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Former "Firefly" star Morena Baccarin has hardly been wanting for work. Since that show she's popped up in regular roles on "Stargate Sg-1," "Heartland," "V" and "Homeland" with key guest starring spots on shows like "The Good Wife," "The Mentalist" and "The O.C.".

Next up she's playing the role of Dr. Leslie Thompkins, the dedicated physician who was a close friend of Bruce Wayne's parents, in Fox's Batman prequel series "Gotham". Usually portrayed as an elderly woman and something of a surrogate mother figure to Bruce, here she's decidedly younger but just as brash.

In this version, she's working at the newly opened Arkham Asylum’s Home for the Criminally Insane where James Gordon found himself transferred to in last few minutes of the mid-season finale. Speaking about her role in the show with IGN, she says:

"Basically she and Jim meet at Arkham Asylum where he winds up working after the last episode.

Chicago Fire fans are in for a real Treat. The NBC drama has hired former Everwood star, Treat Williams to play another fatherly role.

Taylor Kinney’s character, Lieutenant Kelly Severide, is one of the show’s leads and execs have hired Treat Williams to portray his dad, Benny Severide, in multiple episodes starting this January.

The Lieutenant is described as being “brash” and “unflappable”. He leads Rescue Squad 3 and struggles with intense spinal pain that has come on as the result of a past rescue mission. According to TV Guide, the apple didn’t fall far from the tree in the Severide family.

The character of Benny, which has gone to Williams, is another “tough guy” and former career fireman. Father and son are not exactly estranged, but they are not best buds either. They seem to pop in and out of each other’s lives, but perhaps their relationship will be “on again,...

The following is a list of all comic books, graphic novels and special items that will be available this week and shipped to comic book stores who have placed orders for them.

3D Total Publishing

Digital Art Masters Volume 7 Sc, $49.99

Aardvark Vanaheim

Zootanapuss #4 (not verified by Diamond), Ar

AC Comics

Femforce #160, $9.95

Ace Books

Doctor Who Shada The Lost Adventure By Douglas Adams Hc (not verified by Diamond), $25.95

Alpha Control Press

Lost In Space Encyclopedia II Sc (not verified by Diamond), $39.95

Ape Entertainment

Richie Rich Gems Treasures Tp, $9.99

Archie Comics

Sonic The Hedgehog #238, $2.99

World Of Archie Double Digest #19, $3.99

Aspen Mlt

Executive Assistant Assassins #1 (Cover A Joe Benitez), $3.99

Executive Assistant Assassins #1 (Cover B Eduardo Francisco), $3.99

Executive Assistant Assassins #1 (Cover C Joe Benitez Riddled Incentive), Ar

Fathom Kiani Volume 2 #3 (Cover A Oliver Nome), $3.50

Fathom Kiani Volume 2 #3 (Cover B Eduardo Francisco), $3.50

Fathom Kiani Volume 2 #3 (Cover C Michael Turner Classic Incentive), Ar

Soulfire Despair #1 (Cover...

More casting news has hit the interwebs for Marcus Nispel's latest flick, Backmask, and we have the info for you right here filled with the power color orange and riddled with lens flares from every conceivable angle. Well, not really, but there is news!

According to the Daily Dead, Brittany Curran (pictured; Captured, "Men of a Certain Age", "The Ghost Whisperer") will be playing the lead female role of Reign and will appear with previously reported cast member Gage Golightly ("Teen Wolf", "Heartland").

Kirsten Helms penned the script that follows a group of teenagers who accidentally release an evil spirit that starts to possess them one by one.

Synopsis

During a sex, drugs, and rock-fueled party, six small-town teenagers find an old vintage record and decide to play it backwards in order to listen for any subliminal/satanic messages. Lo and behold, a seemingly malevolent spirit quickly infiltrates the group,...

