Featured Stories
Profiled athlete Mark Teixeira
CELEBRITY SPOTLIGHTS
“Public Morals” “Narcos” “Monica the Medium” “Switched at Birth”
Krista Allen John Smoltz Anson Mount Matt Murray Norm Abram
WHAT'S FOR DINNER
Featuring: Aarón Sánchez
The story
JAY Bobbin's movies to watch
And so much more! Connect to these shows within this magazine!
“Fear the Walking Dead” premieres Sunday on AMC.
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CONTENTS
What’s Hot This Week Click to jump to these featured sections!
Featured
Stories
“Fear the Walking Dead” Premieres Sunday on AMC. p3
“Monica the Medium”
Premiering Tuesday on ABC Family. p 16
“Switched at Birth”
Returning Monday on ABC Family. p 17
“Public Morals”
Premiering Tuesday on TNT. pp 12-13
“Narcos” Premiering Friday on Netflix. pp 14-15
SIX
Celebrity potlights Krista Allen
Aarón Sánchez
p4
p7
of “Significant Mother” Monday on The CW.
John Smoltz of MLB Network. p5
Anson Mount
of “Hell on Wheels” on AMC.
hosts Season 2 of “Taco Trip,” premiering Tuesday on Cooking Channel.
Matt Murray Checking in. p8
Norm Abram
of “This Old House” on PBS. p9
p6
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Profiled Athlete Mark Teixeira pp 18-19
Editor's choice
STORY
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Chilling ‘Fear the Walking Dead’ deserves success on its own terms By John Crook When AMC announced in September 2013 it was developing a companion series to “The Walking Dead,” many skeptics feared the cable network was just trying to squeeze more milk out of its biggest cash cow. Happily, “Fear the Walking Dead,” which begins its first six-episode season Sunday, Aug. 23, is a compelling, character-driven drama that stands on its own feet creatively. While the blockbuster success of “The Walking Dead” all but guarantees a healthy viewer sampling of the new series, fans will quickly notice some striking differences in “Fear.” For one thing, it’s set in East Los Angeles, the opposite American coast from the rural Georgia setting of “The Walking Dead.” Even more important, “Fear the Walking Dead” opens its story as the zombie apocalypse is just beginning, while Deputy Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) was in his coma on “The Walking Dead.” “It’s a parallel narrative that exists in the same world as the comic,” explains executive producer and show runner Dave Erickson, who developed the new series with Robert Kirkman, creator of the entire “Walking Dead” saga. “We’re living under the same mythological umbrella as the original show. We’re starting a bit earlier (in the story) than the original show did, and we have a bit more real estate to explore: the actual fall, the disintegration of a city and society.” Those events are viewed through the perspectives of high school English teacher Travis Manawa (Cliff Curtis) and his extended family: his fiancée, widowed high school guidance counselor Madison Clark (Kim Dickens), and her two nearly adult children (Frank Dillane, Alycia Debnam-Carey), as well as Travis’ ex-wife, nursing student Liza Ortiz (Elizabeth Rodriguez, “Orange Is the New Black”) and their teenage son, Chris (Lorenzo James Henrie). We don’t see much of Liza in the opening hour, but her medical training soon thrusts the character into the main events of the show. “I loved this woman as soon as (Dave) told me about her,” Rodriguez says. “She’s very strong, in charge of her own life. Liza left Travis three years ago to reclaim her life. This is not a woman scorned, which means Liza can be very empathetic toward Madison, since they both have sons close to the same age. Basically, things between Travis and her are fine, Liza just wants to make sure he is a man of his word when it comes to their son, Chris.” Erickson says the characters on “Fear the Walking Dead” respond less aggressively to the infected walkers, since they don’t yet comprehend the enormity of what is happening. “They don’t immediately go to a place where their instinct is to pick up a heavy item and bludgeon somebody,” Erickson says. “When they meet a zombie in the pilot, their first impulse is to help him. It takes time to get to the point where violence is your automatic recourse. Our walkers are still quite human, so they’re not easy for our characters to kill. They don’t look like monsters yet, like they do on ‘The Walking Dead.’ ” AMC already has greenlit a 15-episode Season 2, which will air in 2016.
