Interview with Serinda Swan, Shaun Sipos and Maria Sten

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Serinda Swan, Shaun Sipos and Maria Sten of "Reacher" on Prime Video

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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!

MORE INFO: Trailer Official Site

Reacher key art

About

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.Scene from "Reacher" season 2. Credit: Brooke Palmer/Prime Video

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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

Photo Credit: Alejandro DouekMaria 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 Swan plays Karla Dixon in "Reacher" on Prime Video. Photo Credit: Liz RosaSerinda Swan
Karla Dixon

Serinda 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 Sipos plays David O'Donnell in "Reacher" on Prime Video; photo from Amazon press siteShaun SiposDavid O’Donnell

Shaun Sipos (born October 30, 1981[1]) is a Canadian actor, known for playing Jack on the series Complete Savages, Eric Daniels on Life Unexpected, David Breck on series Melrose Place, Aaron Whitmore on The Vampire Diaries, and Adam Strange on Krypton.

Interview with “Reacher” star Alan Ritchson

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Scene from "Reacher" season 2. Credit: Brooke Palmer/Prime Video

 

Interview with Jason Isaacs, Dyan Cannon, Jennifer Grant and Jeff Pope

TV Interview!

 

Jason Isaacs, Dyan Cannon, Jennifer Grant and Jeff Pope of "Archie" on Britbox

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!

MORE INFO: Trailer   Official site

Key art for "Archie" on Britbox

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.

All of the actors who played Cary Grant in "Archie" on Britbox - Matt Squire _ ITV Studios

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.

Laura Aikman and Dyan Cannon and Jason Isaacs as Cary Grant in "Archie" on Britbox; Matt Squire _ ITV StudiosDyan 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).

Her filmography is vast and includes TNT’s remake of the Warner Bros.’ Classic Christmas in Connecticut (1992), directed by Arnold Schwarzenegger; Author! Author! (1982) opposite Al Pacino; The Last of Sheila (1973), directed by Herbert Ross; two films directed by Sidney Lumet; Deathtrap (1982), co-starring Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve, and The Anderson Tapes (1971), starring Sean Connery; and Honeysuckle Rose (1980), in which she played Willie Nelson‘s wife and made her debut as a country music singer; Such Good Friends (1971), directed by Otto Preminger…and numerous other films. She has starred on Broadway and in her own musical stage act at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas and Harrah’s in Lake Tahoe. Dyan co-wrote the title song for Chaka Khan‘s album, The Woman I Am, with Brenda Russell.

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.Laura Aikman and Dyan Cannon and Jason Isaacs as Cary Grant in "Archie" on Britbox; Matt Squire _ ITV Studios

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).

Jeff Pope is a British television producer and screenwriter who co-wrote the film Pierrepoint and the television drama The Fattest Man in Britain and who won a BAFTA in 2006 for the drama See No Evil: The Moors Murders. He is also the Head of ITV Productions Factual Drama. Pope wrote the screenplay for the 2018 film Stan & Ollie, and co-wrote the 2022 film The Lost King.

Jamie also had this longer interview with Jason!

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Jason Isaacs, Dyan Cannon, Jennifer Grant and Jeff Pope of "Archie" on Britbox (from Twitter)

 

Interview with Larry Thompson

TV Interview!

 

Taylor Ann Thompson who also stars in Ladies Of The '80s: A Divas Christmas with Larry Thompson, Executive Producer Courtesy of Larry Thompson Entertainment

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!

 

MORE INFO: Official Site Trailer

"Ladies of the ’80s: A Divas Christmas" key artIn 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.

About Larry Thompason

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Larry Thompson, Executive Producer, has his hands full while producing Lifetime's Ladies Of The '80s: A Divas Christmas starring (L-R, Linda Gray, Loni Anderson, Larry Thompson, Donna Mills, Morgan Fairchild, and Nicollette Sheridan). - Courtesy of Larry Thompson Entertainment

 

Interview with Tim Rozon

TV Interview!

 

Actor Tim Rozon (from his Instagram)

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.

 

MORE INFO: Official Site Season 2 Trailer Episode 8 Sneak Peek

SURREALESTATE -- Pictured: "SurrealEstate" Key Art -- (Photo by: SYFY)

Tim Rozon

Luke Roman

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.

Older interview: Tim Rozon of “SurrealEstate” on Syfy 7/8/21

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SURREALESTATE -- “The Butler Didn’t” Episode 203 -- Pictured in this screen grab: (l-r) Tim Rozon as Luke Roman, Sarah Levy as Susan Ireland -- (Photo by: Blue Ice Pictures/SYFY)

 

Interview with Gary Anthony Sturgis

TV Interview!

 

Gary Anthony Sturgis plays warlock Julius on "Wicked City" on ALLBLK

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!

 

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Gary Anthony Sturgis plays warlock Julius on "Wicked City" on ALLBLKGary 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.

Follow Gary on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook

WICKED CITY Official Site

"Wicked City" season 2 streams on ALLBLK

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 OF  SUPERNATURAL DRAMA WICKED CITY  PREMIERING OCTOBER 19 

Cast Includes Vanessa Bell Calloway, Karon Joseph Riley, Taylor Polidore, Shaquita Smith, Mercedez McDowell, Chantal Maurice, Chanel Mack, and more

VIEW TRAILER

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. 

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Gary Anthony Sturgis plays warlock Julius on "Wicked City" on ALLBLK

Interview with Dominic Monaghan

TV Interview!

 

Dominic Monaghan, star of "Moriarty" on Audible

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 Original "Moriarty: The Silent Order" premieres Thursday, 11/9/23, only on Audible.

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 series Moriarty. 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 QueenGolda)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.” Dominic Monaghan, star of "Moriarty" on Audible

“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 Winter Season 1 and Season 2; Kerry Washington’s The Prophecy; Jesse Eisenberg’s When You Finish Saving the WorldThe Miranda ObsessionArmored, 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.

Revisit Season 1 of Moriarty: The Devil’s Game now and listen to Season 2 exclusively on Audible beginning November 9.

ABOUT AUDIBLE, INC.

