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Y&R Short Recap Tuesday, June 29, 2021

Posted on by Eva Diaz

Daytime Soap Opera Short Recaps

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Recap written by Eva

Adam tells Victor that he isn’t sleeping well at his place because he keeps having memories of how he drove Chelsea to her current mental condition. Adam tells Victor that he is thinking of selling his penthouses and moving to a new place. Victor asks Adam to consider moving to the ranch and living in the tack house. Adam says he will think about it and he is surprised he and Victor have come this far in their relationship.

Chelsea tells Chloe she has to act like she is making progress so that they will release her from the hospital. Chelsea tells Chloe that it is the only way she can be with Connor. Adam goes to the mental hospital to visit Chelsea and tell her Connor will be coming home soon. Adam also tells Chelsea he is considering moving to the ranch. Chelsea thinks Adam is preparing to take Connor away from her since he knows she won’t be able to see Connor if he is living at the ranch. Chelsea tells Adam that while she has been at the hospital she has learned that he is her biggest enemy.

Tara is happy that Kyle is sharing all his troubles with her and everything worked according to her and Sally’s plan.

The National Inquisitor publishes an article claiming Ashland only has six months to live. Ashland confronts Tara because he thinks she leaked the information to the tabloid. Tara tells Ashland she would never do that because she isn’t a vindictive person. Billy runs into Ashland and tries to confirm the story but Ashland denies the story saying that it is just tabloid gossip.

Lily talks to Victoria who tells her that it is just a rumor designed to make Ashland look weak. Lily later tells Billy what Victoria said and he is sure that the story is true since he knows Victoria better than almost anyone. Nikki notices a Locke Communications file on Victoria’s desk and Victoria tells Nikki she is close to a merger with Locke Communications to preserve Ashland’s legacy but she makes Nikki promise not to tell anyone about the impending deal with Ashland.

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Interview with Chi Muoi Lo

Posted on by TvMegasite Admin

TV Interview!

Chi Muoi Lo

Interview with actor/manager Chi Muoi Lo by Suzanne 5/25/21

This was a very interesting call! It went on for quite a while…unfortunately, I had to end the call for another interview.

Here is the audio version of it.

Suzanne:   Why did you decide to make a video series about acting?

Chi:   …I’ve been frustrated for 20 years. You know, I own a company called Element Management. I bought the company. So, you know, every year used to be nine schools they consider the Ivy League school for actors. I went to one of them called ATT – Yale, Julliard, NYU, Temple University, Carnegie Mellon, but the problem of those most pseudo schools is, every year they would have a showcase in New York and Los Angeles, and the power to be would go there to watch the show, and that’s how you’d get discovered if you got the goods and all that. But the frustrating thing is that I started realizing that even the school that I went to, I was at the right age to go to it, but everybody else wasn’t. I was like, 18 when I went, but it was a master program. So, suddenly a school like Temple University, NYU, Juilliard, no, actually, Yale, ACT. So, those schools are master programs. So, your career is over before it begins when you graduate from these schools, because it’s a young business, and if you’re going to start out your career, it should be around 21, and hopefully, you get the maturity and the training there, that would be ideal. So, it’s very frustrating.

And then, the reality is, they don’t talk about the business. You spend – you know, you talk about USC, the last time I checked it’s $268,000 to get your four year degree, and when you come out, it’s an undergraduate program, which is good, but when you come out, kind of your career is over. I mean, when you come out, you don’t know anything about the business, how to break in, how to get your SAG card, how to do anything about it.

And the reason you know nothing about it has to do with the people who are teaching can’t teach the business, because they never made it, or they’re not in it. So, you can’t teach something you don’t know. Like, say for example, I use as an example so you can understand what I’m talking about – death. We all kind of know what death is. We see it on TV; we read it. We know somebody who it has happened to; we see it in films and all that, but do we really know what death is or the grieving of death or the nuance that death comes with? No, not until somebody who is close to us [dies]. Like my mom died two years ago. And then, you realize what death means, the five stages. Do you grieve? How long is the grieving? You realize, you know, it never ends. You miss the person, and somewhere along the line, you have to have acceptance and all of that. So, sort of same thing with the acting business. You cannot teach something if you never experienced it. If you don’t do it, if you’re not out there doing it, or you never succeeded, or you don’t know –

The changing environment of show business is drastic sometimes. Like 2008 with the crash, but they were in the process of changing the industry. We changed to digital; it used to be hardcopy, like people who submitted picture resume hardcopy but never tried to change into digital to submit everything online. And the guy who owned a breakdown service literally monopolized the entire industry. He’s sitting on a cash cow, I would call it.

But anyway, there were 30% of actors that [were] dropped. I mean, they just couldn’t understand how to change over work, because when they were 35 or 40, they didn’t know how to deal with internet or how to transfer a resume to that thing. And the agency business and the manager business does not work either, because you have so many clients, and they couldn’t take care of them. So there’re tons of working actor who just got dropped and had no representation. And it took them a while if [they] applied for representation. So, those are the changes like that, and they are so drastic and so dramatic, that if you don’t teach these things, then people don’t know, and that’s the problem with the schools.

So, I wanted to do this six years ago, and I taught like the classes three times only, and I’m not a teacher. Really, I did it for my clients, and then, literally, I just got bored talking about it over and over. And then somebody gave me an idea. They said, “Why don’t you put it on tape? Then, you never have to talk about it.” And I said, “Good idea,” and then suddenly, once I started the process, it just got bigger and bigger and bigger. It became seven episodes, and over 12 hours of everything about the business, nothing about the craft. You know, I think the craft is being taken care of. So, nothing about the craft. So, you can get this thing at masteringthebusinessofacting.com. And I didn’t want to charge that much money either, because I think the kids already have been – I’m going to use a slang word – screwed over, in this education already. I just did not want to charge more than $199 or whatever to get this seven, episodes, twelve hours of information all about the business on every aspect of business. And it covers three different kinds of actors: the one who want to break into the business, the working actors, and the rising stars.

Suzanne:   How many people have bought into your program so far? If you can say?

Chi:   A lot. We actually did [better] than we imagined. What’s fascinating about marketing in the what we call [unintelligible] ecommerce, I guess…Yeah. So, it’s fascinating how you use Facebook, Instagram, Google, you know, they only target the people who have interest in this business. So, imagine, in the old days, if you are advertising something, you pay millions of dollars on TV, and half your audience are never reached; they don’t need it. But this is specific. It’s not going to target somebody who’s interested in nursing, interested in skiing or anything. You have to be interested in show business or have somewhere along line…[They use an algorithm] I guess, so they can know who you are. So, when you go to Google, or you go to your Facebook or whatever and that, those ads will pop up.

Suzanne:   It’s the same on my site, we have that kind of Google Ads with targeted advertising.

Chi:   Right. So, we did really, really well for just basically three months. We launched like February 23. But my intention is I think we could make a deal with this school that’s very interested in it already. And I want to start in high school, because I went to high school performing arts, and also then definitely undergraduate, because you cannot teach the craft and not talk about the business. The business is 60%, but you can take a bad actor who knows about the business and understands the business, who will have a better chance of succeeding than a great actor who doesn’t understanding anything about the business.

Suzanne:   Right. Now you used to be an actor, and then you became a manager, so what prompted you to make that move?

Chi:   Well, I am I’m still an actor. I just love to act. Acting is my favorite talent of them all. I’m an actor, writer, director, producer and [have] my own management company. So, I’m about to produce a TV series. It’s seven seasons, 13 episodes, called Life in Threes. It’s inspired by a true story, really, really great. I’m very excited about it.

But being an actor, the change over has a lot to do with I just [understood] the business really [quickly], because I’ve been into acting since I was 10. So, there’re a lot at of mistakes I made as an actor, but I succeeded at a very young age. I worked a lot.

[Like,] I just graduated on a Saturday, came down here on a Sunday. There was a writer strike. After three months it was over, and I worked like like crazy. I think it only took four years, and I got my own TV show, but I was guest starring all over the place. I think I was tired of it, and then my show came along.

But I’ve worked a lot, and the mistakes I made, and I think, again, I talk about it, and mastering the business of acting, I wish I had guidance. I managed a few, I only managed five people. I personally only managed five people, but my other people manage other people. But I personally have managed five people and these people made a lot of money. [I could] just sit on my ass and make tons of money right now because they’re all working. But I wish I had someone like me, guiding me, and I look back and I say well, “Would you be able to find somebody like you?” And the answer is probably no, because – let me be clear here, so that people don’t think I’m a pompous ass here. I don’t know anything about how to change a tire. I don’t know how to do oil change, and if you ask me to clean my house, I don’t know how to do that. I don’t know anything about how to operate my computer without my assistant. I don’t know how to fax [anything] if it’s new equipment. If it’s equipment I’ve used before, sure I would know how to do it, but I’m a terrible driver. I’m a walking stereotype. So, you can name all that, but this is one area that I can say that I really know what I’m talking about, which is the acting business and the acting stuff.

So, when I was starting out, I wish I had met someone who I really could trust and believed that they could guide me, and could gladly say, “Chi, what the hell are you doing? You’re 27 years old. You don’t need to direct a movie right now; wait until you’re 40!” So, that was a mistake I made, as an actor. There was no reason for me to direct a movie when my career as an actor was on the rise. You know, “Finish the series, make big budget movies and all that, you know…wait for the right project to come along.”

This discrimination – being an Asian actor in Hollywood is not easy [for] someone like me, how I look, my height, and all that. I usually get jobs that are really tough to get, and they’re strong acting jobs. So, visually, I don’t look like your typical, whatever you want that to be, because I’m almost like a leading man trapped in a character body.

So, in a way, when I directed the movie, it took me five years out of the game. And when you’re five years out of the game, some people think you’re just dead. So, in two of those years I had to promote the movie and get it into the theaters. Now we made money [on the movie] called Catfish and Black Bean Sauce; we made money and all that, but the problem comes – then I decided, to answer your question about why it matters, I bought the management company, because I wanted to control half the information, but then I discovered that I’m actually good at what I do as a manager. I could understand the business and all that. And when you have success, and you know what you’re talking about, it’s how you make things happen. People will listen to you.

So, that’s what I wish I had, but I don’t think anyone at that time would be that aggressive. And you have to understand, the agency business and the management business is a bunch of crap, in a way. So let me tell you – do you mind if I tell you about the agency business?

Suzanne:   A little bit. Yeah, go ahead.

Chi:   It’s a scam. It’s an illusion. So, let’s let’s break it down to two tiers. Okay, the first tier [is] CA, ICM, William Morris, and Endeavour. Second tier is Giersh, Innovative, APA, Abrams, or now they call themselves Eight Threes, whatever. So, at the first tier, CA, you have 5000 clients, and you have 100 agents. 100 agents cannot take care of 5000 clients. They can’t. It’s impossible. So, the people who make money are being taken care of. So, you can literally take care of 1/3 of your clients; the rest you really can’t. So, you bullshit around until people figure it out. You know, it is what it is. That’s why they say you will get lost in these places. Then you should go to second tiers. Like you take Giersh. You cannot have 22 agents to take care of 3000 clients, so, the same thing, and sometimes they make fake auditions.

Suzanne:   What do you mean, fake auditions?

Chi:   They make fake auditions and give them to their clients and pretend like it’s a real audition.

Suzanne:   Really? Wow.

Chi:   Yeah! I know…I mean, last year, even including this year on forward, it’s all self tape. Self tape has been around for seven, eight years. Last year and this year, it’s all self [taping].

So, a client can [unintelligible] “Oh, you got one?” “We got you one. Here’s your audition,” this and all that.

And then, you get all excited and the role looks so right for you, and you put your energy and time into it. You get your coach. You put it on tape and all that, and you send it in, and you give it to your agent. They say, “Great. Let’s see where it goes.” It [goes] nowhere. They pretend to download it, so you don’t know where it went.

And the reality, so what’s the problem? Okay, so let’s just say you are an actress in your 30s and the role was so right for you, and you’re so excited and all that, and you let’s say you’re a white actress, but what you don’t realize is the break that I sent you only had [unintelligible] they could get the listing enough to produce it and casting, and the storyline, what the story is about. But what you realize, if you look deeper into the breakdown of what they sent you, is the age is missing, and the ethnicity is missing. So, you’re 30 something, but they’re really looking for a 20 something year old character, and you’re white, but the role is for a black girl.

Suzanne:   So, they faked it. Yeah, I see what you’re saying.

Chi:   So, even if it’s real, they didn’t know and call you in for it. Even if it’s a white role and the character [unintelligible], they didn’t call you in. So a lot of people, like I have kids that I manage who are saying, “Gee, my friend Michael got a lot of auditions. I don’t know how he gets so many auditions.” I say, “Really? Okay.” But you know, I get suspicious. Even the watermark doesn’t even say his name, because it’s a fake audition. The watermark doesn’t say your name? If you’re name’s not on there, then it’s a fake audition. But they have to do it, because, like what I said, you cannot cater to 3000 clients when you have 22 agents. You can’t!

Suzanne:   Well, you answered a question before I even asked [you], so that’s good.

Chi:   The manager problem is this. Managers these days, you’ve got to be very careful, because the old school managers are a dying breed. We consider ourselves old school managers, and we charge 15%. But…there’re more managers than agents now, and each company pops up out of nowhere, and then you look deeper into it and you realize, “Oh, there’re a bunch of agents who got fired or decided to quit their jobs and form a management company.” So, here’s the problem with it. You cannot be a mommy; you cannot be a daddy until you become a mommy. So, what I call an agent is a “daddy,” and a manager’s a “mommy.” And so if you’ve been a daddy for 15 years, your personalities are set, and you can’t switch to be a mommy or think you can be a mommy. You don’t know how to be a mommy. You bring every skill set that you had as a daddy into a mommy’s job, and it doesn’t work, because what is called managing, managing the actors for a job, you are not just sending them out on auditions. So, these people are [unintelligible] clients only like 10 minutes or whatever and all that, because they don’t know how to operate as a manager, because, what did they do? They bring these skills; they have like 60 clients. You can’t be a manager and have 60 clients. You’re an agent. And of course you charge 10%, but then you get all the perks of being a manager. You can produce; some people can get 15%. You get residuals, which an agent can’t get. If any manager has over 30 clients, I say they’re not real good managers. You can’t.

Suzanne:   So, you were talking before about, you’re not a teacher, and you put this video series together. So, did you ever foresee that maybe you would ever, like tour around the country giving talks about acting and getting people to sign up? Or is that not something that you were interested in?

Chi:   I tend to do two Q&As a year. They have two packages. One is for the seven episode 13 webinar, and every year, there will still be changes, you know, like I talk about COVID now. Then, there’s going to be new stuff and all that. So, I would add on. I would tape a day to talk about seven to ten segments and then add on two Q&As every six months. So, then it’s a three hour thing. And then we will add onto that every year. So, people can opt in to the lifetime which is $100 more, or $299, and that will be a lifetime for life. And then every year you get new information from mastering the business of acting. And it should be that, because things change all the time.

Suzanne:   So, that’s on all online?

Chi:   It’s online, all online, and yeah, I think I can promote this thing for two more months, and then after this, I think I’m ready to go to my next project. I just can’t. I’m not a teacher nor am I one of those people. You know, I think a teacher is somebody who is very nurturing and has a lot of patience. That’s not me. And I think it’s a wonderful thing when people can teach.

Suzanne:   Okay, what is your next project? You have an idea yet?

Chi:   Oh, no, no, I have it. It’s called Life in Threes.

Suzanne:   Your series that you’re talking about?

Chi:   Yeah, it tells a story about an 85 year old Chinese woman with early stage dementia, who moves into a nursing home in Philadelphia in order to take care of one last piece of unfinished business before the disease gets the best of her. It’s there that she [becomes] friends with a young Caucasian orderly and a African American nurse. She helps them to make sense of their lives as she recounts the story of her life’s journey that begins in China, moves on to Vietnam, and ends in contemporary America.

Suzanne:   And are you basing this on a relative of yours?

Chi:   My mom.

Suzanne:   Your mom. Okay.

Chi:   Yeah, it’s a true story about my mother [unintelligible] especially an epic story that spans seven decades, while three lives unravel in the present. So, it’s a story about three characters, and each season is a decade. So it [starts] in the 20s.

Suzanne:   That sounds interesting.

Chi:   Oh, it’s the four years that…I was able to write it better when she passed away. It’s something I’d been wanting to do for a long time. I didn’t know how to. It’s basically Joy Luck Club meets This is Us.

Suzanne:   Yeah, okay, I can see that. I have two more short questions for you before I have to go on to another call I have. So, I saw that Tyler Christopher is one of your clients. I’m a longtime fan of his from watching the soaps. So, what’s he doing now?

Chi:   He’s in Indiana, and he’s waiting for a role right for him. [He] have to come back out. And you know, this year is really tough if you’re not in town. It’s just really, really tough to be able to do what you need to do, but he’s doing well. And he told me he’s ready to come back, so get him a role. I said, when everything’s calmed down, we’ll definitely do that.

Suzanne:   Okay. Well, I’m looking forward to seeing him on my TV again.

Chi:   Yeah, it’s crazy how he made a lot of money on the soap. It’s very rare that people can make the kind of money on a soap.

Suzanne:   Yeah, and now I have a slightly more serious question. It’s seems like Hollywood is hiring more people of color, including Asians, for not only acting roles, but writers, directors and so forth. Do you think they’re making real changes? Or do you think it’s kind of a passing fad, and they’ll try to revert back to their old ways.

Chi:   I think the change will stay. Here’s the reason why. Not only the pressure and the reality of the world is changing and all that, it has to do with with – and it’s good news and bad news for American minorities. It’s a global market. So, if you look at, let’s just say film is an easy way to talk about it. So, if you look at it, it’s a global market, and you’re going to need to represent everything globally. So, if you watch a movie, like Wonder Woman or anything like that, you’ll see they will cast people from different countries. Like, have you seen The Martian?

Suzanne:   No, I haven’t.

Chi:   [For] The Martian just somebody just came up with the idea, you know, we need to connect the Chinese into this movie, how do we do that? So, they add just one little storyline that they are going to need a Chinese rocket booster into the storyline, that the Chinese are going to help them out. By adding that storyline, before they even shoot a frame, they will guarantee themselves $150 million that will pay the bills [unintelligible] the budget. So, right there, you can understand why the global market is forcing the change. So, is the [unintelligible] true? Yes, it is. And it’s a little harsh right now.

First of all, Caucasian actors – and usually, like I remember, I have to take one of my clients, the kid that I’d nurtured for 10 years, and I want him to hear it. Because, you know, I’m busy with the mommy, and you know, he’s your child, sometimes they don’t listen to you after you’ve been with them for a long time. So, I forced him to listen to an agent that we were signing, a big agent. I said, “Tell him what’s going on with the market and understand what’s going on.” So, he said, “[unintelligible] really simple.” I said, “Okay.”

Five years ago or whatever, you have a cast. Let’s just say, this is your cast on a TV show. You have maybe four Caucasian actors, and then you add one black and one Hispanic. That’d be your cast. Now the cast is going to be forced to change. Your cast can be maybe two Caucasians, you know, one African American, one Asian, and one Latino. So, literally, half the jobs of Caucasian actors are gone. So, is that something that’s going to stay? I believe so. I think once you start in that direction, it’s hard to change back. It’s the same thing about about gays in America. If you if you look at what happened in the 90s, with with Will & Grace and other shows, Glee, and on and on, I mean, did the writer purposely start changing things little by little? And before you know it, now, the gays are not an issue. But right now, [transgender] is. You know, people have a discrimination towards transgenders. But as a gay man, or whatever, and all that, you know, it’s not that big of an issue anymore, not for the kids. If I’m a high school kid [unintelligible] it’s no big deal.

