Recaps
The Weekly Round-Up for August 2 to 8
Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:
TELEVISION
NBC has updated its fall premiere schedule. Parenthood has been moved a week earlier now airing its premiere on September 14 at 10 PM. The new drama Outlaw, starring Jimmy Smits will now air on September 15 at 10 PM. And, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit will have a two-hour premiere on September 22 at 9 PM. After its preview, Outlaw will move to its regular day and time: Fridays at 10 PM (starting on September 17).
Dick Wolf, the creator and executive producer of the long-running Law & Order franchise confirmed today that the flagship series Law & Order will not be picked up by any other network now that NBC has canceled the series.
Congratulations to Glee, Breaking Bad, Lost, Modern Family, Julianna Margulies, Jane Lynch, The Pacific, James Garner and M*A*S*H* for winning at the recent Television Critics Association Awards ceremony.
Doctor Who WILL be back for a sixth season with Steven Moffat continuing as executive producer, writing five of the 13 episodes when Matt Smith returns.
Jeff Goldblum will be leaving Law & Order: Criminal Intent after being on the show for two seasons. There are no hard feelings or problems he is just…leaving.
Glee creator Ryan Murphy announced to journalists at the Television Critics Association press tour recently that he is developing a half-hour musical comedy series for Kristin Chenoweth. The new show would not be a spin-off of Glee, but rather a brand new series that would showcase Chenoweth’s unique talent.
After nearly 30 years of reporting for Entertainment Tonight, Mary Hart is leaving the long-running news show (after the coming season ends). Lara Spencer (who reports for The Insider) will take her place.
The AMC drama Breaking Bad won’t premiere new episodes for its upcoming 4th season until July 2011; more than a full year after the conclusion of Season Three last June. To bridge the 13-month gap between seasons, the plan is to produce short interstitial mini-episodes of 3-to-4 minutes apiece early next year after the show goes back in production in January. They will be posted on AMC’s website.
The new HBO drama series Boardwalk Empire will debut on September 19. Mark your calendars.
DEVELOPMENT NEWS
Fiona Gubelmann (Knight Rider) has been cast as the female lead in the FX comedy pilot Wilfred, where she will star opposite Jason Gann and Elijah Wood.
Malcolm-Jamal Warner will star opposite Tracee Ellis Ross in the BET comedy pilot Reed Between the Lines, where he will play Ross’ character’s husband.
Diablo Cody is heading to FOX, as the network signed a put-pilot deal with her for the comedy The Breadwinner. Details on the plot are being kept tightly under wraps.
Colm Meaney will star opposite Anson Mount, Dominique McElligott, and Common in the AMC period drama pilot Hell of Wheels, which is about the building of the Transcontinental Railroad. He will play Thomas “Doc” Durant, a businessman determined to make his fortune building the transcontinental railroad, a man of vision and a self-serving opportunist who is capable of ‘creative financing.
Sherry Stringfield has landed the lead in the new as-yet untitled Josh Berman/Lifetime drama pilot, where she will play San Diego police detective Molly Collins, described as a married mother of two on the verge of divorce, who, along with her partner Brooke Kross, investigate the city’s most high-profile crimes while navigating their divergent personal lives.
Smallville may be chugging a whole Kryptonite shake at the end of this season, but the world of DC Comics characters may live on in the form of a spinoff. But don’t get too excited yet; the CW has merely expressed interest in checking out the rest of the DC catalog for potential series material. The early rumored favorite? The Blue Beetle, who apparently isn’t as lame as he sounds.
NBC has signed a script deal for Austin Winsberg’s spec script Zombies Vs. Vampires, described as a fun buddy cop procedural with supernatural overtones. The project is set in a world where zombies are a part of society, controllable with medication. The show’s two leads (one secretly a vampire) are cops assigned to a squad specifically formed to deal with ‘zombie crime.’
AMC is said to be thisclose to handing out a series order to crime drama The Killing, based on the Danish series Forbrydelsen. The project is to star stars Mireille Enos, Billy Campbell, Michelle Forbes, Brent Sexton, Kristin Lehman, Eric Ladin, Jamie Anne Allman, and Joel Kinnaman.
