‘Ozzy and Jack’s World Detour’ Rock god takes history tour
‘Survivor’s Remorse’
becomes survivor’s grief
‘Ripper Street’
Victorian-era law and order
PBS’ Judy Woodruff and others cover the
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Democratic National Convention
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TOP STORIES 3 The Republicans have had their four-day gathering, and this week, it’s the principal rival party’s turn: With the Democratic National Convention getting television coverage from multiple networks Monday through Thursday, PBS’ Judy Woodruff and CBS’ John Dickerson tell Jay Bobbin what viewers might expect.
12-13 Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne and son Jack hit the road to check out various landmarks here and abroad in “Ozzy and Jack’s World Detour.” George Dickie speaks to the two men about what they found along the way – and why they went there.
FOOD 7 Cooking made easy by Valerie Bertinelli
REALITY 16 Lions and rhinos and Chihuahuas, oh my!
SPORTS 18-19 Ken Griffey Jr., Mike Piazza are headed for Cooperstown
MOVIES 20-21 Theatrical Review, and Our top DVD releases
14-15 As Season 3 of “Survivor’s Remorse” opens, Cam, Reggie and the gang are hit with the loss of Uncle Julius in a car accident. George Dickie speaks with RonReaco Lee, who plays Reggie, about how everyone is coping. 17 With Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee approaching, Whitechapel is rocked by anti-Muslim violence, while former inspector Edmund Reid returns to London to help an unjustly convicted murder suspect as this series returns for Season 4. John Crook sets the stage with the help of “Ripper Street” series writer and creator Richard Warlow.
CELEBRITY
IN EVERY ISSUE
4 ‘The Price Is Right’ Drew Carey is still game for ‘The Price Is Right’
22-23 Our top suggested programs to watch this week!
5 How Jimmie Johnson’s love for Chevy kept him from IndyCar
Visit YourTVLINK.com for more stories! Our Staff Writers: Jay Bobbin, George Dickie, John Crook Graphic Design: Nicolle Burton Quality Team: Michelle Wilson, Lisa Webster, Chris Browne
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6 Ryan Phillippe is glad to ‘explore more’ of ‘Shooter’ 8 Julie Chen appreciates ‘The Talk’ about her weekday show 9 Getting to know Chef Amanda Freitag
STORY
Editor's choice
The Democrats continue the politicalconvention trail By Jay Bobbin It’s not only fair play, it’s political tradition: If television has covered the Republican National Convention, you know the Democrats’ turn is coming. Following the four-day gathering of the GOP in Cleveland, that party’s chief political rivals have their nominating showcase for November’s presidential election in Philadelphia from Monday to Thursday, July 25 through 28. PBS again is planning three hours of primetime coverage each evening besides its regular “NewsHour” program (check local listings). ABC, CBS and NBC will continue nightly one-hour reports at the end of primetime, with cable news networks including CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC offering frequent telecasts from the convention. Also, as it did during the Republicans’ event, CBS’ “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” will broadcast live (in the Eastern half of the country) from its New York studio on all convention nights. On Wednesday and Thursday, HBO’s “Real Time With Bill Maher” will do the same again from Los Angeles and Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show With Trevor Noah” will originate from Philadelphia each night of the Democrats’ gathering. Judy Woodruff again will anchor PBS’ coverage with her “NewsHour” colleague Gwen Ifill, and she notes that the current race for the White House “does stand out. This a very different year. The American people said something in the Republican primaries when they picked (Donald Trump), and I think we have to listen to that. That’s a reason the conventions are so important: A lot of people haven’t paid attention. They’re starting to, and that’s why these conventions are so critical.” As for questions that still surround presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, Woodruff reflects, “What is her message going to be? What role is Bill Clinton going to play at the convention? How front-andcenter is he going to be? Who are the other people she’s going to put forward as those who endorse her? Are these some of the people who could serve in a Clinton administration? I think there’s a lot of suspense.”
Pictured: John Dickerson
CBS News political director and “Face the Nation” moderator John Dickerson believes the “last real drama at a convention was in 1980 with the Democrats, when Teddy Kennedy and Jimmy Carter were sort of battling it out. They’ve lost a lot of their drama, but there are moments where the national conversation can be put into some context and everybody has a moment to focus on it. “I do think of the conventions as a technique that sorts the campaigns into their different phases,” adds Dickerson. “There’s something that clicks and that is different and that happens at a convention. Even though they’re now so consumed with pomp and ceremony, and they’re so stage-managed, it is a way to get a sense of what the campaign and the party think of themselves.” That sort of perspective, says Dickerson – the son of television journalist Nancy Dickerson, who covered politics for CBS and NBC (and was an associate producer of “Face the Nation” early in its run) – “isn’t really possible until you get to the conventions. Although the candidates are giving speeches and saying things, there aren’t as many venues for thinking about it in a broader way.” In terms of a convention’s personal meaning for newscasters, “You sort of store up your energy,” Woodruff reasons. “You go in knowing you’re not going to get more than four or five hours of sleep every night, and you try to eat your Wheaties in the morning and drink a lot of coffee ... and you get through it on the adrenalin. The story is so interesting, you’re on the edge of your seat, and it doesn’t get any more important than this. We’re determining the future of the country for the next four years.”
