The Weekly Round-Up for April 26 to 30

Here are the entertainment news items for this week:

TV SERIES NEWS

TNT has renewed Southland for a surprise third season with a modest performance on the cable network after being canceled by NBC before its second season could air.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the syndicated series Legend of the Seeker, which has been canceled.

Naya Rivera and Heather Morris, who appear as Santana and Brittany on Glee, are to be upgraded to series regulars next season.

BOX OFFICE NEWS

John Schneider (Smallville) will appear in the fantasy drama Doonby, which is being described as “It’s a wonderful Life” meets “Crazy Heart”. The story is about a mysterious, happy-go-lucky drifter who moves into a small Texas town where he becomes a singing bartender. The drifter soon becomes the envy of the town as he is strangely immune to misfortune that’s sweeping the rest of the townsfolk, and yet he always seems to be in the right place at the right time. Robert Davi co-stars as the town sheriff.

Clive Owen and Jason Statham will star in the action thriller The Killer Elite, which is based on the Ranulph Fiennes novel ‘The Feather Man’. Owen will play the senior field operative of a secret group of former British special forces members fighting to protect the families of fellow SAS agents. Statham plays a former Navy SEAL who comes out of retirement in order to lead a team of assassins in pursuit of them. Yvonne Strahovski (Chuck) is also rumored to star.

Ryan Phillippe, William H. Macy and John Leguizamo in appear in the legal thriller The Lincoln Lawyer, which is based on the 2005 Michael Connolly best-seller. The story follows low-level criminal defense attorney Mickey Haller (Matthew McConaughey) who ends up representing a Beverly Hills playboy with ties to a previous murder case he handled. Marisa Tomei, Michael Pena, Trace Adkins, and Katherine Moennig also star.

Bryce Dallas Howard will appear in the movie The Help, which explores the complicated relationships between the upper class matriarchs and their servants in the American South of the early 1960’s. The movie also stars Emma Stone and Viola Davis.

Brad Pitt and Robert Duvall are to star in the movie The Hatfields and the McCoys, which tells the story of the two families who were a part of the first settlers in Tug Valley and whose feuding became something of a legend.

Steve Howey (Bride Wars and Reba), Ashley Williams (Good Morning, Miami) and Jill Eikenberry (L.A. Law) have joined the movie Something Borrowed.

CASTING SCOOP

Dylan Bruno (Numb3rs) will guest star in the final two episodes of NCIS, playing Lt. Jason Paul Dean, a freelance mercenary with ties to the private military company operated by Col. Merton Bell (Robert Patrick), an enemy of Gibbs (Mark Harmon).

Good news for Brothers & Sisters fans: Luke Grimes is done as Ryan on the series while Gilles Marini (Sarah’s boyfriend Luc) is being made a series regular for next season.

Oscar winner Marcia Gay Harden will appear in a multi-episode arc on Royal Pains, as Dr. Elizabeth Blair, a surgeon, board member of Hamptons Heritage Hospital, and an adversary-turned-mentor to Jill (Jill Flint). Her first episode will air on June 3.

Merrin Dungey (Alias and Summerland) has landed a recurring role in the HBO series Hung, playing Liz, one of Ray’s (Thomas Jane) clients.

Michael Ealy (FlashForward and Sleeper Cell) will appear in five episodes of Californication, playing a love interest for Karen (Natascha McElhone).

Matt Smith (Doctor Who) will play author Christopher Isherwood in Christopher and His Kind, a BBC movie that will recount the writer’s formative years when he departed England for Berlin.

RUMOR PATROL

Reports are stating that Olivia Thirlby (Juno) is in talks to join the 2008 Black Listed comedy formerly known as Friends with Benefits, starring alongside Natalite Portman and Ashton Kutcher. The movie is about two people whose no-strings-attached relationship is threatened when they begin to develop real feelings for one another.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

The following series will return this coming week:

Friday Night Lights will return to NBC on Friday, May 7 at 8 PM.

Here are the new episodes of the dramas (and a few others) that will be airing this coming week:

Saturday, May 1:
Doctor Who on BBC America at 9 PM

NOTE: Legend of the Seeker will air in syndication this weekend. Check your local listings for date, time and channel.

Sunday, May 2:
Desperate Housewives on ABC at 9 PM
Brothers & Sisters on ABC at 10 PM
Cold Case on CBS at 9 and 10 PM
Breaking Bad on AMC at 10 PM
The Pacific on HBO at 9 PM
Treme on HBO at 10 PM
Army Wives on Lifetime at 10 PM
The Tudors on Showtime at 9 PM

NOTE: Legend of the Seeker will air in syndication this weekend. Check your local listings for date, time and channel.

Monday, May 3:
Castle on ABC at 10 PM
CSI: Miami on CBS at 10:01 PM
One Tree Hill on the CW at 8 PM
Gossip Girl on the CW at 9 PM
House on FOX at 8 PM
24 on FOX at 9 PM
Chuck on NBC at 8 PM
Law & Order on NBC at 10 PM
10 Things I Hate About You on ABC Family at 8 PM

Tuesday, May 4:
Lost on ABC at 9 PM
V on ABC at 10:02 PM
NCIS on CBS at 8 PM
NCIS: Los Angeles on CBS at 9 PM
The Good Wife on CBS at 10 PM
Glee on FOX at 9 PM
90210 on the CW at 8 PM
Parenthood on NBC at 10 PM
Justified on FX at 10 PM
Law & Order: Criminal Intent on USA at 10 PM

Wednesday, May 5:
Happy Town on ABC at 10:01 PM
Mercy on NBC at 8 PM
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit on NBC at 10 PM
In Plain Sight on USA at 10 PM

Thursday, May 6:
FlashForward on ABC at 8 PM
Grey’s Anatomy on ABC at 9 PM
Private Practice at 10:01 PM
CSI on CBS at 9 PM
The Mentalist on CBS at 10 PM
The Vampire Diaries on the CW at 8 PM
Supernatural on the CW at 9 PM
Bones on FOX at 8 PM
Fringe on FOX at 9 PM

Friday, May 7:
Ghost Whisperer on CBS at 8 PM
Medium on CBS at 9 PM
Miami Medical on CBS at 10 PM
Smallville on the CW at 8 PM
Stargate Universe on Syfy at 9 PM
Merlin 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!

Please note that I will feature a weekly round-up of sci-fi based (and similar genres) news items at our sister site located at http://scifitvzone.com/. Please visit there as often as you can. Thanks!