Recaps
The Weekly Round-Up for Sept. 6 to 10
Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:
NEWS
Paul McCartney, Oprah Winfrey, country legend Merle Haggard, composer and lyricist Jerry Herman, and director and choreographer Bill T. Jones are this year’s recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors.
Universal Pictures and NBC will produce a three part film franchise and a TV series based on the Stephen King seven-book The Dark Tower collection. Akiva Goldsman, Ron Howard and Brian Grazer will executive produce with King listed as a producer. The first season of the TV series will debut shortly after the first movie. The book collection is an epic fantasy series that spans multiple dimensions and eras.
The Paley Center for Media is launching a television awards show in May 2012 which will be broadcast from New York City to coincide with upfront presentations, the time when the networks traditionally unveil their fall lineups to advertisers.
TELEVISION NEWS
If you miss the debuts of the new CBS shows Hawaii Five-0 and Blue Bloods on their original nights you can watch the rebroadcast of each on September 25 at 8 and 9 PM respectively. NBC will do the same thing for their new shows The Event and Chase, rebroadcasting their pilot episodes also on September 25 at 8 and 9 PM as well. ABC will reair the debut of The Whole Truth on September 24. Lone Star the new FOX drama will be reaired on September 25 at 11 PM.
The second half of season one of Caprica will premiere on Tuesday, October 5 at 10 PM.
The third season premiere of Sanctuary will now launch in its former timeslot on Friday, October 15 at 10 PM.
The new season of In Treatment will kick off on October 25
CMT will be bringing fans of the classic TV series The Dukes of Hazzard a real treat. The martahon started tonight (Sept. 10) at 8 PM and lasting for 33 hours, the country music network will air a marathon of episodes. The show will then move to its regular timeslot on CMT at 7 PM on September 13.
DEVELOPMENT NEWS
Feature writer John Glenn (Journey to the Center of the Earth) is developing two new drama pilots for CBS and FOX. The CBS pilot is called Treadstone, a drama about spies, working for a secretive corporation featured in the Robert Ludlum novels. While the FOX pilot is yet to be titled, but is about vigilantes in New York City.
Both networks – TNT and TBS – have some new pilots ordered. TNT has the new crime procedurals planned: Perception (the working title) is about Dr. Geoffrey Pierce, an eccentric neuroscientist who uses his unique outlook to help the federal government solve complex cases.
An Untitled Allan Loeb Project – Based on the novel The Rabbit Factory by Marshall Karp is about a recently widowed police Detective Mike Lomax and his newly married partner, Terry Biggs who delve into a world of mystery, intrigue and occasional hijinks. Dallas is an update of the long-running series, focusing on the offspring of bitter rivals and brothers JR and Bobby Ewing, who clash over the future of the Ewing dynasty while the fate of Southfork itself weighs in the balance. Meanwhile, TBS is working on a comedic detective series currently called Brain Trust, which is about Detective Billy Doyle, whose career and life have hit rock bottom after he accidentally ends his partner’s career.
J.J. Abrams (the man behind Felicity, Alias and Lost) is currently shopping a crime-thriller series created by Jonah Nolan, brother and frequent collaborator of The Dark Knight/Inception auteur Christopher Nolan. This would mark the first small-screen foray for Nolan, who not only co-wrote The Dark Knight and The Prestige but also penned the short story on which Memento was based.
Diane Farr (Numb3rs and Rescue Me) and Peter Tolan have separately received script orders for two one-hour dramas at FOX. Farr’s project, based on her upcoming semi-autobiographical novel “You Can’t Love One of Them,” is said to focus on “several interracial couples living in the South in a post-Obama world.” Meanwhile, Tolan has sold a script for an untitled Glen Mazzara drama that will revolve around a burnt-out doctor who joins a neighborhood medical clinic.
MADE FOR TV MOVIE NEWS
The made-for-TV movie Red, starring Felicia Day (Buffy, The Guild and Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along-Blog), Kavan Smith (Stargate Atlantis) and Stephen McHattie (The Jesse Stone movies), will air on Syfy on October 30 at 9 PM, as part of the network’s 31 Days of Halloween event. The movie is about a descendant of Little Red Riding Hood who brings her fiancé home to meet her family and tell him about the family business – they are werewolf hunters.
Celebrated director Jane Campion is heading to the small screen with a six-hour mini-series for the BBC. The story follows a New Zealand small-town detective brought in to solve the case of a twelve-year-old who gets pregnant and disappears.
