The Weekly Round-Up for March 29 to April 2

Here are the entertainment news items for this week:

CONDOLENCES

Legendary TV star John Forsythe, the voice of Charlie on Charlie’s Angels passed away this week at the age of 92 due to complications from pneumonia. Condolences are extended to his family, friends and fans.

NEWS

Congratulations to the winners of the 67th Peabody Awards, including Modern Family, Glee, In Treatment and The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency.

Teri Hatcher and a team of experts will be launching a web project called A Chick’s Guide to Life produced by DisneyFamily.com that will include blogs and a video series that will offer solutions to the needs and obligations of today’s modern woman.

Author Stephanie Meyer has written The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella, which will be released on June 5. The character Bree is a “newborn” vampire who appears briefly in the book Eclipse and then dies ten pages later. This 192-page novella gives the character a third life (so to speak), following the week before she dies, as part of the army of newborn vamps Victoria created to take down the Cullens and Bella.

TV SERIES NEWS

Gear up for a delay fans of Friday Night Lights. It looks like NBC is putting off the return of the acclaimed series until Friday, May 7 at 8 PM.

Are you a fan of Glee? Do you live in Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, Miami, Nashville, New York City, Philadelphia, Seattle, or Washington, D.C.? Check out the following link for free screenings of the first new episode of 2010: http://www.ticketsforcharity.com/general_search.asp?hidMsg=search&txtSearch=glee&x=0&y=0

ABC has renewed the Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic series Castle for a third season.

Burn Notice and Royal Pains will be returning to USA Network on Thursday, June 3 at 9 and 10 PM respectively.

Do you want to be a part of the show Glee? A nationwide casting call started this week for performers between the ages of 16 and 26 to be featured in the 2nd season of the hit show. Check out the following link http://www.myspace.com/gleeauditions for more details.

After eight seasons, FOX has cancelled the series 24.

Claire Forlani will be back on CSI: NY as former flame Peyton Driscoll to Mac Taylor (Gary Sinise). The episode will air on May 19.

The ABC Family Channel has announced their summer line-up schedule, including the following:

• Pretty Little Liars follows four estranged best friends who are reunited one year after their best friend and queen bee of the group, Alison, goes missing – only to discover they’re receiving messages from an anonymous “A” who knows all their secrets. The series stars Lucy Hale (Privileged) Ashley Benson (Eastwick), Laura Leighton (Melrose Place) and Chad Lowe (24). Debuts on Tuesday, June 8 at 8 PM.

• Huge, about the lives of seven teens and the staff at a weight-loss camp (and based on the books by Sasha Paley), will debut on Monday, June 28 at 9 PM. Among the cast is Nikki Blonsky (Hairspray) and Gina Torres (Firefly).

• The Secret Life of the American Teenager will be back with new episodes on Monday, June 7 at 8 PM

• Make It or Break It will return on Monday, June 28 at 10 PM with new episodes.

S. Epatha Merkerson is leaving Law & Order after 16 years “on the job.”

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Tyler Labine (Reaper) has been cast in CBS comedy pilot True Love starring alongside Jason Biggs and Minka Kelly. The series revolves around Henry (Biggs), a lawyer in a relationship, who falls for a stranger (Kelly). Labine will play Henry’s best friend.

Jessica Lucas (Melrose Place) and Ryan Hansen (Party Down and Veronica Mars) have been added to ensemble comedy pilot Friends With Benefits, about five twentysomething friends who, until they find ‘the one,’ are content to have ‘friends with benefits.’

Katharine McPhee (American Idol finalist) and Michael Cassidy (Privileged) will star in the Josh Schwartz comedy pilot The Pink House on NBC.

Jason Wiles (Third Watch) has been cast in ABC drama pilot Boston’s Finest.

Christina Woods (FlashForward) has been cast as the female lead in the NBC comedy pilot Perfect Couples.

Teri Polo has joined the TBS drama pilot Glory Daze about the lives of four incoming freshman in the 1980s who pledge a fraternity at a Wisconsin college. She will play a professor at the college.

Matt Barr (Harper’s Island) has been cast in the CW drama presentation Hellcats, which is set in the world of competitive college cheerleading.

David James Elliott (JAG) is replacing Neal McDonough in the ABC drama pilot Scoundrels about a family of small-time crooks who decide to go legit after their father lands in jail.

Martin Short and Orlando Jones will join David Krumholtz and Judy Greer in the FOX comedy pilot Tax Man, about an Internal Revenue Service district office in Fresno, California.

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Zachary Quinto (Heroes) will join Chris Evans and Anna Faris in the romantic comedy What’s Your Number?, which will focus on a woman (Faris) who re-visits her ex-boyfriends in the hopes of finding the man of her dreams with the help of her womanizing next door neighbor (Evans).

