Sumter Scene: October 2, 2022

Jimmy Smits makes ‘East New York’ his latest TV residence

BY GEORGE DICKIE

In his newest series role, Jimmy Smits is walking familiar turf in a number of ways.

The “L.A. Law” Primetime Emmy winner was nominated for the award every season he was a regular on “NYPD Blue,” and he returns to that milieu – and a couple of that police drama’s principal creative talents – in the CBS series “East New York,” premiering Sunday, Oct. 2.

Smits plays the chief overseeing officers including one precinct’s new captain (Amanda Warren), who faces resistance from some members of her team while struggling to keep citizens safe at a time when that may be more challenging than ever. Kevin Rankin, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Richard Kind (“Mad About You”), Ruben Santiago-Hudson and C.S. Lee also are among the show’s stars.

For Brooklyn native Smits, “East New York’s” representation of its title city means a lot. “It’s the story of New York as a series of immigrant communities, a whole cross-cultural thing,” the sincere actor says. “It’s a place I have such love for, but you can feel the deterioration that’s happened there.”

With his Bobby Simone having been very much a street detective on “NYPD Blue,” Smits is adjusting to wearing the uniform of his “East New York” alter ego, Chief John Suarez: “Though he’s solid and you can lean up against him, he represents the system, too. He wants to change it, and that’s why he handpicks (Warren’s character) Regina Haywood and gives her a shot in this particular community. It’s a way to change the thinking about what policing can be in the times we’re in.”

Smits became involved in “East New York” through his enduring friendship with “NYPD Blue” and “L.A. Law” writer-producer William Finkelstein.

“I had heard through the grapevine that he was interested in doing another police show,” Smits explains. “We had just ‘friend’ conversations, and one person he said he had for this was (producer-director) Michael Robin, who I basically started out with on ‘L.A. Law.’ That was another box that got checked for me. He explained the show, and I asked him what they were going to call it. And ‘East New York’ means so much to me, on so many levels.”

Enjoying the combination of fellow acting veterans and relative newcomers that “East New York” includes him in, Smits deems lead actress Warren “everything that I talk to young people getting into acting about having, a ‘toolbox.’ She’s just a bright light. And there are people here who have worked for years; Ruben Santiago-Hudson and I have a relationship that goes back to the days when we were pounding the streets of New York (pursuing auditions). I think we’ve got a good group here.”

Horoscopes Horoscopes

The luckiest signs this week: PISCES, ARIES AND TAURUS

ARIES

You’ll enjoy shopping for a new look. Your friends will inspire you with new trends. You’ll expand your horizons by exploring your spirituality.

TAURUS

There’s a good chance you’ll finally get that long-awaited promotion at work. This will allow you to find a good work-life balance. You’ll also increase your client base and recruit new staff.

GEMINI

If you want to get ahead, you must step outside your comfort zone. You’ll be brave enough to try something you’ve always been afraid of doing. Once you overcome your fears, you’ll feel a great deal of pride.

CANCER

You’ll plan a getaway with your loved ones. You’ll develop new, more dynamic and inspiring friendships. You should also plan to spend more quality time with your significant other.

LEO You’ll be inspired to apply for a career-boosting apprenticeship. You’ll disprove troubling information or translate a confusing message.

VIRGO

After a conflict or argument, you’ll manage to restore harmony. You’ll be open to compromise to reach a fair agreement. You’ll also manage to quit some bad habits.

LIBRA

You’ll participate in various activities with your friends this week. You’ll feel the need to move your body, which will get you back into shape quickly. You’ll also feel more competitive than usual.

SCORPIO

You’ll be given a new position at work that will require you to get a new wardrobe. Your new clothes will make you look your best and feel more comfortable meeting clients.

SAGITTARIUS

You won’t want to leave the house this week. You’ll devote time and energy to your family and those around you. The people close to you rely on your generosity and may abuse it.

CAPRICORN

As winter approaches, germs have a nasty habit of spreading quickly. Avoid irritating your respiratory system, or you could lose your voice for a few days.

AQUARIUS

Confusion and inspiration are in the air. You’ll have the opportunity to ask questions and express what’s on your mind. You’ll get answers to delicate questions, which will be reassuring.

