The ensemble high school comedy Prom has been on Disney’s development slate for a few months now; the studio has now assembled a cast of relative unknowns to star. The only name I (rather adoringly) recognize is Aimee Teegarden (Friday Night Lights), who will star alongside Thomas McDonell, Danielle Campbell, Nolan Sotillo, Yin Chang, Jared Kusnitz, Nicholas Braun, Ben Esler, Kylie Bunbury, and DeVaughn Nixon. May you find your own Teegarden on the playbill, and may you hit the jump to discuss the project further.

Deadline reports that a cast of fresh faces was always Disney’s M.O., with the intent to launch a franchise “in the mold of High School Musical.” Katie Wech’s script is said to ape the classic John Hughes-penned teenage sagas of the eighties like Sixteen Candles and Pretty in Pink. The logline revolves around the group of teens as they experience “the emotional ups and downs they go through prepping for the big dance.”

Even if it the justifications are mostly budgetary, I’m happy to see a cadre of young actors get their big shot. With the possible exception of Taylor Kitsch, who will headline such tentpoles as Battleship and John Carter of Mars in the coming months, Friday Night Lights has not yet opened the doors for its wonderful stars that I’d like to think it would. It’s a delight to see Teegarden’s name in the mix.

I do hope that the invocation of John Hughes is not unfounded, and that the High School Musical comparison is more superficial. I think it would be fantastic if Disney could deliver a mature ensemble high school comedy, though it remains to be seen whether that’s what they’re going for.

Article source: http://www.collider.com

NBC’s “Friday Night Lights” has added Grey Damon (“True Blood”) to its fifth season cast, according to a press release.
Damon’s character is East Dillon High School basketball player Hastings Ruckle, someone who has never spent more than a year in one place, but when he ends up in East Dillon, he feels at home for the first time.
Ruckle is the laid-back star of the basketball team and his breezy indifference on and off the court doesn’t sit well with Coach Taylor, who hopes to mold him into a key member of the Lions’ offensive line on the football team.
Season five of “Friday Night Lights” is now filming in Austin, Texas.
NBC will broadcast all 13 episodes of the series’ fourth season starting May 7 at 7 p.m.
The premiere of the fifth season will be on DirecTV The 101 Network this fall.

As season four opens, a redistricting plan has left Dillon a town divided. After being ousted from his role as head coach at Dillon High School, Coach Taylor (Kyle Chandler) finds himself faced with the daunting task of building a football team from scratch as well as motivating and disciplining the unmanageable East Dillon Lions. Tensions follow Coach Taylor off the field as he and Tami (Connie Britton), who remains principal of West Dillon High, find themselves increasingly at odds with one another. The new year will also focus on the fate of several returning characters including last season’s graduates Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch), Lyla Garrity (Minka Kelly), and Matt Saracen (Zach Gilford) as well as Julie Taylor (Aimee Teegarden) and Landry Clark (Jesse Plemons).

Saracen never really belonged in Dillon. He was ordinary, and that made him something of an oddity. A regular guy dealing with hardship after hardship, Saracen took it all in stride. Saracen was reserved — perhaps repressed is a better word — and though he become a brief football hero, there was always something slightly tragic about his dalliances with football.

For some in Dillon, football is the only way out. For others, it’s a crutch. But Saracen never really needed the sport. If anything, early on in Seasons 1 and 2, it risked serving as a distraction for the character, a potential stumbling block on his path out of Dillon and onto bigger and better things.

When writers had him temporarily delay admittance to the Art Institute of Chicago, it may have been a win for fans of the series, but it didn’t ring entirely true. As one of the few characters who always understood that there was life beyond Dillon, Saracen always seemed a strong enough character to bully through whatever doubts he may be having about heading to college. That’s why it was utterly heartbreaking to see him fighting back the frustration week after week as a pizza delivery boy.

His girlfriend, Aimee Teegarden’s Julie Taylor, isn’t all that different. She’s a fellow A-student with designs on more than Dillon has to offer. She stops short of telling Matt he needs to leave, but the younger character comes to the realization first. What’s striking about the Julie-Matt relationship in this episode is the way it transfers some very adult issues to teenage characters, a rarity in television, film, music or any form or mass pop culture.

Real-life stresses have a way of derailing even the most fairy tale of romances. With the risk of sounding like a cynic, issues such as money and career have an effect in any relationship, and though Matt and Julie have neither, she recognizes she’s keeping him from both. “Maybe I should have left already,” Matt yells to her, speaking over the Heartless Bastards at Emo’s in Austin, Texas. “Do you even want me to stay?”

