Find out What makes Riley Keough different from her character in “The Girlfriend Experience”
How far does friendship go in a
“Game of Silence”
Check out What inspired Jason Jones to make
“The Detour”
Golfers go green at The Masters
How
Anita Hill’s story
inspired Kerry Washington
+
Gabrielle Reece JOHN CENA MINDY KALING Cliff Curtis Richard Trethewey
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CELEBRITY
“The Detour”
4 Gabrielle Reece
gets on the road on TBS
Women undergo a metamorphosis in NBC’s “Strong”
5 John Cena
shows his, and others’, “American Grit”
6 Mindy Kaling
“The Mindy Project” resumes its Hulu run
8 Cliff Curtis
Grieving is not an option in “Fear the Walking Dead”
“Game of Silence” speaks loudly for tormented friends
9 Richard Trethewey “The Girlfriend Experience” Soderbergh brings “The Girlfriend Experience” to Starz
17
FOOD
7 “Cake Masters”
Goldman takes cakes to a new level
SPORTS
the story!
18-19 Jason Day
seeks coveted green jacket at The Masters
“Confirmation” Supreme Court nominee faces accusations
MOVIES
IN EVERY ISSUE
Review, Our top DVD pick, and Coming Soon on DVD.
suggested programs to watch this week!
20-21 Featuring: Theatrical
Getting to know the plumbing and heating expert
22-23 Featuring: Our top
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REALITY 16 Jackie Robinson
is remembered, on and off the baseball field, by Ken Burns
Editor's choice
STORY
Clarence Thomas’
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‘Confirmation’
recalled in HBO film By George Dickie A pivotal recent moment in American culture and history is revisited this month in a new HBO Films presentation. “Confirmation,” premiering Saturday, April 16, recalls the 1991 confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas (Wendell Pierce, “Treme”), an African American jurist who was nominated by President George H.W. Bush to fill the seat vacated by the retirement of Thurgood Marshall earlier that year. Near the end of those September 1991 hearings, after an FBI interview with Anita Hill (Kerry Washington, “Scandal”), a young African American lawyer and academic who worked for Thomas at the Department of Education, was leaked to the media, Hill was called to testify, and she testified that he had subjected her to comments of a sexual nature, and accused him of sexual harassment, allegations that he denied. The hearings captivated the nation’s attention and set off a national conversation on sexual equality in the workplace, a debate what would forever change the way we look at and treat the issue, both inside and outside the workplace. The film also stars Greg Kinnear (“Heaven Is for Real”) as Sen. Joe Biden, who presided over the hearings as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee; Jeffrey Wright (“Casino Royale”) as Charles Ogletree, Hill’s lead attorney during the hearings; and Jennifer Hudson (“Dreamgirls”) as Angela Wright, another Thomas accuser who was never called to testify. As the film’s protagonist, Washington, who was 14 at the time of the real hearings, told a recent gathering of TV critics in Pasadena, Calif., that she took inspiration from Hill’s story. “I’m really inspired by the difference that a person can make in Washington and the kind of cultural shift that happened after the events that take place in our film,” says Washington, who is also an executive producer of the film. “I think it’s really inspiring to think about how much changed, how we were all transformed by these events in terms of our language changing around sexual harassment,
Pictured: Wendell Pierce
around victims’ rights, around how we think about the workplace, how we think about women, how we think about race, how we think about power.” In preparing to play Thomas, Pierce had to check his prejudices about man at the door and find his humanity. “(I) had this wonderful epiphany studying the man,” he says, “and realized how much we had in common. His family coming from Pin Point, Georgia; my family from Assumption Parish in Louisiana. My grandfather had a saying. ‘Can’t die three days before the creation of the world, so don’t ever tell me you can’t do anything.’ His grandfather said, ‘Can’t is already dead. I helped to bury him.’ And his grandfather was someone who is a hero of his. ... And I realized that the only way that I was going to be able to play the man was to be authentic and true to his humanity and his experience. “And the situation just gives you a wealth of things to play,” he continues. “ ‘What did I do? Do I even remember it?’ ‘At the pinnacle of my career, something comes from my past that challenges it.’ And so that is something that we all can understand and put ourselves into.” Washington, hopes “Confirmation” continues what she calls the “global conversation” on the issues raised. “That is an outcome that we all felt was really important,” she says. “... And yet some of the issues are still rearing their head in terms of gender and in terms of race and how we understand those things. So I think, really, the outcome of what happened was that the conversation began and we want to make sure that that conversation continues.”
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CELEBRITY George Dickie’s Q&A
GabrielleReece of ‘Strong’ Wednesday on NBC
In what kind of shape coming in are the female contestants on NBC’s “Strong”?