PISCES

It’s the calm after the storm! You’ll be preoccupied with work and other difficulties. If you’re unsatisfied with your job, you’ll reflect on your professional future and do what it takes to change your situation.

New Streaming Movies & Shows

“Conversations With a Killer: The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes”

The third installment of director Joe Berlinger’s “Conversations With a Killer” series focuses on how Jeffrey Dahmer, responsible for 17 murders in Wisconsin and Ohio from 1978 to 1991, managed to avoid suspicion and detection from police as he stalked Milwaukee’s gay scene for victims, many of whom were people of color. (ORIGINAL)

“The Redeem Team”

From filmmaker Jon Weinbach (“The Other Dream Team”) comes this documentary that tells the story of the U.S. Men’s Basketball Team’s quest for gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics four years after their shocking upset loss in Athens. Among those interviewed are players Dwyane Wade and LeBron James and Coach Mike Krzyzewski. (ORIGINAL)

“The D’Amelio Show” This unscripted series follows up the smashing success of its first season with more drama under the glare of the internet spotlight in Season 2, as the D’Amelios’ meteoric rise creates once-in-a-lifetime opportunities in business and personal relationships — but they could come at the cost of what makes them a tight-knit family. (ORIGINAL)

“Movie: The Last Duel”

Ridley Scott’s 2021 historical action drama unfolds in three distinct “chapters” reflecting the perspective of the three main characters. Matt Damon stars as Jean de Carrouges, a knight who feels compelled to challenge his old friend, Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver) to a duel after Jean’s wife, Marguerite (Jodie Comer), accuses Jacques of raping her. Ben Affleck takes a supporting role.

“The Midnight Club”

Based on the works of novelist Christopher Pike, this horror series follows a group of five terminally ill patients who share scary stories and make a pact that the next of them to die will give the group a sign from the other side.

Samantha Sloyan, Zach Gilford, Igby Rigney and Heather Langenkamp (“A Nightmare on Elm Street”) head the cast. (ORIGINAL)

“Movie: Luckiest Girl Alive”

From director Mike Barker (“A Good Woman,” “Best Laid Plans”) comes this drama that stars Mila Kunis (“Black Swan”) as Ani, a New York career woman whose bright future is placed in jeopardy when she’s forced to relive a trauma from her past for a crime documentary. Connie Britton, Chiara Aurelia, Finn Wittrock and Scoot McNairy also star. (ORIGINAL)

“Movie: Joe”

Nicolas Cage stars in this 2013 adaptation of Larry Brown’s novel as the title character, an ex-convict who’s doing his best to go straight — but that becomes difficult when he befriends a youngster (Tye Sheridan, “Mud”) whose father is abusive. Joe then has to make a decision whether to do something about the situation in his own way.

“Ice Road Truckers” The first two seasons of this unscripted History series that follows six hardy drivers whose job it is to drive supplies hundreds of miles to diamond miners in northern Canada — over frozen lakes that could give way under them any minute — comes to the streaming service.

Q&A with Niecy Nash-Betts

Can you talk about Simone a little bit? She is the mother of 18-year-old twins, a boy and a girl. The children are away at college. She’s just graduated from Quantico. And because she has so much life experience, you know, there’s two ways of doing things – the FBI way and then there’s the Simone Clark way, and Simone Clark is always going to want to do it her way. She bucks the system in that way, which gets her in a lot of trouble but she kind of weasels out of it because she’s good at what she does. She still gets it done but in an unconventional way. She is very spirited. She’s always going to think she’s the most charming girl in the room. She’s a big flirt. She dates men and women – I’ve never played a character that was fluid before.

“Movie: Support Your Local Sheriff!”

Makes sense; after all, he can toss you in jail. A stranger (James Garner) traveling to Australia stumbles into a gold-rush town and ends up becoming the sheriff. He manages to tame the lawless town and keep the peace by using his brains instead of his gun. Directed by Burt Kennedy, this 1969 comedy also stars Joan Hackett, Walter Brennan, Bruce Dern and Harry Morgan.

