Recaps
The Weekly Round-Up for Sept. 20 to 24
Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:
NEWS
Andrew Lloyd Webber has finally found his Wizard of Oz: Stage legend Michael Crawford — who originated the role of the Phantom in Webber’s Phantom of the Opera 24 years ago — will take on the role as the ruler of Oz in the forthcoming London-based production. This is a rather buzzed-about London production that finds the British Webber producing and writing new songs with regular collaborator Tim Rice. The show’s Dorothy was found via the BBC talent-search show Over the Rainbow.
TELEVISION NEWS
Actor Andy Whitfield is departing the Starz TV series Spartacus: Blood and Sand again due to his cancer diagnosis. Even though he was in remission and returned to the show, that is not the case now. Best wishes are extended to Whitfield during this difficult time.
The HBO series Boardwalk Empire just premiered and already it has been given a second season pick-up, but with the series getting 7.1 million viewers for its first time on the air, I guess it stands to reason they would renew.
Showtime announced yesterday they are picking up the ½ hour shows Weeds and The Big C for another season each. Both shows will return with new episodes for these seasons in 2011.
USA Network has closed a deal to bring Law & Order: Criminal Intent back for an 8-episode 10th season with the series’ original star Vincent D’Onofrio, who will return as Detective Robert Goren, a role he played for the first eight seasons. Discussions are under way with Kathryn Erbe and other CI alums (but not Jeff Goldblum, who recently announced his exit) to come back for the show’s farewell season.
Showtime has officially announced the debut date for their new shows Shameless and Episodes as well as the return of Californication. All three shows will air on January 9, starting at 9 PM with Californication followed by Episodes and Shameless closing the night at 10 PM.
Lifetime has renewed its two hit show Army Wives and Drop Dead Diva for their fifth and third seasons, respectively, to premiere in 2011, during which 13 all-new episodes of each program will air on the network.
The CW has ordered 6 more scripts for both their new show Hellcats and long-running series One Tree Hill.
DEVELOPMENT NEWS
Callie Thorne (Rescue Me) and Marc Blucas (Buffy) have landed the lead roles in the hour-long USA Network pilot Necessary Roughness. The potential series, which is inspired by a true story, centers on a female shrink (Thorne) who becomes the therapist for a professional football team. After succeeding beyond expectations, she is sought after by other athletes, musicians, politicians, and those living in the spotlight who all want her unique brand of tough-love therapy. Blucas will play the team’s hunky trainer and a romantic foil for Thorne.
Showtime is near to making a pilot-order deal for the drama Homeland, which is based on the Israeli format “Prisoners of War.” The domestic version centers on the discovery of a U.S. soldier who was presumed killed in Iraq 10 years ago. The soldier returns home, but questions arise as to whether he truly was a wartime POW or a member of a sleeper cell sent to cause the next terrorist attack.
J. J. Abrams and frequent collaborators Josh Applebaum and Andre Nemec are pitching a comedic drama to the networks that would have Lost alums Michael Emerson and Terry O’Quinn playing former black-ops agents. Nothing is set in stone nor has any network stepped forward yet, though. Meanwhile, his yet-to-be-named Michael Emerson and Terry O’Quinn (both stars on Lost) series has been given a pilot commitment by ABC.
Syfy is developing the drama script Metadocs, which is based on the Antarctic Press comic book series created by Joe Dunn and Rod Espinoza that follows a team of specialists tasked with treating a small percentage of the world’s population who have become ‘afflicted’ with extraordinary abilities.
NBC has picked up a pilot about a CIA agent. The pilot called Legends is about a government operative with an uncanny gift for “legends” — what spooks call false identities — and is sent on a variety of missions while simultaneously coping with the possibility that his own identity may be a “legend” too. The pilot is based on the novel of the same name by Robert Littell.
ABC has placed a pilot order with Jerry Bruckheimer Television and Warner Bros. TV for a project based on the travel memoir The Lost Girls: Three Friends. Four Continents. One Unconventional Detour Around the World. The book follows the real-life travels of three Manhattan women who decided to quit their jobs and embark on a yearlong trip around the world.