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CELEBRITY Jay Bobbin’s Q&A
KristaAllen of ‘Significant Mother’ Monday on The CW
“Significant Mother” is very much a show about relationships, and you’ve done other series in that vein, including “What About Brian” and surely your run on “Days of our Lives.” Is that an intentional theme in your work? I tend to get cast for those kind of shows a lot. I don’t know what that says about me, but it’s fun to play around with that. You play what you know, you know what I mean? I’m experienced in a few relationships, so it’s really fun. How did the bonding go with Josh Zuckerman, who plays your son in “Significant Mother”? From the get-go, it was amazing. We work so well together, we’re really connected. We just honored each other’s space and fell into these roles. It was effortless, honestly, so all the emotions that would come up for these characters – it made it very easy for us. Jonathan Silverman, who plays your estranged husband on the show, also directed an episode. How was that experience? He was so fantastic! It was a big episode, and he also was wearing his actor’s hat as well as being “Mr. Director” for the week. He made all of us feel like superstars ... not just the actors, but the crew as well. He would leave that set, and everybody would have a big smile on their face and feel really great about their work for the day. He was able to bring that out. He’s so supportive and generous with his suggestions, and open to actors’ suggestions. And even to the camera guys: “Yeah! That’s a great idea. Let’s try that.” It became a wonderful, collaborative effort.
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CELEBRITY George Dickie’s Q&A
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JohnSmoltz of MLB Network When you were in the Atlanta Braves’ starting rotation with fellow Hall of Famers Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine, did you have hitting contests? We did. We would come up with point systems and we took a lot of pride in getting a bunt down. And sooner or later, everybody hit a home run, which I never thought would happen from Glavine’s standpoint. When he hit a home run, I about passed out. Who was the best hitter? He probably was because he put the ball in play and could slap the ball down the left field line, it seemed like at will. But Greg was the same kind of not expected to do a whole lot, he found a way to hit and he could do little things as well. I had the most power but it was probably foolish for me to think that every time I went up there, I could hit a home run but it was all I tried to do for the most part. Not every time but you pick your moments and for me that’s what ended up tearing my left shoulder in 1997 and never got it fixed and never was a good hitter again at that point.
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Is it true that at one time you were an accomplished accordionist? I was, yeah, but that was 4 years old to 7 years old so based on what my parents tell me the future was bright back then for that. But I’m sure they were glad that they allowed me to play baseball. My parents were both accordion teachers. They both played and music was something that they instilled in me and I guess I was good at. I don’t really remember too much. ... I could play the keys; I just couldn’t play the bass. For the most part, I can hear something and play it. I don’t read music anymore. It’s just something that taught me a lot when I was a kid. It taught me discipline and work habits, and it really did have an influence in what later became a sports career. August 23 - 29, 2015 YOUR TV LINK Courtesy of Gracenote Page 5
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CELEBRITY George Dickie’s Q&A
Anson Mount of Hell on Wheels What drew you to your character of railway worker and former Confederate soldier Cullen Bohannon on AMC’s “Hell on Wheels”? Well, first of all it was the best pilot script I’ve ever read. ... It was a really dark antihero and it required a true Southerner to play the role, not just for the accent but the knowledge of the culture and, I don’t know, I just felt I could get under his skin and I felt confident I could do a good job with the role. When the series ends, will it be difficult for you to say goodbye to him? Oh absolutely. I mean, it’s definitely time but when you’ve lived in somebody’s boots for this long, literally, it’s definitely going to be hard to realize I’m never going to get to play him again. But it’s harder knowing I’m not going to get to work with this group of people again. This crew up here is just phenomenal. Everybody cares. From the producers and the writers all the way down to the PA’s in the background, everybody really cares. Is it true you have a great-great-grandfather who was a colonel for the Confederacy during the Civil War? I still have his military composite hanging on the wall, and it’s so old the photo tinting chemicals have changed and now he’s green. And one of my relatives has a hand-written list of things that were in his pocket when he got shot.
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Your mother was also a professional golfer. Did she introduce you to the game? Just enough so I could be bad at it and she can laugh at me when we go out and play 18 holes (laughs). I love playing with her. She’s an excellent teacher and she’s my best friend.
FOOD John Crooks What's for Dinner
SáncheZ samples
milehigh Latin cuisine on ‘Taco Trip’
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What did you have for dinner last night? “I had one of the best gorditas I’ve had in a while. They used fresh masa, lightly seasoned meat, mashed avocado and a cooked pico de gallo, which sometimes can feel like it’s served as an afterthought. It was light and fresh, perfection!” What is your favorite comfort food? “My Tio Mario’s chile colorado and tortillas always puts a smile on a face. Every time he makes it, he leaves off the cilantro, because that’s how he grew up eating it, but I have to have cilantro on mine.” You and John Besh coown Johnny Sánchez. What makes you good partners?
Aarón Sánchez’s quest to find America’s best tacos enters its second season as “Taco Trip” travels to Denver to sample that city’s Latin cuisine Tuesday, Aug. 25, on Cooking Channel. “Denver and the surrounding areas are really special to me because they have an amazing Mexican population,” Sánchez says. “There are these pockets in the city where you can really see the preservation of the Mexican legacy. You’ll wander the streets and all of a sudden you’ll find a place making fresh tortillas or roasting chiles. Also, my cousin, Javier, lives there so it was great seeing him.”