“Movie: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring”

In director Peter Jackson’s first installment of the epic trilogy, Frodo the hobbit (Elijah Wood) is enlisted to help the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen). Evil forces are gathering to control the land, and Frodo is given a magic ring, which he must destroy. He is accompanied on his journey by a noble assortment of companions.

“Friday Night Lights”

Director Peter Berg’s 2004 drama about a high school football team in an economically depressed Texas town was adapted for this critically lauded though often low-rated series about the lives of those in and around the Dillon Panthers, a team in a close-knit rural West Texas town. Kyle Chandler, Connie Britton, Zach Gilford and Taylor Kitsch are among the cast of the first season, which streams here.

“Movie: Catherine Called Birdy”

“Girls” creator Lena Dunham co-wrote and directed this adventure flick set in 1290 England that follows Lady Catherine (Bella Ramsey, “Game of Thrones”) aka “Birdy,” as she thwarts repeated attempts by her father, the destitute Lord Rollo (Andrew Scott, “His Dark Materials”) to marry her off for money. Lesley Sharp, Sophie Okonedo and Joe Alwyn also star. (ORIGINAL)

Phil Rosenthal (“Everybody Loves Raymond”) continues his travels around the globe to take in the local cuisine and culture in this new round, which includes stops in Croatia, Philadelphia, Nashville, Austin and Santiago. It also includes a special tribute episode to his parents, Helen and Max, who passed away in 2019 and 2021.

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Paul (De Pointe

“Somebody Feed Phil: Season 6” (Netflix — season premiere, Oct. 18)

L Y D E A O L I L T U S G U G C A N D E R S O N I H I P L T O T Z A D T J L R C S A A U R U N J N D A N I E L D N E W R I O N N K L I N T M C D T Y S S R E O V S Y J I M N C L A U D I A U B L R O S E E B O G J O R L E A N S V S I J T Z G B R N V O N V

Immortals Century

‘All the President’s Men’ relives the roots of Watergate

BY JAY BOBBIN

To sample the authenticity of “All the President’s Men,” you need only watch the opening sequence ... though the rest is well worth staying for, too.

The 1976 drama – which Turner Classic Movies shows Friday, Oct. 7, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Watergate scandal – starts with a re-creation of the Washington, D.C., break-in that launched a major investigation and ultimately brought down a presidency. The security guard in the scene is played by Frank Wills, the actual guard whose discovery of a tampered door lock led to arrests and a relentless pursuit of the facts by reporters.

At the front of that hunt were Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, “hungry” (as described by the editor played by Jack Warden) and hugely dissimilar Washington Post journalists portrayed by Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman, partnered to probe the scheme that saw some highly unlikely burglars caught in the act. Various government officials denounced the reporters and the paper publicly, worrying bosses including legendary editor-in-chief Ben Bradlee (Jason Robards, in the first of two Oscar-winning performances he gave in consecutive years).

Director Alan J. Pakula assembled a remarkable cast to play out the crusade that took Bernstein and Woodward (whose same-named bestseller was adapted by the celebrated William Goldman,

earning an Academy Award here) down a long trail of potential leads, some furnished by the informant known as Deep Throat (a superb Hal Holbrook, filmed largely in shadows). Jane Alexander, Ned Beatty, Stephen Collins and Robert Walden also are standouts as individuals who either aid or frustrate the information-chasing duo.

Redford’s company produced “All the President’s Men,” a textbook example of turning a nonfiction book into a movie that has all the markings of a thriller that someone might have made up. Pakula was quite skilled at making this sort of film; the same night, TCM also presents two other 1970s hits that helped make up his so-called “Paranoia Trilogy,” the Warren Beatty-starring “The Parallax View” and Jane Fonda’s first Oscar winner, “Klute.”

Also made by Redford’s firm, the 2013 documentary “All the President’s Men Revisited” looked again at the events of Watergate ... and as compelling as the actual footage is, there’s something about familiar faces acting out the story that might bring it home to that many more people, as it did for the theatrical audiences that made it a major hit of its year.

“All the President’s Men” has held up exceedingly well over the decades, and while the tale it tells is a highly significant part of American political history, it also remains fresh and vital thanks to an extremely gifted team of moviemakers.