Pt. Dume, the new series from Baywatch creator Gregory Bonnan has been sold to Tribune Broadcasting stations in many major markets and will debut on weekends in Fall 2011. Set in Malibu, the series follows the story of a group of teenage delinquents who are forced to take part in a Coast Guard training program. The series has been cleared in 30% of the country and will appear on Tribune stations in several major cities including New York, Los Angeles, Miami and Seattle.
The new development projects by J.J. Abrams have been picked up. His Alcatraz project, which he is working on with Elizabeth Sarnoff (Lost) has been picked up as a pilot by FOX. The show is about the mysteries and secrets of the most infamous prison of all time.
The new pilot Exit Strategy from Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (the men behind Fringe and the new Hawaii Five-0) has received a pilot commitment from FOX. The series is described as a high octane procedural set in the world of CIA agents who are sent in to “fix” operations gone bad.
A period racing drama called Kings of Speed is being developed for the cable station Starz by Wolfgang Petersen and Ron Shelton. This will potentially be a ten-hour limited series focusing on the international automobile racing circuit of the 1950s and 19960s, Enzo Ferrari, and the underground car culture of Southern California.
Courteney Cox and David Arquette are reportedly close to landing a new drama at ABC centering on the stories of 911 operators. No other details were given.
Victor Garber (Alias and Eli Stone) has joined the USA Network pilot A Legal Mind as a senior lawyer.
MADE FOR TV MOVIE NEWS
Christine Taylor (Zoolander) stars as cynical scrooge and jaded journalist Ann Wahl who is forced by her editor Zoe (Vivica A. Fox) to travel to a Christmas-themed town to meet a man whose passion for Christmas traditions has transformed a town in the made-for-TV movie Farewell Mr. Kringle to air on the Hallmark Channel on December 4 at 8 PM. The cast also includes Christopher Wiehl (Jericho) and W. Morgan Sheppard (Love’s Abiding Joy).
Jacqueline Bisset will star in the Hallmark Channel movie An Old Fashioned Christmas on December 11 at 8 PM, reprising her role of Isabella Crawford in this sequel to the movie An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving that came out in 2008. This sequel continues the narrative of Isabella (Bisset) and Tilly (Catherine Steadman of The Tudors) traveling the globe so the wealthy grandmother can teach her talented writer/granddaughter the nuances of character development and refined living.
BOX OFFICE NEWS
Kate Beckinsale will star opposite Mark Wahlberg in Contraband, which centers on a security guard and former alcohol smuggler who is tempted back into illicit business by a dubious friend after encountering financial problems.
Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights), Ron Eldard, AJ Michalka (Secretariat) and Elle Fanning (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) [and little sister of Dakota Fanning] have joined the super-secret movie being done by J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg called Super 8. No details are available on their roles or what the movie is really about but rumor has it the film centers on three siblings who discover footage of an alien.
Spanish actor Alex Gonzalez has joined the cast of the box office movie X-Men: First Class, playing Janos Quested aka Riptide, a mutant with the ability to spin his body at incredible speeds. He can also generate calcium growth in his bones which causes spikes to protrude from his skin. These abilities, when combined together, allow him to shoot his bone spikes at high enough speeds to punch through steel.
Jodelle Ferland, Samantha Ferris and William B. Davis have joined the suspense thriller The Tall Man. which features star Jessica Biel as a mother whose child is kidnapped by a shadowy figure known only as The Tall Man. She begins an intense hunt to find and retrieve her child.
Emily Blunt is attached to the box office comedy Engagement Games that follows three sisters in one family who all get engaged at the same time. The only catch is that only one of them can get their mother’s cherished wedding ring. Thus their father comes up with the solution of holding a ‘Family Olympics’ where the winner will score the ring.
Carla Gugino will star opposite Jim Carrey in the modern adaptation of Mr. Popper’s Penguins, which is based on Richard and Florence Atwater’s classic 1938 children’s book. Carrey will star as a powerful New York businessman who suddenly inherits six penguins, which proceed to disrupt his personal and professional life. Along the way, he learns the value of family and friendship — both human and otherwise.
Alexis Bledel (Gilmore Girls) will join Saoirse Ronan as the teenage assassins Violet & Daisy. The story sees the pair lured into what is supposed to be just another quick and easy job, only to find complications as the man they’re supposed to kill is not what they expected.