“One of my favorite southern states is Oaxaca, and there they are known for a tlayudas, which are basically big, openface flatbreads, made out of masa,” Sánchez says. “Toppings vary, but the classic includes black beans, queso fresco and chorizo.”
“We approach food and hospitality in the same way. We make sure we’re using local, sustainable products and we believe that serving food and making people happy is the most important part of our job. We also both love the idea of bringing people together and sharing stories over some great food and drinks.”
Sánchez says he sees his TV show as more than just a savvy diners’ guide.
What flavorings do you always keep on hand?
One of the key features of this regional cuisine is its abundance of green chilies, he adds.
“For me, ‘Taco Trip’ is a way to teach people about the different types of Mexican cuisine and share stories of these chefs and their families,” he says. “I’ve gotten to meet some of the most amazing people and it’s become a privilege for me to be able to help share their experiences.”
“Mexican cinnamon, chiles en adobo and pickled onions. A lot of people getting nervous pickling at home, but it’s really easy.”
“It’s definitely a distinctive Mexican flavor that you can’t usually find fresh in most other place,” he explains. “We tried green chilies in a couple of different of dishes – enchiladas, salsas and we also had a great green chili pozole.”
His itinerary includes a Mexican-inspired dinner with his family at Adelita’s Cocina y Cantina, which features chef Silvia Ayala’s famous Carne Asada Tacos.
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CELEBRITY Jay Bobbin’s Celebrity ScooP
Matt
Murray
Matt Murray is doing dual television duty this summer, and he couldn’t be happier about it. A co-star of ABC Family’s new Wednesday sitcom “Kevin From Work,” he also is continuing his role as Officer Duncan Moore on ABC’s Thursday police drama “Rookie Blue,” which is nearing the end of its sixth season. Largely an annoyance and outcast around 15 Division after accusing Officer Andy McNally of having professionally abused him, Moore has spent recent episodes seeking his peers’ good graces, partially by helping them get the goods on his corrupt policecommissioner stepfather. “I think everybody deserves a second chance,” Murray reasons. “Now, with that in mind, you don’t have to give them your bank-account number ... just a chance to redeem themselves. Everybody knows what Duncan did, but they’re like, ‘OK, well, we still have to work with him.’ It’s no longer him having to defend himself with his stepdad, who’s not the one who will clean up his messes. Now, he wants to clean up his own messes.” Indeed, Moore “wants to be a good cop, like everybody else is,” notes Murray. “Everybody does make mistakes, and you see one of the cops do that in every episode. He has to adjust his tactic with everybody, and getting to know everybody is helping him to grow, to think before he acts.” Also identified often as Matthew Owen Murray, the actor has dual American-Canadian citizenship, and he’s found considerable work north of the border in recent years. “When I was doing ‘Rookie Blue,’ I lived in Toronto,” he explains of filming both Seasons 5 and 6 there last year. “I moved there from Detroit to go to theater school, because it’s generally a lot cheaper there than in the States. My teacher suggested that I stay in Toronto, because of the connections and stuff. And ‘The Firm’ (the former NBC series, which shared a production facility with ‘Rookie Blue’) was the first set I ever worked on.”
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On the “Rookie Blue” fan base: “It’s amazing. It’s huge. I get it every Birthplace: Detroit day, just walking down the street. In fact, I went and Current residence: Los looked at an apartment Angeles recently, and the lady said she’d check with me later Marital status: Single in the day to see what my decision was ... and she Other television work ended up texting me a includes: “Guidance,” “The picture of me on ‘Rookie L.A. Complex,” “Suits,” “The Blue’ and asking, ‘Is this Firm” you?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s me!’ The fans are Movie work includes: everywhere.” “Let’s Rap” (forthcoming) Birthdate: Sept. 18, 1989
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CELEBRITY CelebritY profile
Nor mAbram
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Norm Abram is a master carpenter, and has hosted “This Old House” on PBS for 36 years. - Born October 3, 1949, in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, and raised in Milford, Mass. - A second generation carpenter, he began learning the trade at a young age from his father, Jim. - Studied mechanical engineering and business administration at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. - He continued to refine his skills working by his father’s side remodeling and building custom homes through high school and college vacations. - While doing renovation and construction work in Massachusetts, he was discovered by Russell Morash, who created “This Old House.” - He has been the master carpenter of “This Old House” since the series’ 1979 premiere. - From 1989 to 2009, he was also the host of “The New Yankee Workshop.” - He has authored several companion books, including “Ask Norm,” “The New Yankee Workshop,” “Measure Twice, Cut Once,” and “The New Yankee Workshop Kids’ Stuff.” - He is on the board of trustees of Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, Mass. - Over the years his likeness, complete with a trademark plaid shirt, has been featured on “Home Improvement,” “Saturday Night Live,” “Steven Spielberg’s Freakazoid,” and in nationally syndicated cartoons. - The American Academy of Ophthalmology presented him with its first EyeSmart Distinguished Service Award. The award honored his steadfast commitment to safety and the prevention of eye injuries.
