The Weekly Round-Up for July 5 to 9

Here are the entertainment news items for this week:

COMIC CON DETAILS

Attention Torchwood fans: Make sure you pick up a copy of the new Torchwood comic, which will make its debut at San Diego Comic-Con later this month. The first issue of the monthly will feature a story written by John Barrowman and will be available at the convention exclusively until it hits shelves on August 10.

So far, the schedules for Thursday and Friday of Comic Con have been announced at the con’s official website. The schedule for Saturday and Sunday will be announced this weekend. Check out http://comic-con.org/ for details.

NEWS

Congrats to all the nominees of the 2010 Emmy Awards.

TV SERIES NEWS

Reid Scott (My Boys) will have a recurring role on the new Showtime series The Big C. He will play Dr. Todd, the oncologist of Cathy (Laura Linney). The series follows Cathy, a school teacher and suburban mother who tries to rebuild her life after her cancer diagnosis. Since this role is a recurring one, it won’t conflict with his contract with TBS. The Big C premieres on August 16 at 10:30 PM.

Ryan Murphy has confirmed that season two of Glee will include an episode featuring the music of Britney Spears. But it looks like Spears will not be appearing in the episode.

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

AMC has commissioned a new pilot called Hell on Wheels, which is described as “a contemporary western that centers on the building of the Transcontinental Railroad, centering on former confederate soldier Cullen Bohannan, whose quest for vengeance has led him to the Union Pacific Railroad’s westward construction of the first Transcontinental Railroad.

Skeet Ulrich (Jericho) has signed on to play one of the two lead detectives on Law & Order: Los Angeles. His character, Rex Winters, is described as an ex-Marine who possesses the intuition of a natural cop. His experience during the Rodney King Riots — which occurred during his second month on the job — shaped his philosophy on policing. Basically, the world is chaos and people are either good or bad. As an added twist, he’s currently married to his ex-partner. Ulrich is the first actor to sign up for LOLA duty. Five other roles are currently being cast.

Luke Grimes (Brothers & Sisters) and Haley Bennett (Marley & Me) have joined the FX drama pilot Outlaw Country, which will star Mary Steenburgen. The pilot is a crime thriller/family drama set against the backdrop of southern organized crime and Nashville royalty. Grimes will play twentysomething Eli Larkin, a half-cowboy, half-modern guy who tries to get out of the crime ridden life he has grown accustom to in order to help his siblings, however he finds out that it is much harder than he expected. Bennett will play twentysomething Annabel Lee, a gorgeous country singer who is living in the shadow of her overprotective mother (Steenburgen).

Lee Pace (Pushing Daisies) and Linus Roache (Law & Order) have joined the HBO drama pilot Miraculous Year. The pilot has been described as an examination of a New York family as seen through the eyes of a charismatic, self-destructive Broadway composer (played by Tony winner Eddie Redmayne). Hope Davis, Frank Langella, and Patti LuPone are also part of the cast. Oscar winner Kathryn Bigelow is set to direct the pilot.

Alan Ball, the creator and show runner for the HBO hit series True Blood is launching a new pilot for the network. Adapted from the novel The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death by Charlie Huston, the series is to be called All Signs of Death and is to be considered a comedic drama, following a 20-something slacker who stumbles into a career as a crime scene cleaner, only to find himself entangled with a murder mystery, a femme fatale, and the loose ends of his own past.

BOX OFFICE NEWS

A number of actors have joined Jason Biggs and Joel David Moore in the box office film Grossroots, an independent political comedy that follows a recently fired journalist (Biggs) who reluctantly agrees to spearhead the Seattle City Council campaign of his eccentric friend (Moore), a former pedicab driver with a burning passion for the Monorail. The new cast members include Cobie Smulders (How I Met Your Mother), Lauren Ambrose (Six Feet Under), Cedric the Entertainer, Christopher McDonald (Happy Gilmore), Emily Bergl (Men In Trees), and Tom Arnold.

Elisabeth Roehm (Heroes, Law & Order and Angel) has been cast in the action-thriller Abduction, replacing Emily Mortimer as Taylor Lautner’s biological mother. John Singleton is directing the movie about a young man who goes on the run after discovering that his parents aren’t his own when he sees his baby picture on a missing persons website. Lily Collins, Maria Bello and Sigourney Weaver also star.

Gina Gershon, Danny Glover and Robert Patrick will appear in the independent movie Five Minarets in New York, which follows two police officers from the southeastern Turkish province of Diyarbakır, sent to New York to bring back a Turkish smuggler who was arrested in the United States and who will be delivered to Turkish authorities by the FBI. Gershon will play the wife of a Turkish scholar arrested by federal authorities after being wrongfully accused of a crime.

Christian Bale is apparently set to star in The Last Photograph, which revolves around a photograph that becomes the catalyst for a journey two men undertake through war-torn Afghanistan.

Virginia Madsen will play the mother of Amanda Seyfried in the supernatural thriller Red Riding Hood. Max Irons (Jeremy’s son), Shiloh Fernandez, Lukas Haas, Julie Christie, Gary Oldman and Michael Hogan co-star in the medieval movie, which is set in a village that is being terrorized by a werewolf. Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight) directs. The movie is expected to be released on March 11.

