The Weekly Round-Up for March 14 to 18

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

TELEVISION NEWS

On Friday FOX announced they are pulling the sneak peek airing of their “big” new show Terra Nova from the May TV schedule, holding it back for a fall premiere in order for all the special effects to be laid in properly. The season finale of The Chicago Code will now air Monday, May 23 at 9 PM and the season finale of Glee will now air Tuesday, May 24 at 9 PM.

ABC has teamed with Global Television on a gritty new medical drama called The Hot Zone. This new series has yet to be given a debut date, but it has received an order for13 one-hour episodes. The series is set in 2006 at the only military hospital providing advanced surgical care in all of Southern Afghanistan and charts the frantic lives of the hospital’s resident doctors and nurses from Canada, America, the U.K. and other allied countries. The cast includes Elias Koteas (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Michelle Borth (Hawaii Five-0 and The Forgotten) and Luke Mably (The Gates) among others.

Syfy has officially renewed its hit freshman drama Being Human.

The USA Network hit shows White Collar and Covert Affairs will both return with all new episodes, starting on June 7 at 9 and 10 PM respectively. Mark your calendars!

MADE FOR TV MOVIES NEWS

Actress Chloë Sevigny (Big Love) has joined the cast of the upcoming four-hour HBO miniseries about Lizzie Borden, starring in the lead role. The story will follow Borden’s trial, from which she was acquitted of killing her father and stepmother with a hatchet. The mini-series will air in 2012.

CONDOLENCES

British character actor Michael Gough best known for his role as Alfred in the Batman franchise and as villains in Doctor Who passed away this week at the age of 94. He also appeared in the box office films Out of Africa, The Age of Innocence and Sleepy Hollow (among many others).

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Hayley Atwell and Charlotte Rampling (both from The Duchess) are to re-team on the upcoming box office movie called I, Anna, which is an adaptation of the Elsa Lewin novel following a woman’s life as its turned upside down after a date gone wrong, and the impossible love of the policeman tracking her down. Rampling will play Anna with Atwell as her daughter.

Actor Logan Marshall-Green (The O.C. and 24) has landed a role in the upcoming box office film Prometheus, playing Holloway, a crewman on the space ship and the love interest for the character played by Noomi Rapace (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo star). The film also stars Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron and Idris Elba.

Actress Christina Hendricks (Mad Men) will star in the box office film Seconds of Pleasure that takes place on an airplane and connects the lives of people on the plane through vignettes. She will play a wife who catches her husband (Brendan Fraser) in a compromising position. Julia Stiles, Matt Dillon and Kristen Scott Thomas also star.

Oscar nominee Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone) has landed the coveted role of Katniss Everdeen in the upcoming adaptation of the best-selling novel The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. The first in a planned trilogy (since there are 3 books the collection) tells the story of a young love triangle playing out against a dystopian future where North America has been divided into twelve oppressed districts, each of which is forced to send tributes in the form of a

Actress Drew Barrymore will return to the director’s chair for her second film, a romantic comedy called How To Be Single based on the Liz Tuccillo novel that explores the love lives and break-ups of a group of New Yorkers over the course of ten years.

Actor Matthew Fox (Lost) has landed a role in the big-screen reboot of James Patterson’s Alex Cross stories, playing villainous assassin Michael Sullivan, a man who kills both for money and thrills. Tyler Perry and Ed Burns co-star in the film, titled I, Alex Cross.

Actor Val Kilmer will play Wyatt Earp in the box office film The First Ride of Wyatt Earp that follows an elderly Earp as he sits down with a reporter to reflect on the ride that made him a legend, when the young marshal rounded up a posse to track down the outlaw who mistakenly murdered the woman he loved. The cast includes Matt Dallas (Kyle XY) and American Idol finalist Diana DeGarmo and actress Miracle Laurie (Dollhouse).

Actor Alan Tudyk (Firefly) has been cast in the upcoming box office film Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, which concerns the former president’s quest to rid the world of vampires.

Actor Kevin Costner will star alongside Henry Cavill and Diane Lane in the upcoming reboot of the Superman franchise, playing Jonathan Kent.

Taylor Swift, Zac Efron, Betty White, Danny DeVito and Ed Helms will lend their voices to the box office film based on Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax, which focuses on a boy who searches for the one thing that will help him win the affection of the girl of his dreams. To find it, he must discover the story of the Lorax, the grumpy yet charming creature who fights to protect his world.

CASTING SCOOP

Actor Brandan Hines (Lie to Me) will make a guest appearance on an April issue of Castle, playing Alex Conrad, a first-time mystery writer who owes some of his debut novel’s success to a glowing review written by Castle (Nathan Fillion). This episode will also feature actress Josie Loren (Make It or Break It) and Justin Bruening (the short-lived Knight Rider) as the victim’s swimming coach, while Loren plays the victim’s former girlfriend.

Veteran character actor William Forsythe (John Doe, Raising Arizona and The Rock) will play Steve Rigsby, a career criminal and the biker father of CBI’s own Wayne Rigsby (Owain Yeoman) on The Mentalist. This episode will air on May 5.

Actor Rich Sommer (Mad Men) will guest star in an upcoming episode of Nikita, playing Malcolm Mitchell, a CIA consultant who helps Nikita (Maggie Q) break into Percy’s black boxes.

Actor Neal McDonough and actress Jeri Ryan will make guest appearances in the 10th and final season of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, which is back on the USA Network starting May 1.  McDonough will play a Monsignor who does very good things for the Church, starting soup kitchens, orphanages, cancer wards and what not; but behind closed doors he does bad things with the women of his parish. Meanwhile Ryan will play a former CIA official who has started a private security company worth hundreds of millions, but this no-nonsense businesswoman also is harboring a secret.

Actor Alimi Ballard (Numb3rs) and former NFL player Matthew Willig have been cast as two recurring agents on NCIS who join Gibbs and company in the hunt for a psychopath called the Port-to-Port Killer. Willig plays Special Agent Simon Cade, a hulking but friendly federal agent with a photographic memory with an Ivy League education to go along with his intimidating presence. Meanwhile, Ballard plays Special Agent Gayne Levin, a weathered, well-traveled federal agent who’s just happy to be back in Washington. Both agents are members of the team led by recently introduced E.J. Barrett (Sarah Jane Morris). Their episodes will begin airing in April.

Actor Grant Show (the original Melrose Place and more recently Private Practice) will have a recurring role on Burn Notice when the show returns to the USA Network for its fifth season sometime this summer. He will play Max, a CIA operative.

NOTE: The weekly calendar and development news items will now appear separately.

Have a great weekend!