News Briefs : FOX and NBC join the comic craze

In the news; FOX does Gotham with no Batman, while NBC enters the world of magic. The growing trend of American stations and networks of  remaking foreign TV shows instead of coming up with new ideas continues;




... Not wanting to be left out of the superhero genre now that Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has taken over the airwaves, FOX has decided to get in on the genre action with a Batman-adjacent project titled Gotham that will explore Commissioner James Gordon and the bad guys who made the fake city famous.

.. NBC is also jumping on the Comic Book trend with a Constantine series. Based on the DC comics which was adapted some years ago into a Keanu Reeves starrer.

... A&E has secured the rights to the French supernatural drama Les Revenants (which translates to The Returned). The series is set in a small town where people start coming back from the dead without having aged at all, and with no recollection of actually dying. There's a rumor that Carlton Cuse (Lost, Bates Motel) is in talks to adapt the project. But  Sundance Channel recently acquired the rights to broadcast the original series, which will air in the U.S. beginning October 31.

... Damon Wayans Jr. (Second Generation Wayans) is teaming up with FOX for his next project. Man/Child is about two single dads who move in together and struggle to strike a balance being a responsible adult and living a life of debauchery.

... Spartacus vets Aaron Helbing and Todd Helbing are developing a new series for Starz about an Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agent who infiltrates a Mexican drug cartel. The project, titled Gringo, was inspired by the nonfiction book "The Shadow Catcher" by Hipolito Acosta.

... Bones creator Hart Hanson, along with The Secret Circle creator Andrew Miller, will adapt Chris Ewan's book series "The Good Thief’s Guide" for ABC. The story follows Charlie Howard, a charming fellow who travels the world while blogging about his adventures. Oh yeah, and he steals stuff for funsies (and sometimes profit). Each season will be set in a new exotic location and focus on one particular heist

CASTING NEWS

... Scott Wolf (Perception) is heading to NBC's midseason drama The Night Shift as a day shift trauma surgeon engaged to Jill Flint's doctor character.

... Laura Benanti (Go On), who can next be seen on NBC's upcoming live Sound of Music special, is dropping by Elementary! She'll play a nanny who quickly becomes the main suspect in her employer's death

... Hey, Game of Thrones book fans, the role of Hizdahr zo Loraq has finally been cast for the upcoming fourth season of the TV show. This means nothing to those of us who are still trying to finish Book 1, but the role has gone to British actor Joel Fry (10,000 BC). Hizdahr plays a role in Daenerys Targaryen's story.

... David Milch's new project, The Money, has scored another big-name actor in Nathan Lane. He'll join Brendan Gleeson in the series about an American media mogul's dynastic family, playing Gordon McCarren, a reporter for the New York Herald who hasn't had a byline in weeks and is desperate for a good story to come along.

... Jack Coleman (remember Heroes?, Castle, Burn Notice), has landed a recurring role on ABC's Scandal. The details of his character, however, are being safely guarded by Shonda Rhimes' minions. But we can tell you that his first appearance will happen sometime in October.

... The casting for Syfy's new pilot Dominion has really gotten under way. Anthony Stewart Head, who played Rupert Giles on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, has been cast as David Weel, the power-hungry president of the Senate of Vega. Also new to the project are Roxanne McKee (Game of Thrones) as Claire Rysen, the closest thing Vega has to a princess; Luke Allen-Gale (Ripper Street), who'll play William Weel, the son of David and the Head of the Church of the Savior; and Shivani Ghai (Bride & Prejudice) as Arika, a lead diplomat sent from Helena, a mysterious and militant matriarchal society. They join the previously announced Christopher Egan and Tom Wisdom.

... Lucy, the socially awkward lady friend of Raj's who dumped him in The Big Bang Theory's May finale, might be experiencing a change of heart with regard to Koothrappali. Actress Kate Micucci will reprise her role in the November 14 episode.

... Warehouse 13 vet Joanne Kelly has booked a major recurring role on CBS's thriller Hostages. She'll play Vanessa, an ambassador and the sister of the first lady.