New Line is looking to remake the 1980 comedy Private Benjamin with Anna Faris starring. In the lead role of a spoiled woman who joins the Army after her husband dies during sex on their wedding night.

MADE-FOR-TV MOVIES

The ABC Family Channel two-hour movie Revenge of the Bridesmaids, starring Raven-Symoné and Joanna Garcia, will follow two best friends who go “undercover” to sabotage a wedding of a former friend and her fiancée who she stole from one of the two best friends closest friends. The movie will air in July.

The TV premiere of the movie Wild Child will air on Sunday August 8 at 8 PM on the ABC Family Channel. The movie stars Emma Roberts as an LA diva who does what she wants, when she wants until an over-the-top prank finds her shipped off to a British boarding school. The movie co-stars the late Natasha Richardson and Aidan Quinn.

CASTING SCOOP

Eriq La Salle (ER) will guest star in the last two episodes of 24.

Mayim Bialik( Blossom) will appear on The Big Bang Theory in a possible recurring role as a potential love interest for Sheldon (Jim Parsons).

Lorraine Bracco (The Sopranos) will guest star in an upcoming episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, playing a woman who cares for foster children. The episode will air this summer.

Matt Damon will guest star in an episode of 30 Rock. The current plan is for his character to be a love interest for Tina Fey.

Linda Purl, recently seen on The Office, will make a guest appearance on Desperate Housewives as the mother of Sam (Sam Page).

Malin Akerman, Jason Lewis and Chris Kattan are set to star in a fictional movie within the May 17 episode of How I Met Your Mother.

Julie Gonzalo (Veronica Mars) will guest star in a May sweeps episode of Castle, as a high school friend of Kate Beckett. She plays a beautiful and dynamic restaurateur who finds herself mixed up in the aforementioned murder investigation.

RUMOR PATROL

Rumor has it that Leonardo DiCaprio may be joining forces with Clint Eastwood in a movie about J. Edgar Hoover.

It is possible that DirecTV could pick up Damages for a fourth season (much like the deal that was brokered for Friday Night Lights) because of the fact that FX may not be able to keep the show afloat due to financial reasons. Details have not been confirmed yet.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

Here are the new episodes of the dramas (and a few others) that will be airing this coming week:

Saturday, April 3:
The Guard on ION at 9 and 10 PM

NOTE: Legend of the Seeker will air in syndication this weekend. Check your local listings for date, time and channel.

Sunday, April 4:
Cold Case on CBS at 10 PM
Breaking Bad on AMC at 10 PM
The Pacific on HBO at 9 PM

NOTE: Legend of the Seeker will air in syndication this weekend. Check your local listings for date, time and channel.

Monday, April 5:
Castle on ABC at 10:02 PM
Life Unexpected on the CW at 8 PM
Gossip Girl on the CW at 9 PM
24 on FOX at 9 PM (Two-Hour Airing)
Chuck on NBC at 8 PM
Trauma on NBC at 9 PM
10 Things I Hate About You on ABC Family at 8 PM
Damages on FX at 10 PM
Saving Grace on TNT at 10 PM

Tuesday, April 6:
Lost on ABC at 9 PM
V on ABC at 10:02 PM
NCIS on CBS at 8 PM
NCIS: Los Angeles on CBS at 9 PM
90210 on the CW at 8 PM
Melrose Place on the CW at 9 PM
Parenthood on NBC at 10 PM
Survivors on BBC America at 9 PM
Justified on FX at 10 PM
Southland on TNT at 10 PM
Law & Order: Criminal Intent on USA at 10 PM

Wednesday, April 7:
Ugly Betty on ABC at 10:01 PM
Criminal Minds on CBS at 9 PM
CSI: NY on CBS at 10 PM
Human Target on FOX at 8 PM
Mercy on NBC at 8 PM
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit on NBC at 10 PM
Being Erica on SOAPNet at 10 PM (Season Finale)
In Plain Sight on USA at 10 PM

Thursday, April 8:
FlashForward on ABC at 8 PM
Grey’s Anatomy on ABC at 9 PM
Private Practice on ABC at 10:01 PM
CSI on CBS at 9 PM
The Mentalist on CBS at 10 PM
The Vampire Diaries on the CW at 8 PM
Supernatural on the CW at 9 PM
Bones on FOX at 8 PM
Fringe on FOX at 9 PM

Friday, April 9:
Ghost Whisperer on CBS at 8PM
Medium on CBS at 9 PM
Miami Medical on CBS at 10 PM
Smallville on the CW at 8 PM
Spartacus: Blood and Sand on Starz at 10 PM
Stargate Universe on Syfy at 9 PM
Merlin on Syfy at 10 PM

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!