So, how do you reverse that? You can’t. You don’t. You don’t want to reverse that.

So, I think the #metoo movement did a wonderful thing for women and for minorities and all of that, that it forced the industry to not allow to ask for your quote, that’s by law now. So, by not [being] able to ask about your quote, then they cannot. In the old days, there’s no way a woman could match the money. You know, if you look at like the show called – the Kevin Spacey show – what was that show?

Suzanne:   Oh, I know the one you’re talking about. I can’t think of the name either.

Chi:   Yeah. So, it took her four years or three years, actually. She was not getting paid what he was getting. He was getting 450 and back in and all that. So, finally the #metoo movement – before the #metoo movement came along, her manager was smart enough to do a TV [unintelligible] on her, and her TV [unintelligible] was much bigger than his, and then pointed out that she’s bigger than he is. And it’s true. Who the hell would like Kevin Spacey? Nobody likes Kevin Spacey. So, she got the same money as he did…So now they put this thing in that you cannot ask about people’s quote. Then you have to pay everybody the same way. Depends on what roles, what position they’re in, in the cast ranking.

Interview Transcribed by Jamie of http://www.scifivision.com

MORE INFO:

Chi Muoi LoActor turned Hollywood Manager, Chi Muoi Lo, has taken his 30 years of experience in the entertainment industry and created a 7-episode online subscription series, Mastering the Business of Acting. Hearing thousands of stories of how young actors have been exploited in the entertainment industry, he felt that he needed to share his knowledge in a way that set him apart from other programs offering similar advice. Mastering the Business of Acting primarily focuses on those trying to break into the business, it also includes information necessary for the working actors and rising stars. He has also included insight from industry professionals such as John Frank Levy (4X Emmy Award-Winning Casting Director), Todd Eisner (Talent Agent at 3Arts),Karen Molina White (Actress, “Proud Family”) and Nancy Hower (Director of Startrek Voyager).

Chi covers a variety of topics ranging from:

  • How to break into the business
  • How to maintain a successful acting career
  • The art and business of auditioning
  • The new technological advancements that now all actors are expected to be experienced in

Born in Phan Rang, Vietnam, to Chinese parents Chi moved to the U.S. at the age of two after the fall of Saigon.  Upon their arrival, Chi and his family were placed in the Indian Town Gap Refugee Camp where they became sponsored by the Jewish League of America and moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  It was there that Chi was raised with his nine brothers and three sisters. He caught the acting bug at age 10 and when he finally decided to make the move to Los Angeles to pursue his dream of acting, Chi had the luck he hoped for, booking roles and working continuously. He left his mark with his outstanding performance starring in the critically acclaimed and highly rated Vanishing Son mini-series and starred in MOW Faith of My Father, Sucker Free City and Shannon’s Deal. He has also appeared as Guest Lead on numerous shows such as on “Nip Tuck,” “Cold Case,” “Murder in The First,” “CSI,” “NYPD Blue,” “Malcolm in the Middle,” “Smallville,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and many more.

Chi is the owner of the production company, Black Hawk Entertainment and the CEO of the talent management company Allen Edelman Management. His clients include Karen Malina White (Disney’s “I Didn’t Do It”), Steven Krueger (CW’s “Roswell: New Mexico”), Tyler Christopher (“Days of Our Lives”), and many more. Chi’s debut as an actor-writer-director was with the feature film Catfish In Black Bean Sauce and was met with great success and made Variety’s “Top 50 of 2001 Limited-Release Winner At The Box Office.” As a manager, he nurtured the careers of countless clients over the years. Through this nurturing, he has heard countless experiences that actors have shared with him about their auditions, and he has done it all for his clients – pitching, dealing with talent agents and casting agents, negotiating series deals and film deals with studios.

Proofread and Edited by Brenda

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Chi Muoi Lo

Interview with Victoria Rowell and Richard Brooks

Posted on by TvMegasite Admin

TV Interview!

Richard Brooks and Victoria Rowell star in "The Ruth and the Ruthless" on BET+

Interview with Richard Brooks and Victoria Rowell of “The Ruth and the Ruthless” on BET+ by Suzanne 5/25/21

This was such a fun interview! You probably know Victoria from “The Young and the Restless” or “Diagnosis Murder” years ago. You may know Richard from “Law & Order,” “Good Trouble,” “The Haves and the Have Nots” or many other shows. Between the two of them, they have an impressive list of credits. Victoria not only stars in the show but also created, produced and directed it. With her history at Y&R, and all of her friends and colleagues in the daytime soap industry, she has a lot of rich material to spoof.

Here is the video of our interview!

Suzanne:   I’m glad I got to talk to both of you. Victoria…I interviewed you in 2014 over the phone for, I think, it was one of your Chandler family Christmas movies.

Victoria:   Oh, sure. Sure. With Melinda Williams. Yes.

Suzanne:   Those are great.

Victoria:   Thank you.

Suzanne:   And Richard, you’ve been some of my favorite shows like Bosch – I love that show – and Law & Order, of course, I mean, my gosh.

Richard:   Oh, yeah. Bosch was fun too.

Victoria:   Yeah, now he’s doing Shameless.

Richard Brooks and Victoria Rowell star in "The Ruth and the Ruthless" on BET+

Suzanne:   He’s everywhere.

…So, the trailer for Season Four looks hilarious. I like how you’re making fun of the soap actors having to use mannequins and things like that. That was really brilliant. That’s not a question; that’s just a compliment, but if you want to expand on that, feel free.

Victoria:   Well, with COVID, obviously, different productions, we’re resorting to different ways of getting the scenes in the can, whether it was actually using the spouses or significant others of the actual actors, so they could be close, and they were in their own bubble. I don’t know if you know that. So, the kissing scenes are actually done with husbands and/or wives in soap opera. And certainly mannequins were being used, and I just thought, “God, I’ve gotta put it in the show.” I mean, this is fantastic. So, that was it, and the actors were amenable to it. We had a lot of fun with it, at the same time, including COVID as a character.

Suzanne:   All right, and a lot of masks and jokes about masks and that kind of thing.

Victoria:   Right, and not really making fun of actors. I never want to say that. I’m not making fun of daytime, but the situations that we find ourselves in in daytime, because the reality is that we are producing 64 pages a day, and anything that is producing a movie in one day, the wheels are going to come off the rails, but I defer to Richard, who’s also a producer on the show.

Richard:   Well, I didn’t get to work with a mannequin, but it was fun. It was fun. It was definitely fun. A lot of the cast had fun with that.

Suzanne:   I think they used it most on The Bold and the Beautiful, and then they later made fun of themselves with it by having a character (Thomas) who was obsessed with the mannequin who looked like the woman (Hope) he was obsessed with, and then he had a brain tumor, a head injury or something, and her husband (Liam) walked in on him making out with the mannequin and flew off the handle. So, they’re good at making fun of [it] too.

Richard:   Oh, that’s funny, yeah.

Victoria:   Right, right.

Suzanne:   It was ridiculous. It was ridiculous.

Victoria:   So, we’re happy to be on BET+, our new home. It is an opportunity for our viewers, our fans, to watch all four seasons; they can binge watch. There’s a hashtag binge-watch weekend on BET+, and, of course, Richard was nominated for an Emmy. We’ve won Best Ensemble Cast, and our audience is growing with this bigger platform.

Suzanne:   Yeah, that’s really great. I have to sign up. I haven’t signed up yet.

Victoria:   Oh, yes, you must, and there’s a seven day free trial. Go for it. $9.99 a month.

Suzanne:   Yeah, I belong to all the others. It adds up, doesn’t it?

Victoria:   It does.

Suzanne:   So, seasons one through three had six episodes each, and I was looking on Amazon; it said that there’s five episodes this season. Is there any particular reason for that?

Victoria:   COVID. You know, just we were so fortunate to be able to shoot; this is a SAG-AFRTA production, but we were able to produce a really cogent, soapalicious, scintillating season of five episodes.

Richard, what did you think about the pace at [which] we were going and what we were able to produce?

Richard:   Well, I mean, it’s always such a smooth pace. I mean, you’re such a great director and create such a good environment for all the cast and the actors. So, I think we all just have fun, and it’s always fun whenever we get to come back and do the show and do another season and all get together. You’ve created such a great family environment for everyone. So, I know the pace didn’t seem hectic or anything. I felt we went really smooth, and it was really organized and tight, and it was just great that we were able to get another season together.

Victoria:   Thank you, Richard. And that’s how it went.

Of course, we’re held to the same standards. If you’re new media production or ultra low budget, you’re still held to the same COVID safety standards. So, we had our COVID safety officer on set; we had a nurse. We had to do testing, [have] individually packaged meals, I mean, all the COVID safety protocols are in place. Of course, SAG rep visits [the] set, and I always want my actors, as would any producer or producers on a show – You don’t want to get shut down, and you certainly want the environment to be safe but happy, and we achieve that each season.

Suzanne:   And do you know yet whether they’ll be a season five?

Victoria:   We don’t know yet, but I always write on speculation that I will get picked up, and so I just finished working on Richards courtroom scene. You know, he’s involved in the art forgery business. So, I continue to write, and I work with a wonderful writing consultant, Victoria Christopher Murray, and I just keep going. You know, it has momentum, and we’re really privileged to be able to work, certainly during a global pandemic, and we enjoy working together. Richard and I have been working together for like, 25 years. We started on Diagnosis Murder working together.

Richard:   I like when you said you’re gonna try to get Dick Van Dyke to come in. That’d be so great.

Suzanne:   Wouldn’t that be great?

Richard:   Yeah, he was so amazing to work with.

Suzanne:   Yeah, he’s still working.

Richard:   He’s the nicest man. He was the nicest man on the show when we did that.

Suzanne:   Yeah, I watched all of that show.

Richard:   Having his family there with him, that was just so cool. I really loved that, you know?

Victoria:   Yeah, yeah, he’s really –

Richard:   You were doing two shows. I remember when we met, she just blew me away, because she was running two shows at the same time, like full time cast member on that and on on your soap, but it was crazy.

Victoria:   The Young & the Restless, yeah.

Richard:   The Young & the Restless, yeah. It was just so energized, and they just made it all work. I was like, “Wow, anything is possible in Hollywood.”

Victoria:   Anything is possible.

Richard:   You know what I mean?

Victoria:   That was Viacom CBS, and by the way, Bryton James, who plays the rapper, Traque, on The Rich & the Ruthless, Suzanne, he played my foster son, then my adoptive son, on The Young & the Restless, Devon. So, he came on and did a guest star role. So, people have to tune in to watch that, but he just was nominated today for Best Supporting Actor on The Young & the Restless. So, we hope he’ll win an Emmy for us on The Rich & the Ruthless.

Suzanne:   Oh, that’d be nice.

Richard:   Oh, wow, that’s great.

Suzanne:   Yeah, I will say, what you said about anything is possible, if you have as much talent and drive and energy as she has –

Richard:   Really, exactly. It’s incredible. It’s incredible, and these are based on her novels, too. So, she’s a novelist also.

Suzanne:   Yeah, I was going to say…

Richard:   So, [she’s] just prolific. Fiction and non-fiction.Suzanne:   …When I interviewed you in 2014, you were talking about [how] you were writing, I think, you called it at the time, The Rich & the Restless, and I remember thinking, “Restless,” they might think that’s too close to The Young & the Restless, and then you made a TV series out of it. So, that’s amazing.

Victoria:   It really is a testament to putting, you know, the power of the pen and carrying it all the way through. And, you know, it started with an artist residence [at] the Hambidge, in Georgia. I got a fellowship, if you will, artist residency, and I was able to finish one of the two books. And it starts with just the discipline. As you know, Suzanne, and certainly Richard knows, [it’s] just staying in the chair and finishing the manuscript and just having a passion for your project.

I have a great cast. We have Alesha Renee, who’s now recurring on Kenan. We’ve got Robert R’ichard, who plays our son. Richard plays my husband, and I play, obviously, his wife. Robert R’ichard is going to be starring on Harlem, the series Harlem. And then, we have Akilah Releford. We have Vivian Lamolli, who’s starring in All the Queen’s Men along with Chrystale Wilson. I mean, the list goes on. Our actors are working actors. So, I’m so fortunate to have this incredible cast. Michael Colyar.

Suzanne:   I was looking at your cast list last night, and I had seen in the previews that you have Shadoe Stevens, and I remember him from the early 80s when he was doing the Federated commercials. Did you ever see those?

Victoria:   I didn’t see those.

Suzanne:   You should go on YouTube and look. There’s a compilation of all of his hilarious commercials for this electronics store in California.

Victoria:   He’s great. He’s great. He’s very supportive, and he’s an integral part of the cast…

Richard:   I was going to say, “He’s so funny, too.” He’s just so funny on the show.

Victoria:   He’s hilarious.

Suzanne:   Even in the promo I saw he was really funny. I went back and watched the promos for the other seasons too, so I could sort of get a sense for them. I think your promos are getting better too.

Victoria:   Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, we’re really happy with BET+. BET+ has really come on board and pushed the series and into another dimension, and looking forward, obviously, to what the consensus will be after the summer, and hopefully we’ll have a pickup.

And I have a second soap opera, as well. So, we’ll see what happens.

Suzanne:   Do you have a title for that one?

Victoria:   I do. I do, but I won’t say it yet.

Suzanne:   Okay. What else can you tell us? For those who haven’t watched it yet, what can you tell us about season four?

Victoria:   Well, I’ll start, and Richard, if you want to chime in anywhere, but season four, we pick up with the devastating fan club cruise for The Rich & the Ruthless, Destination Nowhere, and the boat is faulty, because the Barringers, well, Max Berenger (R’ichard), our son, is trying to cut corners and save money. So, he leases a faulty boat, which takes on water. So, that was our cliffhanger for the fan club cruise. Season five picks up with who survived out there in the treacherous waters off the coast, and we see some of our cast stranded. We see some of our cast and the Barringers who have survived, and some of them have not really been able to maintain all of their faculties. Some people are seeing ghosts. Richard chime in anywhere.

Richard:   Yeah, and then, our son, Max, is trying to take advantage of our misfortune and our predicament to seize control of the of the soap opera. So, we’re fighting with him. It’s good; it’s a lot of fun. It’s a lot of fun. We’re still trying to maintain the show and keep the show going.

Victoria:   Yeah, he’s always trying to prove himself. He’s like – you know, his parents are iconic in the business, right? [It’s] the only black-owned broadcast soap opera in Hollywood, and Max wants to be a movie producer. He wants to be a rap producer. He’s trying to do everything and anything to get out from under the shadow of his parents. So, he makes mistakes.

I do want to say that we have fabulous soap opera vets on the show. We have Brenda Epperson, who played Ashley Abbott on The Young & the Restless. We have Kimberlin Brown [who] played…a major villain on The Young & the Restless. I think she just went over to General Hospital. So, we want to encourage soap fans and film and primetime fans, because we covered the gamut in terms of talent. There’s something for everybody, and it is a dram-com.

Richard:   And it does all happened during COVID. So, it’s funny that we’re persisting to do the show in the series with all the COVID protocols and complications that come from doing it with masks on and stuff like that. So, it’s really funny.

Suzanne:   Are Brenda and Kimberlin in season four, as well?

Victoria:   Brenda’s is in season four, and she has a very prominent role in season four as network exec head of daytime, Edith Norman, and she plays a part that she hasn’t been given the opportunity to play in her career. She’s just so treacherous. She grabs her chest when she sees her performances. I mean, she takes your breath away, but it’s fun for her to play.

We also have fabulous comedians. We have Gabi Sanalitro, we have Elaine Ballace, and we have newcomers to the show. We have Guerin Berry.

Richard:   Michael Colyar.

Victoria:   Michael Colyar, who was mentioned. So, we’re fortunate to have this incredible cast. Kristen Mako, who’s a newcomer. Yeah.

Suzanne:   So Richard, you’ve never been in a daytime soap opera before, right?

Richard:   No, no, I haven’t, no.

Suzanne:   In real life, I mean.

Richard:   Yeah.Richard Brooks and Victoria Rowell star in "The Ruth and the Ruthless" on BET+

Suzanne:   So, Victoria, of course, spent many years on The Young & the Restless, and she wisely used her knowledge and experience from that show to satirize in The Rich & the Ruthless. Was there anything in the script that surprised you to learn about soaps?

Richard:   Well, I mean, you know, whenever I speak with Victoria, she tells me some of the stories. I mean, what really surprised me the most is that this is based on some real experiences, all the things that happen on the show and all throughout the seasons and stuff. The pace of it is crazy, you know, that they that they’re able to produce the shows in a day, which is amazing to me, and just the level that the actors bring to it, just the work ethic. I think people miss that a lot of times. They don’t realize [it]; they see it as fun or sort of easy, whatever. I don’t think they really realize how challenging that is as an actor, to stay on top of it, to try to go home and learn your lines, and then still be there on the set and just stay focused and give a turnout, great performance. So, it was fun. You know, this one is great, though, to me, because I love the comedy level to it. I just love that we get to have fun and put a little bit of a spoof spin on it, and then, just the freedom that we have. Also, this one is funny, because this is one of the larger casts I think that I’ve been on with the show this consistent. And the fact that she’s able to put together this amazing cast, such a large cast, that adds to it, all these things add to how much fun it is. So, yeah, but I mean, I’ve had a few opportunities, I guess, to be on soaps, but it never panned out.  I wasn’t available, but, yeah, I like it. I think it would be funny.

Suzanne:   Yeah, you probably have a larger cast than like actual soaps, daytime broadcast soaps. General Hospital  has a huge cast; you probably have a bigger one, looking at the list.

Richard:   Yeah, exactly.

Victoria:   You know, soaps have about 30 cast members. So, we’re right about there; we’re like, 27.

Suzanne:   I think one of the things that they do now, because they can’t afford to pay as much as they used to; they can’t afford to pay as many regular actors, is they do this – I know at least two of them do this constant revolving door of characters, or they’ll have like two or three that are always on, and then everybody else, they go out of town, and then they come back. They do that, and it drives the fans crazy. I’m sure the actors aren’t too happy about it. But what are you gonna do when the costs and the ratings and everything – I don’t know if you ever touched on that in the show or not, because…you’re characters are on a shoestring [budget].

Victoria:   Well, in season one, Richard does address it. He calls Willie Turner (Colyar), who plays the judge, the gardener, the butler; he plays this black character, plays multiple characters on the show. He calls him into his office – and Richard, do you want to expound on [that]? [unintelligible]

Richard:   Yeah, I tell him I have to cut his salary in half with cutbacks. He goes, “Half?!” He thinks he’s coming in to get a raise. So, it’s really funny. He comes in all confident and like, “Yeah, I know you called me in, and I’m gonna get a promotion. I’m gonna get a thing.” And I’m like, “No, I cut you in half. Sorry Willie.”

Suzanne:   Yeah, now they don’t have those big splashy weddings anymore. They’ll have like, five people and and some guy who’s always the minister, even though he’s not really. He’s like, “Oh, I did the online minister thing.” Like, there’s this guy Carter on The Bold and the Beautiful, and they’re finally giving him an actual story. Before he would just be the guy who married everybody, and he was a lawyer. So, they don’t unfortunately have those big splashy weddings that they used to have with all the whole cast.

Richard:   Oh, yeah.

Victoria:   Yeah. So, we do address it, is the point. We’re constantly addressing. Every season we address cuts. We’re constantly arguing. Like in season four, Edith Norman, played by Brenda Epperson, along with Robert R’ichard tell the wardrobe mistress, played by consummate actress Dawnn Lewis, that she has to identify and put used wardrobe on different actors. And she’s like, “What wardrobe? You make a return everything that has a price tag on it.” We’re constantly [addressing] . It’s always in the script.

