Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

Warner Brothers is planning a cinematic update of the TV series 77 Sunset Strip (1958-1964) which starred Efrem Zimbalist Jr. as Stuart "Stu" Bailey and Roger Smith as Jeff Spencer, former government agents who ran a private detective agency in a hip office located at the fictional 77 Sunset Strip. The series was based on characters created by producer Roy Huggins in novels and short stories. The Warner Brothers film will be directed by Greg Berlanti and written by Stephen Chin. (Hat tip to Mystery Books News)

Hyde Park Entertainment has acquired film rights for the esponiage novels written by Andy McNab centered on British SAS agent Nick Stone. Firewall will be the first book adapted (although it's the third in the series), with a plot embroiling Stone in a new Russian Cold War offensive using cybercrime to steal military secrets.

TV

Casting new abounds with many guest starring roles in new and returning crime dramas. Beau Bridges has been hired to play the father of Jim Rockford, played by actor Dermot Mulroney, in the NBC remake of The Rockford Files, with Melissa Sagemiller (Raising the Bar) as a lawyer who Rockford frequently becomes entangled with both personally and professionally.

Jason Clarke (Brotherhood) has been signed to headline Fox's police drama pilot Ride-Along, set and filmed in Chicago. Clarke's character is Det. Jarek Wysocki, a local legend who struggles to eradicate the city's violence and corruption. The pilot was created by The Shield's Shawn Ryan.

Treat Williams is set to co-star opposite Katee Sackhoff in ABC's drama pilot Boston's Finest, with Sackhoff as a detective who teams with a disgraced ex-cop to solve crimes and untangle the conspiracy that sent him underground. Nia Long  (Big Shots) and Goran Visnjic (ER) are also in the cast.

Burn Notice will return next season with Robert Wisdom (The Wire, Prison Break, Supernatural) joining the cast for a minimum of six episodes as a veteran spy handler who works for the group that burned Michael. Third Watch’s Coby Bell has also been signed to the cast as a new operative.

Beckett's new love interest on Castle has been cast. Ex-Battlestar Galactica cylon Michael Trucco will appear in a multiple-episode arc on the show as a charismatic cop in the homicide division. Signed for the final four episodes this season, he could also return next fall.

The premiere of FX's Justified was the second most-watched series debut in the network's history (since The Shield first aired in 2002). The series is based on Elmore Leonard's books featuring U.S. Marshall Raylan Givens, played by Timothy Olyphant.

WEB/RADIO

Speaking of Elmore Leonard, he joined NPR's Noah Adams for an interview about the Justified series and the author's next book, Dijoubti, about terrorism, piracy and al-Qaida.

CDs/DVDs

Poe, the musical, will be released in the U.S. on DVD and CD next month. The project is a "retelling of Edgar Allan Poe's biography with songs about some of his best-known stories," from Alan Parsons Project songwriter Eric Woolfson (who died late last year). Poe was first performed in a 2003 showcase in front of an audience at Abbey Road Studios, and a German-language version is currently playing outside Berlin.