Michael Eklund in Alcatraz, Hart of Dixie returns, new interview with Scott Porter, and new Arctic Air webisode

Hart of Dixie returns tonight at 9 pm on the CW. Zap2it has a new interview with Scott Porter. He talks about football and wanting Tim Tebow to play his brother on the show. Snippet:

On Friday, Jan. 20, between takes at the exterior set for the Rammer Jammer Restaurant on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, Calif., Porter laughs when he's asked if it's a cruel irony that his character's girl has her eye on a football player -- mirroring the situation on his earlier show, "Friday Night Lights," in which the fiancee of his character, paralyzed former top high-school quarterback Jason Street, cheated on him with his best friend and former Dillon Panthers teammate, Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch).

New Playback trailer, Ben Cotton & Michael Eklund on Alcatraz, new projects for James Marsters and Avan Jogia, and more updates

A quick round of updates, in very random order.

A new trailer for Playback, with Alessandra Torresani, has been released on iTunes. You can watch it here. The film will be available on iTunes on February 3 and hit theatres in early March.

James Marsters will make a guest appearance in The Wedding Band, a new comedy with Brian Austin Green, Harold Perrineau and Melora Hardin that will premiere on TBS in the summer. More details on James-Marsters.eu.

Avan Jogia directed a zombie film in Vancouver over the holidays. Nickutopia has an article and a BTS pic.

Brian Markinson in The Firm, Grimm preview, Portlandia's BSG episode, and general updates

A few updates to wrap the week.

Let's start with yesterday's episode of The Firm. Brian Markinson made an appearance and if I hadn't trusted the press release (which didn't mention him) over IMDB, I totally would have posted a heads-up. You can watch the episode on NBC.com. It will be available until February 17.

Grimm is back tonight at 9 pm on NBC and Portlandia's BSG ep, "One Moore Episode," with Ron Moore, Edward James Olmos and James Callis, airs at 10 pm on IFC.

Synopsis & teaser for Grimm 1x08, "Game Ogre:"

AN ESCAPED FUGITIVE’S MURDEROUS RAMPAGE LANDS AT NICK’S FRONT DOOR

An escapee returns to Portland seeking revenge against those who put him behind bars. His unusual strength and high tolerance for pain makes Nick (David Giuntoli) take notice. As the case escalates Nick and Juliette (Bitsie Tulloch) are put in danger, and Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell) is called into action to help put an end to the convict’s deadly rampage. Russell Hornsby, Reggie Lee and Sasha Roiz also star.

Blood and Chrome update, cast news and interviews with Michael Nankin, Meg Tilly and Scott Porter

The weekly round-up (with a few additional bits coming tomorrow):

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette talked to Syfy's Mark Stern at the Winter TCA Press Tour and they have an update on Blood and Chrome. Kind of, anyway. Here is what he says (more at the link):

Is the project dead? Read more after the jump. ...

"No not at all," said Syfy original programming president Mark Stern. "We're trying to figure out the economics right now. I love it but we're trying to put various things together to see how we're going to get it made. My hope is we get it figured out." (...)

Stern said the pilot was a good test to prove the technology could be used in series, although he acknowledged it will likely take a year to get the show on air after it's ordered due to the amount of post-production work that will be required on every episode.

Stern wasn't sure how much longer he has the actors under contract but he thinks it's a few months.

"Now that we're back from the holidays I'm just waiting to get some foreign [financial] numbers in because we're both the studio and network on this," he said. "I'm hoping to make a decision [about whether to order it to series] in the next month or so."

On other fronts:

Esai Morales will be back as D.A. Aaron Davidson in the second season of Fairly Legal. The show returns on March 16. USA announced the date last week.

If you missed the 17th Precinct pilot on Vimeo last month, it is now available on YouTube, starting here.

Weekly roundup: cast updates, interviews, previews and new projects

A bunch of stuff has happened since the last update. Let's start with Caprica.

Caprica season two will resume on Beginning of Line with episode 14 (of 18) this Tuesday. Teresa Jusino posted this earlier:

There are 18 episodes total in Caprica Season 2 here at Beginning of Line. Episodes will now be posting every Tuesday between November 29th and December 27th. Just in time for your Solstice celebrations. :)

Anyone interested in writing an episode of season three (coming in 2012) or submitting fan art, hit the link.

Luciana Carro (Caprica's Priyah Magnus, Battlestar's Kat) has joined Twitter. You can follow her here: @LucianaCarro. These days, she is working on season two of Falling Skies, along with Ryan Robbins and a bunch of Caprica and BSG writers -- Remi Aubuchon, Mark Verheiden, David Weddle and Bradley Thompson. From their recent tweets, Luciana is playing a character called Crazy Lee and they recently wrapped filming episode four. Season two will most likely start airing in June.

On TV tonight:

New interview with Sasha Roiz and the weekend monster update

Let's start the weekly round-up with Grimm.

Grimm's ratings dropped a little this week, but the show still won the 18-49 demo in its timeslot, finishing ahead of CSI: NY, Fringe and Supernatural, and rising by a full frakking ratings point (1.8) after Chuck (0.8). Wake up, Chuck.

Hitfix visited the set in Portland recently and posted a lengthy report. Here is a snippet:

Sasha Roiz on how his character will develop later in the series: "I’m not a Grimm descendent, but I'm a descendent of a long line that dates back just as Grimm does and we have a bit of a history and a past, so my line is a royal line and that will slowly unfold throughout the series."

Collider has a longer interview with Sasha and Reggie Lee (more at the link):

It’s nice to see your character – like the main character – has the duality.
ROIZ: My character’s more seasoned in the fantastical world, a bit of a player, and he’s aware of the Grimm, but no one seems aware of who I am, except the people I want to be aware. It’s fun, and as we continue, there are always new things that are being developed. We don’t know where they’re going. We have a sense of the character, he comes from royal descent, his family has had ties for centuries and so on, and with every episode a little bit more is added to that story.

It feels like there’s a greater universe that will be fun to explore, but the show’s also a procedural.
LEE: It is that more than anything else, and you’ll see as we go on it remains a procedural, so the mythological elements are backburnered. I think they’ll come out eventually.

ROIZ: From what we’ve been told if there’s a back nine, that’s something we’ll explore but for now it’s more self-contained episodes.

The teaser for next week's episode, "BeeWare" (Friday, 9 pm, NBC), is embedded below. Nana Visitor (Deep Space Nine, BSG, Torchwood) guest stars.

Halloween updates: Grimm, American Horror Story, Chillerama, Crazy Dracula, The Monster Frankenstein & The Divide

Happy Halloween!

In today's round of updates, Alessandra Torresani is a zombie, Aleks Paunovic is Frankenstein, Ryan Robbins turns invisible, and Michael Hogan fights Frankenstein.

None of the videos are safe for work.

Not sure what kind of creature Sasha Roiz plays in Grimm, but NBC will re-air the pilot again on Saturday, November 5. If you're in the US, you can watch the episode on NBC.com/Grimm. You can also catch it tomorrow at 7 pm on Syfy. NBC has posted a bunch of behind-the-scenes photos here (no Sasha). Episode 1x02, "Bears Will Be Bears," airs on Friday at 9 pm.

Bear McCreary has posted the official album artwork for his Chillerama: Zom-B-Movie soundtrack, which gets released in a couple of weeks. You can see it on Bear's site. Here is a snippet from the press release that goes with it: