Dual nominee
Sam Hunt anticipates
CELEBRITY SPOTLIGHTS
Kobe Bryant
starts for the West in his 18th and final NBA All-star game movies to watch
a “very enjoyable” night in THE 58TH ANNUAL GRAMMY AWARDS
‘Vinyl’ gets down and decadent
‘Love’
Judd Apatow’s Netflix show puts a new couple to the test
‘Join or Die’
personal for
Ferguson
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CELEBRITY
“Vinyl”
4 DAVID DUCHOVNY
Sex, drugs and ‘Vinyl’
“The X-Files” star wants to “honor the fans” with series revival
5 DR. AMY MAINZER
Astrophysicist takes off with PBS Kids’ “Ready Jet Go!”
6 Andrée Vermeulen Vermeulen plays it dry
8 MONICA RAYMUND
“Chicago Fire” co-star would like to be “a little bit more like” her character
“11.22.63” New approach to oft-told story
9 Adam Savage “LOVE” Netflix plays game of ‘Love’
17
Some facts about the ‘Mythbuster’
FOOD
7 “All-Star Academy” Irvine tries to grow his students
the story!
SPORTS
“THE 58TH ANNUAL GRAMMY AWARDS” Sam Hunt: One of Grammys’ new faces
18-19 Kobe Bryant
starts for the West in his 18th and final NBA All-Star game
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REALITY 16 Craig Ferguson
Talks history on HISTORY
Editor's choice
STORY
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Country newcomer
Sam Hunt vies for wins at Grammy Awards
By Jay Bobbin Being named best new artist at the Grammys is quite a coronation for any singer, and this time, it could be Sam Hunt’s turn.
and Little Big Town. A number of them are on the 2016 Grammy Nominees album, featuring Hunt’s Billboardcountry-chart-topping single “Take Your Time,” which he co-wrote.
A noted athlete during his high school years in his native Georgia, he also played football in college – where he taught himself to play the guitar, a pursuit that has paid off in his two nominations (also including best country album, for “Montevallo”) in The 58th Annual Grammy Awards. CBS televises the ceremony from Los Angeles’ Staples Center on Monday, Feb. 15 – and since he’s the host, “NCIS: Los Angeles” co-star LL Cool J won’t be lacking his usual Monday berth on the network.
“Leave the Night On” and “House Party” also have been platinum hits spawned by “Montevallo.” After his postgraduation tryout with the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs didn’t have the hoped-for result, Hunt relocated to Nashville, Tenn., and began writing songs that attracted such talents as Kenny Chesney, Keith Urban, Reba McEntire and Billy Currington – all of whom have recorded his material.
Competing with Courtney Barnett, James Bay, Tori Kelly and Meghan Trainor for best new artist, the pleasantly low-key Hunt says he expects “a very enjoyable experience, regardless of the outcome of the categories I’m nominated in. I’m just excited to be a part of the whole celebration of the music of 2015, and all of the artists who made it such a successful year. I love celebrating the genre of country music, but celebrating music as a whole is special in a different kind of way.” Hunt also will be among the performers at the Grammys, along with Carrie Underwood (with whom he’ll do a duet), Adele, Pitbull, Kendrick Lamar (the night’s most-nominated artist, with 11 bids), The Weeknd (who has seven nominations), Justin Bieber
While he appreciates their “putting my music out there on a grand scale,” Hunt also voices gratitude to “the people behind the scenes who really spent the hours with me in the writing room and in the studio, people who were a lot more experienced than me and helped give me direction. I was just a naive kid out of college, trying to find a way to be successful in this business.” Though he’s touring again this year, Hunt says it’s “not nearly as much as last year. I realized, 14 or 15 months after (‘Montevallo’) came out, that I don’t have nearly the time to write that I did before ... so I’m going to have to start consciously carving that time out. That’s what I’ve done with this year’s schedule, but I’m still going to spend time on the road because some people are just discovering our music for the first time, and I want to be able to reach them with the live shows as well.”
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CELEBRITY Jay Bobbin’s Q&A
David
Duchovny of ‘The X-Files’ Monday on Fox When did a revival of “The X-Files” become real to you? I think when I received the first script. Obviously, I knew I was going to do it – we were signed to do it at that point – but the work or the kind of imaginative reality of it is always, to me, the only reality of it. (It was) probably when I got that first script and started to think about, “How are we going to do this? What do we do? What do we do now?” Did you think anything in particular was required of the new “X-Files”? I think you had to pay homage to the mythology that we’ve done, as well as introduce the new twist that Chris (Carter, the series’ creator and executive producer) has created for this series. I think you had to honor the fans as well as introduce people into it who don’t know anything about it. There had to be a mythology episode to begin with. Was it easy to re-create, with Gillian Anderson, Mulder and Scully’s unspoken connection? I think at this point, having known each other and worked together so much for over 20 years, we’ve gone beyond chemistry into history ... which is a really cool thing to play as well. If you don’t have chemistry, you’ve got to figure out a way to make it happen. We’ve all seen movies and television shows where you see a mother and daughter or father and son and you’re like, “There’s no way.” It doesn’t feel right. There’s no history. It doesn’t feel like history. Gillian and I actually have history, so we don’t have to play it.