It varies. You have some women that certainly in their definition, they would like to lose weight. I would say without making this a description, these are very typical women and have sort of maybe through the process of working and maybe having family just gotten off their (peak condition) a bit and they haven’t been able to figure out or haven’t had the opportunity ... to find their way back. And the other side of it is there were a few younger women in the cast that what their deal is is it almost looks like they’re looking for their voice.
Part of shaping up is changing the mental as well as the physical. How does that play out for the contestants?
From week one to three, the look in their eyes, it starts to shift. And even when they’re standing in front of these really daunting challenges ... you see them go, “Hey you know what? I am free and this is going to be hard and I don’t know if I can do it but ... I’m gonna give it my best.” And so that was the most interesting thing for me to watch, of them taking this on and a real shift in the look in the eye.
Watching these women transform before your eyes had to be gratifying for you, no?
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I honestly am so thrilled and feel so fortunate to be a part of this show because it couldn’t have been more perfect for me as far as what I want to do and the message I want to be involved with selling. I loved it. And going to work was inspiring because you get to see the changes and the (contestants are) taking on these epic challenges. And it was funny, when we were done shooting at the end of it, I was exhausted because you do get all so emotionally invested in these people because they’re putting it out there.
CELEBRITY Jay Bobbin’s Q&A
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JohnCena
of ‘American Grit’ Thursday on Fox Reality-competition shows have been staged on various levels of complexity – or not – so were you surprised to find “American Grit” as big a production as it is?
It’s massive, and that’s very important in doing the heroes (the military personnel involved) justice. When you put a show like this together, you can’t really do it on the cheap. I was really impressed not only with the location selection, but with the execution and production. We had an enormous crew, and everyone literally earned their money. It was quite an adventure in the Pacific Northwest, but it was a fun one. Everybody was motivated to be a part of something new and special.
Is part of the appeal of “American Grit” for you the chance to reach a different audience? Yeah. You’re always trying to reach as many eyes as you can, especially when you have a product that you feel is entertaining. When folks see this, though, they will focus on the “cadre” (the militaryveteran mentors) and the competitors.
You became a movie-comedy star last year by working with several of the genre’s current titans, Amy Schumer (in “Trainwreck”) and Tina Fey and Amy Poehler (in “Sisters”). Did that process go as you’d hoped?
Absolutely. I savored every moment and was as much of a sponge as I could be, trying to learn from those folks, but looking at the whole experience at the same time. I looked at it as something that I wanted to do and that would be fun to do, and it was. And it was very memorable.
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CELEBRITY Jay Bobbin’s Q&A
Mindy Kaling
of ‘The Mindy Project’ Tuesday on Hulu As “The Mindy Project” resumes its fourth season – its first on Hulu, after three on Fox – what do you see as the main changes in your alter ego in the show? We always say that the character can only change 5 percent at a time. And certain things like motherhood will bring out aspects of her personality. The protective nature of Mindy will be a new thing, a maternal instinct which we’ve not seen before, obviously. But maybe this is a little cynical, but we feel like people don’t change. She has a kid now, and Mindy’s behavior is like, “My kid should be a model. My kid should be a child actor.” Her personality, it’s been really fun to see how it transforms when she has a kid. We have this line where they have a baby and she says, “Danny (Chris Messina’s character), I thought I could never love anything more than you,” but the minute she has a baby, she’s like, ‘Who’s Danny?’ ” Which I thought was a very Mindy way to express the joy of motherhood while still being slightly insulting to the man of her dreams. So, that’s been fun to explore.
What’s your take on doing a romantic comedy that has traditions of the genre, but also keeps your style? I’ll say that the best romantic comedies are the ones with characters. And if the characters aren’t good, when the characters get together, it’s not going to be interesting because all you’re following is plot. If they’re good enough, you can have characters grow old together, have grandchildren, do so many things – get married, get divorced – and it will be interesting. So, I love romantic comedies, but I like good characters better.
