Hope everyone has a great time tonight and a fantastic year ahead.

See you in 2010!

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The year started with Terminator promo and press tours. The show returned with the last nine episodes in the Friday slot in mid-February.

Later that month, Garret was spotted filming Winter’s Bone in Missouri. The film will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in late January. If anyone plans on going, the Sundance screening schedule is here.

The Last House on the Left opened on March 13. The reviews ranged from excellent to free branding campaign and the film made it to several lists of best horrors of the year. In October, it won a Reaper Award for Best Theatrical Release in 2009.

Toward the end of the month, Garret played his fifth character on T:SCC, the Skynet virus from the future. Previous four were George Laszlo, Cromartie, the Beastwizard and John Henry.

In late March, the first pictures from Burning Bright appeared online. Burning Bright was later renamed to Ravenous and it still awaits theatrical release. In November, it was screened at the AFM. The first reviews were pretty positive.

In early April, Water Pills had its U.S. premiere at the Florida Film Festival. Jasmine Jessica Anthony walked away with a grand jury award for best performance.

Also in April, two series finales aired two days apart. Garret snuffed the TV crew and gave Damian Lewis his final headache in Life on April 8. Life season two was released on DVD on August 25.

The Terminator finale aired on April 10. Despite cancellation, the show made it to #8 on the list of  the Top 10 Most Pirated Shows in 2009. Last year, it was the only new show among the top 10, at #4.

In the meantime, Garret joined Delroy Lindo and Roslyn Ruff in Things of Dry Hours, a play by Naomi Wallace about communists in 1930s Alabama. Rehearsals started on April 21.

The first trailer for The Road hit the web on May 15.

On May 18, Fox announced that they would not be picking up Terminator for a third season. Even though there has been talk of a possible TV/DVD movie, Terminator rights are currently up for grabs and in limbo until February 2010.

On May 20, Garret appeared in the season finale of Criminal Minds.

Two days later, Things of Dry Hours went into previews at the New York Theatre Workshop. The show premiered on June 8 and ran through June 28. Critics liked the cast, but were divided on the writing.

At some point over the spring/summer, Garret was cast in Madeleine Stowe’s Unbound Captives, an independent western epic with Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz and Robert Pattinson. If they get financing in time, the film will go into production in March (at the earliest).

In late July and early August, Garret filmed two TV guest appearances,  on CSI and Lie to Me, and a short film, One Night Only.

The Last House on the Left was released on DVD in mid-August.

Later that month, Garret was spotted filming the season three finale of Burn Notice. The episode will air in March 2010.

The trailer for One Night Only was released on September 2.

On September 3, The Road had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival. Ten days later, it was screened in Toronto.

Terminator: The Complete Season Two was released on DVD on September 22.

On September 24, the CSI season 10 premiere aired. “Family Affair” is one of the five hours of television nominated for an ASC (American Society of Cinematographers) Award this year.

Speaking of CSI, in a fine display of Terminator fanboyism, the last episode before the break, Better off Dead, had a bunch of people stealing Cromartie’s music and killing each other. Also, a killer described as a Terminator.

On October 13, Oliver Sherman, an independent drama with Molly Parker and Donal Logue, went into production in North Bay. The film will most likely premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2010, but Canadians might get an early screening in the spring.

On October 21st, Garret appeared on Lie to Me.

And two days later, on Law & Order: SVU.

The Road finally saw its U.S. premiere at AFI fest in early November. On Thanksgiving, it got a limited release. Even though the film has been vastly overlooked in the early awards season, the reviews were mostly positive and it scored a few acting nods (Viggo Mortensen, Robert Duvall, Kodi Smit-McPhee) from several critics’ societies (Broadcast Film Critics, Utah Film Critics, St. Louis Film Critics).

On November 13, Garret appeared on White Collar.

And the next day, One Night Only had its premiere in New York.

In November, Garret was cast in two new projects. The comedy pilot Keep Hope Alive, with Martha Plimpton, Cloris Leachman and Lucas Neff, was filmed earlier this month. If it gets picked up, it will be aired in the 2010/11 season.

The other project, John Sayles’ film Baryo, starts shooting in February in the Philippines. The crew is already there, building the set and preparing for the shoot. You can follow the updates on the new production blog, at johnsaylesbaryo.blogspot.com.

And that about wraps it up. If 2010 is even half as eventful, it will be another excellent year.

White Collar had its series premiere yesterday. Garret’s episode is still a month away, but if you were planning on tuning in earlier, this would be the time. The show is getting pretty good reviews, it is on every Friday at 10 and the pilot is available on USANetwork.com. For the TV schedule and everything else you need to know, go to USA’s site.