Syfy has a number of new scripted series planned for the future, including the following:
Ball & Chain – After months of emotional tumult, Edgar and Mallory call their relationship quits. As they say their final goodbyes, the ex-lovers are nearly hit by a meteorite that, it turns out, imbues them with extraordinary powers. Unfortunately, the powers only work when they are in close proximity to each other. Though the last thing they want to do is stay together, they’ll need to try if they hope to overcome the newly arrived other-worldly forces that threaten to destroy them and anyone else who gets in the way.
Me and Lee – A down-on-his-luck 20-something undergoes back surgery, only to find that the procedure did not go well. Enter Lee Majors, who claims he has the perfect solution. He entices the young man into his ultra high-tech lab and makes him bionic. Now intrinsically bound together, Majors tries helping his new partner get his life back on track.
Orion – Think National Treasure meets Firefly in this swashbuckling space opera about an adventurous female relic hunter and her team as they hunt down — and sometimes steal — valuable and powerful objects to sell on the black market, all while staying one step ahead of the bounty hunters hot on their heels.
Sherwood – In this “Robin Hood” story for the 23rd century, a young man of privilege teams up with a misfit spaceship crew to right the wrongs of his family.
Legendary – Kevin Sorbo plays an exaggerated version of himself… a former syndicated television series star. When a fan approaches Sorbo to enlist his skills in combating the underworld mythological creatures that threaten to destroy Los Angeles, an unlikely partnership is formed. Together, they use their intimate knowledge of the myths of Hercules to defeat a myriad of beasts.
Human Relations – The Office meets Men in Black in this project featuring an office Temp who slowly discovers that his off-kilter and odd-ball bosses at the strange hi-tech “ad agency” where he works are really aliens working on a plan to destroy the Earth.
Zeros – In this satire, the zombie population of Marshall City overcomes the 30-foot barrier separating the infected people from the rest of the city, the Zombie Extermination and Removal Operations company (the Zeros) are called in to keep the peace. When they can get out of their own way long enough to focus on a case, they are pretty effective with very unorthodox methods.
David Shore is currently in the process of reworking his Rockford Files retelling without star Dermot Mulroney. The Americanized version of Prime Suspect has been resurrected under the stewardship of Friday Night Lights executive producer Peter Berg.
Noah Reid (Strange Days at Blake Holsey High) has been cast as the lead of the Syfy drama pilot Three Inches, which revolves around a twenty-something slacker named Walter (Reid) who gains the ability to move objects three inches with his mind after he is struck by lightning. Walter then brings together a group of other heroes, each of whom has a similarly lackluster power.
MADE-FOR-TV MOVIE
Joe Flanigan (Stargate: Atlantis) is currently filming a new Syfy movie called The Other Side, where he will star as the character Colonel Sam Synn. The premise is that a device has been made to glimpse other realities, but it doesn’t quite work the way it’s supposed to. Instead, it transports the group observing the first presentation to an alternate reality. The group must work together to repair the damaged machine if they have any hope of getting back home, all the while fighting man-eating creatures that inhabit this world. The movie co-stars John Rhys-Davis.
Disney has assembled the cast of what is being groomed to be its next original movie/musical franchise, Lemonade Mouth, mixing young Disney series stars and unknowns with TV veterans Tisha Campbell-Martin and Christopher McDonald. The story follows five disparate high school students who meet in detention and form a band. The cast includes Bridgit Mendler (Good Luck Charlie), Adam Hicks (Zeke and Luther), Hayley Kiyoko (Wizards of Waverly Place), Naomi Scott (Life Bites) and newcomer Blake Michael. Nick Roux and Chris Brochu will play rival band Mudslide Crush. Campbell-Martin will play music teacher Miss Reznick and McDonald will play Principal Brenigan. The movie is slated for a 2011 premiere.
BOX OFFICE
The end is nigh: The final story in The Twilight Saga – Breaking Dawn – has gotten its release date for the last story in the franchise: November 16, 2012. Mark your calendars, Twi-hards. And, as a reminder, November 18, 2011 is the release date for part 1 of Breaking Dawn.
Kurt Russell will play a high-school football coach in Touchback with Brian Presley playing an out of luck farmer/fireman whose promising football career came to an end years before due to an injury he sustained during a playoff game. One day he finds himself thrust back into reliving that game and must make the choice of which way he wants his life to go. Melanie Lynsky and Christine Lahti also star.
Brian Geraghty, Josh Peck and Margarita Levieva will star in the box office movie ATM, which is about three young co-workers who make a late-night visit to an ATM and end up in a desperate fight for their lives when they become trapped by an unknown man.
