TVLine Items: Natalie Zea Gets Famous, Michael Jackson’s Halloween and More
Natalie Zea is taking a detour from her TBS comedy to join Showtime‘s White Famous.
The Detour star will recur on the upcoming Jamie Foxx co-created/co-starring series as Amy, a high-profile Hollywood agent to whom SNL alum Jay Pharoah’s up-and-coming comedian Floyd is drawn.
Additionally, Kendrick Sampson (How to Get Away With Murder) will recur as Robbie, a handsome British actor auditioning alongside Floyd.
Ready for more of today’s newsy nuggets? Well…
* Michael Jackson’s Halloween is 
coming to CBS this fall in the form of an animated special that will feature music from the late icon’s illustrious catalogue, as well as the voices of TV mainstays Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory), Christine Baranski (The Good Fight), Alan Cumming (The Good Wife), Brad Garrett (Everybody Loves Raymond), Lucy Liu (Elementary), Lucas Till (MacGyver), Kiersey Clemons (Transparent) and George Eads (CSI).
* Crackle’s crime drama The Oath has added Elisabeth Röhm (Law & Order) as FBI Agent Aria Price, Michael Malarkey (The Vampire Diaries) as Officer Sam Foster, Kwame Patterson (The Wire) as drug dealer Neckbone and Linda Purl (The Office) as Gwenn Hammond, the wife of Sean Bean’s Officer Tom Hammond.
* Annie Parisse (Law & Order) has been cast as Mary Kay Patero, the daughter of Coach Joe Paterno (to be played by Al Pacino), in HBO’s movie about the Penn State sexual abuse scandal.
* Juliette Lewis (Secrets and Lies) will recur during Season 2 of the Epix comedy Graves as a blunt music manager/producer from New York looking to make Samantha the next big thing.
* Passions soap opera alumni — including McKenzie Westmore, Galen Gering, Eric Martsolf, Juliet Mills, Lindsay Hartley, Travis Schuldt, Kim Ulrich, James Hyde, Dana Sparks, Taylor Anne Ramsey, Colton Shires, Brook Kerr, Donn Swaby, Chrystee Pharris, Rodney Van Johnson, Liza Huber, Andrea Evans, Kathleen Noone and Marianne Muellerlile — will reunite on Sunday, July 23 at The Passions Fan Festival at Hollywood & Highland in Los Angeles. Tickets can be purchased at passionsfanfest.eventbrite.com.
Which of today’s TVLine Items piques your interest?
I had to look up Kiersey Clemons (Transparent), since she was the only one not from a CBS show. Sure enough, she had a recurring role on Extant.
Much better idea than the Toy Story special ABC airs every Halloween, which has nothing to do with Halloween. They also have that Christmas special that also has nothing to do with that holiday. Both great specials but should really be more themed to their respective holidays.