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FOOD
Duff Goldman
George Dickie’s What's for Dinner
F
marries cake and machine on Food Network’s ‘Cake Masters’
Anyone who appreciates outside-the-box thinking will be in their glory watching Food Network’s newest entry, “Cake Masters.” Indeed, the six-episode hourlong series that premieres Monday, April 11, features extreme baker and cake artist Duff Goldman (“Ace of Cakes”) and his talented team at Charm City Cakes West creating imaginative designs that incorporate more than just flour, sugar, butter and eggs. Take, for instance, the confection he and his crew made for the premiere episode, which was based on the video game “Skylanders.” It’s an eightfoot-wide cake baked to resemble four of the characters, each with a chip wirelessly telling a game controller which character is which. And each character has a function. For example, a dragon could spew orange pudding that resembles lava from its mouth through a tube with an Archimedean screw inside. In the end, after the game is played, everyone could dive in and eat the cake – which almost seems like a shame given all the work and technological know-how that went into it. “No, you have to,” Goldman insists. “That’s the whole point because the thing is the cake is really good. Like we make really good cake, and so when you have something that’s really cool looking or really beautiful, it’s still a cake. No matter what it looks like, it’s still a cake and the function of a cake is to be eaten. So you want to make sure that when you cut into something that’s really, really amazing that it’s worth cutting into.” With his new Los Angeles location, the Baltimore-based Goldman has access to Hollywood’s best and brightest when it comes to special effects, and they figure heavily in this series. Goldman’s cakes start at $200, but the ones with all the bells and whistles go well into the thousands – and rightly so given the materials and man-hours involved. And some push Goldman to the limit. “There was one cake coming up later (in the season) that’s actually a Transformer, Optimus 5, and it transforms,” Goldman says. “Like, we basically had a guy build a robot and then we built a cake around the robot. It was amazing, absolutely amazing. And that one ... it was a Saturday delivery. I showed up at 9 a.m. Thursday, I didn’t leave work till 5:30 p.m. Friday and we delivered Saturday. It was the most intense – I mean, we should never even have attempted this. It was way beyond what we were able to do. We pulled it off but at a price.”
What book are you currently reading? “ ‘The History of Philosophy’ by Bertrand Russell.”
What did you have for dinner last night?
“I had some tomatoes, basil and fresh avocado.”
What is your next project?
“I’m writing a book about soup.”
When was the last vacation you took, where and why?
“That was over Christmas and New Year’s, and I went to Hong Kong. Just for fun. I had never been there, so I was like, ‘Yeah, let’s go to Hong Kong.’ So I went to Hong Kong for 10 days. It was amazing. ... I had a sugar cookie that was filled with pork gravy. It was wild.”
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CELEBRITY
Can zombies swim? That’s the most urgent question facing Travis Manawa (Cliff Curtis) and his friends as AMC’s “Fear the Walking Dead” returns for Season 2 Sunday, April 10. “We’ve been driven out of Los Angeles with only one place to go: the sea,” Curtis explains. “At the end of last season, I had to take the life of my son’s mother, so my son and I both are grieving, but there’s no time for grief on this show. Things keep coming at us.”
John Crook’s Celebrity ScooP 2011. The film recently opened in the U.S. “I’m really, really proud of that one,” Curtis says. “My goal is for our production company (Whenua Films) to get at least one of our films released in this country every year.”
Even in the dire aftermath of a zombie apocalypse, Travis clings to his decency and compassion, but those aren’t necessarily traits that will help him survive. “He’s the least likely person to survive the apocalypse, seriously,” Curtis says. “He’s much less suited to this environment than the other, more pragmatic characters, some of whom already have a pretty dark point of view. Travis is all about family values and a reluctance to use gun violence as a means of conflict resolution.” Growing up in New Zealand, Curtis excelled at breakdancing, then won two consecutive national championships with a partner in rock ’n’ roll dance competitions. That led to amateur theatricals, followed by musicals, then plays. Indie films such as 1994’s “Once Were Warriors” drew Hollywood attention and, by 1999, he was working for A-list directors Martin Scorsese, Michael Mann and David O. Russell in, respectively, “Bringing Out the Dead,” “The Insider” and “Three Kings.”
He’s the “least likely
person to survive the apocalypse, seriously
More recently, he also produced and stars in “The Dark Horse,” a factbased feature about speed-chess player Genesis Potini, who died in Page 8 YOUR TV LINK Courtesy of Gracenote April 10 - 16, 2016
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CELEBRITY CelebritY profile
Richard T r e t hewey
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- Born and raised in Dedham, Mass. - He has been in the heating and plumbing industry his whole life. He grew up working at the family’s fourth generation plumbing and heating business, Trethewey Brothers, which was started in 1902. - He is a licensed master and journeyman plumber in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and has long been an advocate for professionalism in the building trades. - In 1979, producer Russell Morash called on Trethewey Brothers to lend their expertise to his then new home improvement television series “This Old House.” His father Ron filled the role for a season, and then turned the job over to him, and he has had the role ever since. He also appears on the Emmy Award-winning show’s sister series, “Ask This Old House” and is also on the editorial board of This Old House Magazine.
Richard Trethewey is a business owner and has been the plumbing and heating expert on PBS’ “This Old House” for over thirty years.
- He started his own company, RST Inc., in May of 1990, as a Manufacturer’s Rep firm that would champion the best quality hydronic heating and cooling products. His two sons, Ross and Evan, are active in the business as well. - He has authored or contributed to several home improvement books including “This Old House Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning,” published by Little, Brown and Company in 1994; contributor to “Complete Remodeling,” published by This Old House Books in conjunction with Sunset Books in 2004; contributor to “Homeowner’s Manual,” published by This Old House Books in 2000; and a contributor to the heating and plumbing sections of “This Old House Bathrooms” and “This Old House Kitchens,” published by Little, Brown and Company in 1992 and 1993. - He lives on the South Coast of Massachusetts when he is not living aboard a sailboat in Boston.