Bruce Willis is set to star while Sigourney Weaver is “in talks” to star in an upcoming thriller called The Cold Light of Day. Henry Cavill is already set to play a young American whose family is kidnapped on vacation in Spain. He has hours to find them, and unravels a government conspiracy. Willis will play his father, who has secrets of his own. Weaver is in talks to play the villainess, a role that was originally written for a male actor.
Amy Adams and Viggo Mortensen have joined the cast of the box office movie On the Road, which is an adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s acclaimed 1957 novel about Kerouac’s years traveling all over North America with his friend Neal Cassady on a cross-country bohemian odyssey. Garrett Hedlund and Sam Riley play the pair. Adams will play Jane, the emotionally damaged junkie wife of Old Bull Lee (Mortensen). Kristen Stewart and Kirsten Dunst also star.
Tim Blake Nelson has joined the true story romance drama Everybody Loves Whales, which centers on a love story between a non-profit aid worker (Drew Barrymore) and a journalist (John Krasinski) set against the story of three California Gray Whales that were found trapped under the ice of the Arctic Circle in October 1988. The subsequent rescue attempt became a global event as scores of journalists converged on the nearby Eskimo town of Barrow, Alaska, and the U.S. and Soviet governments enjoyed a rare moment of collaboration. Nelson will play a wildlife expert who works in the wildlife-management office. Kristen Bell also stars.
Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman are in negotiations to team for a third time in the upcoming inspirational animal box office movie Dolphin Tale, which is inspired by the true story of a dolphin named Winter who was rescued off the Florida coast. The film will follow a boy who befriends an injured dolphin who lost her tail in a crab trap. The boy motivates everyone around him to help save the dolphin by creating a prosthetic appendage to replace its tail, and the mammal’s strong survival instincts become an inspiration to people with special needs. Judd plays the boy’s mother while Freeman is a doctor who creates a prosthetic limb for Winter. Harry Connick Jr. is in talks to play a vet who rescues the mammal.
Taraji P. Henson (The Karate Kid and Benjamin Button) has joined the sports drama movie From the Rough, which is inspired by Dr. Catana Starks, the first female head coach of an NCAA Division 1 men’s team. Henson would play a fictionalized version of Starks called Cassandra Turner.
William Petersen (CSI) has accepted his first screen role since leaving the long-running series. This will be his first part in a feature in 10 years. He joins Adrien Brody in the indie drama Detachment, which centers on a normally detached substitute teacher (Brody) who becomes invested in the students and teachers at the troubled school where he works and grows close to a homeless teen working as a prostitute. Petersen will play a history-teaching Vietnam vet who causes a stir when he shows a gay film in class to promote tolerance. Christina Hendricks (Mad Men) is a fellow teacher and potential love interest for Brody’s character, while Lucy Liu (Ally McBeal) is the school’s frustrated psychologist.
Robin Wright is in negotiations for a major role in David Fincher’s adaptation of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Wright is expected to sign a deal to play the part of Erika Berger, the editor-in-chief of Millennium magazine and long-time lover of protagonist Mikael Blomkvist, who will be played by Daniel Craig.
Meanwhile, Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgard is in negotiations to play Martin Vanger in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.
Screen legend Debbie Reynolds has been cast as Grandma Mazur in the box office movie One for the Money, starring opposite Katherine Heigl. This movie is the first installment of Janet Evanovich’s popular novels. Grandma Mazur is the sassy, young-at-heart and gun-shooting maternal grandmother of protagonist Stephanie Plum (Heigl), who’s fallen on hard times and turned to bounty hunting.
Actor Ethan Hawke is set to star in the indie drama movie A Late Quartet, which follows a string quartet whose members have performed together for 25 years. They’re forced to adjust when one of them retires due to Parkinson’s disease. Hawke will play the second violinist whose desire for more solos leads him to have an affair with his jogging partner, a decision that leaves him remorseful and saddened by the state of his marriage.
CASTING SCOOP
Oscar nominee Terrence Howard has joined the cast of the new NBC drama Law & Order: Los Angeles, portraying a district attorney. He will share the position with Alfred Molina (Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time), who plays Deputy District Attorney Morales, in alternate episodes.
Oscar nominee Elliott Gould will guest star in the second episode of CSI this fall, playing an old-school casino mogul who crosses paths with the team when one of his casinos becomes the crime scene.