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CELEBRITY Jay Bobbin’s Q&A
Drew Carey
of ‘The Price Is Right’ weekdays on CBS Next year, you’ll mark your 10th anniversary as host of “The Price Is Right.” How do you look at the experience up to now? I have to give every bit of credit to the production staff. I have a lot of ideas, but they’re the ones who do everything. I might say, “Hey, how about this?,” then they do all the work. They come up with the vacations and the Showcases ... and refurbishing the set little by little, which is tricky. You want to make it modern, but you don’t want to change it too much, because you still want it to look like “The Price Is Right.” It’s like redecorating a house; you don’t want to go so crazy that you don’t recognize it, but you still want new wallpaper or carpeting. It’s been a great journey with everybody, though.
Did it take a while to master all the ins and outs of the different pricing games? Yeah, learning them was a little bit of a “thing” at the beginning – and after the first year, there were still a couple of games (to grasp). And everybody on the staff knew it, too. I’d be in makeup and they’d go, “OK, we’re playing this game today. And remember that this happens and that happens.” And I’d be like, “All right. I get it.” And there were a couple of them where I’d get stuck on some little rule. Now, I don’t, but it was like a joke. I’ll bet it’s like being a professional writer: Even though you’re at it every day, constantly constructing sentences, I’ll bet there are three or four words that you always misspell. Everybody has that thing, so a couple of the games were like that for me.
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CELEBRITY George Dickie’s Q&A
NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson of the Brickyard 400 Sunday on NBC Sports Network Is there a sense of history you get when you race at Indianapolis? Oh, without a doubt. Even growing up on the West Coast, watching television in the ‘70s and ‘80s and ‘90s, NASCAR was still a pretty Eastern sport and the television coverage and all my heroes were open-wheel IndyCar drivers and raced in the Indy 500. And the track has a lot of meaning for me, and certainly being there and feeling the history, you can’t miss it (chuckles). It’s so neat to drive through the tunnel and come in and your mind starts running right away.
What kind of mental images come to mind?
Have you ever had the inclination to race in the Indy 500?
I think of (Danny) Sullivan’s spin and win, I think of A.J. working on his car on Pit Road ... . My grandfather was a big Foyt fan and I can recall sitting on the couch with him watching the race. Even Rick Mears’ fire. There are a lot of different memories that come to mind.
A ... I grew up as a kid wanting to race IndyCar and race the Indy 500. I came close. I was working hard to put some stuff together and I had some interest from some major teams. But when I was trying to put it together, it was a Honda-only series and that just wasn’t going to work with my Chevrolet ties, so I missed my opportunity. And I had a deal with my wife that once we had kids, I wouldn’t race in a car without a roof on it. If they ever put a roof on those things, I’m in.
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CELEBRITY
Jay Bobbin’s Q&A
Ryan Phillippe
‘Shooter ’ With “Shooter” having been a movie, what was the appeal for you in doing it as a series?
You take a 600-page book – like “Point of Impact” (by Stephen Hunter), which is the inspiration for “Shooter” – and to squeeze that into an hour-and-a-half or two hours, you’ve really got to excise a lot of the complexities and the interpersonal aspects of it. Here, we get to really explore more of the themes of the book. You see more of the characters’ motivations, so they become less onedimensional. Even the villains have so much more going on than they may have in the film, because you didn’t have time there to explore a lot of it.
Tuesday on USA Network You’ve done plenty of work both for television and the movie screen. What do you look for in a project now? I kind of look for what I can sink my teeth into at this age, this point in my life. What can I really get excited about? It seems to be that a lot of the more interesting stories and quirkier material is finding a home on television instead of in theaters.
NBC is developing one of your movies, “Cruel Intentions,” into a series. What are your thoughts on that? I love it! I think it’s such a cool thing to have something that holds up for generations after it’s first made. The movie came out in 1999, so it’s exciting that you do something and it sort of maintains its own life. People find it and it gets repurposed; there was a “Cruel Intentions” musical in Los Angeles last summer, and I went to it and just had a blast.
