The Casting Call 10.16.09

The Casting Call brings together the latest casting news to keep you informed on who is showing up on which show. Find out who is joining your favorite show as a series regular, a recurring character, a guest star or special cameo. The Casting Call could reveal upcoming story-lines, so be aware, there may be spoilers ahead.

Grey’s Anatomy (ABC)
Veteran actor Joel Grey, 77, will appear in a November episode of Grey’s Anatomy as Izzie’s old high school teacher. “It’s a pretty amazing episode,” says show creator Shonda Rhimes. “He was the teacher who convinced Izzie (Katherine Heigl) she was more than a girl from the trailer park. And now he’s in need of her help.”

Three Rivers (CBS)
Mandy Patinkin will guest star on an upcoming episode of the network’s new drama about organ transplants. Patinkin will play an ALS patient who wants to be taken off life support so his organs can save others.

The Mountain (NBC)
Paige Turco and Barry Bostwick have been cast to star in NBC’s two-hour movie/backdoor pilot from Canadian production company Muse Entertainment. The project, slated to begin shooting Wednesday in Montreal and Magog, Quebec, centers on Dana (Turco) a single mom with three kids who inherits a remote mountain cabin from a supposedly dead uncle. But when she heads off to the cabin, she discovers that her Uncle Henry (Bostwick) is very much alive, and they set out to keep an evil buyer from gaining access to the mountain that holds secrets and treasures. Also cast in the pilot, directed by Doug Barr, is Crawford Wilson as one of Dana’s kids.

Two and a Half Men (CBS)
Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica) will guest in an upcoming episode of the show. She will play a friend of Charlie’s fiancee. When Chelsea hears her friend is recovering from a breakup, she insists that she do so at their house. Helfer’s episode is scheduled to air November 16.