Eddie Cibrian has landed a multi-episode arc on the new NBC drama Chase, which follows a group of U.S. Marshals. He will play a bounty hunter for at least two episodes. The arc is scheduled to begin in October. The series stars Kelli Giddish and Cole Hauser and is set to premiere on September 20 at 10 PM.
Jennifer Love Hewitt will guest star in an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, playing a woman named Vicki who has been raped multiple times and is afraid to leave her house.
Nathan Lane will guest star in an early season 2 episode of Modern Family, playing Cam’s flamboyant friend Pepper. Justin Kirk will reprise his role as Mitchell’s potential boss.
Janet Montgomery (Entourage) has joined the cast of Human Target in the recurring role of Ames, an experienced thief who ends up assisting Chance, Winston, and Guerrero on missions.
Wanda De Jesus (CSI: Miami) has joined the cast of the new series Law & Order: Los Angeles. She will play Arleen Gonzales, the cool and authoritative captain of the Robbery Homicide Division. Regina Hall (Ally McBeal) will play beautiful and brainy ADA Eva Price.
Rebecca Creskoff (Hung) will guest star in an October episode of Desperate Housewives, but details of her role are being kept under wraps, but it’s believed Creskoff will be playing a new adversary of Susan’s (Teri Hatcher).
Stacy Keibler (What About Brian) will guest star in the third episode of Chuck this fall, succeeding Olivia Munn and Isaiah Mustafa as undercover agent Greta, a new recurring character that will be played by a different actor every week.
Billy Dee Williams will guest star in an upcoming episode of White Collar, starring as “Ford,” an old friend of June’s (Diahann Carroll) late husband, Byron. Fresh from a prison stint, Ford shows up on Neal’s doorstep. Immediately, Neal suspects that con man Byron’s equally shifty pal has an agenda and is looking for more than a trip down memory lane.
Actress Sienna Guillory will portray a lab tech named Kacey Monohan on CSI when it returns in the fall.
Courtney Ford (Dexter) has landed the potentially recurring role of Vanessa, a grad student at Duke who helps Damon, Alaric, and Elena go through Isobel’s old research on The Vampire Diaries.
Chuck has recruited Lou Ferrigno (The Incredible Hulk) to guest star in the 2nd episode of the new season. He will play the bodyguard of an evil spy/model (ex-Victoria’s Secret Angel Karolina Kurkova).
Edward James Olmos (Battlestar Galatica) will appear in an episode of CSI: NY. The episode will be about gang turf wars and Olmos will play a former gang leader — newly released from prison — who goes head-to-head with Mac Taylor (Gary Sinise), who had put him away 15 years earlier. The episode will air in October.
Joanna Cassidy (Boston Legal) has joined the cast of the new ABC fall drama Body of Proof. She will appear in the third episode and play the yet-to-be-named mother of Dana Delany’s medical examiner, Dr. Megan Hunt. Body of Proof premieres on September 24 at 9 PM.
Timothy Olyphant (Justified) will be playing a rival paper salesman with a deep, dark secret on NBC’s The Office when he drops by next year: He used to date Pam!”
Patrick Gallagher (Glee) will be joining hit TNT comedy Men of a Certain Age, playing a mechanic who works in the car dealership owned by Andre Braugher’s character, Owen. It has yet to be decided whether his appearance on the series will be a recurring role or just a guest stint.
Chad Allen (Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman) will guest star in an upcomoing episode of Dexter, portraying a killer who is hunted down by the show’s title character this fall. The drama returns on September 26.
Malcolm McDowell will return to The Mentalist this fall, reprising his role of Britt Stiles, the leader of the Visualize Self-Realization Center. There is no word yet on how many episodes he will appear on next season, though. The Mentalist returns on September 23.
Rob Morrow (Numb3rs) will be seen this fall as a lawyer on The Whole Truth, but before that show premieres, he’ll get practice in the same occupation on Entourage, as he is set to guest star on the HBO comedy as Ari’s attorney. The actor will defend Ari against a charge of sexual harassment.
Christopher McDonald (Family Law) has landed the recurring role of Thomas “Tommy” Jefferson, a fast-talking, attention-seeking lawyer whose office is perma-lit for press conferences on the new David E. Kelley-NBC legal drama Harry’s Law.
