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“Answered Prayers” “Face Off” “The Carbonaro Effect” “National Baseball Hall of Fame”
Profiled athlete
Adarius Bowman
CELEBRITY SPOTLIGHTS Penn Jillette Conan O’Brien Andy Samberg Peter Mooney Mike Holmes
The story
WHAT'S FOR DINNER
Featuring: Kix Brooks
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Philip Winchester (left) and Sullivan Stapleton star in “Strike Back,” which begins its fourth and final season Friday on Cinemax.
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Featured
“Strike Back”
Stories
Begining its fourth and final season Friday on Cinemax. p3
“The Carbonaro Effect”
Returning for its second season on truTV. p 16
National Baseball Hall of Fame Airing Sunday on MLB Network. p 17
“Answered Prayers” Premiering Sunday on TLC. pp 12-13
“Face Off” Tuesday on Syfy. pp 14-15
SIX
Celebrity potlights Penn Jillette
of “Penn & Teller: Fool Us” on The CW. p4
Conan O’Brien
AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Steve Martin on Turner Classic Movies p5
Andy Samberg
of “7 Days in Hell” on HBO and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” on Fox. p6
Kix Brooks
“Steak Out with Kix Brooks” on Cooking Channel. p7
Peter Mooney Checking in. p8
Mike Holmes
Hosting a new series, “Home Free.” p9
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Pictured: A seemingly stoic Penn Jillette attending a Red Carpet Event.
Profiled Athlete Adarius Bowman pp 18-19
Editor's choice
STORY
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Pictured: Sullivan Stapleton (left) and Philip Winchester
By George Dickie If you want to make Philip Winchester laugh, ask him about his four seasons playing British military intelligence operative Michael Stonebridge on the Cinemax action series “Strike Back.” From leaping from moving car to moving car to hanging off the side of a building to even doing boot-camp training, Winchester and onscreen partner Sullivan Stapleton – who plays fellow MI6 hotshot Damien Scott – have certainly done enough envelope-pushing stunts to qualify as adrenaline junkies. In fact, Winchester found himself becoming one. “We call it the ‘Strike Back’ PTSD,” the 34-year-old Montana-reared, London-trained actor says, “which was the post-traumatic stress disorder of finishing a show like this and living at such a high level for such a long time. I actually spoke with a neurologist about this and she had said, ‘You are absolutely right. You guys are living at this certain level and you’re getting all this dopamine and all this oxytocin and all these chemicals dumped into your body, and if you don’t do something with them you create these neuro pathways where that’s what you get used to doing. So when you go back to your normal life ... you are going to be a little jittery.’ ” “I’d come home and after about two weeks of being home, my wife would finally look at me and go, ‘Oh, it’s nice to have you back, honey. It took about two weeks but there you are.’ You’ve got to get it out of your system.” The fourth and final season of the series kicks off Friday, July 31, and once again Scott and Stonebridge are pursuing threats to world peace. This time, it comes in the form of the kidnapping of a British diplomat’s daughter that turns out to be the first step in a global terror plot that involves the Japanese Yakuza, the Russian mafia,
cyberterrorists and other nefarious forces. The duo find themselves crisscrossing Asia and Europe to defuse the threat. All 10 episodes this season were shot from August to December of 2014 in Hungary and Thailand, which Winchester says created a unique ambience to the storyline. “I think it added this very visceral element to the show,” he says. “I mean, we had it because of South Africa (in Season 3) and we had it because of these amazing locations across Europe. But Bangkok kind of just became this other character, this other nemesis to Section 20. The heat, the locations we were in – as much as they were beautiful, they were really challenging, so I think for everyone across the board it was more of a challenge than we thought it was going to be but ultimately it added something to this season of the show which I don’t think we’ve had for a while.” Though the series hasn’t yet ended for viewers, it’s been done seven months for Winchester, who is now shooting the NBC fall drama series “The Player.” He recently ran into Stapleton – who himself will headline the Peacock network drama “Blindspot” come September – recently at an NBC event and got caught up with his former co-star. “We had such a gas on ‘Strike Back,’ ” Winchester says. “I think we’ll spend a lot of our careers trying to replicate the feeling and the emotions and the trust we had in these crazy situations we were in and we were asked to be in. So I totally miss the guy. “He’s a pain in the ass and I love him,” he says, laughing. “He’d probably say the same about me, too.”