BOX OFFICE NEWS
Liam Neeson has joined the cast of the box office movie Battleship, based on the Hasbro board game that centers around a battle on land, sea and the sky between earth’s forces and attacking aliens with most of the action set on the USS John Paul Jones. Neeson will play Admiral Shane, a navy admiral and the future father-in-law of the lead officer character (Taylor Kitsch). Brooklyn Decker stars as Shane’s daughter, Alexander Skarsgard as the brother of Kitsch’s character, and Rihanna as a weapons analyst.
Ciaran Hinds and Janet McTeer have joined the cast of The Woman in Black, the adaptation of Susan Hill’s gothic supernatural horror novel that follows a young solicitor (Daniel Radcliffe) who takes up a short residence at Eel Marsh House, a desolate and secluded coastal mansion cut off at high tide from the nearby market town in rural England. Hinds will play the local land-owner Mr. Daily who counsels the solicitor as he investigates, while McTeer will play Daily’s wife.
Andrea Bowen (Desperate Housewives) will star in the independent film called Preachers’ Daughter, which is about a woman who reunites with her estranged religious small-town minister father.
Jonathan Rhys-Meyers (The Tudors) will star as a Jewish diplomat who romances a married Swiss woman in the movie Belle Du Seigneur.
A biopic about actor turned politician Ronald Reagan is in the works for a possible release date in 2011. The movie is expected to begin with the 1981 assassination attempt and will tell Reagan’s story through flashbacks and flash-forwards.
Christina Hendricks (Mad Men) has joined the cast of the thriller Drive in which Ryan Gosling plays a Hollywood stuntman who moonlights as a freelance getaway driver during robberies and ends up on the run with a contract on his head and an ex-con’s girlfriend (Carey Mulligan) in his car.
Malin Akerman (Watchmen) has signed on to the CIA thriller The Numbers Station with Ethan Hawke playing a disgraced black ops agent tasked with a dead-end job of protecting a young woman (Akerman) in the middle of the Nevada desert. When the two come under attack, they have to fight to stay alive.
Scott Speedman, Lily Cole (The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus), Sarah Gadon (Happy Town and Being Erica) and Sarah Bolger (The Tudors) have joined the cast of the gothic horror called The Moth Diaries, which is based on Rachel Klein’s novel. Bolger plays a young girl in an elite boarding school who befriends two fellow students (Gadon, Cole) and develops a crush on her English professor (Speedman).
British actor Eddie Redmayne (The Pillars of the Earth) has joined the cast of the movie My Week with Marilyn, which follows the story, based on a diary by Colin Clark, a young actor who worked for Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh) when the veteran actor shepherded Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams) around London while she shot “The Prince and the Showgirl” in 1956. Clark and Marilyn shared many confidences and became close despite her recent marriage to playwright Arthur Miller. Redmayne will play Clark, while Judi Dench, Zoe Wanamaker, Richard Clifford and Philip Jackson also star.
Britt Robertson (Life Unexpected) has joined the cast of the box office movie Scream 4. There are no details on her role, but the movie is expected to open sometime in April of 2011.
Joel McHale (Community) has joined the cast of Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World, starring as a spy-hunting reporter married to Jessica Alba’s character, who is a retired spy turned housewife and stepmother to his kids who will become the new titular Spy Kids.
CASTING SCOOP
Actor Ken Jenkins (Scrubs) will be playing the father of Courteney Cox’s character on Cougar Town this fall. There are no details, however, on the story details or an air date.
Shawn and Aaron Ashmore (the twin actors known for their roles in the X-Men film franchise, Smallville, and Veronica Mars) are set to appear in season three of Fringe this fall. The duo are set to guest star in an episode slated to air in November. No word on just who or what they’ll be playing but it’s safe to say that twins will play into the equation in some capacity.
Actor Sam Anderson (Lost) will guest star on NCIS in the second episode of the new fall season, as Walter Carmichael, a middle school teacher whose classroom becomes a crime scene when one of his students is kidnapped. The episode also features actor William Devane as the grandfather of the abducted girl. NCIS will return to CBS on September 21 at 8 PM.
Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica) is joining the cast of CSI in a potential recurring role, playing Detective Reed, a smart investigator who doesn’t do well with sensitivity. Her first episode is slated to air during November sweeps. CSI will be back on CBS on September 23 at 9 PM.
Actress Celia Weston (Desperate Housewives) will appear as the down-home country mama for Cameron (Eric Stonestreet) in the ABC comedy Modern Family.
Robert Englund (the original Freddy Krueger himself) will guest star in Chuck during its Halloween episode. He will play Dr. Stanley Wheelwright, an evil scientist who can make your waking life a nightmare. Chuck will return on September 20. (Michael Ausiello at Entertainment Weekly)
There will be a Twin Peaks-type reunion on Psych when Sheryl Lee and Sherilyn Fenn (Audrey), appear in the episode alongside Dana Ashbrook. All three will play residents of Dual Spires, a quirky Northern California town that has been rocked by the death of a high school student. Log Lady Catherine Coulson will also make a cameo as the mysterious Woman with Wood. Ray Wise will also reprise his role as Father Westley. Lenny Von Dohlen and Robyn Lively will also make cameos. The episode, co-written by star James Roday, will air during Psych‘s fall run.
