Entertainment news site HitFix announced today that Carlos Bernard is slated to appear in Scoundrels, a new pilot scheduled to air on ABC this summer.

Based on New Zealand’s “Outrageous Fortune,” “Scoundrels” stars Virgina Madsen as a matriarch of a family of criminals facing life-gone-straight after her husband (Neal McDonough) is set away to prison.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Rambin (“Grey’s Anatomy,” “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles”) and Marano (“Gilmore Girls”) will play the family’s two daughters. Bernard (“24″) will play a detective who keeps an eye on the family.

Unlike the other shows in this article, “Scoundrels” has already been picked up for a summer run on ABC. (more …)

Carlos Bernard’s role as Gabriel on Burn Notice begins this week, airing Thursday Feb 25 on USA Network at 10/9c in the episode “Good Intentions”.  In a recent interview with CinemaSpy.com, Burn Notice producer Matt Nix described the role and the performance:

[...] a bad guy who is really sort of only removed from the characters on the show [...] under other circumstances he could have been one of the team, but he is willing to do certain things that they’re not willing to do and that’s a divide that they just can’t cross. But he’s a guy who’s really committed to what he’s doing, really cares about what he’s doing. It’s a pretty devastating performance.  He’s pretty awesome.

Continue on for the episode’s promo video! (more …)

I want a Season 9 solely because I want a vehicle for the return and redemption of Tony Almeida, not because I can’t live without another year of Bauer Power, but nonetheless, this gives me some hope.  Although it appeared that everyone, including Kiefer Sutherland himself and the rest of the cast and crew, had assumed Season 8 would be the swan song for FOX’s flagship drama, a report on Friday from the Toronto Sun (yay Canadian news media outlets!) suggests that Season 9 may be in the works after all.  Negotiations regarding an extension of Kiefer Sutherland’s contract is the first step, and according to FOX Entertainment President Kevin Reilly, those are scheduled to begin in about two weeks’ time.  What I found interesting are the reports from a source “close to Sutherland” that Kiefer’s infamous problems with alcohol, most specifically the 48 day jail term he served for impaired driving that interrupted production of Season 7, were a strong factor in the network’s inclination to end the series after the conclusion of Season 8 and their contractual obligations to Sutherland.  Highlights:

Kiefer Sutherland had been under the working assumption that Season Eight of his hit series 24 would be his last. [...] But, now 24 is back and looking as good as ever, talks are hurriedly being scheduled for a ninth season; and it seems a good bet Sutherland’s now-iconic role won’t be put to rest just yet. (more …)

Yeah, yeah, I know, I know, this is old news (especially if you Tweet).  As the annual Television Critics Association Press Tour kicked off this week, one of Monday’s big headlines was Fox Entertainment President Kevin Reilly’s remarks that the network is still keeping the door open for a potential ninth season.  iF Magazine reports:

While 24 may be entering its final contractural year, iF caught up with Fox Entertainment President Kevin Reilly to find out if any talks have happened about securing the show for a Ninth Year renewal.”It’s the last contractual year, but creatively, it’s a very vibrant this year,” says Reilly. “I’m very thrilled with this season. The reception will be very positive from an audience standpoint. We collectively said, ‘let’s let it launched, get into Spring and sit down and talk about it.’”

Reilly adds that it’s in Spring that writers will have to break stories for next season, so that’s the latest they could make a decision.

“I certainly know Kiefer loves and would continue to do it,” says Reilly. “But it’s such a hard show to produce [for the producers], that we’re going to let them finish [this season] and regroup.”

Obviously, if the show does go another season beyond the upcoming one, it will give the writers a chance (hopefully) to write Tony Almeida back in, resurrect the Brotherhood and end his character with a properly planned and redemption-oriented storyline.  That would be nice.

That being said, I still haven’t quite given up all hope of a miracle return at the end of Season 8.  When the writers broke for the holidays, they still had the final six episodes of the season to write.  With any luck, the Christmas break gave them time to reflect on what a terrible mistake it would be to put forth another entirely Tonyless season.  As awesome as Renee Walker and Chloe O’Brian may be, let’s face it … they’re no Almeida!

SCI FI Wire caught up with Katee Sackhoff, a perennial favourite from her days at Battlestar Galactica (and a new favourite of yours truly’s after falling in love with her character Kara “Starbuck” Thrace during my recent BSG Virgin Viewing Experience), to chat about her new role as top analyst Dana Walsh in the newly resurrected Counter Terrorist Unit of Season 8. (more …)

24 Star, 24 Questions in 4 minutes and 33 seconds from EmpireOnline.com (Video Interview). Highlight include Carlos discussing his favourite sports teams, favourite TV President and tips for shaving the soul patch. (more …)

Last week, UK magazine The Sun asked Tony fans to submit their questions for an exclusive webchat with Carlos Bernard. Hurray to Avery for representing the site (and North America, it seems) and having her question addressed in the webchat! Highlights:

You’ve said that you love the journey that Tony has taken to get to this point but what do you think of the vehemence with which fans have reacted, both positive and negative?
Avery, New Orleans

I can only feel good that people react either way, positively or negatively. Whether they’re angry or supportive of the character, if they’re reacting with a lot of passion then that’s great. It means they care. (more …)

James Rampton of The Independent chats with Carlos Bernard about Season 7 Tony during his ongoing UK publicity tour. Highlights:

On the Brotherhood:

“Tony has genuine, intense feelings for Jack. Because of what they’ve been through together over the years, he has a lot of love for him. They’re like brothers. But sometimes when brothers get into fights, it’s worse than anyone else feuding because of that very intensity of feeling. If Tony had had it his way, Jack would not have got involved in this case – he would have stayed away. But Tony couldn’t stop it. Jack is always sticking his nose into things!” (more …)

In a recent August 9 article published by The New York Times, FOX Entertainment President Kevin Reilly hints to reporter Edward Wyatt that production expenses are a significant consideration in what the headline describes as 24’s “murky future” beyond Season 8:

Kevin Reilly, the president for entertainment at Fox Broadcasting, surprised the producers of “24” on Thursday when, in response to a reporter’s question, he said that Fox had not decided whether “24” would return after its eighth season, which is in production for broadcast beginning in January.

“We haven’t made any decision whether it’s back or not,” Mr. Reilly told Abbie Bernstein, a writer for iF Magazine, an online publication. “It’s going to come down to a business decision. It’s not an inexpensive show on the network books, and we also want to finish strong. This is not a show we want to prop up. It will be a whole creative and business discussion and something we’ll have to deal with over the next few months.” (more …)

Fantastic, very informative article about Day 8 can be found here at Televisionary. There’s more information on the possible returns of Tony, Mandy, and Logan, as well as discussion about the new characters, Renee, Morris, the format of the show, and the lack of women writers.

“We’re only in first third of the season,” said Fury. “We’ve been discussing characters who could return. Charles Logan? I helped champion keeping Tony alive last season. Tony could be pivotal. There’s always Mandy… we talked about Mandy last year. There’s a split in the writers’ room with Mandy’s character not being perceived as 24; she’s sort of Alias. Tony’s accomplice last season was Mandy at one point, but that went away.” (more …)