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.

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"Moriarty: The Devil's Game" key art

 

Interview with Stan Brooks

TV Interview!

 

Stan Brooks, director of "Bad Romance: The Vicky White Story" on Lifetime

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!

 

MORE INFO: Trailer   Official Site

"Bad Romance: The Vicky White Story" key art

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 DayWendi McLendon-Covey and Rossif Sutherland star in "Bad Romance: The Vicky White Story" premiering Saturday, October 21 at 8p/7c. – 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.

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Stan Brooks with Judith Light and other woman (from his Instagram)

 

Interview with Joe Bob Briggs

TV Interview!

 

John Bloom and Joe Bob Briggs

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.

MORE INFO: Watch the show on Shudder on their site, on YouTube, on Amazon Prime or on AMC+.

"The Last Drive-In With Joe Bob Briggs" Helloween on Shudder

SHUDDER RENEWS

THE LAST DRIVE-IN WITH JOE BOB BRIGGS

FOR A SUPERSIZED SIXTH SEASON

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.

Joe Bob’s Official Site

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John Bloom, AKA Joe Bob Briggs, on "The Last Drive-In With Joe Bob Briggs" on Shudder

 

Interview with George Olson

TV Interview!

 

George R. Olson, creator/writer/producer/showrunner of "SurrealEstate" on Syfy

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 -- Pictured: "SurrealEstate" Key Art -- (Photo by: SYFY)

SYFY logo
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 real estate 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.

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George R. Olson with "SurrealEstate" cast

 

Primetime TV Review: Raid the Cage

TV Review!

“Raid the Cage” Review on by Eva 10/16/2023

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.

I give this show 5 out of 5 stars

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Primetime TV Review: Frasier

TV Review!

“Frasier” Review on by Eva 10/13/2023

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.

I give this show 5 out of 5 stars.

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Interview with Jeff Astrof

TV Interview!

 

Creator Jeff Astrof and star Gus Birney of "Shining Vale" on Starz

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).

 

MORE INFO: Official Site Trailer

"Shining Vale" on Starz key art

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.

Our Interview with Jeff for Season One of “Shining Vale.”

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"Shining Vale" on Starz key art

 

Interview with Joseph Kay

TV Interview!

 

Joseph Kay, creator/showrunner of "Transplant" on CBC and NBC (photo from Twitter)

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.

 

MORE INFO:  Official NBC Site Trailer

Transplant

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.

 

Please visit the official show site at: https://www.nbc.com/transplant.

For the latest “Transplant” news, videos, and photos, please like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and Instagram:

https://www.facebook.com/NBCTransplant/
https://twitter.com/NBCTransplant #Transplant
https://www.instagram.com/nbctransplant/

Joseph Kay

Executive Producer, “Transplant”

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.

Our previous “Transplant” interviews!

Hamza Haq (Bash) 7/12/22

Laurence Leboeuf (Mags) 3/29/22

 John Hannah and Hamza Haq (Bishop and Bash) 3/1/22

Laurence Leboeuf (Mags) 10/30/20

Hamza Haq (Bash) 10/9/20

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Joseph Kay, creator/showrunner of "Transplant" on CBC and NBC (photo from Facebook video).

 

Primetime TV Review: Swing Into Romance

TV Review!

“Swing Into Romance” Review on by Eva 10/9/2023

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.

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Primetime TV Review: A Harvest Homecoming

TV Review!

“A Harvest Homecoming” Review on by Eva 10/9/2023

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.

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Primetime TV Review: Mystery Island

TV Review!

“Mystery Island” Review on by Eva 10/9/2023

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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Interview with Deborah Pratt

TV Interview!

 

QUANTUM LEAP -- “Quantum Leap at WonderCon -- Producer Deborah Pratt; Saturday, March 25, 2023 from the Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, Calif.

Interview with producer Deborah Pratt of “Quantum Leap” on NBC by Suzanne 9/26/23

What makes this interview interesting is that Deborah worked on both the classic “Quantum Leap” as well as the new one. In fact, she was married to the creator of the show, Donald Bellasario. I’m sure she has many stories beyond what she revealed in our interview. I love both versions of the show, and I can’t wait to see what happens the rest of the season.

Suzanne: So, how many episodes are filmed already for the season?

Deborah: Eight. Are we lucky or what?

Suzanne: Oh, that’s good. Yeah, there’s so few scripted shows right now.

Deborah: Yeah, I think it was a great idea of NBC Universal, Martin, Dean, everybody said, “Let’s just keep moving forward.” And I’m really excited that we did.

Suzanne: Yeah. I just watched the first two episodes, I enjoyed them a lot.

Deborah: Oh, thank you.

Suzanne: I’m a big fan of the old Quantum Leap and the new Quantum Leap, and I know you’ve worked on both.

Deborah: I did. I was there from the beginning.

Suzanne: Wow. You should write a book about that?

Deborah: You know, I can’t tell you how many people have asked me to write a book about my experiences and how I got to where I got to, and when I brought Quantum Leap to Don and how it evolved the way it evolved. It’s exciting. I was very young and got to learn how to make a series.

Suzanne: And seems like now would be a good time to come out with a book since you‘ve got the new show.

Deborah: Yeah, yeah. Well, I have two new books coming out.

Suzanne: Oh, cool. That’s right.

Deborah: I’ve got Warrior One, and I’ve got the fifth book in my Vision Quest series. And truthfully, I started a Quantum Leap book, but it was not the history of. Matt Deal has that covered. I don’t know if you’ve ever read any of his books. He’s so good. He goes into all kinds of detail, and he just had a sequel come out. So, it’s really worth checking into. He’s from London.

Suzanne: It’s about Quantum Leap?

Deborah: There are things I read in those books that I either forgot.

Suzanne: So, he’s got a second book about the making of the original Quantum Leap, or is it about the new one?

Deborah: I don’t know if it’s come out yet. It’s called Beyond the Leap. And it’s the revival, so it gets into the new show.

Suzanne: Great. So, how have the strikes affected filming other than the obvious way?