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CELEBRITY Jay Bobbin’s Q&A
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Dr.Amy Mainzer of ‘Ready Jet Go!’ weekdays on PBS Are you happy with the way “Ready Jet Go!” has turned out overall?
How do you like doing the live-action science segments in the otherwise animated “Ready Jet Go!” as it premieres Monday, Feb. 15? It’s funny. I come from a family of artists and teachers, so to me, the people who do art and are in the arts are what I think of as “normal.” They’re who I grew up with, right? When I was a kid, I had a book on Greek mythology, like a little kiddie book with a lot of cartoons. And back in those days, of course, we used to use encyclopedias. Remember those? And libraries. I went to the library because my mom took me, and I looked up Andromeda in an encyclopedia, and you always get two definitions: You get the mythological figure, but you also get this beautiful galaxy. I distinctly remember seeing some of those pictures in the encyclopedia at the library when I was really little and thinking, “I’ve got to find out more about that. Whatever that is, it’s pretty cool.”
This is the show that I would have wanted to have when I was a kid. This was the show I was looking for but couldn’t find, and it was really lucky that I had a very supportive mom. As I like to say, my mom knows probably more about liquid helium than a lot of physics graduate students do, because she was a great listener. It just goes to show you don’t have to have parents and family who are in the sciences, or who are in engineering, to produce somebody who goes on to become a STEM professional ... science, technology, engineering and math. The goal with this show is to basically get kids excited about the world around them so that they love science. And they don’t have to become scientists. The goal is to have them become scientifically literate citizens who appreciate the planet that we live on, and who are excited about learning for all of their lives.
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CELEBRITY George Dickie’s Q&A
Andrée Vermeulen of ‘Angie Tribeca’ Monday on TBS Is it fair to compare your character of Dr. Monica Scholls on TBS’ “Angie Tribeca” to Detective Frank Drebin on the 1980s series “Police Squad!”?
So she is essentially a cartoon character?
She’s even drier than that. I mean, I don’t even know what would be the best comparison. Like I feel like Rashida’s character, Angie Tribeca, is more like a Leslie Nielsen. Leslie Nielsen played it pretty straight but there still was a tone of like silly in there, and Dr. Scholls is just so cold. There’s no warmth. She’s just like all business, like someone brought a robot to life.
Yeah. I mean honestly, I have a sketch background so I’m just kind of treating it like, here’s another sketch character and we just play it smaller because it’s on a screen. But I just kind of created this monster, and it took me a little while to find her. And I think now that we’re shooting Season 2, I don’t even have to think about it anymore. I know exactly how she would say and do and think and act and feel – or not feel. And (executive producer) Steve Carell was super helpful when we were trying to find out what the balance was. ... But yeah, she’s kind of like a sketch character. I mean, I’ve played so many characters. I’m a UCB (Upright Citizens Brigade, a Chicago-based comedy troupe) performer. I’ve been performing sketch comedy on house teams since 2008, so every month you have to make up like five different characters. So this is kind of just what I do, and I’m like, ‘Oh, here’s one I get to play for a really long time. That’s amazing.’
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FOOD George Dickie’s What's for Dinner
Irvine
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feels the heat in the kitchen on ‘All-Star Academy’ So much of life in the military requires keeping your emotions in check. After all, losing your cool in battle can mean the difference between life and death. But for Robert Irvine, former member of the British Royal Navy, that proved easier said than done in his new role as mentor to student chefs on Food Network’s “All-Star Academy,” which kicks off its second season Sunday, Feb. 14. “Keeping calm was definitely interesting for me,” the 50-year-old chef, restaurateur and author admits with a laugh. “I’m really good under stressful situations. You know, if you’re in the field and you’re with a group of guys and you’re doing what you do in the military, it’s very different from teaching a home cook how to cook from a platform.” “With teaching a home cook to cook from scratch and doing the best possible,” he continues, “it’s not as simple as it sounds. There is some good talent but not a lot of time to do it. And when you’re training on this, it’s almost training on the fly. It’s training as you’re doing it and you have to pick up the skills along the way as you need it, to be able to get through the next round or do the next thing. So that was definitely interesting.” Season 2 of the competition series picks up with Irvine and “Bizarre Foods” host Andrew Zimmern joining returnees Curtis Stone and Alex Guarnaschelli as mentors as they try to talk their student chef teammates through the steps required to make their school-themed dishes, which will be judged a rotating cast of “guest professors” that includes Richard Blais, Haylie Duff, Katie Lee, Duff Goldman and Debi Mazar. The goal at the end of each of the eight episodes, of course, is to win the $50,000 grand prize, though there is a side objective. “Part of the journey in this series is about growth, for the mentors and for the contestants,” Irvine says. “... And you never would think that people bond in a very short period of time like this. So I think it’s a really cool thing to watch because you see those relationships grow over a period of time. There is a lot of emotion from both the contestants and the mentors. And I’m talking emotion and passion and feistiness and fear, disappointment, sadness – all those emotions that we feel as human beings, and you’re going to see all of that in this season.”
