COVER STORY

Kelsey Grammer is ‘Boss’

By Jay Bobbin © Zap2it

Dr. Frasier Crane, he’s not. And that’s exactly how Kelsey Grammer wants it now.

A four-time Emmy winner for playing his most popular part to date (with an additional Emmy for his recurring Sideshow Bob voice role on “The Simpsons”), the actor launches a huge and highly effective image change as the powerful and troubled mayor of Chicago when the Starz drama series “Boss” debuts Friday, Oct. 21.

Tom Kane rules the Windy City in his own imperious way, and if he has faced challenges before, he gets his greatest one in the show’s opening scene. His neurologist (Karen Aldridge) informs him of his progressive brain disorder, prompting his worry that he’ll soon lose everything personally as well as professionally.

Not that his personal life isn’t already frayed: He’s estranged from both his wife and daughter (Connie Nielsen, Hannah Ware).

At the office, Kane relies on his chief of staff (Martin Donovan); his aide (Kathleen Robertson) and the ambitious state treasurer (Jeff Hephner) are among others he deals with often.

Along with filmmaker Gus Van Sant, who directed the premiere, Grammer is an executive producer of “Boss.” So is series creator Farhad Safinia, with whom Grammer says he began working “sometime after my marriage at the time was falling apart.This character’s life was falling apart, and it was meant to be derivative of some Shakespearean stuff.

“Basically, he’s Lear,“ Grammer says.“That being said, we don’t want to pigeonhole it so that people say,‘Oh, they’re trying to make a “King Lear” story.’ It’s a tragedy about a man who is not necessarily a tragic figure at first but will become that as he learns to love.That’s my idea of where this character is going.”

Despite Kane’s power in holding a city’s top office — evidenced early in “Boss” when he literally brings an associate to his knees — Grammer maintains the show is “not really meant to be about politics. It is political in nature, and Chicago lends itself to the idea of a kingdom, a place where one man can make a difference.That’s what we’re borrowing from Chicago, that these men who have existed throughout its history are compelling, great characters.”

And Grammer is pleased to be adding such a character to the roster. He defines Kane as “a genius at understanding how to push or manipulate somebody. I don’t even know that it’s always conscious what his skill is, and the malady he is dealing with suddenly challenges his trust of himself.That’s what makes him such an interesting guy to play.”

Indeed, Kane fears exposure of his medical condition, evident in his eyes when his uncontrollably shaking wrist knocks loudly against the bottom of a desk during a well-attended hearing. Grammer says Kane’s illness “doesn’t have an identity in our society. Maybe by virtue of this, it will be given one, but it’s still relatively undiscovered in terms of its symptoms and its course.”

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BY JACQUELINE CUTLER

Ben-Israel declined offers of reality shows. “They always want to see me throw cakes and lose my temper,” he says over a cup of tea. “I wanted to do something that would honor what we do.”

Food Network approached him and built a phenomenal kitchen for the set. When not there or in his bakery, Ben-Israel teaches at the French Culinary Institute and volunteers to feed New York’s hungry.

Before his formal training, Ben-Israel learned to bake from his mother. His favorite items to make are kugelhopf and sweet challah. Raised in Tel Aviv, well-traveled and now very much a part of Manhattan, Ben-Israel pauses to reflect on goals.

“I would love to be involved again in a good, stable loving relationship,” he says. “The man I would be looking for – I would want somebody who has a sense of who they are.”

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“The Walking Dead,” www. amctv.com/shows/the-walking-dead

Returning for its second season on Sunday, the AMC horror-drama series proves there’s plenty of life in the undead yet. The official home page outlines the plot, cast and crew, offering photos, videos, blogs, interviews, press and an episode schedule. There are also games and quizzes — including “Survival Test” and “Atlanta Run” — and extras, such as a newsletter, downloads, mobile links, merchandise and DVDs.

Ron Ben-Israel: the real ‘Sweet Genius’

Ron Ben-Israel, compact and enthusiastic, gives a tour of his bakery in a fifth-floor loft in Soho. Here, extraordinarily beautiful and sumptuous (tasting is part of the assignment) cakes are custom-made.

His eye for art (which he studied), training as a dancer (evident in his carriage) and service in the Israeli army (evident in the precision with which his kitchen is run) all contribute to the on-screen presence.

Ben-Israel is the host and sole arbiter of Food Network’s “Sweet Genius,” Thursdays, where four pastry chefs compete – evoke sand! use marrow! – to win $10,000.

“Pastry chefs are all introverted, obsessive/compulsive people,” he says. “I don’t want people failing.”

There’s nothing humiliating on the show. Rather he has standards, obvious in his bakery, where he works for hours crafting dozens of varieties of roses from sugar.

“I never want a retail outlet where people point to a shelf where the cakes are ready made,” he says.