Friday round-up: previews, cast interviews and new projects

This is the first part of the weekend monster update, with more news & stuff coming in the next couple of days.

I got my Grimms confused in yesterday's post as it turns out. Tonight's episode won't be "Let Your Hair Down," but "The Three Bad Wolves." Rapunzel doesn't show up until next week.

Nick (David Giuntoli) is called to a suspected arson case, which exposes a longstanding family feud that brings Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell) face-to-face with characters from his troubled past. While Monroe wrestles with restraining his wild side, it’s up to Nick to keep everything from going up in flames. Russell Hornsby, Bitsie Tulloch, Sasha Roiz and Reggie Lee also star.

There are a few sneak peeks at THR and Dread Central. Spoiler TV has the promotional stills. Here is the teaser:



Yesterday's excellent "Danse Macabre," which did well in the ratings, is available on NBC.com. Since this post probably won't be up before the episode airs in most places, here is the synopsis for next week's episode:

"GRIMM"
"LET YOUR HAIR DOWN"
12/16/2011 (09:00PM - 10:00PM) (Friday) : A VIOLENT MURDER IN THE WOODS UNVEILS A LONG FORGOTTEN MISSING PERSONS CASE -- A mysterious homicide deep in the woods leads to Nick (David Giuntoli) and Hank (Russell Hornsby) reopening a long-aborted missing persons case. When Nick suspects this abducted person might be a feral creature, he asks Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell) to help remind this wild child of her human nature.

A couple of photos, from Spoiler TV:



And the teaser:



Brian Markinson is back on Sanctuary tonight at 10 pm on Syfy in episode "Acolyte." Red Eye Chicago has a short article about the episode. Snippet:

This also is a big episode for Christopher Heyerdahl and one of his characters, Bigfoot. A couple weeks ago, Heyerdahl told me that Biggie will face some huge issues toward the end of Season 4.

"What's coming up for Biggie is probably the biggest challenge of his hundred-year existence and the biggest challenge of his relationship with Magnus in the Sanctuary," he said.

Synopsis and promo:

Kate returns from Hollow Earth with word that insurgents are about to strike an above-ground target – and may have inside help from a trusted member of Team Sanctuary.

Richard Harmon and Genevieve Buechner guest star in tomorrow's episode of The Haunting Hour, "The Scarecrow." The episode airs at 5 pm ET and it will be presented with two different endings, airing back-to-back. Synopsis and teaser:

When a creepy scarecrow appears in her field, a young farmer's daughter (Bailee Madison, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark) and her brother (Richard Harmon, "Tower Prep") begin to suspect that the stranger who delivered it means to drive off more than crows. Jenny and Bobby soon find themselves in a fight for survival.

Here are the synopsis and trailer for Good Morning, Killer, also with Genevieve Buechner, which premieres on Tuesday at 9 pm on TNT:

Adapted by April Smith from her own novel, this thriller stars Catherine Bell (JAG, Army Wives) as FBI Special Agent Ana Gray, an undercover operative tracking down a serial kidnapper. As Ana develops a rapport with the kidnapper's latest victim, the suspect suddenly changes his pattern. Now Ana must race to find him before he strikes again. Good Morning, Killer co-stars Cole Hauser (Chase, K-Ville) as Detective Andrew Berringer; William Devane (Knots Landing, 24) as Everett Morgan "Poppy" Grey, Ana's grandfather; Titus Welliver (The Good Wife, Lost) as FBI Special Agent Mike Donnato, Ana's partner; and Suleka Mathew (TNT's HawthoRNe) as FBI Agent Barbara Sullivan, Ana's best friend at the bureau.

Luciana Carro Fans posted the first photos from Deck the Halls, which airs on Tuesday, December 20, also on TNT. Hit the link to see them.

And that's Hiro Kanagawa, who is also in the film, in the pic to the right. Synopsis:

Based on the first book in Mary Higgins Clark and daughter Carol Higgins Clark's series of holiday mystery novels, this warm-hearted story brings together two of the authors' most popular characters: Cleaning-woman-turned-private-eye Alvirah Meegan, played by Kathy Najimy (Sister Act, Franklin & Bash) and Detective Regan Reilly, played by Scottie Thompson (Star Trek, Skyline). The women investigate the kidnapping of Regan's father and a young female driver just before the holidays. The race is on to rescue the pair and get them home in time for Christmas. Two-time Emmy® winner Jane Alexander (Testament, Warm Springs) plays Regan's mother, famed mystery writer Nora Regan Reilly. Ron Underwood (Tremors, City Slickers) will direct from a script by Howard Burkons (John Q, TNT's The Ron Clark Story), who also serves as executive producer with Brenda Friend (Joan of Arc, TNT's The Ron Clark Story) and Frank von Zerneck (We Were the Mulvaneys, Miracle on Ice).

The Arts Club blog has the photos from the opening night of The Patron Saint of Stanley Park. If you're in Vancouver, you can check it out until December 24. Info and tickets here.

Eric Stoltz is directing more Glee. His next episode, "The Proposal," will be the first one to air when the show returns after the holiday break, on January 17.