Robert Redford’s Top 10 Movies

BY JAY BOBBIN

“All Is Lost” (2013): Redford holds the screen by himself for the better part of two hours – no mean feat – as a sailor stranded at sea and eventually resigning himself to his apparent fate.

“Quiz Show” (1994): Director Redford’s drama about the 1950s game scandals offers a great re-creation of the era and the show “Twenty-One.”

“Out of Africa” (1985): Sydney Pollack, Redford’s frequent collaborator, won an Oscar for directing him and Meryl Streep in this true love story.

“Ordinary People” (1980): Redford’s directorial debut – about a suburban family quietly coming apart – won Oscars for him and co-star Timothy Hutton, with the film named best picture.

“All the President’s Men” (1976): As reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, Redford and Dustin Hoffman make the Watergate scandal compelling all over again.

“Three Days of the Condor” (1975): Redford goes on the run as the lone survivor of an attack on a CIA subdivision in one of the best espionage thrillers of its era.

“The Sting” (1973): Redford’s screen reunion with Newman, a clever tale of Depression-era hustlers, led to another best picture Oscar win.

“The Way We Were” (1973): “Streisand and Redford Together!” That ad line pretty much said it all about this enduringly popular romance.

“The Candidate” (1972): Redford started to infuse his movies with his social conscience in this comedy-drama about a senatorial hopeful.

“Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” (1969): His first teaming with Paul Newman, an Oscar-winning comedy-adventure about an actual outlaw duo, propelled Redford to stardom.

Down, set, eat! Go tailgating with the help of Food Network chefs

BY GEORGE DICKIE

It’s Week 4 of the 2022 NFL regular season – do you know where your portable gas grill, smoker or deep fryer are?

Yes, the NFL season is well underway and fans across the country are once again engaging in what is fast becoming the other national pastime – tailgating. So if you want hit a pro game and join the party in the parking lot, here are a few ideas for some imaginative and delicious eats to serve up before kickoff courtesy of FoodNetwork.com.

On the more esoteric side, there is Guy Fieri, whose stuffed pupusas (www. foodnetwork.com/shows/guys-big-bite/ guidos-tailgate-greats) are guaranteed to satisfy any hungry pre-game diner. This is a Mexican dish consisting of a thick corn tortilla stuffed with any number of fillings including chorizo, a variety of vegetables and cheese, then is baked or fried. Best

of all, they can be made ahead of time so no muss, no fuss once at the stadium. Hearty fare for a hardy crowd.

If finger foods aren’t your thing, then perhaps Melissa d’Arabian’s game day chili (www. foodnetwork.com/shows/ ten-dollar-dinners-with-melissa-darabian/ videos/ten-dollar-tailgate) might be. Here, she makes hers with the usual ingredients including ground beef, onions, black beans, tomato sauce, canned tomatoes and seasonings, and adds bacon and beer for a malty flavor. And then there is a surprise ingredient – cocoa. Don’t judge before you try.

For sides, how about Tyler Florence’s potato salad (www.foodnetwork. com/shows/tylers-ultimate/ videos/ ultimate-tailgate)? here, the “Tyler’s Ultimate” chef draws on his Southern heritage to make a mixture from small

Yukon Gold potatoes, hard boiled egg, salt, minced red onion, dill, parsley, scallions, dill pickles and brine plus mayo, dijon mustard, olive oil and lemon to give it a creamy flavor. And don’t forget the capers. Of course, this is made ahead of time as well but it’ll be worth the extra work.

And no football game is complete without wings. Florence is all over that as well (www.foodnetwork. com/shows/tylers-ultimate/ videos/ultimate-tailgate), roasting them ahead of time in the oven and tossing them with a mixture of honey, soy sauce, Thai red curry paste, lime zest and butter. If you like spicy wings, this imaginative take on a well-worn dish is for you.

Hilary Swank is on the story in ‘Alaska Daily’

BY JAY BOBBIN

Hilary Swank is reporting for duty for her return to series television.

After limited runs in the Netflix space saga “Away” and the true FX drama “Trust” in recent years, the two-time Oscar winner (for “Boys Don’t Cry” and “Million Dollar Baby”) is committed to a potentially longer stay as a journalist who tries to salvage her career by moving from New York to Anchorage as ABC’s “Alaska Daily” premieres Thursday, Oct. 6.