Five Promising New Fall TV Shows

It's that time of year. The time when there are a whole bunch of new TV series debuting within just a few weeks of each other - far more than most people could possibly keep up with.

So what sticks out as being worth your time? I've listed five of the most promising new series below, based on what we've seen, heard and what we know so far. There are some shows that nearly made this list -- Sleepy Hollow, Trophy Wife and The Blacklist among them -- that show signs they could soon turn into something strong as well. And it's very possible a couple of shows with outright poor pilots could quickly turn themselves around, as has happened in the past; just as it's possible a show with a promising start could quickly falter. But right now, as the TV season begins, here's five to keep your eye on...

.... Brooklyn Nine-Nine

 

Premiered September 17th, Tuesday on FOX.

Parks and Recreation creator Michael Schur and his fellow Parks alum Dan Goor have a simple but highly effective scenario here, imprinting the style of comedy Schur honed on Parks and The Office onto a cop show. Andy Samberg and Andre Braugher are a great wacky guy/serious guy pairing, surrounded by a strong group of supporting characters. It's important to remember that neither The Office or Parks and Recreation started all that strong, taking several episodes to really find themselves. Brooklyn Nine-Nine is all the more impressive for feeling very solid in its premiere, indicating the show could quickly find itself among the best comedies on TV these days.
Available in Nigeria early Wednesday mornings.


.... Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

 Premieres September 24th, Tuesdays on ABC.

Look, everyone is going to at least give this one a shot. But the good news is, it's worth your time. Joss Whedon and Marvel already hit pay dirt (to say the least) with The Avengers, so the anticipation for this series -- the first show to tie into the Marvel cinematic universe -- is sky high. But take away the Marvel connection and you'd still have plenty of interest in this show simply because it's Whedon returning to the medium he's kicked so much ass in. The pilot is very fun and exciting, setting a great tone for what's to come.
 Available in Nigeria early Wednesday mornings.

.... Masters of Sex

Premieres September 29th, Sundays on Showtime.

Showtime takes a look at the real life story of Masters and Johnson, the research duo who would become pioneers in the field of sexual response and how the human body responds during intercourse. The eyebrow-raising scenario is added to by the period setting, as William H. Masters and Virginia E. Johnson face considerable obstacles looking into a subject matter that wasn't exactly widely discussed in the 1950s. Masters of Sex is clever, funny, and, yes, provocative, with Michael Sheen and Lizzy Caplan expertly portraying the way ahead of their time duo at the center of the story.
 Available in Nigeria early Monday mornings.

.... Almost Human

Premieres November 4th, Monday on FOX.

The pilot to this one is good, but not great, yet still, there's a lot to be hopeful about here, especially given Almost Human's pedigree. For those of us who loved Fringe, getting a new sci-fi show from J.J. Abrams and J.H. Wyman so soon after that show ended is something to be excited about, as is seeing Karl Urban (Star Trek, Dredd) take the lead in the series. Urban and Michael Ealy are a good pairing as a cop 35 years in the future and his android partner. And keep in mind, Fringe started out just okay too. All of which is to say, let's see where Almost Human takes us...
 Available in Nigeria early Tuesday mornings.

.... Mob City



Premieres December 4th, Wednesday on TNT.

This is the one show on this list that is listed completely due to expectations, since it hasn't been sent out to press yet. Frank Darabont returns to TV following his unceremonious departure from The Walking Dead, with the Shawshank Redemption/Green Mile director tackling cops and mobsters in 1940s-50s Los Angeles. A couple of The Walking Dead cast alum are along for the ride, including Jon Bernthal and Jeffrey DeMunn, plus folks like Neal McDonough (Justified), Robert Knepper (Prison Break) and Milo Ventimiglia (Heroes). It all sounds pretty damn cool, no? We'll have to wait until late this year to see for ourselves, but there's certainly a lot to have us intrigued...
Available in Nigeria early Thursdays mornings.

Why Disney's "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." Could Be Bigger Than "The Avengers"

Get ready, comic book fans!

Disney's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. premieres on Sept. 24, in America to much fanfare on the company's ABC network.

News Briefs : A new Super-Heroes Themed Series on TV...