Suzanne:   That is funny.

So, let’s see. Victoria, what have you learned most about writing, directing, and producing since you first started working on this show?…

Victoria:   Well, I’ve been producing live shows for like 20 years for fundraisers, big shows, like with Patti Austin, and Yolanda Adams, and Sharon Stone, and Sheila E. I’ve been doing that for a long time. I stopped doing it, because it requires a lot of work to do a live show with big talent like that, but I include that as part of my experience, of course, and coming from theater and ballet. So, all of that has informed what I do today, as a producer, for sure.

And in terms of writing, of course, Viacom CBS gave me my first – Dick Van Dyke gave me my first [script] writing opportunity, and I really – I guess, in summary, it’s the sum of all of my experiences that inform running a tight ship that is malleable at the same time and fun to work in. as Richard described. So, I’m as good as my team. My first ADs, my second ADs, my DP, you know, my team, all my hair and make-up [team], right down to the food. And my SAG-AFRTRA rep, of course, my cast led by Richard. So, I’ve learned through people I’ve worked with, being on the set with a Dick Van Dyke; it starts at the top down, the tone of the set. It starts with the top down on the other side of the camera, so I’ve just learned to be sensitive to that.

Suzanne:   Are you still going to be writing books, or you’re focusing just on the TV shows right now?

Victoria:   I may do another book. I have another book that I want to write, but my scripts – I’m working on a Christmas movie right now, and I have a Christmas movie coming out on BET that I directed this December starring Bill Bellamy, titled A Rich Christmas.

Richard, what are you working on right now?

Richard:   Well, I’m writing also a little bit. Yeah, I have a new screenplay I’m working on. And yeah, I’m just working on The Rich & the Ruthless.

Victoria:   I have a question for Richard. How was it working on Shameless recently?

Richard:   Shameless was really, really fun. You know, Bill [Macy] was just a great, great character. And, again, it was a little bit more comedy. So, that was just really – I got to play Big Liam. It was like a future Liam, the little son on the show, with all his attitude and his his language and a way to, like, talk to his his father and cut them down. So it’s just, it is really shameless. I mean, that show is really funny. They push it; they push the envelope so far that it’s incredible. And I think this is their last season or the last season coming up. So, it was great to just get to talk to Bill a little bit behind the scenes too and just see what that experience has been like, what he’s looking forward to, in the future. And we go back, too. We started with Law & Order. He was on the show…

Victoria:   Wow.

Richard:   In one of the first seasons, I think, actually, when we first started it. And his wife, we graduated high school together; we went to art school, Interlochen Arts Academy. So, it’s a small world. You know, it’s great. With Hollywood, I think you get a lot of years and in the game. You’ve connected with people, and then when you get to reconnect, like with Victoria and I, it’s always like you just pick up right from where you left off. That kind of thing about being an actor is one of the things I really love. A lot of times it’s just one of those those great fortunate things to have a long career.

Suzanne:   I’m trying to remember. I remember you playing Paul Robinette. Was it only on Law & Order? Were you an SVU as well? Did you cross over?

Richard:   The only one I crossed over was when they had Chicago Justice. Robinette came in for that season of that show, but, yeah, I’ve recurred a lot as a defense attorney now from leaving the practice and to join. And now I think they’re going to come up with a Law & Order for the defense. I think that’s in development. I think that was picked up.

Victoria:   Nice.

Richard:   Hopefully Robinette will get to reappear there.

 

Suzanne:   That would be great. I couldn’t remember if they’d killed off your character or not, because there’s so many characters on Law & Order.

Richard:   Yeah, no, it’s a great universe. It’s so good.

Victoria:   I played a judge on SVU, a recurring judge. So, that was cool, but, yeah, Richard’s right. It’s full circle, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention we also have a number of wonderful – Davetta Sherwood, also from Y&R, has guest starred. Dorien Wilson, who plays Pastor Bell. Starletta DuPois. I mean, you can see we have a big cast. They don’t play every season, but we’re so fortunate.

Suzanne:   And Richard, I heard you singing on YouTube. You have quite a voice.

Richard:   Thank you. Yeah, I’m trying to get I’m trying to get Victoria to write me in to sing a little bit and serenade her sometime on the set.

Victoria:   It’s coming. It’s coming.

Suzanne:   I listened to your Bill Wither’s song, and that was good.

Richard:   Thank you. Yeah, I love that. Yes, you know, social media now is a great opportunity to kind of express a little, you know, talents that you don’t really get to do a lot with. So, I want to do more with the music, but that’ll be fun.

Suzanne:   Okay, so any anything else you’d like to tell your fans?

Victoria:   Well, I just like to remind folks to get their BET+ subscription, #TheRichAndTheRuthless. You can reach me on instagram and twitter @VictoriaRowell. Richard?

Richard:   Yeah, same thing. Yes. Support the show. We appreciate all the fans who have supported all these seasons and crossed over from BET+, and you can follow me also. @RichardBrooksJr on Twitter, @RichardLeeBrooks on IG, or Richard Brooks on Facebook. That way just continue to support us; we really appreciate everybody, and we really love that we have this opportunity to do this show.

Interview Transcribed by Jamie of http://www.scifivision.com

MORE INFO:

VICTORIA ROWELL STARS IN THE AWARD-WINNING SERIES, “THE RICH AND THE RUTHLESS” BEGINNING THURSDAY, MAY 13 – SERIES HAS NEW HOME FOR SEASON FOUR ON BET PLUS (BET+)

VICTORIA ROWELL STARS IN THE AWARD-WINNING SERIES, “THE RICH AND THE RUTHLESS” BEGINNING THURSDAY, MAY 13 – SERIES HAS NEW HOME FOR SEASON FOUR ON BET PLUS (BET+)

New York, NY, May 3, 2021 – Emmy nominated and 11-time NAACP Image Award-winning actress and New York Times best-selling author, Victoria Rowell and Days Ferry Productions, announce BET Plus (BET+) is the exciting new home for her hit series, THE RICH AND THE RUTHLESS Season 4, premiering May 13. Seasons 1-3 are now streaming on BET+.

Fan favorite THE RICH AND THE RUTHLESS is a behind-the-scenes, dram-com soap that follows the fictional story of the first black owned family sudser on broadcast television, stopping at nothing to stay in power.

This critically-acclaimed Daytime Emmy-nominated series won Best Ensemble Cast and Best Lead Actress by the Independent Series Awards.

The series stars Richard Brooks (Good Trouble; Shameless), Victoria Rowell (Birdie), Alesha Renee (Kenan), Robert Ri’chard (Harlem), Chrystale Wilson (All the Queens Men), Michael Colyar (BET’s Hollywood Heartbreak), Dawnn Lewis (Star Trek; Lower Decks), Vivian Lamolli (All the Queens Men), Kristen Mako (The Big Rant), Bryton James (The Young & The Restless) and new talent Akilah Releford.

Season 4 of THE RICH AND THE RUTHLESS is executive produced by Victoria Rowell in association with Days Ferry Productions, Carletta S. Hurt, Richard Brooks, Vanzil Burke and Jill Warner. Head Writer, Victoria Rowell. Writing Consultant, Victoria Christopher Murray.

#TheRichandtheRuthless

https://www.therichandtheruthless.com/

ABOUT BET+:
BET+ is the premium streaming service for the Black community offering thousands of hours of hit movies, TV shows, stage plays and more. With new, exclusive originals premiering each month, BET+ offers the best of Black culture with titles like First Wives Club, Ruthless, Bigger, The Family Business and American Gangster: Trap Queens from revered creators like Tracy Oliver, Tyler Perry, Will Packer and Carl Weber, to name a few. BET+ members can watch as much as they want anytime, anywhere, on any internet-connected screen and always commercial-free. Visit BET.Plus to learn more about BET+, a joint venture between BET Networks and Tyler Perry Studios, and follow @BETPlus for the latest news and updates.

ABOUT VICTORIA ROWELL:
Rowell is an EMMY nominated comedic and dramatic artist. She co-starred in the LIFETIME TV remake of Jane Austen’s classic, “Pride & Prejudice” as Catherine Darcy. Her executive produced and directed movie, “Jacqueline and Jilly,” addressing the Opioid addiction crisis in a well to do Virginian black family, was met with praise and released on UMC.TV and also aired on BET in 2020.

Rowell teamed up again with AMC Networks/RLJ Entertainment streamer / UMC.tvwith her interior design prowess, and first AMC Networks/UMC.tv Original (DYI) limited Series, “Trash vs Treasure,” with low-income clientele — which launched in July 2020

Rowell historically directed Viacom/CBS BET HER movie, “Everything Is Fine,” focusing on mental wellness in a black family which premiered in July 2020 and starred Charmin Lee and LaRonn Marzett.  Rowell appeared in two subsequent BET HER movies from the same series, “The Waiting Room: A Long Look in the Mirror” and “Like, Comment, Subscribe” in October 2020 as part of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Rowell/Days Ferry Productions also co-produced a five-part, behind the scenes, “Secrets of a Soap Opera Diva” podcast with Entertainment Speakers Bureau, available now wherever podcasts are available, such as Apple, Spotify and more.

Rowell co-stars with director/actor, Greg Alan Williams in the dramatic, criminal justice feature film, “Birdie”, releasing this month.

Rowell has worked with creative luminaries such as: Anne Rice, Misty Copeland, Anne Roth, Neema Barnette, Sharon Stone, Twyla Tharp, Kasi Lemmons, Denyce Graves, Colleen Atwood, Terri Lyne Carrington, Milos Forman, Irwin Winkler, Richard Brooks, Samuel L. Jackson, Peter Medak, Johnathan Lynn, Patrick Demarchelier, Bruce Webber, Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Bruce Willis, Jan de Bont, Peter/Bobby Farrelly, Eddie Murphy, Dick Van Dyke, Jim Carey, Beau Bridges, Harry Lennix, Anthony Tudor, Forest Whitaker and more. CBS, Viacom, Universal, Sony, NBC, ABC, AMC, Disney, Warner Brothers, Fox, MGM, HBO and UMC, Amazon, and ROKU.

Rowell co-executive produced several UPtv Christmas holiday movies for Uplifting Entertainment Network. UPTV boasts over 70 million subscribers worldwide.

Rowell has also been highly acclaimed from her work as an advocate for foster children and communities underserved in the arts.  In addition to her long time and illustrious acting career, she is a NY Times best-selling author and an in-demand speaker.  She has two adult children, Maya and Jasper, and resides in LA.

Actor Richard Brooks was born in Cleveland, Ohio.

Brooks has appeared in numerous television shows but is perhaps best known as ADA Paul Robinette, starring opposite Michael Moriarty’s Ben Stone, in the original LAW & ORDER.  He is also known for his role as the notorious space bounty hunter, Jubal Early, in the short-lived cult hit FIREFLY. He starred in the USA Network’s sci-fi comedy series GOOD VS. EVIL, as secret-agent-for-good Henry McNeil. And he was unforgettable in his powerful embodiment of Frederick Douglass in the award-winning PBS American Experience docudrama mini-series THE ABOLITIONISTS.

In addition to his recent television work on THE HAVES AND THE HAVE NOTS, BOSCH, CHICAGO PD, SHAMELESS, and others, Richard received his second consecutive Best Lead Actor Daytime Emmy Nomination for his work on the BET+ series THE RICH AND THE RUTHLESS, in which he stars opposite the shows’ creator, Victoria Rowell.  No one can forget Brooks as Gabrielle Union’s big brother, Patrick, on the award-winning BET drama BEING MARY JANE.

This multitalented artist, in addition to his acting roles,  is also a singer, writer, director and producer. He was last seen on the stage originating the role of Harmond Wilks in the world premiere production of August Wilson’s RADIO GOLF at Yale Rep Theatre.

Richard is presently recurring on GOOD TROUBLE on FreeForm Network.  Brooks resides in Los Angeles and New York and is involved in many charity organizations since he is always motivated to “giving back”.

Proofread and Edited by Brenda

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Richard Brooks and Victoria Rowell star in "The Ruth and the Ruthless" on BET+

Y&R Short Recap Friday, June 25, 2021

Posted on by Eva Diaz

Daytime Soap Opera Short Recaps

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Recap written by Eva

Abby’s ex-husband Stitch returns to Genoa City for his former boss’ retirement party at the hospital. Stitch and Abby talk and Abby tells Stitch that Mariah is carrying her and Chances baby because she is unable to carry a child to term. Stitch tells Abby that his son Max hasn’t recovered from his brain tumor. Abby later tells Nina the short version of why her marriage to Stitch ended and how she feels badly that Max isn’t any better while she is so happy with her life. Stitch sits alone and remembers the happy and sad moments of his marriage to Abby.

Amanda tells Devon that she feels betrayed and hurt by Naya because they kept the truth about her father from her.
Imani has a heated argument with Amanda because Naya turned herself in to the Genoa City police and told the police she killed Richard. Imani tells Amanda Naya didn’t want Sittings political career to suffer.

Kyle, Nick, and Lauren try to persuade Summer not to go to Italy but she tells them she can’t pass up the wonderful opportunity. Summer also tells Kyle she doesn’t love him anymore, but Kyle doesn’t believe her.

Sally and Tara celebrate that their plan worked by having coffee together at Crimson Lights and telling each other what they will both gain from Summer going to Italy. Kyle is at the Abbott mansion drinking when Tara arrives and offers to help him since he looks upset.

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Y&R cast animation

 

Interview with Max Talisman

Posted on by TvMegasite Admin

TV Interview!

 

Actor/writer/director Max Talisman

Interview with Max Talisman of the movie “Things Like This” by Suzanne 4/13/21

It was so nice to speak with Max. He has a lot of energy and enthusiasm. I think he’ll do great things!

Suzanne:   So, what’s your film about?

Max:   So, the film is about two guys with the same name, who fall in love. Basically, what I’ve noticed is that every movie that has to do with gay characters is all about the coming out part of a gay life, but there’s so much that happens after that. So, that’s literally just the beginning of a gay person’s life as someone in the community. I just noticed that there were no movies like that, so I was like, “I have to write this. This is what I have to write. I have to write a movie about two men who fall in love where coming out just isn’t part of the story. It’s already happened.”

Suzanne:   So, they’re in their twenties, basically?

Max:   Yeah, they’re in their mid-twenties, and they’re just experiencing love and all the fears that come with falling in love.

Suzanne:   Okay, actually, that makes me think of another question. Had there been any movies about gay people in college?

Max:   I don’t think there have been. I think there have been a lot of – I mean, not a lot. There’s still not a lot of content for, you know, queer people. There’ve been movies about high school, with people coming out in high school. I can’t think of any gay people in college, especially not ones that have to do with post coming out.

Suzanne:   Right. Well, there’s your next movie.

Max:   Exactly.

Suzanne:   So, what made you want to become a writer and director?

Max:   I think it was just the past led me here. I’ve been a performer since I was very, very young, and a few years back I noticed that there weren’t a lot of roles for someone with my body type – I’m a plus size actor – and especially not the type of roles that I felt like I should be playing or I should be auditioning for. So, I decided that I should be writing them. I’m lucky that I have the ability to write, and I just decided to start writing the roles that I wanted to be playing.

Suzanne:   Okay. And had you done any shorter films before this or been been involved in film class? Anything like that?

Max:   No. I mean, I’ve been an actor, obviously, on multiple sets, TV and film, and I’ve learned while I’ve been there. Basically, the truth is that this movie is about telling the story of these two people falling in love. It’s not a technical film. It’s really about the story and the connection between these two people. So, I just I felt, after interviewing multiple directors and going through that, I just didn’t find someone who was able to tell the story in the same way that I knew I could.

Suzanne:   Okay, so you did interview other directors. Did you shadow anyone or anything like that?

Max:   No, I didn’t shadow anyone. I did interview other directors, but just like I said, at the end of the day, it felt like I needed to be the person to tell the story.

Suzanne:   Okay. And did did you learn a lot about directing while you were actually doing your movie?

Max:   So we haven’t – we’re filming in the fall.

Suzanne:   Oh, you’re not filming yet?

Max:   We’re filming this fall. We’re filming in September and October. So, I haven’t learned that much about filming yet through the film, because we haven’t done it yet, but I’m I’m ready to learn, and I’m open to everything.

Suzanne:   Okay, and so what was your preparation for writing the film? Did you just sit down and write? Did you have an outline? What did you do?

Max:   I’m someone who very much lets the story lead me wherever it feels like it needs to go. So, I didn’t have an outline. I just sat down, and it led me where it needed to. So, I wrote the first draft within a week, and the plot has stayed the same. Obviously, it’s been through hundreds and hundreds of edits since then, but the plot has remained the same since the first draft, and, yeah, I wrote the first draft within a week, and from there, it’s just became the film that it is now.

Suzanne:   Wow, that’s great. That’s working fast too.

Max:   One hundred percent.

Suzanne:   And had you done a lot of writing before, like, in school or just for fun or –

Max:   So, I’d written a television show, and I filmed a pilot. This was the first feature that I ever wrote, and just like I said, it kind of just, you know, flowed out of me. So, as soon as I started writing, it just felt unstoppable that I had to get it down.

Suzanne:   You have some great veteran TV and movie actors. Tell us about all the casting that you went through.

Max:   We have an insane cast. It’s pretty amazing. It’s pretty unreal. I mean, we have multiple Academy Award nominee Ryan Kinnon. She’s the first female to be nominated both in front and behind the camera. She’s an icon in every sense of the word, and Eric Roberts, who’s an Academy Award nominee, and is an icon himself. We have T-Boz, who’s one of the most famous musical artists of all time. I mean, it’s just, this cast is unbelievable, and it’s so exciting to get to work with these absolute supernovas. So, I’m just beside myself. We really just got lucky during COVID, because people were able to read things, which is, you know, a side part of this horrible, horrible thing that we’ve been going through, but we have been able to get scripts to people, and they’ve been able to take a look at it in a way that they weren’t before. So, that’s definitely changed. It’s made us able to cast this movie with people like Jasmin Savoy Brown, who’s been a friend of mine for a while, but because of her having time to read the script, now she’s a part of this feature. And she’s so excited to make it, and I’m so excited to meet with her. And Charlie Tahan, who’s from Ozark, he was in Super Dark Times with me, and we’ve been friends since, and he was the first person I went to with the script, and he’s so excited to make this film. So, it’s just been a journey. I’m creating this incredible cast, like, with Terry Moore, who’s one of the last living stars of a Hollywood Golden Age. And Willem, who’s one of the most famous [unintelligible] in this entire world, like we are just beside ourselves with this cast. It’s unreal.

Suzanne:   Yeah, it’s a really great cast. So, what else was involved in getting your film made? I mean, I know you haven’t shot it yet, but tell us about how you got started and all that. Financing and whatever else you had to do?

Max:   Yeah, well, actually it’s been extremely intense. Definitely getting it to the right people has been a journey. Getting it to people who believe in making a queer film, it’s intense. And it hasn’t been the easiest process, but it’s also been a process that now we’re working with the people we trust to make this film, and to make it right, and that’s definitely been lucky in the end. You know that what you want is to make the movie with the people who want to make it for exactly the kind of feature it is, but it’s definitely been a journey of getting in front of a lot of different people, and editing it and getting it in front of more people, but that’s kind of what it’s been like.

Suzanne:   That’s great. So, your shooting in the fall, and how long do you think shooting will take?

Max:   Yeah, so we’re planning for a twenty-eight day shoot. We’re planning for a twenty-eight day shoot, and we’re just really excited. We’ll be shooting in up in Canada, and we’re thrilled with everything that’s going on. So, yeah.

Suzanne:   And is there anything else you want to tell us about the film?

