthia Cidre (Cane) will write the pilot for the revival of the nighttime soap Dallas for TNT. The script is being kept under wraps, but several original actors, including Patrick Duffy, Larry Hagman, and Linda Grey have supposedly been approached to reprise their roles.
A script based on the upcoming James Patterson novel Private has been ordered by CBS. The story revolves around a former CIA agent/Marine who takes over his father’s private investigation firm.
Cyber Crimes, the latest project from CSI creator Anthony Zuiker, has landed a script order from CBS. The project centers on a newly formed government agency that fights the modern onslaught of Internet- and technology-driven offenses.
Tim Minear will serve as the day-to-day showrunner on the new series Terriers.
BOX OFFICE NEWS
Frank Langella has joined the cast of thriller Unknown White Male, which stars Liam Neeson as a man who awakens from a coma to find somebody else has assumed his identity. January Jones and Diane Kruger also star.
Kate Bosworth is attached to star and produce Lost Girls and Love Hotels, which is based on Catherine Hanrahan‘s 2006 novel that centers on a woman (Bosworth) who tries to forget her past while working in Tokyo as an English specialist at a stewardess training institute by day and losing herself in a sex- and drug-addled oblivion by night. She finds herself on the road to redemption when she becomes interested in a missing Western girl.
Charles Martin Smith (Air Bud) will write and direct the inspirational drama A Dolphin Tale, which is inspired by the true story of a dolphin named Winter who was rescued off the Florida coast and taken in by the Clearwater Marine Aquarium.
Bryce Dallas Howard (Terminator Salvation) will be joining Clint Eastwood‘s movie Hereafter, which tells three parallel stories that eventually intersect as they all become affected by tragedy and hardship. The cast includes Matt Damon, Cecile de France, and Lyndsey Marshal.
J.J. Abrams is working on a deal to produce a feature film version of Colum McCann‘s award-winning novel Let the Great World Spin, which follows an ensemble cast of characters struggling throughout New York including a young Irish monk living among prostitutes in the Bronx; a group of mothers mourning their sons, killed in Vietnam, in a Park Avenue apartment; and a 38-year-old grandmother walking the streets with her teenage daughter.
AS HEARD ON/MUSIC NEWS
Songs featured in the fall finale of Glee this past week included “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going,” “Don’t Rain on My Parade,” “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” and “My Life Would Suck Without You.”
The songs “These Days” by Jen Stills, “Long Journey” by Sarah Jarosz, “White Sandy Beach of Hawaii by the late Israel Kamakawiwo’ole and “After Afterall” by William Fitzsimmons were featured on this past weekend’s episode of Brothers & Sisters.
The music of Bob Seger will be exclusively featured in the upcoming episode of Cold Case (Sunday, December 13).
The Sarah McLachlan-founded Lilith Fair will return in the summer of 2010, rebranded as a tour, featuring the following artist: Sheryl Crow, Emmylou Harris, Erykah Badu, Colbie Callait, Corinne Bailey Rae, Sara Bareilles, Zee Avi, The Indigo Girls, Janelle Monae, Metric, Sugarland, Miranda Lambert, Mary J. Blige and Tegan and Sara.
CASTING SCOOP
The ABC Family Channel pilot Pretty Little Liars, which follows four estranged best friends who are reunited three years after their best friend and queen bee of the group goes missing, only to discover they are receiving notes from an anonymous source who knows all their secrets, stars Lucy Hale (Privileged), Troian Bellisario (NCIS), Ashley Benson (Eastwick) and newcomer Shay Mitchell. The cast also includes Laura Leighton (Melrose Place), Jean Louisa Kelly (Yes, Dear), Nia Peeples (The Young and the Restless) and Alexis Denisof (Buffy and Dollhouse) as some of the parents. Bianca Lawson (The Vampire Diaries) has been cast in a recurring role
The as-yet untitled new comedy pilot for ABC Family Channel, which already stars Stephanie Childers (Grey’s Anatomy) and Scott Cohen (Gilmore Girls) as parents has added Vanessa Marano (Dexter) and Chloe Bridges (Camp Rock: The Final Jam) as the daughter. Valerie Tian (Juno) has also been tapped to play one of the girls’ best friends.
Vanessa Williams’ real-life bro, Chris Williams (Curb Your Enthusiasm), will guest star in an early 2010 episode of Ugly Betty as Willie’s drag queen doppelganger, Wilhediva Hater.
Elisha Cuthbert (24) has joined the cast of the series The Forgotten, where she will appear in a recurring role in the role of Maxine Denver, a strong and successful Chicago professional who is forced to put her skepticism of amateur detectives’ aside when The Forgotten Network begins investigating a case close to home. Her first episode is slated to air in February.