Click or tap on icon for more! Page 6 YOUR TV LINK Courtesy of Gracenote July 24 - 30, 2016
George Dickie’S What's for Dinner
TASTY
Bertinelli strives to communicate with clarity on ‘Valerie’s Home Cooking’
Like a lot of celebrities these days, Valerie Bertinelli has a social media presence. Through her Facebook page, the 56-year-old actress and host of the Saturday Food Network series “Valerie’s Home Cooking” posts news and clips from the show, communicates with fans and gauges reaction to the recipes she prepares on camera and posts on the show’s page on the Food Network website. Not surprisingly, some are more popular than others, such as the Sicilian love cake, her pounded chicken and her chicken arugula. And she has a few more coming this season that she thinks will go over well, like the slow-cooker Sloppy Joes and her turkey chili.
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And, she says, they all have one thing in common. “I want to make sure my recipes are written really well so that people can follow them ...,” she says. “As most of my recipes are. I want people to feel like if I can do this, you can totally do this, too. “I’ve been surrounded by women my whole life who know how to cook,” she continues. “I’ve never gone to school but it’s about being around people who love to cook and that’s what I love about Food Network, because it feels like the way I grew up. You know, someone’s always cooking so when you have the channel on like I have been doing since it first came on the air, I feel like I’m still surrounded by people who enjoy the same things I do.” Toward that end, she names Network personalities Giada de Laurentiis, Ina Garten and Rachael Ray as chefs whose work she admires. Bertinelli originally considered “Home Cooking” a summer job she could do during hiatus for “Hot in Cleveland,” but when TV Land ended that series in 2015, her Food Network gig moved front and center. “It’s so different from what I’m used to doing and yet I’m used to doing this particular thing,” she says of the show. “I mean, I’ve been cooking my whole life so it’s just putting the two together – cooking on TV. It’s just a different animal but I’m having a ball. I’m having so much fun. I feel like I’m where I’m supposed to be.”
What book are you currently reading? “I am currently reading ‘The Nightingales.’ Just started it so I can’t really tell you much about it.”
What did you have for dinner last night?
What is your next project?
When was the last vacation you took, where and why?
“You know what? I went to bed so early I had like half a watermelon. I actually did not make dinner because I’m home alone. My husband is in Cleveland visiting his mom and I’m about to go visit my dad so I don’t have a lot of things in the house, so yeah, I just had half a watermelon (laughs). It was an odd night.”
“My next project is ‘Kids Baking Championship.’ I start that in August.”
“The last vacation was Park City, Utah, and that was over the Christmas holiday and we went with most of our kids and it was a lovely time. It was really a blast, and I cooked the whole time. I made gumbo, I made turkey chili, I made manicotti. I made all kinds of stuff. ... I did go skiing on Christmas Day because not a lot of people were out there. I’ve been skiing since I was 8 and I love it. But the rest of the time I was cooking for everybody.”
July 24 - 30, 2016 YOUR TV LINK Courtesy of Gracenote Page 7
CELEBRITY
J
Jay Bobbin’s Celebrity ScooP ulie Chen doesn’t mind that many of her days are all “Talk.”
The former newscaster spends her summers presiding over CBS’ unscripted series “Big Brother,” but she also has her ongoing duties as one of the hosts – along with Sara Gilbert, Sharon Osbourne, Aisha Tyler and Sheryl Underwood – of the network’s weekday program aptly titled “The Talk.” The show recently won its first Daytime Emmy Award as outstanding talk show/entertainment, and Chen remains glad to be on board. “Oh, I’m very happy,” Chen confirms. “I can’t believe we’re finishing up our sixth season. It’s gotten to the point where I forget ... which is a good sign, when you have that many under your belt. The way I have felt for many years about ‘Big Brother,’ I feel now about ‘The Talk,’ which is that it’s like a machine that knows how to run on its own. And that affords me the luxury to take time off. “The first three seasons,” explains Chen, “I never felt right about taking a day off, because I felt something might come up in the work day that we all had to experience together to figure out if something works or it doesn’t. Now, I feel like we’ve dealt with almost every situation, being a live broadcast (in the Eastern half of the country) – breaking news, somebody calling in sick, one of us being in the headlines. This team can handle it; we’ve been through thick and thin together, and it’s very reassuring.”
Chen also finds it “very gratifying” that viewers are familiar now with “The Talk,” for which co-host Gilbert developed the premise. “It was tough the first two seasons,” Chen admits, “when you kind of had to explain what the show was, what network it was on, what time it was on, and who was on it with you. Now, though, it’s really nice.”