What book are you currently reading?
What did you have for dinner last night?
“I’m reading a book called ‘Same Kind of Different as Me.’ And at the same time, I’m reading a book called ‘The Trident’ by Jason Redman.”
“I had noodles. It was a beef bowl with noodles and gyoza.”
What is your next project? “... I’m working with the Gary Sinise Foundation. We do what we call Invincible Spirit festivals for our troops where I cook for 8,000-10,000 troops at San Diego Naval Medical Center. And that’s my next project after – I’ve got one day with the 101st Airborne in Kentucky.”
When was the last vacation you took, where and why? “My last vacation was in Afghanistan, and then from Afghanistan to Aruba just before Christmas. (I visited the troops) in Afghanistan and then a little vacation with my wife in Aruba.”
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CELEBRITY Jay Bobbin’s Celebrity ScooP
Monica
Raymund “Chicago Fire” is her home base, but that doesn’t mean Monica Raymund won’t pop up on “Chicago P.D.” or “Chicago Med” as well in any given week. Producer Dick Wolf’s three NBC series set in the Windy City regularly share cast members, and the actress who plays firefighter Gabriela Dawson on Tuesdays says, “I pity the man who keeps scheduling those crossovers and coordinating it. It’s hard. It’s a lot of work. I have to say the production staff in Chicago does an incredible job of making sure everybody is in the right place at the right time. “Do not get me wrong,” adds Raymund, “I do wake up and I’m on a set and I don’t know where I’m supposed to be and what’s happening in (the) episode, so it requires even more attention for me. What’s fun is that you can still carry the circumstances of what’s happening on my ‘home show,’ I call it; it’s like when you are in school and you go to homeroom. ‘Chicago Fire’ is my homeroom, but I like to carry all of the conflicts and obstacles that Dawson has gone through. Why shouldn’t that inform her behavior on ‘P.D.’ or ‘Med’ as well? It’s still the same world.” Though Dawson has gone through much personally in the “Chicago” world lately, including losing the child she was expecting with colleague Matt Casey (Jesse Spencer), Raymund stays focused on the professional as she plays her character. “One of the most respectable things that these first responders do,” she reflects, “is they put their lives on the line every day for you and for me. What these guys do as doctors, officers and firefighters ... they have to be able to process it and still show up and go to work. How we cope with intensity or grief or loss, that’s a human thing. I probably am a lot like Dawson in that way. I cry behind my bedroom door. I’m kind of private like that.” However, Raymund notes, “I’ve got to get up, and I’ve got to get out of bed, and I have a job to do the next day. You carry those experiences as you go to work every day because you remember why you’re doing it, and it’s worth continuing on. I think that is probably one of the most heroic things about Dawson that I admire. I would like to be a little bit more like that.”
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CELEBRITY CelebritY profile
AdamSavage
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- Born July 15, 1967.
- He grew up in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y., where his painter/ filmmaker father (whose credits include “Sesame Street”) and psychotherapist mother allowed him to explore his passions. - His child acting work included an appearance as Mr. Whipple’s stock boy in a Charmin commercial, and he had a role in the Billy Joel music video, “Second Wind,” in which he drowns. - He has held positions as a projectionist, animator, graphic designer, carpenter, interior and stage designer, toy designer, welder, and scenic painter. - Since 1993, he has concentrated on the special effects industry, honing his skills through more than 100 television commercials and a dozen feature films, including “Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace” and “Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones,” “Galaxy Quest,” “Terminator 3,” “A.I.” and “The Matrix” sequels.
Adam Savage is a special effects expert, artist and TV personality who can currently be seen in the final season of “Mythbusters” on Discovery. - He and Jamie Hyneman had worked together in the 1990s at effects house Colossal Pictures in San Francisco, and most memorably on a “Robot Wars” entrant named Blendo. - In the spring of 2002, Hyneman called him to ask if he’d like to participate in a demo reel for a TV pilot – a new show for Discovery Channel called “Mythbusters.” It was picked up by Discovery three weeks later and is now the longest running series on the channel. - Somehow he also finds time to devote to his own art – his sculptures have been showcased in over 40 shows in San Francisco, New York and Charleston, West Virginia. - He lives in San Francisco with his wife and twin sons.