Also featuring Jeff Perry (“Scandal”) and Matt Malloy (“I Love That for You”), the show was created by executive producer Tom McCarthy, an Oscar recipient for co-writing another newspaper drama: “Spotlight,” which won the Academy Award for best picture of 2015.

“It’s an interesting medium to work in when you’re used to working in films, where you have a lot of tweaks made in

advance,” says the friendly Swank, whose early TV history included a “Beverly Hills, 90210” stint. She notes that lately, “I liked doing a semilong-form project more than I thought I would. I had found that for me, TV was almost claustrophobic because you play a character for so long, but you also have the opportunity to play gradations of what your character is going through. And that is a nice challenge.”

Swank describes her new character Eileen Fitzgerald, who enters the Alaska scene

by tackling a cold case, as being “very into details. For her, being a journalist is about finding the truth and putting that out for people to discover for themselves. I think that’s something that people are really wanting right now in general, not opinions, but just going back to good journalism where you’re trying to get to the bottom of things. That’s (Eileen’s) sole objective, and she loves it.”

McCarthy was “the draw for me to step into this,” Swank notes ... not only because of “Spotlight,” but also his earlier film “The Station Agent,” which she says “blew me away. He brings a nice levity to his work, and I think this type of material really shows that.”

Though “Alaska Daily” largely is being filmed in British Columbia – as was Swank’s Alaska-set 2002 movie “Insomnia” – she reports that one episode does take her and her colleagues deep into Alaska itself.

“We’re actually able to explore some of the Great North, which is really awesome,” she enthuses.

“What’s funny is that my husband just turned 50, and it was on his bucket list to go to Alaska, so we went to a very remote area with no phone service that you had to take a seaplane to the middle of nowhere to get to. I called that my prep work for the series.”

Black history celebrated in a pair of PBS projects

BY JAY BOBBIN

Fans of Black history will find a pair worthy offerings to suit their tastes upcoming on PBS.

First up is “Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom,” premiering Tuesday, Oct. 4 (check local listings). As the 200th anniversary of her birth approaches, this documentary tells the story of the woman who risked her own life and freedom to liberate others from slavery as the conductor of the Underground Railroad in the mid-19th century.

Directed by Stanley Nelson (“Freedom Riders”) and Nicole London (“Life & Life”), the hourlong film touches on how she escaped Maryland north to Philadelphia, where she became involved in the abolitionist movement, as well as her role in guiding more than 70 enslaved African Americans to freedom. Her quest for equality never wavered in her later years when she served as a scout during the Civil War, as well as a nurse and a spy.

The film uses interviews with more than 70 historians and experts to explore what motivated Tubman to become one of the greatest freedom fighters in American history.

Alfre Woodard is the narrator of the documentary and

Wendell Pierce provides the voice of abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

Then immediately following is “Making Black America: Through the Grapevine.” Airing Tuesdays throughout the month beginning Oct. 4 (check local listings), the four-part series from executive producer, writer and host Henry Louis Gates Jr. (“Finding Your Roots With Henry Louis Gates Jr.”) takes a look at the vast social networks and organizations created by and for Black people that are outside the reach of what is called the “white gaze.”

It also delves into the establishment of the Prince Hall Masons in 1775 through the formation of all-Black towns and business districts, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, leisure destinations and the phenomenon of Black Twitter. Gates sits down with scholars, politicians, cultural leaders and old friends to discuss this world behind the color line and what it looks like today.

“In other words,” explains Gates, “our ancestors replicated the world, the white world, from which they were excluded behind the color line.”

View from the Couch

BY JAY BOBBIN

“DC LEAGUE OF SUPER-PETS”

It’s the animals– or, more accurately, the superanimals – to the rescue in this animated adventure related to the DC Comics Universe.