Max:   Just that I’m so excited to get it to everyone. It’s been a journey, like I said, to get this thing made, but now that we’re here ready to film, in pre-production, I’m just so thrilled, and I’m so happy. I think this is exactly the movie that people will want to see and need to see, just because love is universal, and the people falling in love are universal. And I’m just so thrilled to be able to tell this story with the cast and the team that we’ve built.

Suzanne:   Okay, and who would you say are your influences as far as writing and directing?

Max:   I mean, I think I take influence from a lot of different things I watched, definitely. I mean, I’ve been hugely influenced by the comedy of Tina Fey in 30 Rock, for sure. I mean, I watched that show so many times, and I definitely, in a lot of ways, write with her comedic beats. I read once that someone said, like, “It isn’t cliche,” I think it was Mindy Kaling said that it isn’t cliche to say that Tina Fey’s the influence for everyone, because there’s a reason that she is, and I agree with that. She’s so talented. She’s so gifted in comedy, and I’ve definitely been taking from her, like not taking from her, but being influenced by her and her writing. Then, there’re so many other filmmakers who I definitely have been influenced by, and I’ve been allowing myself through the last few years to be more influenced by it. Definitely Judd Apatow’s done a lot of work that has influenced me, especially Trainwreck by Amy Schumer, that has had a huge impact on me, and Bridesmaids, Kristen Wigg, that’s definitely influenced me. So, yeah, I’ve definitely been watching things, and I’ve been soaking them up as much as possible.

Suzanne:   Great, and so you mentioned mostly comedy people, so would you say that your movie is funny?

Max:   Oh, yeah. It’s a romantic comedy with a big emphasis on the comedy part. Yeah, definitely. I hope it’s funny, and yes it is, but, I mean, that’s for other people to decide, but it was written as a comedy.

Suzanne:   Great. And what about directing? Are there particular directors that you admire that you think you should be like, besides Judd Apatow?

Max:   Yeah, you know, it’s tough to like, rattle people off right away. I’m trying to think of specific people, but it’s just I watch a lot of romantic comedies these days, especially my favorite ones. I mean, obviously, Rob Reiner is a huge one, and I mean, I’m getting to work with his children. Jake Reiner, and Robby Reiner are both in this feature, and Jake is executive producing it as well. So, that’s a huge thing to be, you know, he’s really the father of modern romantic comedy, Rob Reiner. Obviously, he’s influenced me. When Harry Met Sally, Princess Bride, and now to be able to work with his kids and be able to create something for the new generation with them, I mean, that’s thrilling.

Suzanne:   Cool. I didn’t mean to put you on the spot trying to find names.

Max:   No worries.

Suzanne:   So, it’s probably a little early to ask you this, but do you have other projects that you’re thinking about for the future that you’re working on?

Max:   Yeah, so, actually, already we’re working through my my next feature, which is called Don’t Kiss a Werewolf Boy, and it’s an LGBTQI horror comedy, and I’m really, really excited to dive into that one, [unintelligible] because it’s very different from things like this. Obviously, it’s a horror comedy, but it’s genre bending. It has a lot of different influences, too, but that one’s super, super exciting.

Suzanne:   Is there gonna like some spoofing of things like Teen Wolf and I Was a Teenage Werewolf and things like that?

Max:   It’s not a spoof at all. It takes influences, but it’s really its own story. It doesn’t have to do with those.

Suzanne:   Okay, anything else?

Max:   No, with Werewolf, we’re in the very beginnings of casting it, getting it ready, and I’ll be filming it once we wrap things like this.

Suzanne:   Cool. So, you’ve already written it.

Max:   Oh, yeah. Yeah, it’s been written years ago.

Suzanne:   Okay. Who would you cast if you had had your pick of people?

Max:   I’m not sure I can say that, because we’re literally in the process of casting people right now. So, I don’t want to jump the gun, but definitely we are talking to some people who I’m very excited about.

Suzanne:   Cool. Cool. I think the first – I don’t know if you’ve ever seen it. Did you ever see the old An American Werewolf in London?

Max:   I have seen it. Yes.

Suzanne:   Yeah, I think that was the first werewolf movie that was actually, you know, good and had good special effects and makeup and that kind of thing.

Max:   One hundred percent.

Suzanne:   Yeah. Well, cool. I look forward to seeing both of them.

Max:   Thank you. Thank you so much.

Here is the audio version of it.

Interview Transcribed by Jamie of http://www.scifivision.com

Photos by Bonnie Nichoalds

MORE INFO:

Actor, singer, writer and creative force, Max Talisman is set to make his directorial debut in his upcoming romantic comedy, THINGS LIKE THIS. The film stars Charlie Tahan (Netflix’s “Ozark”), Eric Roberts (THE DARK KNIGHT) and Miles Tagtmeyer (DISNEY DESCENDANTS: SCHOOL OF SECRETS), and tells a story of two guys who fall in love and while everything seems to align for them to be together, they begin to question fate as they encounter an obstacle.
Growing up in Washington DC, Max started performing in 3rd grade. He participated in musical theatre, including productions at the Musical Theatre Center (MTC), one of the leading performing arts education organizations for young people in the Washington DC area. It was the moment when he played the 2nd lead role in the through-composed musical, “Caroline, or Change” that he felt theatre was his calling.
When his senior year of high school began, Max made the courageous move to NYC to follow his passion for theatre. He joined the Broadway Artists Alliance, a professional training academy for promising young musical theatre performers right in the heart of New York City.After living in the big apple for 5 years, he decided to make his way to Hollywood, California. He’s appeared in The Orchard’s SUPER DARK TIMES, TBS’ “Search Party” and NBC’s “The Blacklist”.
Overcoming Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease (LCPD) and anxiety, this rising star doesn’t let these challenges prevent him from enjoying his life. He has a keen love for sports and when he’s not watching games on TV or at stadiums, he keeps up with the standings/scores on teams such as the LA Lakers, the Washington Redskins and the Baltimore Orioles. He is also an avid tennis and ping pong player, crediting Serena Williams as his role model.
 
Consumed by wanderlust with a curiosity for cultures, Max has traveled all around the world from Argentina to Zimbabwe, Austria, Germany, Italy, England, Iceland, Greece, Africa and Costa Rica.
With a life of travel, art, and hobbies, Max hopes to incorporate all his current and future life experiences in all he does. He hopes to be a role model for the LGBTQ community and break stereotypical barriers/roles in Hollywood.

 

Proofread and Edited by Brenda

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Actor/writer/director Max Talisman

Interview with Lauren Lee Smith, Marc Blucas, Linda Purl and Patrick Duffy

Posted on by TvMegasite Admin

TV Interview!

 

Lauren Lee Smith, Marc Blucas, Linda Purl and Patrick Duffy from panel for "Doomsday Mom" on Lifetime - photos from Lifetime and actors' social media

Interview with Lauren Lee Smith, Marc Blucas, Linda Purl and Patrick Duffy in “Doomsday Mom: The Lori Vallow Story” on Lifetime by Suzanne 5/19/21

I’ll admit I did gush a little talking to these fine actors. I’m familiar with them all from their previous TV roles. I literally grew up watching Linda Purl and Patrick Duffy in the 70’s, and I saw Marc Blucas and Lauren Lee Smith in their great scifi/fantasy roles later on. It was hard not to tell them how much I enjoyed their work. They were very kind and even made some fun jokes during the interview. This was a press call that was part of a series of calls we did all on that same day for Lifetime movies this summer.

DOOMSDAY MOM PANEL

Moderator: Hi all, our next panel is Doomsday Mom, The Lori Vallow Story.  I’d like to introduce our cast Lauren Lee Smith, Marc Blucas, Linda Purl and Patrick Duffy.

Hi everyone. Question is for Lauren, how familiar were you with the Lori Vallow case before taking on this role? And what was the most surprising thing you learned about the case that you wanted to make sure it was portrayed on screen and the same to you, Marc?

Lauren Lee Smith: Wow, no, I actually wasn’t. It was at a time where I think we were all in full blown, lockdown covid craziness and I was up here in Toronto with my young daughter just trying to sort of keep sane and there was no TV around. So I had no idea about this story. It first was brought to my attention through our director, actually Bradley Walsh. He had reached out to me a couple of weeks before shooting and we were just sort of catching up and he was asking me like what I would like to do next and then I was like yeah I’m really looking for something you know to sort of sink my teeth into and challenge me in a new, exciting way. And yeah, it’s sort of it all, one thing led to another and and then yeah, I found out that that I would be coming to do this with him. And I think what surprised me the most was, you know, just the initial sort of the initial reaction of finding out the story in general and finding out exactly who this this woman is and what had happened. I think the initial shock.

Moderator: How about you Marc?

Marc Blucas: You know, for me you know I had known about it and it’s I guess in the in a very peripheral kind of way and it had been a year since everything had happened. So you know, the first thing I did as we probably all do, is you get on the Internet. Boom, you type these two in and the first thing that came up was the mug shot and to me two things came to my right mind right away when I saw them that really attracted me to the project and taking on the role of Chad which was when I saw that I saw two people, and this is going to sound very shallow at first, but you kind of look at Lori on the surface and in a very just first glance way, it’s like, oh, there’s a you know,very attractive, you know woman there and then you see Chad and I was like, oh, maybe not so much, and I was like oh what was the initial draw? And the other thing I thought about that about that mug shot was that in his face I saw remorse an in hers I didn’t and from what I had recalled the story and what I just started the research of it, It was kind of like it really felt like and again we have a lot here, we don’t have all the answers to just yet, but that Chad really started going, taking Lori down a very committed path and at some point in their journey, it’s almost like she leapfrog him in in the in the power dynamics or in the commitment of their beliefs. And I just thought that was a fascinating study, not only is as an actor, but as a singular character, but seeing how we could make that relationship evolve because what the public know, we already know that the public knows so much. So what Lauren and I and Bradley had all talked about is like, what we don’t know is what happened behind closed doors between these two people and exploring that to see this journey and how they get to make these decisions that they made, I thought, was an interesting study.

Moderator: Thanks so much. Our next question is from Jamie.

Jamie Ruby (SciFi Vision): Sorry, forgot to unmute there for a second. Thanks for talking to us guys. So obviously these characters are based on real life people but what I want to know is what part of yourselves did you bring into the roles?

Lauren Lee Smith: Well. That’s a tough one, but.

Marc Blucas: Well, I’m a passionate person. That there.

Doomsday Mom poster

Jamie Ruby (SciFi Vision): You know, maybe there’s a better way to say it, how did you connect to them as people? Maybe that was a better way to phrase it.

Marc Blucas: Uh, I again, I, it was kind of said in jest, but you know…look, I mean at the end of the day, these are not great people and it’s our jobs as actors to kind of find how we can like them ourselves and portray something that’s three dimensional and real. And at the end of the day, I just said it in a way, it’s just like hey look I’m a very committed and passionate person and I’m about different things that I think that Chad was committed and passionate about and what he tried to do or what he tried to bring people together as a leader, I guess in this.  But there’s no, you can’t question the fact that they had a conviction of what they believed, and I may not be in the same category in what they believed, but having that kind of conviction I could relate to and start there from.

Lauren Lee Smith: Yeah, exactly like that’s really sort of all you can do. You know with these characters is find exactly that and then you know just trying to come and find the little moments you can of sort of humanity, you know, I’m a mother, so trying to sort of find those moments where you know you could see her love for JJ and for Tylee and sort of really infused that as much as possible. But yeah, other than that it was that wasn’t the easiest part of this job.

Jamie Ruby (SciFi Vision): Patrick, Linda anything to add?

Patrick Duffy: Well, we have the easier track of these characters. We had to be the sort of calming, and rational side of looking at all of these horrific things that were happening. So, you know, we were grandparents in and of itself and as a grandparent myself I know what that feels like and I could then was able to completely support what Linda was doing as really the fire brand of the two characters that we played. She was the relentless one that was in pursuit of justice in an ongoing situation, which is even more difficult in making this film. And I credit everybody from Karen and Ann and the actors Marc and Lauren and Bradley and everybody with being able to thread that fine line of fiction that we are doing based on a real story but keep these, especially those two characters, you know keeping them in a humanity arena so that it does not become,

I mean it in this way, it does not become cartoonish, in its evilness that it that everybody has to recognize a bit of humanity that contains that devilish nature and we are in control of it most of the time. And that, to me, is the interesting part about the script, and let the two lead actors were you know, really tasked with doing which is amazing and plus the fact we never except for

one little Christmas dinner scene, we never shared the camera with either of those two characters, so we had our own little movie going that you guys didn’t even know about.

Marc Blucas: That’s why you said yes to the job we know.

Lauren Lee Smith: We get it.

Linda Purl: I think the you know as Lauren said and Mark two that we’re all parents, and so it ignites certainly the Mama bear in me and I mean it. It’s actually unimaginable. Thank God, you know, the horror that this that this tale unfolds. But I think that that you know unbelievable journey of not knowing where your loved ones are, was interesting to visit.

Moderator: Thanks Jamie. Jay, You’re up next.

Jay Bobbin (Gracenote): Hello everyone, thank you for doing this. Actually my question is for Patrick and Linda is nice to see you together, since we know you’re together and I hope that doesn’t sound too and ingracious. But were the two of you cast a package deal in this? Or was one of you cast 1st and super suggested the other person?

Patrick Duffy: Well, we were driving to Colorado from California when the phone rang and we almost made a U turn but we said no we gotta, we gotta get back to change our underwear and then go back to work so. But I actually I think you know, in deference, I think Linda’s name might have been mentioned first in terms of this when I look at the chronology and the phone messages, and then you know the conversations that all of your people have when you’re doing these things, so you know, I think the sequence was Linda and Patrick, not Patrick and Linda.

Linda Purl: I think it was Patrick and Linda.

Patrick Duffy: But it doesn’t matter. It was our first chance to work together. Yeah, you know, first chance to actually play a husband and wife, which was even more, and the other thing that Linda keeps saying, and so I’m stealing all of her good lines, that it’s the first time as actors we’ve ever walked to the set holding hands with the person you’re with.

Linda Purl: It felt weird but yeah, I guess it’s OK. At the end of a scene, I guess, Patrick patted me on the bottom and said nice job honey and I thought, well, that’s the first time that’s ever happened. It was fun.

Patrick Duffy: It was wonderful and yeah, and it was a great thing for us because you never know.

Linda Purl: It could have been a disaster.

Patrick Duffy: We could have completely polar opposite ways.

Linda Purl: That’s how you’re gonna do the scene?

Patrick Duffy: Yeah, well, I usually have a drink before every scene.

Marc Blucas: It was at least reassuring. I was so glad to see you were still together. Are they flying together? Or independently?

Linda Purl: Quarantine was the challenge. It was like are we gonna make it through 14 days of quarantine? But we did. Yeah it was fun.

Jay Bobbin (Gracenote): Thank you both.

Moderator: Thank you so much. Suzanne. You’re up next.

Suzanne Lanoue (TVMeg): Hi, thanks for the call, I’m so familiar with all your guys’ work. I grew up in the 70s, and so I love Patrick and Linda from so many different things, especially “Dallas”, of course– One of my favorite shows growing up… and Marc from “Buffy” and other projects, and Lauren from “Mutant X” and so many great things. So I’m just honored to talk to you all.. but I was wondering, Linda and Patrick, if you could give us any background as to what you think your characters were like before the movie started, and then how they progressed. Some of us haven’t actually seen the movie because it wasn’t on the screener site, so…

Linda Purl: We don’t know that much really. I mean just what’s available on the on the Internet and what the script gave us, but they seem to be very hardworking, family-oriented people, smart, successful in their careers and then suddenly this. You know, they were a very closely knit family, we would say, right?

Patrick Duffy: And if you’re– if you’re asking the question personally, what happens to us after doing something like this? Although we weren’t in the depths that Lauren and Marc were, but you, you are affected by it, especially when you have children. And now that I have four grandchildren, and, it is inconceivable, first of all, to right-minded people that these things actually occur… and you enter, going into this, reading the script, I’m doing it but in the– in the heat of the scenes — of which we were together as a couple. It builds, and your fascination and repulsion build at the same time as to what these human beings have to go through and what they will carry with them for the rest of their lives. And you get just a smattering of it by having occupied their space for a moment, and you look at your children differently because you know what the potential is, and it does affect you, and it affected me, not deeply, in the sense that I’m tormented by it, but I am aware of it in different depth now of what the potential is in the human being. And it’s frightening and encouraging in terms of who you look at as your characters in this film.

Suzanne Lanoue (TVMeg): And Linda, did you have anything to add to that?

Linda Purl: oh thank you, well…

Patrick Duffy: I don’t see how she could.

Linda Purl: I thought it was brilliant. It was, really. I was in the Grand Canyon with my son, who was then about 8 years old, and I lost him for the ten longest minutes of my life, and it’s an out-of-body electric shock experience that I wouldn’t wish on anyone. So I was able to, you know, sort of conjure that up when we’re looking for justice, when we’re looking for the grandkids, or were when we know my brother’s been killed. And so, but I think you know, as Patrick says, you just drop to your knees grateful that your family is safe, and it tends to highlight that gratitude in our lives when you walk down, even for a few minutes, the road of these people who have lost so much. I have no idea how you recover from that.

Suzanne Lanoue (TVMeg): And Lauren, what do you think? How do you think the character or the real person… however you like to interpret it… how she went from two loving parents to becoming this person who ends up killing her own children?

Lauren Lee Smith: Yeah, I mean, that’s definitely something that I had to sort of, I think, play around with in my own sort of interpretation of this character, even though, you know, it’s…. she’s very much alive and we, you know, know certain facts about her. I think for me, just on a personal level, to sort of dig into this, this character and sort of not, justified, but… give you know some sort of back-story and create this sort of, you know, back-story in my own head for her, so, you know… it’s very strange. I don’t know, I don’t… I don’t. It’s unimaginable to me how someone can go from, you know, having this sort of… being brought up in this loving family, which is is what we’ve been, you know, told to believe to, you know, becoming this person who would do these absolutely heinous things. So, yeah, I guess the only way that that I was able to sort of come to terms with it is to sort of… yeah, to really come up with my own back-story that perhaps, you know her, her past and her childhood, and her personal life, and whatever is maybe… not exactly, what we evolved, you know, read or seen or believed up until this point, that there perhaps is some major trauma or some major incidents or some… whatever it could possibly be to bring her to the point that she, you know, is at, and was at in her life. I answered it, took it upon myself to do that.

Marc Blucas: You’re being very sweet for not throwing me under the bus.  Suzanne, the reality is, is that when we both got there, we were freaking out, and I had called Lauren immediately, and I said, alright, ’cause that’s the big question, right? How did they go from everyday people that, we assume, think and decide and have a moral compass in a certain direction… suddenly getting to the point where they’re going to kill their kids and then walk around in Hawaii, and think that, like, as if nothing has happened, and we literally sat there and got Karen and Bradley on the phone after we made our, you know,4 gigabyte list of questions that we had. This is real, and how do we tackle this? Because this is it, and it goes back to what I had said before, a little bit, about that kind of, like, commitment and passion for something that you suddenly get so– the blinders get on so much that everything — all the collateral damage that happens — you, end up not seeing. And so, it was almost– I give Lauren a lot of credit because it was, it was kind of a two-part process of creating Chad for me. Like, I– we really, kind of, had to approach these characters together, in a sense, as one, because, I was in the process of gaining weight, so I kept saying, can we meet back at the croissant place? We kind of kept going to anywhere I could eat massive amounts of food to keep gaining weight for the role and trying to tackle and make sense of that question, and going through beat-by-beat of saying, “OK, here’s the arc of this, when does this moment happen?” Where they decide to go beyond the point of no return, almost.

Suzanne Lanoue (TVMeg): Alright, thank you, guys, great answers.