Deborah: Well, yeah, of course, we shut down, which is the obvious way. In that sense, you know, how quickly will we be able to – knock on glass; I have a glass desk – How quickly will we be back up and running? And we’re standing by the the Screen Actors Guild, in that they have a lot to fight for…in the sense that creativity needs to be protected. But your voice, your face, your body are, are on the line here, and you need to have your rights to control them.

Suzanne: And now that they’ve got a tentative agreement with the Writers Guild, will the writers be returning to make more Quantum Leap scripts?

Deborah: Well, it’s got to go through the process of the legalese straightened out. The board of directors – I used to sit on the board of directors for the Writers Guild – will meet and vote on it, and then it goes out to the membership. All of that happens.

Suzanne: Does that take a few days, a few weeks, few months?

Deborah: It’s a process, it can be as short as, you know, this is, I think, my third strike that I’ve been involved with in my career. So, sometimes it happens quite quickly, and other times there are little snigs and snags. Right? I have great hope that the AMPTP is going to understand that they can’t make anything without us. Right. And truthfully, AI can build a streamer for you. [laughs] So, it’s not like it’s not in danger.

Suzanne: So, what can you tell us about what’s going on with Ben and the rest of them this season?

Deborah: Ben didn’t get home at the end of season one. I can tell you that. If he did get home, we wouldn’t have a series. Ben did not get home. You got to see Episode One and Episode Two you said. So, he’s got a real reality check. He’s been out there by himself. He hasn’t seen anybody. He’s still asking for Addison. So, he doesn’t realize or understand why. “Why am I alone on this on this leap?”

Suzanne: And would you say would you say things are ramped up more this season? Usually the second season is like more action, more this, more that, more twists and turns.

Deborah: Well, we certainly got a lot of that in in those first episodes. I know if you looked at the trailer, which is wonderful kudos to marketing at NBC Universal, we went to Egypt, literally got on a plane and went to Egypt. So, that’s really fun and exciting. We also went further back in time then the show has ever gone. I won’t tell you when. It’s further back.

Suzanne: Yeah, I think I saw that in the trailer. I don’t remember the date. But I remember seeing an old [unintelligible]

Deborah: 1692.

Suzanne: Yeah, that was it.

Deborah: I know. I’m supposed to remember all that stuff. [laughs]

Suzanne: That’s fine.

Deborah: I have to remember all that stuff. So, those things are really exciting and very adventurous, but the bigger things and what is Quantum Leap, is the heart of the show that the story’s really not just the the leaps. But the the stories with our main characters, Ben and [Addison], and Magic, Ian, and Jen. We get to know more about them, which is the fun thing. We get to know what’s at stake. You know, now that he’s been found, how did he get found? Those mysteries. Because we have the opportunity to solve those mysteries. And the first mystery, which was why he left in the first place, we solved it. We find out it’s to save his woman and ultimately, maybe even the world, and he gets to be a real hero in the first season. And Ben is so likable.

Suzanne: That’s true.

Deborah: Raymond Lee, I give huge props to him. Having worked with both Scott Bakula and Raymond Lee, I think the show will only accept exceptional people. It’s just how Quantum Leap is, you know.

Suzanne: And it was nice to go in a different direction then having to try to find a Scott Bakula clone, if you could even do that.

Deborah: If you could even do that. I don’t think you could even do that. But I think it, you know, it’s one of those things of time, space, Ziggy. I get to play a piece of artificial intelligence that, you know, needs more control than we know, that has more control than we know.

Suzanne: Right.

Deborah: So, all those things we get to play with, and we get to find out more of what happens to them when they go home at night. There’re two new characters. We know that Peter Gadiot, who’s now Tom Westfall is the United States officer, we meet him in the second episode and try to understand what magic had to give up to get the project going again, once they found him and then what Ian did to locate him and what Jen knows or doesn’t know. So, there’s all these arrays that are that are being set up to set the story threads for the tapestry that is Season Two.

Suzanne: Okay, and is there any chance – this is something that I’m sure all the fans have asked a million times, but is there any chance that we’ll get to see Sam Beckett again?

Deborah: There’s always a chance. You know, again, and I say this 100 times that, that I personally am working on this Quantum Leap movie. I think Sam could come back in a $100 million super star. I think that we have the opportunity to do what Star Trek has done. There are nine Star Trek spin offs and nine Star Trek movies. So, let’s expand the franchise to video games and motion pictures and rides. I always say, “Did you go to Comic-Con? Did you see the Quantum Leap ride?” I think the opportunity to really see what the show can do and let the imagination of not just the writers but also the fans write back and participate in it as they have always done, the stories that I’ve gotten, the letters that I’ve gotten, the important moments in history that teachers have used from the the original series to to teach history that is, in some cases, intentionally being forgotten. It is, I think, a great opportunity for conversation. And I think what the show has always done, and I so grateful for Martin and Dean is to give you both sides of the story. So, you have those two sides to figure out where do you stand on this emotional issue, this political issue, wherever we are in storytelling, right? And maybe you just stand in the middle as an observer. Maybe you’re just, you know, Addison now, and you are looking at what’s happening, but you’re looking at it from the perspective of a present day mind that knows some of this history. Then, there’s the fun of, you know, there’s a show, and it happened to be the year you were in high school. You get to hear the music and see the clothes, because it’s a little movie every week.

Suzanne: That’s true. There was an actor I recognized in the second episode we’ve just seen briefly. Vincent Irizarry. Will he be coming back? Do you know?

Deborah: The two characters that are coming back are Peter Gadiot, Who’s Tom Westfall, and Eliza Taylor comes into it. She’s Hannah in episode three. So, those are going to be our reoccur[ing] characters that are coming back. I don’t think Vince is –

Suzanne: He’s from the poker game. So, he’s not in the history part of it.

Deborah: Right. Right. Right. I remember him. And he’s wonderful, by the way. Are you a fan?

Suzanne: Yes

Deborah: He’s very, very good. You know, that’s the cool thing about the show. You never know. We can go back and find a character. That can be really fun to tell the story, because they have that recognition of time. So, it could happen.

