Well fans, the hour is upon us.  Possibly the most beloved cancelled show of all time is here, and after five long entries, it is surely the moment you’ve all been waiting for.  For today, I will be reviewing the show most often mentioned when it comes to the idea of shows cancelled before their time: Joss Whedon’s Firefly.

Joss Whedon could have one of the most substantial pedigrees of anybody working in the TV medium.  He’s created numerous shows which have developed massive cult followings, such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spinoff, Angel.  His most recent show, Dollhouse, was recently cancelled by FOX before airing the rest of its second season, but will surely develop its own cult, most likely made up of the people who comprise the cults for his other shows.  Instead of it being his shows that have fan bases, Whedon himself commands a very large group of followers who will love and support pretty much anything he does, which is something very few TV show creators can say.  In fact, the work done by said fan base even lead to a comeback of sorts for this series, but more on that later.

Needless to say, there’s a lot of hype circulating Firefly, and so I had high expectations of the show.  I mean, an intensely loyal fan base, which included several of my close friends, must see something, right?  I entered my viewing experience expecting nothing less than literal TV gold, something that would change my life and the way I thought about it for eons to come.  Ok, so maybe that was a little high, but I certainly didn’t leave the show feeling disappointed.  I admit, it isn’t a perfect show, but it isn’t hard to see why so many people rallied so hard to keep it afloat, to see it return in some way.

The plot is really nothing too radical; but the characters, like any good series, are where the real reward of the show lies.  It’s centuries in the future, after the human population has grown to large for earth to sustain it, humanity leaves to terraform new planets and spread out over the galaxy.  There’s a central governing body called The Alliance, which is similar to your totalitarian governments of most future-set sci-fi, who represent a shadowy antagonist to our heroes, a ragtag group of outlaws who fly through the galaxy in a “firefly-class” spaceship looking for jobs of varying legality to sustain them.  They live outside of alliance rule, and frequently come into opposition with them.  Onboard the ship, the motley crew consists of captain Malcolm “Mal” Reynolds (Nathan Fillion), the stubborn but intensely loyal leader; his first mate Zoe Alleyne Washburne (Gina Torres), who in turn is extremely loyal to him; her husband Hoban “Wash” Washburne (Alan Tudyk), the ship’s pilot; Kaywinnit Lee “Kaylee” Frye (Jewel Staite), the ship’s bubbly mechanic; and Jayne Cobb (Adam Baldwin), the hired muscle of the crew.  Also on board is Inara Serra (the gorgeous Morena Baccarin), a registered “companion,” basically a high class prostitute who is afforded almost royalty status, who rents out one of the smaller shuttles attached to the ship.  In the pilot episode, they also pick up holy man Shepherd Derrial Book (Ron Glass), who ends up serving as Mal’s conscience many a time, and Dr. Simon Tam (Sean Maher), who is carrying cargo which contains his sister River (Summer Glau), whom he rescued from The Alliance, which was performing experiments on her.

So if you managed to make it through that lengthy description of the crew, it’s not hard to see that the ensemble is really the heart of the show, and the characters’ conflicts with one another and with themselves is what keeps the show interesting from week to week.  Really, it’s one of the most interesting and entertaining ensembles ever assembled; everyone gets something interesting to do, and were all on their way to being very fleshed out, well-rounded characters before the show was cancelled.  The fact that even our heroes’ heroism is continually called into question offers a thought-provoking moral paradox to the series.  Each episode pretty much serves as its own adventure, and you don’t necessarily have to watch it from the beginning to get what’s going on at any given moment.  There is a larger storyline and some unanswered questions that carry over, but unfortunately the show didn’t get around to answering them before the ax fell.  What exactly were they doing to River?  Why does Shepherd Book seem to have such intimate knowledge of guns and combat?  Will Simon ever kiss Kaylee (there was a romance developing between them)?  Some things we’ll never know, and some things were cleared up a couple years later, in the form of a feature film called Serenity which gives some closure to the series.  I won’t really go into it, other than the fact that it has the awesome Chiwetel Ejiofor as the villain is reason enough to see it, but fans of the show can’t have a complete experience unless they watch it, and I’m sure pretty much all of them have by now.