Guy Pearce (Memento) and Cloris Leachman (The Women) have joined the cast of the box office comedy Mis-Fits, which follows a necro-detective who goes in search of people’s lost, dead relatives. Catalina Sandino Moreno (Twilight: Eclipse), Seymour Cassel (The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou) and Virginie Ledoyen (The Beach) have also joined the cast.
Leslie Mann (Funny People) has landed one of the lead female roles in The Change-Up, which finds Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds in a classic body switch story where a responsible family man (Bateman) trades bodies with his lazy, man-child of a best friend (Reynolds). Olivia Wilde also stars.
Elizabeth Banks has joined the cast of the crime thriller Man on a Ledge, starring Sam Worthington as a cop falsely imprisoned who escapes after being let out for his father’s funeral and stands on a hotel ledge threatening suicide. At the same time his brother (Jamie Bell) plans the heist of a jewelry store across the street while his brother’s actions are keeping everyone occupied. Banks will play the NYPD crisis negotiator who tries to talk the cop, with whom she has a past relationship, down from his precarious perch.
Chloe Moretz (Let Me In and Hit Girl) will take the lead role of Emily the Strange in the adaptation of the cult fave Dark Horse comic series of the same name.
Kimberly Peirce (Director of Boys Don’t Cry and Stop-Loss) has been chosen by Universal Pictures to direct Wicked Lovely, the adaptation of the first book in the best-selling young adult fantasy series by Melissa Marr. The film centers on a teenage girl, Aislinn, who has seen dangerous faeries her entire life and must go against everything she was taught to confront a world she was raised to fear.
Former Veronica Mars star, Kristen Bell, has told The Hollywood Reporter that she would self-finance a feature film version of her dearly departed noir drama IF Warner Bros. would release the rights to Veronica Mars. At this point, though, Warner Bros. feels they will not make any money out of a film version and will not release the movie rights.
Emma Watson (Harry Potter franchise) is in negotiations to join the box office movie My Week With Marilyn, which is based on a diary by Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne), 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. Emma will play Lucy, a wardrobe assistant working behind the scenes during the making of the film who has a few dates with Clark. Dominic Cooper (Mamma Mia), Derek Jacobi, Judi Dench (among others) co-star.
Warner Bros. has snapped up a sci-fi spec script dubbed Expulsion by mystery writer Gregg Hurwitz and set it up with Brad Weston. The story centers on a small band of survivors escaping to a planet beyond the solar system after a terrorist attack destroys Earth.
Billy Zane (Titanic) is to produce and direct the project Photismos (the working title) [which means illumination] is about the relationship between a young man and his uncle and will touch on philosophy, theology, Pythagoras’ theories, geometry….and Frisbees.
Pixar has named its first female director, Brenda Chapman, to direct and write the animated film Brave, which is due out in June 2012. The story follows Merida, a tomboyish royal with a love of archery. After a fight with her mom, Merida makes a decision with some major repercussions for her father’s kingdom. Reese Witherspoon, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson, and Julie Walters are all expected to provide voices for the film.
CASTING SCOOP
Peter Coyote (last seen in FlashForward) will recur in the new fall NBC series Law & Order: Los Angeles, playing the District Attorney overseeing Peter Morales (Alfred Molina) and Joe Dekker (Terrence Howard). The series will debut on September 29 at 10 PM.
Gwyneth Paltrow will be appearing in two episodes of Glee in November, playing a substitute teacher and possible love interest (of sorts) for Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison). She will sing and dance in the show too.
Jay Karnes (The Shield) will have a recurring role in the ABC series V when it returns this fall. He will play FBI agent Chris Bolling, a newly assigned partner for agent Erica Evans (Elizabeth Mitchell). The two have some history, having trained together at Quantico. However, Bolling quickly begins to suspect Erica may have divided loyalties when it comes to her dedication to the Visitor resistance group, the Fifth Column. The second season of V is slated to begin airing in November on ABC.