Suzanne: Okay, I hope so. I hope so. You know, who would play poker with Jen? Do they not know what kind of brain she has?

Deborah: Thank you very much. Represent. Yeah, she’s smart. I love the women on this show. In that Addison and Jen and – And you want that opportunity. And then Sam gets to be a woman 50% of the time. I mean, that’s the other thing that is, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but he leaps into, 50% of his characters are women.

Suzanne: Wow. I know he went often, but I didn’t know it was that high.

Producer Deborah Pratt of "Quantum Leap" on NBC (from her IMdB.com)Deborah: It was funny. They did the episode where he was the stewardess, episode 107. And I’ll never forget, they came down in these incredibly comfortable shoes. And I said, “Those weren’t the shoes those women had to wear in the 60s. They wore pointy toes, spike heels. And Genevieve who’s a wonderful costume designer, said, “Oh, I was just trying to be kind.” And they did a whole bit on it in one of the episodes, but, you know, we as women wore those shoes, and it’s fun to let men experience it, you know, vicariously, more than vicariously, he gets to do it for real, and that’s some of the fun stuff. And again, I go back to Raymond’s physical comedy is just delightful.

Suzanne: It’s great.

Deborah: He went to school and studied clowning…If you look at his physicality and how he can interpret some of those characters, it’s magical. That’s a lost art. You look at people like Robert Downey Jr. and people like that, who have great physicality in what they do, and I think that Raymond has that. He’s a real find. We’re very blessed to have him, besides being a really nice person.

Suzanne: That’s good to hear. That’s always good to hear. So, any outstanding guest stars that you can tell us about?

Deborah: Well, the pilot we’ve got, oh my gosh, Melissa Roxburgh from Manifest. François Arnaud from Midnight Texas and Aaron Abrams from Hannibal and Blind Spot, and [PJ] Byrne.

Suzanne: I was trying to remember where I knew him from; it’s from Blind Spot. I remember now.

Deborah: [PJ] Byrne from The Boys and Shazam. And Peter Gadiot from Yellowjackets and Eliza Taylor. You know, these are going to be our reoccurs, our regulars.

Suzanne: Well as as executive producer, do you have any control over the writing or the stories or anything like that?

Deborah: I give notes; I give my thoughts. And I say this with great humility, in the sense that I want Quantum Leap and the franchise of Quantum Leap to expand. I want the fact that Star Trek has nines spin offs, three concurrently, right now. It had nine major motion pictures, and I fought 30 years ago to have that and could not get the team to see the potential that’s there. This is very exciting to me. And it’s very important for me to keep the lore and the core of the show true to what Quantum Leap is about. But it’s very important for me to let someone create it into a new entity, to create [unintelligible] But but let’s see what it can be. And in my mind, I know multiple other directions that the show could go. So, this is just the beginning of what Quantum Leap’s comeback could be if the fans are there, if people like you love the show and support it. We’re very blessed to have the press, who had their own childhood experiences, growing up watching it with their parents and their grandparents and having the opportunity to talk about what happened in time. So, to come back and have those those little morality plays that Quantum Leap can do sometimes, and little glimpses of history from a whole new side experienced through Ben, where we the audience, or Ben, when he steps into someone’s shoes, whether they’re high heels or flats, we get to feel what it feels like for him to to experience being a white female or a black male or a woman. And those are the things that I think will carry us into great storytelling, and then the story threads that are being created and pulled through. They’re going to weave a beautiful tapestry of what this Quantum Leap is and can be. It’s a great time.

Suzanne: I hope that you get your wish, because that would be great to see Quantum Leap go on for quite a while.

Deborah: I’m hoping so too, as well. You know, I’m being very judicious about bringing Ziggy back, letting Ziggy come back, other than doing her job.

Suzanne: Right. All right. Well, it’s nice to talk to the voice of Ziggy.

Deborah: Thank you very much. Thank you. Yeah, it was it’s it was really fun to create it to, to write that dialogue that people hear and get chills, because it brings back so many natural memories.

Suzanne: Right, right. Well, I appreciate you talking to me today. And I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you.

Deborah: Thank you so very much. I am grateful for you and what you’re doing.

Audio edited and transcribed by Jamie of SciFiVision

MORE INFO: Official Site  Trailer

Quantum Leap

Season Premiere Wednesday, October 4 (8-9pm ET/PT) on NBC. Streaming next day on Peacock.

It’s been nearly 30 years since Dr. Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator and vanished. Now, a new team, led by physicist Ben Song (Raymond Lee), has been assembled to restart the project in the hope of understanding the mysteries behind the machine and the man who created it.

Everything changes, however, when Ben makes an unauthorized leap into the past, leaving the team behind to solve the mystery of why he did it. At Ben’s side throughout his leaps is Addison (Caitlin Bassett), who appears in the form of a hologram only Ben can see and hear. She’s a decorated Army veteran who brings level-headed precision to her job.

At the helm of the highly confidential operation is Herbert “Magic” Williams (Ernie Hudson), a no-nonsense career military man who has to answer to his bosses who won’t be happy once they learn about the breach of protocol. The rest of the team at headquarters includes Ian Wright (Mason Alexander Park), who runs the Artificial Intelligence unit “Ziggy,” and Jenn Chu (Nanrisa Lee), who heads up digital security for the project.

As Ben leaps from life to life, putting right what once went wrong, it becomes clear that he and the team are on a thrilling journey. However, Addison, Magic, Ian and Jenn know that if they are going to solve the mystery of Ben’s leaps and bring him home, they must act fast or lose him forever.

Martin Gero and Dean Georgaris serve as executive producers along with Deborah Pratt, Chris Grismer, Alex Berger, Steven Lilien and Bryan Wynbrandt.

Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, produce in association with Quinn’s House Productions.

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QUANTUM LEAP -- “Quantum Leap at WonderCon -- Pictured: (l-r) Deborah Pratt, Executive Producer; Nanrisa Lee, Ernie Hudson, Caitlin Bassett, Mason Alexander Park, Raymond Lee, Dean Georgaris, Executive Producer -- (Photo by: David Yeh/NBC)

 

Interview with Rebecca Morris

TV Interview!