One of the show’s central conceits is that the future is basically the same as the present; we’ll be dealing with the same problems we do now, just maybe on a different scale.  The sort of “future meets old west” look the show has going reflects this idea of the past and the future colliding, and it gives the show a unique and creative style.  Occasionally it doesn’t work quite as well, and the deliberate “blue collar” sound to the dialog occasionally sounds clunky coming out of the actors’ mouths.  Some can pull it off, but some sound a little awkward with the phrasing.  Also, the fact that the characters will occasionally slip into Chinese when they want to curse, because evidently the only two superpowers left are the U.S. (woot woot) and China (well of course), can be a little distracting.  I love the colorful ways sci-fi shows and movies get around not being able to swear, like the Chinese phrases here or the use of the word “frak” on Battlestar Galactica, with the excuse that “in the future there’ll be new swear words!”  But these are by and large nitpicky details to an otherwise massively entertaining series.

It’s hard to pick out which episodes are the best, since they all have great moments of their own.  If I had to choose, I’d say one of the standouts is the pilot, which introduces us to our crew and sets up the conflicts that will continue throughout.  The episode “Out of Gas,” in which a wounded Mal stumbles towards the back of an empty Serenity to replace a part which has caused her to break down, which is intercut with flashbacks explaining the origin of the crew and how Mal came to possess the ship we know and love, is another one.  The finale is also great, in which Richard Brooks (who would later reteam with Fillion on FOX’s Drive, which I covered a few weeks ago) plays a philosophical bounty hunter who subdues the crew and then tries to find River, not realizing she’s better at mind games than he is.  These are only a few, but really any given episode warrants a recommendation for some reason or another.  I enjoyed when the show was able to balance a scrappy comic tone and a heavier, more dramatic one, with Wash and Jayne providing a large amount of the comedy.  The closest the show comes to straight comedy would probably be “Our Mrs. Reynolds,” in which sexpot Christina Hendricks plays a con artist who tries to subdue the crew and take their ship, and it’s pretty hilarious.  Shepard Book warns Mal, who believes he accidentally married the girl during a recent celebration on an outer planet, “if you take sexual advantage of her, you’ll go to a special place in hell usually reserved for child molesters, or people who talk at the theater,” and later reiterates, “you were kissing, eh?  That sounds…special.”

So what caused such a beloved show to die an early death?  Probably the most obvious answer would be that FOX seriously mishandled the show.  They ended up not airing the pilot first, and instead aired the second episode, apparently concerned the pilot didn’t bring viewers into the action fast enough, which ultimately made the overall plot more difficult to follow.  More episodes were aired out of order as well, and FOX apparently didn’t believe keeping Whedon’s vision alive was a risk worth taking.  They also stuck the series in a bad time slot, and didn’t advertise it the way they should have.  While the series had a devoted following while it was on, it wasn’t enough to keep it on the air, even though said following sent in postcards and tried to get other networks to pick it up.  While they weren’t successful in keeping it on the air, their vigilance inspired Whedon to bring it back in some way.  I was probably still a tad too young to get into it while it was on, I’m sure had I been older I would have done my part to bring it back.  However, it makes me wonder if it’s better to be a short lived much much beloved show that will live a second life on DVD, to be continually rediscovered and relived, or to be on for several seasons and go without much fanfare.  If I made a TV series, I think I’d prefer the former.

For those who haven’t seen it, you can watch it all on hulu, though I’d recommend giving the DVD a look as well, as there’s some interesting bonus material on there.

So, should it be back in the air? I’m afraid I’m not going to break the trend here: yes, it most certainly should.  I think the thing I would’ve most liked to have found out about is Shepherd Book’s past; he obviously has some experience with fighting and possibly even killing, and it would’ve been cool to see where that came from.  Perhaps a prequel series could be arranged?