Jim Gaffigan (My Boys and Flight of the Conchords) will guest star in the season two finale of Royal Pains. The comedian/actor will play Pete Stambleck, a by-the-books park ranger who emerges from the woods one day with a massive personality change and no recollection of the evening before. While the series ran over the summer, it will be back this winter with six new episodes. The finale date for Royal Pains has not been set yet. (Joyce Eng at TV Guide)
Mena Suvari (American Beauty) will appear in an episode of Psych, playing the only surviving victim of the Yin killer, joining Ally Sheedy, who reprises her role as the psychotic Mr. Yang. This is a planned trilogy, comprising of three season finale episodes, all revolving around a mysterious killer and his links to Shawn Spencer. The show’s season 5 finale is set to air sometime in 2011.
Odette Yustman (October Road and the upcoming movie You Again) will appear with off-screen beau Dave Annable in upcoming episodes of Brothers & Sisters as his new love interest.
Lindsay Hartley, real-life wife of Justin Hartley has been cast in the final season of Smallville, playing a woman who takes matters into her own hands. She won’t be working with her husband but she’ll have her hands full with Clark. She will appear in Episode 8, which is titled Abandoned. Smallville is back this Friday at 8 PM on the CW.
Jon Seda (The Pacific and Homicide: Life on the Street) has joined the cast of the HBO drama Treme as a series regular, playing a politically connected developer and venture capitalist from Dallas, who becomes involved in the renewal efforts in post-Katrina New Orleans.
Jason Wiles (Third Watch and Persons Unknown) will guest star on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in an upcoming episode.
Eliza Dushku (Dollhouse) will guest star in at least one upcoming episode of The Big Bang Theory as an FBI agent assigned to conduct a background check on Wolowitz (Simon Helberg) when he needs high-level clearance for a new project.
Serina Swan (Smallville) will guest star in an upcoming episode of Supernatural, playing a news reporter chronicling an unsettling series of suicides. She is to appear in the fourth episode of the new season, which returns starting tomorrow night.
Jorge Garcia (Lost) will guest star on the Matthew Perry midseason comedy, Mr. Sunshine. He will be playing a staffer at the Sunshine Center, a second-rate San Diego sports arena managed by Perry’s self-involved character, Ben. His character will also be added to the retooled pilot.
Abby Brammell (The Unit) will guest star in an upcoming episode of NCIS, playing a bomb tech who becomes linked to a homicide. This episode is slated to air on October 5.
Singer Lyle Lovett will guest star on Castle as Agent Darryl Shafer, a shadowy government figure who detains and interrogates Castle (Fillion) and Beckett (Stana Katic) as they investigate the death of a prominent astrophysicist whose body was found in her car—a victim of explosive decompression. He will appear in this season’s ninth episode.
Emmanuelle Chriqui (Entourage) will guest star on the new Showtime series The Borgias in three episodes as Sancia, the beautiful and seductive Neapolitan princess who marries the Pope’s youngest son Joffre (Aidan Alexander), even though she has her eye on another Borgia brother. The series is a complex, unvarnished portrait of one of history’s most intriguing and infamous dynastic families.
Teri Hatcher (Desperate Housewives and The New Adventures of Lois and Clark) will appear in the final season of Smallville as Lois Lane’s (Erica Durance) deceased mother Ella. This won’t be a creepy back-from-the-dead episode but rather in the episode, Lois discovers old videotapes of her mother.