On discussing the day’s news on “The Talk”
“I come from a journalism background, and even though I appear on ‘The Talk’ specifically to express my opinion, you have to be respectful of everyone else at the table and everyone else who’s out there. I personally don’t think everyone else has to view something the way I do, and that’s why at times I’ll say, ‘Right or wrong, this is how I feel.’ ”
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CELEBRITY CelebritY profile
A mandaFreitag - Born May 11, 1972, and grew up in Cedar Grove, NJ.
- In 1989, she graduated from The Culinary Institute of America - Her first position in a New York City kitchen was as rotissier and garde manger at Vong under the guidance of Jean-Georges Vongerichten. - In 1999, she traveled extensively through France and Italy to explore the bountiful markets and progressive restaurant scenes. - In January 2008, she took over as the executive chef at The Harrison in TriBeCa. Over the three years that she helmed the kitchen, The Harrison received numerous accolades from local and national media, including a two-star review from The New York Times.
Amanda Freitag is a Chef and TV personality who can currently be seen as a judge in the current season of “Chopped” on Food Network. - In 2009, Food Network invited her to compete on Iron Chef America against Iron Chef Bobby Flay. She says, playfully, “that until her dying day, she will debate the single point that separated her from the win!”
- On Jan. 14, 2014, she opened her first restaurant – a revamp of the iconic Empire Diner in West Chelsea near the High Line in New York City. She stepped down the next year to concentrate on other projects.
- Also in 2009, she began as a judge on Food Network’s competition series “Chopped,” with host Ted Allen.
- In May 2015, the first episode of her Food Network show “American Diner Revival” premiered. In the show she and co-host Ty Pennington help to revamp struggling diners around the country.
- In 2011, she discovered she was highly allergic to hazelnuts. As a result, hazelnuts are not anywhere on set when she is on “Chopped” or any other show she is on the - In Sept. 2015, she published her first cookbook, “The judging panel for. Chef Next Door: A Pro Chef’s Recipes for Fun, Fearless Home Cooking.” - She went on to compete in “The Next Iron Chef” and “The Next Iron Chef: Redemption” where in the latter she - When she is not in the kitchen, she enjoys traveling the came in second place, losing in the final round to Alex world and collecting restaurant menus to add to her everGuarnaschelli. growing collection.
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CELEBRITY
“I’ve always said, ‘I’m a PBS kind of girl.’ When I came to the ‘NewsHour’ many years ago, when it was ‘The MacNeil/ Lehrer NewsHour,’ talk about the opportunity to work with two giants in the business … our founding fathers. Then, to be able to be here these years later and carrying the baton, that’s quite a responsibility. I just consider myself incredibly lucky.” – Judy Woodruff of “PBS NewsHour” on PBS
“There are a few projects or types of projects that, when I first started my career, I had in mind that I always wanted to do … and one of them was a seminal teen movie, one that whenever it’s on TV, you just don’t turn it off because there’s something that you enjoy so much about it. I love having one or two of those in my bag.” – Ryan Phillippe of “Shooter” on USA Network
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“I guess what’s really different now is just having the (weekly) show … thinking about where we’re going to be at the end of the week, and who we want to have on, and what the conversation is. The part of being (CBS News’) political director is still pretty much the same, in terms of providing analysis and making the attempt to put (each political party’s) campaign in perspective.” – John Dickerson of “Face the Nation” on CBS
CELEBRITY
ON DVRs
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Danny McBride of “Vice Principals” on HBO I watch ‘Game of Thrones,’ ‘Broad City.’ Those are the two that I kind of like to watch and have to watch. A lot of times what happens in the McBride house is we put the kids to bed, me and the wife turn on Netflix, we can’t decide on a movie for like 45 minutes, and just decide to just watch like reality TV. So then we’ll watch anything on Bravo like ‘Below Deck,’ ‘Southern Charm,’ any of the ‘Real Housewives,’ our favorites being ‘Atlanta’ but we will settle for ‘Beverly Hills’ or ‘Orange County.’ That’s in the rotation at our house (laughs). ‘Shahs of Sunset.’ Very exciting stuff. Kevin Burkhardt of “MLB on Fox Pregame” “Well I record a lot of sporting events (laughs). Right now, I have a couple of shows on History channel. I have this show called ‘Alone.’ I have a show called ‘Barbarians.’ And then the show ‘Chopped’ on Food Network. It’s funny, we started recording ‘Chopped Jr.’ now. They have a kids show and my son loves it. So I would say those. Other than sports, I think that’s what I have on there right now.”
