These are all 1024 x 768. Most computers today have no problem adjusting the size of any photo to your screen size, so we’re not going to bother making multiple sizes. This is the standard monitor size.
Interview with Megan Best of “Confessions of a Cam Girl” on Lifetime by Suzanne 1/23/24
It was lovely to speak to Megan. You may know her from “The Watchful Eye” last year on Freeform, where she played the meeker of the two sisters, Darcy. She’s playing a very different character here. She does very well as a young woman who thinks she knows what she wants and goes after it, even though she may be risking her life or reputation. It’s an exciting Lifetime drama, so you don’t want to miss it, Saturday, 1/27/24, 8/7c.
Inspired by real stories, Confessions of a Cam Girl follows the eighteen-year-old fashion savant Kristen (Megan Best, Dawn) who is set to become the first in her family to graduate college. Her working-class parents are furious when she reveals a plan to attend fashion school instead of college. Her parents refuse to use her college fund for her farfetched dream. Determined to pay for it herself, Kristen secretly creates an online explicit content page to raise $10,000 for dream program. Confident that she can keep her side hustle under wraps, Kristen’s secret unravels and threatens not just her future, but the safety of her family as well.
Confessions of a Cam Girl is produced by Sepia Films for Lifetime. Sheri Singer serves as executive producer. Siobhan Devine directs from a script written by Miriam van Emst.
Interview with creator Rebecca Cutter, and actors Atkins Estimond & Dohn Norwood in “Hightown” on Starz by Suzanne 1/18/24
This is an action-packed drama with exciting characters. The new season starts January 26th. It was great to speak with the creator, Rebecca Cutter, and two of the actors who play such interesting people. I didn’t have a lot of time with them, but it was fun.
“Hightown” – Season 3 – Debuting Friday, January 26
Fishery Service Agent Jackie Quiñones is off the wagon and off the force in the final season of “Hightown,” but that doesn’t stop her from careening into the dark underbelly of picture-perfect Cape Cod to save a missing woman and a murdered sex worker. Meanwhile, her former colleagues Ray Abruzzo and Alan Saintille are focused on taking down drug syndicates, but despite their best efforts, the drugs keep flowing. This attracts Shane Frawley, a gangster from Boston looking to cut himself in on the Cape’s drug trade – and making an enemy of Osito while he’s at it. Alliances are made and old loyalties are questioned in this beautiful but corrupt place where nothing is as it seems.
Monica Raymund (“Chicago Fire,” “The Good Wife”), James Badge Dale (“24,” The Departed), Riley Voelkel (“Roswell, New Mexico,” “The Originals”), Amaury Nolasco (“Prison Break,” “Deception”), Atkins Estimond (“The Resident,” “Lodge 49”) and Dohn Norwood (“Mindhunter,” “The Sinner”) return in their previous roles. Imani Lewis (Eighth Grade, “First Kill”) Mark Boone Junior (“Sons of Anarchy,” “Paradise City”) and Mike Pnniewski (“Madam Secretary”) return in recurring roles while Ana Nogueira (“The Vampire Diaries”), Taja V. Simpson (“The Oval”), Michael Drayer (“Mr. Robot,” “Sneaky Pete”), Garret Dillahunt (12 Years a Slave, “Deadwood”), and Jeanine Serralles (Inside Llewyn Davis, The Woman in the Window) all guest star.
Interview with Diego Tinoco of the film “Bad Hombres” by Suzanne 1/17/24
I enjoyed watching this movie, and I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t exceedingly violent nor gory, and it wasn’t depressing or sad. There was a lot of humor in it, as well. Diego is a remarkable young man, who plays Felix, the main protagonist of the film, even though he’s surrounded by much bigger stars (such as Luke Hemsworth) and other interesting characters. I think we’ll see even bigger things from Diego in the future. I hope you can enjoy this movie, which premieres today in theaters and On Demand, and is on VOD tomorrow.
BAD HOMBRES | Crime Thriller Starring Tyrese Gibson, Luke Hemsworth, & Diego Tinoco | In Theaters and On Demand 1/26
BAD HOMBRES
Crime Thriller Starring Thomas Jane, Tyrese Gibson, Luke Hemsworth, & Diego Tinoco
In Theaters & On Demand January 26, 2024 Available on DVD March 12, 2024
*Grand Jury Award – Mammoth Film Festival 2023*
*Achievement in Screenwriting – Mammoth Film Festival 2023*
Directed by John Stahlberg Jr. (Crypto, Muzzle)
Written by Rex New, Nick Turner, Story by John Stahlberg Jr.
Produced by John Stahlberg Jr., David Frigerio, Scott Macfarland, Oliver Hudson and Wyatt Russell
Starring: Luke Hemsworth (“Westworld”) Thomas Jane (The Punisher) Nick Cassavetes (Face/Off) Tyrese Gibson (The Fast and The Furious) Diego Tinoco (“On My Block”) Hemky Madera (“Queen of the South”)
and Paul Johansson (“One Tree Hill”)
Two undocumented immigrants who take a job digging a hole then learn their employers are criminals. They become embroiled in a blood bath with one revealing a secret past that might save them.
Interview with Lacretta of “Night Court” on NBC by Suzanne 1/16/24
I was very pleased to speak with this actress. I never miss an episode of the show and love all of the characters. It’s gotten even funnier in the second season, IMHO.
MORE INFO:
Lacretta
Donna “Gurgs” Gurganous, “Night Court”
Lacretta stars as Donna “Gurgs” Gurganous on the NBC comedy “Night Court.”
Born and raised in Kansas City, Mo., Lacretta made her stage debut at 14 at the Coterie Theater – an institution in which she holds great affection. It was there where she starred in numerous performances throughout the ’90s, such as “A Wrinkle in Time” and “101 Dalmatians.”
In 2011, she appeared in “Hairspray” at Broadway Rose in Portland. She then originated the role of Levora Verona in the Off-Broadway run of “Disaster!” in 2012 at the Triad in New York, and made her Broadway debut with the same role in 2016.
Following her on-stage success, Lacretta guest starred on “Law & Order,” “30 Rock,” “Broad City” and “Gotham.”
In film, Lacretta appeared in the romantic comedy “Second Act” before making her return to the stage in “Avenue Q” in the closing cast of their Off-Broadway run at New World Stages. She was also featured in the first national tour of “The Book of Mormon.”
In her off time, Lacretta loves gaming and is very active on Twitch TV. In 2022, she helped announce the first Streamers for Education Scholarship for Black Women going into the fields of STEM, Digital Media and film. She is also an avid cook and often shares recipes from “Cretta’s Kitchen” on her Instagram.
She currently resides in Los Angeles.
Night Court
New Season Coming Soon to NBC
The eternally optimistic Abby Stone follows in the footsteps of her revered late father, Judge Harry Stone, as she takes on the challenge of overseeing the night shift of a Manhattan arraignment court.
Abby always sees the best in people and her passion for justice is undeniable. In her quest to bring order and dignity to the court and reign in its colorful crew of oddballs, she enlists former night court district attorney Dan Fielding to serve as the court’s public defender. Still exceedingly self-confident, Fielding must adjust to a new boss and a new job – defending the downtrodden. And, beneath his arrogant demeanor, there is an empathetic side to Fielding that Abby is determined to unearth.
They both must contend with Olivia, the court’s officious assistant district attorney. Driven and ambitious, she views the night court as a steppingstone on her way to bigger things. Neil is the court’s neurotic clerk who loved that his job came with low expectations. That is until a new idealistic judge showed up looking to push him out of his comfort zone.
Rounding out the staff is Donna “Gurgs” Gurganous, the night court’s sharp-witted bailiff. Gurgs takes her job very seriously and is fiercely protective of her night court colleagues.
From executive producer and writer Dan Rubin (“Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”), “Night Court” is based on the original hit series that ran for nine seasons on NBC. Melissa Rauch and Winston Rauch executive produce through their After January Productions. Mona Garcea oversees for After January Productions and John Larroquette serves as a producer.
“Night Court” is produced by Rauch’s After January Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television and Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group.
Interview with actors Eoin Macken, Zyra Gorecki, Nicholas Gonzalez, Jon Seda, Chiké Okonkwo, Lily Santiago, Josh McKenzie, Rohan Mirchandaney, Jack Martin and Veronica St. Clair, and creator/EP David Appelbaum of “La Brea” on NBC by Suzanne 12/18/23
It was really wonderful to speak with these actors once again, even though it may be the last time. I’m sad that the show is ending. They really packed a lot into each episode, though.
I do have to apologize a bit because I was having a very hectic week, so I didn’t prepare as well as I usually do, and this made nervous, so I was a little off my game. The cast and showrunner were excellent at answering some of my off-the-wall questions and comments, anyway.
Fellow journalist and friend Sammi Turano of TV Grapevine was in two of the roundtables and then had to leave. I hope you enjoy the interviews, and the show, which premieres tomorrow, Tuesday, January 9th on NBC!
Here’s a scene that we mentioned in two of the interviews, just FYI…
Video #1 with Eoin Macken, Zyra Gorecki & Nicholas Gonzalez
Video #2 with Eoin Macken, Zyra Gorecki and Nicholas Gonzalez
Season 3 Premiere January 9 on NBC (9-10pm ET/PT). Streaming next day on Peacock.
“La Brea” follows an epic family adventure after a massive sinkhole opens in Los Angeles pulling people and buildings into a mysterious and dangerous primeval land where they have no choice but to band together to survive.
The cast includes Eoin Macken, Zyra Gorecki, Chiké Okonkwo, Rohan Mirchandaney, Lily Santiago, Josh Mckenzie, and Jon Seda, with Nicholas Gonzalez, Jack Martin, Veronica St. Clair, Tonantzin Carmelo, and Natalie Zea
Creator/Showrunner David Appelbaum executive produces with Chris Hollier, Peter Traugott, Rachel Kaplan, Avi Nir, and Alon Shtruzman,
“La Brea” is produced by Universal Television and Australia’s Matchbox Pictures, both divisions of Universal Studio Group in association with Keshet Studios.
Anthony Anderson and his mama Doris host this game show.
The premise of the show is simple. People who have famous relatives come on the show to sing while they sing clues about their famous relative and are placed on the screen behind them. The entire studio audience are the contestants in the show and make their guesses about the celebrity relative using keypads. The singers also sing with their celebrity relative, who is hidden inside a dome. Once the celebrity comes out of the dome the audience members who guess the celebrity correctly split money. In the final round of the game, the audience member who has guessed correctly throughout the game gets the chance to guess one more time for a chance to win up to $ 150,000.