Some pics from this week’s shows:

First, a reminder that Law & Order: SVU 11×05, “Hardwired,” airs tomorrow (Wednesday) at 9/8c on NBC. The previews are here. Garret plays the head of a pedophilia organization and hopefully neither of the two people with ER credits to their name (Mariska Hargitay, Joel de la Fuente) will get to shoot him this time.

Second, if you’re in Texas, you can catch The Road at the Austin Film Festival on Wednesday, October 28th at 9:30 p.m [Austinist.com]

Third, People’sChoice.com is accepting votes and nominations for this year’s People’s Choice Awards and the Favourite Actor category is still alive and kicking. From the press release:

Fans to Determine The Top Five Nominees In Each Category and the New Trophy Design at http://www.peopleschoice.com/

Voting has begun at http://www.peopleschoice.com/ to determine the top five nominees in each category for 36TH ANNUAL PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARDS, the only major awards show where fans choose their favorites in music, movies and television. As previously announced, the 36TH ANNUAL PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARDS, hosted by award-winning performer Queen Latifah, will be broadcast live from Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE on Wednesday, Jan. 6 (9:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

Fans can vote in 31 categories, including Favorite Movie, Favorite TV Obsession and Favorite Breakout Artist. The top five nominees in each category will be announced on Nov. 10, at the SLS Hotel at Beverly Hills during the annual People’s Choice Awards press conference.

Nominee voting will also take place on MySpace where fans can share content and converse about the awards on the official People’s Choice Awards profile at www.myspace.com/peopleschoiceawards. The list of potential nominees for 36TH ANNUAL PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARDS was determined by national ratings averages, box-office grosses and music sales, and vetted through Visible Measures, the independent third-party measurement firm for Internet video.

^ From the new preview for “Hardwired:”

NBC.com has another clip from the episode here.

“Hardwired” airs on Wednesday, October 21 on NBC. Yes, that’s two days after Lie to Me.

The press release:

10/21/2009 09:00 PM HARDWIRED (TV-14)
A YOUNG BOY IS RAPED, AND THE SUSPECT LEADS TO A CIVIL RIGHTS GROUP IN FAVOR OF CHILD-ADULT RELATIONSHIPS.
After Eva Banks (guest star Rosie Perez) makes a shocking discovery about her son, Cory’s (guest star Cruz Santiago) behavior at school, she takes him to the doctor, only to find out that he has been the victim of sexual abuse. Detectives Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Elliot Stabler (Chris Meloni) come onto the scene and question the victim and his family. From the boy’s frightened reaction when his stepfather, Thomas Banks (guest star Jim True-Frost), silences the investigation, it is clear to everyone in the room who the real perpetrator is. Detective Benson and Stabler are about to arrest the suspect when Thomas agrees to give up the leader of the largest pro child-adult relationship civil rights group in exchange for amnesty.

Here it is without House:

Other news, Neal Baer posted another bubbletweet from SVU 11×05 “Hardwired,” this time with Mariska Hargitay and Stephanie March.

SpoilerTV has a new season two clip:

And here is a new synopsis for SVU 11×05, “Hardwired:”

Law & Order SVU “Hardwired” Air Date 10/21/2009 (9 PM ET/ 8C Wednesday)
A YOUNG BOY IS RAPED, AND THE SUSPECT LEADS TO A CIVIL RIGHTS GROUP IN FAVOR OF CHILD-ADULT RELATIONSHIPS.

After Eva Banks (guest star Rosie Perez) makes a shocking discovery about her son, Cory’s (guest star Cruz Santiago) behavior at school, she takes him to the doctor, only to find out that he has been the victim of sexual abuse. Detectives Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Elliot Stabler (Chris Meloni) come onto the scene and question the victim and his family. From the boy’s frightened reaction when his stepfather, Thomas Banks (guest star Jim True-Frost), silences the investigation, it is clear to everyone in the room who the real perpetrator is. Detective Benson and Stabler are about to arrest the suspect when Thomas agrees to give up the leader of the largest pro child-adult relationship civil rights group in exchange for amnesty. [AllThingsLawandOrder]

For a short clip with Mariska Hargitay and Rosie Perez, go here: http://bbltwt.com/ayrge

The synopsis:

The CSI team, with the unexpected but welcome return of Sara, comes together to investigate the death of a famous young actress killed in a dubious traffic collision

Garret plays the head of a celebrity security service whose client’s pregnant girlfriend is killed in a car crash.