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CELEBRITY
“It’s not a very hard decision to make when Marty Scorcese and Terry Winter come and they’ve got their buddy Mick Jagger with them, and you just go, ‘Yeah, sure, I’d love it.’’ – Bobby Cannavale on what sold him on joining the cast of HBO’s “Vinyl”
“I was very thankful that I was given the opportunity … and they don’t happen often, when you get something meaty like this. I had a moment of, ‘Wow, this is wonderful.’ Then, it immediately dissipated into a moment of, ‘Wow, this is going to be a lot of work.’ ” — Courtney B. Vance, of “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story” on FX, about playing Johnnie Cochran in the series Page 10 YOUR TV LINK Courtesy of Gracenote February 14 - 20, 2016
“If we see a friend in need or a friend in danger or whatever, we’d like to go in and say, ‘What are you doing? We can see it. You can’t.’ We have a natural tendency to do that and most of the time, we get, ‘Let me live my life. Leave me alone.’ ” — Maggie Lawson, of “Angel From Hell” on CBS, about her character being “saved” by Jane Lynch’s alter ego on the show
CELEBRITY
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ON DVRs Olivia Wilde of “Vinyl” on HBO
It’s an assortment. It’s random. It’s everything from ... ‘House of Cards,’ ‘Homeland,’ ‘Saturday Night Live,’ sports, different basketball games. I’m a big basketball fan. When I think of what’s on there, it just looks like 17 different people and it’s all me (laughs). Eclectic.
Jeremy Jordan of “Supergirl” on CBS “I love all the superhero shows and the shows based on comic books, and I watch pretty much everything on Netflix. I really like serialized shows, the ones where you can follow a character through their journey and you have to watch every week.”
Samantha Bee of “Full Frontal With Samantha Bee” on TBS “We usually watch ‘The Walking Dead’ in real time but I think we record it, too. We record ‘Game of Thrones.’ We record ... ‘Cupcake Wars.’ My children love ‘Cupcake Wars.’ They love those cooking process shows. They love ‘Cupcake Wars’ and ‘Cake Wars,’ so we record those. We record ‘Frontline.’ We record ‘60 Minutes.’ And that’s about it.”
Monica Raymund of “Chicago Fire” on NBC: “ ‘Shameless,’ ‘Alaskan Bush People,’ ‘Pitbulls & Parolees,’ ‘Real Time With Bill Maher,’ ‘Making A Murderer,’ and various other shows on National Geographic Channel.”
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STORY
Sex, drugs and
‘Vinyl’
Bobby Cannavale stars in “Vinyl,” a 10-episode series premiering Sunday on HBO.
Story on next page
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STORY
HBO rocks it with ‘70s decadence in ‘Vinyl’ By George Dickie
Anyone who lived through the disco and punk eras of 1970s and ‘80s New York no doubt remembers the time well – or at least as well as their compromised brain cells will allow. A new limited series premiering this week on HBO will serve to bring back some of those memories – for better and for worse. “Vinyl,” a period drama from executive producers Martin Scorsese (“GoodFellas”), Terence Winter (“The Sopranos”) and Mick Jagger that debuts Sunday, Feb. 14, tells the story of the sex- and drug-addled New York music scene through the travails of Richie Finestra (Bobby Cannavale, “Boardwalk Empire”), the founder and president of American Century Records, who is trying to save his struggling company without destroying himself or those around him. That includes his spouse, Devon (Olivia Wilde, “House”), a bored suburban housewife and fellow addict in recovery who longs for her days as one of Andy Warhol’s Factory Girls; Zak Yankovich (a bearded Ray Romano, “Everybody Loves Raymond”), Richie’s business partner and an expert schmoozer; Lester Grimes (Ato Essandoh, “Django Unchained”), Richie’s first client with whom he has a long history; Julius “Julie” Silver (Max Casella, “Doogie Howser, M.D.”), the head of artists and repertoire at American who struggles to stay hip in a young man’s game; and Jamie Vine (Juno Temple, “The Dark Knight Rises”), an ambitious A&R assistant at American with an eye for talent. Fans of ‘70s music will be in their glory, as tunes by Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, to name a few, are sprinkled liberally throughout the 10 episodes. But at the heart of the story is the relationship of Richie and Devon. Though a devoted family man, hard worker and lover of music and the industry, Richie is an addict with an affinity for booze and cocaine who is trying hard to stay sober. But an event in the pilot changes all that.