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CELEBRITY
“You have such a good time working with any director who’s been an actor first, or even is still doing that. You really don’t have to communicate very much. You understand what you need to do and you get the shot, so it’s just easy. And all of them have such a wonderful sense of humor.” – Missy Peregrym of “Rookie Blue” on ABC, about working for this season with such directors as Jason Priestley and Gregory Smith (also her co-star)
“Well, we are in litigation with the Smithsonian, because we could not find the (first) one ... so, we pitched in $100 and made another one. No. I think the real story is the first mullet is in a Hard Rock Cafe somewhere. That’s the story I got. Someone gave it away early on, and we don’t know where it is.” – David Spade of “Joe Dirt 2: Beautiful Loser” on Crackle, about having a new mullet for the sequel Page 10 YOUR TV LINK Courtesy of Gracenote August 23 - 29, 2015
“The best analogy I was able to come up with is, you know, you drive to work and you do the speed limit and you take your time, you know your route. That’s starting. And then if you’re going to close, you basically get in NASCAR and you’re just going pedal to the metal. You’re just letting it all hang out really. ... The adrenaline rush is unbelievable.” – MLB Network commentator and Hall of Fame pitcher John Smoltz on the difference between starting and closing
CELEBRITY
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ON DVRs
Nicole Gale Anderson of “Beauty and the Beast” on The CW “I watch a lot of anime, actually. It’s so culturally different, it’s a nice escape. When I watch live-action TV, I notice a lot of acting choices or camera moves, and anime lets me switch that part of my brain off and just enjoy the story. And they can anything they want, because it’s anime.”
Mike Holmes of “Home Free” on Fox “Well, I normally would record shows like ‘Breaking Bad,’ things like that. I’m a big movie guy or great HBO specials. But other than that, nothing.” Peter Mooney of “Rookie Blue” on ABC “I just finished the last season of ‘Game of Thrones,’ and I love ‘VICE.’ I just find that absolutely fascinating. And recently, I watched all of ‘Damages.’ I don’t know how I missed that the first time; the story’s gripping, but the acting on it is just phenomenal. I binged on that one.”
Rocco DiSpirito of “Food Fighters” on NBC “I just sort of stream everything now from Netflix. I just finished binge-watching ‘Silicon Vallley.’ I love ‘Game of Thrones,’ ‘Better Call Saul.’ ‘The Americans,’ I’ve been bingewatching. ‘Aquarius’ ... the new NBC show. Those are the top ones I remember. I have this little device called a Roku box and it makes your TV a smart TV and you can just go to any streaming service and find any TV show.”
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STORY
Edward Burns is the writer, director and star of "Public Morals," premiering Tuesday on TNT. Story on next page
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STORY
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By Jay Bobbin Edward Burns says he’s been in “pre-production for 20 years,” his entire filmmaking career, on “Public Morals.” The actor-writer-director behind such acclaimed independent features as “The Brothers McMullen” and “She’s the One” brings his talents to TNT with his New York-set 1960s crime drama premiering Tuesday, Aug, 25. Reunited with executive producer Steven Spielberg, who directed him in “Saving Private Ryan,” Burns stars as police officer Terry Muldoon, who tries to steer his officers through a war between Irish mobsters while his wife (Elizabeth Masucci, “Inside Amy Schumer”) wants out of the city. “The show was borne out of different ideas I’ve had for films, going back to ‘The Brothers McMullen,”’ Burns explains. “My dream project, and a script that I actually wrote for Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks back in ‘97, was called ‘On the Job.’ It was my attempt at an IrishAmerican ‘Godfather,’ set against the NYPD. It was 20 years in a big Irish cop family, and I could never get that film made, but I never gave up hope that I would make it. “As I would walk around Manhattan, I was constantly taking mental notes ... and later, with my iPhone, taking pictures of locations that I would want to use in that film. I would look for those streets and those old restaurants and bars that were stuck in time and hadn’t changed. And I had four other scripts that had to do with Irish gangsters in Hell’s Kitchen.” “Public Morals” is the result, and its ensemble also includes: Michael Rapaport as Muldoon’s second-in-command, who takes a personal interest in a prostitute (Katrina Bowden); Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Wass Stevens, Patrick Murney and Austin Stowell as other cops in the Public Morals Division; and Brian Wiles as a fresh-faced newcomer to the force. Timothy Hutton appears early on as an underworld bookie, with Brian Dennehy, Neal McDonough and Robert Knepper also in guest roles.
