Charlie Hunnam stars in director Matthew Chapman’s The Ledge, premiering in theaters on July 8, 2011. Liv Tyler, Patrick Wilson, Terrence Howard, and Christopher Gorham also star in the R-rated drama.
The Plot: On New Year’s Eve, a provocative game spins out of control and ends in murder, the true killer elusive amidst conflicting testimony and hidden motives.
In London, an NYU student Mike sits across from a British Police Detective. In a holding cell sits a good-looking Leicester footballer, and there’s blood on his shirt. Fueled by booze, drugs, sex, and excess, a twisted version of Truth or Dare has ended in a tragic murder.
Over the course of the story, three different versions of the evening complicate the case. Flashing between the party and the interrogations, the detective tries to find the truth amongst everyone’s lies.
This elevated, sexy thriller pulls these characters into a dangerous fantasy. A night of shared secrets and newfound intimacies takes unexpected turns, creating an evening that will damage everyone forever.
Season six of CBS’s Criminal Minds kicked off on September 22, 2010 with Thomas Gibson as Aaron Hotchner and Joe Mantegna as David Rossi.
Paget Brewster stars as Emily Prentiss, Shemar Moore is Derek Morgan, Matthew Gray Gubler is Dr. Spencer Reid, and Kirsten Vangsness stars as Penelope Garcia.
The Plot:Criminal Minds revolves around an elite team of FBI profilers who analyze the country’s most twisted criminal minds, anticipating their next moves before they strike again. The Behavioral Analysis Unit’s most experienced agent is David Rossi, a founding member of the BAU who returns to help the team solve new cases.
The team is led by Special Agent Aaron Hotchner, a strong profiler who is able to gain people’s trust and unlock their secrets. Other members include Emily Prentiss, the daughter of high-powered diplomats who used to work with Hotchner; Special Agent Derek Morgan, an expert on obsessional crimes; Special Agent Dr. Spencer Reid, a classically misunderstood genius whose social IQ is as low as his intellectual IQ is high; and Penelope Garcia, a computer wizard who helps research the cases.
Each member brings his or her own area of expertise to the table as they pinpoint predators’ motivations and identify their emotional triggers in the attempt to stop them.
Tom Selleck and Donnie Wahlberg team up to headline the cast of CBS’s one-hour crime drama, Blue Bloods. The new show is set to premiere on September 24, 2010.
The first season also features Bridget Moynahan as Erin Reagan-Boyle, Will Estes as Jamie Reagan, Len Cariou as Henry Reagan, and Jennifer Esposito as Jackie Curatola.
The Plot, Courtesy of CBS:Blue Bloods is a drama about a multi-generational family of cops dedicated to New York City law enforcement. Frank Reagan is the New York Police Commissioner and heads both the police force and the Reagan brood. He runs his department as diplomatically as he runs his family, even when dealing with the politics that plagued his unapologetically bold father, Henry, during his stint as commissioner.
A source of pride and concern for Frank is his eldest son Danny, a seasoned detective, family man, and Iraqi War vet who on occasion, uses dubious tactics to solve cases. The sole Reagan woman in the family, Erin, is a N.Y. Assistant D.A. and newly single parent, who also serves as the legal compass for her siblings and father.
Jamie is the youngest Reagan, fresh out of Harvard Law and the family’s “golden boy;” however, unable to deny the family tradition, Jamie decided to give up a lucrative future in law and is now a newly minted cop. Jamie’s life takes an abrupt turn when he’s asked to become part of a clandestine police investigation even his father knows nothing about, and one that could impact the family’s legacy.
Season three of ABC’s half-hour comedy The Middle will premiere on September 21, 2011. Neil Flynn and Patricia Heaton lead the cast as Mike and Frankie Heck.
The cast also includes Charlie McDermott as Axl, Eden Sher as Sue, Atticus Shaffer as Brick, and Chris Kattan as Bob.
The Plot: Middle-aged, middle class and living in the middle of the country in Orson, Indiana, Frankie Heck is a harried wife and working mother of three who uses her wry wit and sense of humor in an attempt to get her family through each day intact. Her work life’s no easier. With her friend and co-worker, Bob, she struggles day to day as the least successful saleswoman at the town’s only surviving car dealer.