Tim Tebow of “Home Free” on Fox “I’m a ‘Blacklist’ fan; that’s an awesome show. ‘Castle,’ I love ‘Castle.’ ‘30 for 30,’ they’re great. Those are probably the top three right now.”
”
Riz Ahmed of “The Night Of” on HBO “I watch ‘Game of Thrones’ (laughs) like everyone else in the world. Right now, I’m kind of waiting to come out the other side of the chute but I’ve got my eye on a couple of box sets that I feel I have to binge on. To be honest, I’m so behind. Like, I only got to ‘The Sopranos’ last year and next up is ‘Breaking Bad.’ My strategy is wait to see which ones become classics and then binge on them (laughs).”
July 24 - 30, 2016 YOUR TV LINK Courtesy of Gracenote Page 11
STORY
‘Ozzy and Jack’s World Detour’ a road trip into history
Premiering Sunday on History! Page 12 YOUR TV LINK Courtesy of Gracenote July 24 - 30, 2016
By George Dickie Here’s a little-known fact: Ozzy Osbourne is a history buff. Yes, the lead singer of the seminal hard-rock band Black Sabbath, Grammy-nominated solo artist and creative mind behind such heavy-metal anthems as “Crazy Train” and “Mama, I’m Coming Home” has a native curiosity about what came before, particularly 20th century military history, and he has a library full of books to prove it. And beginning this week, viewers can see him indulge his passion in the hourlong unscripted series “Ozzy and Jack’s World Detour,” premiering Sunday, July 24, on History. In 10 episodes, he and son Jack (“The Osbournes”) hit the road to places here and abroad to check out the stories and the people behind such landmarks as the Jamestown (Va.) Settlement, Mount Rushmore, Stonehenge, Roswell (N.M.), Cuba, Sun Studio (in Memphis, Tenn.) and the Alamo. “A lot of the show takes place with us kind of in the car driving from location to location,” explains Jack Osbourne, who is also an executive producer, “and at that point it really was just me and my dad, a couple of lipstick cameras in the car and a camerawoman in the backseat. So it was pretty minimal in that sense. And ... when you go anywhere with my dad, people get excited and so we made the decision to scale down as much as possible ... so wherever we were it was very minimal.” Continued on next page
STORY
Ozzy (left) and Jack Osbourne star in “Ozzy and Jack’s World Detour,” premiering Sunday on History. By
Continued from page 12 One place where the Osbournes decided to go early on was the Alamo. In 1982, Ozzy was arrested for public urination at the Texas shrine, so when this show was conceived the idea was that he’d go back there to do a bury-the-hatchet/reunion visit. But while the city of San Antonio was fine with it, some people at the Alamo weren’t as welcoming. But luckily they had an in.
pulled up ... there must have been easily a thousand people there when we ended up getting out of the car. Everyone just kind of rushed in.”
“One of our producers was a native Texan and had done a ton of production in Texas and had a lot of great relationships,” Jack Osbourne says, “and he managed to kind of get us a decent amount of access and get us in to the right people. But the problem with that is the more people we were telling we were coming, the more people knew.
“That was kind of a running joke I had with him,” Jack Osbourne says, “because I’m always like, ‘You know, you can just wear a baseball hat and like a hoodie.’ And he would be like, ‘No, no. I’m a rock god, I need to dress like a rock god.’ It was his little gag line. But my dad kind of likes it. He enjoys meeting people and he enjoys meeting his fans.
“And so by the time we got to Texas, a local politician at a city council meeting stood up and told the entire council that Ozzy Osbourne and Jack are coming to the Alamo and this big whole thing, and it was just like madness. It was like, ‘Ah s...!’
“And I think he enjoyed doing things that weren’t what he always does,” he continues, “which is you stay at a hotel, you do a gig, you go back to a hotel, you get on a private plane, you go to the next city. So I think he enjoyed seeing a different side not only of America but the world and doing things that he hasn’t normally done for the last 45 years.”
“And that was pretty tense, to be honest with you,” he continues. “And the crazy thing was when we
Through it all, Ozzy was Ozzy: outgoing, gregarious and digging being recognized in public. This is a man who will not go incognito.
