Encouraged by the first wobbling steps—and subsequent adorable pratfalls—of Mamie Gummer onto Emily Owens M.D., another Meryl Streep spawn has been weaned off the family name and nudged out into the world to see if it can survive. Grace Gummer, Mamie's younger, less-toothless-hobo-pronunciation-friendly sister, will join the second season of HBO's The Newsroom, her tender new wings beating quickly, desperately to remain aloft on the winds of Aaron Sorkin's dialogue. There she'll play "Hallie Shea, an embedded reporter covering the Mitt Romney campaign," thereby preventing the show from having to concoct a back story where one of its characters used to be college roommates with Tagg or something. It's a real break for Gummer, whose tentative forays into TV to date have been limited to Nickelodeon's Gigantic and a guest appearance on Smash, and whose success on this show could mean the difference between forging her own career, or returning to the nest, broken and beaten, to have Meryl Streep pet her consolingly with the soft edges of her Oscars.
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