Featured Stories
The 42nd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards “Casual Vacancy” “Good Wife”
Profiled athlete
Leonard Williams
CELEBRITY SPOTLIGHTS
Cecily Strong Diogo Morgado Tatiana Maslany Shantel VanSanten Tiffani Thiessen
WHAT'S FOR DINNER
Featuring: Tia Mowry
JAY Bobbin's movies to watch
And so much more!
The story
The pursuit of “HAPPYISH” Bradley Whitford, Steve Coogan and Kathryn Hahn (from left) star in “Happyish,” premiering Sunday on Showtime.
Connect to these shows within folio this magazine!
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CONTENTS
What’s Hot This Week Click to jump to these featured sections!
Featured
Stories
“Happyish”
Premiering Sunday on Showtime. p3
“The 42nd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards” Sunday on Pop. p 11
“Casual Vacancy” Premiering Wednesday on HBO. pp 12-13
“Good Wife” Sunday on CBS. pp 14-15
SIX
Celebrity potlights Cecily Strong
of “Saturday Night Live” on NBC. p4
Diogo Morgado of “The Messengers” on The CW. p5
Tatiana Maslany
of “Orphan Black” on BBC America. p6
Tia Mowry
of “At Home” on Cooking Channel. p7
Shantel VanSanten Checking in! p8
Tiffani Thiessen
hosts “Dinner at Tiffani’s” on Cooking Channel. p9
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Pictured: From the vault! Sandy Duncan and Betty White, 1989, in Hollywood.
Profiled Athlete Leonard Williams pp 16-17
Editor's choice
STORY
Happiness
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causes a couple misery on Showtime’s ‘Happyish’ By George Dickie
The middle finger is Thom Payne’s flag and he will have you saluting it by the end of the first episode of the new Showtime comedy “Happyish.” The half-hour series, which premieres Sunday, April 26, stars British actor Steve Coogan (“Philomena,” “Alan Partridge”) as Thom, a misanthropic 44-year-old New York advertising executive fed up with all things digital, branded and youth-oriented. After two decades of pursuing the American dream, he hates the compromises he’s had to make in business and in life and finds himself becoming more expressive of his feelings, especially to his 25-yearold Swedish wunderkind boss (Nils Lawton, “Eye Candy”) and his veteran co-worker and friend (Bradley Whitford, “The West Wing”). For Thom, the pursuit of happiness has become odious and unbearably oppressive and the rebellion is underway. Back home in upstate Woodstock, Thom’s wife, Lee (Kathryn Hahn, “Revolutionary Road”), is experiencing a similar phenomenon. An artist and stay-at-home mom, she’s not all that satisfied with life, either, and she struggles with the apparition of her estranged mother, a meddling, hypercritical matron with a flair for administering liberal doses of Jewish guilt. Otherwise, Thom and Lee seem a reasonably happy married couple raising their young son in a postcardlike setting. But working in a shallow, morally ambiguous industry has taken its toll on Thom. “I think he’s unhappy,” Coogan says, “because he’s living in a world he thinks is unjust and amoral and is full of compromises that he hates himself for having to make, which most people do make without any compunction to do
otherwise. So I think he’s a very important character because he has a conscience and he wants a better world but he’s angry at the world and angry ... at the corporatization of America and about selling your soul, I guess – the Faustian pact that people make to have glittering careers.” The pilot for the series was originally shot with Philip Seymour Hoffman as Thom, but was shelved with the role recast following his death last year. Executive producer and writer Shalom Auslander, a former New York ad exec and current resident of Woodstock who indicates the story is more personal to him than he’d like to admit, says the Paynes would probably be happy were it not for the outside world. “I think they’d be happy on planet Earth if it wasn’t for the humans ...,” he says with a laugh. “I think that they’ve got something good going but it’s under constant attack, not just from the media or from the news, but from existence, from life, illness, death, war, poverty, having to survive and those are the things we kind of struggle with.” “I’ve always thought that the interesting thing about this show,” Auslander continues, “is that – and this is something that probably annoys Thom and Lee as well – most TV shows, or at least the ones I grew up on, seem to suggest that here’s this house and here’s this family and everything in the house is lame and stupid and the husband is fat and dumb and the wife is a complaining shrew and the kids are snarky a... . And everything outside their world like beer and clubs and Porsche convertibles, that’s really what’s cool and great. And in this series, it’s the complete opposite. Everything in the house is really what matters and the outside world is just remarkably stupid and threatening.”