I really enjoyed this show, it is fun to watch in order to find out who the famous people are behind the dome. Mama Doris is always funny.
I give this show 5 out of 5_stars because it’s also interesting to find out a little bit about the family life of celebrities.
The show airs on Fox on Wednesdays at 9 Eastern 8 Central time.
I enjoy watching game shows so when I saw a commercial for The Floor I had to watch it. Rob Lowe is the host and he does a good job.
The premise of this show is a little complicated so it might take you a few episodes to understand how the game works. I will give you the basic idea of how the game works so you can watch it. Two contestants participate in trivia duels in which the contestants have to answer questions about a subject such as pop music singers. The contestants see pictures of singers on a TV screen and the contestant who identifies the most singers wins the round and the losing contestant goes home. The duels continue and after four rounds the winning contestant wins 20,000 and returns to play again the following week to try and win more money.
I liked this game, but it is a little complicated and I like games where the audience watching at home roots for the contestants to win and I really wasn’t rooting for any of the contestants to win. The game gets a little boring after a while because all the rounds are the same. The only thing that changes each round is the trivia subject.
The show airs on Fox on Tuesdays at 9 pm Eastern/8 pm Central time.
I give this show 3 out of 5 stars. The Floor needs work. I will only watch it if I get bored.
I was looking forward to watching Extended Family because I enjoy Jon Cryer who stars in the show as Jim Kearney who is recently divorced from Julia (Abigail Spencer).
Jim and Julia have a friendly divorce and take turns living in the house with their kids in order to keep things normal for their kids. Julia is a crisis manager and that is how she meets Trey Taylor (Donald Faison), owner of the Boston Celtics. Julia helps him get out of trouble when he offends Irish people. Trey and Julia fall in love and get engaged. Jim welcomes Trey into his family even though sometimes there is friction between them. Jim’s father Bobby (Lenny Clarke) gives Jim advice and sometimes takes care of the kids when Jim needs him to do it. Bobby and Julia don’t get along well but they tolerate each other for the sake of family harmony.
The show premiered on December,23 2023 right after a special Christmas episode of Night Court. I think the cast needs time to gel together because the first episode seemed like the actors were just trying to get to the jokes which in my opinion were not that funny. My favorite character in the show is Jim’s father Bobby who is very funny as he tries to get used to the new family situation. I think, since the show comes after Night Court, it might get some time for the cast to find its rhythm and, once that happens, the show will be better.
The show airs on NBC on Tuesdays at 8:30 Eastern/7:30 Central time. If you miss an episode, it will be available on Peacock the next day.
I give this show 3 out of 5 stars hoping it will improve in future episodes.
Interview with Serinda Swan, Shaun Sipos and Maria Sten of “Reacher” on Prime Video by Suzanne 12/12/23
“Reacher” season two is even better, in my opinion, than season one, and the cast additions are part of the reason. Swan and Sipos are talented and able to handle action, drama and comedy equally with no obvious effort (as they’ve proven many times). I believe the writing is also better, and it has a lot more humor than season one. Sipos’ character is wise-cracking, but he’s certainly not the only one that has funny lines. Of course, you know with this kind of show that they try to put in humor to balance out the serious drama (and tragedy). I enjoyed speaking to these three actors. Swan was so great in “The Inhumans” and “Coroner,” and Sipos has been in many fine shows that I love, such as “Krypton,” “Dark Matter” and “The Vampire Diaries.” This was a roundtable, so there were other journalists. I was only able to ask one question, unfortunately. Watch the new season now!
Reacher Season Two begins when veteran military police investigator Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson) receives a coded message that the members of his former U.S. Army unit, the 110th MP Special Investigations, are being mysteriously and brutally murdered one by one. Pulled from his drifter lifestyle, Reacher reunites with three of his former teammates turned chosen family to investigate, including Frances Neagley (Maria Sten); Karla Dixon (Serinda Swan), a forensic accountant for whom Reacher has long had a soft spot; and fast-talking, switchblade-wielding family man David O’Donnell (Shaun Sipos). Together, they begin to connect the dots in a mystery where the stakes get higher at every turn, and brings about questions of who has betrayed them—and who will die next. Using his inimitable blend of smarts and size, Reacher will stop at nothing to uncover the truth and protect the members of his unit. If there’s one thing Reacher and his team know for certain, it’s that you do not mess with the Special Investigators. This season, get ready for Reacher and the 110th to hit back hard.
Based on Bad Luck and Trouble, the 11th book in Lee Child’s global best-selling series, Reacher Season Two stars Alan Ritchson in the title role of Jack Reacher, with Maria Sten, Serinda Swan, and Shaun Sipos as key members of the 110th MP Special Investigations Unit. Rounding out the cast are Ferdinand Kingsley as A.M., a mercenary that homeland security refers to as a “ghost;” Robert Patrick as Shane Langston, head of security for a private defense contractor with a questionable track record; and Domenick Lombardozzi as tough NYPD detective Guy Russo.
Reacher is produced by Amazon Studios, Skydance Television, and Paramount Television Studios. Based on the novels by Lee Child, who serves as an executive producer, the series is written for television by Emmy-nominated writer Nick Santora (Scorpion, Prison Break), who also executive produces and serves as showrunner. In addition to Santora and Child, the series is executive produced by Don Granger, Scott Sullivan, and Adam Higgs, with David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Matt Thunell for Skydance.
Social Media
Country Availability
Worldwide
Executive Produced By
Nick Santora, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Don Granger, Lee Child, Scott Sullivan, Adam Higgs, Matt Thunell
Developed By
Nick Santora
Produced By
Amazon Studios, Skydance Television, Paramount Television Studios
Credits
Based on Lee Child’s 11th Jack Reacher novel Bad Luck and Trouble
Produced by
Amazon Studios, Skydance Television, Paramount Television Studios
Developed by
Nick Santora
Showrunner
Nick Santora
Executive Producers
Nick Santora
David Ellison
Dana Goldberg
Don Granger
Lee Child
Scott Sullivan
Adam Higgs
Matt Thunell
Cast
Alan Ritchson
Maria Sten
Serinda Swan
Shaun Sipos
Domenick Lombardozzi
Ferdinand Kingsley
Robert Patrick
Maria Sten
Frances Neagley
Maria Sten most recently starred as Liz Tremayne in the cult hit series Swamp Thing opposite Crystal Reed, Jennifer Beals, Virginia Madsen, Will Patton and Andy Bean, executive produced by James Wan. She is also known for playing the lead role of Jillian Hope Hodgson on Syfy’s Channel Zero.
As an accomplished writer, Sten most recently wrote on ABC’s hit show Big Sky from David E. Kelley and has previously been selected for the 2017 The Black List / Women In Film Episodic Labs, as well as Christina Hodson and Margot Robbie’s Lucky Exports Pitch Program in 2019. Sten debuted her first short, When It Burns, which she wrote, directed, produced and starred in at Uptown Short Film Festival and LA Shorts Fest 2016.
A former professional dancer and model, the multi-lingual Danish/Swedish/Congolese beauty was born in Copenhagen and crowned Miss Denmark 2008.
She is represented by CAA, Grandview, and Granderson Des Rochers.
Serinda SwanKarla DixonSerinda Swan was born in Vancouver, Canada to a family of artists. Her father and step-mother are both in the theatre world. Father Scott Swan is an established theater director and has an acting studio in Vancouver and stepmother Cheryl Swan is a faculty emeritus who taught post-secondary theatre for over 35 years. Swan’s mother Alandra Napali Kai is a leader in the health and wellness world and runs women’s retreats all around the world.Swan was introduced to the television world with popular shows like Supernatural, Psych, and Hawaii Five-O. In 2009, she was cast as the iconic ‘Zatanna’ in the popular show Smallville.Feature films soon followed with Percy Jackson & The Olympians:The Lightning Thief directed by Chris Columbus and Disney’s TRON: Legacy opposite Jeff Bridges. In 2011, Swan was cast as the female lead ‘Erica Reed’, in the series Breakout Kings. After the series’ two-year run, she was cast as a series regular in the hit show GRACELAND which ran until 2015.Swan’s work continued by playing the iconic Anne Bancroft, alongside Jessica Lange in Ryan Murphy’s show FEUD!. Swan was then cast opposite Dwayne Johnson to play his love interest on the hit series Ballers. Simultaneously working with ‘The Rock’, Swan was cast as the female lead in Marvel’s Inhumans opposite Anson Mount and Iwan Rheon. She portrayed the iconic character Medusa, the queen of the Inhumans. Swan is currently leading the cast of CBC’s primetime hit drama series, Coroner which has just completed production last year.On the philanthropic side, Swan is the CEO and Co-Founder of the Education technology company Deedly. Her goal is to give students a choice in the future they want to be a part of and give them the tools and information to achieve it at no cost to them, their teacher, the school or the charity highlighted. Her belief is that education should be free, and through their specific monthlong curriculum they educate students about world issues and the charities that strive to fix them. “Traditional education systems focus on harnessing the capacity of the mind, I want to harness the capacity of the heart.” Deedly will be in over 1000 schools by the end of the year.Swan has worked closely with the UN, staying in refugee camps at the border of south Sudan on an anti-Malaria mission, cycled across the entire country of Cambodia to bring awareness to anti-sex trafficking and has gone skydiving over 10 times at 18,000 feet (North America’s highest skydive) for her yearly fundraiser for anti sex trafficking and women’s equality.Swan was also invited to be one of the headline speakers at TEDXVancouver and recently spoke at the United Nations on International Women’s Day 2018 as well as a panel on how the media and entertainment industry can influence social change.To date, Swan has personally raised over $700,000 for charity and reached over 100 million people with her awareness campaigns.Shaun SiposDavid O’Donnell
Interview with Jason Isaacs, Dyan Cannon, Jennifer Grant and Jeff Pope of “Archie” on Britbox by Jamie 12/5/23
From executive producer Jeff Pope, “Archie,” now on Britbox, brings the little-known story of actor Cary Grant’s rise to stardom, starting with his formative years as the troubled Archie Leach, who overcame his struggles to reinvent himself, to become the superstar the public knew.
Pope, along with Cary Grant’s daughter, Jennifer Grant, and Dyan Cannon, his ex-wife, as well as Jason Isaacs, the actor who stars in the title role, spoke with Jamie Ruby for TVMEG.COM earlier in the week.