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“(Richie and Devon) are both on the wagon when we meet them at the beginning and they’re both clean and he obviously falls off the wagon and she’s not happy about that,” Cannavale says. “... But Richie and Devon are the closest thing that you can call today to being soul mates. Richie meets her and she’s one of Andy Warhol’s Factory Girls and he meets her at the Factory. She’s got a real Bohemian bent about her but she’s very, very smart and cultured and is the kind of person who just has a natural coolness about her. And she’s his partner. “I think when we find her in the beginning, they’ve sort of worked out this happy life for themselves and the sobriety thing is going well ...,” he continues. “They’ve got two kids, they’ve got the house, and that relationship’s going to be challenged ... . But hopefully we set up from the beginning that these are two people who were meant to be together.” Also pulling at the seams of their relationship are Devon’s frustrations. With the challenges of early motherhood having subsided, the former actress is left to wonder what might have been had she not given up her life to be part of Richie’s. “She’s frustrated,” Wilde says. “There’s an anxiety to her. There is a devotion to this family but a sense that she’s aching for her past, and it’s hard to acknowledge that that world, the Warhol world, is still existing. She’s just opted out of it. It would almost be easier if all those people were dead and gone because then Devon wouldn’t be lured back in.” “And I think that was the experience of many women at the time,” she continues. “I think women who were part of the Cultural Revolution of the ‘60s, settled down in the early ‘70s and then found themselves really wanting for their identities, a lot of women ended up leaving their families, falling back into addiction. It was fascinating to do the research for Devon because I found out how common her situation really was.”
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STORY
New approach to
oft-told story James Franco stars in “11.22.63,” an eight-part event series dropping Monday on Hulu.
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STORY
Hulu takes on
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the Kennedy assassination
in ‘11.22.63’ By George Dickie In the more than 52 years since it occurred, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy has been depicted in movies and on TV from seemingly every conceivable angle. So leave it to a relatively new medium – with the help of some of old media’s most creative minds – to come up with a novel approach. In “11.22.63,” an eight-part event series dropping on the streaming service Hulu appropriately enough on Presidents Day, Monday, Feb. 15, executive producers J.J. Abrams (“Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” “Lost”), Stephen King (“The Shining,” “Under the Dome”) and Bridget Carpenter (“Friday Night Lights”) spin a yarn that takes a decidedly science-fiction approach, about a disillusioned high-school English teacher who gets the chance to go back in time to prevent the slaying of the nation’s 35th chief executive. Jake Epping (James Franco, “Milk”) is down on his luck. His wife left him, his students don’t listen and his novel failed miserably. But when his ailing pal Al Templeton (Chris Cooper, “Adaptation”) shows him “the rabbit hole,” a secret portal back to 1960, and asks him to go into the past and prevent the Kennedy assassination and thus create a better present, the burnt-out educator finds the challenge irresistible. But what if the past doesn’t want to be changed? And by saving Kennedy, what course of events will that set in motion, events that may threaten Jake’s very existence? As the enormity of the mission unfolds, Jake finds himself faced with an increasingly complex set of choices. Also in the large cast are Josh Duhamel (“Las Vegas”), T.R. Knight (“Grey’s Anatomy”), Sarah Gadon (“Maps to the Stars”), Daniel Webber (“Home & Away”) and Lucy Fry (“Vampire Academy”). The story is based on the novel by King.
Pictured: James Franco and Sarah Gadon
“We’re not exactly telling a history lesson,” Franco recently told a gathering of TV critics in Pasadena, Calif. “With Jake Epping, the time traveler, you have a new ‘in’ to the story and you get to learn everything all over again but from a completely fresh perspective that we haven’t really seen before. And so I think it’s a guide. It’s a way to kind of guide a new generation into what happened.” Much of the series was shot in Toronto but some key scenes were shot in Dallas at the site of the slaying, Dealey Plaza, which helped inform the performances of some of the cast members who weren’t yet born in 1963. “It was eerie being there,” Franco says. “And (productions have been shot) there before, but ours has its own little twists and turns, so it felt like revisiting but also that we were doing something new that hadn’t been done before. But like any movie or project that you go to the actual place, it resonates with something. We did ‘Milk’ and we shot in the actual place where Harvey Milk ran his campaign, and the same thing with Dealey Plaza. It still retains something of what happened.” “You get a sort of authenticity,” Webber adds, “and there’s a little thing for the actors within the performance that pick up on little vibes in different environments. ... And as a performer, you go there and you just basically keep getting fed by this environment. So I think it adds another layer to an already quite complex story.”
