NEWS AND RUMORS – 12/03/08

Hi Everyone:

Thought I’d do a little news/rumors, etc. for the week.

CBS announced some mid-season replacements this week:

1.  FLASHPOINT (this is a cop show that was on last summer and got pretty good ratings) – Back on Friday, Jan. 9 from 9 to 10.

2.  HARPER’S ISLAND – This is a 13 episode “Mystery Event” which will start on April 9 and conclude on Thu., July, 2.  

3.  THE AMAZING RACE will start it’s 14th season on Sunday, Feb. 15. (we don’t even know who won this season’s race yet!)

ABC announced dates for three new shows.

1.  CASTLE – Monday, March, 9 at 10PM (Nathan Fillian of Desperate Housewives) stars as a famous mystery novelist who finds there is a REAL life killer out there whose ‘copycatting’ the killer stories in his novels.  He joins forces with Kate Beckett who is a detective with the NYPD and they find the killer and go on to work together to solve other murders. (sounds promising)

2.  THE UNUSUALS – Another cop drama.  The premise of this story is a cop (Amber Tamblyn of Joan of Arcadia/GH) who is transferred from one department to the Homicide Division where she finds each and every one in the department has a ‘warped’ sense of humor (she also finds out deep, dark secrets of each one too).  (Like Amber…hope it clicks)

I have to say though…these are the shows that have taken the place of PUSHING DAISIES, ELI STONE and DIRTY, SEXY, MONEY?????  They really should have given the shows some more time to find a fan base…..

CBS – Laurence Fishburne will join the cast of CSI on Thursday, Dec. 11th which means that Grissom will be leaving soon.  I wonder if he will look up Sarah???

ABC has cast Couney B. Vance (of Law and Order: Criminal Intent) and Jack Davenport (Pirates of the Caribbean movies) to star in its potential companion to LOST,  “FLASH FORWARD”.  The series is based on the SciFi novel by Robert J. Sawyer and chronicles the chaos that happens after EVERYONE in the world blacks out for 2 minutes and 17 seconds and each has a mysterious vision of the future that changes lives forever.

RUMOR has it that Bruno Heller would love to make a ROME full feature film.  The HBO series was great and 2 seasons just wasn’t enough!  Kevin McKidd (who is now on Grey’s Anatomy) could probably do both…timing.  Ray Stevenson has a new movie, THE PUNISHER coming out this week.  Polly Walker has just signed for the SciFi series, CAPRICA.  Needless to say, this film could not be made without these central characters.  (Bruno, by the way, is the creater of this year’s THE MENTALIST which has been recently signed for a full season).

Speaking of Kevin McKidd, he was recently quoted as saying that he was still a contender for the lead role in THOR.  (some people think he’d make a better nemisis, LOKI).  Target date to start shooting is 7/16/10.

FOX – January will not only bring the return of “24″ but will also give us a fine actor by the name of Tim Roth (who was recently in The Incredible Hulk which I saw over Thanksgiving weekend and now I can understand why Ed Norton was upset with the finished product…could have been a lot better). Tim will star in a series entitled, LIE TO ME.  It looks very intriguing and I hope it’s a winner for him.

USA – January will also bring us the returns of MONK, PSYCH (both on Friday, Jan. 9) and BURN NOTICE.  (you can ‘almost’ deal with the winter just to have these shows back).

BULLETIN: – NOTTINGHAM news.  Ya know how Russell was on a few interviews recently and when asked about this movie said, “I’m going to let the cat outta the bag and tell you that I’m playing both Robin Hood and Maid Marion!!”  – funny guy.  Anyway, Brian Grazer just recently as saying, “Well, here’s the real story .  The two role confusion is that Robin Hood sees the Sheriff of Nottingham in battle very early on in the movie and he dies.  Robin Hood takes over the identity of Nottingham.  That’s how it plays out.”  Shooting is supposed to start next March, 2009.

OUT ON DVD THIS TUESDAY

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

The Day The Earth Stood Still (2 disc, special edition)…I remember this one with Michael Rennie as the alien years ago!

Step Brothers with Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly – good for a few laughs.

Wanted – with Angie and James McAvoy as well as Morgan Freeman (I saw this in the theater and was hoping for so much more..still a lot of action).

The X Files: I Want To Believe (that David Duchovny is a good guy!)

IN THEATERS

Cadillac Records (great music, terrific cast.  Beyonce could get an Oscar nom for her portrayal of Blues great, Etta (AT LAST) James.

Frost/Nixon – lots of good reviews on this flick.

The Punisher: The War Zone – (oh….what can I say???)

NEWS

Toby (Spiderman) Maguire and his wife, Jen are expecting a second child this coming spring.  They have a daughter, Ruby that was born in 2006.

This just in:  Actor Mark Ruffalo’s brother was found with a gunshot wound to his head in his Beverly Hills apartment earlier today.  He’s clinging to life as I report this.  Police have not ruled out a suicide attempt.

William Balfour is being held without bail in the shooting deaths of Jennifer Hudson’s family.  Very tragic story.

Well I guess that’s it for this week.  Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving.

I watched SEX AND THE CITY (liked it), RESURRECTING THE CHAMP (with Josh Hartnett and Sam Jackson), a little low budget movie that was good, and, as I said earlier…THE INCREDIBLE HULK.  No where as good as IRON MAN.

Now I can’t wait for THE DARK KNIGHT to come out on DEMAND. 

Talk to you later.  Joanie