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STORY
From loss comes growth in Season 3 of Starz’s ‘Survivor’s Remorse’
By George Dickie As Starz’s “Survivor’s Remorse” begins its third season Sunday, July 24, the comedy’s normally light tone turns decidedly somber as the Calloway/Vaughn family bids farewell to one of its own. Uncle Julius, the family’s de facto father figure played by Mike Epps, is killed in a car accident, thus setting up the varied reactions of NBA star Cam (Jessie T. Usher), his cousin and right-hand man Reggie (RonReaco Lee), sister M-Chuck (Erica Ash), mom Cassie (Tichina Arnold) and the others and with them a bevy of storylines dealing with love and loss, the comforts and doubts of faith, the strength of familial bonds, the danger of seeking out ancestral roots, the power of bad parenting, the chagrin of public utterances and the pain of dredging up the past. Continued on next page
Page 14 YOUR TV LINK Courtesy of Gracenote July 24 - 30, 2016
STORY Continued from page 12 In reality, Epps had gone on to star as the title character in the recently canceled ABC sitcom “Uncle Buck” and so this was how he was written out of this show. And just like with a death in the family, losing a beloved and respected colleague became an emotional meat grinder for the cast. “Man, the first couple of episodes it was really, really difficult,” Lee admits, “because as actors we had to really stay in a very fragile emotional state and then be ready to go to those places that you just don’t go to very often, if you’re fortunate. So there was always this undercurrent of emotion constantly for two weeks.” “I honestly didn’t think it was going to come down to this,” Lee continues, “... I had all these different scenarios (in mind) as I was reading the first script earlier this year and I was like, ‘You know what? I bet it’s going to be a mistake.’ And sometimes they have those situations where the morgue gets it wrong, and I honestly thought that Reggie and Cam were going to go down to identify this body, they were going to pull this sheet back and it wasn’t going to be him. I’ll bet that’s what they’re going to do. And to my surprise, it was him and the scenes played out the way they played out and it was very difficult.” But come episode 3, time will have gone by and the characters will have processed their grief, so the actors were free to climb out of their emotional holes, too. “They made it a point to say, ‘Listen guys, some time has passed. They family is on the mend and they’re coming out of this valley and they’re making their way up the mountaintop again to higher ground and better times,’ ” Lee explains. “And we could all take a deep breath and kind of get this burden off of our shoulders and kind of get back to what ‘Survivor’s Remorse’ has always been for us. But yeah, it was trying but it was a growing experience for everyone.”
Jessie T. Usher stars in “Survivor’s Remorse,” which begins its third season Sunday on Starz. Click or tap on icon for more! July 24 - 30, 2016 YOUR TV LINK Courtesy of Gracenote Page 15
STORY
‘Dr. Chris’ never says no to a pet in need
tall and they’re quite small, so I think they see me as being their arch nemesis. ... They’ll look at me and go, ‘I’ve got to get him first ... .’ They’ll always be a challenge.” For three seasons, “Dr. Chris” has been an integral part of the CBS Dream Team lineup of educational programs, giving young viewers an inside look at what goes on at his Bondi Beach clinic in suburban Sydney. The son of a veterinarian and a lifelong animal lover, Brown’s attitude is that no matter what comes in the door, he’ll never say no, be it a dog, a rabbit, a fish or a lion. And he’s a busy man. In addition to his practice and “Pet Vet” (which goes under the title “Bondi Vet” in Australia), he has two other shows downunder, “The Living Room” and the Aussie version of “I’m a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here!” He’s also written a book, “The Family Guide to Pets.” Brown never planned on a TV career. He was discovered at a Sydney bar, telling funny vet stories on a Friday night after work. A talent agent handed him his card and told him he had an idea for him to consider. A career was born.
By George Dickie
A
s a practicing veterinarian in Australia, Dr. Chris Brown of CBS’ Saturday morning educational series “Dr. Chris: Pet Vet” has treated everything from lions and elephants to rhinos and kangaroos. But his most dangerous patient has turned out to be a beast far less formidable.
“I’ve probably lost more blood in my 12 years of being a vet to Chihuahuas than any other animal,” the affable 37-yearold Australian says via phone from New Zealand, where he’s mountain climbing. “I think they should be listed as the world’s most dangerous animal. ... I’m 6 foot 5, so I’m quite
But his first love is animals, so he tries to stay as close as he can to his clinic amid all his TV demands. He says the pet owners who come in the door usually fall into two groups: those who think their animal’s problem can be solved in 30 minutes, just like on the show; and those who are surprised to learn Brown is a real vet, not an actor playing one on TV. “They’ll seem quite surprised that that’s actually what I do,” Brown says. “So I’m always confused whether that’s a compliment that I’m very convincing as a vet, or they think I’m acting a role. I’ve never really had the answer to it but it usually amuses me quite a bit.”