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CINEMAX
July 26 - August 1, 2015 YOUR TV LINK Courtesy of Gracenote Page 3
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CELEBRITY Jay Bobbin’s Q&A
PennJillette of ‘Penn & Teller: Fool Us’ on The CW
Do you enjoy being fooled by magicians whose process you can’t guess on “Penn & Teller: Fool Us,” then showcasing them in your own Las Vegas act? Oh, yeah. And it’s also great to get to know them. They come out and fool us, then they go away ... and when they come back to do our show, we get to spend a couple of days with them and visit with them. And we also get to find out how they did their trick! With the entire second season of “Fool Us” already taped, how do you think it went? It went great. We were a little afraid – the whole team plus the three of us, Teller and Jonathan (Ross, the series’ host) and me – that we wouldn’t be able to get it back up on its feet, but instantly, it came back. I don’t think I’m being too jingoistic to say that the magicians were even better this time, and I just thought the show was better all around. It also looks beautiful. Vegas is a great place to shoot a shiny-black-floor show, and the audiences were wonderful. We had to bring them in in the afternoon, whereas we do our (regular Vegas) show in the evening, and we were worried about that. It’s a big theater to fill, and it filled up instantly. We were turning them away like crazy. Is it more comfortable to have had the show’s whole season taped before it started airing? I’m very happy about it, because I don’t have to worry about falling into any superstitious cliches like “knock on wood” or anything like that. We’ve done it, it came out well, and we’re happy.
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CELEBRITY Jay Bobbin’s Q&A
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ConanO’Brien AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Steve Martin on Turner Classic Movies What did it mean for you to be part of the recent AFI Life Achievement Award salute to Steve Martin? Obviously, everybody loves Steve Martin and he’s a massive star ... but it’s important to remember that when he came along, he was like another nuclear explosion. I felt like Oppenheimer watching the atomic bomb go off. Steve Martin changed everything. He was the first stand-up (comedy) rock star, and he was funny in such a different way. Everyone in my generation’s eyes were opened by him, and I was talking to Steve Carell about it at the event. We were both so nervous to go up in front of Steve Martin, because he means so much to us. With all the people who honored him that night, did you notice a generational difference in the reactions of friends, peers and admirers to him? For so many of us, he’s “the guy,” and you could tell that. Of course, there are people like Diane Keaton and Martin Short who have known him forever and love him, but it was so interesting to see people like Carell and Tina Fey and Amy Poehler and myself. Even though I’ve gotten to know him, there are times when he’ll say my name and I’ll think to myself, “Steve Martin knows my name!” It’s nice not to get jaded about that. I had a copy of (Martin’s book) “Cruel Shoes” and the poster of him with a fish coming out of his jacket, which was in my room. You’re only 14 once, and we were all feeling that way that night. I think we all had a touch of, “Who are we to be here?” The clip packages are so well-done and so many people turned out, it’s really a good show to check out.
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CELEBRITY George Dickie’s Q&A
of ‘7 Days in Hell’ on HBO and ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ on Fox How much tennis training did you need for your playing scenes in “7 Days in Hell”? (Laughs) I could have used a little more training. I was not in the best shape of my life when we shot. But I think I had a little more experience playing tennis than Kit. I think he started taking tennis lessons like a day before we started shooting. ... But he’s naturally athletic. You know, he’s Jon Snow (Harington’s character from ‘Game of Thrones’), he knows what he’s doing. So we did the best we could and then relied on the power of nonlinear editing (laughs). But I played a little growing up. My mom’s really good at tennis so I had taken some lessons and played with her when I was younger. In playing your character of bad boy Aaron Williams, did you seek behavior tips from John McEnroe (who appears in “7 Days”)? (Laughs) Well, I knew John a little bit because he was in a few digital shorts when I was at “SNL” and so obviously everyone’s aware of him and knows that he’s really funny ... . But I knew that he was aware of me and was willing to mess around and do comedy stuff. So when we were thinking of what legit tennis people to ask to get involved, he was the first name on our list because I just know he genuinely gets comedy and is like a really sharp guy. He’s done a ton of acting and his commentary on the matches and everything, he’s just so comfortable that we knew we could give heavy story stuff to him that would also play really funny. ... Every time I’m talking to McEnroe, I’m giddy. I’m a huge fan of him as a player as well, so the fact that he is into comedy makes me very happy.
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FOOD George Dickie’s What's for Dinner
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What book are you currently reading? “I’m reading ‘Killing Patton’ right now, actually.” What did you have for dinner last night? “I was on an airplane, so it was some kind of rubber pasta.” What is your next project? “My next project ... I kind of have my regular routine so I’m looking forward to, as soon as we get off this interview, I’ll be on to my countdown show.” When was the last vacation you took, where and why? “My whole life’s a vacation – that’s an easy one. And that was Las Vegas, Nevada. I just wound up (an engagement) at Caesar’s at the Colosseum with Reba (McEntire) and Ronnie (Dunn).”