To send us out, here’s the kick ass opening title sequence with a kick ass theme song written by Whedon himself, and performed by Sonny Rhodes:

Come back next time when I’ll be reviewing the Pamela Anderson bookstore comedy Stacked!  Is Anderson’s ample cleavage enough to salvage the show?  Based on her acting skills in the past, I’m certain it might have to be.

Gossip Girl was over the top in terms of how bitchy everyone was, and I loved it. Fans of Firefly and Alias were also surprised when Gina Torres showed up as Vanessa’s college hating, progressive mother. Torres is a good thing, but I still hate Vanessa more and more each week.

Lulled into a false sense of security

This episode was by far the most surprising to date.  It lulled you into thinking this was the same thing we had begun to expect over the course of the last few episodes, and then out of the blue, it delivered a blow not seen coming.  It was not even a death-blow.  It was just a major shocker.  The “black swan” was not Ned (Keir O’Donnell), the guy who thought he was going to turn into an African American; the “black swan” was Lloyd Simcoe (Jack Davenport).  I guess it is true when they say the best way to hide something is to hide it in plain sight.  For I never once suspected that Lloyd had anything to do with the blackout.  Thus, seeing the final scene of the episode where he takes the call from Simon (Dominic Monaghan) was a surprise.  The hair on the back of my neck and arms rose as I heard Simon tell him, “Talking to me is one of those little inconveniences you’re going to have to put up with now that we’re responsible for the single greatest disaster in human history.”

As continuity goes, it was cool to see Alda Hertzog (Rachel Roberts) again — the blonde terrorist that Mark Benford (Joseph Fiennes) and Demetri Noh (John Cho) had been chasing at the time of the blackout.  She fooled them by cryptically telling Demetri that his time was running out and then sending them on a wild-goose chase.  (Side-note:  There’s a lot of bird references in this show with crows, black swans and now geese.)  As riveting as the interrogation scenes were, it was rather mind-numbing to watch them actually go to Indio to the restaurant and chase a petty drug dealer.  However, Alda, for all her resistance to answering their questions, was actually a fount of information.  Alda was the one that ultimately gave us two significant clues.  The first was about the “black swan” theory.  She explained that a black swan is something so out of the ordinary that it is used to describe events beyond the realm of the ordinary.  The second clue she provided was regarding the Sufi parable about an old man and a young boy with a candle and the old man asks the boy where the light comes from —  and the young boy blows out the candle and tells the old man, “if you tell me where the light went, I will tell you where it came from.”  The black-out and the reveal that Lloyd Simcoe was involved with it were the “black swan moments.”  As for the significance of the Sufi parable, perhaps that was to illustrate that it does not matter how the black-out occurred and that they needed to focus on the why it happened. For Alda told Mark, “you’re ignoring the most profound question:  why?”  It is not “who” or “how” that really matter, but the question of “why.”  Like with the boy and the candle, the disappearing light is not the point.  The point is that it happened.  Thus, accept it and address the more pertinent question. 

Continue reading article at:

http://scifitvzone.com/2009/10/22/flashforward-black-swan/

9 years we’ve been married. 9 long years. And you know being married to me ain’t easy. But somehow my wife has done it and she has done it with grace and style. There are a multitude of reasons why I love her, but these Top 9 will do for THIS year. But NEXT year I’m gonna have to come up with something better than this to profess my love…

