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Though the last few days have all been about the London Olympic closing ceremony and Spice Girls, I decided not to review the ceremony, since I think everyone even slightly interested watched the show anyways. So instead I'm jumping right in to screencaps (all of them are from Pleated Jeans btw) :

From the top left: Parks and Recreation, Arrested Development, Friends, The Office (UK)

The news started slowly falling in last week about the castings of Hunger Games: Catching Fire, and then all of a sudden, almost every part has now been cast, but then again, there are quite many roles since every District has two tributes so that's 24 in total, and then there are all the people outside the arena.  Instead of posting them all here, I found this great compilation of the new cast (and old) at EW, so check it out.  They did leave out one new addition which was announced just this morning. Though a minor role,  Maria Howell will play Seeder, a tribute from D11. I last saw Howell on The Blind Side with Sandra Bullock, but she is better known as TV actress and will star in the new J.J Abrams show Revolution.

Guess which 80's sitcom is getting a movie treatment? ALF. Though there is no writer or director attached to the project yet, the fact that Sony Animation has acquired the movie rights for it, is a pretty clear sign. Thanks to modern CGI Alf would no longer be a puppet, but a CGI-creation while other characters are still live action.

On other animation related news, Pixar is known for its short films before feature films in cinemas. To celebrate the re-release of Finding Nemo in 3-D, the Toy Story crew is came up with a new short called Partysaurus Rex. It's pretty obvious who will be the main character. Rex is really enjoying bath time with his new owner and decides to let loose on an underwater rave. EW shared these exclusive pics:

I almost wrote last week about the casting of the female lead in an upcoming reboot of Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan books, but I figured they'd make a decision soon, and I was right! It looks like Keira Knightley has landed the part, which might expand to a full film franchise if the first part takes off. Chris Pine plays the titular role while Kenneth Branagh directs. Knightley plays the main character's wife. I think the plot sounds pretty, blah, just a typical save America and wife from terrorists, but Branagh is an established director and he might actually make it good.

In some other smaller casting news: Steve Carell joins Will Ferrel in an upcoming comedy Swear To God, about a corporate man who believes he has seen god. This movie has been in works for quite some time, but now with a new rewrite and director (newly-engaged-to-Jennifer-Aniston actor/director/writer Justin Theroux). These days it seems that any comedy with Ferrel or/and Carell will be a success.

Reese Witherspoon also joined a new comedy, The Beard. And no its not about facial hair, but the other kind of beard, kinda the trophy wife of a gay person to hide his homosexuality. It's a pretty new idea in the field of rom-coms, but I just hope that the writers come up with something better than the gay guy turning straight and falling for Reese. There is no director attached to the project yet, but it seems like no one never knows who directs all those romcoms, they just spawn.

 Well Bret Eason Ellis is quite a douche. First he didn't get the job as the writer for the Fifty Shades Of Gray movie and now he is slammed the possibility that Matt Bomer would play the lead because of his sexuality. Bomer recently came out as gay and Ellis tweeted that he can't play the title character because of that. He quickly defended that he is not discriminating Bomer because of his sexuality. Umm, he just said he isn't right because if his sexuality. Read the full story here. Besides Ellis has no word on the casting since he isn't part of the project. Ian Somerdhal is also been stated as a possible actor for the role.

I'll be quick with the TV news this time, since most of them is again just casting news for the new fall season, and with quite a few reunions, I'll start with what combines two of my favourites. Smash is getting a mini-Will&Grace reunion as Sean Hayes joins the cast (that includes his W&G co-star Debra Messing) for multi-episode arc. He will play a comedic film actor who is about to make his Broadway debut. So that will be fun! Messing's character is also busy with a new romantic interest what will be played by Deniel Sunjata. Smash also released a promo with sneak peek with Jennifer Hudson, but thanks to NBC (!!!!) that video can't be viewed outside US, so I'll just have to wait.

The other reunion I was talking about will happen in Don't Trust the Bitch in Apartment 23. Busy Phillips will guest star on the show that stars her Dawson's Creek co-star James Van Der Beek. Beek plays a version of himself and will on the show try to set up a Dawson's Creek reunion and that's when Phillips will appear playing also a version of herself. Confused yet? Well lets add Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Frankie Muniz to the mix too. I was really surprised of how much I liked the show on its first season, and I'm really looking forward to the season two premiere.

Happy Endings has also cast few new stars on their show. Hangover star Rachel Harris (who has also a recurring role on New Girl) will appear as real estate agent trying to find a new place for Dave and Alex after they kinda got back together on the season finale. Rob Corddry (Childrens Hospital)will also appear on the comedy playing a successful car dealership owner who hires Jane to work for her. Hopefully Happy Endings will improve ratings this season so it wont get cut.

Raising Hope announced a new guest star too. SNL-alumn (though just one year) Jenny Slate will appear as a social worker who'll check up on how raising Hope is really working out. Slate also created this wonderful little creature Marcel The Shell, read more about it here and search YouTube for her videos.

The fall season is getting closer, as we can see from all the casting news, and TVline decided to help my schedule by creating this wonderful chart about all the premieres on Fall 2012 season. It features all new series and old ones too. Speaking of new series for fall season. Matthew Perry's new show premiered after the Olympics and I watched it too. The show will start airing properly at fall but they shared the first episode already. It was actually quite good, it had a lot of black humor and crazy characters. Perry plays a man struggling with the passing of his wife and is forced to take group therapy classes. I suggest you find the first episode online or you'll have to wait few months to its proper premiere.

One show I'm really looking for is The New Normal, the new Ryan Murphy comedy that premieres in September. During NBC coverage this two minute preview aired too, and it seems like a good show, at least it's got some very good actors. So let's see how it works out.

Then some trailers again. First one is for Trouble With The Curve, and it features Clint Eastwood, Amy Adams and Justin Timberlake. To me it seems that the movie combines the new and old Hollywood perfectly and it is something I'm looking forward to. It comes out in September.

The second is for Josh Radnor's (How I Met Your Mother) big Sundance hit Liberal Arts and its his second time as a director. He stars in the film with Elizabeth Olsen. He plays a 35-yo bookworm who falls for a college sophomore. The movie had the sweetest tag line: Sometimes students make the best teachers.

The last one came out today and it's for Great Expectations, an adaption of the Charles Dickens novel. It stars Jeremy Irvine, Helena Bonham Carter, Ralph Fiennes and Holiday Grainger. The trailer seems very dramatic, but now wonder since the plot is kinda tragic. Discard the subtitles, I couldn't find one without any.

 That's all folks! New post next week!