“American Horror Story” thrills with first season finale
Dylan McDermott and Connie Britton as Ben and Vivien Harmon
Kudos to FX’s “American Horror Story” for a splendid first season finale, as full of thrills and chills as each episode of this Golden Globe-nominated series has been.
SPOILER ALERT! Don’t read any further if you haven’t seen the finale.
Although it wasn’t too much of a stretch to guess that most of the Harmon family would not end up getting out of the house alive, I was glad Ben (Dylan McDermott) didn’t take the suicide route – but his demise was super shocking.
And, remarkably, instead of having the finale end with just a set-up for next season’s new family moving in, the writers went ahead and explored that territory and showed the Harmon family’s proactive moves to save the new family from their own fate.
Moira’s (Frances Conroy) allegiance with Vivien (Connie Britton), Violet (Taissa Farmiga) and Ben was a bit poignant, and the scene where they decorated the Christmas tree to the “Little Drummer Boy” music was especially clever, interesting and creepy all at once.
The final scenes, though again not unforeseeable, were frightening nonetheless, particularly due to the amazing performance of Jessica Lange as Constance. Lange also has been nominated for a Golden Globe, and deservedly so. She has been absolutely sublime in this role.
I’m looking forward to many more thrills and chills next season!
– Melissa Hayer
mhayer@opubco.com
Follow me on Twitter: @MelissaHayer
Jessica Lange as Constance
From left, Connie Britton and Frances Conroy in "American Horror Story" - FX Photos
“Dexter” finale comes across as betrayal to fan
As a major “Dexter” fan, I was considerably disappointed, to put it lightly, with last night’s sixth season finale.
I’m afraid one of my all-time favorite shows has jumped the shark.
And for a series about a blood spatter analyst by day/serial killer by night, that’s quite a jump.
SPOILER ALERT! Don’t read any further if you haven’t seen the finale.
For Dexter’s (Michael C. Hall) sister Deb (Jennifer Carpenter) to discover that she’s in love with him – her adopted brother since childhood – is abominable, not only because of the situation, but because it’s such a cheap way for the story line of the show to go.
And, besides that detestable element, “Dexter” fans were also subjected to Deb witnessing Dexter taking out this season’s nemesis Travis (Colin Hanks), the Doomsday Killer – a definite no-no.
One of the best aspects of the series is Dexter and Deb’s brother-sister relationship, as co-workers for Miami Metro Homicide (Deb’s a lieutenant), and when they’re not on the job — again, the emphasis is on their BROTHER-SISTER relationship.
Dexter’s the one guy Deb has always been able to trust, and now she sees him killing someone?
And, besides his son, Deb is the only one Dexter really cares about.
Another of the essential components of the show is that Deb didn’t know about Dexter’s homicidal tendencies, and we fans never wanted her to find out — at least I didn’t!
The “Dexter” writers have their work cut out for them for the next season and then some — I don’t know how it can recover from this debacle.
– Melissa Hayer
mhayer@opubco.com
Follow me on Twitter: @MelissaHayer
From left, Josh Cooke, C.S. Lee, Jennifer Carpenter and Michael C. Hall in "Dexter" - Showtime Photo
Randy Wayne: Moore actor’s career heats up
Randy Wayne - Provided Photo
(This story was published in the Life section of The Oklahoman Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2011.)
Randy Wayne is a man on the move.
When I talked to the actor/producer/writer and Moore native, 30, who has appeared in shows such as “True Blood,” “Sons & Daughters” and “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” during a recent phone interview, he relayed his busy schedule.
“I just flew in from Austin back to L.A., and I’ve got a couple auditions, so I’m doing that, and then I get to go back to Austin, and then I get to come back to L.A. on Tuesday and shoot the TV show ‘Hot in Cleveland’ with Betty White.”
“Hot in Cleveland,” which also stars Valerie Bertinelli and Wendie Malick, has its third season premiere at 9 p.m. Wednesday on TV Land. Wayne’s character in a later episode of the series is a blind man who enters into a romantic relationship with Jane Leeves’ older character, Joy. She lies about her age, but then finds out he’s going to have reconstructive eye surgery and will be able to see her.
“It’s a really fun character,” Wayne said.