Dwayne Johnson voices super-powered canine Krypto, who has to launch a mission when Superman (voice of John Krasinski) and the other members of the Justice League are abducted ... but few of the other pets are of heroic status,

at least initially. It’s largely up to Krypto to whip them into shape for the challenge ahead of them. Kevin Hart, Kate McKinnon, Vanessa Bayer, Keanu Reeves, Natasha Lyonne, Diego Luna, Marc Maron and Thomas Middleditch also are in the voice cast. DVD extra: “makingof” documentary. ››› (PG: AS, V) (Also on Blu-ray, 4K Ultra HD, Digital and On Demand) in their new town as director Joel Schumacher’s 1987 horror classic makes its 4K Ultra HD debut. One sibling sides with a vampire biker gang (with Kiefer Sutherland as the leader), while the other joins some self-styled vampire hunters. Jami Gertz, Edward Herrmann, Dianne Wiest, Barnard Hughes and Alex Winter (the latter of “Bill & Ted” fame as well) also appear, and an audio commentary by late filmmaker Schumacher is included as a special feature. The California setting of the tale is authentic, since most of it was filmed in the Santa Cruz area. ›› (R: AS, P, GV)

“NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD”

With the Halloween season nearing, and a week that is seeing the 4K Ultra HD debuts of many horror titles, this legendary title ranks very high among them.

Director George A. Romero’s made-on-a-shoestring 1968 classic inspired more-lavish sequels

and remakes (some made by Romero himself), but there’s still something highly effective about the basic and quite graphic original, detailing the plight of those who hole up in a Pennsylvania farmhouse to try to survive a rampage by the undead. Duane Jones, Judith O’Dea, Karl Hardman (who also was a producer of the film) and Marilyn Eastman are among the cast members of the thriller, which has continued to be a huge influence for other filmmakers for more than a half-century.

››› (Not rated: AS, P, GV)

“THE U.S. AND THE HOLOCAUST”

Televised very recently by PBS, Ken Burns’ latest documentary – which he produced and directed in collaboration with Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein – recalls what the reaction and response in America were to the targeting of certain ethnicities in Europe during the World War II era. Firsthand accounts by survivors are included, along with analysis by historians and scholars. Resources supplied by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum are folded into the three-part program, which Peter Coyote narrates. Liam Neeson and Meryl Streep, who both famously acted in dramatic projects with the Holocaust as their theme, are included in the cast of voices; so are Paul Giamatti, Joe Morton, Hope Davis, Bradley Whitford, Matthew Rhys

and filmmaker Werner Herzog.

(Not rated: AS, V) (Also on Blu-ray)

“MELROSE PLACE: THE COMPLETE SERIES”

With the success of their “Beverly Hills, 90210,” producers Aaron Spelling and Darren Star cooked up another long-lasting saga in a similar vein with this Fox show about young adults residing –and, in some cases, communing very closely – in a California apartment complex. The series started out soft in the ratings, but it got a huge and sustaining boost from the addition of Heather Locklear as Amanda Woodward, a schemer in business and romance. Members of the ensemble cast also include Grant Show (more recently of the reboot of the Spelling-originated “Dynasty”), Courtney Thorne-Smith, Andrew Shue, Josie Bissett, Thomas Calabro, Doug Savant, Laura Leighton, Marcia Cross (whose Kimberly memorably blew up the place, literally) and Daphne Zuniga. This show got its own reboot, though that was short-lived. ››› (Not rated: AS, P, V)

“THE TWILIGHT ZONE (REBOOT): THE COMPLETE SERIES”

“Get Out” Oscar winner Jordan Peele had a big role in this latest incarnation of Rod Serling’s classic anthology series. Also an

executive producer of the show, Peele is the narrator who introduces stories of the supernatural – one of the most notable stories here being the retitled “Nightmare at 30,000 Feet,” with Adam Scott assuming William Shatner’s role from the original show as an airplane passenger who sees a demon on the wing. Sanaa Lathan, Greg Kinnear, John Cho, Rhea Seehorn, Topher Grace, Tracy Morgan, Chris O’Dowd, Ginnifer Goodwin, Joel McHale, Jenna Elfman, Gretchen Mol and George Takei are among the many other talents who were featured over the show’s two seasons. Interestingly, a black-and-white version of this show was released digitally, to emulate the style of the first series even more. ››› (Not rated: AS, P, V)