The cars, the clothing and even the music (with the Standells classic “Dirty Water” prominent in the pilot episode) of “Public Morals” have to reflect the atmosphere of the mid-1960s consistently. Burns, who also wrote and directed all 10 first-season stories, points out that he had a lot of help from “born-and-bred New Yorkers” in virtually every area. “I was very lucky in that all of the department heads stayed on for all 10 – the director of photography, the production designer, the music supervisor – and they’re all folks that I’ve been working with for a long time on all of my indie films. Some of them know what it’s like to have to try and make a movie for $150,000, so when we were given the opportunity to make this show with a substantial budget, having an executive producer like Steven Spielberg who believes in your vision, we were put in a great situation to succeed.” Though it’s the first under his full guidance, “Public Morals” isn’t former “Entertainment Tonight” assistant Burns’ first TNT series: He played a mobster himself, the infamous Bugsy Siegel, in Frank Darabont’s 2013 drama “Mob City” (which also featured McDonough and Knepper). Burns attests that even when he’s just an actor for hire, each project adds something to his own filmmaking. In fact, he says his “Mob City” work “opened my eyes to what is possible in television. I knew, as a fan of ‘The Sopranos’ and ‘Mad Men,’ the kinds of stories you could tell. You could go deeper with characters and paint on a much bigger canvas than you could in a film. And I took those stacks of unproduced screenplays and thought, ‘Why don’t I take my two passions, the big family cop story and the big family gangster story, and connect the two families through marriage (with Muldoon’s aunt wed to the Hutton character)?’ And the minute I had that idea, I was off to the races.”
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STORY
Pedro Pascal stars in “Narcos,” premiering Friday on Netflix.
Story on next page
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STORY
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Netflix’s gripping ‘Narcos’
recalls Pablo Escobar and the 1980s Colombian drug trade By George Dickie
The series that drops with 10 episodes Friday, Aug. 28, dramatizes the late 1980s drug trade in South America, focusing on its most notorious kingpin, Pablo Escobar, the “King of Cocaine” who built an empire worth $30 billion and was revered and feared by the people of his native Colombia before being killed by police in 1993. The story is told through the eyes of DEA Agent Steve Murphy (Boyd Holbrook, “Hatfields & McCoys”), who partners with fellow agent Javier Pena (Pedro Pascal, “Graceland”) to bring Escobar (Wagner Moura, “Elysium”) down. Murphy’s voice-over throughout the series walks viewers through and explains the many moving parts of the complex drug business, a la Ray Liotta’s narration as Henry Hill in Martin Scorcese’s 1990 mob classic. “I hadn’t seen a ‘GoodFellas’-like television show ever,” explains José Padilha, an executive producer and admitted “GoodFellas” fanatic, “and I thought, ‘You know what? Let’s go for that.’ And it also allows me to create a lens through which you lose or gain focus and you reflect the reality you’re talking about – that’s through the character of Murphy. And that lens is interesting to me because I have an idealistic cop/DEA guy who thinks he’s going to go there – and the narration says it – like he’s fighting the war (after the attack on) Pearl Harbor. And as soon as he gets there, he realizes it’s nothing like that.” The central character of the series is, of course, Escobar, brought vividly to life by Moura. For his research, the 39-year-old Brazilian actor devoured books about Escobar, learned to speak Spanish and spent six
Pictured: Wagner Moura
months in Medellin immersing himself in Escobar’s old surroundings. “Pablo was a great character if you don’t think about him as someone who really existed,” Moura says. “If I received a script about a guy who was a drug lord who loved his wife, loved his kids, loved his friends but at the same time was a mean, mean person, who fought a war alone against the United States, paramilitaries, guerrilla guys, Cali Cartel, and who wanted to be the president of Colombia, wanted to be loved, wanted to be accepted – I would say that’s a f... great character. I want to play it.” Moura found connecting to the emotions of a bonafide sociopath and murderer challenging but he did see some redeeming qualities in Escobar. “He was a good friend. He was a good father. He was a charming man. People liked him,” he says. “When I went to Medellin the first time, even before signing to do the show with Netflix, I went there on my own and went to this place called Barrio Pablo Escobar, which is the neighborhood that Pablo built for poor people in Colombia. When you get there, you see there is a wall where you see Pablo’s face and right beside him, there was Jesus Christ’s face. So if you say anything bad about Pablo there, you’re going to get in trouble.”