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CELEBRITY Jay Bobbin’s Q&A
C e c i ly S t r o n g of ‘Saturday Night Live’ on NBC
What has it meant to you to be part of the “Saturday Night Live” cast in this 40th-anniversary season? With a lot of the people I know, and even people I meet, it’s such a part of our history with comedy ... growing up with it. That’s why I cried so much when I got the job, and why I cried so much at the 40thanniversary special. I was holding hands with Aidy (Bryant) and Vanessa (Bayer) and Kate (McKinnon) on the stage, and I was saying, “I can’t look around right now. I’m so overwhelmed.” And it will feel like that forever, I think. How has it been lately at the show, now that the big 40th-anniversary celebration is in the rearview mirror? It’s nice to have that over with, because we get a bit more of Lorne (Michaels, the show’s mentor and executive producer) back, in a sense ... not that he’s ever gone, but it’s nice to have that kind of release. Every week is the same amount of focus, and every show is its own thing. What can you say about reports that you’ll be joining fellow “SNL” veterans Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones – as well as past guest host Melissa McCarthy – in a remake of “Ghostbusters”? It’s another example of what you read in the paper being 100-percent not anything that’s happened to me. It’s like I met with Paul (Feig, who will direct the film) and he said, “Hey! Did you read those rumors I planted about you?” It’s always shocking to me, like, “What will they say next? What’s next in my life, I wonder?”
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CELEBRITY George Dickie’s Q&A
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DiogoMorgado of ‘The Messengers’ on The CW
What is it like to play the devil, aka The Man, on The CW’s “The Messengers”? The thing that I love about this show is that it defines (our characters) as human beings and I think the greatest thing is that you can see how we choose stuff under certain circumstances. So it’s like we are what we choose and what we choose is affected by what’s going on with us at the moment. So we’re never, like, one fixed thing; we’re never completely stable. I think in all of us we have the potential to be a saint or a devil. It really depends on the circumstances that are surrounding us and it really depends on the moment. So what I love about the show is that my character moves around those things. It’s like he takes what is the heat of the moment, he takes the fragile things he knows about the characters around him – all that info, he uses ... it and I like that. What did you draw from in creating The Man? I think the main thing is not to take it as the graphic idea that we have of the devil. If we go to the story in the Bible, we realize that the devil was once one of God’s favorite angels, so he’s basically a fallen angel. And we used that path, we used the story behind the figure of Lucifer. In any way, we try to excuse him more and give him a (back story) that will lead you to why he does what he does. ... So for me, it was more about using and abusing the tools that we have as humans that we understand, like the manipulation, the sarcasm and having this big smile when somebody really wants to stab you in the back. So all of that stuff that is common sense as being bad and manipulative, I used that but not in a demonic way.
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CELEBRITY John Crook’s Q&A
TatianaMaslany of ‘Orphan Black’ on BBC America
Is it hard to reconnect to the characters at the start of a new season? It’s always a bit of a learning process, whenever we come back. So much has happened to these characters, so it’s a matter of charting that and remembering where each of them is, trying not to be surface and skin-deep about it. What’s it like for you and Kristian Bruun to play the comic “Orphan Black” scenes as Alison and Donnie? Kristian is an amazing improviser and really allows me to go off as well. We enjoy each other’s company a lot, and there’s a lot of mutual respect there as well. It’s really fun to work with him. Those characters are so rich, and there is so much there to mine as far as comedy goes. It’s one of my favorite dynamics on the show. How was it playing a young Helen Mirren in the movie “Woman in Gold”? It was really exciting for me to watch Helen work and try to take on some of her beautiful, elegant stillness and sense of humor and intelligence and incorporate all of that into my performance. It was such an honor to be a part of that project with her. We met and chatted, and she was very keen on me making my own decisions. I had some questions, but she said, “No, make her yours, and our two versions of her will find each other in the middle.”