Moderator: Thank you so much. We have time for one more, and if there was anyone who had a question and wants it answered, feel free to email us, and we’re happy to get answers for you. So Rick, you will be our last question.

Rick Bentley (Tribune): Thank you. Hey Patrick and Linda, you play characters that are one generation of removed from the central story here. I’m just wondering when you go into those characters when you start thinking about them, did you think of them as people who should have felt guilty should have felt some responsibility, should have would have been in complete denial, I mean, how do you know where you start from on a point with parents of people who are parents of people who are involved with something like this?

Linda Purl: Well, I don’t think denial, although maybe we missed that, maybe we should have. No, I think that you know their merit in this in this story is that they. Is that they fearlessly sort of faced this possibility and became the champions for truth and protection. And I think that’s sort of a cautionary tale maybe to take away from the film, in that in these kinds of situations don’t fail to act. These people did not fail to act and all their actions and seeking of truth and pushing the police and the detectives it was. Too late, but in another instance it might not have been, and so you know in these kinds of horrid situations any one of us you know, God forbid we’re in it, but you, have to, you have to be vigilant and you have to be forceful.

Patrick Duffy: Yeah, I think there is an element of self-reflection when this happens.  Maybe not regret or denial, but you know, as a parent, now my children are in their 40s but, you know when there would be rough patches in their upbringing where they might do things outside of the box that I thought was appropriate behavior, here is an element in me that says should I have foreseen this? Should I have forestalled this? Was there something I should have or could have or might have said that just would have deflected it enough? So for my character in this, although Linda’s character was much more doggedly active, my character was written as somewhat more passive and quiet, and I think part of that was that self-reflection of he was the, you know, quote, unquote, chauvinistically sounding, but the bread earner, the man of the family. And yet all of this happened, how could that happen on his watch had to be part of his processing, so that was the only thing that I could say where I might have felt a bit responsible as a character for the outcome, not that I thought I the character did anything wrong, but what could he have done, I think was the divergent point for me of accepting responsibility partially for what happened.

Linda Purl: And that’s probably human nature too. In any disaster, there’s that lovely phrase, magical thinking, and that we all know what on earth, no matter how irrational, what could I have done? How could I have changed things? How could I have missed the signs? I mean, I think we all go through these kinds of thoughts.

Video

MORE INFO:

DOOMSDAY MOM
PREMIERES SATURDAY, JUNE 26 at 8/7c
Screen Shot 2021-03-31 at 9
(L to R): Lauren Lee Smith, Marc Blucas, Linda Purl, Patrick Duffy
Doomsday Mom is based on the true story of Lori Vallow (Lauren Lee Smith), who gained national attention when her children, JJ and Tylee, were reported missing from their Idaho home in the Fall of 2019. As investigators learned of Lori and her husband Chad Daybell’s (Marc Blucas) involvement in a doomsday-prepper group, a trail of mystery was revealed spanning five states and numerous questionable deaths, before the bodies of JJ and Tylee were found in the backyard of Chad’s home in June 2020. Linda Purl and Patrick Duffy also star.

Doomsday Mom is produced by Lighthouse Pictures for Lifetime, with Sony Pictures Television distributing. Karen Glass and Tom Mazza of Everywhere Studios and Judith Verno of Peace Out Productions serve as executive producers. Stephen Tolkin wrote the script and Bradley Walsh directs.

Proofread and Edited by Brenda

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Linda Purl and Patrick Duffy in "Doomsday Mom: The Lori Vallow Story" on Lifetime

Y&R Short Recap Thursday, June 24, 2021

Posted on by Eva Diaz

Daytime Soap Opera Short Recaps

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Recap written by Eva

Mrs. Toliver finds Naya and Richard’s cell phone records and tells Amanda and Devon that Richard called Sittings office, and he also made a five minute call to Naya a week before he was supposed to meet with Amanda’s foster parents. Amanda confronts Naya and gets her to admit she did speak to Richard and he was going to do whatever it took to find his daughters. Amanda assumes that Naya told Sutton what Richard was planning to do and Sutton had him killed to protect his career. Naya insists that her father isn’t a killer but Amanda doesn’t believe a word that comes out of her mouth.

Kyle, Phyllis, and Nick are all confused by Summer’s sudden decision to take the job in Italy. Summer tells all of them that she can’t handle Tara and Harrison living in Genoa City and that the job is a great opportunity to advance her career. Kyle goes back to his and Summer’s hotel suite determined to show Summer that he loves her and persuade her to stay. Tara sends a text to Sally telling her that their plan worked and Summer is going to Italy.

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Y&R Short Recap Wednesday, June 23, 2021

Posted on by Eva Diaz

Daytime Soap Opera Short Recaps

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Recap written by Eva

Victoria meets Harrison and spend some time with him.

Ashland tells Victoria that his lawyers are looking over her merger proposal. Victoria tells Billy to stay out of her personal life.

Adam and Nick continue to bond as brothers when Nick defends Adam from Billy when they get into a verbal argument.

Phyllis talks with Nick about Summer’s job offer but makes him promise not to tell Summer what they talked about because its a secret. Phyllis talks things through with Nick and she begins to wonder if Summer is being forced to take the job in Italy. Summer arrives at Society ready to have a talk with Kyle.

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Y&R Short Recap Tuesday, June 22, 2021

Posted on by Eva Diaz

Daytime Soap Opera Short Recaps

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Recap written by Eva

Chelsea has a horrible nightmare in which Adam, Victor, and Rey tell her she will never leave the mental hospital.

Adam and Nick have a talk and Nick advises Adam to concentrate on Connor and find the right way to tell him about Chelsea’s illness. Nick also advises Adam to help Connor deal with Chelsea’s illness until Chelsea is better.

Elena turns down the job in Baltimore when Nate tells her that he never stopped loving her and wants her to stay in town.

Jack tells Tara the story of his bitter custody battle for Kyle when he was a little boy. Summer tells Phyllis about the job offer she got from the fashion house in Italy.

Summer doesn’t tell Phyllis that Tara is forcing her to take the job or she won’t let Kyle see Harrison again. Phyllis knows Summer is holding something back and isn’t telling her the whole story. Phyllis advises Summer to search her soul and find the truth before she makes a decision about the job. Summer calls Kyle and asks him if he could come to their suite instead of staying at the Abbott house because she doesn’t want to be alone tonight.

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Primetime DVD Review: “Drunk History: The Complete Series”

Posted on by TvMegasite Admin

DVD Review!

Drunk History: The Complete Series DVD cover

“Drunk History: The Complete Series” Review by Suzanne 6/20/21

This is not my kind of show. I’ve never found it funny. I know someone must have, though, because it was on Comedy Central for 6 seasons!

Hosted by comedian Derek waters, the basic premise is that celebrities pretend to be drunk and re-tell some event from history (and they act it out as well). Now, they do claim that they’re really drinking, but how much are they drinking, and how drunk are they, really? I can’t imagine most celebrities really wanting to let the public see them in a very drunken state. My guess is that they actually drink very little.

The actors are given information packets with research about a particular historic topic beforehand. Some of the parts are pre-recorded and rehearsed. Basically, the whole thing is fake in order to produce “comedy.”  Which is fine if it’s funny, but it’s not. I’m sorry, but to me it’s never funny, and it’s very lame. Maybe it’s because I grew up with an alcoholic father (who took me to bars), but I just don’t find drunk people all that funny. People THINK they’re very funny when they’re drunk, but they’re not.

If you’re a fan of the show, then this set is really for you. Seasons 5 and 6 have never been released on DVD before. There are a few extras on the set as well, such as extended and deleted scenes, outtakes and sober reveals.

Buy this DVD

MORE INFORMATION:

From Comedy Central and Paramount Home Entertainment, Drunk History: The Complete Series will be arriving on DVD on June 29th.

Prepare yourself for an unconventional history lesson with Comedy Central’s comedic television series, Drunk History: The Complete Series, arriving on DVD featuring the entire six seasons, including the previous unreleased seasons five and six! Cast includes host Derek Waters and ever-changing guest stars including Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures), Laura Dern (“Twin Peaks”), Ryan Gosling (La La Land), Maya Rudolph (Bridesmaids), and Lin Manuel Miranda (Hamilton), and many more.

Drunk History : The Complete Series

Street Date: June 29th

Format: DVD

Description: The comedic series, first airing in 2013, follows host Derek Waters and his group of inebriated guest stars as they travel through different U.S. cities while attempting to tell stories and re-enacting famous events in history. The series is based on the award-winning web series: Funny or Die.

Proofread and Edited by Brenda

The opinions in these articles are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of TVMEG.COM or its other volunteers.

Drunk History: The Complete Series DVD cover

Primetime DVD Review: “Batman: The Long Halloween Part One” (Blu-ray+Digital)

Posted on by TvMegasite Admin

DVD Review!

Batman: The Long Halloween Part One (Blu-ray+Digital) DVD cover

“Batman: The Long Halloween Part One” (Blu-ray+Digital) Review by Suzanne 6/20/20

It’s always great to see a new DC animated movie, but this one is pretty slow moving. I’m sure it was very difficult to take the very long comic book series and adapt it to a movie (or even two movies as they’ve done here).  Still, there seems to be too many characters, and the pacing is a bit slow.

The movie had Batman, Alfred, Commissioner Gordon ahd his family, Harvey Dent and his wife, Selina Kyle/Catwoman, The Joker, Solomon Grundy, and a bunch of mobsters and other Batman villains. It’s just too much. They should have made it into a series instead.

Still, if you’re a Batman fan, you’ll probably love it.  Just make sure you pay careful attention, and sit back and enjoy. Even though it’s a little slow, it’s still definitely worth watching. I just wish they had put the whole thing together in one DVD, rather than making us wait for the second part.  However, it’s smart marketing to bring out the second part later on, near Halloween, I’m sure… since it’s a calendar-based story that goes from Halloween to Halloween. The way they’ve laid it out in two parts makes good sense to the story, but it does leave you hanging a bit.

Jensen Ackles (“Supernatural“) voices Batman; Josh Duhamel (“Jupiter’s Legacy”) voices Harvey Dent; the late Naya Rivera (“Glee”); Titus Welliver (“Bosch”) voices Falcone; and Billy Burke (“Revolution”) voices Gordon.  The other actors are not familiar to me, but they’re all outstanding. Troy Baker’s Joker brings to mind both Mark Hamill’s and the late Cesar Romero’s versions.  The artwork is also top-notch, of course. It’s so close to reality that you almost forget you’re watching a cartoon.

Unfortunately, there are few extras. Most of them are trailers or special features that are about other upcoming DC animated movies, or they’re previous cartoons from other Batman series that are similar to this one.  The only relevant one is the features that talks about “Batman: The Long Halloween Part Two.”  It’s very interesting. It looks like we’ll be seeing Poison Ivy, Scarecrow and other familiar Batman villains that we didn’t see in Part One.

I’m sure that if you read the original comic, this is all very familiar to you. I read it, but it was at least a decade ago, so I don’t remember it very well. I just remember that it was very good.

Buy This DVD!

MORE INFORMATION:

HOLIDAY MURDERS LEAD GOTHAM CITY’S CRIME-FIGHTING TRIUMVIRATE TO EXTREME MEASURES IN

BATMAN: THE LONG HALLOWEEN, PART ONE

COMING TO DIGITAL & BLU-RAY™ ON JUNE 22, 2021

JENSEN ACKLES, NAYA RIVERA, JOSH DUHAMEL, BILLY BURKE, DAVID DASTMALCHIAN, TITUS WELLIVER LEAD ALL-STAR CAST IN LATEST DC UNIVERSE MOVIES OFFERING

Twitter Pitch: BATMAN THE LONG HALLOWEEN PART ONE on Digital & Blu-ray 6/22/21. Featuring @JensenAckles @joshduhamel @billy_burke @Dastmalchian @TroyBakerVA @welliver_titus @AmyLandecker @Julie_Nathanson @JackQuaid92 @FredTatasciore @iamtimsheridan @WBHomeEnt @DCComics #LongHalloween1

TRAILER LINK: https://youtu.be/bf9ry6pyo2c

BURBANK, CA (April 8, 2021) – Atrocious serial killings on holidays in Gotham send The World’s Greatest Detective into action – confronting both organized crime and a mysterious murderer – in Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One, the next entry in the popular series of the DC Universe Movies. Produced by Warner Bros. Animation, DC and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, the feature-length animated film – which will be accompanied by the latest DC Showcase animated short, The Losers – is set for release on Digital and Blu-ray on June 22, 2021.

Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One will be available on Blu-ray (USA $29.98 SRP; Canada $39.99 SRP) as well as on Digital. The Blu-ray features a Blu-ray disc with the film in hi-definition and a digital version of the movie. Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One will be available on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Combo Pack at a later date in 2022 as a combined presentation of the film with Batman: The Long Halloween, Part Two.

Inspired by the iconic mid-1990s DC story from Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One begins as a brutal murder on Halloween prompts Gotham’s young vigilante, the Batman, to form a pact with the city’s only two uncorrupt lawmen (Police Captain James Gordan and District Attorney Harvey Dent) in order to take down The Roman, head of the notorious and powerful Falcone Crime Family. But when more deaths occur on Thanksgiving and Christmas, it becomes clear that, instead of ordinary gang violence, they’re also dealing with a serial killer – the identity of whom, with each conflicting clue, grows harder to discern. Few cases have ever tested the wits of the World’s Greatest Detective like the mystery behind the Holiday Killer.

Lauded for his performance as Red Hood/Jason Todd in 2010’s Batman Under the Red Hood, Jensen Ackles (Supernatural, Smallville) returns to the DC Universe Movies as the title character of Batman/Bruce Wayne. The late Naya Rivera (Glee), who passed away in 2020, gives one of her final performances as Catwoman/Selina Kyle. The all-star cast includes Josh Duhamel (Transformers, Las Vegas) as Harvey Dent, Billy Burke (Twilight, Revolution, Zoo) as James Gordon, Titus Welliver (Bosch, Deadwood, The Town) as Carmine Falcone, David Dastmalchian (The Suicide Squad, Ant-Man, Dune, The Dark Knight) as Calendar Man, Troy Baker (The Last of Us, Batman: Arkham Knight) as Joker, Amy Landecker (Your Honor, Transparent) as Barbara Gordon, Julie Nathanson (Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Suicide Squad: Hell To Pay) as Gilda Dent, Jack Quaid (The Boys, The Hunger Games) as Alberto, Fred Tatasciore (American Dad!, Family Guy) as Solomon Grundy and Alastair Duncan (The Batman, Batman Unlimited franchise) as Alfred. Additional voices provided by Frances Callier, Greg Chun, Gary Leroi Gray and Jim Pirri.

Chris Palmer (Superman: Man of Tomorrow) directs Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One from a screenplay by Tim Sheridan (Reign of the Supermen, Superman: Man of Tomorrow). Producers are Jim Krieg (Batman: Gotham by Gaslight) and Kimberly S. Moreau (Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). Butch Lukic (Justice Society: World War II, Superman: Man of Tomorrow) is Supervising Producer. Executive Producer is Michael Uslan. Sam Register is Executive Producer.

Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One – Special Features

Blu-ray and Digital

DC Showcase – The Losers (New Animated Short) – The legendary rag-tag team of World War II outcasts – Captain Storm, Johnny Cloud, “Mile-a Minute” Jones, rookie Gunner and Sarge – find themselves marooned on an uncharted island in the South Pacific that is completely overrun with dinosaurs! Their would-be ally on this deadly mission, the mysterious and beautiful Fan Long of the Chinese Security Agency, tells them their job is to rescue the scientists that have been sent to study the time/space anomaly. Perhaps… but what is her mission?

A Sneak Peek at the next DC Universe Movie – An advance look at the next animated film in the popular DC Universe Movies collection, Batman: The Long Halloween, Part Two.

From the DC Vault – Batman: The Animated Series – “Christmas With The Joker”

From the DC Vault – Batman: The Animated Series – “It’s Never Too Late”

Looking for a refresher course on animated super hero entertainment before seeing Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One? Check out the wide array of DC Universe Movies now available on HBO Max.

Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One will also be available on Movies Anywhere. Using the free Movies Anywhere app and website, consumers can access all their eligible movies by connecting their Movies Anywhere account with their participating digital retailer accounts.

DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION ELEMENTS

On June 22, 2021, Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One will be available to own in high definition and standard definition from select digital retailers including Amazon, the Apple TV app, FandangoNOW, PlayStation, Vudu, Xbox and others. On July 6, 2021, Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One will be made available digitally on Video On Demand services from cable and satellite providers, and on select gaming consoles.

ABOUT MOVIES ANYWHERE

Movies Anywhere is a digital movie platform that enables movie fans to discover, access, and watch their favorite digital movies in one place. Movies Anywhere brings together a library of nearly 7,500 digital movies from Sony Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox Film, The Walt Disney Studios (including Disney, Pixar, Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm), Universal Pictures (including DreamWorks and Illumination Entertainment) and Warner Bros., and will continue to expand the consumer experience as more content providers, digital retailers and platforms are added. By connecting participating digital retailers that include Amazon Prime Video,  the Apple TV app, FandangoNOW, Google Play, and Vudu, movie fans can now bring together their digital movie collections (whether purchased or redeemed) in one place and enjoy them from the comfort of their living rooms, and across multiple devices and platforms, including Amazon Fire devices; Android devices and Android TV; Apple TV, iPhone, iPad and iPod touch; Chromecast; Roku® devices and popular browsers. Movie fans can also redeem digital codes found in eligible Blu-ray and DVD disc packages from participating studios and enjoy them through Movies Anywhere. Movies Anywhere – your movies, together at last.

ABOUT DIGITAL

Digital movies or TV episodes allow fans to watch a digital version of their movie or TV show anywhere, on their favorite devices. Digital movies or TV episodes are included with the purchase of specially marked Blu-ray discs. With digital, consumers are able to instantly stream and download movies and TV shows to TVs, computers, tablets and smartphones through retail services. For more information on compatible devices and services go to wb.com/digitalmoviefaq. Consult a digital retailer for details and requirements and for a list of digital-compatible devices.

BASICS

PRODUCT                                                       SRP

Blu-ray                                     $29.98 USA, $39.99 Canada

Blu-ray Languages: English, Spanish, French, German

Blu-ray Subtitles: English, Spanish, French, German, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian

Running Time: 85 minutes

Rated PG-13 for violence, bloody images, language and some smoking

About Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, Inc.:

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment (WBHE) brings together Warner Bros. Entertainment’s physical and digital distribution businesses in order to maximize current and next-generation distribution scenarios. An industry leader since its inception, WBHE oversees the global distribution of content through packaged goods (Blu-ray Disc™ and DVD) and digital media in the form of electronic sell-through and video-on-demand via cable, satellite, online and mobile channels. WBHE distributes its product through third party retail partners and licensees.

ABOUT DC

DC, a WarnerMedia Company, creates iconic characters, enduring stories, and immersive experiences that inspire and entertain audiences of every generation around the world and is one of the world’s largest publishers of comics and graphic novels. As a creative division, DC is charged with strategically integrating its stories and characters across film, television, consumer products, home entertainment, interactive games, DC UNIVERSE INFINITE digital subscription service and community engagement portal. For more information visit dccomics.com and dcuniverseinfinite.com.

BATMAN: THE LONG HALLOWEEN, PART ONE  © 2021 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. BATMAN and all related characters and elements TM & © DC.

