What is Casting Couch? It’s just trying to cram its foot into this shoe. Just last week, we learned that Cate Blanchett was likely to be Mark Romanek’s wicked stepmother in the new Cinderella movie that he’s doing for Disney, and now Variety gives us word that the project is closing in on its Cinderella as well. According to the trade, Atonement actress Saoirse Ronan, Anna Karenina actress Alicia Vikander, and The Three Musketeers’ Gabriella Wilde have all been in to see Romanek for screen tests. So, clearly, the sweet spot for getting this role is to have an interesting accent and some period work under your belt. Keira Knightley better watch her back, because it looks like there’s a whole upcoming generation of ladies gunning for her roles.

This week’s installment, “Made to Suffer,” is the last episode before the midseason break – new episodes don’t start up again until February — so are we made to care that we have such a long wait once this episode ends? Kinda. While this is a better episode than most of this season’s, it doesn’t quite measure up to the standards of past pre-break attempts. With a few exceptions, nothing overly exciting happens here, and the “cliffhanger” ending is hardly a cliffhanger at all. While the brotherly reconnection of Daryl and Merle is strongly encouraged, they were destined to cross paths all season. Yes, it’s a cool scene, and both Michael Rooker and Norman Reedus do an excellent job at emoting, but the scene does not come as a surprise and doesn’t create suspense. Plus, new characters from the comic were introduced – namely Tyreese – but it’s hazy whether or not his name was actually used and little to no character development from this new crew ever occurred, and that would have been a major plus. Also, why would Rick have a Shane mirage of Shane with a hairstyle/facial hair configuration that never appeared on the show? Was Shane-in-the-afterlife just celebrating Movember?  (Oh hey, Jon Bernthal.) Anyway… let’s get into the nitty gritty, shall we?

One of the most high profile shows to come out of last year was AMC’s adaptation of the hit Robert Kirkman comic book The Walking Dead. But depending on who you ask, the first season was either the greatest thing ever to grace television or an absolute waste of storytelling potential. This past Saturday, one of the two most highly anticipated panels of the day was for The Walking Dead, mostly due to the fact that the second season of the show premieres tonight on AMC at 10pm.