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FOOD George Dickie’s What's for Dinner
TiaMowry
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prepares healthy meals ‘At Home’ on Cooking Channel Tia Mowry is a wife, mother, actress and TV producer who can whip up a batch of low-fat turkey meatballs or cauli-crusted pizza with the best of them, and she’ll show busy working moms and dads how they can to do it, too, in her new Cooking Channel series “Tia Mowry at Home.” “I run into a lot of people who are working moms,” explains the now-36-year-old former child star of the 1990s sitcom “Sister, Sister,” “they’re wives and they’re burning the candle at both ends of the stick but healthy food is a priority to them or it’s something that they want to provide to their family but they don’t know how to.” “I want to help encourage other women or just people who enjoy great food and enjoy healthy dishes that it can be done. I mean, look at me. I’m a mom, I’m a wife, I’m an entrepreneur, I’m an actress, and healthy food is a priority to me. And if I can do it, I know you can, too.” In six half-hour episodes that start Wednesday, April 29, Mowry creates tempting and healthy meals for her husband, Cory, and 3-year-old son, Cree, while balancing her hectic work schedule and fitting in time with family and friends who include actress Natasha Marc (“Bones”) and former NBA star Metta World Peace. The menu is imaginative – witness the low-carb pizza crust made from ground cauliflower – and the tips are practical (for inexpensive fresh veggies, grow your own or hit the farmer’s markets). And as a former Army brat who has lived in South Korea, Hawaii and Italy, Mowry brings eclectic influences to her kitchen. “Just tasting such great food and learning about the different dishes that you enjoy or that you experience, it’s very kind of orgasmic for me,” she says. “I know that’s kind of like a crazy word to use but I’m sorry, there’s no other word to express it. ... I loved learning about other cultures.” What book are you currently reading? “As it stands, right now I have not been into a book lately. I’m reading loads of scripts (laughs) and am busy writing them.”
shows or television movies together. But to be working on something like this, we’re just really excited about it. And of course I’m working on ‘Instant Mom,’ we’re in our third season ... .”
What did you have for dinner last night? “I ate very healthy. I had broccolini with some carrots and it was sautéed. And I just had some salmon, like four ounces of salmon.”
When was the last vacation you took, where and why? “The last vacation I took was in Anguilla and it was last year. We usually take a vacation every year around June or July because it’s my son’s birthday as well as mine. ... So it was in Anguilla and it was magical. That’s all I have to say.”
What is your next project? “I have a book that’s coming out called ‘Twintuition’ this month with my sister (Tamera) by HarperCollins Children, and it’s a four-part book series that I’m really, really excited about. I mean, usually my sister and I work on television
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CELEBRITY Jay Bobbin’s Celebrity ScooP
ShantelVanSanten During her days as Quinn on “One Tree Hill,” Shantel VanSanten didn’t foresee herself as an Angel of the Apocalypse, but she’s getting used to that role. The actress is back on The CW in the Friday drama series “The Messengers,” playing Vera, one of five diverse people affected by a strange force that may enable them to prevent a rapture in which many others would disappear. Just as “One Tree Hill” was an ensemble piece, VanSanten likes sharing the load with others in the new show. “I think that each character brings a different perspective,” she says, “a different set of beliefs or non-beliefs, their own personal stuff along with it, and it allows for it to get more complex as a story.” Part of that complexity comes from the fact that as a “Messengers” character, VanSanten explains, “You’re a human being. You’re not a superhero. We’re not playing superheroes that can put on a suit and have this power. We also don’t have the choice of when we have the power, when we get to use it. And there’s also downfalls to it. There’s this moral dilemma for some people. There’s physical dilemmas. So it’s interesting to have that.” Having worked for The CW before, VanSanten appreciates that the network is “very loyal to the actors who have been on their shows” – including her main “One Tree Hill” acting partner Robert Buckley, who’s now on “iZombie.” “I think that this show being on The CW and it finding its home is going to draw in a fan base that maybe they didn’t have before,” VanSanten says. “And it creates some new energy. And I’m grateful to be back.” Birthdate: July 25, 1985 Birthplace: Luverne, Minn. Current residence: Los Angeles Marital status: Single Other television credits include: “One Tree Hill,” “Gang Related,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Night Shift,” “The Glades,” “CSI: NY”