Here is the first clip from Marilyn, with Ryan Robbins and Allison Mack, screened at the Whistler Film Festival last weekend:

A bank robber on the lam reluctantly takes a runaway young woman under his wing. Distracted by this volatile girl, he struggles to keep his head in the game and stay under the legal radar, but her dreams of becoming a singer sidetrack his plans and change him irrevocably. Filmed in a gritty 1970s style, Marilyn is based on a story written in Leavenworth Prison by Paddy Mitchell of the infamous Stopwatch Gang.

The Los Angeles Times has a few more details about Ron Moore's new pilot, Hangtown (Twitter):

Moore said he'd been chomping at the bit to do a western and was thrilled to learn from his agent that TV executives were looking specifically for those kinds of pitches."It's survived as a form for so long because it's so malleable," Moore said. "It can examine morality, society, culture, racism, sexism, politics, you name it. It's a caldron you can throw a lot of different elements into."

"Hangtown," set in the 1870s, will center on three characters — a Clint Eastwood-style lawman, a forensics doctor and a dime-store novelist (who happens to be a woman). The three will take on the crime of the week in what Moore describes as a "broad adventure with a high fun quotient." While it won't veer into camp or comedy — it's no "Adventures of Brisco County Jr." — it's definitely notCormac McCarthy or "Unforgiven," he said.

Here are a couple of clips from Hell on Wheels, with Christopher Heyerdahl. The first one is a BTS video from last week's episode, "Bread and Circuses."



And the second one is a sneak peek from this Sunday's episode, "Pride, Pomp and Circumstance:"



Elize Morgan has a new interview with Jane Espenson and Cheeks. Snippet:

In creating Husbands what was the original inspiration?
JE: This grew out of an idea that Cheeks (writer Brad Bell) had about two LA-based characters to be played by himself and Alessandra Torresani, trying to outgrow their own boozy Hollywood fun. When we started talking about the concept together, we realized that there would be more to say if we built the show around a young gay married couple. Alessandra remained as Haley the best friend, but the character of Brady (played by Sean Hemeon) was added.

What issues have you faced in getting the show out to an audience - with both Jane Espenson and Cheeks having established fan bases already, has it been difficult in any ways to access media sources?
JE: We've had some really high-level exposure, but I think that web series are still seen as a sort of second-tier of entertainment, which is a shame. I don't care about the media exposure as an end in itself, but I hope that everyone who would love this series gets to hear about it. We're getting lots of views, but of course we always want more. I'd love to be able to get the kinds of numbers that make it really clear to the powers that be that there is an audience eager for this content.

Blackstone, with Carmen Moore, finally has a premiere date for season two. It's January 11, 2012, on APTN (Canada).

The Firm, with Callum Rennie and Tricia Helfer, will premiere in 111 countries on February 19. The U.S. premiere is still scheduled for Sunday, January 8. Tricia appears in the new teaser:



No idea if Callum and Brian Markinson will be back on The Killing, but season two went into production last week and Michelle Forbes is definitely returning as a regular.

The Daily Blam has a new interview with Bear McCreary, mostly about The Walking Dead:

Keven: Because of your time spent scoring Battlestar Galactica, do you feel pressure from those fans to top yourself with new projects or do you even care about those sorts of things?
Bear: I don't give it a moment's thought. In some aspects, I will never "top" my work on BSG because it was such a unique series in so many ways. I don't think of my work as a linear progression like that, a bar that needs to be raised and topped, or a standard that can't be reached. I think of my career as spanning 3 dimensions. The Walking Dead is going a different direction than BSG, so it's not even a question of topping it. That's the only way I can keep myself sane and continue working.

Keven: You are scoring Knights of Badassdom, how is that coming along and what do you think fans will think of the highly anticipated flick? Do you have a theme song for Summer Glau now that you've scored a few of her projects (joking… but no, do you)?
Bear: KoB is a delightful project and I think fans are going to flip the eff out when they see it. It will be one of my most fun scores, both dark and cerebral and rockin' and adventurous. Oddly enough, I wrote a theme for Summer's character in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and a new theme for her in The Cape. Will she have a new theme in Knights of Badassdom? Fans will have to see the film to know the answer!

Bear also has a new entry on his blog about scoring the last ever Eureka holiday special, "Do You See What I See." Here is the BTS video from the recording sessions:



If you understand French and are a fan of The X-Files, you can check out a Q&A that William B. Davis did in France last month (only parts of it are in French, most of it is in English):



Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4

And a few more clips.

The teaser for the season finale of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, "The High School Reunion Part 2: The Gang's Revenge," with Sasha Roiz, which airs next Thursday (Dec. 15, 10 pm, FX):



A new trailer for Michael Rymer's Face to Face:



The opening scene from The Divide, with Michael Eklund, which hits theatres on January 13:



And Jennifer Beals fans have uploaded about 25 minutes of footage from A Night of Dying Tigers on YouTube. Don't watch it if you're in the U.S. and have access to Netflix. That said, there are a couple of fun scenes with Leah Gibson and John Pyper-Ferguson in the clip and there is still no DVD release date set for any country other than New Zealand, so here it is: