John Wesley Shipp will be "Flash"-ing once again, but as who?

OK, we have it on good authority that Mr. John Wesley Shipp, whom we know as Martin Ellis on "Santa Barbara" and who we talked to at an event in Nashville a couple years back will be appearing on the new "Flash" series. We have it on the same good authority that the pilot for said new "Flash," series, which will air on the CW network, possibly in the fall if it's picked up (which, really, it should be picked up), is being shot right now, as we type.

Sure enough, Shipp is credited for the pilot episode of the series, for a role not yet named. You can get a little more at TV Guide. Our good authority thinks it may be the main character's dad. That would be a fine tribute to Shipp's work on the original "Flash" series, which sadly only lasted a season but was good enough to go longer!

Grant Gustin plays the title character in the new series. He originated the role on the CW's "Arrow." See a photo of Shipp on the set with Gustin at JustJaredJr.com.

Spotted: Ted Shackelford

What do you get when you cross Daisy Duke with Gary Ewing? Well, from the "Young and the Restless" perspective, you get the character of Chelsea!. And while we've been enjoying watching Catherine Bach in her rather flamboyant role as Chelsea's mom Anita on the daytime soap (she's had more airdates since Christmas, with everything that's been going on in Chelsea's life lately), we were tickled earlier today to see Ted Shackelford sweep in as dear old Dad.

It wasn't so dear a reunion, really. He raided the closet of Chelsea's husband Adam (assumed dead right now, but they're hinting at a typical soaps return from the dead for this one), and in his dapper suit he just couldn't stop talking about his shortcomings as a father. Shackelford is handsome and rather stately in the role, though there's a touch of the down-and-out about him. Still, we're signed on. Bring on more! And while you're at it, Ted, come back to the new "Dallas"! Like all the other originals, you're just fab there.

And speaking of the return of the classics ... Donna Mills popping up today on "General Hospital" as Silas' former wife's mom? Seriously. That magic soaps lighting strikes again! Will these people age, already????

Charlene Tilton talks about her time in the foster system

She went from a little girl in foster homes to a young actress hanging out at Southfork, and that's what Charlene Tilton, our own little Lucy Ewing of "Dallas," will talk about at a prayer breakfast next week.

"I am honored to be the keynote speaker with my talk "From Foster Home to Southfork," Tilton says on her Facebook fan page. Her daughter, singer Cherish Lee, will perform at the event, which happens March 13 in Glendale, California.

The actress also just did an interview with MyFoxLA on her time in foster care.

Tilton is returning to the new "Dallas" on TNT, by the way, for a wedding in the March 17 episode.

Get ready to get your bourbon, J.R. style

You watched Sue Ellen grab the bottle in the final episode of Season 2 of TNT's "Dallas," and you watched J.R drink from it earlier. Now you can own it. Or something a whole lot like it. It's that fab square bottle of bourbon engraved with J.R. Ewing's name, so stately on his bar, next to glasses also so engraved, and about to be so stately on your own bar.

The J.R. Ewing Bourbon "private reserve" whiskey hails from Kentucky and will be coming around the South and Midwest (yay) by the end of this month, with other regions to follow. Warner Bros. Consumer Products and Warner Bros. Television Group are producing the licensed product with Southfork Bottling Co. and Glazer’s Inc., says official press release. We can't help but adore it.

See more at the Dallas News and Dallas Culture Map.

 

Photo from PRWeb

"Dallas" takes viewers back in time -- in more ways than one

TNT pulled out all the stops to trumpet last night's Season 3 premiere of "Dallas." In Manhattan, drivers were treated to $1.98-a-gallon gas from Ewing Energies. See the story on Good Morning America / Yahoo.

It's certainly a tribute to the original "Dallas" episode where J.R. Ewing undercut the competition with low gas prices at his own stations. "Some might call it predatory pricing," the GMA story said of yesterday's gas stunt. "I just call it good business," the fictional oil baron John Ross Ewing said in a news release. Gotta love it.

Meanwhile, as you celebrate the return of the series, you can catch Entertainment Weekly, Chron, the Examiner and Zap 2 It all weighing in on what this season will hold. We're seeing our little John Ross coming along nicely as the replacement J.R. (Of course, we were in his corner from the beginning, just loving the casting choice for both the boys.)

Happy Valentine's Day from BRBTV!