Movie credits include: “Something Wicked,” “A Golden Christmas 3,” “You and I,” “Remembrance,” “In My Pocket,” “The Final Destination” On projecting how it would look to be caught up in an otherworldly force field: “There was a lot of that on the show, where we wouldn’t always know how to play something and you’d have to play around with it and try something. And it may feel silly, but you would watch it and you were like, ‘Wow. That worked.’ ”
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CELEBRITY CelebritY profile
T i f fan i T hiessen
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hosts ‘Dinner at Tiffani’s’ on Cooking Channel - Thiessen (born Tiffani-Amber Thiessen on Jan. 23, 1974) is an American actress best known for her roles as Kelly Kapowski in “Saved by the Bell” and as Valerie Malone in “Beverly Hills, 90210.” She has played in “White Collar.” - In 1987, she was crowned Miss Junior America and a year later won Teen magazine’s “Great Model Search” in 1988. - In 2006, she volunteered at Camp Rainbow Gold, a summer camp for children stricken with cancer, located near Ketchum, Idaho. - Thiessen won the CLCA Green Image Award presented by the “Green Expo/Green Image Awards” in 2009 for her contributions to help residents learn sustainable living techniques and support the California Green Movement. - Thiessen married actor Brady Smith on July 9, 2005, and gave birth to their daughter, Harper Renn Smith, on June 15, 2010. - She invites her celebrity friends over for good company, great stories and delicious food. - Her creative flair for life has been grounded in preparation and planning. - Her greatest joy in life is being a mom!
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CELEBRITY Celebs’ favorite shows
Luke Bryan
Clea DuVall
Charles Esten
Alex Anfanger
Set the DVR Luke Bryan of the 50th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards on CBS “We’ve been hooked on ‘Modern Family’ lately – and I was watching a lot of basketball during March Madness.”
Charles Esten of “Nashville” on ABC “My daughter has got us started on ‘How to Get Away With Murder.’ I didn’t start on the ground floor with it, but she’s totally fallen for it, and I get why.”
Clea DuVall of “The Lizzie Borden Chronicles” on Lifetime “ ‘Walking Dead’ and ‘Togetherness.’ I don’t have regular TV, so I’m super behind the times with it. But ‘Highlander’ I watch. ‘Orange Is the New Black.’ ”
Alex Anfanger of “Big Time in Hollywood, FL” on Comedy Central “A lot of different stuff. Right now, I have ‘Man Seeking Woman’ on it. We have ‘Louie,’ ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,’ ‘South Park.’ We just started ‘Last Man on Earth,’ ‘Game of Thrones,’ ‘The Comeback’ and ‘Better Call Saul.’ ”
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STORY
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Daytime Emmys
celebrate Betty White
Betty White receives a Lifetime Achievement honor at The 42nd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards, airing Sunday on Pop. By Jay Bobbin She’s been a staple of primetime television for so long, some may not think about Betty White’s ties to shows that have aired at earlier hours. also had an evening show where I did songs and that kind of thing.
Those who oversee the Daytime Emmy Awards have, though ... and that’s why the long-beloved performer will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 42nd ceremony. Staged at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, Calif., the annual event returns to TV (having been an online-only offering last year) when it has its first Pop telecast Sunday, April 26. Tyra Banks will serve as host.
“Anyone or anything that was in town automatically came through our show,” adds White, “so you met some fascinating people and felt you were in on stuff. Let’s face it, it’s an interesting way to spend your life ... and I do appreciate it.”