Ralph Fiennes, Colin Firth and Michael Fassbender have all joined the movie adaptation of the espionage-themed literary classic by John le Carre Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, which is set in the mid-70’s during the height of the Cold War. Gary Oldman will play George Smiley, a judicious, reserved, middle-aged intelligence expert who is recalled out of forced retirement to hunt down a Soviet mole in the “Circus”, the highest echelons of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6).

More casting news has come out for the movie X-Men: First Class. Nicholas Hoult, (About a Boy and Clash of the Titans) is set to play a young Beast/Hank McCoy. Official cast members of the movie so far include James McAvoy (Xavier), Michael Fassbender (Magneto) and Alice Eve (Emma Frost). Also recently added to the cast is Caleb Landry Jones (No Country for Old Men and Friday Night Lights), who will play Banshee, an Irish mutant who possesses a sonic scream, capable of harming auditory systems and causing physical vibrations. And, Lucas Till (Hannah Montana: The Movie) will play Havok, while Kevin Bacon is in talks to play a key villain.

MADE FOR TV MOVIES

The Disney Channel made-for-TV movie Den Brother, about a teenage hockey star who is suspended from play and then must step in as substitute leader for his younger brother’s scout troop, is expected to air on August 13, but it will be available via Disney Channel on Demand beginning August 6.

Chiwetel Ejiofor (Serenity and 2012), Christopher Eccleston (Doctor Who), Sir Antony Sher (The Wolfman) and Stephen Rea (The Crying Game) have been cast in the BBC noir thriller The Shadow Line. The made-for-TV movie is described as “from the cop with a bullet in his brain, whose amnesia leaves him doubtful of his own moral compass; to the drug-lord driven by a profound personal tragedy, risking it all on one last deal; to the brilliantly lethal puppet-master who gradually emerges from the shadows to bring the story to its shocking climax – The Shadow Line explores the morality of these characters as they negotiate the repercussions of [drug baron Harvey] Wratten’s death and attempt to navigate the fine line between right and wrong.”

Jane Kaczmarek (Raising the Bar) and Kim Dickens (Friday Night Lights and Treme) will appear in the Lifetime made-for-TV movie called Reviving Ophelia, which is based on the non-fiction book by Mary Pipher. They will play sisters who must help one another raise their teenage daughters. Project, written by Teena Booth and directed by Bobby Roth, will air later this year.

CASTING SCOOP

Richard Dreyfuss will be joining the Showtime series Weeds for at least four episodes. He will play “an unexpected character” from the past of “Weeds” protagonist Nancy Botwin (Mary-Louise Parker).

Henry Ian Cusick (Lost) has signed on for at least two fall episodes of Law & Order: SVU, playing a graphic artist named Erik Weber. He may be a love interest for Detective Benson (Mariska Hargitay).

Gloria Reuben (ER) will guest-star in the season finale of the Lifetime series Drop Dead Diva. She will play Professor Kathy Miller, Jane (Brooke Elliott) and Grayson’s (Jackson Hurst) latest client. The season finale will air on Sunday, August 29 at 10 PM.

Brian Austin Green (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) has signed to Desperate Housewives for next season, playing a hot contractor in his 30s, who catches the eyes of some of the neighbors on Wisteria Lane.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

The following shows and movies will air this weekend as well as next week:

The new series The Bridge will have its two-hour debut on CBS on Saturday, July 10 at 8 PM

The Glades will debut on A&E on Sunday, July 11 at 10 PM.

A new Masterpiece Mystery movie will air on PBS on Sunday, July 11 at 9 PM.

Warehouse 13 will be back for a new season on Syfy at 9 PM on Tuesday, July 13.

Make It or Break It moves to its new timeslot at 9 PM on ABC Family Channel on Tuesday, July 13.

White Collar returns and Covert Affairs debuts on USA Network at 9 and 10 PM respectively on Tuesday, July 13.

The Closer is back with new episodes with Rizzoli & Isles debuts on TNT at 9 and 10 PM respectively on Tuesday, July 13.

Psych is back with new episodes on USA Network on 10 PM on Wednesday, July 14.

Here are the new episodes of the dramas that will be airing this coming week:

Sunday, July 11:
Leverage on TNT at 9 PM
Scoundrels on ABC at 9 PM
The Gates on ABC at 10 M
True Blood on HBO at 9 and 10 PM
Drop Dead Diva on Lifetime at 9 PM
Army Wives on Lifetime at 10 PM

NOTE: Check your local listings for Unnatural History on Cartoon Network.

Monday, July 12:
Lie to Me on FOX at 8 PM
The Good Guys on FOX at 9 PM
The Secret Life of the American Teenager on ABC Family Channel at 8 PM
Huge on ABC Family Channel at 9 PM
Weeds on Showtime at 10 PM

Tuesday, July 13:
Pretty Little Liars on ABC Family Channel at 8 PM
HawthoRNe on TNT at 9 PM
Memphis Beat on TNT at 10 PM
Rescue Me on FX at 10 PM

Wednesday, July 14:
Aaron Stone on DisneyXD at 8 PM

Thursday, July 15:
Rookie Blue on ABC at 9 PM
Burn Notice on USA Network at 9 PM
Royal Pains on USA Network at 10 PM

Friday, July 16:
Flashpoint on CBS at 10 PM
Eureka on Syfy at 9 PM
Haven 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!