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STORY
Craig Ferguson talks history on
History
By George Dickie Craig Ferguson has an undying love of history and debate, and that is the driving force behind his new talk show “Join or Die With Craig Ferguson.” Premiering Thursday, Feb. 18, on History with the first of 22 episodes, the half-hour series sees the former “Late Late Show” host and stand-up comic discussing provocative and timely topics with a trio of guests: an expert in the field, a celebrity who can weigh in on the subject and a comedian. Topics tend to be offbeat, ranging from “History’s Most Influential Drug” and “Biggest Political Blunder” to “History’s Biggest Douchebag” and “Worst Medical Advice.” Early guests will include actress Maria Bello, talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel and Jordan Carlos of “The Nightly Show With Larry Wilmore.” And in true Ferguson style, the discussions will be humorous, irreverent and at times profane. He says the idea for the show came to him in the wake of his Peabody Award for his 2008 “Late Late Show” interview with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the eventual end of his time on that series in 2013. “It slowly kind of came together that if I was going to do anything,” he explains, “what I would want to do is a show that felt like the energy of that show, that it had intelligence, that it had wit. It was funny, it was entertaining but it was also about something, it was about a thing. It had a reason for existence beyond the fact that it was a time slot.” “The Late Late Show,” he explains, was instrumental in connecting him with the guests for his new show.
“In a way, it was an interview/search process,” he says. “It’s from a pool of people that I interviewed over 10 years on late night. So that’s how I was like, ‘No, get Maria (Bello) for this because she can talk about that.’ I mean, Maria I know personally anyway. A lot of these people are my friends. So you get a feel for who can hang and it’s a surprisingly large group of people ... .” “Join or Die” are words that have personal meaning for Ferguson. The 53-year-old native of Glasgow, Scotland, had the saying with the image of a snake tattooed to his forearm after he became a U.S. citizen in 2008. “They’re the end result, they’re kind of like a scar,” he says. “Like I go through a process and I end it with a tattoo. Like, my children are born, I get a tattoo.” “So this one ... had a personal historical significance and an actual historical significance,” he continues. “It seemed like a good name and a good visual, arresting image and kind of a rallying cry for the show.”
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STORY
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‘Love’
is a funny thing in new Netflix series By Jay Bobbin
Pictured: Paul Rust and Gillian Jacobs
In terms of TV couples whose romances don’t run smoothly, one current show is deemed widely to be the best of the worst – as in FXX’s “You’re the Worst” – but another series about very tentative lovebirds is about to get in on the act. Premiering Friday, Feb. 19, the Netflix comedy “Love” is from Judd Apatow ... the filmmaker whose yen for raunchy yet poignant humor is familiar from such movies as “The 40Year-Old Virgin,” “Knocked Up” and the recent “Trainwreck.” Along with Paul Rust (one of the show’s stars, formerly of “Super Fun Night”) and Lesley Arfin, Apatow is a creator, writer and executive producer of the saga of conservative Gus (Rust) and unpredictable Mickey (Gillian Jacobs, “Community”). Their relationship starts when he bails her out of a store purchase she doesn’t have the money for, then goes in many directions over the 10 episodes that all will be released the same day. “I had in a notebook, years ago, an idea for a TV show called ‘Trainwreck,’ ” Apatow says, “and I had since stolen the title for some other project, and it was a show where you would follow a couple very slowly and see every single beat of their relationship – and also that you would know at the end they would break up. This was before the movie
‘The Break-Up,’ and I just tossed it. Not that this couple’s going to break up. We don’t know. So, we kind of combined ideas to come up with this.” Rust credits Apatow with being “an extraordinary mentor (who) really helped guide me through the process” of making “Love,” adding that his character’s South Dakota background suggests that “everybody in the Midwest is a good-hearted person with maybe a layer of rage just underneath, unprocessed rage. No, I’m kidding. For me, it feels like a way to sort of articulate this character. And Mickey’s from New Jersey, so it’s sort of a clash between two states, I guess.” “Love” also details a more internal clash in the view of Jacobs, who says the show strikes chords “for me, for my friends, people that I know. I’ve seen scenes like this go down. I’ve certainly had some public fights with people, especially when I lived in New York. I’ve definitely cried on a stoop. So it felt sometimes eerily familiar and then at other times, not my own specific experience, but very relatable to me.”
