EVIL PUPPET MASTERS

According to this interview with Joshua Jackson over on SciFiWire, he turned the part of Peter Bishop on FRINGE down THREE times before finally caving in and signing a 6-year deal to do the show. I’m amazed that anyone could turn down the charming and engaging JJ - at least JJ uses his power of persuasion for good Wonder if HEROES knows about him…

Also, you guys have no idea how PERFECT Joshua Jackson is for this role. Seriously, just trust me on this. This show will be your next obsession. Bank on it.

The Hollywood Reporter posted an article that gives some casting information for the top secret “Cloverfield” movie that JJ & Co. has been working on.

Bad Robot’s drama pilot (the first one under JJ’s new deal with Warner Bros.) has been cast and they say JJ Abrams will be directing it as well. They are referring to the show, which will air on HBO, by the name of the book it is based on — “The Anatomy of Hope” — but I’m not sure if that is the “official” title of the show. I think most people are calling it “that cancer show JJ’s doing on HBO.”

In this week’s Ask Ausiello over at TVGuide, Michael dropped the bombshell that a new female role was being cast for Lost. Now, before you Castaway Ken and Barbie haters go ballistic, you should read this first (from the same AA column):

According to exec producer Carlton Cuse, “She does not appear in a flashback, she is not an Other, and she is not one of the survivors of Flight 815.” What does that leave? You tell me!

Hmmmm…very intriguing. If you click on over to the Ausiello Report, you’ll see that the role has been cast!!

From today’s edition of Cynthia’s Cynopsis:

CBS has cast Harold Perrineau in its drama pilot Demons, from CBS Paramount Network TV. The story is about Gus, a former priest who performs exorcisms; Perrineau will play Mitch, a priest who is a friend and former colleague of Gus. You know Perrineau from his role on two seasons of Lost as the single father, Michael Dawson.

According to Reuters and various other trade mags, Michael Vartan has been cast in an ABC drama pilot that has yet to be named. In a nutshell, the show is “about four high-powered CEOs or CEOs-to-be who are all friends. Vartan will play the new CEO of a large corporation who is described as the moral center of the show. ”

In case you hadn’t heard yet, Tiffani Thiessen has been added as a regular to What about Brian. She will be playing the boss of Dave (Rick Gomez).

April Webster was recently honored by the Casting Society of America for her achievements in casting for television and movies. She has working on a number of JJ’s projects (Alias, Lost, Six Degrees and M:i:III), and this article from Backstage.com gives insight to her experiences after three decades in the business. She talks about casting for Lost in the piece.

My favorite piece of “Did you know…” trivia related to April is that she played the part (uncredited) of Irina Derevko in the Season 1 finale of Alias, since they did not have the part cast yet

This HALLOWEEN edition discusses LOST 3.04 Every Man For Himself, a lot of vague references to Battlestar Galactica, the latest episode of What about Brian, and more Listener Questions.

 EPM Podcast 1x04 [90:00m]: Download

William Keck at USA Today posted an article that looks at the everchanging faces in the cast of Lost. There are tidbits from Yunjin and Foxy on there feelings about the addition, yet again, of new cast members this season. Here is an interesting bit about the cast changes possibly being responsible for the dip in audience numbers this season so far:

But is tracking the vast cast contributing to a viewership slide? (Last week’s episode drew 16.9 million viewers, compared with 21.7 million for the same week last year.) Cuse says no and attributes the dip instead to the plot’s complexities.

“Lost has a whole history behind it,” he says, “and some casual viewers think it’s daunting to come watch the show if you haven’t been. We tried to design the show this year to make the basic concept pretty simple: our characters vs. The Others.”