The Weekly Round-Up for April 11 to 15

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

TELEVISION NEWS

The following news broke on Twitter on Friday night, but for those of you who didn’t see it, get your calendars out and ready. USA Network has announced return dates for both Burn Notice and Royal Pains as well as set debut dates for two of their new dramas. Burn Notice will be back for season five on June 23 at 9 PM followed by the new series Suits (formerly called A Legal Mind) at 10 PM. The new series Suits revolves around a brilliant but unmotivated college dropout (Patrick J. Adams) who’s recruited by one of Manhattan’s top corporate lawyers (Gabriel Macht). The series also stars Gina Torres (Firefly). Meanwhile, Royal Pains will be back with season three on June 29 at 9 PM followed by the new series Necessary Roughness at 10 PM, which stars Callie Thorne (Rescue Me) as a tough, sexy Long Island divorcee who gets a job as therapist for a professional football team in order to make ends meet and soon finds herself a sought-after therapist to high-profile clients. Marc Blucas (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Mehcad Brooks (True Blood) and Scott Cohen (Gilmore Girls) co-star. As previously announced, White Collar and Covert Affairs will both return on June 7. Psych, unfortunately, won’t be back until sometime this fall.

ABC Family has picked up another one-hour scripted drama. This one is called Jane By Design (formerly known as What Would Jane Do). Set to debut in early 2012, this light-hearted drama follows Jane (Erica Dasher from The Lake), a teenager who lands a job at a hip retail company when they mistake her for an adult. Jane soon finds herself juggling life both as a regular high school student and as an assistant to a high powered executive in the cutthroat world of fashion… all while trying to keep her true identity a secret. The cast includes Nicholas Roux (Lemonade Mouth), Rowly Dennis (Desperate Housewives), India De Beaufort (One Tree Hill), Meagan Tandy (10 Things I Hate About You), Matthew Atkinson (CSI) and Andie MacDowell (Four Weddings and a Funeral), who appears as Jane’s steely boss.

With the soon departure of executive producer Ed Bernero, actress A.J. Cook just might be coming back to Criminal Minds. Cook left at the end of last season when her option was not picked up, which, of course, sparked a huge outcry among fans. Meanwhile, actress Paget Brewster who left the show not that long thereafter MAY come back as well SHOULD her new comedy pilot for NBC not be picked up; but that is more rumor than fact right now. Cook’s return will make things “interesting” for actress Rachel Nichols who was brought in to fill the void left by Cook’s departure. Bernero may be moving over to ABC should his pilot Partners be picked up to series. Erica Messer will take over show-runner/executive producer duties at Criminal Minds.

ABC announced today that they are canceling daytime soap operas One Life to Live and All My Children, leaving only 4 soap operas on during daytime. All My Children will air its final episode in September of this year with One Life to Live ending in January 2012.

Mark your calendars! Syfy has announced their summer schedule with Eureka and Warehouse 13 both returning with new episodes on July 11 at 8 and 9 PM (respectively); Haven coming back for a second season on July 15 at 10 PM; and the new series Alphas debuting on July 11 at 10 PM. Alphas follows a team of ordinary citizens with extraordinary mental and physical abilities. The team is lead by Dr. Leigh Rosen(David Strathairn) and the cast includes Malik Yoba (New York Undercover), Warren Christie (October Road), Laura Mennell (Watchmen), Ryan Cartwright (Bones) and Azita Ghanizada (General Hospital: Night Shift).

MADE FOR TV MOVIE NEWS

Actresses Jeanne Tripplehorn and Patricia Clarkson will star in the Lifetime original movie Project Five, which an anthology of five short films that explore the impact of breast cancer on people’s lives, four of which are being directed by Jennifer Aniston, Alicia Keys, Demi Moore and Patty Jenkins. Tripplehorn will play Pearl, an oncologist, who is the only character to appear in all five segments. Clarkson will star in the segment directed by Aniston.

Newcomer Alice St. Clair will play Kate Middleton in the Hallmark movie William and Kate: A Royal Love Story. The Lifetime movie called William & Kate, which stars Nico Evers-Swindell as Prince William and Camilla Luddington as Middleton, premieres next Monday.