Legendary actor Hal Holbrook will appear in a multi-episode arc of the new NBC series The Event, playing a mysterious character by the name of Dempsey. The show has its premiere on September 20.
Three interns will shadow Gibbs and his team on NCIS during the second episode of the new fall season. Playing the wannabe investigators will be Zack Lively (Greek), David Magidoff (Veronica Mars) and newcomer Elizabeth Wright Shapiro.
Annabella Sciorra (The Sopranos) will guest star in the new ABC legal drama The Whole Truth, as a high-fashion designer who is accused of murdering her young lover. The Whole Truth debuts on September 22 at 10 PM.
Marisol Nichols (The Gates) has signed on to guest star in an upcoming episode of NCIS: Los Angeles, playing Callen’s (Chris O’Donnell) ex-partner, Tracy Keller. She will debut in the sixth new episode.
Jamie Ray Newman (Eastwick) may be stirring up some trouble for newlyweds Cate and Ryan on Life Unexpected. Tune in to the season premiere of the CW series on September 14 at 9 PM.
Paula Patton (Precious) is out and Melissa Sagemiller (Raising the Bar) is in as the new assistant district attorney on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Specifics on her character have not been made available, but she is slated to first appear in November.
When Glee airs their special tribute to the Rocky Horror Picture Show in the episode slated for October 26, special appearances by some original cast members will be featured. Who are the originals coming in for these appearances? It would seem singer-actor Meat Loaf and Barry Bostwick are set to appear. The pair will play TV station managers who have an “interesting proposal” for Jane Lynch’s Sue Sylvester. Susan Sarandon said earlier this week that she would be interested in participating as well, but no deals have been done.
Jennifer Morrison (House) will play a major new love interest for Ted in the CBS comedy How I Met Your Mother.
RUMOR PATROL
Michael Caine is in final negotiations to join the box office sequel Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, which has Josh Hutcherson reprising his role from the first movie (Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D) as a young man who, along with his mom’s boyfriend (Dwayne Johnson), goes on a trip to a mythical island to find his missing grandfather. Caine will play said grandfather who gets involved in several action and chase sequences including one involving giant bees.
Reportedly, singer-actress Hilary Duff is in the running to play Gwen Stacy in the as-yet-untitled Spider-Man reboot. There has been no confirmation on casting for this movie yet except for lead actor Andrew Garfield.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
The following new movies and new or returning series will air this weekend and throughout next week:
The Hallmark Channel movie Fairfield Road will debut on Saturday, September 11 at 9 PM.
Mandrake, the Syfy movie, will air at 9 PM on Saturday, September 11.
The CW shows 90210 and Gossip Girl are back with their season premieres on Monday, September 13 at 8 and 9 PM respectively.
Parenthood will have its season premiere on Tuesday, September 14 at 10 PM.
One Tree Hill and Life Unexpected will be back with their season premieres on Tuesday, September 14 at 8 and 9 PM respectively.
The new NBC series Outlaw will debut on Wednesday, September 15 at 10 PM.
Here are the new episodes of the comedies and dramas that will be airing this coming week:
Saturday, September 11:
Being Human on BBC America at 9 PM
Sunday, September 12:
The Gates on ABC at 10 PM
The Glades on A&E at 10 PM
Rubicon on AMC at 9 PM
Mad Men on AMC at 10 PM
My Boys on TBS at 10 and 10:30 PM
True Blood on HBO at 9 PM (Finale)
Hung on HBO at 10 PM
Entourage on HBO at 10:30 PM
Monday, September 13:
The Closer on TNT at 9 PM
Rizzoli & Isles on TNT at 10 PM
Weeds on Showtime at 10 PM
The Big C on Showtime at 10:30 PM
Tuesday, September 14:
Melissa & Joey on ABC Family Channel at 8 PM
Sons of Anarchy on FX at 10 PM
Warehouse 13 on Syfy at 9 PM (Part 1 of 2 Finale)
Covert Affairs on USA at 9 and 10 PM (Two Hour Finale)
Wednesday, September 15:
Hellcats on the CW at 9 PM
Dark Blue on TNT at 9 and 10 PM (Finale)
Thursday, September 16:
The Vampire Diaries on the CW at 8 PM
Nikita on the CW at 9 PM
Friday, September 17:
Flashpoint on CBS at 10 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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