Summer Glau (Firefly and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) has signed on to guest star in Chuck as one of the many versions of Greta, the Buy More’s rotating undercover agent. She will appear in the eighth episode. Other upcoming Gretas include Stacy Keibler and Isaiah Mustafa. Olivia Munn originated the role in Monday’s season premiere. Glau will next appear opposite David Lyons in the NBC midseason drama The Cape.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
With the fall season fully upon us, there is a lot of programming for which to keep track. The list below includes the following:
All the new and returning shows that will debut this upcoming week
New episodes of shows that have already returned or debuted
Any summer shows that are still finishing up their runs
New movies that are debuting this coming weekend
Reairs of shows from this past week on the major and cable networks
Saturday, September 25:
Hawaii Five-0 on CBS at 8 PM (reair)
Blue Bloods on CBS at 9 PM (reair)
The Event on NBC at 8 PM (reair)
Chase on NBC at 9 PM (reair)
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit at 10 PM (reair)
Boardwalk Empire on HBO at 10 PM (reair)
Maternal Obsession movie on Lifetime at 10 PM (Debut)
Sharktopus on Syfy at 9 PM (Debut)
Sunday, September 26:
Desperate Housewives on ABC at 9 PM (Return)
Brothers & Sisters on ABC at 10 PM (Return)
The Glades on A&E at 10 PM
Rubicon on AMC at 9 PM
Mad Men on AMC at 10 PM
Boardwalk Empire on HBO at 9 PM
Bored to Death on HBO at 10 PM (Return)
Eastbound & Down on HBO at 10:30 PM (Return)
Dexter on Showtime at 9 PM (Return)
Weeds on Showtime at 10 PM (reair)
The Big C on Showtime at 10:30 PM (reair)
Monday, September 27:
Hawaii Five-0 on CBS at 10 PM
Castle on ABC at 10:01 PM
90210 on the CW at 8 PM
Gossip Girl on the CW at 9 PM
House on FOX at 8 PM
Lone Star on FOX at 9 PM
Chuck on NBC at 8 PM
The Event on NBC at 9 PM
Chase on NBC at 10 PM
Weeds on Showtime at 10 PM
The Big C on Showtime at 10:30 PM
The Event on Bravo at 8 PM (reair)
Boardwalk Empire on HBO2 at 8 PM (reair)
Bored to Death on HBO2 at 9 PM (reair)
The Event on Syfy at 8 PM (reair)
Tuesday, September 28:
NCIS on CBS at 8 PM
NCIS: Los Angeles on CBS at 9 PM
The Good Wife on CBS at 10 PM (Return)
No Ordinary Family on ABC at 8 PM (Debut)
Detroit 1-8-7 on ABC at 10 PM
One Tree Hill on the CW at 8 PM
Life Unexpected on the CW at 9 PM
Glee on FOX at 8 PM
Parenthood on NBC at 10 PM
Melissa & Joey on ABC Family Channel at 8 PM
Unnatural History on Cartoon Network at 8 PM
Sons of Anarchy on FX at 10 PM
Stargate Universe on Syfy at 9 PM (Return)
Weeds on Showtime at 9 PM (reair)
The Big C on Showtime at 9:30 PM (reair)
Dexter on Showtime at 10 PM (reair)
Wednesday, September 29:
Criminal Minds on CBS at 9 PM
The Defenders on CBS at 10 PM
The Whole Truth on ABC at 10 PM
Hellcats on the CW at 9 PM
Undercovers on NBC at 8 PM
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit on NBC at 9 PM
Law & Order: Los Angeles on NBC at 10 PM (Debut)
Terriers on FX at 10 PM
Boardwalk Empire on HBO at 8:30 and 10 PM (reairs)
The Big C on Showtime2 at 9 PM (reair)
Weeds on Showtime2 at 9:30 PM (reair)
Thursday, September 30:
CSI on CBS at 9 PM
The Mentalist on CBS at 10 PM
My Generation on ABC at 8 PM
Grey’s Anatomy on ABC at 9 PM
Private Practice on ABC at 10:01 PM
The Vampire Diaries on the CW at 8 PM
Nikita on the CW at 9 PM
Bones on FOX at 8 PM
Fringe on FOX at 9 PM
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia on FX at 10 PM
The League on FX at 10:30 PM
Boardwalk Empire on HB02 at 10 PM (reair)
Dexter on Showtime at 10 PM (reair)
Weeds on Showtime2 at 9 PM (reair)
The Big C on Showtime2 at 9:30 PM (reair)
Friday, October 1:
Medium on CBS at 8 PM
CSI: NY on CBS at 9 PM
Blue Bloods on CBS at 10 PM
No Ordinary Family on ABC at 9 PM (reair)
Smallville on the CW at 8 PM
Supernatural on the CW at 9 PM
Human Target on FOX at 8 PM (Return)
The Good Guys on FOX at 9 PM
Outlaw on NBC at 10 PM
Haven on Syfy at 10 PM
Boardwalk Empire on HBO Signature at 9 PM (reair)
Bored to Death on HBO2 at 9:30 PM (reair)
Weeds on Showtime at 8 PM (reair)
The Big C on Showtime at 8:30 PM (reair)
Dexter on Showtime at 9 PM (reair)
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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