Frankie’s unflappable husband, Mike, is a manager at the local quarry and her sardonic partner in the daily grind that is raising their average – yes, most definitely average – family.
Between juggling shifts and picking up fast food dinners eaten in front of the TV, Frankie and Mike raise their kids with love, humor, and solid Midwestern practicality. Axl, the oldest, is a teenage jock who eats them out of house and home and walks around the house in his underwear. Then there’s Sue, their extraordinarily ordinary teen daughter, who fails at just about everything she tries with great gusto – although she’s hoping her recent acceptance on the school’s beleaguered no-cut cross country team might just turn things around.
And last is Brick, their quirky third-grader, who reads constantly, whispers to himself, and has a best friend who’s his backpack.
But through all the madness shines a loving family, and together, the Hecks are putting The Middle on the map.
According to ABC, Combat Hospital is shot on one of the “largest standing sets ever built for a Canadian production.” The 185,000 square foot (17,187 square meters) set was designed to look like the real Canadian-lead NATO Role 3 Hospital at Kandahar Airfield.
The series stars Luke Mably, Terry Chen, Deborah Kara Unger, Elias Koteas, Luke Mably, Arnold Pinnock, Michelle Borth, Karan Oberoi, and Ellen Wong.
Combat Hospital is set to premiere on June 21, 2011.
The Plot:Combat Hospital is a fictional medical procedural set in 2006 at the only military hospital providing advanced surgical care in all of Southern Afghanistan. The series charts the frantic lives of the hospital’s resident doctors and nurses from Canada, America, the U.K., and other allied countries, following them as they navigate the relentless life-and-death battles on the operating table and the never-ending conflicts that arise from working in a war zone military hospital.
If you aren’t a fan of Ewan McGregor – which I have no clue why you wouldn’t be, but to each his or her own – this video of the actor playing with lightsabers might help change your mind. McGregor stopped by The Graham Norton Show on BBC and showed off his lightsaber skills.
Missy Peregrym stars in ABC’s one-hour crime drama Rookie Blue, premiering on June 24, 2010. Morwyn Brebner created the drama and Peregrym leads the cast as Andy McNally, a rookie officer trying to fit in.
Gregory Smith plays Dov Epstein, Charlotte Sullivan is Gail Peck, Enuka Okuma is Traci Nash, Travis Milne is Chris Diaz, Ben Bass is Detective Sam Swarek, and Eric Johnson stars as Detective Luke Callaghan.
The Plot: Take a candid look inside the professional and personal lives of five rookie cops as they navigate their first years on the job in this one-hour drama. During last summer’s premiere season, these rookies hit the streets for the first time with their training officers and learned how to walk the thin blue line.
Now the training wheels are off – more experienced, they’re ready to kick some serious butt. But these rookies are just beginning to realize there are no shortcuts to becoming good at this job. And when you’re a rookie officer, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
Ready for more Private Practice? Season five of ABC’s one-hour dramedy is set to premiere on September 29, 2011.
Kate Walsh stars as Addison Forbes, Tim Daly is Dr. Pete Wilder, Audra McDonald plays Dr. Naomi Bennett, and Paul Adelstein is Dr. Cooper Freedman. The cast also includes KaDee Strickland as Dr. Charlotte King, Brian Benben as Dr. Sheldon Walden, Caterina Scorsone as Dr. Amelia Shepherd, Taye Diggs as Dr. Sam Bennett, and Amy Brenneman as Dr. Violet Turner.
The Plot: Having made a home in Los Angeles and among her friends at the practice, renowned neonatal surgeon Addison Montgomery may have at last found true love with fellow doctor and longtime friend Sam. But just as things have become romantic for the two of them, their friends question if their relationship, so complicated by the presence of Sam’s ex — Addison’s best friend, Naomi — has a chance.
Oceanside Wellness’ co-founders, Naomi and Sam, nearly lost their daughter, Maya, in a car accident that took the life of the practice’s own Dell. It was Addison’s surgical talents that saved both Maya and her newborn baby. In the wake of the accident, Naomi focuses on Maya, her grandchild, and on a possible merger between her current practice, Pacific Wellcare, and Oceanside Wellness.