Meanwhile, Wayne’s travels to Austin involve the filming of the second half of the first season of the ABC Family drama “The Lying Game,” which will begin airing Jan. 2.
This series revolves around long-lost twin sisters Sutton Mercer and Emma Becker, both played by Alexandra Chando, who secretly reunite, with Emma covertly taking Sutton’s place while Sutton tries to find out the truth about their background.
Wayne plays Justin Miller, the boyfriend of Sutton’s adopted sister Laurel.
“I never knew how big my character was gonna be in the show,” Wayne said. “I didn’t know he was gonna be around more than a couple episodes, but it’s looking like I’m not going anywhere … indefinitely.”
And, Justin has some secrets of his own.
“Yeah, there’s definitely some secrets. They don’t like to tell us too much, so I’ll get the script and be like, ‘I don’t understand. Why am I doing this?’ and they say, ‘Well, we can’t tell you yet,’ and I’m like, ‘But I need to know. It’s not fair,’ so as much as the audience is dying to know, so am I,” Wayne said. “I can tell you that the relationship between Justin and Laurel has been going pretty well. She’s been there to get his back for several occasions, and they obviously really like each other, and this second half, it’s gonna start getting a lot more difficult. There’s going to be some obstacles and things that are gonna make our relationship really put to the test, so I don’t want to say what they are, but there’s definitely going to be some problems in their relationship.”
On the film front, Wayne stars in the dance flick “Honey 2,” which will be released on DVD in February and the faith-based movie “Hardflip,” which will be in select theaters in February, as well.
Another movie he has coming up that’s in preproduction is “The Persecuted,” a political thriller involving the separation of church and state, which also stars Kevin Sorbo and Stephen Baldwin.
Wayne said “The Persecuted” will be filmed soon in Oklahoma City. The movie also features Academy Award winner and fellow Oklahoman Gray Frederickson as an executive producer.
Despite his hectic schedule, Wayne does make time to come home.
“I go back as much as possible. All of my family’s still in Moore, so it makes it easy. I try to get there between L.A. and Austin when I have time, you know, and stop over for a couple days. Normal people get to see their family all the time, but I have to see them on occasion, so that’s the only bummer about it.”
– Melissa Hayer
mhayer@opubco.com
Follow me on Twitter: @MelissaHayer
Alexandra Chando and Randy Wayne appear in a scene from "The Lying Game." - ABC Family Photo
Horror movie special “The Future of Fear” to air Nov. 25 on Chiller
Horror movie fans should find “The Future for Fear” thrilling to watch, as the two-hour special revisits past horror movie classics, looks at how the horror genre has made its way into the mainstream of American culture, and contemplates what’s upcoming for this variety of entertainment.
Actress Linda Hamilton narrates the program, which features commentary from experts on the horror genre such as John Carpenter, Wes Craven, George Romero, Anne Rice, Alan Ball and John Landis.
Vampires, werewolves, aliens, zombies and demons are included among the monsters analyzed, and the reasons for their popularity are discussed.
Humor in horror films is also covered with “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein” and “Shaun of the Dead” being highlighted.
The comments on the gore factor in some horror movies – and how a lot of the scariest films don’t really have that much gore – I found to be especially interesting.
I agree with one of the major points brought up in this special – the human imagination can conjure up the most terrifying creatures and situations to be afraid of – less gore and a better story are more frightening in a horror movie to me.
But as “The Future of Fear” shows, there’s certainly something out there for everybody who likes a good scare.
“The Future of Fear” airs at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 25 on Chiller.
– Melissa Hayer
mhayer@opubco.com
Follow me on Twitter: @MelissaHayer
Lon Chaney Jr. plays the Wolf Man in a scene with Lou Costello from the 1948 movie "Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein." - OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE PHOTO
Actor Silas Weir Mitchell transforms into new role
Silas Weir Mitchell as Monroe in "Grimm" - NBC Photo
(This story was published in the Life section of The Oklahoman Monday, Nov. 21, 2011.)
Who’s afraid of the big, bad Blutbad?
“Monroe,” a reformed werewolf creature called a Blutbad, hopes no one is.
Actor Silas Weir Mitchell’s character is just trying to live a normal life among humans in the new drama “Grimm,” the series inspired by the classic Grimm’s Fairy Tales and which airs at 8 p.m. Fridays on NBC.