More about:  I Think I Love My Wife

• 90210 slightly increased its ratings last night ( 2.2 million viewers) compared to last week.
• SoapNet is having a “Voluntary Viewing Marathon” on Oct. 24, with charity-themed episodes of Beverly Hills 90210, One Tree Hill and The O.C. You can watch the promo here.
• Shannen Doherty (Brenda, Beverly Hills 90210) will star in a Hallmark movie airing this time next year.
• John Mayer made a pretty funny reference to Doherty in an interview with MTV.
• There will be another season of Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood, starring Tori Spelling (Donna, Beverly Hills 90210), airing next spring.
• Tiffani Amber Thiessen (Valerie, Beverly Hills 90210) now has a Facebook Fan Page.
• The CW announced a new iPhone application, CW City Wize, that will allow you to find “actual locations seen or talked about on The CW’s hit shows Gossip Girl [and] 90210.”  A second app, CWTV, allows you to access video content and more from all the shows.  They are available through the iTunes store.
• This is the first picture I’ve seen of Gina Torres in her role as mother to Vanessa (Jessica Szohr, Gossip Girl).
• Talking Gossip has a new podcast about this week’s Gossip Girl.
• There is a Halloween edition of the Gossip Girl tour in New York City.
• PopEater has an interview with Leighton Meester (Blair, Gossip Girl) on her singing career.
• In honor of the release of the complete series on DVD, the Paley Center will be hosting a panel called “Dawson’s Creek: A Look Back.” Creator Kevin Williamson, James Van Der Beek (Dawson) and Busy Philipps (Audrey) are the only announced participants so far.

Do the ends ever justify the means?

When ABC first debuted the new television series FlashForward three weeks ago, the world sat riveted in front of their TV sets. It was an adrenaline rush that left the audience breathless for more. Based on the book of the same name by Canadian science fiction writer Robert J. Sawyer, the series version of FlashForward began with the calamitous events that occurred on a seemingly normal day when the entire planet came to a stand-still. For 2 minutes and 17 seconds, virtually every human-being blacked-out and fell to the ground. It was a world-wide disaster as airplanes fell out of the sky, cars collided, and a multitude of horrific events occurred because there was no one conscious. But FlashForward is not merely a disaster show. It is about what happened during those mysterious 2 minutes and 17 seconds, for everyone was not simply unconscious, they were given a glimpse of their future. They were able to see exactly where they would be in 6 months – what they were doing and who they were doing it with. The real story driving the series is whether each will see their vision of the future come true. For some, that is horrifying and for others, it is everything they’ve prayed and hoped for.

Initially, the central characters are an FBI agent, Mark Benford (Joseph Fiennes), his partner, Demetri Noh (John Cho), his boss, Stan Wedeck (Courtney B. Vance), and Mark’s wife, Olivia Benford (Sonya Walger, better known as Penny from Lost). They are the characters that we are first introduced to and whose flashbacks we experience. It is also Benford who first clued in that there may be a conspiracy afoot, as his flashback revealed to him that he was investigating the flashforward event in relation to something called the Mosaic Collective. For his partner, Demetri, he had a more alarming realization: he did not experience a flashforward vision, which led him to believe that he may not be alive in six months. Then for Benford’s wife, Olivia, her vision was perhaps the most disturbing of all as she saw herself having a romantic liaison with another man – a man she had not even met yet. For all of these individuals, their visions have not brought them peace and comfort in what lies ahead. To the contrary, they will do everything they can to prevent their visions from coming true.

Continue reading article at:

http://scifitvzone.com/2009/10/12/flashforward-137-sekunden/

Somehow, I had gotten the impression that nearly everyone had seen FOX’s rejected science fiction show “Firefly.” However, after several friends have admitted their ignorance of “Firefly,” I feel I simply must recommend this show to anyone who has not witnessed how wonderful and breathtaking it truly is, as it has been one of my favorite television series since I first saw it several years ago.

The brainchild of Joss Whedon, celebrated for “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and now “Dollhouse,” “Firefly” appeared in 2002, only to be yanked from programming halfway through the first season when the ratings were deemed poor by FOX. However, once the show was released on DVD, “Firefly” became a cult phenomenon, branching off into an entire franchise which ultimately led to the 2005 film “Serenity,” a continuation of the series.

“Firefly” centers on Captain Mal Reynolds, the commander of a spaceship called Serenity in a distant universe far into humanity’s future, who earns his living by smuggling goods to the disadvantaged people living far from governmental civilization.With a crew consisting of complex and difficult characters, Mal finds countless adventures as he attempts to hold his ship, his crew and himself together.