Of course she does, just as any fan of the series does. But when Teegarden’s character breaks down, and resorts to shouting “I love you” over and over, Matt knows that’s not an answer to his question. It’s a fall-back response when the truth is far more difficult — and nuanced — to articulate.

He takes the only proper course of action, and eventually learns that he has to get on with his life. The episode ends with Matt on the road, most likely on I-35 north to Chicago. An understated, likable and all-around good guy (Matt panics when he realizes that Julie is in Austin with him without her parents’ permission), Gilford’s character will be missed.

On the bright side, he’ll be back for at least two episodes this season, and will remain, like other major characters who left, part of the Dillon narrative. But there won’t be any time to sulk. Life, as “Friday Night Lights” continues to illustrate, will get in the way.

College life: The only major plot this week was the return, as mentioned and pictured above, of Kelly’s Lyla Garrity. Her up-and-down relationship with Taylor Kitsch’s Tim Riggins was one of the few story lines that grew a little tired — a little predictable — in Season 3. That’s why I wasn’t elated when she arrived in town for the funeral of Matt’s father last week, but as a college girl not yet ready to leg go of her Texas roots, Kelly was on point.

As Riggins, Kitsch is the bad boy with a heart of gold. Though living in a trailer this year, there’s something that’s always felt a little worn and lived-in about his character. He’s making a young man’s mistakes, but carrying himself with a carefree, seen-it-all attitude. But he’s never quite looked as downright young and vulnerable as he did tonight.

After a reunion with Lyla, Riggins makes a plea for her to give up college and work with him and his brother. She doesn’t entertain it, of course, wondering herself why she’s even sticking around in Dillon for a few days. Throughout their relationship, Riggins has always gotten the best of Lyla, persuading her, against her better judgment, to stick with him.

That ended tonight. She asks Riggins what he wants out of life, and his response is that he wants her. She repeats the question: “What else do you want?”

The camera lingers on Riggins’ heartbroken face as he fails to find an answer, cutting briefly back to Lyla for her look of disappointment. Any and all tough-guy exterior is gone, and for once, someone may have finally persuaded Riggins to take a long look at his life.

The night’s best line: It was delivered by Jesse Plemons’ Landry Clarke. The East Dillon Lions had a moral victory tonight, coming close to upsetting one of the best in the conference. Expected to get walloped, the press was interviewing the team before the game, and Landry offered a quote we only wish we could hear a professional athlete say: “I scored a perfect math score on my SAT, so if the pressure’s on, I’m the guy to go to.”

–Todd Martens

“Friday Night Lights” airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on DirecTV’s The 101 Network.
source: latimesblogs.latimes.com

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THE CSIs MAKE A SHOCKING DISCOVERY ABOUT THEIR MURDER VICTIM, WHILE HORATIO TRIES TO SAVE HIS SON FROM JULIA’S ERRATIC BEHAVIOR, ON “CSI: MIAMI,” MONDAY, MARCH 9

Elizabeth Berkley (”The L Word”) Returns as Julia Winston

“Divorce Party” – The CSIs make a shocking discovery about their murder victim, while Horatio tries to save his son from Julia’s erratic behavior, on CSI: MIAMI, Monday, March 9 (10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

SERIES REGULARS:
Horatio Caine……………………….. David Caruso
Calleigh Duquesne………………….. Emily Procter
Eric Delko……………………….. Adam Rodriguez
Ryan Wolfe…………………………. Jonathan Togo
Det. Frank Tripp………………………….. Rex Linn
Natalia Boa Vista……………………… Eva La Rue
Dr. Tara Price…………… Megalyn Echikunwoke
Kyle Harmon……………………….. Evan Ellingson

RECURRING CAST:
Julia Winston……………………. Elizabeth Berkley
Michael Travers……………………. Chris Redman

GUEST CAST:
Amy Lansing…………………………. Christa Miller
Heath Lansing……………… Andrew James Allen
Roger Lansing……………………… Bruce Thomas
Katherine Faber……………………… Kelly Rowan
Brianna Faber………………….. Aimee Teegarden
Glenn Wagner………………………….. Peter Paige
Dave Benton…………………………. Wes Ramsey
Walter Pipkin………………………. Cliff Weissman
Melia……………………………………… Jennie Ford

WRITTEN BY: Corey Evett & Matt Partney
DIRECTED BY: Karen Gaviola [Source: CBS]