ARTS&LIFE NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST
LAW AND ORDER (THE ORIGINAL!) RETURNS, THE SAG AWARDS The original Law and Order series ran from 1990-2010 and spanned several “spin-offs,” including Law and Order; SVU. A “reboot” of the original series premieres on NBC on Feb. 24 (8 p.m.). Sam Waterston is returning as Jack McCoy, Manhattan’s (head) District Attorney. He played that role for the last three seasons of the original. Before his promotion, McCoy was the top assistant district attorney for 12 seasons. Fans will recall that McCoy worked, for five seasons, under Adam Schiff, the (Jewish) Manhattan District Attorney. Schiff was played by the late Steven Hill, an Orthodox Jew. The beautifully acted and wellwritten interplay between Schiff and McCoy was one of the highlights of the original series. In the reboot, the top assistant D.A.s are played by Hugh Dancy and Odelya Halevi, 30ish. Halevi was born and raised in Israel, the grandchild of Yemeni Jewish immigrants. After a year of military service, she moved to the States, age 19. She’s had many small roles. Her Law and Order reboot role is a huge career break. Camryn Manheim, 60, a veteran well-known actress, has snared a plum role as Kate Dixon, the
detective in charge of the whole police squad room. Manheim was born in New Jersey, but frequently moved during her youth because her father, a math professor, changed jobs several times. Manheim lived in Michigan for a few years. Her family finally settled in California when she was 12. In a 2019 Jewish Journal interview, she said that her parents were “liberal, cultural Jews” and that she had visited Israel. The actress also told the Journal that she tried to raise her son, Milo Manheim, now 21, “as a mensch.” Milo, who is her only child, had a bar mitzvah. He is now trying to build an acting career. Camryn Manheim’s big career break came when she got a co-starring role as attorney Eleanor Pruitt on The Practice, which ran from 1997-2004. Manheim has “police experience.” She had a big supporting role in the ABC series Stumptown as an Oregon police lieutenant. The series, which got good reviews and pretty good ratings, was renewed (May 2020) for a second season. However, a few months later, it was canceled due to pandemic-related filming problems. Manheim probably got lucky: the cancellation meant that she was available for a bigger part in Law and Order. SAG AWARDS The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) awards will be held
Camryn Manheim
on Feb. 27 (TNT and TBS, 8 p.m.). Most of the awards are for an “ensemble cast.” I’ve previously mentioned, in this column, the Jewish cast members in these films or series. So, I will list, here, just a few nominees. Andrew Garfield, 38, is nominated for “outstanding male actor” for playing composer Jonathan Larson in tick, tick … Boom. He is Oscarnominated for the same role. Michael Douglas, 77 (The Kominsky Method) and Brett Goldstein, 41 (Ted Lasso), compete for the best male actor (comedy series) award. Until recently, I didn’t have an Apple TV+ subscription so I didn’t write much about The Morning Show, an Apple TV + series about a network morning news program. Its cast is SAGnominated for “best cast ensemble” (drama series). The nominated cast includes Julianne Margulies, 55. Her character, Laura Peterson,
BY DAVID SHANKBONE
CELEBRITY NEWS
is an openly gay, top newscaster. Peterson, a major character, first appeared in the second season. The Morning Show got so/so reviews when it began, and I was surprised that it was a lot better than first reviews said. Apple TV+ doles out its series one episode a week. But The Morning Show benefits, I think, from binge watching. As you may know, the show begins with a sexual harassment scandal involving Mitch Kessler (Steve Carell), The Morning Show co-anchor. It was very “satisfying” to see the whole arc of the scandal, as I did, as I binge watched the series. Spoiler alert: Kessler’s “fate” was “resolved” in the first two seasons, but another “mystery” never got solved. Mitch Kessler sounds like a Jewish name — but we never learn if he is Jewish or not. Even more annoying — Kessler’s co-anchor is Alexandra “Alex” Levy (Jennifer Aniston). Is Alex Jewish? If not, how did she get this last name? I am still waiting for an answer. Why did the writers give Levy a “very Jewish name” if they don’t tell us her “backstory”? I may have to chalk it up as another entry in the long history of American TV series in which writers provide “clues” that a character is Jewish, but— for “marketing reasons” — “Jewishness” is never made explicit. Fey!
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