The idea to do the series first came to Pope after reading Jennifer Grant’s book, Good Stuff, about her father. “I became fascinated with the kind of wit and humor of the man, as Jennifer relayed,” said Pope. The producer hadn’t realized that Cary had retired, and wanted to know why. “[W]hen he became a father, he gave it all up to become a stay at home dad, and I thought, that was my starting point…when you dig back into his past, you realize, because of his traumatic childhood, he was so determined that he was going to be the best father he could, and not be an absent father, which a continuing movie career would have meant.”
It was ten years ago when he first came to Cannon and told her he wanted to make the movie. “We talked it right into being and now it’s a four hour miniseries, which gives the audience a full bodied look at him,” said Cannon, who wrote memoirs from which the series was also partly based, adding that she was involved in both the casting and the biggest decision making and that she is is thrilled with the way it’s turned out, including the performances.
Jennifer Grant spoke to Isaacs’ performance in particular. “I was very grateful…that we found Jason,” she told the site. “He really had dad’s voice and dad’s mannerisms, and dad’s tenderness, especially, so it was a bizarre process watching my mom and dad.”
Series’ star Isaacs spoke about that transformation during the interview, praising the creative team for the physical part of it. “Mostly it was other people doing the work,” he said. “It was extraordinary costumes that were tailor made by the best tailors in the world and that compensated for my various punches and twists. Liz Headley, our incredible makeup artist gave me a chin and eyes and hair and, obviously, prosthetics when he gets heavy and he’s older. So, a lot of it was done for me.”
It was Grant’s voice that was the most difficult for Isaacs. “I didn’t want to do the voice he does in the movies, because I knew that nobody talks like that in real life,” he said. “I don’t mean the accent. I mean, his speech patterns were so similar, so repeated, that there was no way he was like that when he was being spontaneous. I found only one elicit recording of an interview he gave once, because he didn’t do interviews, and didn’t really want…the world to see who Cary Grant really was. Cary Grant was Archie Leach, and behind closed doors, when he stepped off screen, he was someone entirely different.”
Isaacs learned a lot about Grant during the process. “I don’t think anybody, unless they’ve read the biographies and read Dyan’s book, knew that this man who was famous for one or two things, being suave and debonair, was the very opposite, who seemed the very epitome of certainty and masculinity and solidity, was so fragile and so fractious and so angry at the world and himself,” said the actor.
Watch the miniseries to find out more about Cary Grant yourself, now on Britbox, and be sure to watch the full interviews with the cast and crew below!
Coming to BritBox in North America December 7, 2023, Archie outlines the life of the infamous Cary Grant. Born in Bristol, England in 1904, to parents Elsie and Elias, Archie narrates the story of a young Archibald Alexander Leach’s troubled childhood and how extreme poverty, his father’s adultery and the loss of his older brother, John, tore the family apart and sent his loving mother into a downward spiral of grief and depression. Jeff Pope’s scripts reveal how deceit, cruelty and one, overpowering lie shaped Archie’s life. At 14 he auditioned for the music hall act, the Bob Pender Troupe, a band of acrobats, stilt walkers, clowns and comedians after seeing them perform at the Bristol Hippodrome. Lean and athletic, he learned the art of stilt walking, and when the troupe went on tour to the US, teenage Archie was intoxicated by the land of opportunity. Believing he had no family to return to in the UK, he decided to stay in the US to try to make his way in showbusiness.
With no thoughts of acting, a chance meeting with the comedian George Burns helped him find his first footing on the acting ladder and a contract with a movie studio who felt he needed to change his name, and Cary Grant was born. The drama intercuts with scenes from 1961 when at the height of his fame, living in Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles, the legendary actor was breaking all box office records, but desperately unhappy in his private life. With two failed marriages behind him, he began to woo an actress he’d seen on a TV show, Dyan Cannon. Thirty-three years his junior, Dyan, didn’t initially fall for his charms turning down his attempts to meet, because she didn’t feel they could ever be a match. Dashingly handsome, suave and sophisticated, Cary continued to pursue her, with introductions to his famous friends, until they eventually wed in Las Vegas in 1965.
The series also stars Laura Aikman (Not Going Out, Gavin and Stacey) as Cary’s formidable ex-wife, actress and filmmaker Dyan Cannon, with Harriet Walter (Succession, Ted Lasso, Killing Eve) as Elsie Leach, Cary’s mother.
Dainton Anderson (Patrick Melrose), Calam Lynch (Bridgerton) and Oaklee Pendergast (Home) play young versions of Archie Leach, and Kara Tointon (Mr Selfridge, The Halcyon, Sound of Music Live) plays young Elsie.
Archie is a 4 x 60 mins drama commissioned by ITV’s Head of Drama, Polly Hill for ITVX. Rebecca Hodgson (Sherwood, The Irregulars, Deep Water, The Road to Coronation Street) is the producer and Paul Andrew Williams (A Confession, London to Brighton, Song for Marion) directs. With the blessing of Cary Grant’s daughter, Jennifer Grant, and ex-wife Dyan Cannon, the pair serve as Executive Producers. Jeff Pope executive produces the series for Etta Pictures with Diederick Santer for BritBox International. The series is coming to BritBox in December 2023.
Jason Isaacs was born in Liverpool. He studied law at Bristol University but fell in love with the theatre and directed, produced and appeared in dozens of productions there, at the National Student Theatre Festival and at the Edinburgh Festival. He graduated in 1985 but then attended the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and began working in 1988.
Jason’s notable roles include Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter films, Mr. Darling/Captain Hook in Peter Pan (2003), and many soldiers: Col. William Tavington in Roland Emmerich’s The Patriot (2000), Captain Steele in Ridley Scott’s Blackhawk Down, Major Briggs in Paul Greengrass’s Green Zone, Captain Waggoner in Fury, Captain Lorca in Star Trek: Discovery, Field Marshall Zhukov in Armando Iannucci’s The Death of Stalin and Rear-Admiral Godfrey in John Madden’s Operation Mincemeat. He was Hap in the cult series The OA, Maurice in the WW2 film Good (2008) and Jay in the multi-award winning MASS. He has made many TV series in Britain and the US and has won or been nominated for a Golden Globe, International Emmy, BAFTA, Critics Choice, Peabody, Satellite and many other awards.
On stage he was Louis Ironson in the original productions of Angels in America parts 1 and 2 for the Royal National Theatre and has performed at the Royal Court, Almeida and West End Theatres.
Jason is married to documentary filmmaker Emma Hewitt, who he met at drama school and with whom he has two children.
Dyan Cannon is the first woman in the history of the Motion Picture Academy to be nominated for Oscars both in front of and behind the camera. Her diligence and determination have been rewarded by many prestigious honors.
She received her first Academy Award nomination for her memorable role as Alice in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969), opposite Natalie Wood and directed by Paul Mazursky. For her performance, she garnered the coveted New York Film Critics Award.
Dyan received her second Academy Award nomination in the category of Best Live Action Short for writing and directing the 48-minute film, Number One (1976), which she also produced, edited and scored. The New York Times commended the film as one of the best movies ever made concerning children’s development.
She received her third Academy Award nomination for her comedic role as Julia Farnsworth, opposite Warren Beatty, in Heaven Can Wait (1978), for which she won the Golden Globe Award from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Later that year, she starred in another comedy hit, Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978), opposite Peter Sellers and directed by Blake Edwards, and was named Female Star of the Year by NATO (National Association of Theater Owners).
As the singular force behind the motion picture The End of Innocence (1990), Dyan undertook a triumvirate of tasks as writer, director and star. Dyan’s work received amazing reviews from the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times.
Dyan has co-starred on two outstanding prime-time television shows. For several years, she brought her own brand of humor, class and sexiness to the role of Whipper Cone on the Emmy Award winning series Ally McBeal (1997). She then starred as the vivacious and free-spirited Honey Bernstein-Flynn on NBC’s comedy series Three Sisters (2001).
Dyan wanted to take time off from her acting career to write. During the next nine years, she not only collaborated on a Broadway musical, but wrote her memoir, “Dear Cary,” which was on the New York Times best seller list three different times spanning four years. It is now being made into a miniseries.
Dyan is recognized as an exceptional motivational speaker for prominent associations and corporations. Children are her passion and most of her work centers around the care and welfare of kids. She is the national spokesperson for the Hemangioma Treatment Foundation, an organization that provides treatment to children all over the world who are afflicted with vascular birthmarks. She is the international executive spokesperson for Operation Lookout, an organization dedicated to recovering missing and exploited children who have been kidnapped from their homes, schools, etc. She has also been national spokesperson for Martin Colette’s Wildlife Waystation, an international refuge that rescues and rehabilitates wild and exotic animals, as well as national spokesperson for Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America
In addition, she devotes time and energy to several other charitable organizations such as California’s Special Olympics for physically and mentally challenged athletes and also works with recovering addicts weekly.
Dyan is a permanent court-side fixture at the Los Angeles Lakers basketball games.
Jennifer Grant is the daughter of actors Cary Grant and Dyan Cannon. Her father initially opposed her becoming an actress. She graduated from Stanford with a degree in history and political science in 1987. Initially, she went to work in a law firm and later tried a stint as a chef. But, finally, she decided to move into acting in 1993, landing her first role on Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990).
Interview with Larry A. Thompson, producer of “Ladies of the ’80s: A Divas Christmas” on Lifetime by Suzanne 10/23/23
In a normal year, I would have been able to interview one of the great actresses in this movie, or possibly all of them. However, this interview was during the SAG-Aftra strike, so I was only allowed to speak to the movie’s executive producer. However, it was a great chat because he’s been around a long time. He worked with the Beatles when he was just starting out as a lawyer for EMI! He’s not only a producer, but a manager. In fact, he manages William Shatner, whom I love and would very much like to interview one day. It was awesome to hear his stories in this interview. I hope you enjoy it, too!
The movie is very fun – especially if you enjoy romantic Christmas movies, or if you watched primetime soaps like “Knots Landing,” “Dallas,” “Desperate Housewives,” etc. because the “ladies” of the title are LInda Grey (Sue Ellen on “Dallas”), Loni Anderson (Jennifer of “WKRP in Cincinnati, among other roles – the only “lady” not known for soaps), Morgan Fairchild (of Falcon Crest, Paper Dolls and many daytime soaps), Nicolette Sheridan (Paige of “Knots Landing” and Edie of “Desperate Housewives”), and Donna Mills (Abby in “Knots Landing”). It was great to see them all in this charming film. Thompson’s daughter, Taylor Ann, is the ingenue of the movie. Christopher Atkins has a small role as Grey’s son (This is hilarious to me because in “Dallas,” their characters had an affair!). I enjoyed it. It’s fun and very Christmasy. The male lead, Travis Burns, is very handsome and has a killer Aussie accent. Happy Holidays! Don’t miss the movie tomorrow, December 2nd, 2023!