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CELEBRITY
“I’m considering a project in Baltimore – as a response to what happened there last summer – which is to involve disengaged youths to do some renovation and job training … and to give them a path that is about self-improvement and mining their potential, while at the same time creating an economic model that’s missing from those communities that kind of blew up last year.” – Wendell Pierce of “The Odd Couple” on CBS, about his philanthropic work
“The wine business is so much fun. I’ve done a lot of different kinds of businesses over my years – and this one you can share with everybody. It’s just fun, really fun.” – Kathie Lee Gifford of “Today” on NBC
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“If you can find a job that’s tied into your dream, that feels good. I watched a lot of singers perform … and sometimes, I got paid. I’d see people like Faron Young and Johnny Cash, being in that production studio, so it was pretty cool.” – Dierks Bentley, seen recently on the 51st Academy of Country Music Awards on CBS, about having been a researcher at The Nashville Network (which now is Spike TV)
CELEBRITY
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ON DVRs
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Carrie Ann Inaba of “Dancing With the Stars” on ABC I love ‘Game of Thrones,’ I love ‘Homeland,’ and I love ‘Code Black.’ And ‘Madam Secretary,’ and I watch ‘The 100,’ and all the ‘Chicago’ shows (on NBC). And I like Jennifer Lopez’s new show (‘Shades of Blue’); I think it’s really well done. I love TV!
”
John Cena of “American Grit” on Fox “I have a DVR, but I just don’t have the time to catch up on television. It’s more that if something’s on, I’ll watch it then. And if not, it’s not a big deal.”
Jason Jones of “The Detour” on TBS “ ‘Getting On’ I record, a great show. ‘Veep’ and ‘Silicon Valley’ I record. I haven’t watched it yet but Season 2 of ‘Fargo’ I hear is phenomenal. It’s all waiting for me. I record a lot of documentaries. ‘Frontline,’ ‘60 Minutes.’ Always a sports game, if I want to watch it because I can’t sit through the amount of commercials they have in sports (laughs) but I want to watch it semilive. I don’t want the game to finish before I finish it.”
Josh Gates of “Expedition Unknown” on Travel Channel “I record the nightly news every night and I set it to record over itself so I always have the most recent nightly news. And then I record all the shows that I’m too busy to watch because I’m usually overseas somewhere. ‘The Walking Dead’ is on there, and ‘The Returned.’ I’m trying to catch up on the second season of the French show ‘The Returned.’ And ‘The Daily Show.’ We just made our way through ‘Broadchurch.’ A ton of AMC stuff.”
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STORY
“The Detour”
Jones takes the express route to laughter Premiering Monday on TBS Story on next page
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STORY
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The family road trip provides fodder for laughs on TBS’
‘The Detour’ By George Dickie
We’ve all taken them, the neverending car trip in which Dad refuses to stop and ask directions, the kids are bored beyond belief and Grandpa keeps puffing away on those smelly cigars. The family road trip is a phenomenon as American as apple pie, so leave it to Canadians, spouses and former “The Daily Show” regulars Jason Jones and Samantha Bee to bring it to television in a sitcom premiering this week on TBS. “The Detour,” debuting Monday, April 11, stars Jones and Natalie Zea (“Justified,” “Californication”) as Nate and Robin Parker, who with their preteen children Delilah (Ashley Geramsimovich, “Louie”) and Jared (Liam Carroll, “The Neighbors”) hit the road in their temperamental minivan Blue Thunder from their home in Syracuse, N.Y., for vacation in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Naturally, every step of the way is fraught with trouble as the Parkers contend with aggressive drivers, wellmeaning truckers, local cops, food poisoning, dodgy hotel rooms and mishaps of all stripes. Jones, who is also executive producer (with Bee), showrunner, writer and even director of one episode, based the half-hour series on his own experiences. “Originally, it was trips I took with my family from Canada to Florida,” the 42-year-old native of Hamilton, Ont., says. “We’d go down there all the time. The I-95 corridor, I knew it very well. But I think more than the trip itself, I wanted a reflection of an honest family relationship. You know, so often in sitcom TV on network television, all you see is this glossy, infantilized version of a family that talks down to the audience and I didn’t want that. I wanted a real relationship.”