Here is a behind-the-scenes look, from SpoilerTV:

A minor update on Lie to Me. It seems that Garret’s episode has been pushed back a bit. IMDb and TV Guide still list “Honey” as episode 2×02, but LieToMeScoop.com has posted a press release for episode two and it’s the one originally listed as 2×03, “Truth or Consequences,” with Jennifer Beals, John Carroll Lynch and James Marsters guest starring. Shawn Ryan also confirms that “Truth and Consequences” will air first (Oct. 5).

Digital Spy did an interview with Brendan Hines, who had this to say about “Honey:”

Apparently there’s a hostage situation in episode two?
“Yeah, there is. I’m not going to tell you the exact circumstance but that does happen. By the way, if you were watching season one and thinking, ‘I like this show but Tim Roth doesn’t get the shit kicked out of him enough’ you’ll be really happy come season two. I think it’s every episode these days he’s getting bruised and bloodied.”

What’s been your favourite episode to shoot up to now?
“The hostage episode was really fun – Tim Busfield directed it and it’s incredibly kinetic – it never really stops so it was a lot of fun to do and it was a big change for us.”

Jennifer Beals has been back on set – do you know how Lightman’s relationship with her develops?
“I really like it when the show goes in that direction – Tim and Jennifer, and Tim and Hayley [McFarland] who plays his daughter – it shows us the difficulty that he has maintaining any sort of close relationship and how hard it is. I really like it because it’s not a side of him we get to see very often. We’ve got Garret Dillahunt, too. He’s fantastic and he shows up and causes all kinds of trouble.”

Finally, TV Guide Magazine has an article about the new season of Law & Order: SVU. This is how it describes episode 11×05:

A story about pedophilia features Rosie Perez as a mother who fears her second husband (Garret Dillahunt) is sexually abusing her son. (Prodigal regulars Stephanie March and B.D. Wong return in that episode, the season’s fifth.)

The Last House on the Left was released on DVD and Blu-ray a couple of weeks ago. The region 2 DVD will be out on October 19.

The Road will premiere in Venice on September 3. That’s tomorrow. It will then be shown 10 days later (Sept. 13 & 14) in the Special Presentations program at the Toronto Film Festival. The listing is here. There are also rumours that it will be screened at Telluride (Sept. 4-7) so if you are in the Colorado area, keep an eye on the festival’s official site. The film opens wide on October 16.

Oliver Sherman starts filming in about a month. A couple of weeks ago, they were still casting a whole bunch of characters.  The casting call is here.

On the TV front…

Life: Season Two was released on DVD on August 25. You can find a review and the DVD details here.

The Burn Notice season three finale will air some time in March. Ausiello at Entertainment Weekly describes Garret’s character  as a “scary-smart new client of Michael’s (Jeffrey Donovan) — and perhaps the first person to outsmart him.”

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles might still return as a movie. Here is what Thomas Dekker told the TV Addict the other day: “They’ve spoken about doing a TV movie. Well, not a TV movie, but kind of like a direct-to-DVD movie. Obviously it’s difficult because the show is based on a movie and they just had one come out, so it’s kind of hard to make a movie with our show because everyone has kind of forgotten about us. But they’re hoping, at least when I spoke to [Producer] James Middleton that’s where they are with it.”

The teaser for the CSI season premiere is online, as well as the press release and some pics from the episode (of Jorja Fox mostly). The show returns on September 24.

More updates as they come.

Rosie Perez and Garret Dillahunt will square off on an explosive episode of Law & Order: SVU this fall about pedophiles’ rights, TVGuide.com has learned exclusively.

On the fifth episode of the new season, Dillahunt (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles‘ Cromartie, No Country for Old Men) will play the head of a pedophilia organization (think NAMBLA — or, you know, don’t). “It’s called ‘Hardwired,’” executive producer Neal Baer says, “because they believe that pedophilia is [a genetic predestination].” [TV Guide]

The casting call for the episode is up at SpoilerTV. From the report, it seems to be this character:

[KEVIN SHEEHEY] Male, Caucasian, Late 30s-Late 40s; A meticulous, charismatic; intensely focused man; with deep dark dubious undercurrents who is the President of “Safe Place”, an organization that promotes pedophilia as a legitimate sexual orientation. He has a cult-like ability to charm and connive. His goal is to change people’s attitudes toward adults dating children. He even convinces his members to take videos of them abusing children and send it to him. (GUEST STAR)

Season 11 of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit premieres on Wednesday, September 23, so episode 11×05 will air some time in late October (Oct. 21 at the earliest).

For updates, follow Neal Baer on Twitter and keep an eye on the SVU production blog on NBC’s site.