... Fox has ordered a pilot for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore and Kevin O' Neill. Said league is made up of extraordinary gentlemen from fiction, including Captain Nemo, the Invisible Man, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The graphic novel was adapted into a mediocre movie starring Sean Connery in 2003. It sounds like Fox doesn't want ABC's Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to steal all the "superhero" thunder, and the timing of the pilot order means it isn't too late for it to join the 2013-2014 schedule.

News Brief: Awkward Loses Its Showrunner, Shows to be at Comic–Con and New Casting News

... MTV's Awkward showrunner and creator Lauren Iungerich is departing after the currently on-hiatus third season wraps up. MTV is likely ordering a fourth season, dependent on who they find to replace Iungerich. But Iungerich's very funny and talented voice was all over the series, and the loss of her will be, like, totally obvs.

... FX is developing a TV version of the book Mohicans, which served as the source material for the film The Last of the Mohicans. The idea would be to make it a miniseries that follows the development of America as seen through the eyes of the characters from the books.

... The CW is developing an adaptation of the Venezuelan telenovela Jane the Virgin, and you have to listen to this awesome description. Jane, a respectable, religious goody-goody, gets accidentally artificially inseminated through a series of hilarious circumstances!
... Simon Cowell is launching Afghanistan's Got Talent.

... History Channel's The Bible miniseries has sold more than 1 million units of its Blu-ray and DVD editions.
... Captain Planet might become a movie. Let our powers combine.

CASTING NEWS

... Elementary's Sherlock Holmes has an older brother, and we'll all get to meet him in Season 2. Rhys Ifans (The Amazing Spider-Man's the Lizard, Human Nature) will play Mycroft Holmes and I'm pretty convinced that he could actually be Jonny Lee Miller's real-life brother. Mycroft will appear in the premiere episode, where the two brothers will confront their recent falling-out after Sherlock heads to London.

... In today's The Leftovers news, the show has added The Secret Circle's Chris Zylka. In the Damon Lindelof drama about those left behind after the Rapture, Zylka will play a college dropout who settles under the wing of a guru.

... TLC's Who Do You Think You Are?, which is being revived by TLC after cancellation by NBC, has announced the celebs who will let Lisa Kudrow poke around their families' pasts and talk about them on TV (minus the "your great granddad was a Nazi sympathizer" part). Here they are: Christina Applegate, Kelly Clarkson, Cindy Crawford, Zooey Deschanel, Chelsea Handler, Chris O'Donnell, Jim Parsons, and Trisha Yearwood. Who Do You Think You Are? debuts July 23 on TLC.

... 1980s dreamboat Andrew McCarthy will guest-star on CBS's summer drama Unforgettable. He'll play a rich dude who enlists Carrie's help to get his kidnapped young daughter back.

... First Andrew McCarthy, now Sendhil Ramamurthy!?!?!? A day after casting the Pretty in Pink star, CBS's summer series Unforgettable has booked Ramamurthy (Heroes) for a guest role. In the second season's second episode, he'll play a criminal who's employed by a mystery man.

... Last Resort's Scott Speedman will star in Ryan Murphy's HBO pilot Open. The drama is described as an exploration of modern sexuality. Speedman will play a hunky sports executive, and chances are very high that you will get to watch him have sex. Let's see if he's learned anything since Felicity!

... Maggie Gyllenhaal will star in Sundance Channel's 2014 miniseries The Honourable Woman. She'll play a lady who inherits her dad's arms-smuggling business but uses its resources to install data cable networks between Israel and the West Bank and then earns a position in the U.K.'s House of Parliament.

COMIC-CON
... The X-Files will celebrate its 20th anniversary with a panel at this year's Comic-Con. Series creator Chris Carter and writers David Amann, Vince Gilligan (who now has his own nifty show), Howard Gordon, Darin Morgan, Glen Morgan, John Shiban, and Jim Wong will be on hand for the Thursday, July 18 panel. Gillian Anderson has also confirmed an appearance, but there's been no word from David Duchovny. He's got to show up, right?