The characters in this show are positively wonderful; from the sweet and charming mechanic to the fierce woman serving as second-in-command and from the self-sacrificing doctor to the tortured girl with psychic powers, Whedon has added to this ship and this show an astounding array of intricate characters, each with flaws and issues which make him or her utterly real. The writing is only improved by the phenomenal acting in the series – though mostly unknown, these actors all bring their characters to life flawlessly, and thus they become amazingly, incredibly, real.

But “Firefly” also delves into deep themes and subjects which mark the show more as literature than as typical television. For example, through Shepherd Book, a preacher whose beliefs clash with most of the crew, the show delves into religion and morality; as Book learns to love these criminals, he must reconsider his perceptions of goodness. Through the relationship between Mal and the courtesan Inara, “Firefly” explores the intricacies of love and relationships, for, although they make an imperfect match, the two clearly love each other and must decide the path of their relationship. Through River, a girl experimented upon and turned into a psychotic, hopeless child, the show even goes into existentialist themes and contemplates the purpose of life itself.

Plus, the universe into which Whedon sets his adventures also stands as shockingly original; a combination of American and Chinese cultures after the destruction of Earth, the “Firefly” universe is situated on a set of distant planets transformed into a general approximation of Earth’s environment. Society is now bilingual, with both English and Chinese strewn throughout the script, and futuristic technology coexists with a rough way of living more reminiscent of a Western than traditional science fiction.

Because of these phenomenal new concepts and wonderful writing, “Firefly” had survived challenge after challenge to become a cult classic among thousands of dedicated fans.

“Firefly” is available as a complete series on DVD.

I posted some pics and news on this new animated film a while back and now we have some footage.

Written by Justice League alumni Dwayne McDuffie and Bruce Timm serving as executive producer, the feature borrows themes from DC’s “Crisis On Infinite Earths” and Grant Morrison’s “JLA: Earth 2″ storylines with a heroic version of Lex Luthor traveling from a parallel Earth to enlist the aid of the Justice League in thwarting their evil counterparts, The Crime Syndicate. Owlman stands out as the most notable foe, apparently putting “the balance of all existence in peril” according to Warner Bros.

The Cast is as follows:
Mark Harmon – Clark Kent/Kal-El/Superman
James Woods – Owlman
Chris Noth – Lex Luthor
William Baldwin – Bruce Wayne/Batman
Gina Torres – Super Woman
Bruce Davison – The President

I have still not got hold of the new Green Lantern: First Flight or seen any of the Superman / Batman: Public Enemies animated films that DC have recently released (if any PR people reading this have any screener copies they want to send me to review then send them my way – hey that’s one of the perks of running this site).

However, I do love cartoons, comics and superheroes so anything like this is immediately cool in my book.

MTV had this first look at the new film and it is based on some classic stories from the DC universe – some footage has now been released.

Written by Justice League alumni Dwayne McDuffie and Bruce Timm serving as executive producer, the feature borrows themes from DC’s “Crisis On Infinite Earths” and Grant Morrison’s “JLA: Earth 2″ storylines with a heroic version of Lex Luthor traveling from a parallel Earth to enlist the aid of the Justice League in thwarting their evil counterparts, The Crime Syndicate. Owlman stands out as the most notable foe, apparently putting “the balance of all existence in peril” according to Warner Bros.

Earth 2 featured an alternate Earth where all the Justice League heroes had their evil counterparts (see the pic below) and was a very cool tale from the man who brought us The Invisibles, We3, Animal Man and so many more good things.

Crisis on Infinite Earths is a true classic and featured the DC multiverse being obliterated one Universe at a time. It also featured the death of Supergirl and Barry Allen who was the first Flash to don the full red suit. Since then Barry has returned and a new version of Supergirl has since appeared. That is the trouble with comics. No one stays Bucky dead anymore…not even Bucky although I don’t mind that so much as his time as the Winter Soldier and the new Captain America have been very cool.

Any way I digress and apparantly switched comic book universes in that last paragraph.