After getting her daytime-TV start locally in Los Angeles more than 65 years ago, White won the first of her six Emmys to date for her first comedy show (“Life With Elizabeth”), then became a daily NBC talk-program host. She then made a mark as a guest on game shows including “Password” – hosted by her late husband, Allen Ludden – “To Tell the Truth” and “Match Game,” and she earned a Daytime Emmy for hosting NBC’s “Just Men!” Additionally, White has been a drama guest (“The Bold and the Beautiful,” “Another World”) and event host (The Tournament of Roses Parade, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade) in the morning and afternoon. “We did a show five-and-a-half hours a day, six days a week for four years,” the perennially pleasant White recalls of her first job in daytime. “Whatever you did, you did it there. And five-and-a-half hours a day wasn’t enough, so I
White also appreciates what she learned doing game shows: “You have to respect them. You can’t say, ‘Oh, this is just a game show.’ If you’re going to do it, play the game as hard as you can and really participate. The audience picks up on it immediately if you don’t respect the game. You listen to what the host and the other guests say, and I think that’s what keeps the game going.” Now done filming TV Land’s soon-to-conclude “Hot in Cleveland,” White is proud to be honored for her daytime work that stands beside her roles on such primetime classics as “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and “The Golden Girls.” “I can’t even tell you,” White enthuses. “Sure, it’s an ego trip, but we’re in an ego business. I’m really thrilled. Seriously thrilled.”
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STORY
Filling the
‘Vacancy’
Michael Gambon and Julia McKenzie star in “Casual Vacancy,” premiering Wednesday on HBO. Story on next page
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STORY
HBO’s ‘Casual Vacancy’
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beautifully acted but bleak By John Crook Don’t look for any boy wizards, giants or Hippogriffs in “The Casual Vacancy.” Author J.K. Rowling keeps her first non-“Harry Potter” novel firmly anchored in the all-too-real world of recognizably human characters in a tale that is gripping, compassionate yet often almost unbearably downbeat. Those qualities translate to the three-part, three-hour miniseries adaptation premiering Wednesday and Thursday, April 29 and 30, on HBO, with one added bonus: It’s brilliantly acted by a superb cast. Set in what seems to be a postcard-pretty English village called Pagford, the story quickly reveals that this community is sharply divided along class lines. A battle is shaping up over the future of a local community center that houses a methadone clinic serving the drugaddicted lower classes. Wealthier residents – including parish council chairman Howard Mollison (Michael Gambon) and his sunny but malicious wife, Shirley (Julia McKenzie) – would love nothing more than to close the center and turn the country house that contains it into a chic spa. Their chief adversary on the council in this regard is Barry Fairbrother (Rory Kinnear), whose boundless empathy for Pagford’s poor serves as the beating heart of the village. Unfortunately, it’s his brain that betrays him in the opening moments of the miniseries, as Barry suddenly drops dead of a cerebral aneurysm. Barry’s death opens a “casual vacancy” – an unexpected empty seat – on the council, and while Howard and Shirley halfheartedly tut-tut over Barry’s passing, inwardly they’re gleeful: If they can fill this seat with their spineless son, Miles (Rufus Jones), they’ll have the majority they need to close the clinic. The urgency to keep that clinic open is embodied by local teenager Krystal Weedon (newcomer Abigail Lawrie
Abigail Lawrie
in a star-is-born turn), who is struggling to care for her baby brother while their mother (Keeley Forsyth) spends every dime she can find on heroin. Sadly, the only viable candidate to oppose Miles is hapless schoolteacher Colin “Cubby” Wall (Simon McBurney), a walking collection of social disorders and neuroses. As the election approaches, any pretense toward neighborliness falls away as the class-driven rift widens even further. When the dust finally settles, few are left happy – including, perhaps, some viewers. This is not a drama that will send you off to bed with a smile. Bursting with eccentric, vividly drawn characters in a story with a social conscience, Rowling’s “Casual Vacancy” is in some respects a throwback to the novels of Charles Dickens. And like many Dickens adaptations, the piece gives some splendid actors a chance to shine. Gambon, who played the sage Dumbledore in several of the Potter film adaptations, makes Howard both dangerous and somewhat buffoonish, while McKenzie brilliantly plays against her sweet little old Miss Marple image to make Shirley truly chilling. Cast against type as their brassy, bitter daughter-in-law, former ingénue Keeley Hawes, now 38, serves notice that she’s ready for much harder-edged roles. “The Casual Vacancy” will reward fans of great acting, if they can cope with some truly bleak moments.