Click or tap on icon for more! The family dynamic is evident from the opening episode as Nate and Robin argue over whether they should have flown, try to give the kids an innocent-sounding explanation for an adult-themed truck stop called the Banana Creamery, and put Jared behind the wheel to help push-start Blue Thunder after its starter motor acted up – a scene inspired by a page from the Jones/Bee family history. The kids are an integral part of the action here and not just in an adult-things-out-of-little-mouths way. Both young actors are capable of improv and Jones is certainly receptive to it – but only to a degree. “Ashley says (stuff) and you go, ‘Oh, I didn’t expect that to come out of your mouth,’ ” he says. “So what she said would make me laugh but I’m very much about the right timing and the flow and the rhythm of the scene. And I would then rewrite it for that line to be the punch line and then we would sort of work up to it and button it with that. And you know, to give a punch line to a child when you’re a 10-year veteran of a comedy show, (you’re saying), ‘I trust you.’ ” After a decade as a correspondent on “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart,” Jones is relishing the chance to tell his own stories in “The Detour.” He calls his job as showrunner “the best position ever,” but allows that should other opportunities arise, he’d be receptive. “I love storytelling,” he says. “That’s my goal, is just to tell fun stories and I fit a lot of them into this show. You know, I’ve fit almost a lifetime of stories into this show and it will continue to draw upon my experience. But there comes other stories where you go, ‘Oh, that doesn’t fit. That’s a great movie idea and I’d love to be able to do that some time.’ ” April 10 - 16, 2016 YOUR TV LINK Courtesy of Gracenote Page 13
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STORY
Friends revisit the haunting secret they share Larenz Tate stars in the NBC drama series “Game of Silence,” which “previews” Tuesday and premieres Thursday.
Story on next page
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By Jay Bobbin Several friends. One long-held secret. That formula has serviced many dramas, “Mystic River” and “Sleepers” among the more notable ones of recent years, and it also fuels a new NBC series. Having a preview showing Tuesday, April 12, before its official premiere Thursday, April 14, “Game of Silence” reunites small-town Texas comrades – played by Larenz Tate (“Rescue Me”), David Lyons (“Revolution”) and Michael Raymond-James (“True Blood”) – to seek personal justice after 25 years, prompted by a present-day murder and the events in the detention facility where they spent time after coming to the rescue of a mutual friend (Bre Blair, “The Unit”) who was imperiled by her alcoholic mother. The show was developed by executive producer David Hudgins (“Parenthood,” “Friday Night Lights”) from the Turkish program “Suskunlar” (translation: “Silent Ones”). He recalls meeting with fellow executive producers Carol Mendelsohn (“CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”) and Julie Weitz, then receiving two DVDs of the original series from them: “(They were) 90 minutes long, Turkish subtitles. I said, ‘Really?’ I turned it on, and I started watching, and I fell in love with this amazing show that had incredible heart. That’s where this show came from.” Though “Game of Silence” has a grim story basis, costar Lyons says “it’s also important to note that we’re not dredging grief and this kind of murky emotion all the time. What I found fascinating about David’s script, and (what) is absolutely implicit throughout the season, is the relationship (among) the characters ... the love, the loyalty, this kind of search for redemption. But it’s also transcending the darker parts of their childhood, so as much as we do go back there, we also use it as a launching point to kind of feed the hope and feed the journey.”
Pictured: David Lyons Tate cites the “emotion that keeps them connected as friends. They become more than friends. They’re very much like a family. And that is a sort of through line, that they remind each other – when they show up in the time of need, in a time of crisis – that they have to remain together as a unit. That’s really important, and it’s relatable. I’m sure audiences will be able to connect with that, because we have people that are in our lives that we may not speak to all the time, but when they show up ... .” Mendelsohn certainly knows procedural drama, having also been an executive producer of all of the “CSI” spinoffs. She allows that “Game of Silence” fits that model to a certain degree. “I think that it’s always about justice,” she reasons. “(With) ‘CSI,’ we always said that science allowed us to go from a gray world to a black-and-white world. I think here, emotionally and story-wise, everything is gray. As these characters come back together as their life intersects again, you begin to see black and white again. “You begin to explore, just like (in) ‘CSI,’ the question of justice. When it’s about young kids and an experience in a childhood misadventure, that question of ‘Did the punishment fit the crime, and can you ever give a young person back their lost innocence?,’ it just permeates everything.”
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STORY
A
Ken Burns traces the challenging life and times of Jackie Robinson
name also can be a symbol, as in the case of Jackie Robinson ... which Ken Burns clearly knows.