Mitchell appeared as convicted killer Glen Ake in the movie “Heaven’s Rain,” which was filmed and set in Oklahoma, but he’s back on television with “Grimm.”
Monroe assists Portland homicide detective Nick Burkhardt (David Giuntoli) in solving crimes perpetrated by other creatures who don’t want to be as good as he is.
Burkhardt has discovered he’s a descendant of an elite line of criminal profilers known as “Grimms” who are charged with the responsibility of keeping balance between humanity and the mythological beings of the world.
The pair build a friendship as they work together on this mission.
Philadelphia native Mitchell, whose acting resume includes appearances on television shows such as “Prison Break,” “My Name Is Earl” and “24,” answered questions about “Grimm” and his role on the show during a recent NBC phone conference call.
Q: Would you elaborate on your character, and will more be learned about Monroe’s background in future episodes?
A: Well, to elaborate more on my character, basically, I suppose everything you hear in the pilot is, you know, that’s pretty much as far as we get. I mean, I’m a Blutbad, and I am sort of a reformed Blutbad. I’m trying to live as a human on the straight and narrow.
And, we will definitely learn more about my character in future episodes. But as far as sort of family history, we’re not getting into that yet. We do learn about me — I’m a clockmaker — but it doesn’t get too much into my history or anything.
Q: Would you talk a little bit about the process of establishing a relationship with your co-star in order to make the chemistry work for the characters?
A: I can only talk about this case in particular, but we’re very lucky in the sense that we love working together, and I have a lot of respect for David. I think he’s very well cast, and I think he’s just a lovely guy.
And he’s a smart guy, and we like working together, so establishing a rapport on camera is not difficult because we have a very good one off camera.
Q: Will viewers be seeing any of your bad wolf-suppressing Pilates techniques?
A: I think that it’s not out of the question that you’ll see some of the techniques that I employ to keep myself together, Pilates among them. That’s a fair statement, I would say.
Q: Is Monroe going to be able to keep his werewolf tendencies under wraps going forward, or are viewers going to see his inner beast popping out every now and then?
A: Oh, the inner beast pops out every now and then.
Q: It seems that your character has quite a sense of humor. Are you like that in real life?
A: I have a very, very good sense of humor, yes, you ask any of my friends.
I don’t know how to answer that really. I like to laugh, and I have a sense of humor about myself, let’s put it that way. I don’t take myself too seriously.
Q: Is there any makeup involved in your transformation, or is it entirely CGI?
A: No, it’s not. It’s both. The idea is that it’s CGI on top of makeup, but you still can tell that it’s my face. There’s a lot of stuff that goes into it, but the three ingredients really are prosthetics, computer graphics and my face.
Because the idea is that when someone morphs, they don’t just turn into a werewolf quote unquote, like generic, or someone is like a … beetle creature, or you know, whatever. They don’t just turn into a beetle, they turn into their beetle, you know what I mean?
They turn into what they would look like as this creature, so they really make an effort to fuse the prosthetics and the CGI in such a way that you can tell that it’s me underneath it. And they do that with other creatures that are coming down the pike.
Q: What can you share about upcoming episodes?
A: All I can tell you is the episodes get — they get sort of deliciously dark and creepy. And NBC is letting us go there, so to speak, which I think is fantastic.
– Melissa Hayer
mhayer@opubco.com
Follow me on Twitter: @MelissaHayer
Silas Weir Mitchell plays Monroe on "Grimm." - NBC Photo
“Hawaii Five-O”: Nov. 21 “Ki’ilua” episode action-packed
Lauren German and Jimmy Buffett in the Nov. 21 episode of "Hawaii Five-0." - CBS Photo
Steve McGarrett (Alex O’Loughlin) goes to North Korea with Jenna Kaye (Larisa Oleynik) to deliver a ransom to rebels in exchange for her fiancé, while the rest of the Five-0 team investigate the murder of a reporter who seems to have ties to Jenna in the Nov. 21 “Ki’ilua” episode of “Hawaii Five-0.”
This is a gripping, fan-pleasing episode that is filled with action along with a little bit of fun, as Jimmy Buffett guest-stars as Frank Bama, a helicopter pilot and friend of Joe White’s (Terry O’Quinn) who assists the Five-0 in North Korea.