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STORY
Good work
for ‘Good Wife’ guests Christine Baranski co-stars on “The Good Wife” Sunday on CBS. Story on next page
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STORY
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‘The Good Wife’
gives good roles to good guests By Jay Bobbin
If you’re an actor who wants a good television role, head for “The Good Wife.” That’s the consensus among those who have worked on CBS’ much-praised Sunday law drama, borne out in many cases by guest stars who have played recurring characters over the show’s six seasons thus far. Among them: Michael J. Fox; Nathan Lane; David Hyde Pierce; America Ferrera; Matthew Perry; Jill Flint (“The Night Shift”); Stockard Channing; Dylan Baker; Gary Cole; Edward Asner; and Carrie Preston, a 2013 Emmy winner as deceptively scattered attorney Elsbeth Tascioni. Currently, one of the actors in that “Good Wife” spotlight is Oliver Platt, who’s sharing most of his scenes with longtime friend and series co-star Christine Baranski – with whom he did (along with Pierce) the Mike Nicholsdirected, Jules Feiffer-written play “Elliot Loves” in the early 1990s – as Reese “R.D.” Dipple, a conservative political powerhouse who now has dealings with lawyer Diane Lockhart (Baranski). In the episode airing Sunday, April 26, they’re involved in a test case over mandatory minimum sentencing. Baranski reasons the new character was brought in to benefit “that aspect of the show that examines issues. You see two people who really like each other and get along, but who fundamentally disagree. So many people have commented on the scene in the woods (in which Diane and R.D. debated) the abortion issue. And the episode we did about gay marriage is one of my favorite episodes we’ve ever shot.”
“I really adore Oliver, as a person and as an actor,” Baranski adds, “so I was just delighted when I saw his name on the call sheet. Fortunately, I’ve had a lot to do with him on the show. I’ve also worked with David Hyde Pierce in the theater, but our paths did not cross on ‘The Good Wife,’ which was unfortunate. So many people have come onto the show who are just marvelous actors. There’s just a tremendous talent pool there, and these actors love coming on because the writing is so good.” Platt readily attests to that. A veteran of other series including “Fargo” and “The Big C,” and such movies as “Indecent Proposal” and “Executive Decision,” he also was making two feature films and the pilot for NBC’s projected “Chicago Fire” medical spinoff while doing his work for creators and executive producers Robert and Michelle King on “The Good Wife.” “They sent me the (first script), and I thought it was such an interesting character,” he says, “and I’ve always admired the show. I can safely say my own personal politics are not in the same neighborhood of R.D.’s, but it was such a civilized dialogue, and that’s the thing that’s important. “Human beings can sit down and talk about these things, at a time when discourse has become the polar opposite of ‘civil’ in so many venues,” notes Platt, “but having said that, this is just good stuff ... and with Christine being an old friend, it was a no-brainer.”
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SPORTS
Story on next page
Name: Leonard Williams Tackles: 218 Born: June 20, 1994 (age 20) Sacks: 21 Hometown: Daytona Beach, Fla. Size: 6 feet 5 inches/302 pounds Position: Defensive end/tackle Uniform number: 94
Honors and achievements: USC’s Most Valuable Player, 2014; First-Team All-Pac-12, 2013, 2014; First-Team AllAmerican, 2013, 2014; Pac-12 Defensive Freshman of the Year, 2012.
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SPORTS
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By Dan Ladd What was once a gathering of NFL owners, general managers and other staff, and was attended by only the more serious football media members, has turned into one of the biggest television sports events of the year. It is the NFL Draft, which takes place Thursday, April 30, through Saturday, May 2, and airs on ESPN live from Chicago. What the draft was then, and still is today, is the realization of the lifelong dream for more than 200 young men, some of whom will go on to have storied NFL careers. This year, beyond celebrated quarterbacks Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota, you start to look at other players, including those who will be chasing the quarterback. USC junior defensive end Leonard Williams is at the top of that list. In some mock drafts he’s projected to be the second overall pick, being chosen over one of the coveted QBs. Williams is a 302pound monster with quick hands and feet, who actually may be more of a run-stopper than a pass rusher, although he’s played all over the defensive line with success. He had 80 tackles and seven sacks in 2014 and was a Trojans team captain. Quite often, it is suggested that college players need all four years develop their skills. However, the chance to be a top-five pick is one that can’t be overlooked. NFL teams win with defense as much as they do offense and Leonard Williams’ name will likely be called early on Thursday night.