 

Author Rebecca Morris

Interview with Rebecca Morris, Executive Producer of “Amish Stud: The Eli Weaver Story” on Lifetime by Suzanne 9/20/23

This is an intriguing movie airing tomorrow, September 30 on Lifetime. Rebecca is not only one of the EPs – she co-wrote the book about this case on which the movie is based, “A Killing in Amish Country: Sex, Betrayal and a Cold-blooded Murder” (along with author Gregg Olsen). In fact, she’s a New York Times Bestselling Author! It was my privilege to speak with her about this movie and this case.

I apologize if my questions during this interview made it sound like I expected her to be more involved with the movie itself. I really wasn’t told ahead of time about the extent of her involvement (I probably should have asked, so that’s on me). I’m very glad we spoke, though, as it was educational as well as entertaining.

At any rate, I enjoyed speaking with her. I hope you enjoy this interview. You should definitely check it out. It has a good story and an amazing cast! Luke Macfarlane , Kirsten Vangsness, Miranda MacDougallClare Filipow and the others do a really great job. When you watch this movie, you will learn things you probably didn’t know about the modern Amish community. The ending of the movie is chilling, since it is about a real case. Lovers of true crime will no doubt really enjoy this movie. If you’re a fan of Luke Macfarlane, you will be shocked by his performance (he’s also an EP). It’s a very different role than the others you’ve seen him play.

 

MORE INFO: Trailer Lifetime Site

"Amish Stud: The Eli Weaver Story" key art

About Rebecca Morris

New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Morris is a veteran journalist who worked in radio and television news in New York City; Portland, Oregon; and Seattle, Washington and was a free-lance writer for The Seattle Times, The Oregonian, People, Entertainment Weekly, The New York Daily News, The New York Post, and many other publications.

Her newest book, Boy Missing: The Search for Kyron Horman, is the only book about the
seven year old boy who vanished from his Portland, Oregon school on June 4, 2010. She spent three years interviewing his family and friends and trying to answer two questions: Where is Kyron, and why hasn’t the woman believed responsible for his disappearance been charged? The book helps make the case that no-body cases can be prosecuted.

Her first book, Ted and Ann, continues to be a bestseller on Amazon (and is also available as an e-book and audio book), and her e-book, Bad Apples – Inside the Teacher/Student Sex Scandal Epidemic, is the only book to look at the trend of female teachers having sex with underage students.

She is also the author of a true crime memoir, A Murder in My Hometown (2018), as well as
A Killing in Amish Country – Sex Betrayal and a Cold-Blooded Murder (St. Martin’s, 2016) and If I Can’t Have You – Susan Powell, Her Mysterious Disappearance and the Murder of Her Children (St. Martin’s 2014). She and Gregg Olsen are the authors of the Notorious USA series, including The Boy Who Fired the First Shot, The Girl and the Horrors of Howard Avenue, and The Stranger and the World’s Bravest Little Girl.

Rebecca attended Oregon State University, received a B.A. in Journalism from Seattle
University, and has an M.F.A. in Playwriting from Brown University. She speaks about her work at libraries, schools, and writers’ conferences. She has taught writing, journalism, and playwriting at colleges and universities across the country. She currently teaches at Seattle’s Hugo House and at North Seattle College.

She appears frequently on network and cable television as a crime expert.

Lifetime Announces “Truly Unbelievable Movies” A Ripped From the Headlines Event – New Movies Every Saturday Beginning September 16

LIFETIME ANNOUNCES “TRULY UNBELIEVABLE MOVIES” 
A RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES EVENT WITH NEW ORIGINALS 
EVERY SATURDAY BEGINNING THIS SEPTEMBER  

BILL PULLMAN TO HEADLINE LIFETIME’S MILESTONE
500TH ORIGINAL MOVIE
MURDAUGH MURDERS: THE MOVIE
DEBUTING OCTOBER 14 AND 15 AS A TWO-NIGHT EVENT

SARAH DREW EXECUTIVE PRODUCES AND STARS
ALONGSIDE DELILAH HAMLIN IN
HOW SHE CAUGHT A KILLER
ON SEPTEMBER 16

EMILY OSMENT AND ANNA HOPKINS HEADLINE
STOLEN BABY: THE MURDER OF HEIDI BROUSSARD PREMIERING SEPTEMBER 23 

LUKE MACFARLANE EXECUTIVE PRODUCES AND STARS
WITH KIRSTEN VANGSNESS IN
AMISH STUD: THE ELI WEAVER STORY
SET FOR SEPTEMBER 30 

MEAGAN GOOD EXECUTIVE PRODUCES AND STARS ALONGSIDE
ARIANA MADIX IN BUYING BACK MY DAUGHTER DEBUTING OCTOBER 7

WENDI MCLENDON-COVEY EXECUTIVE PRODUCES AND STARS IN
BAD ROMANCE: THE VICKY WHITE STORY PREMIERING OCTOBER 21 

MELISSA JOAN HART EXECUTIVE PRODUCES AND STARS IN
WOULD YOU KILL FOR ME? THE MARY BAILEY STORY DEBUTING OCTOBER 28

LOS ANGELES, CA (September 6, 2023) – This fall, Lifetime unveils “Truly Unbelievable Movies,” a Ripped from the Headlines Event , a slate of seven new original movies featuring top talent. All produced earlier this year, the lineup includes Lifetime’s milestone 500th original movie, the two-night event Murdaugh Murders: The Movie starring Bill Pullman as Alex Murdaugh who, on the surface is a prominent and respected South Carolina lawyer, loving husband and father but behind closed doors, lived a drug-filled secret life that ultimately led to murder. The two-part movie will premiere as the tent-pole of fall slate, premiering on October 14th and 15th at 8p/7c. New original movies will all debut Saturdays at 8p/7c from September 16 – October 28.