One of the foremost documentarians of American history turns his attention to the icon (1919-72) who broke barriers in sports and civil rights in “Jackie Robinson,” the new PBS miniseries Burns directed with his daughter Sarah and her husband, David McMahon. Debuting Monday and Tuesday, April 11 and 12 (check local listings), the fourhour profile precedes Major League Baseball’s annual Jackie Robinson Day on Friday, April 15. The program dates back to Robinson’s pre-baseballcareer stances against segregation, then considers the many challenges he faced during his tenure with the Brooklyn Dodgers, part of which was dramatized by the 2013 movie “42,” and afterward. Burns’ schedule was so full that initially, it seemed he would be unavailable for the project, though Robinson’s widow Rachel asked him to do it. He notes he “had interviewed Rachel in ’92” for his “Baseball” series, “and Jackie was an important presence throughout (that) in almost all of the episodes -- including the major one, ‘The Sixth Inning,’ when I felt he was the moral center of gravity. In the course of the release of that film several years later, Rachel contacted me and said, ‘There should be a standalone (documentary about) Jackie. And I said, ‘Yes. I’m busy, and I have all these films.’ And she said, ‘But I want you to do it.’ ” Ultimately, the timing worked out, to Rachel Robinson’s relief and pleasure. “My feeling about these projects,” she says, “(is that) you can’t have too many, and you need more and more. And when schools show these films or take children to see them, they have to have discussion groups in connection with them. It’s not enough for them just to see it or to read something. If they hold small discussion groups, where children
By Jay Bobbin
are free to examine and try to understand what they’ve seen, then they’re really making a difference. And those children are writing to me.” In a device Burns has used in many of his other programs including “The Civil War” and the soon-to-be-repeated “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea,” Jamie Foxx is heard in “Jackie Robinson” as the subject’s voice, reading from New York Post columns and personal letters Robinson wrote. Among interviewees – in addition to Rachel Robinson and the couple’s surviving children, Sharon and David – are Harry Belafonte, Tom Brokaw, music’s Carly Simon, Brooklyn Dodgers veterans Don Newcombe and Ralph Branca, and President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama. “I think it’s really important to understand that, had not Jackie and Rachel gone through the door then, I don’t think we would have Michelle and Barack Obama,” Burns reflects. “That is the kind of pioneering that they did, and I thought both the President and the First Lady seemed to mirror a lot of what was going on.” In that, they service the overall effect Burns wants to have with the documentary, which also is getting a home-video release the same week as its PBS telecast. “I think, for really too long, Jackie Robinson has been a kind of mythological figure (who has) suffered from just the conventional wisdom that attends to that,” says Burns. “He’s sort of encrusted with the barnacles of sentimentality and nostalgia, and it was our purpose to prove some of these old things wrong (and) to provide a much more complex and, we think, richer and more interesting story about his life. That’s why it required us to dive as deep for as long, and as many years, as it took.”
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STORY
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Rich men get
‘The Girlfriend Experience’ on Starz By George Dickie
Many people struggle to leave their work life at the office. Christine Reade revels in bringing it home. As played by Riley Keough (“Magic Mike”) on “The Girlfriend Experience,” a 13-episode drama series premiering Sunday, April 10, on Starz, she’s a second-year Chicago law student and new intern at the prestigious Kirkland & Allen law firm who embraces her sideline as a high-priced escort to the rich and powerful. But Christine – or Chelsea as she’s known to her clients – doesn’t provide just sex for money. For her rate of $1,000 an hour (with a two-hour minimum), she provides what is called the girlfriend experience or GFE, which means talking, listening and providing emotional support in addition to the physical intimacy. In essence, playing the role of a girlfriend. Christine was introduced to the world of transactional relationships by Avery (Kate Lyn Sheil, “House of Cards”), her friend and classmate, while Jacqueline (Alex Castillo, “Rookie Blue”) is the booker who supplies her with a steady stream of clients. At her day job, Christine learns the ropes at the side of David Tellis (Paul Sparks, “Boardwalk Empire”), a power lawyer with a secret, whose professional fortunes are intertwined with those of fellow partner Erin Roberts (Mary Lynn Rajskub, “24”). The series comes from executive producers Lodge Kerrigan, Amy Seimetz and Steve Soderbergh, on whose 2009 independent film of the same name the series is based. Keough, who researched the role by talking to a woman who provided such a service, told a recent gathering of TV critics in Pasadena, Calif., that she was attracted to the character’s unconventionality.
Pictured: Riley Keough
“It’s not something you’ve really seen as a sort of lead character on a TV show,” she says, “because ... I wouldn’t say she’s extremely likeable or morally correct or you know, she’s very controlling and kind of manipulative and kind of selfish and likes sex. It’s more of a character you’d see for a man ... .” Christine’s ability to keep the physical and emotional separate is illustrated in the opening episode, where after picking a guy up at a bar, she tells him in the throes of passion, “I like you.” Later that night, after a round of lovemaking, he reciprocates with the same message, only to be met with a dismissive “thanks” and a quick kiss on her way out the door. “The one thing I was having a hard time understanding,” Keough says, “was being able to have sex with no emotional connection. And I sort of started to understand that the more sex scenes that I did, which was interesting, how it could be just a sort of physical thing. Because that’s not what it is for me, but that is what it is for Christine. So that was difficult in the beginning, but I sort of wrapped my head around that as we went along.”