Richard Schiff (The West Wing) is joining the new CBS drama Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior in the role of FBI Director Jack Fickler. He will make his first appearance in the second episode of the spin-off, which is slated to launch at midseason.
Broadway star Laura Bell Bundy has landed a recurring role on How I Met Your Mother. She will play Robin’s new co-host on Metro News One.
Looks like Jane Badler will be returning to her infamous role in V this fall. Executive Producer Scott Rosenbaum let slip at Comic Con that he’d be introducing Anna’s mother in V’s November season premiere — and that her name would be Diana. When V returns, we will learn that Anna (Morena Baccarin) is keeping her mother prisoner on the mother ship in a never-before-seen section that has been designed to look like the Visitors’ home planet.
Andie McDowell and Rosa Blasi (Make It or Break It and Strong Medicine) will guest star in the new FOX fall drama Lone Star. MacDowell is expected to play the love interest of Jon Voigt’s oil tycoon. Blasi is set to play the role of Blake, the Lady Macbeth-esque trophy wife of Mark Deklin’s character, Trammell.
James Marsters (Buffy) is looking to reprise his role as Captain John Hart on Torchwood, which is jumping from BBC America to Starz for its upcoming fourth season.
Monique Curnen (CSI: Miami and Sons of Anarchy) – will recur in the fall as Detective Wallowski, a new love interest for Tim Roth’s character on the FOX drama Lie to Me.
Bronson Pinchot (Perfect Strangers) will appear in the second episode of Chuck, playing Victor, a tacky and audacious wannabe-matchmaker Chuck (Zachary Levi) meets at Milan’s Fashion Week. Then two episodes later, Chuck goes on vacation with Armand Assante reprising his January 2010 role as Premier Alejandro Goya, the amorous leader of Costa Gravas. Indebted to Captain Awesome (Ryan McPartlin) for saving his life last season, the Generalissimo shows his gratitude by inviting the gang to his beautiful island.
RUMOR PATROL
Melissa Leo is circling while Dermot Mulroney, Kyle Gallner, Michael Angarano and Steven Root are all in talks to join the Kevin Smith political horror movie Red State.
Carol Burnett is rumored to be playing Sue Sylvester’s mother on the Glee, but this has yet to be fully confirmed by any news outlet.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
The following new movies and the following new shows will air this weekend:
The Syfy movie Frost Giant will air on Saturday, August 7 at 9 PM. The movie stars Dean Cain and Lucy Brown.
The Lifetime Movie Network will debut the movie The Devil’s Teardrops at 8 PM on Sunday, August 8. The movie is about a serial murder case that is investigated by a handwriting specialist in the midst of a custody battle.
NOTE: This movie will reair on Wednesday, August 11 at 8 PM.
The Teen Choice Awards will air on FOX on Monday, August 9 at 8 PM.
Here are the new episodes of the dramas that will be airing this coming week:
Saturday, August 7:
Persons Unknown on NBC at 8 PM
Being Human on BBC America at 9 PM
Sunday, August 8:
Leverage on TNT at 9 PM
Scoundrels on ABC at 9 PM
The Gates on ABC at 10 M
The Glades on A&E at 10 PM
Rubicon on AMC at 9 PM
Mad Men on AMC at 10 PM
True Blood on HBO at 9 PM
Drop Dead Diva on Lifetime at 9 PM
Army Wives on Lifetime at 10 PM
Monday, August 9:
The Secret Life of the American Teenager on ABC Family Channel at 8 PM
Huge on ABC Family Channel at 9 PM
The Closer on TNT at 9 PM
Rizzoli & Isles on TNT at 10 PM
Tuesday, August 10:
Pretty Little Liars on ABC Family Channel at 8 PM
Make It Or Break It on ABC Family Channel at 9 PM
HawthoRNe on TNT at 9 PM
Memphis Beat on TNT at 10 PM
Rescue Me on FX at 10 PM
Warehouse 13 on Syfy at 9 PM
White Collar on USA at 9 PM
Covert Affairs on USA at 10 PM
Unnatural History on Cartoon Network at 8 PM
Wednesday, August 11:
Psych on USA at 10 PM
Dark Blue on TNT at 9 PM
Thursday, August 12:
Rookie Blue on ABC at 9 PM
Burn Notice on USA Network at 9 PM
Royal Pains on USA Network at 10 PM
Friday, August 13:
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!
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