About Warner Bros. Animation

Warner Bros. Animation (WBA) is one of the leading producers of animation in the entertainment industry, producing and developing projects for multiple platforms, both domestically and internationally. WBA’s current series include Animaniacs for Hulu, Green Eggs and Ham for Netflix, Aquaman: King of Atlantis, Batwheels, Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai, Harley Quinn, Jellystone!, Little Ellen, Looney Tunes Cartoons, Tiny Toons Looniversity, Velma and Young Justice for HBO Max, DC Super Hero Girls, Teen Titans Go!, ThunderCats Roar for Cartoon Network,  Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz, Scooby-Doo! and Guess Who?, The Tom and Jerry Show and Yabba-Dabba Dinosaurs! for Boomerang.  WBA’s full-length theatrical film, Teen Titans GO! to the Movies, was released in summer 2018. As home to the iconic animated characters from the DC, Hanna-Barbera, MGM and Looney Tunes libraries, WBA also produces highly successful animated films — including the DC Universe Movies — for DVD, Blu-ray® and digital media. One of the most-honored animation studios in history, WBA has won six Academy Awards®, 35 Emmy® Awards, the George Foster Peabody Award, a BAFTA Children’s Award, an Environmental Media Award, a Parents’ Choice Award, the HUMANITAS Prize, two Prism Awards and 20 Annie Awards (honoring excellence in animation).

Proofread and Edited by Brenda

The opinions in these articles are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of TVMEG.COM or its other volunteers.

Batman and Catwoman in "Batman: The Long Halloween Part One" (Blu-ray+Digital)

Y&R Short Recap Friday, June 18, 2021

Posted on by Eva Diaz

Daytime Soap Opera Short Recaps

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Recap written by Eva

Victor and Nikki think that Ashland is an interesting man once they get to know him a little better after having drinks with him and Victoria. Nikki would feel more, at ease if Ashland’s divorce was final before Victoria got involved in such a high-profile relationship. Victor thinks that Ashland and Victoria have a secret and he intends to find out the secret. Victoria tells Ashland she hopes that they will find a treatment for his illness but in the meantime he should prepare for the worst. Victoria tells Ashland that Newman Enterprises and Locke Communications should merge so his legacy will live on after he is gone.

Tara tells Summer that she will soon get an offer from the fashion house in Italy and she should take the job and leave town. Summer has no intention of taking the job, but Tara tells her that if she doesn’t take the job Kyle will never see Harrison again.

Nina and Abby ask Christine to call her contacts and find out if Chance is okay. Mariah accidentally tells Abby and Nina that baby Chancellor is, a boy and Abby and Nina are very happy about the news. Christine calls her contacts and gets ready to tell Nina what she found out about Chance.

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Interview with Sadie Calvano, Evan Roderick, Tom Stevens and Judith Verno

Posted on by TvMegasite Admin

TV Interview!

 

Sadie Calvano, Evan Roderick, Tom Stevens and Judith Verno of "Secret's of a Marine's Wife" on Lifetime - photos from Lifetime and social media

Interview with actors Sadie Calvano, Evan Roderick, and Tom Stevens, and executive producer Judith Verno in “Secrets of a Marine’s Wife” on Lifetime by Suzanne 5/19/21

This movie was very interesting and had a great cast. I was glad to speak with them. I’d interviewed Tom Stevens before about his role in “Deadly Class” on Syfy, so it was great to see him again. I hope you enjoyed the movie! It was an interesting mystery and romance story, but tragic.

SECRETS OF A MARINE’S WIFE

Moderator: Hi everyone, thank you for joining us. I am very pleased to welcome our panelists from Secrets of a Marine’s Wife, including Sadie Calvano, who plays Erin Corwin, Evan Roderick who plays her husband John Corwin, Tom Stevens, who plays Chris Lee, joined by executive producer Judith Verno.

Just a quick reminder if you’d like to ask a question, at the bottom of your screen please hit the raise your hand button at the bottom of the screen.  Depending on what version of zoom you have, it might be under the reactions button or the participants button. I will be answering questions as they come in an I wanted to start with one pre-submitted question that’s for everybody. And that question is Erin Corwin’s Story is very tragic. What do you hope viewers will take away from this movie?

Sadie Calvano: I’ll start. Hi everyone, I’m Sadie. I would really like viewers to take away from this movie  is that this isn’t a story that questions Erin’s sexual choices. This isn’t a story that talks about how because she had an affair, she got murdered. This is a story that is about complex relationships about a young girl who was looking for love and connection and who was going through a really tough time in her life and looking for support and fell in the hands of someone who brutally murdered her. And I really hope that people are able to see the story of love and seeking and are able to fall in love with her and wonder.

Tom Stevens: Yeah, and I like..Evan.

Evan Roderick: Yeah. You know, and like speaking from Jon’s perspective too, it’s a story

about forgiveness as well ,and you know, because these characters are so young that you know they hold such a, I guess, there is such an expectation on this relationship to work too, so you know, I think it was important to keep Erin in a light you know, and she was a really good person and we had to honor her story. I hope people can see that when they see the movie.

Tom Stevens: Yeah, I gotta say that like jumping off of what Sadie was saying is they had a relationship that was kind of…It was too young.

People got married very early and well. What we were telling the story of is what Chris and Aaron found was almost like an intimacy that they hadn’t really experienced before. It just so happened that she chose to go with somebody that had some serious mental issues.

Judith Verno (Executive Producer): Yeah, I mean, I think that what’s important is nobody should pay for their mistake with their life. And that’s the message here. And to find stories that are relatable at their core but can also serve as a cautionary tale, especially for a younger generation. I think that’s important to tap into for Lifetime.

Moderator: Thank you all. The next question is from Suzanne from TVMeg.

Suzanne Lanoue (TVMeg): Hi, good morning. Let me ask, Tom, what do you think? What did you do to prepare for this very complex role?

Tom Stevens: Yeah, Chris, is uh, he kind of travels through a lot of different emotional realms throughout the film. The guy is dealing with suicide. He’s dealing with an unhappy marriage. Finding this new experience with his neighbor Erin and also everything that he’s kind of dealing with, with his experience with going over to Afghanistan.

And I just kind of took it day by day…I’ve done a lot of military research myself. I knew the story. I knew the case very well, so I listened to the book and I used the chapters about Chris and I just I tried to find as much that I could use out of that book as possible to add color to him every day.

Suzanne Lanoue (TVMeg): Great, and Evan – your role is almost saint-like.

I know actors like to do… usually they like to play the bad guy because there’s so many different layers, and you get to vent your emotions and all that kind of thing. Well, what did you do to make your role speak to you and have fun with it?

Evan Roderick: As much as I think the center of it is he’s just a guy that loves this person so much you know. And I mean, personally, I know. I know what that feels like to love someone so much that you do anything for them. So I think that kind of was the center of Jon.

But I’ve never shot a gun before this movie. I’m so Canadian, I know. But you know I spent some time at the gun range in the gym. I watched all the Dateline stuff to prepare as well so but yeah, at the center of it he’s just a guy that’s just so in love with this woman. So that was kind of what I always hung onto.

Suzanne Lanoue (TVMeg): Great. And Sadie, when they were doing the scenes… where they were showing him strangling your character, did you, uh..Can you tell us how you did that?  How it was done? Sort of physically and special effects wise? Was there a stunt person?

Sadie Calvano: Sure, yeah, there was some people involved. However, Tom I also participated. They had me in this like strapped suit and that clipped on to Tom’s back. I wore a necklace that was made out of like elastic that looked like what would have been choking her but it wasn’t connected to anything so that I stayed completely safe and then on the back of my suit there was a clip that the poles attached to for Tom. And we had some staff people help us out with different positions. Each shot kind of varied what the arrangement was, whether it was me with a stunt person or Tom with a staff person or me with Tom. But we had really amazing stunt people that kept us very safe and were so sensitive to the nature of that scene and made sure that we stayed protected emotionally and physically in what was a very strenuous scene.

Suzanne Lanoue (TVMeg): Alright, well, thank you. I really enjoyed it. I love the movie. It was sad in the end, but it was good.

Sadie Calvano: Thank you.

Modderator: Thank you Suzanne. Ok, this next question is from Lisa Steinberg.

Lisa Steinberg (Starry Magazine): Hi thank you guys so much for talking with us today. Evan. you’re playing a marine in this and you touched on a bit about the physical aspect of it and getting into shape.

Was there something different you did to prepare for the role of a marine? Or you know, just you stay fit and it was just more upping your time at the gym.?

Evan Roderick: Good question. Well, I think you know when you’re an actor, you kind of have to try to stay in shape all year round anyway. But I think mainly it was about learning about the culture of being a Marine. Like these people are, they’re living in these complexes a lot of the time, you know, like in our movie and they’re like it’s just like this big tight knit family, you know. So I think the biggest learning curve for me was just kind of learning the culture and how they spend their time. And like I said, you know, just trying to get the mechanics of being able to work a gun and hold a gun properly without looking like a fool. I think that was pretty important as well. So just yeah, a couple of those kind of things, but it was very, it was a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun doing it so yeah.

Moderator: Thank you Evan.   And the next question is from Jamie Ruby.

Jamie Ruby (SciFi Vision): So do you guys have a favorite scene that you could tease?

Tom Stevens: I’d say the pool scene. The pool scene was really fun to shoot, we were just in the pool all day, just swimming.  It was great.

Evan Roderick: I think I agree.

Tom Stevens: Anything in the complex.

Sadie Calvano and Tom Stevens

Sadie Calvano: I actually think that I would say that one of my favorite scenes is the scene that we shot in the diner. I feel like it is really different from the rest of the film.  And I think that there is a moment in that where we see the cracks really starting to appear.

And I think that we’re able to see that end of the day, like these are just two young kids that don’t really know what they’re doing, that are struggling to make decisions and doing the best they can. Umm and I like I think that’s a scene where we’re really able to see their humanity in a way that is different from the rest of the film. So that was one of my favorites to shoot

Evan Roderick: I loved shooting that scene too.  It was fun.

Moderator: Thank you guys. The next question is from Jay Bobbin.

Jay Bobbin (Gracenote): Hello everyone, thanks for doing this. Sadie my question is for you.  For Mom fans like my mom, who are such devotees of that show and know you so well as Violet and maybe haven’t seen you doing much else, what would you say to them before they watch you in this?

Sadie Calvano: I’d say thank you so much for watching Mom. Mom was such a huge part of my

life and of my personhood. I was kid when I started on Mom. You know I was 15 and so it shaped such a big part of my life and obviously of my career. So first I would say thank you so much and that I hope you like the finale because it just aired.

Umm and secondly, I would say that this is a really exciting project for you to get to watch because it’s not like Violet at all. You know, I think the thing that was so exciting about this was that next to Why Women Kill this is one of the first roles where I really got to play a woman, a person who’s not just like an angry bratty teenager. You know she has these like romantic complex relationships and I think you really get to see a different side of me in this project and I hope you enjoy it.

Jay Bobbin (Gracenote): Thank you.

Moderator: Thank you Jay. I think we have time for one more question, maybe two. The next question is from Steve Gidlow of Media Village

Steve Gidlow (Media Village): My question is actually for Sadie.  I was just wondering how familiar were you with this story before joining the project. Had you heard about it before? Or was it all sort of news to you?

Sadie Calvano: That’s a great question. I must confess in my  day to day life I am a bit of a crime junkie. I really love watching murder shows probably an unhealthy amount. But I did know about this story before I got offered this job. I grew up in LA. My boyfriend’s mom lives in Palm Springs, and this was a huge story in that area particularly, so I was familiar with the case I remembered reading about it when it happened and, yeah, I definitely was familiar.

Steve Gidlow (Media Village):  And quickly. Is there a chance you’re going back to Why Women Kill?

Sadie Calvano: Oh, I would love that. I would love that so much. I guess time will tell. I know that with Season 2 they were planning on doing all new cast and all new stories, but the door is, you know always a sliver open and we’ll see what the future brings. I would love to work with Mark Cherry again in the future, so I don’t know, fingers crossed

Steve Gidlow (Media Village): Awesome. Thanks so much.

Sadie Calvano: Of course

Moderator: Thanks so much, Steve. Thank you Sadie. The last question is for Judith.

As an executive producer for this movie, what interested you in Erin’s story.

Judith Verno: Well, I really do like doing stories that start with something where you feel it’s relatable and I do like doing stories that focus on a younger generation. It’s an area that I’ve worked on before and I welcome it.

I think that as Sadie and Tom and Evan alluded to, you know Erin is a really good person. And to be able to message that you can have flaws, make mistakes, be young and not wind up dead is important to me and so I love the true crime genre, I love the setting of this. I don’t think there’s been a lot of true crime that’s in a military environment, but most of all, I really love working with young people. We had an amazing cast and to be able to pay tribute to Erin who is a victim in the truest sense, and have a teachable moment for viewers, but also be entertaining, is you know it’s a great kind of story to be able to have the privilege to tell.

Moderator: That’s great. Well listen, thank you guys for participating.

We really appreciate it. And just a quick reminder to everyone that Secrets of a Marine’s Wife will premieres on Saturday, June 19th on Lifetime. So check it out, and thank you to all of our panelists and hold tight for our next panel.

MORE INFO:

"Secrets of a Marine's Wife" key art

SECRETS OF A MARINE‘S WIFE PREMIERES SATURDAY, JUNE 19
Secrets of a Marine‘s Wife is based on the true story of 19-year-old Erin Corwin (Sadie Calvano), who was married to U.S. Marine Corporal Jon Corwin (Evan Roderick) and expecting her first child, when she suddenly went missing. Erin’s disappearance sparked a grueling search led by family, friends and local law enforcement in the extreme conditions of the Joshua Tree National Park until her body was found two months later at the bottom of an abandoned mineshaft. Suspicions mounted quickly in the tight knit Marine community, and residents began to wonder if the killer was one of their own.  In their investigation, detectives uncover a friendship turned illicit relationship between Erin and her neighbor, Marine Christopher Lee (Tom Stevens), which consumed them both and called into question the paternity of Erin’s baby. Was this a motive for murder?  Who was responsible? Investigators work to discover answers to these questions and to unmask who killed Erin Corwin. Secrets of a Marine‘s Wife is produced by Front Street Pictures for Lifetime, with Sony Pictures Television distributing. Judith Verno/Peace Out Productions and Sharlene Martin/Martin Literary & Media Management serve as executive producers. Manu Boyer directs from a script written by Richard Blaney and Gregory Small.

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Sadie Calvano and Evan Roderick

Y&R Short Recap Thursday, June 17, 2021

Posted on by Eva Diaz

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Ashland and Victoria have drinks with Victor and Nikki so Victor and Nikki can get to know Amanda better.

Abby is worried about Chance since their phone call got abruptly cut off so she goes to Devon’s place to share her problems with him. Devon gives Abby a gift from Chance that Chance sent to him with instructions to give it to Abby when she needs it the most. Abby opens the gift and sees that it is Chance’s favorite t-shirt. Chance’s note tells Abby to wear it so she can feel his arms around her.

Phyllis advises Summer to keep an eye on Tara because she will use Harrison to come between her and Kyle.

Tara decides to team up with Sally to get Summer out of town. Tara puts the second part of Sally’s plan into motion and tells Summer she has a proposition for her.

Elena saves Nate’s life when he has an allergic reaction after eating crab cakes at Society. Nate tells Elena later that he doesn’t want her to take the job offer in Baltimore.

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Y&R Short Recap Wednesday, June 16, 2021

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Amanda tells Lily that she is no longer defending her grandfather because her family has lied to her too much. Amanda also tells Lily she isn’t ready to return to Chancellor Communications because she is thinking she might start her own criminal law practice. Imani tries to persuade Amanda to take her grandfather’s case again but Amanda tells her she is going to find out why her father was killed. Imani wants to stay in Genoa City to get to know Amanda better.

Eric calls Sally…he has decided to recommend Summer for the job at the fashion house in Italy.

Ashland tells Kyle and Tara he has terminal cancer and the doctors have told him he has six months to live. Ashland tells Tara he has taken her out of his will, but Harrison is still in his will. Tara is shaken by the news Ashland is dying and Kyle suggests that Tara try to repair her marriage so she can be there to support her husband in his final days.

Billy tells Victoria he is worried about her spending too much time with Ashland because of the kids. Nikki also continues to express her concern which only drives Victoria closer to Ashland. Ashland and Victoria go out to lunch and Victoria asks Ashland to kiss her like he wanted to in New York.

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Y&R Short Recap Tuesday, June 15, 2021

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Billy and Lily have a successful night with Johnny and Katie who have a wonderful time with them at the new apartment.

Rey goes to visit Chelsea at the mental hospital before he leaves on his second honeymoon with Sharon. Chelsea apologizes to Rey for her behavior on their last visit and tells Rey she was upset because Adam was also visiting her that, day. Chelsea tells Rey to have a wonderful vacation with Sharon and then she leaves for her group therapy session. Rey, questions Chelsea’s doctor about her progress and he says Chelsea isn’t well but is progressing slowly. The doctor talks to Chelsea later and says he is worried about Rey because he is asking too many questions. Chelsea assures the doctor everything is under control and everything is going according to plan.

Victor isn’t happy when Adam tells him that one of his sources told him Victoria went to New York with Ashland Locke. Ashland wants to give Victoria a kiss after they talk awhile but she tells him they should take their relationship slowly. Victoria says goodnight to Ashland and later calls her secretary to ask her to find all the information she can on Locke Communications.

Victor tells Amanda that he had an investigation done and all the contributions he gave to Sutton Ames campaign were legitimate…there was no cash in exchange for favors. Victor also tells Amanda he knows she is Sutton’s granddaughter because Sutton had a slip of the lounge last time that he spoke to him. Amanda talks to Naya and tells her that she is quitting the case since her grandfather refuses to go along with her defense strategy. Amanda decides to investigate why her father was killed and hires Mrs. Toliver to help her.

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Interview with Jennie Garth, Anwen O’Driscoll and Gloria Ui Young Kim

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TV Interview!

 

Jennie Garth, Anwen O'Driscoll and director Gloria Ui Young Kim of "Left for Dead: The Ashley Reeves Story" on Lifetime

Interview with stars Jennie Garth, Anwen O’Driscoll and director Gloria Ui Young Kim of “Left for Dead: The Ashley Reeves Story” on Lifetime by Suzanne 5/19/21

I enjoyed speaking with these actresses and the director. It was one of several Lifetime movie casts we spoke with in a special Zoom press call on the same day. The movie is worth watching. The story is good and the performances are great!

BEGIN LEFT FOR DEAD PANEL

Moderator: Wonderful, well we are officially getting started on our third panel today – three out of seven and today is going to be the cast and creatives from Left for Dead: The Ashley Reeves story today we have Jennie Garth, Anwen O’Driscoll and director Gloria Ui Young Kim.

Let’s go ahead and get this started. So I’m going to go ahead and kick it off and do the first question with Gloria, our director Gloria.

Gloria (director): Hi, how are you?

Moderator: I’m good. I’m glad that you all are able to join us today. Gloria how does Left for Dead: The Ashley Reeves Story stand out compared to other films you have directed?

Gloria (director): It was such an important story, I think to tell. I was immediately drawn in by the script and by the strength of the script and the strength of the story of resilience. And I had so much support at all levels from the producer Jeff Vanderwal, at Cineflix, and from Lifetime, our Executive Chris Wade. I mean, we were all aligned in the story that we wanted to tell, and it was full steam ahead. It was just really exciting.

Moderator: Awesome, well glad that you’re here. So we’re going to go ahead and get some press up here. Let’s go ahead and go with Lisa first – Lisa.

Lisa (Starry Magazine): Hi guys, thanks so much for taking some time to chat with us. For Jennie this is such an intense role for you. How did you shake off a long day of filming this one?

Jennie Garth (talent): Yeah, it was definitely a… so heart wrenching, especially, you know, being the mother of three young girls, this movie really tapped into a lot of very deep true emotions for me. So it was important for us to have as much fun as we could on the set and while working crazy, under the crazy time constraints…he was dealing with and kind of…Giving everybody their space to sort of go through everything that they needed to go through and then sort of let it all go at the end of….