AMISH STUD: THE ELI WEAVER STORY – Premieres September 30
Devoted to her husband, kids and faith, Barbara Weaver (Miranda MacDougall, The Flash) was content leading a traditional life in her conservative Ohio Amish community—with no modern conveniences.  Her husband Eli (EP, Luke Macfarlane, Bros), however, wanted the things that were forbidden to him as an Amish man. He gave into the temptations of women and technology, leading a secret life with the online alias “Amish Stud” to meet with women outside of his marriage bed.  Eli found his pick of curious women fascinated by the Amish lifestyle, and often spoke to his mistresses about his desire to kill his wife.  When Barbara is found dead from a shotgun wound, all eyes turn to Eli. But with his rock solid alibi, investigators had nowhere to turn, until they discover Eli had a secret cell phone. Their investigations led them to Barb Raber (Kirsten Vangsness, Criminal Minds), a married Conservative Mennonite who had been having an affair with Eli and who was plotting with him to murder his wife. Ultimately, it is up to the detectives investigating the crime to find justice for Barbara Weaver. Amish Stud is based on the book, “A Killing in Amish Country: Sex, Betrayal and a Cold-Blooded Murder” by bestselling authors Gregg Olsen and Rebecca Morris.

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Luke Macfarlane and Miranda MacDougall as Eli and Barbara Weaver in "Amish Stud: The Eli Weaver Story" on Lifetime

 

Interview with Jamie Berard

TV Interview!

 

Jamie Berard of "LEGO Masters" on FOX

Interview with Jamie Berard of “LEGO Masters” on FOX by Suzanne 9/27/23

This was a fun interview. I didn’t know what to expect when I agreed to this because I don’t normally watch any reality or game shows, and I’ve never played with LEGOs before. I watched the season 4 premiere and found that it really drew me in. It was entertaining. I hope you enjoy the new season and this chat with judge Jamie.

 

MORE INFO: Interview

LEGO Masters key art

Hosted by actor and producer Will Arnett, LEGO® MASTERS brings imagination, design and creativity to life when teams of LEGO enthusiasts go head-to-head, with infinite possibilities and an unlimited supply of LEGO bricks. Once again, teams of two will compete against each other in even more ambitious brick-building challenges – including an earthquake tower challenge, a demolition derby, a LEGO fashion show and more – to be crowned the country’s most talented amateur LEGO builders. In each episode, Arnett, alongside expert Brickmasters and LEGO employees Amy Corbett and Jamie Berard, will encourage the builders, introduce incredible challenges and put their creativity and skills to the test. The competing pairs who impress the judges the most will progress to the next round, until the finale, during which the top teams will face off for a $100,000 cash prize, the ultimate LEGO trophy and the grand title of LEGO MASTERS.

Endemol Shine North America, Tuesday’s Child and Plan B Entertainment produce LEGO Masters, under license from The LEGO Group. Showrunner Anthony Dominici executive-produces with Arnett; Sharon Levy, DJ Nurre and Michael Heyerman from Endemol Shine North America; Karen Smith and Steph Harris from Tuesday’s Child; Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Christina Oh from Plan B; and Jill Wilfert and Robert May from The LEGO Group.

Meet the contestants!  LEGO Masters Renewed!

Jamie Berard is Senior Design Manager and Creative Lead at The LEGO Company, where he is responsible for working on the LEGO Architecture and LEGO Ideas lines, as well as a variety of products for adults, teens and super fans. He is a life-long LEGO fan and has been an employee of The LEGO Company for more than 14 years.

Before joining LEGO, Berard was part of the local group New England LEGO Users Group (NELUG), where he worked on several larger-than-life projects, including a 100,000-piece LEGO mosaic of the Boston skyline. He served as a foreman on the Millyard Project, which, at its completion, was the largest permanent minifigure scale display in the world.

In 2004, Berard was a finalist to become the next Master Model Builder for LEGOLAND California and served as a Technical Judge for the FIRST LEGO League World Finals in Atlanta, GA. He was hired to work for the company in 2005, after displaying functional amusement park rides at a LEGO fan event in Washington, D.C.

Since joining LEGO, he has been responsible for designing dozens of complex LEGO models, including the 4,000+ piece Big Ben and the 4,000+ piece Assembly Square Modular Building sets, which are available for purchase to fans worldwide.

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LEGO MASTERS: L-R: Judges Amy Corbett and Jamie Berard with Host Will Arnett on Season Three of LEGO MASTERS, premiering Wednesday, Sept. 21 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. ©2021 Fox Media LLC Cr: Tom Griscom/FOX

 

Primetime TV Fall 2023 Schedule

 

 

 

Fall 2023 Broadcast Schedule

 

Times and Dates are subject to change!

Shows we cover have Our Site next to the title – click on it to see our page for the show!

