HBO's The Newsroom has tapped Oscar winner Marcia Gay Harden to replace Rosemarie DeWitt on its upcoming second season. She will play the recurring role of Rebecca Halliday, a litigator who defends Atlantis Cable News in a wrongful termination suit. As was previously reported, DeWitt exited the role due to scheduling conflicts stemming from rewrites to the character's story.
The Vampire Diaries' Daniel Gillies (Elijah) has joined the cast of the purposed spinoff, The Originals. He will co-star with Joseph Morgan (Klaus) and Phoebe Tonkin (Hayley) in the main series' April 25 episode, which will serve as a backdoor pilot. In the hour, Klaus returns to the French Quarter of New Orleans and is reunited with his diabolical former protege, Marcel. Elijah is intent on helping his brother find redemption and must side with Marcel's enemies to keep Klaus in line.
ABC has pulled Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 from its schedule effective immediately. The ratings-challenged comedy will be replaced with original episodes of Happy Endings - thusly created a solid hour of Happy Endings Tuesdays at 9. It is currently unclear if the remaining episodes of the series' order will ever air.
TBS has decided to cancel the Brian Austen Green-led dramedy series, Wedding Band. Airing on Saturday nights at 10/9c., the series never gained a loyal following after its November premiere. The series finale aired last Saturday - January 19, 2013.
Army Wives' Sally Pressman has landed the female lead in the NBC comedy pilot Joe, Joe and Jane. The multi-cam project comes from Joe Port and Weissman and focuses on an author caught in an ongoing war between two needy, flawed people - his wife (Pressman) and his co-author/BFF. Pressman's Jane is described as a tough, successful business woman with a soft mushy center.
Alex Kingston (ER, Doctor Who) will appear on The CW's Arrow as Dinah Lance - Laurel's (Katie Cassidy) mother and Det. Quentin's (Paul Blackthorne) ex-wife. She will recur on the drama as Dinah will return to Starling City to make amends with her family that she abandoned after the tragic death of her daughter.
Film and Broadway vet Matthew Broderick to guest star as himself on an upcoming episode of NBC's Smash. Details on his appearance are unclear at the moment.
Rapper 2 Chainz will appear as himself on the February 11 episode of CBS' 2 Broke Girls. The episode description reads, "Max (Kat Dennings) and Caroline (Beth Behrs) encounter 2 Chainz on a private plance after meeting a well-connected record label employee who is so smitten with Max that he offers to fly the pair to Los Angeles for the Grammys."
FOX has decided to skip past the pilot process and give a six episode straight-to-series order for sitcom Dads from Seth MacFarlane, Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild. The multi-cam comedy revolves around two successful guys in their 30s who find their lives turned upside down when their nightmare fathers unexpectedly move in with them.
Natalie Martinez (CSI: NY) and Alex Koch have been cast on CBS' Under the Dome. Martinez will play Linda, a young, ambitious deputy who is fiercely loyal to Sheriff Duke Perkins. Koch will play Junior, the son of the local politician and car dealer and who is a smart, secretly disturbed college freshman who's desperately in love with local waitress Angie.
