Showing posts with label gossip girl. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gossip girl. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

TV News: Gina Torres Gets "Gossip"-y, Lots of "Idol" Guest Judges, Marsters to Terrorize "Caprica"

- Gina Torres (who has, of course, appeared in everything from The Matrix Revolutions to Firefly to Angel) is joining the cast of Gossip Girl next season.  Torres will play Gabriela Abrams, whose daughter is the home-schooled Vanessa, in two eps next season but will have a recurring role throughout the series. [TV Guide]

- In the wake of Paula Abdul's departure, a whole slew of celebrities have been announced as guest judges on the upcoming season of American Idol. Confirmed guest judges to date include Victoria Beckham, Mary J. Blige, Joe Jonas, Katy Perry and Shania Twain. Why is it that only two of these judges have had respected music careers for more than a couple of years? [US Magazine]

- Oliver Stone and Showtime have announced that the controversial director will helm and narrate a 10-part documentary series titled Secret History of America. The series will revolve around events that "at the time went under-reported, but crucially shaped America's unique and complex history of the last 60 years"—events including the dropping of two atomic bombs on Japan, the Kennedy administration, the origins of the Cold War, the Vietnam War and America's changing role on the global scene since the fall of Communism.  The series is set to debut on Showtime in 2010. [Hollywood Reporter]
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- TNT has extended the summer leg of Leverage's second season by two episodes, one of which features Jeri Ryan (Star Trek: Voyager, Shark) in a guest starring role. It has yet to be seen if TNT will order up additional eps of the Timothy Hutton-starring drama, since this announcement leaves only six episodes on order for the winter half of the show's season. [TV Guide]

- James Marsters of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame (also Angel, Smallville and Torchwood) will join the Battlestar Galactica prequel, Caprica, during its freshman season on SyFy. According to EW's Michael Ausiello, Marsters will play Barnabus Greeley, "a dangerous terrorist leader . . . driven by desires both moralistic and carnal," for at least three episodes. [Entertainment Weekly]

- Michael Ausiello also shared another juicy bit of news— a casting side for a new, recurring Lost character. The search is on for a mid-30s to late-50s actor to play Lennon, who is described as:
Scruffy, edgy, charismatic, and slightly stir-crazy, Lennon can be deferential when it's called for. He's the spokesperson/ translator for the president of a foreign corporation. He's a wily negotiator, and far more powerful than his lowly position would seem to indicate.
I'm guessing Lennon is a translator for Sun's father, who is the head of Paik Heavy Industries. Do you agree or do you have another guess? [Entertainment Weekly]
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Thursday, July 2, 2009

TV News: Galactica Reunion on 24, De Matteo Is Newest Housewife, Alien Nation Reboot

- The 24 casting news keeps coming. Actor Callum Keith Rennie ("Leoben" from Battlestar Galactica) will join fellow Galactica alum Katee Sackhoff on the upcoming season of the Fox action drama. [SCIFI Wire]

- Emmy Award-winner Drea de Matteo is taking up residence on Wisteria Lane during the sixth season of Desperate Housewives. De Matteo will play the "Italian matriach" of the new family on the block. [Associated Press via MSN]

- Hilary Duff has signed on for a multi-episode stint on The CW's Gossip Girl. Duff will play Vanessa's new roommate, a movie star who enrolls at NYU to get a taste of "normal" life.
[TV Guide]

- SCI FI Channel (which becomes SyFy on July 7) is looking to reinvent the Alien Nation franchise with the help of writer/producer Tim Minear (The X-Files, Angel, Dollhouse). A story about a group of extraterrestrial refugees struggling to integrate on Earth, in the '80s and '90s the original Alien Nation focused on a human police detective and his alien partner and partner's family.  The new series would be set roughly 10 years from now when the "aliens have multiplied to a population of about 3.5 million and would live in their own communities, analogous to the North African ghettos in France." [SCIFI Wire]
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