Director Marcus Nispel (The Texas Chainsaw Masscare, Friday the 13th, Conan remakes) is gearing up to direct his next horror project this month in Rhode Island. Titled Backmask, the film deals with six small-town teenagers who unleash a malevolent spirit, when they find an old record and play it backwards. We have exclusively learned who has been cast in the lead female role.

Brittany Curran (pictured below) just finished shooting Captured and has multiple TV credits including roles on Men of a Certain Age and Ghost Whisperer. We’ve been told that she’ll be playing the lead female role of Reign and will appear with previously reported cast member Gage Golightly (Teen Wolf, Heartland).

Kristen Elms wrote the screenplay and the movie is being produced by Steven Schneider (Insidious, The Lords of Salem). We’ve also been told previously that Shaun Smith (300, Dawn of the Dead remake) will be...

In May 2011, it was revealed that Marcus Nispel (The Texas Chainsaw Masscare, Friday the 13th, Conan remakes) would be returning to the horror genre to direct Backmask. The project is now set to start filming this June in Rhode Island, and we have an update on some of the cast and crew involved.

As recently reported by Variety, Gage Golightly (Teen Wolf, Heartland) has signed on for the lead role of the film. She’ll play one of “six small-town teenagers” that unleash a malevolent spirit, when they find an old vintage record and play it backwards.

Insidious and The Lords of Salem producer Steven Schneider will be producing the film and Kirsten Elms wrote the screenplay. Although not officially announced, we have been told exclusively that Shaun Smith (300, Dawn of the Dead remake) will be handling the make-up effects for the film. With filming starting in the next few weeks,...

Dr. Brown is checking into White Collar!

Treat Williams (Everwood, Heartland) is set to join the upcoming fourth season of the USA hit on a recurring basis, playing Sam, a gruff and elusive undercover officer from D.C. who has some “deeply rooted ties to Neal’s past.” (Speculation: Could he be Neal’s dad?! Discuss.)

In related casting news, Entourage’s Perry Reeves will guest in an upcoming episode as a high-powered “fixer,” who will go to any lengths to get her clients what they need.

In the season finale of White Collar, Neal (Matt Bomer) removed his court-ordered anklet and fled the country.

Gage Golightly has signed up to appear in The CW's new drama Ringer. Golightly has landed a recurring role in the show, Deadline reports. Ringer stars Sarah Michelle Gellar as a woman on the run who assumes the identity of her twin sister Siobhan, only to realise that Siobhan's life is not as perfect as it seems. Golightly has now signed up to play a tough student at the school attended by Siobhan's stepdaughter Juliet (Zoey Deutch). Golightly previously appeared as Hayley in The Troop and played Thea in Heartland. (more)...

When the new version of V first showed up, I was surprisingly hopeful. Back when it was simply a theory, I had little interest in a reboot of the camp alien drama, especially since reworking anything that Marc Singer has been a part of is pure folly. Like many of our recent trips back to the ’80s, there is too serious an air at work here, but the first few episodes were actually rather interesting. After that, the ratings proved that there was a market for the show, and that it was doing a fair job living up to whatever expectations had drawn viewers in.

While there are a variety of twists to the original story, the heart of the matter is the same, and the general architecture of the first season’s plot closely resembles the main points of the original. Aliens come to Earth with smiling faces, faces...

Exclusive: Treat Williams has been tapped to star opposite Rachael Carpani in Lifetime's drama pilot Against the Wall. Written by Annie Brunner and to be directed by Dean Parisot, Against the Wall is a family drama set in Chicago following policewoman Abby Kowalski (Carpani), who causes a rift with her three cop brothers when she decides to join the department’s Internal Affairs division. Williams will play Abby's dad, an old-school career Chicago cop who is rough around the edges but has a real soft spot for his only daughter until she tells him of her new gig, news that makes him feel hurt and angry. Universal Cable Prods. is producing. Williams, whose series credits include the WB's Everwood, TNT's Heartland and ABC's Brothers & Sisters, on which he had a recurring role, is seen in 2 movies this fall: Howl and Danny Boyle's 127 Hours. He is with Apa and the Schiff Co.