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SPORTS
KobeBryant
still has that All-Star quality Story on next page Full Name: Kobe Bean Bryant Born: Aug. 23, 1978 Birthplace: Philadelphia Size: 6 foot 6 inches, 212-pounds Team: Los Angeles Lakers (1996-present) Position: Shooting guard
No.: 24 Drafted: Round 1, pick 13 by the Charlotte Hornets Honors and Achievements: NBA champion, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2009, 2010; NBA scoring champion, 2006, 2007; NBA MVP, 2008; NBA Finals MVP, 2009, 2010; Los Angeles Lakers all-time leading score; Olympic gold medalist, 2008, 2012
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By Dan Ladd The man-of-the-hour at the 2016 NBA All-Star Game will no doubt be Kobe Bryant. A shooin Hall of Famer, Bryant, who is the game’s leading vote-getter, will start on the front court in his 18th All-Star Game which airs from Toronto’s Air Canada Centre Sunday, Feb. 14, on TNT. It will be the first time the NBA All-Star Game will be held outside of the United States. As we so often see these days in professional sports, as the biggest stars wind down their careers, peers and fans pay homage to them. Such will be the case with Kobe Bryant, one of only two players to score more than 80 points in a single game (81 against Toronto in 2006), and the second-youngest player to reach the 30,000 point milestone. The son of former NBA player Joe Bryant, Kobe came into the league straight out of high school and had almost an immediate impact. Teamed up, and sometimes sparring, with superstar Shaquille O’Neal, the two led the Lakers to three consecutive championships from 2000-2002. Bryant would lead the Lakers to two more titles in 2009 and 2010. Once in his thirties, the injury bug got to Bryant, his productivity diminished and the coveted sixth NBA title that would match Michael Jordan has remained elusive. Still, Bryant has gotten his share of minutes on the court this season giving fans at stadiums throughout the league, as well as on the wide-screen, a few last looks at one of the true great talents. February 14 - 20, 2016 YOUR TV LINK Courtesy of Gracenote Page 19
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MOVIES JAY BOBBIN's Theatrical movie review
review
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hen the name Benghazi comes up, it typically sparks controversy, given the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Libya ... the aftermath of which resulted in the deaths of four Americans, and became a major political issue that continues to play out during the current campaign season. The movie “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi” tries to keep the politics out as it re-creates the effort by American forces to defend the compound. The film is in the hands of one of the top action directors around, Michael Bay, of “Transformers” and “Armageddon” fame, and he clearly wants to focus on the action that occurred under the circumstances – though it’s hard to keep the politics out completely, since questions arose about Washington’s readiness (or lack thereof) for such a situation. Indeed, the soldiers portrayed in the film are shown going against orders to stand down, relying on their own skills and instincts. The cast includes some familiar faces, such as Toby Stephens of “Black Sails” and John Krasinski of “The Office,” but it purposely plays down overt star power to try to enhance the realism of the dramatization. And it is a suspenseful story, in the tradition of so many that have pitted heroes against seemingly insurmountable odds – the type of tale director Bay has vast experience in telling. One problem, though, is the film’s length; it takes nearly two-and-a half hours to tell this tale, and though that certainly isn’t as bad as 13 hours, it does feel overextended when at least a half-hour less would make the film that much tidier and perhaps with even more impact. That said, Bay certainly pours on the visceral mayhem that’s his trademark, but with more relevance this time, since we know the events really happened. The screenplay is based on a book written by the would-be protectors, who were private security and made sure matters didn’t get even worse, though they were rough enough. Being about a relatively recent situation that’s still being discussed adds an extra layer, but strictly as a movie, “13 Hours” is an effective addition to a time-tested genre ... overseen by someone who surely knows how to use that genre well.
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Pictured: John Krasinski
True, lethal diplomatic crisis plays out in
‘13 Hours’
MOVIES JAY BOBBIN's movie review movies to watch
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“STEVE JOBS” Talent abounds in director Danny Boyle’s (“Slumdog Millionaire”) extremely smart portrait of the technology visionary and Apple co-founder and CEO, an extremely evident example being Michael Fassbender in a superb portrayal that reflects the complex personality that Jobs embodied. Aaron Sorkin’s screenplay zeroes in on several key points in the subject’s life and career, with Kate Winslet playing Apple’s marketing executive – and an ear for Jobs. Seth Rogen (as Steve Wozniak), Jeff Daniels (who won an Emmy for working with Sorkin’s writing on “The Newsroom”), Michael Stuhlbarg and Katherine Waterston also star, but the Fassbender acting is key to making the movie work. And work, it does ... quite brilliantly. DVD extras: “makingof” documentary“; audio commentary by Boyle, Sorkin and editor Elliot Graham. ›››› (R: AS, P) (Also on Blu-ray and On Demand)
Top Pick
DVD
Pictured: Michael Fassbender
upcoming DVD releases
Coming Soon on DVD... “FARGO: YEAR TWO” (Feb. 23): A young couple (Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons) is caught up in larceny in the FX series’ sophomore round; Patrick Wilson and Ted Danson also star. (Not rated: AS, P, V)