... CBS Television Studios has announced the shows its bringing to Comic-Con: Under the Dome, Intelligence, Star-Crossed, and Beauty and the Beast.

... Falling Skies will be at Comic-Con, too.

RELATIONSHIPS NEWS
... Pretty Little Liars' Lucy Hale and Revolution's Graham Rogers (Danny!) are dating!
... Justified's (and The Following's, I guess) Natalie Zea got engaged! Congratulations to Zea.

REQUIRED READING
... James Gandolfini's funeral was held this week in New York. The procession, including a eulogy from The Sopranos creator David Chase, was surreal and truly touching.

Burn Notice is Back For A Final Season

"Burn Notice" Season 7 Premiere Reunited us with our favorite characters and It Felt So Good. After leaving us last year with the Season 6 finale that had Michael sacrificing himself to (God knows what then) the CIA, so as to let Fi, Sam, Jesse and Maddy be released instead of a life-time in a god-forsaken hole. The show returned with showing us what happened 9 months later, to all our favorite characters.
We are first introduced to Michael in faraway Dominican Republic taking part in an underground fight, living all alone by himself without the other members of his team. We are later shown that Michael is back working as an actual spy, what he actually did before he was 'burned', by trying to flush out a target, a terrorist leader named Randall Burke ( Adrian Pasdar from Heroes), who he previously had dealings with before he got 'burned'.

Meanwhile, we learned what Sam, Jesse, Fi and Maddy were doing with their lives. Sam is back with his girlfriend Elsa, chilling by her hotel pool, Jesse is working with a private security firm, Fi is doing bounty-hunter job with her new boyfriend Carlos and Maddy is trying to get custody for her late son's kid.
We were later introduced to Michael's CIA handler, Andrew Strong (Jack Coleman from Castle, Heroes), alotta Heroes alumni showing up recently on ”Burn Notice”. We also found out about somebody (played by Nick E. Taraba from Spartacus) asking questions around Miami about Michael, even going as far as to create diffrent IDs for himself.

Whatever direction this new and final season of ”Burn Notice" brings, we are definately going to be given a great goodbye. Also with the introduction of a new boyfriend, new villain, new boss and a new city, ”Burn Notice” is setting itself to go out with a Big Bang.

News this Week

--- AMC has announced the return date for Breaking Bad.
Sunday, August 11 at 9pm
The Emmy-winning show from creator Vince Gilligan has just eight more episodes left in its run, and depending how you look at it, they either comprise the second half of Season 5 or the entirety of Season 6. Personally, I'm calling it Season 6. Assuming Breaking Bad airs uninterrupted for eight straight weeks, that would place the series finale on September 29.

---Starz has ordered a second season for "Da Vinci's Demons",
"Da Vinci's Demons" the series that replaced "Spartacus" after the show ended. The first episode of Da Vinci's was good, fun to watch, so a new season even after only one episode had already aired is showing the network's faith in the show.

--- Steve Carell to appear in "The Office" finale????
Rumors circulating that Steve Carell might appear on the Series finale of "The Office", even though he had insisted he'll never return to the series as Michael Scott, seemed to have gained a foothold when reports emerged he was on the set of the series, on the last day of shooting.

--- "Heroes" to return?????
Microsoft has been looking to bring in original programming to its gaming console for some time now, and in September the company hired former CBS president Nancy Tellem to create a television studio specifically aimed at developing original series for Xbox Live. With a new Xbox console allegedly in the works for later this year. But is Heroes the answer?

NBC's Heroes ran for four uneven seasons from 2006 to 2010, bursting onto the scene as a huge hit before petering out later on. Its ensemble cast and structure could make for a decent revival. Apparently the idea is to start with a whole new group of ordinary people with extraordinary abilities and bring in past cast members for cameos.

---- More ladies for Hank Moody.
"Californication" continues to beef up its cast for Season 7, adding Heather Graham (Boogie Nights) and Mary Lynn Rajskub (24) for substantial. Graham's will be a season-long run, and she'll play a woman from Hank's past. Rajskub's stay will be a bit shorter, and she'll play a neurotic writer. The Sopranos vet Michael Imperioli was also recently added to the cast.