Joshua Malina will appear on a future episode of Bones.
Jerry O’Connell will be replacing Sendhil Ramamurthy (Heroes) in the David Tennant (Doctor Who) led NBC pilot Rex Is Not Your Lawyer. Lindsay Kraft and Cleo King also have been cast in the pilot.
Elizabeth Banks will guest star on 30 Rock in at least four episodes as a love interest for Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin).
Lena Olin (Alias) will guest star on an episode of Law & Order: SVU later this season, playing the attorney for a billionaire (Richard Burgi, Desperate Housewives) who becomes entangled in a kidnapping case. The episode is scheduled to air in February.
Irish actress Orla Brady (Shark) will play Walter Bishop wife and mother to Peter (Joshua Jackson). She is expected to appear in early 2010.
Anthony Michael Hall (The Dead Zone) will be guest starring in an episode of CSI: Miami, which is expected to air next year.
Idina Menzel is in advanced talks to join the cast of Glee, not as Rachel’s mother but rather as the choir director for New Directions’ rivals, Vocal Adrenaline.
Alfre Woodard (Three Rivers) will star opposite Jason Lee in the TNT drama pilot Delta Blues, where she will play a lieutenant who tries to exercise her power over Dwight, played by Lee.
Jane Leeves (Frasier) will Tom Scavo’s psychotherapist in at least two episodes of Desperate Housewives. The episodes are expected to air in late January.
Scott Paterson (Gilmore Girls) has been tapped to play Liam’s biological father in at least two episodes on 90210.
RUMOR PATROL
Rumor has it that the ABC soap opera One Life to Live could be the next one on the chopping box. No official decision has been made yet.
Before director Robert Luketic stars on the film remake of Barbarella, it looks like he might be doing another remake: Romancing the Stone. No other specifics are available at this time.
Rumor has it that Matt Damon MAY be guest starring in an episode of 30 Rock, but no confirmation has been announced.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
The following movies and specials will air this coming weekend and next week:
Christmas in Canaan will air on the Hallmark Channel on Saturday, December 12 at 8 PM. The movie is about a man (Billy Ray Cyrus) who addresses racial woes between his young son and a classmate by forcing them to spend time together. The boys soon forge a bond while caring for a puppy.
NOTE: This movie will reair at 8 PM on Sunday, December 13.
The ABC special Christmas at the White House will air on Sunday, December 13 at 10 PM that will feature Oprah Winfrey.
The ABC Family Channel movie Santa Baby 2: Christmas Maybe will air on Sunday, December 13 at 8 PM. This is a sequel where Santa asks his daughter (Jenny McCarthy) to run the family business. Co-stars Paul Sorvino and Dean McDermott.
NOTE: This movie will reair on the same night at 10 PM.
The movie The Christmas Hope will air on the Lifetime Movie Network on Sunday, December 13 at 8 PM. It is about a couple (Madeline Stowe and James Remar) in a rocky marriage take in a foster child.
MARATHON: The Vampire Diaries will air at 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. each night from December 14 to 18 on The CW.
The special Jennifer Hudson: I’ll Be Home for Christmas will air on ABC on Monday, December 14 at 8 PM and features the singer and guests performing a number of Christmas classics.
NBC will feature Saturday Night Live Christmas 2009 on Thursday, December 17 at 8 PM and presents holiday-themed shticks and sketches culled from the late-night show’s archives.
NEW EPISODES OF EXISTING SHOWS
Here is a list of new episodes for the returning and new fall shows:
Saturday, December 12:
NOTE: Check your local listings for channel, date and time for next new episode of The Legend of the Seeker.
Sunday, December 13:
Dexter on Showtime at 9 p.m.
Cold Case on CBS at 9 p.m.
NOTE: Check your local listings for channel, date and time for next new episode of The Legend of the Seeker.
Monday, December 14:
CSI: Miami on CBS at 10 p.m.
The Closer on TNT at 9 p.m.
Men of A Certain Age on TNT at 10 p.m.
Lie to Me on FOX at 9 p.m.
Tuesday, December 15:
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.
Wednesday, December 16:
Criminal Minds on CBS at 9 p.m.
CSI: NY on CBS at 10 p.m.
Nip/Tuck on FX at 10 p.m.
Friday Night Lights on DirecTV only at 9 p.m.
Eastwick on ABC at 10 p.m.
Thursday, December 17:
CSI on CBS at 9 p.m.
The Mentalist on CBS at 10 p.m.
Friday, December 18:
Dollhouse will air two back-to-back episodes on FOX at 8 and 9 p.m.
Sanctuary on Syfy 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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