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SPORTS
Jason eyes Day The Masters Story on next page
Born: Nov. 12, 1987 Birthplace: Beaudesert, Queensland, Australia Height/Weight: 6 foot, 195-pounds
Turned Pro: 2006 PGA Tour Wins: 8 Honors and Achievements: Winner of 2015 PGA Championship; The Don Award, 2015
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SPORTS
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By Dan Ladd
As the PGA Tour eyes their first major championship of the season, it’s not hard to reflect on the last major, when Jason Day won the PGA Championship in August of 2015. Day, who just won the Arnold Palmer Invitational in mid-March, hopes to be among the contenders when CBS covers the final round of the 2016 Masters Tournament from Augusta National Golf Club on Sunday, April 10. Day had his best season on the PGA Tour in 2015, finishing second in the money standings to Jordan Spieth with both golfers winning five events. At one point in the season Day had the No. 1 ranking for the first time in his career. Prior to the Arnold Palmer Invitational, 2016 had not been so rewarding. The PGA Tour has been full of surprises with Adam Scott and Kevin Kisner topping the Fedex Cup standings. The Masters could be the right time for a player like Speith, Bubba Watson or even Day to make a move as these veteran players sure know the pressure of playing in a major. That said, Day’s best performance at Augusta was in 2011 when he tied for second. He finished third in the 2013 event and placed in the top 30 respectively in 2014. Winning the green jacket would continue his surge.
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MOVIES JAY BOBBIN's Theatrical movie review review
‘10 Cloverfield Lane’ addresses low-maintenance suspense
Here’s the thing about a movie that has prided itself on being as secretive as possible: How do you review it and keep its secrets? “10 Cloverfield Lane” deserves that sort of respect, since it breaks the rules of major-studio moviemaking in numerous ways ... and pretty successfully, too. The film’s makers (who include J.J. Abrams), used a similar approach earlier on “Cloverfield,” the “Blair Witch Project”-like thriller that arrived as a relative surprise and became a monster hit, in more ways than one. It makes complete sense, then, that they’d follow a similar strategy for something that’s sort of a sequel – but not entirely. The new film wasn’t written to be that, but was adapted from its original script to become a “Cloverfield” relative. That practice isn’t unheard of (the “Die Hard” series also has used it, for example), and it is one way for scriptwriters to get their story made, if an initially unexpected one. Someone who knows a bit about appearing in franchises, Mary Elizabeth Winstead (of the “Die Hard” pictures, as it happens, as well as “Final Destination 3”) as a woman who gets into a car accident after a phone argument.
She revives to find herself a captive in the bunker of a survivalist, played by the ever-entertaining John Goodman, who downplays his boisterous quality but keeps the likability ... though it has a sinister quality around the edges, something that takes a really good actor to pull off. His character claims he’s protecting the woman – as well as another person played by John Gallagher Jr., a stage veteran known for his television work on “The Newsroom” – from something nasty outside. Giving away much more than that is where it starts to seem unfair, but it can be said that in the tradition of some genre classics, doubt and paranoia become ever-larger aspects here. It’s also a real treat to see a story such as this require basically only three actors. Goodman, Winstead and Gallagher are up to the task, and they form a compelling unit. Early on, the picture also involves Bradley Cooper, though not in the usual way. That latter phrase actually can be used for “10 Cloverfield Lane” overall. As with the first “Cloverfield,” you have to admire its determination to work both with and against movie conventions. That’s what keeps it surprising and fun.
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MOVIES JAY BOBBIN's movie review movies to watch
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“THE FOREST” A familiar-feeling premise gets a boost from good acting in this thriller, as Natalie Dormer (“Game of Thrones”) plays a woman who travels to Japan to seeks her twin sister – a supposed suicide – in, you guessed it, a forest. Taylor Kinney (“Chicago Fire”) also stars as a reporter investigating the mystery, which involves the siblings’ late parents and expectedly deepens the farther the searchers venture into the woods ... with a reasonable number of “Boo!” moments. Eoin Macken (“The Night Shift”) also is featured. ››› (PG-13: AS, P, V) (Also on Blu-ray and On Demand)
upcoming DVD releases
Coming Soon on DVD... “THE REVENANT” (April 19): The recent Oscar winner for best actor (Leonardo DiCaprio) and director (Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu) is an early-19th-century frontier survival story. (R: AS, N. P, GV)
“RIDE ALONG 2” (April 26): Kevin Hart and Ice Cube reunite as their characters team with a female cop (Olivia Munn) against a drug dealer. (PG-13: AS, P, V)
“HAVEN: THE FINAL SEASON” (April 19): Alternate dimensions and William Shatner play big roles in the wrap-up to the Stephen King-inspired series. (Not rated: AS, P, V)
“JOY” (May 3): Jennifer Lawrence plays Miracle Mop inventor and marketer Joy Mangano in director David O. Russell’s comedy-drama, also reuniting the actress with Robert De Niro and Bradley Cooper. (PG-13: AS, P)
“KRAMPUS” (April 26): A youngster (Emjay Anthony) disappointed at the holidays conjures up a Christmas demon; Toni Collette also stars. (PG-13: AS, P, V) Pictured: Leonardo DiCaprio
“ANOMALISA” (June 7): The animated Oscar nominee focuses on an author (voice of David Thewlis) who gains a renewed appreciation of his life and family. (R: AS, N, P)
Family Viewing Ratings AS Adult situations
P Profanity
V Violence
N Nudity
GV Graphic Violence
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FAVORITE SHOWS
Nathan Phillips stars in “Hunters”
Robert Buckley stars in “iZombie”
SUNDAY 2 p.m. on CBS 2016 Masters Tournament Sunday at Augusta: It’s one of sports’ quintessential moments and it happens today with the final round of the Masters. Last year, Jordan Spieth gave onlookers a show they won’t soon forget, shooting a record-tying 18-under 270 to lead wire to wire and win by four strokes over Justin Rose and Phil Mickelson. In doing so, he also became the second-youngest golfer to don the tournament’s famous green jacket.