The steakhouse is the thing in Kix Brooks’ new Cooking Channel series No matter what city he happens to be in, country music artist Kix Brooks tries to find out where the good steakhouses are, and he shares some of them with viewers in his new Cooking Channel series “Steak Out With Kix Brooks.” “The thing I realized touring and playing country music all over the country,” the 60-year-old Louisiana native says, “you jump off a bus and there’s somebody hanging around the bus. And you go, ‘Hey, where do you get a good steak around here?’ And everybody’s got this 30-minute story to tell you about their local steakhouse and how it’s the best steak in the world. And you just realize communities really take pride in their steakhouses.” In the half-hour Tuesday series, Brooks take viewers to cities such as Dallas, Denver, New Orleans and New
York to those eateries that put their own unique spin on the classic slab of beef. He goes into the kitchens to talk to the chefs and get some secrets, and to watch how they prepare their steaks. What he discovers is shockingly simple. The best steak chefs eschew the marinades that many a backyard barbecuer has embraced in favor of just salt and pepper. Also, the beef served at a restaurant is of a higher quality than can be purchased at a supermarket – prime compared to Grade A. And all create their own sauces for their steaks. “I learned a lot about cooking down reduction sauces and the things they put in and the bones they put in and how they add marrow and spices and whatever ... instead of just dumping some local steak sauce on top of what you’re eating,” Brooks says. “That’s
what really separates these great chefs.” As for his own favorite cuts, Brooks – who at one time raised beef cattle – says, “It kind of depends on what wine I’m drinking but I’m more inclined to eat a rib eye or especially a strip. I like a steak that’s got some marbling and a little fat flavor doesn’t hurt my feelings. But ... if I’ve got some fresh shrimp (that) my buds from Louisiana shipped me overnight, something like that, I’ll also pull a filet for a little surf and turf. “The fun thing about raising your own cattle,” he continues, “is there are so many cuts of meat that are underrated, that if you treat them the right way, they can really be delicious. So it’s all about how you cook it.”
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CELEBRITY Jay Bobbin’s Celebrity ScooP
Peter
Mooney
Officer Nick Collins hasn’t had an easy time romantically on “Rookie Blue,” but his portrayer appreciates what that rocky love life has meant dramatically.
Peter Mooney acknowledges with a laugh Nick’s history of up-and-down relationships with fellow cops Gail Peck (played by Charlotte Sullivan), Andy McNally (Missy Peregrym) and – currently – Juliet Ward (Erin Karpluk) on the Canadian-made ABC series, now in its sixth season Thursdays. He notes, though, that the feedback he gets tells him the situation is completely realistic. “I feel lucky that I’ve been able to be right at the heart of that particular dynamic,” the pleasant Mooney says. “It’s when I run into the officers who work in Toronto on Saturdays that I hear things like, ‘You know, dude, I was dating this girl at the station, and ... .’ The stories they have for me are generally along those lines, which I love. “It’s a real thing, because you’re working odd hours and odd schedules,” Mooney notes, “and it’s a tough life for other people to understand. People very often do end up in friendships and relationships with the people they’re with in this line of work, so it sort of makes sense. It surprised me, coming onto the show, how true to life that was.” If Mooney has gotten used to Nick’s heartbreaks, he’s also become familiar with how easily the character bruises in another way: He’s taken his share of his physical lumps in dealing with the bad guys, and by now, Mooney accepts it simply as part of the job. “Poor Nick,” the actor muses. “So far, I’ve done four episodes with black eyes. He takes a beating more often than not. (Making complex love connections and taking punches) are my two major themes on the series.” Page 8 YOUR TV LINK Courtesy of Gracenote July 26 - August 1, 2015
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CELEBRITY CelebritY profile
Mi k eHo l mes
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Holmes is a professional contractor and the host and creator of the hit TV series “Holmes on Homes,” “Holmes Inspection” and “Holmes Makes It Right.” He is currently hosting a new series, “Home Free,” airing Wednesdays on Fox. • Born Aug. 3, 1963, in Canada, to Shirley and Jim Holmes. • Began learning his craft at an early age from his father, who was a licensed plumber employed with General Motors as an engineer. • After working in the building and renovation industry for more than 20 years, Holmes was asked to develop and host his own television series, “Holmes on Homes,” which became an international success and broke ratings records, solidifying his career in television. • In 2006, he launched The Holmes Foundation, a charitable Canadian foundation to support the training of youth in the skilled trades through apprenticeships, scholarships and bursaries. • He has been officially acknowledged by the Canadian House of Commons for his promotion of skilled trades and advocacy for improved building standards, and holds two honorary doctorates – a doctorate of technology from the British Columbia Institute of Technology, as well as a doctorate of pedagogy from Niagara University. • His no-nonsense, “Make It Right” approach struck a chord with television audiences worldwide, leading him to be named Forbes’ Third Most Trustworthy Celebrity (2012) and Reader’s Digest’s Second Most Trusted Canadian (2010). • Supports a number of charities like SOS Children’s Villages and also worked with Brad Pitt and Make it Right Nola to help rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. • Besides “Holmes on Homes”, “Holmes Inspection,” and “Holmes Makes It Right,” he has been a host judge on “Canada’s Handyman Challenge” and its across-the-border sister spinoff “All American Handyman.”