Moderator: Great, awesome. Thank you Jennie. You were cutting out on my end so but I hope everyone was able to hear that. So thank you. Our next question is from Jamie – Jamie.

Jamie (SciFi Vision): Hi guys, thanks for talking to us. This is for Jennie and Anwen. I’d like to know how you two kind of worked on your relationship. Did you hang out at all outside of production or anything like that?

Anwen (talent): I mean, there it was hard to do a lot because there were covid restrictions, of course. But we did, we did have a get together, Gloria, Jennie and I one time beforehand where we talked through everything and talked through our characters and the journey of the edge and had dinner one time. But it wasn’t too much because of Covid going on. We did a lot of it on set, which was great.

Jennie (talent): *cuts out* a connection.

Gloria (director): With Jennie’s dog. And she brought her dog, so we all bonded.

Anwen (talent): Yes, immediately.

Jamie (SciFi Vision): We always bond over pets, right?

Moderator: Awesome thank you Jamie and Jennie we might have to hear more about that dog in a little bit, but moving right along with Jay Bobbin.

Jay Bobbin (Gracenote): Hey Jennie, how are you? How are you?

Jennie (talent): Good! How are you?

Jay Bobbin (Gracenote): Good! Good to see you. A lot of people refers to the many perils of Kelly Taylor – burned on drugs, stalked, kidnapped. When it comes to something like this do you draw a lot on all the drama you did on 90210? I know it’s been a good number of years now, but did you find that good training as you look back to do a project like this?

Jennie (Talent): Working on camera sort of serve you as you get older and do more complex roles. Absolutely yeah, my character went through so much on that show that there’s a lot there. Real life experience with being a mom and having a young daughter and just putting myself in this woman’s shoes, you know, and really kind of feeling this terrible tragedy first hand. So it was a combination.

Jay Bobbin (Gracenote): OK, thanks.

Moderator: Wonderful thanks Jay. Up next, we have Suzanne.

Suzanne Lanoue (TVMeg): Hi, my question is for Anwen. Your role seems very physical – was that difficult at all for you? Did you have to work on your upper arm strength?

Anwen (talent): Yes, it was. It was very challenging because I had never done something, so just like deep dive into something so physically and vocally challenging. We, Gloria and I, worked beforehand with an occupational therapist for physicality and vocal which really helps. And we also had a physical therapist on set sometimes which was great to remind me to do certain things, but I did practice a lot and watch as many videos as I could and I would take little videos and little clips of my voice and send it to Gloria and be like, what does this sound like? How does this sound like? Is this just trying to keep it consistent and accurate. I suppose I didn’t want to make it – I was afraid to make it kind of like a caricature thing, so I wanted to really get Gloria’s opinion and get everyone to tell me that it was OK.

Gloria (director): Anwen, you were great.

Suzanne Lanoue (TVMeg): Gloria, can you give us insight as to what went into shaping the movie in terms of that you decided pretty early on to show that he was definitely or seemed to be the person that tried to kill her rather than making it more say of a mystery. Was it a boyfriend? Was it someone else?

Gloria (director): Sorry, what’s your question?

Suzanne Lanoue (TVMeg): Yes, can you give us insight as to how it went into making the movie in framing it that way? Focusing more on her as her rehab and all that kind of thing?

Gloria (director): Yeah, I think it was really, really important. I think just to everyone involved

that this be Ashley’s story, that this be the story of her resilience and her overcoming the obstacles, I think. You know this story was in the news. Everyone knew that it was. The person who it was that attacked her and you know, he was the one that led the police to her body. So in some ways the mystery aspect didn’t really quite work for this story and I think also just given the time that we’re living in, I think it’s just really, really, really important that women’s stories are in the forefront and that her actual story of survival was the story rather than the mystery story.

Suzanne Lanoue (TVMeg):  Thank you.

Gloria (director): No problem.

Moderator: Wonderful, thank you Suzanne. Up next, we have Steve Gidlow.

Steve Gidlow (Media Village): Hi, my question is actually for Anwen. You were terrific in this. It’s just so so good. I was just wondering, one of the things you really seem to encapsulate with this whole performance was the frustration that your character went through. How much of it was frustrating for you?

Anwen (talent): Well, one of the things that drew me when I first read the script, and write to Ashley herself, was I could connect with the feeling of not being believed by people. And that was one of her huge struggles throughout the movie, was not being heard and not being supported by a lot of people that were close to her. She did have some support by, you know, her mother. But I think it was because could really connect to that feeling so the frustrations were real and I couldn’t pull on that because it was a real thing that I’ve experienced in my own life. Which is unfortunate, but it’s common and it happens all the time.

Steve Gidlow (Media Village): Yeah, well, you’re quite remarkable. So thank you so much.

Anwen (talent): Thank you.

Moderator: Thank you Steve. Up next is Barb Oates.

Barb Oates (Channel Guide): Great, thank you. This question is for Anwen. What did you learn or maybe take from after walking in Ashley’s journey?

Anwen (talent): I was very inspired by her bravery. And playing the character because I wouldn’t say that I’m a very brave person or confrontational in real life, so getting to play that character and playing that truth of her really inspired me as a person, and I felt that it encouraged me to be braver. So I feel like I pulled that from Ashley and learned that from Ashley herself. It’s great.

Barb Oates (Channel Guide): Thank you.

Moderator: Wonderful, thank you Barb. Up next, I believe Jay Bobbin. Do you have a follow up question?

Jay Bobbin (Gracenote): I asked you, if you don’t mind sure. Jennie, another one Jennie, another one for you. Now that you’ve produced as you did on the 90210 reboot a couple of summers ago. Do you enjoy being an actress for hire as much, or do you look more for getting into situations where you can produce as well as act?

Jennie (talent): Well, it’s definitely changing hats when you’re producing some. On all fronts, kind of calling the shots and in charge of things. So I was very respectful of the producers that did such a great job with this film and Gloria, who did such a wonderful job directing it and trying to kind of zip it creatively, and let them do their job and stand back and let me do my job. So it was definitely changing gears but there is something refreshing about just being an actor for hire sometimes.

Jay Bobbin (Gracenote): Sure, thank you.

Moderator: Great thank you, Jay. Jamie, did you have your hand up for a follow up or is your hand just still up?

Jamie (SciFi Vision): Sorry, yeah I just forgot to put it down.

Moderator: Sorry, no all good. I just wanted to make sure you got your question answered. Let’s go on then to Lisa, Lisa.

Lisa (Starry Magazine): Now Jennie about that dog. Just joking.

Jennie (talent): No, that was buddy. He was an emotional support dog for everybody on set. I think everybody benefited from having an animal on set. It was such a comfort issue and everybody was so spread so thin emotionally, that we all just sort of took turns clutching on to him.

Gloria (director): It’s true.

Moderator: Also, I love that the dog was brought back, so let’s go now. Steve, I believe has another follow up – Steve.

Steve Gidlow (Media Village): Yeah, I did actually have another question for Anwen. I’m just wondering how much time or how much interaction did you get to have with the real Ashley?

Anwen (talent): I didn’t get to speak with her unfortunately. Maybe hopefully one day. But I did want to give space and I respected you know, her space. I wouldn’t want to come at her with this super heavy subject matter. It’s her story and I feel like maybe she’s done talking about that and done having people come at her about it so. I just did a lot of self stuff and just tried to connect with her bravery and her heart and make that the focal point.

Steve Gidlow (Media Village): Was there a part to playing her without having interacted, that made it a little better for you, because you kind of were doing your own thing versus, you know if you had spoken to her, it would have been a different story.

Anwen (talent): Yeah, it’s true. I think it allowed me to add a bit of myself into it and I liked doing that, just you know, a little combination of me and her together, I suppose.

Steve Gidlow (Media Village): Thanks so much.

Moderator: Awesome, thank you Steve. And our last question should be from Barb – Barb Oates.

Barb Oates (Channel Guide): Thanks, I was wondering, this is for Gloria mainly, but were the Reeves family – are they aware of the film and did you approach them at all and do they have any input into anything?

Gloria (director): Yeah, the Reeves family is aware of the film and it would have been Christina Welsh, the writer, and Jeff Vanderwal, the producer, who were the ones who had the relationship with her. They spent time with her and interviewed her. So she was a part of the process. And in terms of my relationship, I just worked with the script and I worked with the materials that I had been sent and the stuff that I had done research online. We’re trying really hard to tell a respectful story.

Barb Oates (Channel Guide): Got it, thank you.

Moderator: Wonderful, and that was the last question from what I could tell. So thank you everyone for your questions and especially thank you to Gloria, Jennie and Anwen.  We will be prepping for our next panel here in just a moment so stay tuned.

Video Trailer Watch

MORE INFO:

LEFT FOR DEAD: THE ASHLEY REEVES STORY
PREMIERES SATURDAY, JUNE 12 at 8/7c
LFD_03152021_SW_0435_TD
(L to R): Jennie Garth and Anwen O’Driscoll
In 2006, 17-year-old Ashley Reeves (Anwen O’Driscoll) is left for dead in the woods following a brutal attack. After spending 30 horrific hours in the cold, gravely wounded, lying in the dirt, and paralyzed, the police find her alive. Her injuries are so severe that she must re-learn how to walk and talk. With no memory of what happened, she begins a long and painful recovery while searching her shattered memory to unlock the mystery of who did this to her.  Left for Dead: The Ashley Reeves Story is based on the extraordinary true story of an ordinary teenage girl who had to fight for her life three times; first in the woods, then in the hospital, and finally in court. Jennie Garth stars as Ashley’s mother, Michelle Reeves.
Left for Dead: The Ashley Reeves Story is produced by Cineflix (Left For Dead) Inc. Jeff Vanderwal is among the executive producers. Gloria Ui Young Kim directs from a script written by Christina Welsh.

Proofread and Edited by Brenda

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Y&R Short Recap Friday, June 11, 2021

Posted on by Eva Diaz

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Summer and Kyle decide that they will get married in August because they need to move on with their lives.

Summer isn’t happy when Lauren tells her that Kyle suggested she talk to Tara about being in house designer for Fenmore’s.

Summer goes to the Abbott house to talk to Kyle and sees him telling Tara he wants her to stay in Genoa City so he can spend time with Harrison.

Sally calls Eric Forrester and asks him to do a favor for Summer.

Lily is nervous because Johnny and Katie spending the night at her and Billy’s apartment for the first time.

Billy continues to worry that Victoria is spending too much time with Ashland Locke.

Sutton Ames fires Amanda because he doesn’t want to reveal that Amanda and Hilary are his granddaughters. Victor sees Sutton and Sutton slips and calls Amanda his granddaughter but quickly recovers and says his granddaughter Imani disappointed him. Victor calls Amanda and tells her to stop by his office to discuss her relationship with Sutton Ames.

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Y&R Short Recap Thursday, June 10, 2021

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Chloe takes Adam’s job offer but when she tells Chelsea about it while visiting her in the mental hospital, Chelsea insists Adam is trying to run her life and she must find a way to get out of the hospital. Rey and Adam also visit Chelsea. Adam promises Chelsea she can see Connor when she gets better because it wouldn’t be good for Connor to see her in the hospital. Rey goes to visit Chelsea because he and Michael think she had help from Chloe to poison him. Rey asks Chelsea if she had help from someone to poison him and she gets angry and tells him to leave and go on his vacation with Sharon. Rey tells Michael what happened when he visited Chelsea and that she belongs in the hospital.

Ashland changes his mind and agrees to joint custody of Harrison with child support and minimal alimony for Tara as agreed to in their prenuptial agreement. Ashland tells Sally that she needs to talk to Eric Forrester because he is the CEO of the Italian fashion house that has the job opening she can use to get Summer out of town.

Victoria turns down Ashland’s invitation for dinner in New York but changes her mind and accepts the invitation after a talk with Nikki in which Nikki advises her not to date Ashland.

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Primetime DVD Review: “Your Honor”

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DVD Review!

"Your Honor" DVD cover

“Your Honor” Review by Suzanne 6/10/21

This was a very good series on Showtime. It’s what they call a “limited series,” meaning it’s just 10 episodes and there will be no more…at least, as far as we know. Anyway, Bryan Cranston stars as an upstanding New Orleans judge who has to bend or break the rules when his son gets involved in a hit-and-run.

I enjoyed the show when I saw a few episodes on Showtime, but it’s nice to have the whole series to watch. It’s very gripping and complex, and the performances are outstanding. It has a nice twist at the end. I think that this series is one that you’ll either love or hate.

Aside from a few deleted scenes, there are no extras on the DVD. That’s too bad. It would have been nice to hear interviews with the cast, writer, directors and more. Perhaps they’ll come out with a better DVD version later with all of that.

MORE INFORMATION:

Buy it here!

From CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Entertainment, SHOWTIME® legal drama YOUR HONOR will be arriving on DVD on June 15.

In his first return to television since “Breaking Bad”, Golden Globe® nominee Bryan Cranston stars as respected New Orleans Judge Michael Desiato in the limited series. After his teenage son Adam (Hunter Doohan, “Truth Be Told”) is involved in a hit-and-run incident, Judge Michael Desiato must tread carefully through a high-stakes game of lies, deceit and impossible choices. Unbeknownst to Adam, the victim is the son of much-feared crime boss Jimmy Baxter (Michael Stuhlbarg, Call Me By Your Name) and his wife, Gina (Emmy® and Golden Globe® nominee Hope Davis, The Special Relationship), who are both out for vengeance and will not stop until justice is served on their own terms.

YOUR HONOR
Street Date: June 15
Format: DVD
Description: The 10-episode legal thriller stars Cranston as Michael Desiato, a respected New Orleans judge whose teenage son, Adam (Doohan), is involved in a hit-and-run that leads to a high-stakes game of lies, deceit and impossible choices. Stuhlbarg stars as Jimmy Baxter, the much-feared head of a crime family opposite Davis as his wife, Gina, who might be even more dangerous than her husband.

The series also stars Carmen Ejogo (Selma), Isiah Whitlock Jr. (BlacKkKlansman), and Sofia Black-D’Elia (“The Night Of”). Guest stars include Maura Tierney (“The Affair”), Amy Landecker (“Transparent”), Margo Martindale (“The Americans”), Lorraine Toussaint (“Orange Is the New Black”), Chet Hanks (“Empire”), Lamar Johnson (The Hate U Give) and Lilli Kay (“Chambers”).

Proofread and Edited by Brenda

The opinions in these articles are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of TVMEG.COM or its other volunteers.

(L-R): Hunter Doohan as Adam Desiato and Bryan Cranston as Michael Desiato in YOUR HONOR, "Part Two". Photo Credit: Skip Bolen/SHOWTIME.

Y&R Short Recap Wednesday, June 9, 2021

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Ashland invites Victoria to New York since he has to go on a business trip but she takes a rain check because she is busy with work.

Sally wants Tara to get Kyle to fall in love with her so Summer will take the job at the fashion house in Italy. Tara doesn’t want anything to do with Sally’s plan but Sally tells her to think about it and give her a call if she changes her mind.

Nikki warns Adam he better not go back to his old ways or she will do what is necessary to protect her family.

Rey and Sharon finish making plans for their second honeymoon in Miami.

Adam goes to the mental hospital to tell her Connor is doing well in school and will soon be coming home. Chelsea tells Adam she can’t wait to see Connor and give him a hug.

Ashland arrives at the Abbott mansion to talk to Tara and Kyle without their lawyers.

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Y&R Short Recap Tuesday, June 8, 2021

Posted on by Eva Diaz

Daytime Soap Opera Short Recaps

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Recap written by Eva

Elena tells Nate she got a job offer in Baltimore and wonders if he knows of any reason she should stay in Genoa City. Nate and Imani have coffee together and get to know each other a little bit.

Adam wants to compete against Chancellor Communications and beat them fairly even though Victor isn’t happy about it he lets Adam do things his way.

Billy warns Victoria Ashland is, a dangerous man to date but Victoria tells him she will live her life as she sees fit.

Mrs. Toliver gives Amanda all the information her foster mother had on her. Amanda finds a calendar page where it says the date when her foster mother intended to meet with her father Richard. Amanda demands Imani set up a meeting with Sutton so they can talk about a new strategy for his case.

Kyle and Summer tell their parents their wedding is back on and they reluctantly give their support to them. Summer meets Harrison for the first time and he is a little shy with her. Mariah tells Tara that other people have tried to come between Kyle and Summer but nobody has ever succeeded because they always find their way back to each other. Kyle tells Tara that he filed an acknowledgement of paternity form with the court

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Interview with Jana Kramer and Orly Adelson

Posted on by TvMegasite Admin

TV Interview!

 

 

Orly Adelson and Jana Kramer of "Soccer Mom Madam" on Lifetime

Interview with star Jana Kramer and producer Orly Adelson of “Soccer Mom Madam” on Lifetime by Suzanne 5/19/21

I enjoyed speaking with these two women about the Lifetime movie. It was interesting to hear about the real-life story and how they made the movie. This was part of a virtual press junket for several Lifetime summer movies that we’re covering this summer.

SOCCER MOM MADAM

Moderator: Hi everybody, our next panel is soccer mom madam and with us today is Jana Kramer, and executive producer. Orly Adelson. Hi ladies.

Orly & Jana: Hi. Hi

Moderator: how are you

Orly Adelson (Executive Producer): good

Moderator: thank you guys so much for being here today.

Orly Adelson: Thank you for having us

Moderator: Of course. our first question is for Orly. Orly. Knowing that this is inspired by a true story, what made you want to turn it into a film?

Orly Adelson: I was compelled by the idea of a mother by day and a Madam by night, and how those two lives ultimately are going to collide, and that journey is what intrigued me about it. And it’s about human things. It’s about betrayal. It’s about family. It’s about love. It’s all the things that we encounter every day and she encountered it differently.

Moderator: Thanks Orly, our first –  our next question is from Jay Bobbin.

Jay Bobbin (Gracenote): Hello Jana, thanks so much for doing this. Good to see you.

Jana Kramer: Of course. good to see you too.

Jay Bobbin (Gracenote): Thank you. You’ve done so many heartwarming projects in recent years, but those who know you from your earlier acting years remember how sassy you were – as it were – on One Tree Hill. Is it particularly pleasurable for you to return to this type of character now?

Jana Kramer: Jay, I couldn’t tell you how happy I was to read this script and talk to Orly.

I mean, I pretty much begged her. I was like I’ll do whatever – this script is so amazing. It’s fun and it’s sassy and it’s, you know there’s depth to it and it just made me feel excited.

Not that I don’t love, you know, the, you know the sweet Christmas movies and stuff, but there’s something about really going there – vulnerably and emotionally and just, you know, remembering why I love acting so much. Because you can just bring in so much of your personal life and you know it’s just – it’s fun and you know there were some really heavy days on set ’cause I had to get super emotional. But, I was like oh like this is this is the best day. So – I was thrilled that I got it and I was yeah – I was very happy.

Jay Bobbin: Thank you.

Moderator: Thank you, our next question is from Lisa.

Lisa (Starry Magazine): Hi, thank you both for taking some time to speak with us today.  Jana, what were some of your favorite moments from filming this? Was there a particular scene that stands out to you that was really challenging or something that really was interesting that you felt you worked on for this particular one?

Jana: You know, I’ll say thanks for the question Lisa. I personally enjoyed the time that I spent.