For the most part, medical dramas tend to come and go pretty regularly on network TV. Some stick around and have a pretty successful run, such as E.R. or Chicago Hope, and some are long gone before you can even remember the show’s name, like Heartland starring Treat Williams. Thankfully, Fox’s House falls under the former category.

Now in it’s sixth season, House is picking up steam like never before, and we’ve got some brand new clips from tonight’s episode, “Known Unknowns.” In the episode, House must deal with the perils of the office while away at a medical conference, while Foreman (Omar Epps) treats a returning patient.

In the first clip, the sardonic Hugh Laurie as House discusses his distaste for the returning trend of the 1980s. In the second, Foreman checks out a former patient who goes through some hallucinations that could prove deadly.

ABC's V pilot kicks off tomorrow night, and we've got a few goodies to whet your appetite until then, including a new promo trailer and several international marketing images for the series that are kind of fun. You can check out all of it below.

It's been more than 25 years since V first aired back in the '80s, but anticipation for this rebooted property is high, and critics have been praiseworthy of the pilot.

Elizabeth Mitchell (Lost) stars as the show's new heroine, doleful FBI agent Erica Evans. She's the series' chief protagonist, a status she shares with the slightly more buoyant, but ultimately no less distraught Father Jack (Joel Gretsch), a Catholic priest undergoing a crisis of faith. Scott Wolf (Party of Five) joins the cast as an ambitious TV journalist.

The aliens are as attractive and agreeable as before. Fans of the original Kenneth Johnson miniseries of...

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing, on this the first day back to work after the Labor Day three-day weekend. Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Angie Harmon (Women's Murder Club) has been cast as a guest star on NBC's Chuck. She'll appear in the third season's fourth episode--slated to air sometime around late March/early April--where she will play Sydney, a covert agent for the enigmatic organization The Ring who wants to eliminate Captain Awesome (Ryan McPartlin). (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files) Former Middleman star Natalie Morales has been promoted to a series regular on USA's upcoming crime dramedy White Collar, where she will play Lauren Cruz, described as "a smart junior FBI agent in the white-collar division who holds her own with her superiors and the master thieves she's investigating." Morales was originally meant to guest star in two episodes. Elsewhere at USA, Eric Lively (24: Redemption...

Morena Baccarin is set to play the leader of the alien invasion in ABC's reimagining of "V," part of a slew of pilot casting news for the network. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Baccarin will play Anna, leader of the Visitors and expert on human culture and media manipulation. Best known as space courtesan Inara Serra on "Firefly" and "Serenity," Baccarin's TV credits include "Heartland," "Stargate Sg-1" and "The O.C." Also snagging a pilot lead on ABC is Rupert Penry-Jones. The British actor, whose credits include "Mi-5" (or "Spooks") and "Cambridge Spies", will topline the network's untitled Jerry Bruckheimer drama, focusing...

Treat Williams and Nancy Travis have been tapped to star in "Safe Harbor," a Hallmark Channel original movie.

The telefilm, set to air this year, is based on a true story. It revolves around a couple about to sail around the world who take a couple of juvenile delinquents under their wing and learn about hope, second chances and living their dreams. Orson Bean co-stars.

"Harbor" is directed by Jerry Jameson from a script by Josef Anderson, and the two co-executive produced. The telefilm, from Daniel L. Paulson Prods. and Bright World, is executive produced by Paulson and also co-exec produced by Norton Wright.

Williams has starred on the WB Network's "Everwood" and TNT's "Heartland." Travis co-stars on TBS' "The Bill Engvall Show."...

TNT's The Closer opened to big numbers for its third-season premiere Monday night.

The drama series, starring Kyra Sedgwick, averaged more than 8.8 million total viewers at 9 p.m., breaking its own record set with last year's Season 2 premiere as basic cable's most-watched series telecast ever, according to Nielsen Media Research.