MADE FOR TV MOVIES NEWS

In addition to announcing the summer returns of their TV shows, Syfy announced the summer movies they will be airing on Saturday nights. Those include the following:

Red Faction: Origins, which will debut on June 4, at 9PM. The movie stars Robert Patrick (Terminator 2), Brian J. Smith (Stargate Universe) and Kate Vernon (Battlestar Galactica) star in a TV adaptation of the hugely successful video game franchise. The story goes like this: Twenty-five years have passed since Alec Mason (Patrick) led the Martian Colonies to freedom and 12 years since vengeful enemies killed his wife, kidnapped his daughter Lyra, and left a broken hero in their wake. Jake Mason (Smith), Alec’s only son and an officer in the Red Faction Militia, has his world turned inside out when he discovers that now, 12 years after her kidnapping, his sister is still alive. As a powerful new enemy swarms across the planet, Jake goes out to find her, only to learn that his lost sister is one of them — a cold-blooded soldier sworn to destroy the Red Faction. Vernon portrays The Matriarch, leader of the tribal Marauders sect.

Ice Road Terror, debuting on June 11, at 9PM is about Truckers (Brea Grant from Heroes and Michael Hogan from Battlestar Galactica) as they face a deadly ice creature on the frozen roads.

Swamp Shark premieres on June 25, at 9PM, starring Kristy Swanson (the original Buffy Summers), D.B. Sweeney (Jericho) and Robert Davi (Profiler) in the story of mutant sharks terrorizing the Louisiana bayous.

Age of Dragons stars Danny Glover in a re-imagining of Herman Melville’s classic novel Moby Dick. This movie will be set in a mythical realm where Captain Ahab and crew hunt dragons for the vitriol that powers their world. The movie will air in July.

Super Eruption is about a scientist and a park ranger (Juliet Aubrey from Primeval and Richard Burgi from Desperate Housewives) who try to stop the eruption of a massive volcano under Yellowstone Park. This movie will also air in July.

CONDOLENCES

Oscar-winning director Sidney Lumet passed away over the weekend. He helmed over 40 movies, including 12 Angry Men, Dog Day Afternoon and Network. He was 86.

ME: RIP, Mr. Lumet. Deepest sympathies go to his family, friends and fans.

MOMENT OF SILENCE, PLEASE…

CASTING SCOOP

Actor Danny Glover will guest star on Leverage as a retired war veteran who acquired a piece of art that has a little bit of a mystery story behind it; and much of the story will be narrated by his character. Leverage returns with 10-episodes starting on June 26.

Actress Claire Forlani (Camelot) will have a recurring role on NCIS: Los Angeles, playing Lauren Hunter, the team’s new operations manager, which puts the future of current operations manager Hetty (Linda Hunt) in question.

Actor Kerr Smith (Life Unexpected and Dawson’s Creek) will guest star in a two-episode arc on NCIS playing Lt. Jonas Cobb, a confident former military man who plays a key role in helping the team figure out the identity of the Port-to-Port Killer.

Actor Oded Fehr will reprise his role as Eyal Lavin on Covert Affairs, appearing in the fourth episode of the new season, which will start on June 7 at 10 PM.

Actress Jodi Lyn O’Keefe (Prison Break) will guest star in an upcoming episode of Law & Order: Los Angeles, playing a central role in an upcoming episode that has not been given an air date. No other details are available on her role.

Actress Julia Ormond will guest star as a police psychologist who will be conducting mandatory sessions with Detective Goren (Vincent D’Onofrio) on Law & Order: Criminal Intent. She is set to appear in all eight episodes of the show’s final season, which premieres on the USA Network on Sunday, May 1.

The youngest member of the original New Kids on the Block, Joey McIntyre, has been cast as – get this – the “buff new officer” at the Santa Barbara Police Department on the USA Network series Psych. This will be a guest-starring role in which Shawn and Gus suspect the new officer is living a double life as “The Mantis,” the city’s mysterious masked vigilante/superhero who has single-handedly been taking down a drug syndicate. Psych will return with new episodes this fall.

NOTE: The weekly calendar and the box office news will appear separately this week.

Have a great weekend!