David Boreanaz
Could David Boreanaz land a role on the prestigious British drama Downton Abbey simply by asking for one? Fans will have to wait and see, but the Bones star thinks he'd make a great suitor for Lady Mary Crawley (Michelle Dockery), and he's taken to Twitter to ask Julian Fellowes, the show's writer and executive producer, if he agrees.
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Downton Abbey
"It's good to remind people, love is love," says Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes. And more than 15 million viewers in the U.S. and U.K. are having a love affair with the palace-size hit, which has reinvigorated period drama and earned raves around the world (100 countries have acquired rights to air the show). Far from a sophomore slump, Season 2 of the sumptuous series about life among the British gentry and their servants during World War I has broadened the story's scope to take in the violence of the battlefields and the impact of the conflict on the residents both upstairs and down.
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Elizabeth McGovern
Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes says he's astounded at his series' success.
"I can hardly believe the way this city — and I hope this country — has taken the series to its heart. It's been extraordinary and bewildering in a way," he said on the Golden Globes red carpet.
Star Hugh Bonneville added: "It's got a big ensemble cast; if you get bored with one, another one's going to be on in a minute."
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Dan Stevens and Michelle Dockery
When Downton Abbey returns for its second season on Jan. 8, 2012 on PBS, the action will pick up two years after that fated garden party in which the Earl of Grantham (Hugh Bonneville) announced that England was at war with Germany.
During Sunday's preview of the hit British series, executive producer Gareth Neame confirmed that the action in the seven-episode second season will take place over two years, just like the first season. "The new series is a similar sort of span," he says. "We start in 1916. The war will come to a conclusion within this series, and the final episodes is the time after the war."
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Episodes
Only a week into the new year, and already the volume of new TV is overwhelming. Case in point: this Sunday's logjam of new titles on network and cable, ranging from the truly sublime to the hopelessly ridiculous and instantly forgettable. Here's a rundown from best to worst.
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William H. Macy, Blake Johnson, Emmy Rossum
CSI: NY (Friday, 9/8c, CBS)
Ever since JAG signed off nearly six years ago, one of the most frequent topics in my mailbag is the hope that David James Elliott (last seen in ABC's short-lived Scoundrels last summer) will find his way back to CBS. For at least one week, his fans get their wish, as Elliott guests as the FBI agent ex-husband of Sela Ward's Jo. (Do we sense a triangle brewing?) In the case of the week, a guy dressed as a clown shoots a bakery owner, and the investigation reveals a skeleton in Det. Flack's past. (Presumably not wearing floppy shoes.)
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Friday Night Lights
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS
(Friday, 8/7c NBC) In another emotionally charged episode, Principal Tami Taylor finds herself dealing with an emotionally explosive situation when Becky comes to her for advice (at Riggins' urging) regarding her unwanted pregnancy. Family pressures also weigh upon star player Vince, whose addict mother suffers another setback...
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Hugh Bonneville
Last week we learned of Charity Wakefield being tapped to star in David E. Kelley's new legal drama, Legally Mad. And now, her character has a new daddy.
Hugh Bonneville has been cast to play Gordon Hamm, who owns the law firm where his twentysomething daughter (Wakefield) decides to take a job, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
"Gordon Hamm is based on the true story of a real-life attorney who lives in my head," Kelley said. "Sharp litigator, a lot of fun and, deep down, a mess." So kind of like a male Ally McBeal. ...
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