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CELEBRITY
“I’m talking from my Oxfordshire home in the English countryside. I have been gardening all day ... . I’m absolutely at one with nature here. I love it. It replenishes me. ... Cooking and gardening – therapeutic and very pleasurable because you see or taste the most wonderful results.” – Ben Kingsley of “Tut” on Spike TV
“Looking back and seeing what we’d done, it was really moving and really gratifying. There were moments of sadness, especially when we dedicated the auditorium to Cory (Monteith, as his character Finn Hudson). That was a very hard scene to get through for me ... in a good way, though. It was really touching.” – Jane Lynch of “Hollywood Game Night” on NBC, about the series finale of “Glee”
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“I’m really proud of what we’re making these days ... and one of the things that’s fascinating to me is that when I walk around, I get so many 14- and-15-year-old kids coming up to me. There’s stuff they saw me do online – it doesn’t mean they watched it at 11:00 on TV – but they’re watching remotes and video-game reviews I’ve done. They’re into that whole kind of comedy that’s really developed in the last five years.” – Conan O’Brien of “Conan” on TBS
CELEBRITY
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ON DVRs
Harold Reynolds of Fox’s coverage of Major League Baseball “(Laughs) Kids shows. My kids use it more than I do. But I’ll record, sometimes, college football games. Mainly shows. I like miniseries, like ‘Game of Thrones’ and stuff like that, are on my list right now. So our house has a variety of things. We have two different TVs set up. The kids have one that they do most of their recording on and I’ll record a lot of stuff on the other.”
Ryan Seacrest of “Knock Knock Live” on Fox “It’s ‘Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown’ for me, always. I love that show.”
David Hasselhoff of “Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!” on Syfy “I like a lot of the HBO stuff; I just watched ‘The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst.’ Other than that and things on Netflix like ‘House of Cards,’ I’m so busy doing it, I don’t have a lot of time to watch it.”
Michael Symon of “Burgers, Brews & ‘Que” on Food Network “Currently, I’m watching ‘Orange Is the New Black.’ I watch a lot of sports on TV (laughs). Yesterday I watched the entire U.S. Open. My wife and I are big binge-watchers, so we’ll get on a show and watch it through its entirety. So we did that with ‘Orange Is the New Black.’ We did it back in the day with ‘Breaking Bad.’ So we like to sit down, make a long weekend out of it and watch like 24 episodes of television.” July 26 - August 1, 2015 YOUR TV LINK Courtesy of Gracenote Page 11
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STORY
TLC series
testifies ‘Answered Prayers’ Roma Downey hosts “Answered Prayers,” premiering Sunday on TLC. Story on next page
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STORY
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recounts ‘Answered Prayers’ in TLC series warm the hearts of those watching. Whether you are a person of faith or not, who doesn’t like to see a story resolved with a hopeful ending?
By Jay BObbin Roma Downey knows a thing or two, or many more, about prayers being answered. Saying she begins and ends each day by praying, the “Touched by an Angel” alum has become a major force as a producer, generating faith-based television and movie projects – including the recent “A.D. The Bible Continues” and “The Dovekeepers” – along with husband Mark Burnett (“Survivor,” “Shark Tank”) as partners in running the United Artists studio. She works both sides of the camera as the host and an executive producer of “Answered Prayers,” an unscripted TLC series premiering Sunday, July 26. “With our company LightWorkers Media (now a division of United Artists), our interest always has been in finding ways that we can light a candle rather than curse the darkness,” Downey says. ‘Essentially, we want to tell stories that are hopeful and uplifting, that elevate and inspire. It seemed a natural way to bring hope to television by telling stories about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, who have had to call in prayer to help them in their most desperate moments.” The two examples in the “Answered Prayers” debut, combining first-person recollections and dramatized sequences: an Indiana woman who believes she’s received a heavenly warning of a tornado that actually strikes her family’s house several minutes later; and a Florida couple torn over deciding whether to have their young son’s leg amputated after a lawnmower accident. “These stories celebrate the answers to those prayers,” notes Downey, who acknowledges similar formats have been used by true-crime series. “What really sets this show apart is the spiritual element, and I think it will
“Certainly, we can turn the TV on at any moment in any day and be horrified at the bad news that’s happening all around our world. This was just to create something that would offer a breath of fresh air for a Sunday night this summer, where you could curl up with you whole family and be inspired.” The “Answered Prayers” subjects came to forthcoming Hollywood Walk of Fame honoree Downey through various avenues. “We put out the fishing net to churches and communities all across the country to find these amazing, often miraculous stories, and I have learned that there are no atheists in the foxhole. In those moments when all else seems to have failed, even people who wouldn’t profess to have a belief in God have said that they would cry out.” Having “Answered Prayers” in the Sunday lineup is significant for Downey, who allows “it’s a comfortable spot for us.” NBC aired “A.D. The Bible Continues” there, and she adds, “ ‘Touched by an Angel’ parked itself on Sunday nights for many years. And ‘The Bible’ ran there, too.” Downey admits the budget for “Answered Prayers” is “pretty small,” testing her and her colleagues in staging something on the order of a tornado, but she’s had bigger funds for the movie remake of “Ben-Hur” that she and Burnett are readying for release in February. “At its heart, it’s a story of forgiveness and redemption,” she reflects, “but it promises to deliver as a big action movie, and it does. And it promises to deliver as a profoundly moving faith movie, and it does.”