Monday

8:00pm

8:30pm

9:00pm

9:30pm

10:00pm

10:30pm

ABC logo

Monday Night Football 9/18

CBS logo

The Price Is Right at Night 10/2 Loteria Loca* 10/2

 NCIS Our Site re-runs

The CW logo

FBoy Island 8/3

Local

FOX logo

Kitchen Nightmares 9/25

Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test 9/25

Local

NBC logo

The Voice 9/25

The Irrational 9/25

Tuesday

8:00pm

8:30pm

9:00pm

9:30pm

10:00pm

10:30pm

ABC logo

Dancing with the Stars 9/26 Press Your Luck 10/10

CBS logo

Big Brother 8/2

FBI: True** 10/3

FBI re-runs

The CW logo

Inside the NFL 9/5

The Swarm *** 9/12

Local

FOX logo

Celebrity Name That Tune 10/3

9-1-1: Lone Star re-runs

Local

NBC logo

The Voice (results) 9/26

Found

Wednesday

8:00pm

8:30pm

9:00pm

9:30pm

10:00pm

10:30pm

ABC logo Celebrity Jeopardy 9/27 Celebrity Wheel of Fortune 9/27

The $100,000 Pyramid 9/27

CBS logo

Survivor 9/27

The Amazing Race 9/21

The CW logo

Sullivan’s Crossing**** 10/4

The Spencer Sisters**** 10/4

Local

FOX logo

The Masked Singer 9/27

Snake Oil 9/27

Local

NBC logo

Quantum Leap 10/4

Magnum PI 10/4

One Chicago re-runs

Thursday

8:00pm

8:30pm

9:00pm

9:30pm

10:00pm

10:30pm

ABC logo

The Golden Bachelor 9/28

Bachelor in Paradise 9/28

CBS logo

Big Brother Buddy Games* 9/14 The Challenge: USA* 10/9

The CW logo

Son of a Critch**** 7/24

Run the Burbs**** 8/3

Children Ruin Everything**** 10/2

Everything Else Burns **** 10/16

Local

FOX logo

Hell’s Kitchen 9/28

LEGO Masters 9/28

Local

NBC logo

Law and Order Our Site re-runs

Transplant**** 10/12

Dateline NBC

Friday

8:00pm

8:30pm

9:00pm

9:30pm

10:00pm

10:30pm

ABC logo

Shark Tank 9/29 20/20 9/29

20/20

CBS logo

The Price Is Right at Night/Let’s Make a Deal Primetime 11/3

Raid the Cage 10/13

Blue Bloods re-runs

The CW logo

Penn & Teller: Fool Us 10/27

Local

FOX logo

WWE Friday Night Smackdown Live 1/6

Local

NBC logo

The Wall 11/3

 Dateline NBC 9/15

Saturday

8:00pm

8:30pm

9:00pm

9:30pm

10:00pm

10:30pm

ABC logo

Saturday Night Football 8/26

CBS logo

Crimetime Saturday (Repeats) and sports

48 Hours 9/16

The CW logo

Masters of Illusion 10/28

Masters of Illusion (re-run)

World’s Funniest Animals 10/28

World’s Funniest Animals (re-run)

Local

FOX logo

FOX Sports Saturday 9/9

Local

NBC logo

Big Ten Saturday Night (starts at 7:30) 9/2
Sunday 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 9:30pm 10:00pm 10:30pm
ABC logo America’s Funniest Home Videos 10/1  Wonderful World of Disney 10/1 (movies)
CBS logo 60 Minutes 9/17 Yellowstone+ 9/17 Big Brother
The CW logo Local The Chosen++  re-runs World’s Funniest Animals (re-run) Local
FOX logo NFL on FOX 9/7 The O.T. 9/7 The Simpsons 10/1 Krapopolis 9/24 Bob’s Burgers 10/1 Family Guy Our Site 10/1 Local
NBC logo Football Night in America 9/7 Sunday Night Football 9/7

* NCIS Our Site re-runs replace “Loteria Loca” starting 11/13.
NCIS : Sydney replaces NCIS re-runs starting 11/13.
Young Sheldon and “Ghosts” replaces “Buddy Games” 11/2. Then “Ghosts U.K.” will replace those shows 11/16.
“SEAL Team” returns 11/2 to replace “The Challenge USA.”

**Previously aired on Paramount+
***Previously aired in Germany
****Previuosly aired in Canada
+Previously aired on Paramount
++Previously aired on BYUTV

 

These listings and dates are subject to change! Click on the link of each show to double-check and see what dates the networks give.

Info from TV Insider, TVline and the TV network sites.

Back to the Main Primetime TV Page

 

Primetime TV Review: Love Can Surprise You

TV Review!

“Love Can Surprise You” Review on by Eva 9/20/2023

Carina (Camilla Belle) is a romance columnist who works for Sparklife. Carina thinks she is headed for marriage with her boyfriend Tom (Karn Kalra) until he suddenly breaks up with her. Camila’s boss pairs her with a new writer named Liam (David Lafontaine). Her boss thinks the romance section of the website needs a male perspective.

Carina and Liam don’t get along at first, because he is more spontaneous in his writing while she has a more serious and organized approach to her writing. Carina and Liam become friends when they work on an article about the ten best activities to do on a date. Carina tells Liam she wants to get back together with her boyfriend and Liam comes up with a plan to help Carina. Liam’s plan works and Carina’s boyfriend asks Carina for another chance and he arrives at her parents vow renewal ceremony. Carina discovers that just because her and her boyfriend seem like a good couple, it doesn’t mean they should be together.

This movie is worth watching, even though in my opinion, it would have been fun to explore Carina’s Brazilian heritage a bit more since it was mentioned that her mother was from Brazil. I also would have liked to see a bit more of the vow renewal ceremony. I really enjoyed Camila Bell in this movie.

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This movie was previously released as “10 Truths About Love” in 2022. The movie is available under this title in Tubi.

If you missed the movie look on your DVR guide for the next airing because Great American Family channel airs movies several times.

I give this movie 4 out of 5 stars.

More Information:

Proofread and Edited by Brenda

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

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Primetime TV Review: Come Fly with Me

TV Review!

“Come Fly with Me” Review on by Eva 9/20/2023

This movie is about a single mom, Emma (Heather Hemmens), who moves to Las Vegas to train with the Air Force Thunderbirds. Emma meets a widower named Paul (Niall Matter) who is also a single father. Emma and Paul meet when their daughters Lucy (Pietra Castro) and Alice (Georgia Aken). The girls notice the chemistry between Paul and Emma and, since the girls want to become sisters, they make a plan to get their parents together.

This movie was filmed in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense which provided beautiful footage of airplanes in flight. This movie has three important messages about love, friendship, and organ donation. I would have liked it if they would have concentrated a little bit more on the organ donation part of the story, but I enjoyed that this movie was a little different than the Hallmark movie formula. It is definitely worth watching and if you miss the movie, Hallmark Movies and Mysteries will repeat it several times; just check your DVR guide or the Hallmark Movies and Mysteries website.

I give this movie 5 out of 5 stars.

More Information:

Proofread and Edited by Brenda

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

Back to the Main Reviews Page

Interview with Karen Lam

TV Interview!

 

Writer/Director/Producer Karen Lam; Photo by Tallulah Photography - © opiatepix

Interview with Karen Lam of the movie “The Curse of Willow Song” by Thane 9/9/23

It was great to talk to award-winning filmmaker Karen Lam about her upcoming horror movie, “The Curse Of Willow Song.” This movie won multiple awards, but I found her very humble about it. I can tell that she’s in it for the love of art, and she loves working with people.  Make sure to check out the trailer because it’s really cool.