Click or tap on icon for more! Page 16 YOUR TV LINK Courtesy of Gracenote July 24 - 30, 2016
STORY
BBC America
is back on the ‘Ripper Street’ beat Thursday on BBC America
By John Crook Nearly three years have passed for the characters of “Ripper Street” as the period police drama returns for its fourth season Thursday, July 28, on BBC America. Detective Inspector Edmund Reid (Matthew Macfadyen) has given up police work in favor of a sedate life by the sea with his daughter, Mathilda (Anna Burnett), who keeps sneaking off to London in search of adventure with her friends. In Whitechapel, Bennet Drake (Jerome Flynn, “Game of Thrones”) has replaced Reid in a new stationhouse that has technical marvels (telephones!) and fresh faces (Sgt. Samuel “Drum” Drummond, played by Matthew Lewis, best known as Neville Longbottom from the “Harry Potter” movie franchise). Against his will, however, Reid is drawn back into his old world when a friend, mathematician Isaac Bloom (Justin Avoth), is condemned to hang for the murder of a rabbi, a crime Reid is convinced Bloom could not have committed. Also facing the gallows: former brothel owner “Long” Susan Hart (MyAnna Buring), for whom time is running out now that she has given birth to her son by husband Homer Jackson (Adam Rothenberg), who has tried in vain to bribe Susan’s way to freedom. Although series creator Richard Warlow wrote these new episodes well before England’s recent Brexit referendum, anti-Muslim hostilities are also a major story element in Season 4. “In a way, ‘Ripper Street’ has always been about the poor and huddled masses being brought into this
Pictured: Matthew Macfadyen
place where the world would arrive, near the docks of Whitechapel,” Warlow says. “That’s bred into the DNA of the show. When we started off on the journey of Season 4, we wanted to dig into that notion a bit more. We looked into what the various representations of Islam would be in the UK at the time, and it ranged from educated young lawyers to exploited migrant labor. That was a very rich place to start.” Thanks to a deal with Amazon, which picked up “Ripper Street” for two additional season after the BBC canceled the show following Season 3, Warlow had the luxury of knowing in advance he could write toward that clearly defined end point. Season 5 will end at the close of the nineteenth century, at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve. “Harry Potter” fans can look forward to new cast member Lewis taking a prominent part in the story yet to come. “Even aside from his high profile from ‘Harry Potter,’ Matthew truly is a standout actor and I honestly expect great things from him,” Warlow says. “We wanted to have this young policeman who is going to go on an epic journey that continues in Season 5. At some point he and Mathilda Reid will fall in love. I don’t think that’s a spoiler, because you see that coming early on.”
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SPORTS
Ken Griffey Jr., Mike Piazza enter the MLB Hall of Fame
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Full Name: George Kenneth Griffey Jr. Born: Nov. 21, 1969 Position: Center Fielder/Designated Hitter Teams: Seattle Mariners, 1989-1999, 2009-2010; Cincinnati Reds, 2000-2008; Chicago White Sox, 2008 AVG/HR/RBI: .284/630/1,836 Honors & Achievements: 13 All-Star game appearances; AL MVP, 1997; 10-time Gold Glove Award winner; AL home run leader, 1994, 1997–1999
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Full Name: Michael Joseph Piazza Born: Sept. 4, 1968 Position: Catcher/first base Teams: Los Angeles Dodgers, 1992-1998; Florida Marlins, 1998; New York Mets, 1998-2005; San Diego Padres, 2006; Oakland Athletics, 2007 AVG/HR/RBI: .308/427/1,335 Honors & Achievements: 12 All-Star game appearances; 10-time Silver Slugger Award winner; NL Rookie of the Year, 1993
SPORTS
By Dan Ladd The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York will induct Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza this weekend. The induction ceremony airs Sunday, July 24, on MLB Network with accolades sure to precede the event on the various sports networks. Ken Griffey Jr., also known as “Junior” and “The Kid” was essentially born into baseball. His father, Ken Griffey Sr. was part of the Cincinnati Reds “Big Red Machine” that dominated baseball in the 1970s. Drafted by the Seattle Mariners, the younger Griffey made his debut in 1989 and over the next decade established himself as one of the best all-around players in the game. He returned home to Cincinnati when he was traded to the Reds in 2000 where injuries plagued the outfielder. Otherwise, it’s very possible that Griffey Jr. could have been baseball’s all-time home run leader. By the time he retired in 2010, after returning to Seattle, he had 630 home runs which currently ranks him sixth on the alltime list. Mike Piazza made a big splash as a rookie with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1993 and immediately became one of the best known catchers in the game. He finished his career as the all-time home runs leader among catchers. Although he had some great years with the Dodgers, his time with the New York Mets, when he played in a World Series, may be more what he’s remembered for. Neither Griffey or Piazza won a championship, yet both made an impact during and after their careers.