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MOVIES JAY BOBBIN's Theatrical movie review
review
“Get Hard” Will Ferrell seeks Kevin Hart’s help
when it comes to doing ‘Hard’ time There are all sorts of ways to do movie comedy, and one of the easiest is to just wind up a funny person and turn him or her loose.
Some of the jokes in “Get Hard” hark back to “Trading Places,” which had a somewhat similar theme (and which, frankly, was a smarter and better movie). Those who know For extra insurance, you can wind up two of them, let them that picture might think Ferrell is channeling Dan Aykroyd, do their individual things and see what happens when they especially when he turns plaintively whiny – an act Ferrell collide. That’s pretty much the approach of “Get Hard,” the certainly has down pat – as he frets about his possible teaming of two stars well-known for their respective brands fate in the prison population. of humor: Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart. Conversely, Hart is as fast and brash as he’s meant to be, often using facial expressions to convey wry irony over his It’s exactly their differences that are meant to drive the character’s situation, thus letting us know that he’s very picture’s laughs, with Ferrell playing a financial wizard much in on the joke. There can be a risk of overdoing that, convicted of fraud and embezzlement – of which he’s but to his credit, Hart stops short of going over the line actually innocent – and Hart as the streetwise fellow he with it. hires to get him ready for prison life. Just that description should indicate “Get Hard” plays the race card plentifully, but Hart seems as game as Ferrell to go with the premise. One could delve into the notion that Ferrell immediately assumes Hart will be an ideal guide to prep him to be among other convicts, but the movie reinforces almost every minute that it’s meant to be a comedy.
Craig T. Nelson and Alison Brie are welcome in the supporting cast, but those who see “Get Hard” will do so because they’re fans of Ferrell or Hart or both. The filmmakers know that, so they leave the stars to do the heavy lifting ... but getting a completely satisfying result proves to be the truly hard part of “Get Hard.”
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MOVIES JAY BOBBIN's movie review movies to watch
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“PADDINGTON” The beloved title bear created by Michael Bond gets an enjoyablefor-all-ages movie showcase as he’s brought to life via computer animation – and the voice of Ben Whishaw (“Skyfall”). Seeking a new destiny for himself, he leaves Peru and travels to London, where he gets an adoptive family headed by Hugh Bonneville (“Downton Abbey”) and Sally Hawkins. He gets an enemy, too ... a taxidermist (Nicole Kidman, who obviously has fun with the role) determined to add him to her collection. Jim Broadbent and Peter Capaldi also appear. DVD extras: three “makingof” documentaries; music video. ››› (PG: AS) (Also on Blu-ray and On Demand)
Top Pick
DVD
upcoming DVD releases
Coming Soon on DVD... “BLACK OR WHITE” (May 5): A child becomes the object of a custody battle between two of her grandparents (Kevin Costner, Octavia Spencer). (PG-13: AS, P, V) “GOODFELLAS” (May 5): For its 25th anniversary, the true crime drama gets a newly remastered Blu-ray edition with new cast and director (Martin Scorsese) interviews. (R: AS, P, GV)
Kevin Costner
“THE LAST FIVE YEARS” (May 5): The romance of a would-be actress and an aspiring novelist (Anna Kendrick, Jeremy Jordan) is traced ... in reverse, and largely in song. (PG-13: AS, P)
“SELMA” (May 5): In director Ava DuVernay’s Oscar-winning drama, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (played by David Oyelowo) leads the legendary 1965 march advocating voting equality. (PG-13: AS, P, V) “FIFTY SHADES OF GREY” (May 8): A student and an entrepreneur (Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan) have a sizzling affair in the screen version of E.L. James’ provocative bestseller. (R: AS, N, P) “BLACKHAT” (May 12): A convict (Chris Hemsworth) is sprung to help dismantle a global cybercrime ring. (R: AS, P, V)
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FAVORITE SHOWS
Serena Williams
“Weird Loners”
SUNDAY 2 p.m. on NBC Laureus World Sports Awards A fixture since 2000, this awards show taped April 15 in Shanghai honors remarkable individuals and achievements in sports over the past year. Oscar nominee Benedict Cumberbatch hosts for a second straight year as honors are distributed in six categories, including Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year, Team of the Year and Comeback of the Year. Serena Williams, the San Antonio Spurs and Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton are among those up for hardware.