 

MORE INFO: VIEW AND SHARE THE TRAILER!

Director/producer/writer Karen Lam (from her cats' Instagram)Canadian writer, director, and producer KAREN LAM is promoting her upcoming film THE CURSE OF WILLOW SONG, on digital and DVD September 26.

Lam grew up in Brandon, Manitoba. Lam‘s father, a professor, would show his daughter horror films that she cites as an influence for her work. Lam also lists Gothic literature and Asian horror films as influences. After receiving a law degree from the University of British Columbia, Lam began working at BC Film.

Lam‘s first featured-length film was Stained (2010), a thriller starring Tinsel Korey. A year later the horror revenge short Doll Parts (2011) was released and distributed, which Lam credits for paving the way for Stained to get viewership in the United States. She landed on Hollywood’s map with the starry horror Evangeline in 2013.

KAREN LAM‘S HIGHLY ANTICIPATED COMES TO DIGITAL SEPTEMBER 26

THE CURSE OF WILLOW SONG

Key art for the film, "The Curse of Willow Song"

STARRING VALERIE TIAN FROM “THE MAGICIANS”, “ARROW” AND JENNIFER’S BODY

Karen Lam‘s highly-anticipated The Curse of Willow Song, starring Jennifer Body’s Valerie Tian, has been picked up by Uncork’d Entertainment. The horror pic, receiving great early buzz thanks to its strong special effects, will release on both digital and DVD formats in the fall.

“The Curse of Willow Song has so much to offer. It will appeal for the genre audience but also the Asian community – as represented in front of and behind camera”, said Keith Leopard, President Uncork’d Entertainment. “Karen Lam is truly one of the most exceptional filmmakers out there, and The Curse of Willow Song reiterates that.”

Willow Song, a recovering addict and parolee, struggles to start over. Willow finds herself in a concrete wasteland. Facing isolation and displacement, shadows creep into Willow’s mind and her nightmares become too real.

The Curse of Willow Song will release on Digital and DVD September 26, 2023.

About Uncork’d Entertainment

Uncork’d Entertainment was founded in July, 2012 by Keith Leopard, a Home Entertainment industry veteran with more than 23 years of experience in purchasing, acquisitions, merchandising, marketing and analysis of major studio and independent supplier to the home entertainment market.

The Company focuses on distribution in six areas: Digital Media, Physical Home Entertainment, Aggregation, Theatrical and Television, Foreign Sales, and has secured relationships across all platforms to ensure your film reaches the widest audience possible.

Keith and his team are committed to maximizing revenue, controlling costs, and assuring their Content Partners the highest quality of service, a commitment to market and merchandise their film and a rewarding experience by partnering with Uncork’d Entertainment.

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Writer/Director/Producer Karen Lam; Photo by Tallulah Photography - © opiatepix
Writer/Director/Producer Karen Lam; Photo by Tallulah Photography – © opiatepix

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Interview with the creators of “The Inventor”

TV Interview!

 

Writer/co-director Jim Capobiano, co-director Pierrce-Luc Granjon and composer Alex Mandel of "The Inventor"

Interview with writer/co-director Jim Capobianco, co-director Pierrce-Luc Granjon and composer Alex Mandel of the movie “The Inventor” by Suzanne 8/10/23

This is a cute stop-motion animated movie about Leonardo da Vinci and his quest to find out the secret of life. It’s great for kids, families, or anyone. The music is very good, too.

The first interview was with the show’s directors, Jim Capobianco and Pierre-Luc Granjon; Capobianco was also the writer. The second interview was with Alex Mandel, who wrote the music. Both interviews were very enjoyable. I hope you can go see this film, which comes out September 15.

Writer/co-director Jim Capobiano and composer Alex Mandel of "The Inventor"

 

 

 

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"The Inventor" key art

THE INVENTOR

WATCH THE OFFICIAL TRAILER HERE

SYNOPSIS

Directed and written by Jim Capobianco (the Academy Award®-nominated screenwriter of “Ratatouille”) and co-directed by Pierre-Luc GranjonTHE INVENTOR is a stop-motion adventure film about the life of Leonardo da Vinci featuring the voices of Stephen Fry, Daisy Ridley, Marion Cotillard, Gauthier Battoue, and Matt Berry.

The insatiably curious and headstrong inventor/artist Leonardo da Vinci (Fry) leaves Italy to join the French court where he can freely experiment, invent flying contraptions and incredible machines, and study the human body. Joined in his adventure by the audacious Princess Marguerite (Ridley), Leonardo attempts to uncover the answer to the ultimate question: “What is the meaning of life?”

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Leonardo di Vinci of "The Inventor"

 

Primetime TV Review: Learning to Love

TV Review!

Picture #1 Here

“Learning to Love” Review on by Eva 9/4/2023

Learning to Love is the first movie in the Great American Autumn movies from Great American Family network. Ever week a new movie will be shown every Saturday until the middle of October.

The movie is about Harry Carlton (Philip Boyd) who is dealing with the death of his wife and having to raise his two daughters while working as an architect. Harry has hired several tutors for his daughters, but the tutors have never gotten along well with them. Harry meets Stephanie Miller (Ina Barron) who accidentally arrives at his office thinking she is there for an interview with an advertising agency but after talking to Harry for a few minutes she finds out the advertising agency is on another floor. The interview with the advertising agency doesn’t work out because Stephanie arrives late and without a resume because she left the resume in Harry’s office. Harry offers Stephanie the job as a tutor because Stephanie was a teacher before she worked in advertising.

I really enjoyed watching this movie, it was funny and sweet and Philip Boyd and Ina Barron had wonderful chemistry together and you are really hoping that they become a couple and get their happy ending. Harry’s daughters Rosa (Caroline Skye) and Bella (Zoe Willis). do a wonderful job and are really believable as sisters who love their dad and want the best for him.

I give this movie a 5 out of 5 stars. If you miss the movie or forget to set your DVR, the movie will rerun on Great American Family or it will stream on pureflix.com.

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

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