In Ladies of the ’80s: A Divas Christmas, five glamorous ‘80s soap opera stars reunite to share the spotlight to shoot the final Christmas episode of their long-running soap opera. The producer, Alex (Travis Burns) and director Nell (Taylor Ann Thompson), old college friends, do their best to keep things on the rails but as the ladies come together, old rivalries resurface that threaten to tear the whole production apart. With the show nearly canceled before it even begins due to the ladies’ famous diva behavior, they reluctantly agree to set aside their differences and past secrets to “act” as if they all still love each other. When old sparks reignite between Alex and Nell, the ladies become eager to play cupid and conspire to bring the couple together. Along the way, the divas also discover that the love between them all is still very strong too.
The movie’s theme song Ladies of the ’80s was written by Song Writer Hall of Fame’s Steve Dorff and Michael Jay, produced by Steve Droff, and performed by ’80s pop sensation Tiffany (I Think We’re Alone Now).
Ladies of the ’80s: A Divas Christmas is executive produced for Lifetime by Larry A. Thompson (Liz & Dick, Amish Grace). Christie Will Wolf (Christmas on Candy Cane Lane, The Art of Passion) directs from a script by James Berg & Stan Zimmerman (The Golden Girls, Gilmore Girls) with Robert G. Endara II and Ed Polgardy producing.
Interview with Tim Rozon of “SurrealEstate” on Syfy by Suzanne 11/16/23
It was great to speak with Tim again. He’s very engaging and fun. I love this show – the writing, the humor, the acting, the scares…it is just worth watching for pure entertainment. Usually we interview the actors before the show starts, but we weren’t able to do that because of the SAG-AFTRA strike. However, I did interview the show’s creator/writer, George R. Olson, so that was cool. I love interviewing writers, directors and producers from shows I love, as well as the actors. I’m very grateful that we have them all back now and available. There are 3 episodes left as I post this, so I hope you get to watch all the episodes! The last three really wrap things up nicely for this season.
Tim’s first major role was playing heartthrob Tommy Quincy opposite Alexz Johnson and Laura Vandervoort for four seasons on the teen drama series “Instant Star” for TeenNick (USA) and CTV (Canada). He was then cast as the series lead Alex Caine, playing a gang infiltrator, in “Befriend and Betray” for Shaw TV (Canada). Recent series leads include playing Mutt Schitt on the Emmy juggernaut and Golden Globe winning CBC/Netflix hit comedy “Schitt’s Creek” opposite comedy icons Eugene Levy, Dan Levy, Catherine O’Hara and Chris Elliott; Doc Holliday, the infamous lawman and charismatic gambler, on the fan-fave SyFy series “Wynonna Earp”; Constable Carson Myers, stand up RCMP officer and love interest, on the CBC series “Diggstown” opposite Natasha Henstridge and Vinessa Antoine; Isaac, lawyer turned outer space rogue, in the SyFy series Vagrant Queen. Tim is delighted to currently be playing the series leading role of Luke Roman, a real estate agent specializing in haunted homes, on SyFy’s new series “SurrealEstate.”
Tim won a prestigious Gemini Award (the “Canadian Emmy”) for his performance in the series “Flashpoint” (CTV/CBS) and was nominated for another Gemini for work in “Befriend and Betray”. Tim was thrilled when “Wynonna Earp” won the People’s Choice Award for Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy show in both 2018 and 2020.
Off camera, Tim has many talents in the entertainment business. He is a voiceover actor, most notably playing a leading role in the animated feature film “The Legend of Sarila”, opposite Christopher Plummer and Genevieve Bujold. He produced the documentary feature “Shuckers”, about the world of oysters and those who shuck them. And he is very proud of his work co-writing multiple “Wynonna Earp” graphic novels with creator Beau Smith for IDW.
When not acting, Tim plays the role of restaurateur in Montreal at his hit restaurants Garde Manger and Le Bremner opposite star chef Chuck Hughes.
“SurrealEstate” follows real estate agent Luke Roman and an elite team of specialists that handle the cases no one else can: haunted and possessed houses that literally scare would-be buyers away. Researching, investigating and “fixing” the things that go bump in the night, the team works to create closure – and closings – even as they struggle with demons of their own.
“DEARLY DEPARTED” (Wednesday, Nov. 29 at 10 p.m. ET/PT)
The Roman Agency must coach a homeowner into the light when he discovers he’s haunting his own house. The team locates Susan, but can they save her?
“LETTING GO” (Wednesday, Dec. 6 at 10 p.m. ET/PT)
SEASON FINALE: Susan returns to the Roman Agency, but it quickly becomes clear it’s not the Susan they remember. With the entire team in danger, Luke must confront the force within Susan’s house.
“SurrealEstate” stars Tim Rozon, Sarah Levy, Adam Korson, Maurice Dean Wint, Savannah Basley and Elena Juatco.
The series was created by George R. Olson, who executive produces with Lance Samuels, Danishka Esterhazy, Armand Leo, Daniel Iron, Neil Tabatznik, Cosima Von Spreti and Kevin Anweiler.
Catch up on last season of “SurrealEstate,” now streaming on Hulu.
Interview with Gary Anthony Sturgis of “Wicked City” on ALLBLK by Suzanne 11/20/23
I had a blast chatting with Gary! He is so funny, smart and entertaining, and he loves to talk. We’ve been Facebook friends for 14 years, so it was great to finally “meet” face to face. He’s been in many great shows and movies. Not only is he a talented actor, he’s also an accomplished writer!
MORE INFO:
Gary Anthony Sturgis is a New Orleans born actor/writer/director best-known for his portrayal of the villain in two of Tyler Perry’s biggest hit films, “Diary of A Mad Black Woman” (as Jamison Jackson) and “Daddy’s Little Girls” (as Joseph Woods). He also co-starred opposite Terrence Howard in “Pride”, as the charming yet sinister pimp/drug dealer Franklin Washington. Recently, he has stepped out the role of bad guy to co-star in the comedy “Chicago Pulaski Jones” with Kel Mitchell and Cedric the Entertainer.
Also a professional voice artist, Sturgis has voiced network promos for UPN, CBS, PBS and ABC, cartoons and video games (Static Shock, Batman, Scooby Doo and The Cyber Chase, Fairly Odd Parents, Spiderman) and is heard on countless commercials for radio and television. His raspy bass-baritone voice that the women find hard to resist has even been heard on national movie trailers and promotions for; “Bones”, “Two Can Play That Game”, “The Others”, “The Brothers” and “The Wood” to name a select few. In addition, he is also the voice for the History Channel’s “K-9 Cops”. For another surprise, Gary also produces and writes rap music and has a successful recording under the moniker Illuminati called Fahrenheit, which is still available on iTunes.
As a writer/producer, Gary is producing some of his own feature-length screenplays (he has written more than ten), and has packaged his works into three and four picture deals and commenced to shopping them around town for financing and distribution. We have only scratched the surface of this multi-faceted creative soul.
Since Sturgis had been writing for years, the next natural progression was to direct. After directing “Lend A Hand”, a 90-second short film for the American Black Film Festival (ABFF), Gary realized that directing was yet another feather he could stick in his talented cap.
A group of urban witches push their powers to new heights and uncover dark secrets that attract dangerous enemies their way. Explore other projects that were filmed in Atlanta, Georgia at https://www.exploregeorgia.org/film.
US RATING: TV-MA
Cast: Vanessa Bell Calloway, Taylor Polidore, Shaquita Smith, Rhonda Morman, Chantal Maurice, Mercedez McDowell, Chanel Mack
Director: Dale S. Lewis
PRESS RELEASE:
LIFE’S A WITCH IN THE ATL
ALLBLK RELEASES TRAILER FOR SEASON TWO OFSUPERNATURAL DRAMA WICKED CITYPREMIERING OCTOBER 19
Cast Includes Vanessa Bell Calloway, Karon Joseph Riley, Taylor Polidore, Shaquita Smith, Mercedez McDowell, Chantal Maurice, Chanel Mack, and more
New York, NY – October 4, 2023 – Today, ALLBLK, the popular streaming service for Black television from AMC Networks, released the trailer for the sophomore season of supernatural drama, Wicked City. The 8-episode series premieres Thursday, October 19, with new episodes dropping every Thursday exclusively on ALLBLK.
In season one, we followed a coven of Black witches who pushed their supernatural powers to new heights after uncovering dark secrets and accidentally entering the world of the forbidden. This season, three months after failing to stop a magical slaver named The Handler (Karon Joseph Riley, Ambitions), the Atlanta coven find themselves broken and separated. Jordan (Shaquita Smith,The Couch) – who now runs The Mystic Haven – and Angela (Chantal Maurice,P-Valley) try and fail to find Sherise (Chanel Mack, The Harder They Fall) who’s being held captive by The Handler. Mona (Mercedez McDowell, The Resident) has moved away, and Camille (Taylor Polidore, Snowfall) is put in permanent hiding by her birth mother, Claudette (Rhonda Redette Morman, Hush). Unbeknownst to the coven, Tabitha (Vanessa Bell Calloway, Shameless) and Caden (Malika Blessing, The Perfect Man) are trapped inside a nightmare realm as Claudette exacts her revenge. Meanwhile, Sherise is forced to do The Handler’s bidding at his high-class magical supper club “Obsidian Dream.”
Additional cast includes India Marie Cross (It Wasn’t Me), Yandy Smith-Harris (Love and Hip Hop Atlanta), Gary Anthony Sturgis (Diary of a Mad Black Woman), Samantha James (Black and Blue), Kamilah Meek (Young Rock), Kurtis D. Glenn (The Assistant 3), Clover J. Adams (Taylor’s Diary), Maurice P. Kerry (Atlanta), Krystal Monique Mosley (Dhoom 3), Michael Silberblatt (Hawkeye), Marco Reese Maldonado (A Killer Romance), Carrie Anne Hunt (Magic Mike XXL), Michael M. Jones (P. Valley) and Sasha McKoon.