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STORY
A fresh ‘Face Off’ McKenzie Westmore returns as host of Season 9 of “Face Off” starting Tuesday on Syfy. Story on next page
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STORY
McKenzie Westmore
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ready to ‘Face Off’ again – as a new minister By Jay Bobbin When McKenzie Westmore began “Face Off,” she never imagined she’d become an ordained minister who married couples sporting special-effects makeup on the show. Wild as that scenario may sound, it happens in the 100th episode of the Syfy competition series, to be shown during the ninth season that starts Tuesday, July 28. “I’ve always been a very spiritual person,” the lively Westmore explains, “and I always was very open to everything and anything. “I became a member of the church that I belong to in Los Angeles years ago because I wanted to, but also because I wanted my son baptized in this particular church. When I was approached to become a minister, it wasn’t even a second thought. I was honored that they asked, but for it to be part of the challenge of marrying couples in specialeffects makeup was so off-the-wall crazy and cool, of course I was going to do it.” That episode is slated for Aug. 11, and Westmore recalls that during the taping, “as I was giving the vows of marriage to these beautiful couples, I made eye contact with one of the soon-to-be brides. And as I said, ‘With the power vested in me ... ,’ there was a moment where I paused. It was like, ‘Whoa! There’s power vested in me right now?’ And she had tears coming down her face, and it was unbelievably powerful for me. I started to choke up.” Along with that new wrinkle, “Face Off” still gets down to basic business, with 16 makeup artists divided into teams of two to devise “aliens” that can be combined into a much bigger and more fearsome creation. Genre experts Glenn Hetrick, Ve Neill and Neville Page return as judges, with someone Westmore knows very well – her Oscar-winning makeup-master father, Michael (“Mask”) – back as the contestants’ mentor.
Pictured: Host McKenzie Westmore and her father Michael Westmore The former “Passions” co-star says it’s been “amazing” to experience the show “through my father’s eyes. I even wrote him a very long Father’s Day card and when he opened it, he was like, ‘Whoo.’ During my childhood, he wasn’t around a lot because he was doing this line of work; now, as an adult, I ‘get’ it and I understand it. “I wrote him, ‘I realize that for all those years you were gone, it was for the love of your family and the love of your craft. And I’m so grateful for the man that you are and the way that you raised me.’ He’s very stoic, but that was one of the few times I saw him ever so slightly give a little bit of a hiccup.” Also involving “Star Trek: The Next Generation” alums Jonathan Frakes and Michael Dorn this time, “Face Off” starts its new season with a Critics Choice Television Award win for best reality competition series. Westmore couldn’t attend the May ceremony in Los Angeles due to New York commitments involving her recently launched Westmore Beauty makeup line, but “my parents had gone and I was in the hotel room, and I got a call from my mom whispering into the phone, ‘We won!’ And I went, ‘What?’ I started crying, I was so overjoyed. It’s a big deal, and we’re so appreciative.”
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STORY
Selling the impossible with a straight face on ‘The Carbonaro Effect’ By George Dickie
Illusionist Michael Carbonaro doesn’t have much use for show-off magicians. To him, their acts are more about the magician and less about the magic. Which is why, he says, he focuses the attention on the prank and not on himself on his truTV hidden-camera series “The Carbonaro Effect.” “It’s very exciting to take magic into a new direction,” says the 33-year-old native of Long Island, N.Y., “whereas a lot of times magic comes from a place of sort of ego, like, ‘look what I can do that you can’t do.’ It kind of comes across that way a lot and you’re always trying to challenge the magician, you’re always trying to figure out how the magician is doing it. “So the whole conceit to take the magician out of the equation and don’t even take responsibility for (the prank) and just sort of ride the moment with a real, unsuspecting public person who just witnessed something magical happen, it’s an awesome ride and we learn so much,” he continues. “You know, people are really willing to believe in impossible things, which is really beautiful.”