David Keith also gives a solid performance in a guest starring role in “Ki’ilua,” which is Hawaiian for “Deceiver.”
“Ki’ilua” was written by Peter Lenkov and Paul Zbyszewski and directed by Kate Woods.
“Hawaii Five-0″ also stars Scott Caan, Daniel Dae Kim, Grace Park and Lauren German and airs at 9 p.m. Mondays on CBS.
– Melissa Hayer
mhayer@opubco.com
Follow me on Twitter: @MelissaHayer
From left, Terry O'Quinn and Scott Caan in the Nov. 21 episode of "Hawaii Five-0" - CBS Photo
Actor Christopher Gorham discusses “Covert Affairs,” his role on the show, and more
Christopher Gorham of "Covert Affairs" - USA Network Photo
(A version of this story was published in the Life section of The Oklahoman Nov. 14, 2011.)
Portraying a disabled veteran on the USA Network spy drama “Covert Affairs” is not only interesting and challenging for actor Christopher
Gorham, it’s an honor.
California native Gorham, 37, who has appeared in television shows such as “Popular,” “Ugly Betty” and “Harper’s Island,” plays Auggie Anderson, a former CIA special operative who was blinded during a mission and is now heading up the tech ops department with the Domestic Protection Division on “Covert Affairs.”
The series, which also stars Piper Perabo as CIA spy Annie Walker, airs at 9 p.m. Tuesdays on USA.
Gorham discussed “Covert Affairs,” a new romance for his character and more during a recent phone interview while he had some time off in Los
Angeles after the show wrapped production for its second season.
Q: What do you like most about playing Auggie and/or working on “Covert
Affairs”?
A: I think Auggie’s such an interesting, complicated, challenging
character to play, which are all things that you hope for when you do
what I do. It’s not always the case. You’re often asked to just kind of
play a carbon copy of yourself.
The nice thing about it, too, is playing a disabled veteran as a leading
man on a major television show on a major network is such an honor, and
a real opportunity to honor the sacrifices that are very real –
veterans are making every day, and the sacrifices that they make in
their lives, and honor the way in which they come home and stand up and
move forward, and their families that stand with them. It’s just an
extraordinary opportunity and I don’t take it lightly.
Q: Has playing a blind character affected your perspective in real life
in any way?
A: Oh, sure. I notice little things, like little things that help with
accessibility on the street. When we were shooting abroad, I couldn’t
help but notice in each country how they would modify their street
corners to make them more accessible to the disabled — you know, as
putting in like tactile pads down or tactile tiles, and so you can feel
when you’re on the corner, and the different beeping sounds that they
have in each country at the crosswalks. You know, those little things
that you don’t really pay attention to as a sighted person, but when
you’re in it like I am, thinking about it all the time, you notice
little details, and it’s kind of interesting.
Q: As this fall season of “Covert Affairs” has begun, Auggie has met the
younger sister of one of his fallen comrades from Iraq and they’ve begun
a relationship. What kind of future does Auggie have with Parker (Devin
Kelley)?
A: The unfortunate part, aside from the potential complications of
having such a tragic thing in common (her brother’s death), is that
she’s signed up to go into the Peace Corps and is gonna be leaving
within a few months
So we’re gonna see this kind of like concentrated relationship … it’s
a nice relationship. We get to see a bit of a different side of Auggie.
We get to see kind of a more vulnerable side, and see just exactly how
caring he can be as a boyfriend, and kind of see him in a very private
moment.
There’s a couple of very private moments between the two of them that I
think are nice reveals of his character and the type of man that he is.
And then, you know, of course, that relationship ends up affecting his
relationship between Annie and Auggie, and I think in a very unexpected,
interesting way as we head towards the finale of this fall season.
Q: Would you like to see Annie and Auggie’s friendship blossom into
romance at some point?
A: Well, I think, yeah, I mean, honestly, I think those two characters
would be great together. I think when the time is right. Right now,
they’re both dealing with their own stories and their own relationships
and learning life lessons that they need to learn, but I think those are
two stars that should be crossed at some point.
Q: They’re good together — the slow build that seems to be going on
with them is nice.
A: It’s a lot of fun, and it’s fun to play. And, it’s something that we
all respect, and the writers respect ,and it’s not something that we’re
just gonna spoil for no reason.