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REALITY REVIEW
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STORY College can be simultaneously the most challenging and mindexpanding time of life. You’re tending to studies, term papers, exams, a social life and the whole figuring-out-what-you-want-to-do-withyour-life thing. And then If you’re Monica Ten-Kate, subject of the new ABC Family unscripted series “Monica the Medium,” you’re also communicating with the dead. Premiering Tuesday, Aug. 25, the hourlong series follows the 21-year-old Washington, D.C.-area native as she goes about her daily life as an undergraduate in – ironically enough – communications at Penn State University. At the same time, she’s doing readings both paid and unpaid for people seeking her services. It started for her when she’d be sitting in the dining hall or the library working on a term paper and someone would sit down next to her who had someone close them who recently died. The feelings were too strong for her to ignore. “I was like, ‘This just can’t be a coincidence,’ ” says Ten-Kate, who will be entering her senior year this month, “that all these students, all these people that would just randomly be the ones who would be doing their homework next to me, I would all of a sudden be having such strong feelings of loved ones or friends around them and I’d give them a spontaneous reading in that moment. And they’d be so thankful, like, ‘Oh my goodness’ and ‘Can you also see my friend or my roommate?’ So that’s kind of where it all started with my gift.” Once word of her abilities spread around campus, people sought her out and she was able to charge for her services, which gave her tuition fund a nice shot in the arm. But on the downside, some of her dates were a little put off.
Penn State undergrad talks to the dead on ‘Monica the Medium’ By George Dickie
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“It’s hard to find a guy when you’re talking to the dead,” Ten-Kate says, laughing, “especially 21-, 22-year-old guys would be like, ‘Is that maybe a red flag? Is she wacko? Is she normal? What is this thing?’ And so kind of maneuvering through being 21 and dating is definitely something that’s a little bit tricky when you’re a medium.” And her gift also added another dimension to a night out with the girls. “We’re at the bar and we’re having a girls night just like any other college girls going out with their roommates,” Ten-Kate says, “but then I kind of have to break away from the group and give an unexpected person there a little message from her grandmother or whoever’s coming through.” But just as is what is supposed to happen in college, Ten-Kate has found her passion and her profession. She says her family has been generally supportive, though her very religious mother had her qualms. Still even she’s come around to her daughter’s gift. “(My family has) given me that positive encouragement ... : ‘You’re doing a lot of good, just keep following your heart and your passion and keep doing what you’re doing,’ ” Ten-Kate says.
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STORY
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‘Switched at Birth’
switches things up with a pregnancy By Jay Bobbin
Pictured:Katie Leclerc (left) and Vanessa Marano
Affection can have its complications, as Bay and Daphne certainly know on “Switched at Birth.”
and I feel she’s a very real character. And I’m very grateful that I get to breathe my life into hers.”
The ABC Family drama series resumes new fourth-season episodes Monday, Aug. 24, as relationships go in opposite directions for the two young women who were indeed switched at birth. Hearing-impaired Daphne (Katie Leclerc, who has a hearing loss herself) is thrilled about a new college romance until her friends weigh in on her beau, while Bay (Vanessa Marano) remains distraught over her breakup with Daphne’s longtime friend Emmett (Sean Berdy).
The drunken night Bay spent with ex-boyfriend Tank (Max Adler) earlier in the show’s season, with intimate but murky results, was a reason for the end of her romance with Emmett – and also for much viewer comment on social media that surely was not lost on actress Marano.
And, in the script by series creator Lizzy Weiss, that’s not all. Bay’s legal parents (Lea Thompson, D.W. Moffett) get troubling financial information, and a giant revelation stuns everyone: Someone among them is pregnant. Oscar winner Marlee Matlin reprises her recurring guest role as Emmett’s mother. “I pinch myself every day and think, ‘Man, I can’t believe this is real,’ ” co-star Leclerc says with a giggle of the ongoing ride “Switched at Birth” has given her. “My favorite thing about Daphne is that she’s just a regular girl. She happens to be deaf, but she grieved like any college student would when her father (Angelo, played by Gilles Marini) died. She rebelled, she had moments of glory and moments of defeat,
Deeming Bay “just a broken human being who doesn’t have anything to claim as her own life” now, Marano allows she was “very nervous” about playing that “very controversial story line. There could have been a lot of negative reaction; my character wasn’t necessarily in the right, his character wasn’t necessarily in the right, and which one was more at fault? Our audience, and the critics, responded really well to it. That motivates you to continue telling different stories like that.” With “Switched at Birth” regulars Thompson and Moffett also having directed episodes, Leclerc reflects, “I’ve gotten to see my co-stars grow, as well as myself. In the time we’ve all been together, there’s been babies, there’s been marriages (including Leclerc’s own last year), there’s been divorces ... we really have become a family.”