Michael Carbonaro pulls pranks on the unsuspecting in the hiddencamera series “The Carbonaro Effect,” which returns for its second season on truTV.
The premise of the half-hour series, which returns for its second season Wednesday, July 29, is Carbonaro as a clerk or employee somewhere in downtown Atlanta, talking to a customer about a particular item at his place of employ. In Season 1, that was the mummified cat that appeared to come to life at an ancient Egypt museum exhibit, the wedding-cake statuettes that appeared to change positions and even repair themselves when everyone’s back was turned or the self-tying shoelaces. Season 2 promises more such seemingly impossible occurrences. In one preview, Carbonaro convinces a woman the hot tub in which she is sitting is filled with piranha. The reactions, of course, are always priceless but almost as entertaining are Carbonaro’s straight-faced, matterof-fact explanations of the phenomena his victims think they just witnessed. “My favorite kind of person,” Carbonaro says, “is somebody who has seen it happen and is amazed because it shouldn’t be happening, and then they wrestle with believing whether or not it just happened and how it could have happened.”
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“And it’s kind of cool that they believed it but not as good as just watching voyeuristically, like the home viewer gets to do, these wheels turning, trying to compute how that could have just happened,” he continues. “And if some of that ... selling it, some of the BS I give them, that brings them closer to believing it, that’s like the ultimate experience.”
STORY
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ohn Smoltz has difficulty describing what his initial thoughts were when he found out this past January that he had been elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
“It was something you can’t prepare for,” says the right-hander who won 213 games and saved another 154 for the Atlanta Braves, Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Cardinals in a career spanning 1988-2009. “It was really the strangest day of my life because life goes on – right? – if you just don’t get the call. I mean, I think about this now being the third most significant call of my life. The first was getting drafted, the second was getting traded and third was you made the Hall of Fame. And it’s kind of hard to really put into context how it all unfolded.” Sunday, July 26, the 48-year-old Michigander will be in a 2015 class that also includes fellow pitchers Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez and second baseman/catcher/outfielder Craig Biggio, as they are inducted into the Cooperstown, N.Y., shrine in a ceremony airing on MLB Network. Smoltz, who currently works for MLB Network as a game analyst, made his name as a starting pitcher for the Braves, winning a World Series in 1995 and a Cy Young Award the following year. At the time, Smoltz was a part of a formidable Atlanta rotation that also included future Hall of Famers Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine, and playing with them, he says, helped raise his game to another level. “We had such a unique relationship away from the game,” he says. “We played golf. We weren’t all the same personalities but ... humbleness was something you had to learn quickly. But for me personally, playing with those two guys was a joy and a tough scenario because I was the guy who was supposed to win 20 every year. Those guys were considered the pitchers, and the only tough point was trying to figure out that I was unique and that I had strengths and they had strengths as well. “But everyone took turns driving the car for the most part; I rotated in the back seat a lot,” he continues. “So I enjoyed it, I really did. We did have a blast together and it did work that way, you know, from the standpoint of pushing each other without anybody ever saying a word, and it was a fun ride. It’ll never happen again mainly because of the financial situation ... but what an incredible time.”
takes the podium as Baseball Hall inducts him and three others By George Dickie
John Smoltz is one of four players inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., in a ceremony airing Sunday on MLB Network.
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SPORTS
Story on next page
Name: Adarius Bowman Date of birth: July 10, 1985
College: Oklahoma State, North Carolina
Birthplace: Chattanooga, Tenn. Position: Slotback Height/weight: 6 feet 3 inches/217 pounds
Uniform number: 4
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CFL Teams: Saskatchewan Roughriders, 2008; Winnipeg Blue Bombers, 2009-10; Edmonton Eskimos, 2011-present Honors and achievements: CFL leading receiver, 2014; CFL All-Star, 2014
SPORTS
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By Dan Ladd Adarius Bowman could very well have been a top receiver in the NFL. Things didn’t work out, however, and Bowman is currently a top slotback for one of the Canadian Football League’s best teams: the Edmonton Eskimos. Bowman and the Eskimos host the Saskatchewan Roughriders Friday, July 31, on ESPN2. “The Deuce” is carrying a number of CFL matchups this summer. Bowman led the CFL with 1,456 receiving yards in 2014, averaging 13 yards per reception with six touchdowns in what is by far his best season to date. With a 12-6 record, the Eskimos finished second last season behind the Calgary Stampeders (15-3) in the CFL’s West Division. Calgary defeated Edmonton in the playoffs on their way to winning the Grey Cup. During his senior year at Oklahoma State in 2007, Bowman lined up on the same scrimmage line as freshman receiver Dez Bryant. Bowman led Oklahoma State in receiving that year and was considered a first round draft pick. Injuries on and off the field cost him dearly and he went undrafted. He was signed in 2008 by the Roughriders and traded a year later to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers before signing as a free agent with Edmonton in 2011. That year he had a breakout season, only to suffer another injury in 2012. The Eskimos showed their faith in him by signing him through 2015.