Q: Do you have any Oklahoma connections?
A: Yeah, actually my grandparents on my dad’s side are from Oklahoma.
They came out during the Dust Bowl when they were kids, I guess. I’ve
actually never been there, but, yeah, my family roots from the states
come from Oklahoma and Kansas.
Q: What do you like to do besides acting?
A: Tons of stuff. I love being active, I love playing with my kids, and
just being with my family right now. It’s funny, because I think people
generally take it for granted, but because I have to travel so much for
so much of the year, I really, really cherish the time when I get home
with my wife and my kids. You know, just the little things, just going
out to dinner, taking the kids to the beach, just taking my wife out on
a date. I love reading books. I love taking pictures.
I was able to go along on our recent European shooting tour for “Covert
Affairs.” We just got back from a trip we shot in Venice, Berlin and
Stockholm, and I wasn’t in any of those scenes. The network actually
hired me to go along and document the whole thing. They’re creating this
website that’ll have 20 to 30 of my stills, I think it’s about 30 of my
stills from each city, and a behind-the-scenes video for each city …
and it’ll include the stills and video that I took when I was in
Istanbul, as well.
It’s some really cool stuff and it’s nice too, ’cause it give the fans
kind of a way for them to come along with us and kind of see things
through our eyes. With my pictures, I really try and capture not just
what the place looks like, but kind of the feel of it and what it feels
like on set and see more of the real personalities of the cast and our
crew that you don’t really get to see on the show.
Q: How was working on “Harper’s Island” and playing a serial killer?
A: It was a blast. I didn’t know that I was playing the killer until we
were eight episodes in. That’s when they told me, and that was one
sleepless night. It was so challenging, and it made me so nervous,
because if you get to those last two episodes and you don’t buy the
turn, then the whole show falls apart. I felt a lot of pressure to get
that right and to make him believably crazy and broken, and you could
believe that he’s so broken that he could pull this off and go through
with it, but also keep the humanity of the character that you’ve seen in
the previous episodes so that you also felt badly for him. And, I think
we pulled it off.
There’s no crazy reveal like that with Auggie — I’ll just throw that
out there. Auggie is not a serial killer. (Laughs) I don’t think I’m
spoiling anything by revealing that.
To view the photos and videos Christopher Gorham discussed taking in this Q&A, go to www.usanetwork.com/series/covertaffairs/features/onlocation/index.html or visit the “Covert Affairs” main site at www.usanetwork.com/series/covertaffairs/.
– Melissa Hayer
mhayer@opubco.com
Follow me on Twitter: @MelissaHayer
Piper Perabo and Christopher Gorham of "Covert Affairs" - USA Network Photo
Christopher Gorham of "Covert Affairs" - USA Network Photo
“Strike Back” stars Philip Winchester and Amanda Mealing discuss the show’s first season finale
From left, Stonebridge (Philip Winchester), Latif (Jimi Mistry) and Scott (Sullivan Stapleton) in "Strike Back" - Cinemax Photo
(SPOILER ALERT FOR “STRIKE BACK FANS”: THIS STORY SHOULDN’T BE READ UNTIL YOU’VE SEEN THE FIRST SEASON FINALE!)
The Cinemax series “Strike Back” ended its first season with quite a dramatic finale tonight.
This first installment of the show has revolved around stars Sullivan Stapleton as former U.S. Special Forces operative Damien Scott and Philip Winchester as British Sgt. Michael Stonebridge.
Scott and Stonebridge are members of a British top-secret counterterrorism intelligence agency named Section 20, led by Col. Eleanor Grant, played by Amanda Mealing.
Section 20 succeeded in its season-long mission to track down the terrorist Latif (Jimi Mistry), but it was a costly achievement – Col. Grant lost her life taking him down.
Winchester, 30, and British actress Mealing, 44, discussed their roles on the show, which has already been picked up for a second season, as well as the finale, this week in separate one-on-one phone interviews.
Here are a few of the questions and answers that were covered:
Q: When did you know that the demise of Col. Grant was going to happen in the finale?
MEALING: It was a couple of months towards the end. We were filming in South Africa for four months, so just towards the end of filming in South Africa – they came to me and said “we found the ending and you’re not going to like it”.
