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'Beginnings' again: MTV orders another full season of 'The Hills' revival

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Author: 
Michelle Rose / TV Media
Spencer Pratt, Heidi Montag, Justin Brescia, Mischa Barton, Brody Jenner and Audrina Patridge from "The Hills: New Beginnings"

Spencer Pratt, Heidi Montag, Justin Brescia, Mischa Barton, Brody Jenner and Audrina Patridge from "The Hills: New Beginnings"

'Beginnings' again: If you're hoping for more drama from the cast of "The Hills: New Beginnings," your wish is (literally) about to become reality: MTV has renewed the series for a second season, and you can catch a new episode of Season 1 airing Monday, Aug. 19.

"New Beginnings" is a revival of the glossy, mid-aughts reality TV series that introduced us to Audrina Patridge, Whitney Port, Stephanie Pratt, Jason Wahler, Brody Jenner, Justin Bobby Brescia, Frankie Delgado and Speidi -- a.k.a. Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt (clever celebrity couple names peaked in the 2000s).

The L.A. twentysomethings are all thirtysomethings now. But with all that's happened in Season 1 so far, it's clear marriage and parenthood haven't slowed their roll when it comes to on-screen drama.

The first few episodes focused on Partridge and Brescia's relationship as well as the feuding Pratt siblings. That drama continues to unfold in real life, with Stephanie Pratt announcing on Instagram that she won't return for Season 2 and blasting her castmates (especially "evil sibling" Spencer and "I have no words for how evil you truly are" Heidi).

Already fans were grumbling that the show isn't the same without former series leads Lauren Conrad and Kristin Cavallari (the latter is busy with her own series, "Very Cavallari"). Lo Bosworth also opted out of the reboot.

But new fan favorite Brandon Lee (son of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee) seems to be taking it all in stride, even as his own personal dramas play out before the cameras.

As for the other new addition to the cast, Mischa Barton of "The O.C." fame has had several talked-about on-screen moments of her own, including a confrontation with (and subsequent apology from) celeb blogger Perez Hilton.

So what's left to explore in Season 2? Plenty. But we'll just have to wait until Season 1 of "The Hills: New Beginnings" wraps.

 

A New New 'Perry Mason': One of the greatest criminal defense lawyers is coming back to TV. And when he does, expect the story to be set farther back in time than the original series.

HBO's new limited series "Perry Mason" will show the attorney doing exactly what he does best: relentlessly pursuing the truth -- except he'll be doing it in Los Angeles in 1932.

Why the time shift? It corresponds to the character's origins. Creator Erle Stanley Gardner first introduced Mason in his 1933 novel "The Case of the Velvet Claws," which was made into a movie in 1936. But it was Raymond Burr's portrayal of the attorney in the CBS series (1957-1966), as well as television films in the 1980s and '90s, that made Mason one of the most unforgettable TV characters.

This new origin story comes from Team Downey, the production company founded by the husband-and-wife team of Robert Downey Jr. (who was tied to the lead role in 2016) and Susan Downey.

But it's the stars appearing in front of the camera that are generating most of the excitement. Emmy winner Matthew Rhys ("The Americans") will portray Mason as a down-on-his-luck private investigator opposite John Lithgow ("The Crown"), also an Emmy winner (in fact, he's won six times). Lithgow stars as attorney and mentor "E.B." Jonathan, who is pulled into a complicated case of "a child kidnapping gone very, very wrong" (per HBO's logline).

Recently, HBO announced that Juliet Rylance ("McMafia"), Andrew Howard ("The Oath"), Eric Lange ("Narcos"), Robert Patrick ("True Blood") and Stephen Root ("Barry") have been added to the cast. They'll join Tatiana Maslany ("Orphan Black"), who was already cast in a leading role as an evangelical leader with a large radio audience.

Filming is already underway.

 

The Dude on TV: Add Jeff Bridges to the long list of Hollywood heavyweights who are making the leap to TV.

In what might be his first regular-series role, Bridges will star in the FX drama "The Old Man." The project is based on Thomas Perry's bestselling novel and has been ordered to pilot.

Bridges is Dan Chase -- or he will be once production gets underway this fall. Chase is a retired CIA officer who has been living off the grid since leaving the agency. But his past as an operative suddenly catches up to him when an assassin attempts to take him out.

Bridges has enjoyed a long movie career and has more than 70 major acting credits to his name. He's been nominated for seven Academy Awards, won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for his turn in "Crazy Heart" (2009), and received the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award earlier this year.

But it was his performance as The Dude in "The Big Lebowski" (1998) that turned Bridges into a pop culture icon, and an immensely quotable one at that. Back in January, the internet lost its mind (not literally) when Bridges tweeted a clip of himself in character as The Dude. But what seemed to be a teaser for a sequel turned out to be a Super Bowl promo in which "The Dude abides" to Stella Artois and its initiative to provide access to clean drinking water.

Back to the FX project. After four seasons on "Black Sails," Jon Steinberg and Robert Levine are reteaming to adapt the novel and pen the script. They'll serve as executive producers along with Bridges.