Tressa “Azarel” Smallwood (MegaMind Media) and Donte Lee executive produced the series created & written by Kristin Iris Johnson and Serena M. Lee. Head of Content, Brett Dismuke and SVP of Development & Original Production, Unscripted, Nikki Love, executive produce for ALLBLK.
About ALLBLK
ALLBLK is an invitation to a world of streaming entertainment that is inclusively, but unapologetically – Black. Featuring a diverse lineup of content that spans across genres and generations, the ALLBLK library includes exclusive original series such asA House DividedandDouble Cross; must-see independent films, nostalgic Black cinema, popular WE tv originals, lively stage plays, and so much more. ALLBLK is available everywhere streaming services are found – iOS, Android, Amazon Prime Video Channels, Apple TV and Apple TV Channels, Roku and Roku Channels, Amazon Fire TV,YouTube TV, Cox, DISH, Sling TV, Charter and more. Atwww.ALLBLK.tv, ALLBLK offers a free 7-day trialand thereafter is just $5.99/month or $59.99/year.Keep up with ALLBLK on Facebook atFacebook.com/WatchALLBLKand Twitter/Instagram @WatchALLBLK.
Interview with Dominic Monaghan, star of “Moriarty” on Audible by Suzanne 11/8/23
It was wonderful to speak with Dominic, who seems just as nice as you might imagine he’d be from his many great roles. As a fan of “Lost,” “Lord of the Rings” and his other work (especially “Moonhaven”), I could have honestly spoken to him for hours. Normally, we only cover TV, and the occasional movie, but this project is so well written and acted, and stars many of my favorite actors, so I couldn’t pass up the chance to cover it here. “Moriarty: The Devil’s Game” premiered last year and was a huge hit. “Moriarty: The Silent Order” premieres Thursday, Nov. 9. You won’t want to miss it. Helen Mirren joins the great cast. If you only listen to ONE audio drama this year, make it this one….especially if you’re a fan of Sherlock Holmes stories.
MORE INFO:
Audible and Treefort Media Announce Season 2 of Sherlock Holmes Mystery-Thriller Moriarty
Helen Mirren to Star In Moriarty: The Silent Order Alongside Returning Cast Dominic Monaghan, Phil LaMarr and More
Newark, NJ – August 30, 2023 – Audible, Inc., the leading creator and provider of premium audio storytelling, in collaboration with Treefort Media, announced today the return of the hit scripted audio seriesMoriarty.The second season of Audible’s bold take on the Sherlock Holmes universe continues with Dominic Monaghan (The Lord of the Rings, Lost) in the title role, leading the reimagining of literature’s most captivating rivalries, with Helen Mirren (The Queen, Golda), Anya Chalotra (The Witcher), Ross McCall (Green Street Hooligans) and Arielle Goldman (The Knick,The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) joining the sensational returning cast including Phil LaMarr (Mad Men) and more. Available exclusively on Audible, Moriarty: The Silent Order was directed by Elliot Blake and written by Charles Kindinger. Moriarty: The Silent Order will debut November 9.
In the latest Moriarty installment, six months after surviving near death at Reichenbach Falls, Professor James Moriarty tracks down the woman he loves in New York City, where she is trapped in the web of The Order – an evil organization that stretches beyond Britain and the Crown. When his attempts to break her free lead to tragedy, Moriarty returns home, determined to bring down the entire global organization. But before he can strike, he makes another shocking discovery: Sherlock Holmes is alive and shares his goal. Moriarty and Holmes must set their animosity aside and join forces to stop the assassination of the American president and a devastating world war.
Explore Tokyo’s Akihabara district for the https://www.swisswatch.is/product-category/richard-mille/rm-022/ latest gadgets and anime merchandise.
“Moriarty has always been such an enigmatic character to me and exploring his world through this medium fueled my imagination,” said Dominic Monaghan. “I’m delighted to continue telling his story with Treefort and Audible — and working with Helen Mirren, as his new nemesis in Season 2, was a treat. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed working on it.”
“It was lovely to be part of the rich, beautifully realized world of MORIARTY,” said Helen Mirren. “It’s fun for me to take on a villainous role, and I particularly enjoyed delving into the different dimensions of Lady Milverton. This story was my first podcast drama and I couldn’t imagine a more exhilarating story as an entry into the format.”
Moriarty: The Silent Order is part of Audible and Treefort Media’s multi-project development deal to produce original scripted audio series. Season 2 of Moriarty joins Audible’s robust roster of Audible Original audio dramas, including Topic Studios’ The Space Within, Skybound’s Impact WinterSeason 1 and Season 2; Kerry Washington’s The Prophecy; Jesse Eisenberg’s When You Finish Saving the World; The Miranda Obsession, Armored, from The New York Times bestselling author Mark Greaney; James Patterson’s The Coldest Case starring Aaron Paul; and Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman, among many more.
Audible, Inc., an Amazon.com, Inc. subsidiary (NASDAQ:AMZN), is the leading creator and provider of premium audio storytelling, offering global audiences a powerful way to enhance and enrich their lives through extraordinary content. Audible’s catalog includes more than 800,000 audio titles, including Audible Originals as well as audiobooks and podcasts from leading studios, print, audio and magazine publishers and world-renowned entertainers.
ABOUT TREEFORT MEDIA
TREEFORT MEDIA is an award-winning podcast company specializing in premium audio storytelling. The first season of Moriarty won Best Fiction Podcast at Banff World Media Festival and Killing Hollywood: The Cotton Club Murder won the Webby for Best Scripted Fiction Podcast. Other notable Treefort series include: the weekly true crime series Killer Psyche, investigative series Collapse: Disaster in Surfside with the Miami Herald’s Pulitzer Prize winning team, and Paul Giamatti’s weekly esoteric talkfest Chinwag.
Interview with Stan Brooks, director of “Bad Romance: The Vicky White Story” on Lifetime by Suzanne 9/15/23
This is an interesting movie, although sad. What makes it stand out from many other TV movies is how accurate it is to the original story. From what the director says here, they went to great pains to make it as close to the original as possible. I believe it because it really does feel real. All the actors were outstanding in this, particularly the leads, Wendi McLendon-Covey (Vicky) and Rossif Sutherland (Casey). If you’ve only seen Wendi in comedies, you’ll be surprised at how great she is in this. I loved Rossif in last year’s “Three Pines” on Prime Video, so I was very happy to see him show up in this. He’s the son of Donald Sutherland and brother to Kiefer Sutherland. He’s definitely inherited the family’s talent and looks.
It was a joy to speak with director Stanley M. Brooks because he’s worked for years as a producer in movies and TV, such as “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” (ABC) and “The Lizzie Borden Chronicles” (Lifetime). He has some amazing stories that you’ll love. I wish I could have picked his brain for hours. Please watch this Lifetime movie because it’s worth watching. Enjoy our video interview!
Based on a true story, the movie follows Vicky White (Wendi McLendon-Covey), a lonely corrections officer who falls
for a prisoner (Rossif Sutherland), but before she can ensure their happily ever after, she must first break him out of
prison.
Every day for divorced prison corrections officer Vicky White (McLendon-Covey) is like the movie Groundhog Day – mundane, and every day just like the previous. But when new prisoner Casey White (Sutherland) is brought to her facility, the two develop a secret infatuation. Vicky gives Casey special attention, believing he’s the only man to see her the way she wants to be seen. But when Casey’s inevitable transfer to a lengthy prison sentence approaches, Vicky decides to take desperate action. Risking everything, Vicky manages to break Casey out of jail and takes him on the run, eluding authorities on an eleven-day dash for freedom. For Vicky, even the probable tragedy ahead of them is worth the chance to live life fully once more.
Bad Romance: The Vicky White Story is executive produced for Lifetime by Wendi McLendon-Covey, Tom Patricia, Gladys Gonzalez of John Carrabino Management and Howard Braunstein with Stan Brooks directing from a script by Gregory Small and Richard Blaney with Juliette Hagoplan producing the movie. Wendi is repped by UTA manager, Gladys Gonzalez, and attorney David Krintzman. Stanley M. Brooks is an American film and television producer. He has produced more than 60 productions for film and television as well as several critically acclaimed miniseries including Broken Trail and Prayers for Bobby.
Interview with John Bloom AKA Joe Bob Briggs of “The Last Drive-In With Joe Bob Briggs” on Shudder by Suzanne 10/18/23
I was very honored to speak to John AKA Joe Bob, whom I’ve admired for a long time. He is an amazingly-accomplished man: an investigative journalist and movie reviewer; a comedy writer and standup act; an actor and showman with three successful late night shows about drive-in movies (mostly horror); and an author nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, several of whose stories and books have been made into movies. I’ve enjoyed his comedy writing since the early 90’s, and in the meantime, he’s become quite famous, and a hero to horror fans (his followers, which are lovingly called “mutants”). I only wish I’d had more time to chat with him. I hope you enjoy our interview. Make sure to check out Joe Bob’s Spooky October shows this month on Shudder!
Rough transcript:
Suzanne: We go to Little Rock a few times a year. my husband has meetings there and we love it. I know you grew up there…
Joe Bob: Oh yeah, yeah. No, I know every town in Arkansas because when I was 13 years old, I got a job at the Arkansas Democrat and, in the sports department and I was in charge of high school football. And so, so I learned, I learned every single town that has a high school football team and, And on Friday nights, I would have to, call up the coaches and, and get the info on the games. And so, so yeah, so I know all about Magnolia.
Suzanne: Yeah, I’m sure. Yeah, my husband’s had to drive all over Arkansas and didn’t know it before.
Suzanne: So, yeah, we’ve been all over. I’ve been up to Mountain Home and Fayetteville and all over the place. Yeah. So, well, thanks for being here today. Sure. Um, my husband and I are actually huge fans of yours since the 90s. Um. Wow. Yeah. I appreciate that. Well, you’re welcome. A friend of ours gave us one of your books, Joe Bob Goes Back to the Drive In.
Suzanne: Yeah. And then we subscribed to your newsletter, The Joe Bob Report. So,
Joe Bob: you know about that. That’s like, oh, that goes way back.
Suzanne: Yeah, I think we still have them. Uh, I put them in an album or something or what do you call it? You know, somewhere. Um, so we really love reading your writing and I actually didn’t watch your show because we didn’t have that channel.
Suzanne: Uh, so…
Joe Bob: You didn’t have you didn’t have, oh, the movie channel. Yeah.
Suzanne: Yeah. And do you remember you had a movie review club and you sent around VHS copies movies and then we would write review and then send the, the videotape to the next person on the list. I did that.