AdariusBowman
Another productive year could find Bowman not only a coveted free agent in the CFL, but tempting to NFL teams as well.
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MOVIES JAY BOBBIN's Theatrical movie review
review
‘Ted 2’ isn’t hard to bear
“More of the same” often can be a snarky comment about a movie sequel, but in the case of “Ted 2,” it proves to be a pretty good thing. After the huge box-office success of the first comedy about the stuffed bear who curses endlessly and engages in just about every known vice, there was no doubt of a second chapter. Happily, director, co-writer and Ted voice Seth MacFarlane has kept the merry subversion intact – so any moviegoers already in the know will get just what they came for.
It’s also part of what leads to the script’s second big question: What constitutes what a person is? Massachusetts’ state law doesn’t recognize Ted as such, so a court case develops, with Amanda Seyfried entering the scene as a delightfully free-spirited lawyer who represents Ted – and John Slattery (“Mad Men”) as the highly and expectedly unamused prosecutor. Even Morgan Freeman gets in on the act, and it’s a kick to see his typically sage image deployed for the purposes of a smart-alecky toy bear. Several famous-face cameos besides Brady’s also add to the entertainment value.
Basically, the story revolves around two questions. The first: Can Ted father a child? Admittedly, that is quite a proposition for a plush toy, but Ted reasons that may be the only way to save his new marriage to cashier Tami-Lynn (returnee Jessica Barth). His human pal John (Mark Wahlberg, also back again) agrees, after experiencing his own marital woes that have resulted in his divorce from Lori (the first film’s Mila Kunis character).
The best move made by “Ted 2,” though, is in keeping MacFarlane on board. His sensibility is so basic to the franchise’s DNA, entrusting it to anyone else simply wouldn’t seem the same. Giovanni Ribisi also is back as the nemesis who schemes against Ted, but the tale smartly keeps that element in its place, whereas another filmmaker might not have moved the saga along very much by making that the major and obvious theme.
“Ted 2” likely is a bright spot these days for New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, whose sperm figures into the plot (hey, it’s a “Ted” movie) and is a big factor in one of the picture’s most riotous scenes.
Those who associate Ted with the idea of a summer of fun will be pleased to know “Ted 2” maintains that link ... even if a bar of soap would not be inappropriate for the title star’s mouth. But what fun would that be?
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MOVIES JAY BOBBIN's movie review movies to watch
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“THE WATER DIVINER” Russell Crowe tries his hand at directing for the first time – and directing himself as well – with this drama in which he stars as an Australian farmer who sets out across Turkey to find his sons, all of whom fought in the famed Gallipoli battle. He encounters many other people impacted by that conflict, including a woman (Olga Kurylenko, “Quantum of Solace”) whose child (Dylan Georgiades) he befriends. Ultimately, one of his sons’ battlefield enemies becomes his best hope of locating them. Jai Courtney (“Divergent”) and Isabel Lucas also appear. ››› (R: AS, V) (Also on Blu-ray and On Demand)
Top Pick
DVD
Pictured: Russell Crowe
upcoming DVD releases
Coming Soon on DVD... “TRUE STORY” (Aug. 4): A reporter (Jonah Hill) seeks a career rebirth by interviewing a jailed killer (James Franco) who has been posing as him. (R: AS, P)
“FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD” (Aug. 4): Carey Mulligan plays the much-pursued Bathsheba Everdene in this version of the classic Thomas Hardy novel. (PG-13: AS, P, V)
“THE COMEBACK” (Aug. 4): All of the original and more recent episodes of Lisa Kudrow’s HBO comedy series are combined in this set. (Not rated: AS, P)
“INSURGENT” (Aug. 4): The “Divergent” sequel finds Tris (Shailene Woodley) trying to find respite while being hunted by enemies, physically and psychically. (PG-13: AS, P, V)
“EVERY SECRET THING” (Aug. 4): A detective (Elizabeth Banks) suspects two young women (Dakota Fanning, Danielle Macdonald) of involvement in a child’s disappearance. (R: AS, P, V)
“UNFRIENDED” (Aug. 11): Chat-room members are alarmed to receive a message from a classmate who committed suicide; cast members include Heather Sossaman. (R: AS, P, V)
Pictured: James Franco
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FAVORITE SHOWS
Jane Lynch hosts “Hollywood Game Night”
George Hamilton is featured in “Celebrity Wife Swap”
Steve Harvey hosts “Celebrity Family Feud”
