'Game of Thrones' Continues Its Casting Brilliance
One of the best things about HBO's terrific fantasy series adaptation Game of Thrones is that, for the most part, every role has been cast exquisitely well. Peter Dinklage was something of a no-brainer, and Sean Bean was an obvious necessity, but the people they managed to find to play other roles, from Arya and Bran to sneaky Varys, have been wonderful, note-perfect surprises. And now they've gone and cast Julius Caesar himself, Ciarán Hinds, as Mance Rayder, the leader of the wildlings. I know, I know, he's definitely older than he's supposed to be in the books, but so are a lot of the actors on the show. They've aged everyone up, basically, for TV. And that's fine! And Hinds is such a terrific actor that it doesn't really matter anyway. Be happy about this. It is very exciting. [Entertainment Weekly]
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From good news to the most terrible news. Are you sitting down? You should be sitting down. (What are you doing reading a computer standing up?) This... this isn't going to be easy. You see, ABC Family has, in its mysterious and unknowable wisdom, decided to call Jane By Design home. Yes, the show is going to heaven, and thus there will be no more episodes. I know, I know. Let it out. It's terrible news. It's really tough news to hear. All that promise, gone. All the India intrigue, all of Jane's big-mouthed moon-goon whining, allllll that Nick Roux. Just vanished from the Earth. And we'll never know why. But we will at least see it someday, when we too are called up, and there we can watch season upon season of Jane By Design and that show about the cat people, you know, Chloe King's Nine Lives or whatever, and it will be wonderful. Grieve now, but know that in the future only bliss awaits. [Deadline]
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We weren't kidding! Here's your bliss: ABC Family has renewed both Melissa & Joey and Baby Daddy for more seasons. Yup. Oh and Switched at Birth. So. There are still some good things left in the corporeal world. I mean, Baby Daddy? That's some premium television right there. And anything that keeps Joey Lawrence in Bics is a good thing. So, rejoice and be grateful. [Deadline]
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And the happy things just keep on coming! ABC, regular ABC not ABC Family, has announced that it is developing a Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn drama. Yes. What would that look like? Here is the description: "the two famed literary characters ... re-meet as young men in their 20s and form an investigative firm in a bustling and steampunk New Orleans." !!! That is a tremendously brilliant idea! What could possibly go wrong with that? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Perfect idea. Perfect television. A+. Sixes across the board. Cynthia Potter and the splash-o-meter didn't register anything on that one. Well done, everyone. Steampunk Tom & Huck solving mysteries. It's almost too smart. [The Hollywood Reporter]
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Oh man. Television is just on fire today! It must be really compensating for that Jane By Design tragedy. TNT has renewed its series Perception for a second season. That's the one that pairs up the dynamic duo of Eric McCormack and Rachael Leigh Cook. Yup, McCormack and Cook, together at last. He's some sort of crazy genius who solves crimes and she's the FBI agent, the trained FBI agent, who is not as good at solving crimes as the crazy guy. Go figure. So, basically with the exception of Jane By Design, all your favorite shows are doing great. [Deadline]
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And in the future you can add a new favorite show to the list, former Destiny's Child member Kelly Rowland's new BET sitcom What Would Dylan Do, about a relationship blogger. Nothing could be bad about that, right? Who doesn't love shows about bloggers?? Especially ones starring singers! Man. TV is a regular cornucopia. It just keeps giving and giving and giving. Or, maybe, in the Hunger Games sense, it's a place of misery and death that lures you in with shiny things only to be your destruction. Either or. [The Hollywood Reporter]