The girls were, you know, They were family to this – the woman that it was inspired by, and just the camaraderie that all of us girls had filming together – the fun that we had. You know, there’s a scene in particular where we went to this event and I’m basically trying to pick out the millionaires in the room. And just like, us going in there, as strong women and just the -again, the fun that we had together – it was really nice to feel empowered and also have you know, the support. Women supporting each other. And yeah, I just I loved the girls so much in this movie and they’ve stayed friends. So I think that was the kind of you know silver lining with this doing, this film was just having that friendship.

Moderator: Great, our next question is from Rick Bentley.

Rick Bentley (Tribune): Jenna, I’m just curious. These films are ripped from the headlines,

so from an acting perspective, Do you look at that and go: great I can find some source material to help me build a character. Or do you go – Oh crap, people know this story, what am I going to do differently?

Jana Kramer: Yeah sure, and Orly and I had a conversation about that ’cause I was fortunate to talk to the woman that this movie is portrayed about. And you know, I was kind of talking to Orly and I’m like man, like you know she’s got a little bit of an accent and so I was started freaking out as an actor ’cause I’m like, What if I don’t live up to like who she is and you know how she actually had her mannerisms and Orly really let me just take on their role. she reminded me that yes, it’s based on a true story, but to bring my story into it, and I think that the marriage of both of those worked really well. Don’t you agree Orly?

Orly Adelson: Yeah, ’cause it was inspired by her. And so the authenticity of the movie is because we have the access to stories –  to the journey. But yet you have to embark and embody that character in your own way.

Jana Kramer: Absolutely.

Orly Adelson: And Jana did it brilliantly, By the way. how many actresses had this ability

to show vulnerability and strength? Be likable? Because that’s so important for this character  – yet be tough. That’s a challenge that I really – I – sitting there and watching her film every day was really thrilling. To see how she could move quickly between all of these mine fields.

Jana Kramer: Thanks, Orly.

Moderator: Our next question is from Jamie Ruby.

Jamie Ruby (SciFi Vision): Hi Jana – and I don’t know – Orly may have just mentioned some of these things now, but I was wondering if you could talk about some of the things that you found most challenging.

Jana Kramer: Oh man – the things I found most challenging, UM? You know, I – So once I got the idea out of my head that OK I don’t have to portray this person exactly. I think – kind of what Orly mentioned was what was challenging is making sure that – I didn’t want people to….. ’cause like when you hear something like oh Madam – oh like what’s wrong with her? Or I wanted people to see that she was just doing the best that she could and to have that like ability too –  is like –  you know as a mom as a single mom, it’s like I I’m going to do what I have to do to support my kids and it may not be what you like but you know I have to do what I have to do. And so my biggest challenge, I guess it was just making sure that I kept her focus on the kids and you know it  started to –  and it was har ’cause then you’ll see like in the storyline, that you know she kind of gets a little bit lost, but bringing it back to the heart of why she worked so hard.

Jamie Ruby (SciFi Vision): Orly, What about you? What did you find the hardest thing?

Orly Adelson: For me it was really, how can we make it authentic? How can we really tell this story? So it’s not something you’ve seen in another movie because she had – Anna Gristina

had a different journey and that journey is important to tell in the way that it was inspired by her, not by other characters before that. So I think our writer, Barbara Marshall did an incredible job immediately by tying everything together through a narrative of girls that care about each other. Family that cares about each other – and so the disappointments were much harder at the end. And I don’t know how many of you saw the end and I won’t give it up but for me, that last scene of Jana in the movie – while she was filming it, I cried and then when we were editing I cried because it was true to the losses, the ups and down and at the end of the day; the price you pay.

Jamie Ruby (SciFi Vision): Great, thank you so much both of you.

Jana Kramer: Thanks Jamie.

Moderator: Thank you guys. I think we have another question from Rick.

Rick Bentley (Tribune): Yeah, I’m sorry Orly, I just want to get a little clarification here. You’ve mentioned the term authentic and you also talked about inspired by. When you’re dealing with a story like this what is the benefit of just basing a story on a real event and not just saying I’m just going to create this fictional story about a soccer mom where you don’t have to worry about – You know how authentic you stay and how you know how much you can sway from that that original story?

Orly Adelson: I think it’s a very thin line here between taking the heart of a story and telling it versus every moment to verify – Oh, this happened that way?  Now I have three people that I have to verify that it happened this way. Was this the girl? Now I need to make sure that the

girl was portrayed exactly correctly – versus I spoke to 2 girls, Never met them, spoke to them anonymously. And so it’s a little different than having to have then all the rights to that girl and make sure that she said that word versus didn’t say that word. It’s just the nuance between inspired to telling the story as a true story. ‘Cause even when you tell it from the point of view of Anna, it’s her POV that’s already a skewed POV.

Jana Kramer: Sure.

Orly Adelson: But that’s the point of view that was interesting to us.

Moderator: Thank you Orly. I think we have time for one more question from Suzanne.

Suzanne Lanoue (TVMeg): Hi! I was wondering, Orly, if you could tell us what you think might have happened, either from the real story, or from what you would do if you, say, had a sequel. What happened in your mind after that last scene.  Does she stay on the pig farm?  Does she get back together? Does her daughter forgive her? Does she get her life back together? What do you think?

Jana Kramer:  You want the perfect bow don’t you? Like what happens, it’s like, oh, if I could always, ask that question.

Suzanne Lanoue (TVMeg): You know, I’m like –  what happened?

Orly Adelson: You know, here it is. She will never do it again. She has gotten married. And she still has all the pigs. And she raises pigs and sends me pictures. She’s a unique character, really unique, and Jana got an opportunity to talk to her. She’s very unique, very honest, and very unique.

Suzanne Lanoue (TVMeg): And Jana, what was it like for you working with the kids on the show?

Jana Kramer: Oh, they were so sweet. Every age with them. The younger kids were so sweet.

And then the girl who played Mia. I mean, she’s a doll and I still, you know, text with her and I kind of felt like, you know, her mom when I left because I was, you know,

giving her tips about you know, don’t take anything from bullies and like you’re beautiful and like believe in yourself and you know it was cool ’cause I was able to help her in on of the scenes that we did. She was wanting to use some teardrops and I remember this one actor, actually, Austin Nichols, I was having a hard time crying on the set of One Tree Hill ’cause I was

just blocked emotionally and he held my hands and I just started crying. And so I said to her, I was like you don’t need that tear stick ’cause I know, you know the stuff that you’ve told me.

You’ve got a lot in in your heart and I was like you need to use it. So, in the middle of the scene I just held her hands and I was like, just look at me and then she just starts crying and I’m like yes! Like it just feels good to like help and like you know give back to like to someone-

like Austin did for me and just like to tap into those emotions and yeah, they were great. It was so fun. Thank you.

Suzanne Lanoue (TVMeg): That was a great story.

Moderator: Well, thank you all for your questions. An Orly and Jana thank you so much for being here with us today. I know that everyone is looking forward to June 6 to watch this movie and everyone stay tuned for our next panel.

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Jana Kramer as Anna in "Soccer Mom Madam" on LifetimeAfter a bitter breakup leaves her and her young children without any support, Anna (Jana Kramer) goes to work for her cousin at a massage parlor known for “happy endings.” As soon as she learns the ropes, Anna branches out on her own, establishing a high end New York escort service that matches beautiful young women with the wealthiest and most powerful men in the city. For years, she operates undetected, making millions while keeping the secret of her success hidden from her children and the other moms in her Westchester suburb.  But when the FBI begins to investigate her, hoping to catch a big fish among her elite clientele, Anna’s days as a madam are numbered when her double life is revealed with devastating consequences.
Produced by Front Street Productions for Lifetime, Soccer Mom Madam is inspired by true events. Orly Adelson and Jon Eskenas executive produce, Kevin Fair directs from a script by Barbara Marshall.

Proofread and Edited by Brenda

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Interview with Julie Benz

Posted on by TvMegasite Admin

TV Interview!

 

Julie Benz, star of "Secrets of a Gold Digger Killer" June 13 on Lifetime

Interview with producer Barbara Lieberman and star Julie Benz of “Secrets of a Gold Digger Killer” on Lifetime by Suzanne 5/19/21

Julie is one of my favorite actresses. I’ve followed her career since she played “Babs” in “Honey I’m Home” back in 1991. She’s proven what a great actress she is over and over in many roles, such as Darla on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Angel;” in the original “Roswell;” in “Desperate Housewives;” in “Dexter;” and in “Defiance.” I could go on and on. She really shines in this starring role as a manipulative and murderous woman (unfortunately, based on a true story). I enjoyed speaking with her about it. I’ve interviewed her before, but this was the first time on Zoom, so it was very special to me. It was also very enjoyable to hear her and the producer discuss the film and the real woman that Julie is portraying.

SECRETS OF A GOLD DIGGER PANEL

Moderator: Hi everybody, our next panel is Secrets of a Gold Digger Killer.  With us today is Julie Benz who plays “Celeste Beard” and executive producer Barbara Lieberman.  Our first question is for you, Barbara.  This movie is based on the book The Fortune Hunter by Suzy Spencer. What attracted you to this story?

Barbara Lieberman (Executive Producer): Well, it was a very high-profile case and Celeste Beard was an outrageous, outrageous woman and what she did was frankly reprehensible.  And sort of unbelievable…but riveting and fascinating.  And you know the depths that she could go were, I think very dramatic and would would make a fascinating movie and I was particularly attracted also to the girls, her daughters and how their relationship between Celeste and her daughters and how they survive their mother. And they did. And they’re fine now. So that’s a good thing. So yes, that’s why.

Moderator: Thank you, Barbara.  Our next question is from Suzanne.

Suzanne Lanoue (TVMeg): Hi Julie, I was wondering what you did to prepare for the role mentally to be so…I know you’re not an awful killer or terrible person.  What did you do to prepare for this role?

Julie Benz: The great thing about these types of roles is you can get all that anger and aggression out on set.  For me, you know, I did a lot of research.  We shot in Vancouver, so I had a 14 day quarantine. And so I spent that time watching every video footage I could find of Celeste and going down every rabbit hole of the case and just really trying to wrap my head around this woman and like Barbara said, she was extremely outrageous and it was challenging for me.  It allowed me basically to take the lid off of her like most people live with, a lid on to keep certain emotions in check, and Celeste just was like…she just vomited however she felt.  And so it was just being able to release the valve and let it all out and let it go. There were some days after filming all day where I would just A.) I’d be exhausted just from the amount of the emotional journey that she was going on but just that the jumping around in the shooting schedule as well.  It was exhausting.  But it was exhilarating as well.

Barbara Lieberman: I mean, I could say one other thing about Celeste, who was who was very savvy in her in her manipulation and smart about it.  And could you know hone in on the people that that she felt that she could best manipulate and use for her own ends and did that for a number of years quite successfully, but ultimately did not get away with it.

Suzanne Lanoue (TVMeg): I imagine that’s a characteristic that most gold diggers share.  I actually knew a gold digger of a friend of mine.  Married one and she didn’t kill him, thankfully.  She took him for all he was worth so the same kind of manipulation that you’re talking about, so…thank you.

Moderator: Thanks Suzanne.  Our next question is from Jamie.

Jamie (Starry Magazine): Hi Julie, great to talk to you again.  Can you talk about working with the accent and the challenge of that?

Julie Benz: Um you know, I’m good at it, so it wasn’t that challenging for me.  For me, it was really kind of getting Celeste when she talks.  She has kind of a really flat tone and it was really trying to get some of that flat tone like she flattens A’s a lot and just also I can lean too heavily into the accent, so they were constantly pulling me away, like backing me off from it.  But getting that flat tone but still being able to show emotion through it.  But when you watch Celeste in interviews, she just has this very flat kind of way that she talks.  So it was being able to do that, but also still show all the like having the emotional range and having that go through your voice.

Jamie: Well, it was believable, so thank you.

Julie Benz: Thank you!

Moderator: Thank you.  Our next question is from Jay Bobbin.

Jay Bobbin (Gracenote): Hello Julie, I like your comment about vomiting everything out as this character and also about having be pulled back on the accent.  I mean you’ve done so much work over the years.  You certainly know that when you get a colorful character like this, you can go high, wide and handsome at the same time.  I guess the challenge is to moderate so you don’t go too far.  How was that process for you as you approach the character before anybody else gave you direction?

Julie Benz: Well for me I go like this – approaching Celeste, I spoke to Robin, our director,  and I was like I’m gonna chew the scenery like I’m gonna, I’m gonna just let it go.  It’s up to you to tell me when I need where I need to pull it back when I need to pull it back and help me craft the performance because the only way I know how to play her is to just go from zero to 60 in under you know under a second so it was really in Robin’s hands to help like tell me like that.  Take it down a little bit, you know.  Next, take let’s you know, try a different approach. All of that.  So Robin really helped me craft the performance of her as well.

Jay Bobbin (Gracenote): Thank you.

Barbara Lieberman: Well, I’m going to say one thing about Julie.  I mean, what’s ironic is Julie is one of the nicest people you will ever meet and the fact that she could slide into this role and play this woman with such ease and depth and definitely was fabulous and as I said, ironic considering the difference between her and the character but…go ahead sorry…

Julie Benz: I will say too like there were some scenes that really just that broke my heart as an actress where I really scared Roan and Georgia who played my daughters and like literally after every take I would just hug them and just be like I’m so sorry. And they loved it. They were just like no.  We were terrified.  But it’s like you know they would Robin would yell cut and I would immediately grab them into a hug just to make me feel better because it there was a lot of ugly energy that I had to live in.

Moderator: Thanks you guys.  Barbara, you do a lot of movies with Lifetime and we’re just wondering – what is it like to work with Lifetime and do you prefer to work with our network over other networks?

Barbara Lieberman: Well, that’s a very loaded question.  I mean I love, I love to work with Lifetime. I mean in the past that right now, in this present day, they’re my favorite network to work with.  I mean, over the years I’ve worked with HBO and other places, but many other places but Lifetimes great.  And there you know, there very much now very opened to pushing the envelope.  On their subject matter and the execution, they if it’s dark, they’re OK about being dark.  I like to put a lot of interesting, outrageous and you know, contemporary music in and they’re open to that, so that makes it very attractive to me to work with them as a network.  So yeah, it’s great.

Moderator: That’s awesome, that’s great.  And how did you get involved in this movie to begin with?  Like what was the start of your work on this project?

Barbara Lieberman: Me?

Moderator: Yes

Barbara Lieberman: I read about this story 17 years ago and started developing it then and it was a long haul and we had a good script. But then somehow the regimes changed, and it went away.  And then last year Lifetime asked me to do another true crime and I said OK to that.  And then I called up Tanya Lopez and said, listen, there’s a movie that is such a great story and there’s a script and it needs a little work, but it’s not difficult to do, and frankly we have to make this movie.  And she said, OK, let’s make it.  I mean it was…it was great so that that worked out really well.  And I’m so glad they said yes and were happy with the film.  And I think it’s very entertaining also. I mean obviously I’m not objective at all but people seem to like it.

Moderator: Thank you, Barbara.  Our next question is from Steve Gidlow.

Steve Gidlow (Media Village): Hi, my question is actually for Julie. I would assume going into a role, you’ve got to find something redeeming about the character, like something to like about her.  I would imagine with this one – pretty hard. Was there anything you found redeeming about her?  And do you think she was doing it for her kids?

Julie Benz: So when I entered into this project and started researching Celeste, I would go back and forth between was she guilty, was she innocent?  Because you watch her in an interview and she still claims her innocence and she’s so believable so I really tried not to pass any judgment on her and really, I think in her mind, she did it for her family, her children and like this is what you do. But I think at the end of the day she really just did it for herself and that’s speaking right now that I’m removed from the project and she’s out of my system. But in it, while I was in it, I would have big arguments on set about like I don’t know.  I think she’s innocent guys. I really, you know…I watched another interview.  Barbara would be like no, she’s not.

Barbara Lieberman: If you talk to her today, she will of course tell you she’s innocent and she’ll go into all kinds of rationalizations as to what everybody else did to make it bad, but she if convinced herself as many psychopaths are that she’s innocent, but she isn’t…

Julie Benz: …but she is very believable when you when you when you watch her an interview.  She is so believable you just you watch her.  At least for me, I would watch her interviews and just be like…she’s right, everybody was…everybody was out to get her.  This is a total lie.  This didn’t happen.  She’s so innocent.  And then you know, you read the transcript from the trial and you see all you hear the recorded messages and all of that.  And you’re like, well, wait a second…

Steve Gidlow (Media Village): Thanks so much guys, appreciate it.

Moderator: Thank you guys so much.  Julie, this is our last question and it’s for you. If you could talk to Celeste and actually this is Barbara and Julie, you can both answer this.  If you could speak to Celeste, what would you ask her?

Julie Benz: You know, I mean, the obvious question is come on, did you really do it? But I don’t think I would ask that. I’d be too afraid.  I don’t know Barbara, what would you ask her?

Barbara Lieberman: I would probably…I wouldn’t ask that because you know, I know what her answer would be and it would be a lie. I would say do…did you…do you regret anything you did and would you do anything different and would you like to reconnect with your daughters?  I think that’s what I would ask and see what she came up with.  You know, by the way, as a side note, she has now, in case anybody’s interested in cooking has published a cookbook from prison.  Prison Recipes by Celeste Beard. I mean it and also her mother wrote a book about her.  She will never stop with her outrageous behavior.  But yeah, I would ask her that and see if she has any regret at all.  I mean, we have interviews with her from jail that we’ve used in addition to the book and all the massive research we did, but I think it’s would be hard to get a reliable answer from her about anything.

Julie Benz: Yeah, I think the best thing would just be to get her to talk. I mean, she sounds like somebody who would just talk and talk and talk and talk, which would be fascinating to listen to.

Moderator: Well thank you guys so very much for being here today.  We can’t wait to watch Secrets of the Gold Digger Killer.  Everybody, please stand by for the next panel.

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poster for the movie "Secrets of a Gold Digger Killer" on LifetimeBased on a true story, multimillionaire Steven Beard (Eli Gabay), a retired broadcasting executive, who fell hard for Celeste (Julie Benz), an attractive waitress who served him his nightly cocktail at the local country club in Austin, Texas. In 1995, the 70-year-old widow married the mother of teenage daughters and gave Celeste homes, cars, and more jewelry and designer clothes than she could ever wear. But it wasn’t enough for Celeste.  After being admitted into a mental health facility for depression, Celeste met and seduced fellow patient Tracey Tarlton (Justine Warrington), convincing her that the only way they could be together would be to murder Steven.  Knowing that she stood to inherit millions of dollars upon his death, the depth of Celeste’s lies, and betrayal knew no bounds until the truth was finally revealed by Tracey.

Produced by Fortune Hunter Films and based on The Fortune Hunter by Suzy Spencer, Secrets of a Gold Digger Killer is directed by Robin Hays and executive produced by Barbara Lieberman and Howard Braunstein.

Proofread and Edited by Brenda

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Julie Benz of "Secrets of a Gold Digger Killer" on Lifetime (photo from her Instagram)

Y&R Short Recap Friday, June 4, 2021

Posted on by Eva Diaz

Daytime Soap Opera Short Recaps

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Recap written by Eva

Victor gives Nikki tickets to Florence Italy to see Leslie Brooks perform her favorite piano concerto for her birthday. Victor also gives Nikki a beautiful necklace and a bouquet of apricot roses and Nikki thinks she is blessed to have Victor in her life.

Summer talks to Jack and tells him she saw Kyle with Harrison at the park and he is a natural father. Summer loves Kyle but she isn’t sure that she is ready to have a child in her life. Sally is determined to do whatever it takes to make Summer take the job at the fashion house in Italy.

Devon is worried that Amanda is so eager to have a family that she isn’t being objective about the facts in her grandfather’s case.

Ashland offers Tara joint custody of Harrison but with the condition that Kyle can’t be a part of Harrison’s life.

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