Cat Deeley hosts “So You Think You Can Dance”
SUNDAY 8 p.m. on ABC Celebrity Family Feud A battle between former teen idols who have kept their careers going successfully leads this season finale, as Joey Lawrence and Mario Lopez bring respective family members into a showdown over what the “survey says.” Then, two Emmy winners and classic television stars become similar rivals as Ed Asner (“The Mary Tyler Moore Show”) competes against Vicki Lawrence (“The Carol Burnett Show”), both also joined by relatives. Steve Harvey is the host. Season Finale New 8 p.m. on E! I am Cait Jenner This much-anticipated eight-episode
series finds Caitlyn Jenner sharing her experiences as she made her transition from a gold medal-winning Olympic athlete named Bruce Jenner to her current identity as a woman, including what that change has meant to the relationships in her life and how those people have been affected by this decision. The series also sheds new light on the challenges faced by members of the trans community. Series Premiere New MONDAY 8 p.m. on FOX So You Think You Can Dance A new episode is titled “Top 18 Perform and Elimination,” but there will be only 16 dancers left in the competition by the time the two-hour
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show ends. Viewers’ votes determine which two depart, and judges Paula Abdul, Jason Derulo and Nigel Lythgoe will get their say as well. The respective performances of street dancers and stage dancers remains interesting, given what the series’ theme is this season. Cat Deeley is the host. New TUESDAY 10:01 p.m. on NBC Hollywood Game Night “Everything’s Coming Up Rosie” ... as in O’Donnell, as the title of this new episode suggests, with the comedianactress among the celebrity players. Constance Zimmer (“UnREAL”), “Weird Al” Yankovic and several reality-show personalities — home-improvement continued on next page
FAVORITE SHOWS expert Nate Berkus, Kevin O’Leary (“Shark Tank”) and Chef Rocco DiSpirito — also help a couple of citizen contestants try to leave the show with $25,000. Jane Lynch is the host. New WEDNESDAY 10 p.m. on ABC Celebrity Wife Swap Fans of “The Bachelor” will be in their glory with this new episode, since two veterans of that show — Sean Lowe and Jason Mesnick — are the ones who switch spouses. If you’re familiar with them, you’re likely also acquainted with their respective mates, ex-“Bachelor” contestants Catherine Guidici and the former Molly Malaney. You can bet they’ll all share stories about their earlier reality-show experiences in the course of the household trade here. New THURSDAY 8 p.m. on NBC Food Fighters A husband, father and firefighter also sets out to prove himself a cook of merit as the Georgia man pits his kitchen skills against those of pros — including celebrated chef Lorena Garcia — in the new episode “Fighting Fire With Food.” After the hour’s initial stages pit him against five experts, he faces off against Garcia ... and if he triumphs over all of them, a prize of $100,000 will be his. Adam Richman is the host. New 10 p.m. on WE L.A. Hair Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but only up to a point, as hair stylist Kim Kimble discovers as this unscripted series opens its fourth season. The lines for a commercial battle royale are soon drawn after another celebrity stylist, the owner of his own exclusive salon, decides to expand his upscale brand into
Kim’s business turf of wigs and weaves. The competition escalates as this new season unfolds, and Kim’s whole staff finds itself swept up into the drama. Season Premiere New FRIDAY 9 p.m. on FOX Gotham In “The Fearsome Dr. Crane,” Don Maroni (guest star David Zayas) decides to take Oswald Cobblepot (Robin Lord Taylor) on a trip to test his loyalty after Fish Mooney (Jada Pinkett Smith) spills one of Oswald’s secrets. Gordon and Bullock (Ben McKenzie, Donal Logue) track a killer who chooses his victims from persons who suffer from crippling phobias. Morena
Adam Richman hosts “Food Fighters”
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Baccarin also guest stars. SATURDAY 8 p.m. on HALLMARK Cedar Cove A difficult divorce case rattles Olivia (Andie MacDowell) following a fight with Jack (Dylan Neal) in the new episode “Something’s Gotta Give.” While Peggy (Barbara Niven) invites Paul (Colin Ferguson) to stay at the Thyme and Tide Inn, Bob (Bruce Boxleitner) is wary of the newcomer’s real intentions toward Olivia. New town manager Grace (Teryl Rothery) tries to assemble the entire town for a group photo. Brennan Elliott, Cameron Bancroft and Sarah Smyth also star. New
Robin Lord Taylor stars in “Gotham”
Andie MacDowell stars in “Cedar Cove”
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