The feature’s voice cast will include stars Mark Harmon (“NCIS”) as Superman, James Woods (“Ghosts of Mississippi”) as Owlman, Chris Noth (“Sex and the City, Law & Order”) as Lex Luthor, William Baldwin (“Dirty Sexy Money”) as Batman, Gina Torres (“Serenity,” “Firefly”) as Super Woman and Bruce Davison (“X-Men”) as the President.

All in all this is shaping up to pretty darn tasty. Anyone else excited about it?

Sin dudas uno de los regresos más anticipados se produce con la tercera temporada de Gossip Girl, que tendrá como detalle interesante la participación de una gran cantidad de invitados, incluyendo a Hilary Duff, Joanna García, Tyra Banks y Gina Torres.

Aunque faltan confirmar algunos detalles, se sabe que Duff interpretará a Olivia Burke, una estrella de cine que quiere vivir una vida normal, mientras que García aparecerá en cuatro episodios como Bree Buckley, la hija de una familia texana enfrentada a los Archibald.

Junto a ellas, Bankas aparecerá en el cuarto episodio de esta temporada como Ursula Nyquist, una exitosa actriz, que trabajará con Serena, mientras que Torres tendrá un papel recurrente como la madre de Vanessa, Gabriela Adams.

Los invitados no serán limitados a actores, dado que también ha sido confirmada la participación de los diseñadores Tory Burch y Georgina Chapman, y del grupo Sonic Youth.

La tercera temporada de Gossip Girl ya a comenzado  por The CW.

Fuente:Blogdeseries.com

To paraphrase the late, great Douglas Adams, “Dragon*Con is big.  I mean really big.” In fact the only thing that is missing is a towel and I do think the organizers should consider putting “don’t panic” in large, friendly letters on their pocket guide.

I had such a fabulous time.  My thanks to the crew of The Signal who kindly allowed me to join them for their live show, Andy and the QMx team, PJ Haarsma, Denise Gary and assorted KNTR peeps, the tour-de-force that is Mike Dougherty and the cast and crew of “Browncoats: Redemption”, the Austin Browncoats and for all the Browncoats who wore a costume or t-shirt declaring that our show may be gone, but it isn’t forgotten.

The first piece of news that I want to mention is quite important.  Many of you have (I’m hoping) been wondering what has been happening with London artist, Martin Firrell’s “Hero” project featuring Nathan Fillion.  Well, quite a lot actually; while Nathan was in London appearing at Collectormania 15 in June, he also did some pick ups with Martin for the piece and there have been additions of authors and serving members of the Queen’s Guards.  The website has been rejuvenated and once more we are being encouraged to help shape the piece by adding to the blog.  Please, go and have a look.

I know that the following is “old” news buuuut, what the heck?  Summer Glau is moving into the “Dollhouse” for the forthcoming season along with Alexis Denisof. Former BSG alumn, Jamie Bamber is featured as a client in one of the early episodes.

Alan Tudyk’s “High Poon” short of “James Gunn’s PG Porn” series is still available on spike.com.  I, personally, have found this series to be very funny with “Helpful Bus” being particularly hilarious.

Gina Torres will be appearing on next season’s “Gossip Girl” as “Vanessa’s mother”.  Let me be completely honest, I have no idea of the significance as I never watch the show, but I do know it’s popular.

As part of the NYC tub-thumping for the near imminent second season of “Castle”, Nathan Fillion will be making an appearance at the NYC Apple Store in SoHo on 18 September where I’m sure many people will be learning about iPhone apps they never dreamed existed.  During the hiatus months, ABC commissioned an actual “Nikki Heat” novel which will also be published in the US shortly and if you are interested the first 3 chapters are available on their website as part of their “Castle” microsite.  I’m not a huge fan of the murder-mystery genre, but I did quite like what I read.  The last time I perused Amazon.co.uk, I’m fairly certain I saw that “Heat Wave” is to be published here in Blighty in January, so maybe that means we finally get to see the show officially at last?

Staying on the Fillion slant; Kids Need To Read have their 2010 calendars for sale on eBay.  Go, support – we all need a calendar.