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By Dan Ladd The New York Yankees were supposed to be rebuilding. After the illustrious careers of former Yanks Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and so many others recently, baseball aficionados were ready to write off the Bronx Bombers for a few years. Not so fast. The Yanks, who have benefited greatly from Mark Teixeira, have been at the top of the American League East for much of the season. They’ll host the Atlanta Braves in an interleague contest Saturday, August 29, on Fox Sports 1. Teixeira, who played for the Braves, Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, joined the Yankees in 2009. When healthy, this switch-hitting first baseman is as productive as they come and is as well known for his defensive skills as for his offensive ones. He helped the Yankees earn a World Series ring in 2009, and has achieved a number of milestones since. Injuries, however, have plagued him in recent years, including a broken leg he suffered early in the 2014 season. Teixeira may not be flirting with a .300 average but he’s often batting cleanup in Joe Girardi’s lineup. His slugging percentage is way up and his RBI and home run numbers could rival his better seasons to date.
MarkTeixeira
Since the All-Star break, the Yanks have been surging while getting back key players off the injured reserve list. Should the trend continue Teixeira and company will likely be finding themselves in yet another post season.
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MOVIES JAY BOBBIN's Theatrical movie review
review
‘Pixels’ puts Sandler in real-life video games If you’ve been aching to see Adam Sandler and PacMan in the same movie, “Pixels” is for you. Unfortunately, it speaks volumes to say Pac-Man leaves the bigger acting impression. It’s a given that the fantasy film will be technically solid, since there would be no point to even releasing it if it wasn’t ... but Sandler pictures have been lazy on the creative side for a while, and with two of his usual screenwriters driving the story, this is no different on that count. Sandler plays a former game-playing whiz whose prowess is recalled by a childhood pal (past Sandler colleague Kevin James), who just happens to be the President of the United States. Yes, we know. We’ll pause for a second and let that sink in: “Paul Blart” as president. Anyway, Sandler’s talents are just what the POTUS of Queens needs when America comes under attack by what appear to be classic video-game characters – but
actually are alien emissaries patterned after what the U.S. supposedly is like, based on impressions of the pop culture of the 1980s. Josh Gad, Peter Dinklage (“Game of Thrones”) and Michelle Monaghan – who’s now in a tie with earlier Sandler co-star Salma Hayek as his unlikeliest-ever love interest – play eventual added members of the enemyfighting team, and while “Harry Potter“-veteran director Chris Columbus certainly is no slouch in deploying visual effects, the battle ultimately is a losing one. A big part of the trouble is the absolute failure to be able to invest in any of the characters, particularly Sandler’s. There is just no energy to the performance, something he’s been able to get away with for quite some time. Put him side-by-side with Donkey Kong and see Kong as the better actor, though, and there’s a problem. For a certain nostalgic kick, “Pixels” has its moment, but there are more than 90 other minutes to it. And here, that hurts.
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MOVIES JAY BOBBIN's movie review movies to watch
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“ALOHA” Though it’s not on par with his modern classics including “Jerry Maguire” and “Say Anything ... ,” writer-director Cameron Crowe’s romantic comedy benefits from an attractive and appealing cast. Bradley Cooper plays a military contractor on an assignment in Hawaii, where he eventually finds himself in a love triangle with his professional liaison (Emma Stone) and an old flame (Rachel McAdams, who worked earlier with Cooper in “Wedding Crashers”). The notable supporting players include Bill Murray, John Krasinski, Alec Baldwin and Danny McBride – and Hawaii itself, since the natural scenery generally is a plus for any movie. DVD extras: “making-of” documentary; outtakes. ››› (PG-13: AS, P) (Also on Blu-ray and On Demand)
upcoming DVD releases
Coming Soon on DVD... “MAD MAX: FURY ROAD” (Sept. 1): The post-apocalyptic loner (Tom Hardy) unites with a female warrior (Charlize Theron) against a common foe. (R: AS, P, V)
Pictured: Bradley Cooper and Emma Stone
“FURIOUS 7” (Sept. 15): Paul Walker’s last film in the franchise finds Dom (Vin Diesel) and his hard-driving comrades hunted as well as hunting. (PG-13: AS, P, V)