Jennifer Lopez in “American Idol”
8 p.m. on DISNEY The 2015 Radio Disney Music Awards Disney Channel star Zendaya (“K. C. Undercover”) hosts this two-hour special taped Saturday, April 25, at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, where awards are presented in categories such as Best Breakup Song and Best Song to Rock Out to With Your BFF. Scheduled presenters include actress Chelsea Kane (“Baby Daddy”), singersongwriter Carly Rae Jepsen, pop trio Sweet Suspense, country singer Kelsea Ballerini and the casts of “blackish” and “Teen Beach 2.” New MONDAY 8 p.m. on FOX Gotham Barbara (Erin Richards) falls prey to
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Erin Richards stars in “Gotham”
the Ogre (guest star Milo Ventimiglia), making Gordon (Ben McKenzie) all the more desperate to find the villain, in the new episode “The Anvil or the Hammer.” The Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor) launches an all-out assault that leads to ever-mounting carnage. Bruce (David Mazouz) is shocked by what he learns about his family’s company. Morena Baccarin and David Zayas guest star. Donal Logue also stars. New TUESDAY 9:30 p.m. on FOX Weird Loners The screen classic “The Godfather” proves to be a uniting force for Stosh (Zachary Knighton) and his young son (guest star Daniel Zolghadri), along with Eric (Nate Torrence), in the continued on next page
FAVORITE SHOWS new episode “The Weirdfather.” Just as their relationship is solidifying, another is eroding — rapidly — since Zara (Meera Rohit Kumbhani) becomes concerned about Caryn’s (Becki Newton) needy nature. Renee Marino also guest stars. New
to get witnesses to come forward. Tom Selleck, Bridget Moynahan, Will Estes, Len Cariou, Marisa Ramirez and Vanessa Ray also star. Season Finale New
9 p.m. on SYFY Bitten In the aftermath of the brutal faceoff WEDNESDAY between the witch and werewolf 8 p.m. on FOX coalitions and their new common American Idol enemy, Elena (Laura Vandervoort) The title is within reach for those still awakens to the horrifying discovery that in the contest in the new two-hour she is being held prisoner at an off-theepisode “Top 4 Perform” ... and since grid compound run by a maniacal cult they’ve gotten this far, the decision of leader who is subjecting her to a series which participant to eliminate clearly of sadistic experiments. Meanwhile, is a tough one. Nevertheless, it has back at Stonehaven, the Pack and the to happen, putting the reasoning of witches are forced to resort to dark judges Harry Connick Jr., Jennifer Lopez and Keith Urban — and also of viewers who cast their votes — to the test. Ryan Seacrest is the host. New THURSDAY 8 p.m. on CBS The Big Bang Theory Surely not hurt by Jim Parsons’ four Emmy wins (to date) for his portrayal of Sheldon, this sitcom is still one of broadcast television’s ratings powerhouses as it heads toward the end of Season 8. Since the show already has been renewed for two more years, Parsons will be staying around a while — along with fellow series stars Johnny Galecki, Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting, Simon Helberg and Kunal Nayyar. Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch also remain as cast regulars. New FRIDAY 10 p.m. on CBS Blue Bloods The two-part finale of the police drama’s fifth season concludes with “The Art of War,” which brings the ongoing investigation of a gangrelated shooting case too close to home for the Reagans. A member of the family is wounded, challenging Danny (Donnie Wahlberg) to keep his emotions in check as he tries
Tom Selleck stars in “Blue Bloods”
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magic to find their missing members in the new episode “Dead Meat.” New SATURDAY 4 p.m. on NBC 141st Kentucky Derby And they’re off! It’s time for the “Run for the Roses” and the first leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown with the 141st running of the Kentucky Derby. A few press time favorites on the 1.25mile dirt oval at Churchill Downs in Louisville include International Star and Materiality, both of which should be among the field of up to 20 three-yearold thoroughbreds.
Jim Parsons and Mayim Bialik star in “The Big Bang Theory”
The 141st Kentucky Derby
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