The Season 3 opener, which premiered commercial-free and uninterrupted thanks to Toyota, was up 6% over last season's premiere (8.3 million) in total viewers and also grew 11% in the adults 18-49 demo (2.9 million vs. 2.6 million) and 6% in adults 25-54 (3.8 million vs. 3.6 million). It also beat all broadcast programming in its time period in total viewers Monday night.

Following Closer at 10 p.m. was the new drama Heartland, which averaged 4.3 million viewers, slightly less than half its lead-in. Heartland, set in the world of organ donors and starring Treat Williams and Kari Matchett as a recently divorced couple, still ranked as basic cable's No. 2 new original series for the year. The drama also averaged 1.2 million in 18-49 and 1.6 million in 25-54.

Turner Entertainment Networks president Steve Koonin, who oversees TNT, said he was thrilled with the numbers for Closer.

"With DVRs and all those kinds of things eroding a lot of ratings, to get this kind of number, where a lot of people wanted to watch as it happened ... is a big testament to the quality of the show," he said. "These are significant, broadcast (comparable) numbers."

He said he believes that the marketing and PR efforts, Sedgwick's promotional appearances and word-of-mouth also helped boost the series' numbers.

Turner Entertainment Networks' TNT and TBS are diving deeper into digital waters with plans to stream all episodes of its original summer series online, the company said Tuesday.

Turner will post episodes from TNT's The Closer, Heartland, Saving Grace and The Company on TNT.tv, while TBS will offer them from House of Payne, The Bill Engvall Show, My Boys and The Frank Show on TBS.com the morning after they debut on television. The series will be available online for about a month.

"On a couple of the shows ('Engvall' and 'Frank'), we're acting as the studio, and we believe these streaming rights are integral in making a complete package for these shows to be hits," Turner Entertainment Networks president Steve Koonin said. "Our first window is with the cable operator, but we had great success with 'My Boys' where we had millions of streams, and we want to use this as just another tool to drive success for our shows."

In Turner's case, besides the content being available on the TNT and TBS network Web sites, Comcast and Time Warner also will offer the shows, except for the Fox-produced Saving Grace, for a month on each of their VOD platforms.

TNT has greenlighted a legal drama pilot from Emmy-winning writer-producer Steven Bochco.

The untitled project, which Bochco penned with David Feige (Indefensible), revolves around former law school classmates who find themselves facing off against each other in court on the same case.

TNT announced the project in March as part of its development slate (HR 3/14). It hails from Steven Bochco Prods. and ABC TV Studio, with Bochco and Feige executive producing.

Bochco, who was behind Hill Street Blues and NYPD Blue, among other series, has projects in development at several cable networks, including a show at A&E about a happily married couple who are partners in a family law practice, which he's writing with Jonathan Abrahams, and a supernatural drama for FX he is penning with Joel Fields.

Of TNT's batch of drama pilots last year, two -- the Holly Hunter starrer Saving Grace and Heartland, toplined by Treat Williams -- were picked up to series and will premiere in the summer.

TNT is in negotiations to pick up drama pilots Grace and Heartland to series, while opting not to bring back paramedic drama Saved for a second season, sources said.

Like TNT's hit cop drama The Closer, which stars Kyra Sedgwick, both Grace and Heartland boast big-name leads.

Oscar winner Holly Hunter toplines Grace, playing a jaded Oklahoma City police detective who is visited by an irascible angel and offered an opportunity to redeem her life.

Treat Williams stars as a surgeon in the medical drama Heartland, which is set in the high-stakes world of heart transplant surgery.

Heartland, from Warner Horizon TV, is eyed as a companion for Closer.

While TNT brass are said to have been pleased with the ratings performance of Saved, sources said they are hoping for a better retention of Closer's sizable lead-in with Heartland than the 55% achieved by the Tom Everett Scott-starring EMT drama.

As for the Fox TV Studios-produced Grace, it is said to be considered a strong self-starter, a candidate to air in the 10 p.m.