Neatly segueing but still staying with fundraising: “Browncoats: Redemption”.  Mike and the crew had a panel as part of D*C’s Whedon Track  which was so well attended that about 50 people couldn’t get in.  The teaser trailer was screened twice to much enthusiasm from everyone present.

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter – search for sending a wave.

Imágenes promocionales:

[Sophie] 18-21, mujer. Raza abierta. Una estudiante de la NYU y seguidora de Blair. Tiene cara de buena persona, pero es bastante ambiciosa y potencialmente cruel. Hará todo lo que Blair le ordene. (Dos escenas). Co-star, posible personaje recurrente.

[PJ Buckley] 25, hombree, Caucásico. UN odioso playboy del sur; imagen de JR Ewing en Earnest Sewn Jeans. Voraz, jugador de póquer con experiencia de una rica familia de Texas. (Tres escenas).

[Gabriela Abrams] 40s, mujer. Afroamericana. La atractiva, tranquila, y sociable madre de Vanessa, apapsionada por alguna de las aficiones de su hija. Actriz invitada, posible personaje recurrente.

[Dean Ellis] 20s, hombre. Raza abierta. El cabecilla de los estudiantes de primer año de la NYU. Tiene pinta de buen atleta y viene de una familia privilegiada.

[Aide] entre 20-30 años, mujer u hombre. Raza abierta. Trabaja en la oficina de la campaña senatorial de los van der Bilt (la familia de la madre de Nate). Hostíl y sin sentido del humor. (Una escena), (Dos lineas).

[Niñas pequeñas #1/#2] 11-14, mujeres. Raza abierta. Fans de las películas “Vampire Knights” y de Olivia Burke (Hilary Duff). Le piden un autógrafo en el banquete familiar de la NYU. (Una escena), (una linea).

Fuente | Gossip-Girl-Tv

Un nuevo fichaje para la nueva temporada de Gossip Girl: Gina Torres

Gina, interpretará a la madre de Vanessa (Jessica Szohr) y se llamará Gabriela Abrams .

Hasta ahora todavía no habían salido los padres de Vanessa y ahora para la tercera temporada aparecerá su madre.

Gabriela es, como ya explica Vanessa en algún capítulo,  un espíritu libre que vive en Vermont, pero que regreasa a Brooklyn para ver a su hija

So, you knew it was coming…of course I’m going to give you the scoop on what’s ahead on my FAVORITE TV Show, Gossip Girl.  I’m so excited to see what happens this season, and it really sounds like they’re pulling out all the stops this year.  So, let’s take a look at what our favorite Upper Eastsiders are going to be up to.  Thank you Gossip Girl Insiders for this info!!!

Let’s start off with some casting news.  As I told you in previous posts, Michelle Trachtenberg (Georgina) will be appearing this season.  However, since the actress is starring on the new NBC series, “Mercy”, her time at GG will be limited.  But she will be popping up throughout the season.  Will Georgina and Blair (Leighton Meester) be roomies???

Blair (Leighton Meester) and Georgina (Michelle Trachtenberg)

Yes, it’s true, Hilary Duff has been cast on Gossip Girl as an actress from vampire films who has decided to go to college in NYC.  Hilary will be playing Olivia Burke and will be roomies with Vanessa (Jessica Szohr).  Look for Olivia to strike up a relationship with Dan (Penn Badgley).

Hilary Duff as Olivia Burke

Joanna Garcia who starred on “Privileged” last season was jobless when “Privileged” didn’t get picked up for a second season.  However, she landed a new role on Gossip Girl as Bree Buckley.  Bree is a socialite from down south who will be dating Nate (Chace Crawford).  Apparently they are going to have a Romeo and Juliet type romance as her family and his family are not very friendly.

Joanna Garcia as Bree Buckley

Gina Torres has been cast in the recurring role of Vanessa’s mother, Gabriela Abrams.  Look for her to add a different parental touch to the show.

Gina Torres as Gabriela Abrams

Now some scoop on the returning cast!

