Simon Baker and Robin Tunney, The Mentalist
Fans of The Mentalist are not going to want to miss the final moments of Thursday's episode.
"There's probably the biggest shock ending we've ever put up on the screen," creator Bruno Heller tells TVGuide.com "I think people will be intrigued and surprised by the whole episode."
Check out photos of The Mentalist cast
The episode finds Patrick Jane (Simon Baker, who also directed the episode) and the rest of the CBI investigating a triple homicide in small rural town. Further digging by Jane and Lisbon (Robin Tunney) reveals the killings are the work of serial cop killer. John Billingsley guest-stars as a self-professed psychic, whom Jane manipulates to find the real murderer.
But it wouldn't be November sweeps if Red John didn't have some part to play...
read more
Simon Baker
As bad-boy crime whiz Patrick Jane on The Mentalist, Simon Baker takes orders from no one. But he sure knows how to give 'em! The Aussie Adonis turns director for tonight's episode, a sprawling story — written by series creator Bruno Heller — that finds the CBI team investigating an artfully staged triple homicide, which appears to be the work of a complicated maniac. It's soon revealed that the small-town murders are part of a wider slaughter of California policemen, which could lead to a media nightmare.
read more
John Billingsley by Craig Sjodin/ABC
John Billingsley, formerly of The Nine as well as Fox's own Prison Break, has been added to the Season 7 cast of 24 in the recurring role of "Latham." No other details on the character have been disclosed, however. Also, says the Reporter, Jeffrey Nordling (a recurring player on Dirt) has landed a series-regular gig on 24 as an FBI agent named Larry. The coming season of 24 will largely be set in Washington, D.C., says the trade.PS to fans of The Nine: If the season/series finale, which broke online Thursday, left you with burning questions, share them in my Trivial Matt'rs blog.
read more
Bill Paxton and Jeanne Tripplehorn in Big Love by Lacey Terrell/HBO
Sundays are seldom as busy during the regular TV season as was the case this weekend, with season and series finales all over cable. So much for summer being the sleepy season. If you'd been watching any of these shows this summer, you wouldn't have wanted to miss the payoffs.Big Love: So much drama and trauma on HBO's increasingly addictive domestic melodrama about a family man and the three wives who alternately adore and tolerate his whims, schemes and transgressions. One reason I love the show is that it has lines of dialogue you could never hear anywhere else. Here’s Nicky: “Our husband’s dating life is none of our business.” Bill to Barb: “There are two other people in this marriage.” Bill to Margene: “You are not having the neighbor’s baby!” Barb to Bill: “I don’t want a fourth [wife].” Margene: “Boss lady outed us to the neighbors!”So twisted, and yet presented in such a way that it almost seems normal. Th...
read more
John Billingsley, most recently seen on The Nine and perhaps best known as Star Trek: Enterprise's Dr. Phlox, will guest on the May 1 episode of CBS' NCIS. He'll play a visually impaired photographer with an acute sense of smell whom the NCIS team enlists to help solve the case of a deceased petty officer who shows up in one of the shutterbug's recent pictures.In other casting news involving actors from shows with numbers in the title, a 90210er and a Party of Fiver are Medium-bound. Check out the Ausiello Report for deets.
read more
Jeremy (the delightful Scott Wolf) asks his girlfriend, Lizzie (Jessica Collins): “It was just a moment.... Does it have to mean everything?” This seems to be one of the questions The Nine is setting out to answer. And the answer appears to be “yes.” In the grand scheme of life, the 52 hours the nine main characters spent together in the bank were essentially “just a moment.” But the repercussions for the hostages are endless. It is the events destined to follow that are going to make or break this show for me. Scott Wolf has been a favorite of mine since his Party of Five days (before the alcoholism took over his story line), but I wanted to ring his neck when he kissed Franny (Prison Break’s Camille Guaty). Especially considering how adorable and wholesome and pregnant his girlfriend is. Although I have to say, something about Jeremy and Lizzie’s relationship seems off. Obviously, they were pretty serious. Lizzie was excited to tell him abou...
read more
Question: I know John Billingsley is on another new show, but couldn't the producers of Prison Break find a way to work around his schedule to shoot last week's scenes? Did the creators/producers honestly believe that their viewers wouldn't notice the actor change for "murder victim" Terrence Steadman? No wonder people think he's dead.
Answer: I would be surprised if many people cared. Though I'm no fan of the ridiculous conspiracy story line on Prison Break (in the first season, any time the show went outside the prison my eyes began to roll), I found Jeff Perry (most recently seen as Thatcher Grey on Grey's Anatomy) a reasonable substitute for John Billingsley in look and, more important, in tone for what isn't exactly a make-or-break role. Ease up, people. If you're going to take such a hard line on every show, it's going to be a long, dark season ...
read more
Wentworth Miller and Dominic Purcell, Prison Break
Fans of Fox's Prison Break can revisit Michael's bold breakout via the Season 1 DVD set, in stores today and featuring commentary from creator Paul T. Scheuring and from some of the series' cast and crew, and extras such as an inside look at "the inside" of Fox River. TVGuide.com seized this opportunity to talk with Scheuring about prime time's great escape and the can't-miss manhunt ahead for Season 2.
TVGuide.com: As you watched Season 1 again and recorded your commentary, did you come to any new realizations — other than that [co-commentator]
read more
Today's big news: I woke up to find a zit the size of a Vespa parked on my face. Good times....EXECUTIVE SESSION9:04 am: ABC Entertainment president Stephen McPherson is wearing blue jeans that scream "rock-star network executive!"9:06 am: McPherson announces that he's going to pressure the TV Academy to let us, the nation's top TV critics, decide next year's Emmy nominees. Hey, that was my idea! (And not to split hairs, but it's only supposed to be Matt Roush and me.)9:08 am: McPherson admits if he had to do Commander in Chief over again, he wouldn't have impeached Rod Lurie and replaced him with Steven Bochco. "We would probably bring it on later in the season and let Rod prep for it a lot longer than he had a chance to. He was the voice of that show." 9:08 am: I ask McPherson what he's doing behind the scenes at Desperate Housewives to address last season's "creative collapse." Although he disagrees with the "creative collapse" part — I was going to say implosion — he c...
read more
In other pilot news, Skeet Ulrich will star in Jericho, CBS' drama about a small town isolated from the world after a nuclear disaster.... Gail O'Grady has joined Kevin Williamson's CW sudser about a teen whose family moves to Palm Springs, while Hot Properties costar Sofia Vergara has been cast on ABC's new comedy from Donal Logue.... John Billingsley (Star Trek: Enterprise) and Owain Yeoman (Kitchen Confidential) have been added to ABC's Nine Lives, about strangers who bond during a bank robbery.... John L. Adams (The Dead Zone) will play newscaster Angie Harmon's cameraman in Secrets of a Small Town, from Charles Pratt Jr. (Desperate Housewives).... And, in short order, Mark Feuerstein (Good Morning, Miami
read more