McKenzie Westmore hosts “Face Off”
Jordan Spieth defends his title in the 2016 Masters Tournament
MONDAY 10 p.m. on SYFY Hunters Gale Anne Hurd (“The Walking Dead”) is an executive producer on this new 13-episode series adaptation of Whitley Strieber’s novel “Alien Hunters,” which revolves around the mysterious disappearance of a Philadelphia police detective’s wife. As he obsessively searches for clues, the cop, Flynn Carroll (Nathan Phillips, “The Bridge”), is drawn to a secret government unit hunting a ruthless band of terrorists, who may be extraterrestrials. Britne Oldford (“The Flash”) and Julian McMahon (“Nip/ Tuck”) also star. Series Premiere New
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TUESDAY 8 p.m. on CW iZombie Blaine (David Anders) becomes an unexpected source of assistance for Liv and Ravi (Rose McIver, Rahul Kohli) in the new episode “Dead Beat.” Major (Robert Buckley) also gets unlikely help, supplied by a questionable fellow (guest star Ken Marino). The series’ second-season finale follows, as “Salivation Army” features Matchbox Twenty’s Rob Thomas as himself — an in-joke, since another Rob Thomas is this show’s executive producer — in a mystery set at a party. New continued on next page
FAVORITE SHOWS WEDNESDAY 9 p.m. on SYFY Face Off The three finalists and their teams of helpers work on set to create short horror films as their final challenge in the season finale, “Sinister Showdown Part 2.” After each mini-opus they produce is evaluated by the judging panel, one of the contestants finally is crowned the season’s latest “Face Off” champion. McKenzie Westmore hosts. Season Finale New THURSDAY 10 p.m. on BBC Orphan Black This critically acclaimed thriller moves to a new night for Season 4, which finds Sarah Manning and her sister clones — all played by Tatiana Maslany — trying to settle into some sense of normalcy after their recent multiple traumas. In the season premiere, however, the peace enjoyed by Sarah, her foster mother, Mrs. S. (Maria Doyle Kennedy), and daughter, Kira (Skyler Wexler), at their hideout in Iceland is shattered by a Neolution attack. Ari Millen, Jordan Gavaris, Kristian Bruun and Kevin Hanchard also return. Season Premiere New 10 p.m. on CMT The Ed Bassmaster Show After racking up hundreds of millions of views on YouTube, viral video sensation Ed Bassmaster (that’s his legal name now, although he was born Edwin Martin Barry II) brings his extensive gallery of characters to cable TV, where he tries to surprise, confuse and prank unsuspecting people. This new series also will feature occasional celebrity guests. Series Premiere New
FRIDAY 9 p.m. on NBC Grimm On this series, a severed head has to be considered an indication of the potential for greater peril. The episode “Inugami” makes that discovery the springboard for Nick and Hank (David Giuntoli, Russell Hornsby) to probe a traditional method of revenge followed by Japanese members of the Wesen. Adalind (Claire Coffee) returns to legal work and soon encounters Eve (Bitsie Tulloch). Keiko Agena (“Gilmore Girls”) and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa guest star. New
Dustin Hoffman stars in “Hear My Song”
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SATURDAY 8 p.m. on CBS Movie: Hear My Song Hallmark Channel now debuts most new “Hallmark Hall of Fame” offerings, but the franchise returns to CBS with this theatrical-movie acquisition (initially titled “Boychoir”) that stars Oscar winners Dustin Hoffman and Kathy Bates. He plays a boardingschool choirmaster, an inspiration to a youngster (Garrett Wareing) who’s just lost his mother, and Bates portrays the headmistress. Debra Winger, Josh Lucas, Eddie Izzard and Kevin McHale (“Glee”) also appear. Premiere
Russell Hornsby stars in “Grimm”
Tatiana Maslany stars in “Orphan Black”
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