It was hard. It was incredibly hard because we’d just had the most amazing time together, and obviously having worked together for six months, everyone away from home – we really bonded and we really became like family.
So the idea that I wouldn’t be with them for another series was quite tough, but it’s absolutely perfect for the story. It’s (an) absolutely perfect ending I suppose for the series.
So, you know, there’s good and bad in there. I’ll be sad to not see everyone again, but it has been just the most incredible journey.
WINCHESTER: We found out about Amanda’s fate when we were in South Africa. Some of the producers from London came out and had a meal, and it floated around set and I actually had to sit down with Amanda and find out if it was true, because we’ve done so much training together and she’d done so much background work on her character about the relationship between Stonebridge and Col. Grant. It was quite a surprise.
It also reminded Sully and I that, you know, we’re not safe, we might be the main characters for now, but anybody at any moment can cup one, can cup a bullet in this show, and it just kind of reminded us how true that is in “Strike Back,” so we kind of take each episode, we read each episode, look at the front page and the last page, and if our names are there, we breathe a sigh of relief. I go “OK, cool, we’re in another episode,” because we really like this job and it’s really good to know that we’re going to be in it for another couple episodes.
Q: How intense was the filming of the finale?
MEALING: It was very intense. And being my last scenes, I would say in some way there wasn’t much acting required. I think I had to hold back the tears because the scenes themselves are very emotional.
And it was lovely to have that opportunity, whereas for nine episodes Col. Grant had been very, very cool, very calm, very professional, very contained. To have an opportunity to show the emotions and the turmoil underneath was a great opportunity, but it was painful to do because I’m the type of actress that I coop those emotions.
I get upset to play those things. I can’t just pretend to put the tears on.
So it was quite emotional scenes for me to do and, like I said, they were my last scenes. So, you know, there were lots of emotions going at the time.
Q: What did you enjoy and what did you find the most challenging about your role?
MEALING: The most challenging part was to convey all the emotions and things that were going on, but without giving them away. She’s such a stoic character. And she’s such a closed book, but the audience still needs to know what’s going on.
So that’s always a tricky one to do. But, I mean, the thrills were endless, hanging onto the helicopter, a Huey helicopter, I’m a real thrill junkie, so getting to do things like that and run around and drop kick bad guys – it was great. It was just the best fun.
It was hard work, long days and kind of quite difficult, but the laughter and the thrills were just more than compensation.
WINCHESTER: I think finding that line and that balance that I wanted to come across that he was a husband and he was – he did have this other life, but that what he did demanded so much of him that he constantly forgot about that and he constantly had to remind himself that he was a husband
I think, especially in the society that we live in nowadays, I mean, people, men and woman both, throw themselves into their jobs, and I have to find that balance with my life and my wife, you know, with the acting you – it just takes so much to get to a certain place, it takes so many auditions and so many meetings … I come home and I’m beat, and I think, man, the most important thing in my life has been home all day and I’ve got to remember to have energy to put into that and to be with her.
And, so, it was kind of nice to have that with Stonebridge as well, to kind of have that reminder that actually, man, he’s got a wife at home and he needs to get this stuff off his chest and he can’t necessarily do it with his wife sometimes. So that’s obviously the stuff that happened with Kate Marshall in the first two episodes that’s been going on with them and someone who understands his kind of pain and his kind of struggles.
It’s just a nice, dramatic thing to have inside, that kind of “nobody understands, but I have to do it anyway” dilemma.
Q: Would you talk about Stonebridge’s decision at the end of the finale – whether he’s going to stay in Section 20 or leave and be with his wife and child that’s on the way?
WINCHESTER: I sat down with (director) Dan (Percival) and I said I want to leave this open, because obviously we don’t know if we’re going to come back – at that point we didn’t know whether or not, we were going to come back for another season. We didn’t know what we wanted to do with Stonebridge and the relationship with him and Scott, and so I said, “Dan, you know, it was written that he accepts it and he says I’m going to retire, I’m going to do this.”
And I said, “Can we leave it a little more open?” and so when Sully and I were shooting the scene, he asks me, “So what are you gonna do,” and I just laugh and he just laughs, and then we kind of have the little banter and the camera pans up over the shot over Budapest, and I just, I really, you know, I think we both really like the way that ended, because now we can do, we can kind of start anywhere. We can start with him accepting the retirement and being a father and a husband, or he can still be a part of it and he’s still really trying to make it work in his family. And, so, I like the open endedness of it, and I like, that as an actor, it leaves a lot of places to go from there.