Initially giving up custody of their child to Pete after enduring a near-fatal trauma, Violet has returned more mentally sound and sure of her role as a mother. Having bitterly fought for custody in court, Pete and Violet came through the drama not only ready to co-parent but ready to be with one another. It’s soon after this realization that the two decide to get married and begin a new life together.
At long last, through numerous bumps in the road, break-ups, and make-ups, Charlotte and Cooper are engaged to be married, but the trip to the altar may not be an easy one.
The newest addition to the practice, Dr. Amelia Shepherd, is as gifted a surgeon as her Seattle-based brother, Derek, but is struggling to find herself as she learns to fit in with this close-knit group of surgeons. And Pacific Wellcare psychiatrist Sheldon Wallace is embittered after having pursued many of the women in the practice and come up empty-handed.
The doctors of Oceanside Wellness and Pacific Wellcare work on the most difficult cases, patients whose medical needs often pose moral and ethical dilemmas. Though they may heatedly disagree at work, and though their personal lives may complicate matters, at the end of the day they are the best of friends, always ready to be there for each other.
ABC’s super popular half-hour comedy Modern Family returns for season three on September 21, 2011.
The award-winning series stars Ed O’Neill as Jay, Sofia Vergara as Gloria, Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Mitchell, Eric Stonestreet as Cameron, and Ty Burrell as Phil. Julie Bowen plays Claire, Sarah Hyland is Haley, Rico Rodriguez is Manny, Nolan Gould plays Luke, and Ariel Winter stars as Alex.
The Plot: It seems that today’s families have embraced this particular modern family, which is anything but cookie-cutter and is just as honest and complex as their own. The Pritchett clan has Jay sitting at the head, a true guys’ guy experiencing a bit of a mid-life crisis, has remarried a much younger wife, Gloria, whose passion and loyalty are matched by her 11-year-old son, Manny, a boy wise beyond his years. Blending together into this new family has quite the learning curve with some culture clashes, a few awkward misunderstandings, and plenty of sweet victories along the way.
Jay’s grown daughter, Claire, has her own family. Claire and Phil are the proud parents of three kids with whom they want that open, healthy, honest relationship. It’s not always easy, especially when you have a teenage daughter who’s growing up a little fast, a too-smart-for-her-own-good middle daughter and a scatterbrained boy. On top of that, Phil wants to be the “cool dad,” while Claire is just trying her best to run a tight ship, determined not to let her kids have the rebellious childhood she had.
Claire’s brother and Jay’s grown son, Mitchell, adopted a Vietnamese baby with his partner of five years, Cameron. Opposites attract in this household, with Cameron having a wonderfully big personality and maybe a flare for the dramatic, whereas Mitchell is the more serious of the two. They balance each other out and are doting fathers trying to do their best as new parents.
All of these three families are unique unto themselves, and together they give us an honest and often hilarious look into the sometimes warm, sometimes twisted embrace of the modern family.
NBC’s Grimm is inspired by the Grimm Brother’s Fairy Tales and comes to us from the creative minds behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. David Giuntoli leads the cast as a detective who is shocked to discover mythical creatures are real.
David Giuntoli plays Nick Burkhardt, Russell Hornsby is Hank Griffin, Bitsie Tulloch is Juliette Silverton, and Silas Weir Mitchell stars as Monroe. Reggie Lee is Sgt. Wu, Sasha Roiz plays Captain Sean Renard, Bree Turner is Rosalee Calvert, and Claire Coffee stars as Adalind Schade.
The Synopsis: Remember the fairy tales your parents used to tell you before bedtime? Those weren’t stories — they were warnings. Nick Burkhardt (David Giuntoli, Turn The Beat Around) thought he prepared himself for the realities of working as a homicide detective until he started seeing things he couldn’t quite explain. When his ailing Aunt Marie (guest star Kate Burton, Grey’s Anatomy) arrives, Nick’s life turns upside down when she reveals they are descendants of an elite group of hunters, also known as “Grimms,” who fight to keep the balance of humanity safe from the supernatural creatures of the world.
As Nick digs deeper into her past, he realizes that he will have to shoulder the responsibility of his ancestors — and contend with a larger-than-life mythology of the Brothers Grimm that is now all too real.
