Latest From Matt's Inside Line - Various Shows

Will Damages fans get more than they bargained for with Season 4? Can Broyles handle two, warring Fringe teams? And who’s hot to serenade Glee‘s Rachel Berry? Read on for those answers, plus a flurry of other teases and sound bites from some of TV’s hottest shows and stars.

Damages | Fans of this gripping drama can expect more of the same – quite literally – when Season 4 arrives on DirecTV on July 13. Exec producer Daniel Zelman told me at the NYC premiere event that, since DirecTV doesn’t air commercials, each episode will be “anywhere from 49 to 56 minutes” long — robust running times that probably make Mad Men boss Matt Weiner weep. Also, with no standards and practices peeps to answer to, the producers expect to “push the envelope” while not altering the established tone of the series. Another Season 4 bonus: Since Damages was picked up by the dish service for two more cycles, “It allowed us to end this season with a big question between [Patty and Ellen], knowing that we’ll have the opportunity to address what that means,” says EP Todd A. Kessler. Of course, what’s a season of Damages without giving up a ghost or two, especially since Tom Shays is no longer with us. “We love bringing back characters and actors that we enjoyed working with,” says Kessler, “and Tate’s at the top of the list.”


Fringe | When it comes to the fallout of the finale, I’m the first to admit I’ve been focused on the Peter puzzle and the fun of now having double the Walters and Olivias in our midst. But what about Broyles? Does he now get two Fringe divisions to lord over, bickering doppelgangers and all? Lance Reddick suspects as much. “I think the challenge for Broyles is going to be balancing his relationship with his own Fringe division and the other one – the whole, ‘Who’s in charge?’ kind of thing,” he tells TVLine. But yes, Reddick also is fixated on He Who Never Existed. “I just want to find out what’s going on with Peter,” he shares. “But I’ll find out when everybody else does!”


Glee | Mystery solved! Recurring player Josh Sussman pretty much confirmed what we suspected, that McKinley High gossip king Jacob Ben Israel was forced into a particularly low profile this season as the result of rubbing people the wrong way with his orgasmic writhing during last fall’s “Toxic” performance. “People found that episode very offensive [so] I guess they wanted to give the audience a break from me,” Sussman surmises. “But then I was so happy when I got the phone call and I got to come back [for an April episode]. It was such a relief, like, ‘OK, they’re giving me another chance.’” Sussman’s hope is that as with semi-reformed bully Karofsky, Glee now takes a moment “to redeem Jacob and show a side of him that’s less hateful” – and perhaps even carrying a song in his heart. “I’d love to serenade Rachel,” Sussman suggests. Eek, I’m getting uncomfortable already.

Leverage | Now that Nate and Sophie’s unresolved sexual tension has been, well, resolved, what about the team’s other crushes – Parker and Hardison? As Season 4 plays out, “Their relationship grows, but it also becomes much more intense in unexpected ways,” says exec producer Dean Devlin. After all, he notes, “These are not normal people, and this is not a normal relationship. So as that heats up, it causes other kinds of tension that I think the fans will be surprised by.” Wait, did he say it in fact “heats up”? Win.


One Life to Live | Ever since news broke that Erin Torpey would be returning to Llanview before the ABC sudser she called home for 13 years signs off, there’s been speculation about with whom, exactly, her non-Jessica character will “reunite.” I’ve seen many folks pin their hopes on “mom” Viki, but alas that is not meant to be. Instead, I will tell you that Torpey’s wink-wink scene will be with one of Jessica’s peers, and not an elder. Guesses?


Burn Notice | While chatting up the Damages ensemble at the aforementioned red carpet event, I asked the always compelling Dylan Baker – who plays a very bad man on the DirectTV drama – if we might see him back on Burn Notice, as Michael’s new “boss,” CIA chief Raines. Though the Damages gig kept Baker from sticking around Miami longer, “I think they’re going to have me down so shoot a couple [scenes] this summer,” he told me. Fun fact: Baker and his missus, Becky Ann, play Katherine McPhee’s parents in the totally terrific midseason NBC series Smash.

Reader Mail | In response to the news that one Dollhouse alum, Dichen Lachman, has joined Syfy’s Being Human, Thomas (aka @bagelsvswaffles) Tweets: “What ever happened with Enver Gjokaj’s pilot for USA?” Answer: Eden — in which Gjokaj plays a con artist who helps his cousin (Heroes‘ Nick D’Agosto) pull off the impossible as an elite NYC hotel concierge – is still in play and awaiting a series order, as are Common Law (starring Michael Ealy) and Wild Card (with Jennifer Finnigan).

Source: TVLine