“THE AGE OF ADALINE” (Sept. 8): Blake Lively plays a “LOST IN SPACE: THE COMPLETE SERIES” (Sept. 15): woman who stops aging, posing emotional complications for The Irwin Allen-produced 1960s sci-fi classic makes its her; Harrison Ford also stars. (PG-13: AS, P) Blu-ray debut, with Guy Williams and June Lockhart as the heads of the family stranded among the stars. (Not rated: V) “EMPIRE: SEASON ONE” (Sept. 15): Terrence Howard and Emmy nominee Taraji P. Henson head the cast of the Fox drama series about a music-industry titan and his divisive family. (Not rated: AS, P)
“PITCH PERFECT 2” (Sept. 22): The Bellas return to take part in a global a cappella competition; Anna Kendrick and Rebel Wilson reprise their roles. (PG-13: AS, P)
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FAVORITE SHOWS
Nick Cannon hosts “America’s Got Talent”
SUNDAY 8 p.m. on HBO Show Me a Hero In the new “Part 3” and “Part 4,” Nick Wasicsko (Oscar Isaac) achieves some consensus and pushes through a housing plan with a tough vote, but at a fatal political cost to himself. Later, a new mayor pledges to oppose the housing, although it appears to be empty bluster in the face of the new federal mandates. As contruction on the townhomes begins, Nick tries to reconcile himself to his life out of power. New 9 p.m. on HISTORY Ice Road Truckers In a new episode called “New Cold Blood,” Polar boss Mark Kohaykewych mixes things up when he brings new
Mike Holmes hosts “Home Free”
soldier Mike Simmons into the winter roads battle. Todd Dewey and rival Darrell Ward both hit a newly opened trail, but Todd may have run out of luck when he breaks down in the middle of nowhere. Veteran driver Alex Debogorski gets lost, while new business owner Lisa Kelly faces an ice road trucker’s worst nightmare. New MONDAY 10:01 p.m. on NBC Running Wild With Bear Grylls James Marsden is well known for playing one of the “X-Men” in the popular movie series, but he’s going to have to draw on some very human skills for the challenging trip he takes into Rattlesnake Canyon, Utah, home to one of the highest arches
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James Marsden is featured in “Running Wild With Bear Grylls”
in that region. Once he and his host helicopter down to that arch, they have to rappel down narrow canyons, then figure out how to get up the towering cliffs on the other side. As they travel, Marsden recounts how he has risen to stardom from his fairly humble beginnings in Oklahoma. New TUESDAY 8 p.m. on NBC America’s Got Talent The pool of finalists that came in thinking of themselves as “The Top 36” will have to get some new T-shirts printed up after tonight’s show, which finds the last 12 of their number fighting for a spot in the competition. To do that, they’ll have to click with the viewer at home in the new episode continued on next page
FAVORITE SHOWS “Live Round 3.” Nick Cannon hosts. New WEDNESDAY 9:01 p.m. on FOX Home Free With the show well past the halfway point in its eight-episode run, you can bet some of the teams still standing can practically feel the key to their dream home in their hands, but the competition gets even more intense in the new episode “Go Big or Go Holmes,” as host Mike Holmes really turns up the pressure on both the green and yellow teams. And why not? Holmes is known for being a super-nice guy, but he’s also determined to see all the finished homes are up to his exacting standard. New
FRIDAY 9 p.m. on FOX Gotham There’s plenty of suspicion to go around the city in “Everyone Has a Cobblepot,” as Gordon (Ben McKenzie) investigates Commissioner Loeb (guest star Peter Scolari) and Fish Mooney (Jada Pinkett Smith) is thought to be in cahoots with Dr. Dulmacher (guest star Colm Feore). The young Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz) gets a new reason to pursue his own campaign against crime. Nicholas D’Agosto (as Harvey Dent) and Nicholle Tom (“The Nanny”) also guest star.
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SATURDAY 8 p.m. on ABC Movie: Cars Vroom! The 2006 CGI box-office success comes to the small screen, with Owen Wilson voicing Lightning McQueen, a hotshot race car who gets stranded in a backwater town. He’s revving at the engine to get back to racing, but Radiator Springs has its appeal. Additional voices include Paul Newman, Bonnie Hunt, Larry the Cable Guy, Cheech Marin and Tony Shalhoub.
10 p.m. on SYFY Paranormal Witness Season 4 of this spooky unscripted series opens with the new episode “The Motel,” which takes place inside the abandoned Windrift Motel in Madison, Ind. Its new owners, Ron and Doretta Johnson, sense an unnatural and sinister darkness lurking in the structure’s derelict hallways. Season Premiere New THURSDAY 11:35 p.m. on CBS Madam Secretary When a crafty Elizabeth (Téa Leoni) is called upon to negotiate with Iran regarding their escalating nuclear program, she is determined to do so peacefully instead of following the president’s (Keith Carradine) preferred go-to strategy of military intervention. Meanwhile, precocious Jason (Evan Roe) interviews his father (Tim Daly) for a school report in “Blame Canada.” John Finn, Robert Klein and Johanna Day guest star.
David Mazouz stars in “Gotham”
“Cars”
Téa Leoni stars in “Madam Secretary”
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