Joe Bob: Which, which committee were you on?
Suzanne: I don’t remember. It was a long time ago. I never get my reviews published in your newsletter, but that’s okay. I just because
Joe Bob: we had too many log jammers, they would get the, you would get the VHS and never review it, never look at it. And then the next person would, would, would, would be waiting and waiting and waiting on it. So, so the system eventually broke down from, from negligence.
Suzanne: But you know, it was pre Netflix, so it was great. I loved it. Great. So, congratulations on getting your, show picked up for season
Joe Bob: six. Yeah, I I thought we were going to be doing this one time in 2018. And here we are. Um, we’ve we’ve done something like 180 movies or something.
Joe Bob: We’ve we’ve gone over the top with this thing. So…
Suzanne: Is it still exciting, at this point in your career, to get your show renewed?
Joe Bob: Oh, it’s so much fun. It’s so much fun. I, I’ve been the luckiest guy in the world in TV because I’ve had, I’ve had three shows and none of my shows have ever had time limits. There’s nobody else. There’s nobody else that works in TV who can say that. That’s probably true, yeah. When I was at the movie channel, it was a premium channel. The movie channel was the fourth premium channel. And in terms of number of subscribers, there’s like, everybody had HBO and then most people had HBO and Showtime.
And then if you wanted a third channel, you bought Cinemax. And then if you really, really needed more movies in your life, if you just had to have a fourth premium channel, you bought the movie channel and that’s probably why it wasn’t, you know, available where you were. And so, um. Uh, I w I was always the late, the late night guy.
And so they didn’t, they didn’t care how long I talked, because it was the end of the, end of the day schedule. And then when I went to TNT, I was also the late night guy. And they just, they said to me, you know, it was usually a double feature. And it didn’t have a start time. It didn’t have an end time because it would come on after basketball or something, you know, or something that ended at a weird time.
And then they would just say, you know, as long as you’re done by 6 am, we don’t care. You can finish it for you can finish it. 5. we don’t care. We’ll just put 3 stages in up till 6. and so. And so I never had any time limits at either of those shows. And then I go to a streaming network and it’s like, Oh, well, no time limits.
Joe Bob: Okay. This is great.
Suzanne: Your show’s meant made for streaming. Really?
Joe Bob: I know. I mean, it’s like when we did the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, I said to my producer, I said, you know, this is my favorite movie. And he says, yeah, that’s why we’re showing it. And I said, well, You know, I may have to talk like a long time, and he says, as long as you want to talk, so the, the, the, the interruptions, the time on the interruptions is longer than the movie, and I’m, I’m not proud of that, that’s, that’s not a good thing, but, but, enough people have continued to watch that thing and watch it and watch it and watch it over and over again that Um, I guess, you know, occasionally you can get away with that But that’s really the tail wagging the dog and so shutter let me do that and And i’m grateful for that
Suzanne: so you can go back and watch older episodes of your show and go watch the texas Chainsaw Massacre one on there.
Joe Bob: Oh, yeah. Yeah, they keep the library. I mean, sometimes they lose the rights to the movie. Um, but, but they have a, but most most of the movies are still on there. And then they have a section. If they do lose the rights, they have a section called just Joe Bob, where if you’re really nerdy, you can watch the watch the intro and the breaks.
And we tell you the time code. At the break. So if you wanted to sync it up with some you could it’s kind of like a rip tracks thing but but without without talking over the movie, you know, and and so that is that is available and people do watch those. Especially people. Well,
a lot of times, you know, shutter is available in Canada, England. Australia, New Zealand, but a lot of times we don’t have the, we don’t have the rights to the movie in those, in those countries, they still have the just Joe Bob’s and so the really hardcore fans will go in and sync it up with the just Joe Bob’s and, and watch it anyway, but so
Suzanne: that’s cool. I might have to watch Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I’ve never seen that.
Um, you’ve never seen it.
Yeah. You know, I’m actually not a horror fan. I like you. No, and I like low budget movies. I, I, I don’t li I, I don’t mind the showtime blood for Dexter here, but I don’t, you know, I’m sort of squeamish and I don’t like really gross things, so it’s terrible.
Suzanne: I know. I don’t mind spooky or scary, eh, not, not too keen on the. You know, splatter and gore and vomit. Okay.
Joe Bob: Well, we have horror for all, for all tastes. Every sub genre in the world is part of the Shudder library.
Suzanne: Cool. I have watched a few things on Shudder before. So, but anyway, so, October is a big month for you and for Shudder.
Um, you have a Halloween special in two days and the description says that you quote, Celebrate the spooky season in style. With a demonic double feature sure to get your blood pumping and one very scary special guest unquote. Can you tell me more about
Joe Bob: that? I can tell you everything except, the, the titles of the movies because we don’t, we don’t, reveal the titles of the movies in advance.
Okay. And, what I did is I turned over the, I turned over the planning for this year’s Halloween to Darcy, the male girl, because she complains every year that I screw up Halloween. I screw up the Halloween show. And so I said, okay, you do it. And so she’s planning the decorations and the, and the stunts.
And the guests, and I didn’t know who the guests was going to be until I noticed that Dan Housen, you know who that is, you know who Dan Housen is, Dan Housen is a wrestler for AEW who dresses up in, um. Monster makeup, and, and says he’s a demon. And so he’s a professional wrestler who says he’s a demon.
Uh, and so he’s kind of started tweeting about, or what do you call it? X ing about whatever, What he’s going to be doing this Friday night. And so I’ve kind of surmised that Dan housing may be the special spooky guest. So, that’s Darcy’s doing. Yeah. Um, I’ve, I’ve, I’ve met that Dan housing a couple of times.
Then he’s, he’s a, he’s a great, he’s a great guy. Very strange, very strange man. He’s his slogan is I’m very nice. And very evil.
Suzanne: That’s funny. How far in advance do you write and shoot the show?
Joe Bob: Um, I start, I try to. I, as soon as they’ll give me the titles, I start doing deep research on the movies because the fans demand it.
Joe Bob: I mean, if I don’t, if I don’t, by the time the movie airs, even if it’s a movie I’ve seen many times, I watch it again. And then I seek out, you know, additional information about it because, the fans want to know everything they want to know every single thing about the making of the movie, the, the, the box office of the movie, which is actually a hard thing to find because people lie so much about box office and, um.
Joe Bob: And, and, if it’s the fans love the eighties for some reason, they, they love the eighties and they especially love the eighties slashers, you know, so if it’s an 80 slasher, you gotta really know your stuff. Um, and, but, but we’ve shown a lot of, I mean, I think one of the most difficult. Research movies I’ve ever done is the Exorcist 3 because the guy who, William Peter Blatty, who, The exorcist stories, was, he was a Catholic intellectual and he had all these theories about life, religion, God, and the devil and, and exorcism.
Joe Bob: And so he just got lost in this morass of stuff about William. And why certain symbolism is in the movie and all that and I tried to explain it, you know I mean, I didn’t have I didn’t have time to explain all of it But tried to explain it when we when we presented the movie, but I just remember reading article after article about About what laddie may be trying to do in exorcist 3 plus it was a troubled movie it’s one of those movies where they screwed it up and they had to go back and do re shoots and And they, you know, brought in a new actor at the very end to do the actual exorcism.
Joe Bob: And then the special effects didn’t work and I had to reshoot those. And so there was all this stuff and, somehow we got it all in there, but, um.
Suzanne: It happens when they give you unlimited time and you can play as much as
Joe Bob: you want. I know, right? I know, right? You can’t, you can’t skimp on a movie like that.
Joe Bob: No. Um, I mean, The Prowler, no problem. You don’t really need that much time to research The Prowler. You know, but, but there, another one, another one we had, we kind of, We kind of rescued from obscurity, this movie called Demon Wind that was made really at the end of the slasher era. Um, and it’s just so weird that it was hard to find information on it.
Joe Bob: Um, but we showed it. It’s, it’s impossible to describe and really impossible to understand. I don’t really think anybody could summarize the plot accurately, but I noticed about six months after we showed it, it started turning up on midnight shows and theaters all across the country. And so I’m like, okay, well, we revived the fortunes of that guy.
Suzanne: That’s yeah, no, I know what you mean about doing research on trying to find the ratings and box office and stuff like that. I was yesterday. I was trying to find some ratings for some shows in the 70s and that wasn’t, you know, I mean, it was a long time ago, but you think you could find it. I couldn’t find just like certain years.
Suzanne: I mean, I was just like.
Joe Bob: And, and I, I kind of penalize myself because I don’t, I trust very little that’s on the internet, right? And so, so we tend to go for print, print magazines and books and, and, and actual interviews with people, because I just, as a last resort, you know, we. We use the internet as sort of a pointer.
Joe Bob: It points you in certain directions, but we don’t really trust anything on the internet because what will happen is the fans, somebody will Make up a fact or make up a fiction, a fiction that sounds plausible. It sounds plausible, you know, it’s something that might have happened, but it didn’t happen.
Joe Bob: And, and, and, and because it’s interesting, it’ll get, especially if it has to do with, you know, sex, drugs, rock and roll, you know, if it has to do with something spicy, it’ll get, it’ll get mentioned, and
Joe Bob: 100 times on various websites, and then it’ll become fact, even though it’s still not fact, but it’ll become fact because it’s been mentioned so many times on so many websites. Yeah. And so that’s why we don’t trust the internet. Well, I
Suzanne: don’t have unlimited time. Unfortunately, they’re telling me I need to wrap it up. So I really appreciate you talking to me today.
Joe Bob: Sure. Thank you for talking to me.
Suzanne: All right. And good luck with your October things and all the other things that you do. I know you do still do stand up and other you do shows and things.
Joe Bob Briggs Signs on to Host More Titles Than Ever Providing a Consistent Presence
on Shudder Throughout the Year
NEW YORK – September 28, 2023 – Shudder, AMC Networks’ premium streaming service for horror, thrillers and the supernatural, announced that it has renewed its hit original series The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs for a supersized sixth season. The expanded season will include a record number of more than 30 titles, starting with a series of seasonal specials then transitioning to a new schedule beginning in March 2024. The show concluded its fifth season on July 21st, with each new episode trending in the Top 10 nationally on Twitter every Friday night.
The sixth season kicked off this month with The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs: The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon special on September 15, featuring special guest Greg Nicotero (The Walking Dead). This season will also feature two Halloween-themed specials in October, a Holiday special in December and a Valentine’s Day special in February. Then, beginning in March 2024, Shudder will roll-out the new schedule of Joe Bob’s signature movie watch parties every other Friday night, featuring single titles and surprises.