Looks like Chuck (Ed Westwick) will be kissing a boy this season.  Fans of the Gossip Girl book series know that Chuck was written as being questionably gay.  Well, on the TV show he’s obviously not, but the show is paying homage to his book character’s storyline by having him make out with a guy (Neal Bledsoe) as a part of a scheme that he and Blair cook up.  By the way, Chuck and Blair will most definitely be a couple this season.  YAY!!!

Neal Bledsoe and Chuck (Ed Westwick)

Leighton Meester as Blair and Ed Westwick as Chuck

Carter Baizen (Sebastian Stan) will be seen on GG a lot this season.  Will Carter be dating Serena (Blake Lively)?  Look at the picture below, sure looks like it!

Sebastian Stan as Carter and Blake Lively as Serena

Jenny (Taylor Momsen) is the new Queen B at school.  Look for her to be heavily involved in story with the new popular clique at Constance.

Taylor Momsen as Jenny

Lily’s (Kelly Rutherford) and Rufus’ (Matthew Settle) love child, Scott (Chris Riggi), will be around this season.  Looks like Scott and Vanessa will strike up a relationship, and it looks like he’ll be meeting his parents (based on the photo below).

Kelly Rutherford as Lily, Chris Riggi as Scott, and Matthew Settle as Rufus

Scott (Chris Riggi) and Vanessa (Jessica Szohr)

Kristen Bell will return this season as the voice of Gossip Girl.  I’m glad to hear this since her voice is now synonomous with the show.

Kristen Bell as Gossip Girl

Eric (Connor Paolo) will also be back this season.  No word on how often or what his storyline will be yet.

Connor Paolo as Eric and Taylor Momsen as Jenny

Look for Dan (Penn Badgley) to be buff this season.  Penn must have spent the summer in the gym, and he looks great.  He’s still dating Blake Lively in real life too! 

Penn Badgley as Dan and Blake Lively as Serena

And finally, here is a cast photo for season 3 of GG.  Enjoy!!!

Gossip Girl Season 3 Cast Photo

PS: The new season of GG begins on Monday, September 14th, at 9pm.

Another Gossip Girl Cast Photo

One of my all-time favorite TV shows is “Alias”.  “Alias” was created by J.J. Abrams and it began in 2001 and ran for 5 seasons.  If you like “Lost” and “Fringe”, I think you would appreciate Abrams creative vision in this series.  All five season of “Alias” are on DVD, so if you haven’t watched the show before…definitely check it out.  You’ll totally be hooked!

Even though the show is over, the former cast of “Alias” have certainly flourished in their careers.  Jennifer Garner has a growing film career and she has her own production company.  Michael Vartan is on the TNT show “Hawthorne”.  Greg Grunberg is on NBC’s “Heroes”, and Bradley Cooper is having a breakout year with his recent summer hit “The Hangover” and many upcoming movies on the way.

Thus I created a new category on my blog called the “Alias Alumni Watch” so whenever a former cast member has something  new or noteworthy – you will be able to view all posts with “Alias” references in this new blog category.  Keep and eye out for updates made in the “Alias Alumni Watch” category in order to stay up-to-date with your former “Alias” cast members’ careers!

Ever since I learned that Jessica Szohr is biracial like me, I’ve been very curious as to the race of her character on Gossip Girl.  I watched a few episodes and my guess was that she was playing white.  Guess again, me!!  I think this is exciting! More biracial visibility!!

Exclusive: Gina Torres Joins Gossip Girl

• Aug 18, 2009 09:29 PM ET
• by Mickey O’Connor

via

Two of my favorite actors have just been cast in two of my favorite shows.  Gina Torres (Zoe in Firefly & Anna Espinoza in Alias) will be playing Vanessa’s mom on Gossip Girl.  James Marsters will be playing a terrorist on Caprica (the upcoming Battlestar Galactica spin-off). Now, when Gina is done on GG, she should move on over to Caprica.  Just saying.

Exclusive: Gina Torres Joins Gossip Girl – Today’s News: Our Take | TVGuide.com

Exclusive: ‘Caprica’ snags James Marsters! | Ausiello | EW.com