“OPEN SEASON: SCARED SILLY” (March 8): The supposed presence of a werewolf puts the residents of a forest – human and otherwise – on edge in this animated, direct-to-video sequel. (Not rated)
“SECRET IN THEIR EYES” (Feb. 23): Years after her daughter’s murder, a sleuth (Julia Roberts) is stunned by new information about the crime; Nicole Kidman and Chiwetel Ejiofor also star. (PG-13: AS, P, V)
“THE PEANUTS MOVIE” (March 8): Snoopy goes after the Red Baron again, while Charlie Brown deals with another affair of the heart, in this computeranimated feature. (G)
“MACBETH” (March 8): Michael Fassbender portrays Shakespeare’s legendary character in this latest of the play’s screen adaptations; Marion Cotillard plays Lady Macbeth. (R: AS, V) Pictured: Julia Roberts
“FREAKS AND GEEKS: THE COMPLETE SERIES” (March 22): The cult-classic show, about a Detroit high school circa 1980, makes its Blu-ray debut and features Seth Rogen and James Franco. (Not rated: AS, P) Family Viewing Ratings
AS Adult situations
P Profanity
V Violence
N Nudity
GV Graphic Violence
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FAVORITE SHOWS
SUNDAY 8 p.m. on ABC The Bachelor at 20: A Celebration of Love What better day could there be than Valentine’s Day for a “Bachelor” wedding — with none other than Chris Harrison officiating? That’s the centerpiece of this new special, as “Bachelor in Paradise” alums Jade Roper and Tanner Tolbert tie the knot. Other familiar faces of the franchise are in attendance, including Trista and Ryan Sutter, Kaitlyn Bristowe, Jason Mesnick, Andi Dorfman and Ali Fedotowsky ... helping to commemorate the parent show’s 20 seasons. New
Jade Roper and Tanner Tolbert in “The Bachelor at 20: A Celebration of Love”
MONDAY 10 p.m. on AMC Better Call Saul The low-key prequel to “Breaking Bad” returns for Season 2, having bagged seven Emmy nods for its first go-around, including best actor (Bob Odenkirk), best supporting actor (Jonathan Banks) and best drama series. As before, the primary focus is a character study of decent-guy attorney Jimmy McGill (Odenkirk) and how circumstances transformed him into the anything-for-abuck shyster who works under the name Saul Goodman. Rhea Seehorn also stars. Season Premiere New TUESDAY 8 p.m. on NBC Hollywood Game Night Melodies play a big role in this new episode, as would be expected from the subtitle “Musical Game Night,” with Hunter Hayes and Florida Georgia Line duo Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley among the celebrity players. Ciara, Estelle and Ta’Rhonda Jones also take part in the hour’s various contests, trying to help win $25,000 for one of two everyday citizens. Jane Lynch, who’s won two Emmy Awards for her role here, is the host. New WEDNESDAY 8 p.m. on CBS Survivor As the 32nd season of the competition begins, it’s “Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty” — which actually is the subtitle — as three tribes of six castaways set out to prove which of those traits can be superior when it comes to this contest. Those vying for the win on a Cambodian island range from a military veteran and an emergency-room doctor to a bounty hunter and a “Big Brother” alum (Caleb Reynolds). As usual, Jeff Probst presides over the proceedings. Season Premiere New Page 22 YOUR TV LINK Courtesy of Gracenote February 14 - 20, 2016
Bob Odenkirk stars in “Better Call Saul”
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FAVORITE SHOWS 8 p.m. on CW Arrow HIVE has a definite blueprint to destroy Oliver (Stephen Amell) and company, who find out about the scheme and try to derail it, in the new episode “Code of Silence.” The imminent assault makes Lance (Paul Blackthorne) fear for Donna’s (Charlotte Ross) safety. Oliver debates making full disclosure to Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) as the wedding draws nearer. Katie Cassidy and David Ramsey also star. New THURSDAY 8 p.m. on NBC You, Me and the Apocalypse “What Happens to Idiots” is the rather telling title of a new episode that takes Jamie and Dave (Mathew Baynton, Joel Fry) inside a psychiatric hospital, where they hope a certain patient can direct them to Ariel (also played by Baynton). Jude and Celine (Rob Lowe, Gaia Scodellaro) get assistance in seeking a messiah. Spike’s (Fabian McCallum) plan to rejoin Rhonda (Jenna Fischer) backfires. Megan Mullally, Diana Rigg and Kyle Soller also star. New
Ciara in “Hollywood Game Night”
Jeff Probst hosts “Survivor”
FRIDAY 9 p.m. on ABC Shark Tank Plastic bottles may be in the past if a Florida teen environmentalist gets financial backing in this new episode — which also features soap-opera veteran Sarah Buxton, now marketing a swimsuit that offers protection from the sun. Washington, D.C. residents introduce an app related to exercise, and a Texas man pitches a way to determine the cleanliness of a mattress ... or lack thereof. Mark Cuban, Lori Greiner and Barbara Corcoran are among the Sharks. New SATURDAY 9 p.m. on FOX Jeff Gordon’s Daytona 500 Kickoff Celebration One of auto racing’s top events is about to happen, and in preparation for it, this new special unites veteran driver Gordon — now part of the Fox sportscasting team — with celebrities from several disciplines for a related beach bash. NASCAR stars, Fox-series actors and musical guests enjoy a party before the flag drops ... and you also can expect plenty of stats on those who will be in their cars and revving their engines at the starting line the next day. New
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Rob Lowe stars in “You, Me and the Apocalypse”
Barbara Corcoran in “Shark Tank” “Jeff Gordon’s Daytona 500 Kickoff Celebration”
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