“As everyone knows, you should never invite me into your home, because I always show up. Shudder has graciously invited me to stick around for a sixth year, and I intend to use that kindness to haunt your phones, laptops and big-screen TVs with the most ghastly examples of perversity in the history of cinema,” said Joe Bob Briggs. “Plus a few old jokes and some celebrity guests who will still return our phone calls. Put it all together and it spells PARTAY.”
“We’re delighted to bring Joe Bob, Darcy and the rest of The Last Drive-In Team back for our biggest season yet of crazy, scary and crazy-scary movies and specials, with the most entertaining commentary on TV,” said AMC Networks’ Executive Vice President of Streaming Courtney Thomasma. “Joe Bob will be hosting more movie nights than any previous season and we can’t wait to continue the Friday night party with our Shudder family.”
On The Last Drive-In, Briggs, the world’s foremost drive-in movie critic hosts eclectic horror movies, talking about their merits, histories and significance to genre cinema.
Shudder and Briggs first teamed up in July 2018, for the 27-hour marathon intended to be Briggs’ final farewell to televised movie hosting. After the special turned out to be an unprecedented hit, Shudder brought The Last Drive-In back as a weekly series and for multiple holiday specials.
The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs is produced by Matt Manjourides and Justin Martell and directed by Austin Jennings.
The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs: Halloween (1978)(Shudder Original Special)
Premieres LIVE Tuesday, October 10 at 10pm on AMC, AMC+ TV and Shudder TV
Joe Bob celebrates the 45th anniversary of this iconic horror film.
Joe Bob’s Helloween (Shudder Original Special)
Premieres LIVE Friday, October 20 at 9pm on ShudderTV and AMC+ TV
Horror legend Joe Bob Briggs and his co-host Darcy the Mail Girl celebrate the spooky season in style – with a demonic double-feature sure to get your blood pumping and one very scary special guest.
About Shudder
AMC Networks’ Shudder is a premium streaming video service, super-serving members with the best selection in genre entertainment, covering horror, thrillers and the supernatural. Shudder’s expanding library of film, TV series, and originals is available on most streaming devices in the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. For a 7-day, risk-free trial, visit www.shudder.com.
From https://www.texasmonthly.com: John Bloom wrote for Texas Monthly, as both a staff writer and a contributor, from 1978 to 2006. He is a successful investigative journalist, actor, and author who was born in Dallas and raised in Little Rock, and he attended Vanderbilt University on a sportswriting scholarship. His nine books include the true-crime classic Evidence of Love (1984), Profoundly Disturbing: The Shocking Movies That Changed History (2003), and Eccentric Orbits: The Iridium Story (2016). He has been a finalist for the National Magazine Award three times and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize by United Press International for his eyewitness coverage of 9/11. Bloom is best known as his alter ego, Joe Bob Briggs, a nationally syndicated “drive-in movie critic” whose wisecracking take on B movies was featured on two long-running late-night television shows, first on the Movie Channel and then on TNT. That tradition continues with his latest series, The Last Drive-In, currently featured on AMC’s Shudder streaming platform. During the course of his hosting career, Briggs has executive produced 20,000 hours of television and has become the leading authority on exploitation and genre films. In 2022, two true-crime articles he cowrote for Texas Monthly were adapted into the HBO series Love and Death.
Interview with Showrunner/creator/writer/EP George R. Olson of “SurrealEstate” on Syfy by Suzanne 10/16/23
It was really fun to speak with George about such an entertaining show. I’ve enjoyed “SurrealEstate” since the first episode because it has interesting stories of drama and horror, with a lot of humor and a good cast. I tried hard to get him to tell me if a certain character dies this season, but he wouldn’t budge…not that I expected him to! But it was all in fun, anyway. You don’t want to miss this season, which started October 4th on Syfy. It airs Wednesdays on Syfy, but you can also watch it on their website for free and on HULU the next day. You can watch season one on HULU as well.
MORE INFO:
SurrealEstate
Wednesdays on SYFY(10-11pm ET/PT); Season Premiere: October 4
“SurrealEstate” follows real estate agent Luke Roman and an elite team of specialists that handle the cases no one else can: haunted and possessed houses that literally scare would-be buyers away. Researching, investigating and “fixing” the things that go bump in the night, the team works to create closure – and closings – even as they struggle with demons of their own.
201 “TRUST THE PROCESS” (Wednesday, Oct. 4 at 10 p.m. ET/PT)
Without his special powers, Luke struggles to handle an engaged property by instinct alone. Susan falls in love at first sight with a mysterious home that has a special power over her.
202 “TRUTH IN ADVERTISING” (Wednesday, Oct. 11 at 10 p.m. ET/PT)
Luke deals with a TV ghost hunter and his crew filming at a client’s legendary property. Susan investigates a seaside B&B where strange, provocative noises are scaring guests away.
203 “THE BUTLER DIDN’T” (Wednesday, Oct. 18 at 10 p.m. ET/PT)
When a client is taken hostage by a vengeful ghost, the Roman Agency must solve a decades-old murder mystery to save him before it’s too late.
204 “I PUT A SPELL ON YOU” (Wednesday, Oct. 25 at 10 p.m. ET/PT)
Luke sparks with a charming homeowner while negotiating a land deal. Zooey goes out on her first sales call as a newly minted realestate agent.
“SurrealEstate” stars Tim Rozon, Sarah Levy, Adam Korson, Maurice Dean Wint, Savannah Basley and Elena Juatco.
The series was created by George R. Olson. Olson, Lance Samuels, Danishka Esterhazy, Armand Leo, Daniel Iron, Neil Tabatznik, Cosima Von Spreti and Kevin Anweiler executive produce.
George R. Olson
creator, showrunner, and executive producer
George Olson is a recovering advertising executive, having spent most of his career as creative director, partner and chief creative officer at one of Colorado’s largest advertising agencies. Several years ago, seeking the dangerous head rush of writing something longer than thirty seconds, George began writing for film.
One of his first efforts, a bio-pic of Nikola Tesla, won a screenwriting competition and attracted the attention of director Barry Sonnenfeld, who developed the script with him. He wrote a short film, KILLING KEVIN, which was an official selection at 18 international film festivals. Another one of his original screenplays, WHITEFISH, won another competition and he developed that script with actor/director John Turturro. Since then, George has written a number of features including MASTER RACE, the story of Jesse Owens at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, with Anthony Mackie attached to star.
Along the way, George began writing for television and has developed a number of original pilots including BITTERROOT, which he sold as a pitch to USA Network. Several of George’s original spec pilots are in various stages of development around town, including POISON COUNTY which he is developing with Mark Burnett and MGM Television. MGM also hired him to create and write the pilot for GODSPEED, a one-hour drama set in the world of NASCAR. He has adapted his one-hour pilot FIRST PERSON SHOOTER with e-One into a made-for-TV film for Crackle. George sold his original spec pilot THE NATURE OF YOUR EMERGENCY to Keshet Studios, and sold his pitch for RUTHLESS to CBS Studios and developed the pilot for the CW Network. Most recently, George’s original pilot SURREAL ESTATE was ordered to series by SYFY, with George serving as Showrunner and Executive Producer.
Splitting his time between Colorado, Los Angeles, Canada, features and television, George has no outside interests that he is aware of.
Raid the Cage is based on an Israeli game show that aired for four years on Israeli television. Damon Wagons, Jr. and Jeannie Mai host the show.
The show consists of two teams of two who answer trivia questions to get time inside a cage full of wonderful prizes. The contestants play four rounds of trivia. After each round, their teammate gets time inside the cage to grab whatever they can, but if time runs out, and they get stuck inside the cage, they lose all the prizes they have grabbed for that round. The team that grabs the most prizes after four rounds wins the game and goes to the bonus round where they must grab at least $50,000 in prizes so they can beat the cage.
I really enjoyed watching this show and was rooting for the contestants to win the game. The show gives really good prizes like really expensive vacations, Prada handbags and diamond rings. The show is really fun to watch.
Raid the Cage airs Fridays 9 pm Eastern/8 pm Central time and it is posted on Paramount+ on Saturday.
Fraiser was always one of my favorite television characters since he first appeared on Cheers. I still watch reruns of the original show and, even though I know what is going to happen, it will always make me laugh. I was happy to know that Paramount+ was bringing back the show. This time Frasier returns to Boston to guest lecture at Harvard and to visit his son Freddie (Jack Cutmore-Scott) because he didn’t go to his grandpa Martin’s funeral. Freddie dropped out of Harvard because he wanted to become a fireman. Fraiser decides to move back to Boston to get to know Freddie better and he buys the building where Freddie lives and tells his son that if he lives with him he doesn’t have to pay rent.
The show is very funny and made me laugh right away. My favorite of the new characters on this show is Fraser’s best friend and fellow professor Alan Cornwall (Nicholas Lyndhurst) who is very funny and the chemistry between him and Fraser is wonderful. The entire cast is very funny and the show is well written.
If you enjoyed the original Frasier you will enjoy this show. Paramount+ posted the first two episodes of the show on October 12, 2023 and new episodes will be posted on Thursdays.
Interview with EP Jeff Astrof of “Shining Vale” on Starz by Suzanne 10/10/23
It was really fun to speak with Jeff. again. He wears a lot of hats as no only Co-Creator of the show, but also Writer, Showrunner and Executive Producer. He’s very passionate about the show, and who can blame him? It’s a great series, with an amazing mixture of comedy, drama and humor. It also has a wonderful cast: Courtney Cox, Greg Kinnear, Mira Sorvino, Merrin Dungey, Judith Light, Sherilyn Fenn, Allison Tolman, Gus Birney and Dylan Gage. I love it because it’s horror, but it’s not gross like so many horror movies or shows are.
If you missed the first season, you can stream it now on the Starz site, Amazon or ROKU. It’s definitely worth watching, and Jeff is justifiably proud of all of their efforts. You don’t want to miss season two, which premieres “October 13 at midnight ET on the Starz app, all Starz streaming and on-demand platforms and on Lionsgate+ streaming platform in the U.K. and Ireland; on linear at 9 p.m. ET/PT in the U.S. and Canada. New episodes will drop weekly on Fridays at midnight” (from Deadline).
