Monte-Carlo 2012 : Gbenga Akinnagbe in Damages, Sarah Shahi on Fairly Legal's future, etc

The new edition of the Festival de télévision de Monte-Carlo is taking place right now, from June 10 to June 14. People from the small screen are here to give interviews, walk on tapis rouges, smile and take pictures, among other things.

Gbenka Akinnagbe was here for Nurse Jackie. He gave an interview to Allociné and he announced that he will be part of a multi-episode arc in the final season of Damages as a Special Forces agent working with Ellen. Gbenka has no idea whether he'll be back in Nurse Jackie or not (especially with the new showrunners who've recently been hired for season 5). However he thinks there are good chances he might come back in The Good Wife (he played Pastor Isaiah in 5 episodes of the first two seasons), but nothing is official so far.

Sarah Shahi was at the festival for Fairly Legal (aka "Facing Kate" in France, which was the working title of the show until USA Network changed it). She said she doesn't know what will happen to the show but she thinks USA Network will decide in late June/early July whether there'll be a third season of Fairly Legal or not. Apparently Sarah is very nice and the journalists of Allociné went to dinner with her last night.



Jack Coleman is also here (mostly for The Vampire Diaries) and he said he'll definitely be back in the ninth season of The Office as The Senator. However, he thinks he won't be a part of Emily Owens, MD, the new CW series starting this fall. He was in the pilot but he believes his role will either disappear or be recast.

Today, journalists are interviewing Emily VanCamp, Madeleine Stowe, Joshua Bowman, Lana Parilla, Joseph Morgan, Michael Travino, Melissa Rauch, Mayim Bialik, Benjamin McKenzie, Michael Kudlitz, Regina King, Gabourey Sidibe, Kelli Giddish, Danny Pino, Richard Belzer, Dick Wolf and Howard Gordon, among others.

Furthermore, French journalists from different specialized magazines and newspapers gathered to nominated shows for "Les prix de la presse" (the awards from the press), here were the contenders (the winners are in bold) :

- Best drama series :

Game of Thrones — HBO.
Downton Abbey — BBC.
Homeland — Showtime.
SouthLAnd — TNT.
The Good Wife — CBS.

- Best comedy series :

Modern Family — ABC.
30 Rock — NBC.
Nurse Jackie — Showtime.
The Big Bang Theory — CBS.
The Big C — Showtime.

- Best French series :

Les hommes de l'ombre - France 2.
Braquo — Canal+.
Fais pas ci, fais pas ça — France 2.
Hard — Canal+.
Kaboul Kitchen — Canal+.

Winners of the last three editions :

Lost season 5, Desperate Housewives season 5 and Kaamelott season 5 in 2009.
Dexter season 4, Glee season 1 and Pigalle, la nuit in 2010.
Mad Men season 4, Modern Family season 2 and Carlos in 2011.

This selection was done by the following journalists : Sébastien Barké (Moustique), Marianne Behar (L’Humanité), Eric Bouche (Télé Poche), Alain Carrazé (Europe 1), Katia de la Ballina (TV Grandes Chaines), Alexandre Letren (Season One), Cédric Melon (Télé Câble Satellite), Romain Nigita (Mad Movies) and Virginie Sellier (Télé Loisirs).

Source : Allociné.fr