In honor of Valentine's Day, and as a follow-up to our Halloween and Christmas posts, the Doos of BRBTV headquarters have convened once again for a photo. And you can see the Doo family continues to grow! An unnamed crane game crusader has been very busy rescuing these pooches from crane games all over Michigan.

Front and center, it's Apple-Doo and Sweety-Doo, the latter of which is a special Valentine Doo released just this year. They're joined by Justice-Doo, the latest arrival, who was rescued from a truck stop in Dexter, along with Dottie-Doo. In the back row, from left: Rudy-Doo, Candy-Doo, Santa-Doo,  Blue-Doo, with Pinky-Doo in front of him, then Scooby-Boo, Squirty-Doo, My Big Boy, Smiley-Doo, with Grampa-Doo in front, then Limey-Doo, Santa-Too, Candy-Too, and Antler-Doo.

Photo by Billie Rae Bates / BRBTV

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Spotted: Andrew Stevens, Mary Crosby, Joanna Cassidy, Steve Forrest, K Callan!

OK, sooooo .....picture yourself as a television miniseries at the height of the popularity of the television miniseries, the 1980s. You're based on a book by the sister of a "Dynasty" star. You're produced by the producers of "Dynasty." Your costumes are even designed by the costume designer of "Dynasty." So naturally, your cast features no less than five stars from ... "Dallas"?

Yea, we were a little thrown off by that, too, as we gleefully viewed 1985's "Hollywood Wives," a juicy, glittery tale of life inside Tinseltown. Whether it just be fun happenstance or some kind of subvergent casting sabotage, here's what it is ...

• Andrew Stevens, who we know as young, rather cocky Casey Denault on "Dallas," takes center stage in the miniseries, and in a dual role. He's Buddy, an aspiring, struggling actor, but he's also (with scruffy hair and long beard) the off-kilter Deke. Deke sets off on a long arduous journey across the country to L.A., with his long, lumbering, bow-legged sort of limp (no, he doesn't walk the whole way, but it's almost that bad, spanning across several hours of the miniseries). And we won't reveal any more than that!
• Mary Crosby, who frankly shot J.R., is the young, vivacious, incorrigible Karen Lancaster. Karen's not really into acting; she just likes speeding around town in her sportscar and spending her award-winning-actor-father's cash. And she wears slinky dresses and lets her wavy locks flow long, much like Kristin.
• Joanna Cassidy, who was the put-upon Sally Bullock in early "Dallas," is the even more put-upon ex-wife of a successful movie producer played by Anthony Hopkins. She insecurely moons over her ex and wonders what she did wrong. Yea, yea, blah-blah-blah, adds nothing to the plot, let's move on ...
• Steve Forrest, who was Wes Parmalee and Ben Stivers on "Dallas" (which includes the idea that he was the possible non-dead Jock Ewing!), is one of the lead characters here, a philandering, aging actor trying to regain his youth. He, of course, sleeps with a younger woman, namely Mary Crosby's character.
• K Callan, who was Amy Stevens on "Dallas," shows up rather briefly as Catherine, a woman involved in the shady "adoption" of Andrew Stevens' character(s).
• And we'll even mention Vernon Weddle, who was John Carter on "Dallas" and actually had a couple bit parts on "Dynasty." He shows up here, too.

OK! Well, apparently members of the "Dynasty" cast were booked at the time! Nevertheless, the miniseries is lots of fun!

A "Dallas" pickup and a hot Archie car jump off the toy shelves at us

OK, we knew about the Archie cars from a toy show we recently took in, but we have to admit to doing a little "Whaaaaattttt?????" as we wandered the toy aisle last night. The Hot Wheels / Matchbox section is not one we tend to spend a lot of time in (action figures and Barbs -- that's us), but what delight it was to come across this "Dallas" treasure. This is a 1970 Chevrolet C-10 blue pickup truck with white cab. It's by Greenlight Collectibles Hollywood and is a tribute to the original series, not the more recent TNT one. It says it's part of Series 6.

And the Archie car is a 1940 Ford Coupe by Hot Wheels with the hot gals on the door. You know the ones. C'mon now, Archie, where's the Cheryl car? Make it red, pleeezzzz.

It seems to be part of a recent trend, in the past couple years or so, of tons of TV show-themed toy cars. I mean, when you've got cars from "The Rockford Files" (we love you and your Camaro, James Garner), that's big.

Photo by Billie Rae Bates / BRBTV

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