– Melissa Hayer
mhayer@opubco.com
Follow me on Twitter: @MelissaHayer
Col. Grant (Amanda Mealing) and Latif (Jimi Mistry)
Philip Winchester as Sgt. Michael Stonebridge
Sullivan Stapleton as Damien Scott - Cinemax Photos
“Once Upon A Time” is an enchanting escape for TV fans
Ginnifer Goodwin as Snow White in "Once Upon a Time" - ABC Photo
Who knew there was so much more to fairy tales than meets the eye?
There are two series getting ready to premiere soon – ABC’s “Once Upon a Time,” which debuts at 7 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 23, and NBC’s “Grimm,” which debuts at 8 p.m., Friday, Oct. 28.
A “Grimm” review will be forthcoming, but here’s a look at “Once Upon a Time”:
Writers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz (“Lost, “Tron: Legacy”) have put together a totally absorbing series in “Once Upon a Time,” which displays how fairy tales can be broadened, and with even more imagination and creativity added to them, their characters can breathe new life.
“Once Upon a Time” blends flashbacks of familiar characters such as Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin, “Big Love”), Prince Charming (Josh Dallas, “Thor”), the Evil Queen ( Lana Parrilla, “Boomtown”), Rumplestiltskin (Robert Carlyle, “The Full Monty”) and Jiminy Cricket (Raphael Sbarge, “The Guardian”) with the modern world in a truly unique way that makes up a completely new story:
Snow White and Prince Charming’s daughter Emma Swan (Jennifer Morrison, “House M.D.”) is grown up and in the real world of today and doesn’t know who she really is because of a curse the Evil Queen has imposed
This curse has also stopped time and erased the memories of the fairy tale characters’ former lives as they exist now in the real-life town of Storybrooke, Maine.
The son Emma gave up for adoption when he was born, Henry (Jared Gilmore, “Mad Men”), shows up on her doorstep with a book of fairy tales and seems to know about the curse and everything surrounding it, and persuades her to go to Storybrooke.
There are so many elements to enjoy about “Once Upon a Time” – the inventive writing, the precise acting, the delightful costumes, the beautiful sets – I’m so intrigued to follow the trail to see where this fairy tale of a show goes now that Emma has found Storybrooke – and Henry.
– Melissa Hayer
mhayer@opubco.com
Follow me on Twitter: @MelissaHayer
Lana Parrilla as the Evil Queen in "Once Upon a Time" - ABC Photo
Detachment of characters on “Boss” denies viewer connection
Kelsey Grammer stars in "Boss" - Starz Photo
Kelsey Grammer takes on his first leading role in a dramatic television series as Chicago Mayor Tom Kane in the new Starz show “Boss,” with the premiere episode also featuring the television directorial debut of acclaimed filmmaker Gus Van Sant.
Kane is a leader who solves problems any way he sees fit, sometimes involving and/or resulting in physical harm to others or using deception – in other words, he’s not the most morally upstanding character – and these efforts are supposedly for the benefit of the city.
Because he “gets the job done,” no one seems to want to challenge him on his methods of achievement.
As the series begins, Kane has also just been diagnosed with a degenerative brain disorder that he is keeping secret from everyone, including his wife in a marriage of convenience Meredith (Connie Nielsen, “Gladiator”); his estranged daughter Emma (Hannah Ware, “Cop Out”); and his advisor Kitty O’Neil (Kathleen Robertson, “Beverly Hills, 90210″).
O’Neil suspects something’s wrong, but keeps her silence about it; and Kane reaches out to get in touch with his daughter, but whether he actually tells her about his illness remains to be seen.
While Grammer, most known for his role as “Frasier,” gives a solid performance, I just couldn’t really get engrossed in this program.
There’s such a detached air about the characters that I didn’t feel a connection with any of them or the story lines.
However, “Boss” has been picked up by Starz for a second season before it has even debuted, so perhaps I need to watch a few more episodes before I make a final verdict.
“Boss” premieres at 9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 21, on Starz.
– Melissa Hayer
mhayer@opubco.com