JEFF ASTROF
Executive Producer; Co-Creator; Showrunner; Writer, Ep. 201, 208
Jeff Astrof is a writer/producer who has worked in television way longer than he ever
thought possible. Jeff came to prominence as one of the original writers of “Friends,”
where he co-wrote several notable episodes, including “The One After the Super Bowl”
which was seen by over 51 million viewers. Additionally, his background work on the
show as “hot guy at party”, “guy late for plane” and “disappointed hockey fan” remain
examples of overacting to this day. Jeff also wrote on all five seasons of “The New
Adventures of Old Christine,” where Julia Louis-Dreyfus won her first post-Seinfeld
Emmy, and he was co-creator of the critically-acclaimed “Trial & Error,” starring John
Lithgow and Kristin Chenoweth. “Shining Vale” reunites Jeff with fellow “Friends” alum
Courteney Cox. As EP/Showrunner of the show, Jeff has mandated that he is not
allowed to act in it.
About “Shining Vale”
Season one of “Shining Vale” introduced Pat and Terry Phelps, a dysfunctional family that tried to run from their problems by moving their kids into a Victorian mansion in small-town Connecticut. The only problem? It may be haunted. Once settled in, Pat encountered Rosemary, a demon who possessed her body and turned her life upside down. When the family steps in to “save” Pat, they commit her to a psychiatric hospital where she sees an old photo of a nurse who looks just like her demon Rosemary.
Season two kicks off four months later, when Pat’s insurance runs out and she is released from the psychiatric hospital early. Pat returns home, determined to pick up the pieces of her broken family, but she quickly finds out her children don’t need her, Terry doesn’t remember her and to make matters worse, Pat’s new neighbor Ruth looks exactly like Rosemary. Meanwhile, the house starts to reveal the shocking secrets of its dark past. Every mother feels like they live in an insane asylum, but Pat may be right!
“Shining Vale” Online
Twitter: @ShiningVale | @STARZ
Instagram: @ShiningValeSTARZ | @STARZ
Facebook: @ShiningValeSTARZ | @STARZ
Join the conversation with #ShiningVale and #STARZ
“Shining Vale” season two is set to premiere on Friday, October 13th, at midnight ET on the STARZ app, all STARZ streaming and on-demand platforms and on LIONSGATE+ streaming platform in the U.K. and Ireland. On linear, it will debut on STARZ on Friday, October 13th, at 9PM ET/PT in the U.S. and Canada. New episodes will be available to stream weekly on Fridays at midnight on the STARZ app, all STARZ streaming and on-demand platforms and will air weekly on the STARZ linear platform.
Interview with creator/producer Joseph Kay of “Transplant” on NBC by Suzanne 10/10/23
It was great to speak with the creator/writer/executive producer of such a good show as “Transplant,” which returns for season 3 October 12th! It’s a Canadian show, and they’re watching season 4 right now (which, unfortunately, is the last season). You don’t want to miss this one! If you haven’t watched the first two seasons, go watch them now on Peacock! You’ll be glad you caught up on some a unique show with interesting characters.
New Season Premiering Thursday, October 12 on NBC (9 p.m. ET)
The new season of “Transplant” finds Bashir “Bash” Hamed (Hamza Haq, “My Salinger Year”) continuing his journey to start over, but with each new milestone comes a new challenge. While pursuing Canadian citizenship for himself and his younger sister, Amira (Sirena Gulamgaus, “Orphan Black), Bash closely examines who he’s becoming in his adopted country.
Bash, still being asked repeatedly to prove himself, works closely with his colleagues as they move forward following the dramatic conclusion of season two. Everyone continues to find themselves looking to adapt to change and understand how they fit in, both within and beyond the walls of York Memorial Hospital.
After Dr. Bishop’s shocking departure, the team gains a new boss with the forward-thinking Dr. Neeta Devi (Rekha Sharma, “Yellowjackets”). Dr. Devi has big ideas when it comes to overhauling the emergency department at York Memorial.
“Transplant” also stars Laurence Leboeuf as Dr. Magalie “Mags” LeBlanc, Ayisha Issa as Dr. June Curtis, Jim Watson as Dr. Theo Hunter, Torri Higginson as head nurse Claire Malone, Gord Rand as Dr. Mark Novak and Sirena Gulamgaus as Amira.
Creator Joseph Kay serves as showrunner and executive producer. Rachel Langer, Josée Vallée, Jocelyn Deschênes, Bruno Dubé, and Stefan Pleszczynski also executive produce.
“Transplant” is produced by Sphere Media in association with CTV and Universal International Studios, a division of Universal Studio Group.
Joseph Kay is creator, showrunner and executive producer on the NBC drama “Transplant.” He has served as showrunner, writer and executive producer for each of its seasons, winning four Canadian Screen Awards in his roles as writer and producer.
Prior to “Transplant,” he adapted and served as executive producer on the CBC drama “This Life.” Previous credits include the World War II drama “Bomb Girls” for Global TV and the CBC hit action/comedy “Republic of Doyle.”
Kay also co-created the single-camera comedy “Living in your Car” for HBO Canada.
Before becoming a screenwriter, he worked as a transactional lawyer at one of Canada’s foremost securities law firms.
This movie is the last in the Great American Autumn series of Saturday night movies from the Great American Family Channel.
In this movie Danica McKellar plays Christine Sims, a former competitive Ballroom dancer who returns home to visit her parents and discovers that her parents may have to close their general store because they owe money on their bank loan. Christine decides to enter a ballroom dance competition because, if she wins first place, the money could help pay her parents debt to the bank for a year. Christine needs to find a partner because she broke up with her fiancée and former dance partner Alex (Dancing with the Stars pro Gleb Savchenko). Christine meets Mathew (David Haydn-Jones) and they become friends so, he offers to be Christine’s dance partner.
I really enjoyed this movie since I have watched Dancing with the Stars for a long time. Gleb did a wonderful job in his acting debut. If you like Dancing with the Stars, you will enjoy the dance sequences in this movie. Danica McKellar has wonderful chemistry with both her leading men and the movie is fun to watch.
If you missed the movie, check your DVR guide for the next airing or stream the movie on pureflix.com.
A Harvest Homecoming is part of Great American Autumn movies series, from Great American Family Channel, which airs a fall-themed movie every Saturday night.
The movie centers around Drew Clark (Trevor Donavan) a substitute teacher who comes home to his hometown of Chestnut Hollow, Texas to substitute teach for a few weeks. Drew meets Aiden Ross (Luxton Hand) and his mother Lainie Ross (Jessica Lowndes) who help Drew realize how much he has missed his family. Drew’s parents have an apple orchard and cider mill which Lainie helps Drew’s parents to manage.
This movie was very sweet and funny. I enjoyed it very much. The second story in the movie involved Drew’s Grandpa Joe (Roger Dunn) trying to impress Miss Francine (Eve Crawford). I have to say that this was my favorite story in the movie.
Trevor Donovan and Jessica Lowndes have great chemistry together as a couple and you root for them to get together. Trevor Donovan even sings a song he wrote called Fields of Gold for the movie.
I give this movie 5 out of 5 stars. If you missed the movie, check your DVR guide because Great American Family channel airs their movies several times. You can also stream this movie on pureflix.com.
I enjoy watching mystery movies on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries. I wanted to watch Mystery Island because the scenery on the commercial looked beautiful. I later found out that the movie was filmed in Panama City, Panama.
The movie centers around Dr. Emily Priestly (Emily Henstridge) a phycology consultant for Scotland Yard. Emily decides to take a vacation when a serial killer threatens her. So, she takes a vacation with her best friend Baroness Jane Walcott (Kezia Burrows) to Mystery Island. Jane is an investor in the island which hosts murder mystery weekends. The people who come for the weekend solve a staged mystery using actors. A famous mystery writer, John Murtaugh (Robert Getman), came up with the idea for mystery Island. The mystery becomes real when the author and creator of Mystery Island is found dead. Detective Jason Trent (Charlie Weber) asks Emily to help him figure out the identity of the killer. I have said too much about the story, so I won’t say anymore because I don’t want to ruin the movie for you.
I enjoyed this movie except I felt the ending of the movie was rushed. I like it better when the resolution of the mystery is explained more slowly. I have a feeling this movie is the first in a series of movies, so I hope they will fix this problem. The chemistry between Jason and Emily isn’t bad but I hope it will get better if they make more movies. I also wish they would go to different islands to solve mysteries sometimes, not just stay on mystery island.
Offering popular women’s necklaces such as pendants, https://www.swisswatch.is/product-category/rolex/submariner/ chokers and. Shop for jewelry in a variety of metals and gemstones to suit any occasion.
I give this movie 4 out of 5 stars. If you missed the movie, check your DVR guide for the next air date because Hallmark movies and mysteries likes to air their movies several times.
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Inspired by real stories, Confessions of a Cam Girl follows the eighteen-year-old fashion savant Kristen (Megan Best, Dawn) who is set to become the first in her family to graduate college. Her working-class parents are furious when she reveals a plan to attend fashion school instead of college. Her parents refuse to use her college fund for her farfetched dream. Determined to pay for it herself, Kristen secretly creates an online explicit content page to raise $10,000 for dream program. Confident that she can keep her side hustle under wraps, Kristen’s secret unravels and threatens not just her future, but the safety of her family as well.
“Hightown” – Season 3 – Debuting Friday, January 26
BAD 
Dyan Cannon is the first woman in the history of the Motion Picture Academy to be nominated for Oscars both in front of and behind the camera. Her diligence and determination have been rewarded by many prestigious honors.
In 
Gary Anthony Sturgis is a New Orleans born actor/writer/director best-known for his portrayal of the villain in two of Tyler Perry’s biggest hit films, “Diary of A Mad Black Woman” (as Jamison Jackson) and “Daddy’s Little Girls” (as Joseph Woods). He also co-starred opposite Terrence Howard in “Pride”, as the charming yet sinister pimp/drug dealer Franklin Washington. Recently, he has stepped out the role of bad guy to co-star in the comedy “Chicago Pulaski Jones” with Kel Mitchell and Cedric the Entertainer.
– mundane, and every day just like the previous. But when new prisoner Casey White (Sutherland) is brought to her facility, the two develop a secret infatuation. Vicky gives Casey special attention, believing he’s the only man to see her the way she wants to be seen. But when Casey’s inevitable transfer to a lengthy prison sentence approaches, Vicky decides to take desperate action. Risking everything, Vicky manages to break Casey out of jail and takes him on the run, eluding authorities on an eleven-day dash for freedom. For Vicky, even the probable tragedy ahead of them is worth the chance to live life fully once more.