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MOVIES
JAY BOBBIN's Theatrical movie review
Second ‘Independence Day’ isn’t independent enough
Our Take If you’re going to come back with a sequel to one of the most successful movies ever 20 years later, you’d better have something fresh to add. In the case of “Independence Day: Resurgence”: Ehh, not so much. Yes, film technology can do that much more for a sci-fi film after two decades – and sure, there are the impressive visuals you’d expect. (If there weren’t, a refund raid on the box office would be entirely valid.) But returning director Roland Emmerich is saddled with sequel-itis ... the malady that comes from simply telling the same story over again, with only a few minor tweaks. It will surprise absolutely no one to see that aliens target Earth again in their monster-sized spaceships (and led by their queen), lifting entire cities and then dropping them, and earthlings rally to the fight once more. Will Smith is absent – for reasons the script explains – so we get his character’s son (played by Jessie T. Usher) doing heroics, but there’s only one Will Smith. Liam Hemsworth also tries to make up for it, ultimately to small avail, as another daredevil pilot.
by Sela Ward (a veteran of Emmerich-style disaster, thanks to “The Day After Tomorrow,” in a role Hillary Clinton won’t mind seeing at this particular point in time). The film maintains an international view, making clear early on that American locales aren’t uniquely suited to become the sites for extraterrestrial enemies to lay waste to. Still, the U.S. response is the main one Pictured: Jeff Goldblum considered here, which makes it all the better to show such fleeting character developments as Pullman’s trauma that has resulted and endured from the initial alien invasion. Trying to develop a franchise after a two-decade gap is a dicey proposition to begin with, even if the same moviemaker is back in charge. Put simply, “Independence Day: Resurgence” gives the impression of being an intended money grab, with creativity placing second to intended profit. And sadly, that is hardly an alien concept in Hollywood.
However. Jeff Goldblum and Judd Hirsch do return as a son and father, and Bill Pullman is back as the thenpresident ... who’s been succeeded in the Oval Office Page 20 YOUR TV LINK Courtesy of Gracenote July 24 - 30, 2016
Jay Bobbin’s movies to watch
MOVIES
DVD TOP PICK
“THE BOSS” Again giving herself a movie role, in tandem with her director and co-writer husband Ben Falcone, Melissa McCarthy expands on work she did with the Groundlings comedy troupe as Michelle Darnell ... a ruthless businesswoman who has a major fall from grace when she’s convicted of insider trading. Hoping to reclaim her former stature when her prison term ends, it doesn’t exactly work that way, forcing her to seek shelter with her former assistant (Kristen Bell) and determine a way to reinvent herself. Particularly enjoyable are McCarthy’s scenes with Peter Dinklage (“Game of Thrones”), as a rival with whom she shares a past. Kathy Bates and “Saturday Night Live’s” Cecily Strong also appear. DVD extras: deleted scenes; extended and alternate scenes; outtakes. ››› (R: AS, P) (Also on Blu-ray and On Demand) Pictured: Melissa McCarthy
Insiders Guide!
Coming Soon on DVD
“THE BLACKLIST: THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON” (Aug. 2): Now that she’s a fugitive from justice, Red (James Spader) does what he can to protect Liz (Megan Boone), even from her former comrades. (Not rated: AS, P, V) “KEANU” (Aug. 2): Cousins (Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele) try to retrieve an abducted cat that’s at the crux of a gang war. (R: AS, N, P, V) “HALT AND CATCH FIRE: THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON” (Aug. 9): The personal-computer revolution continues to advance in the AMC series; Lee Pace stars. (Not rated: AS, P) Family Viewing Ratings AS Adult situations
P Profanity
V Violence
N Nudity
GV Graphic Violence
Pictured: James Spader
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FAVORITE SHOWS
JoJo Fletcher in “The Bachelorette”
Terrence “J” Jenkins hosts “Coupled”
SUNDAY 9:30 p.m. on FOX The Last Man on Earth Young Jacob Tremblay, who earned much acclaim — and stole many hearts — as the child in the Oscarwinning movie “Room,” guest stars here. He plays the younger version of star Will Forte’s character Phil, aka Tandy, whose brother Mike (guest star Jason Sudeikis) is an astronaut who lands on the supposedly deserted planet a la Charlton Heston in “Planet of the Apes.” Boy, is he in for some surprises.
Josh Helman stars in “Wayward Pines”
MONDAY 8 p.m. on ABC The Bachelorette It’s mostly fun until the final roses are handed out, and that’s going to be especially tough for JoJo Fletcher in her penultimate episode. It means she’s down to her last three choices among the men who have tried to win her heart, and for as good a time as she has with them early here, she’s ultimately going to have to send one of them packing ... and the tears assuredly will flow when she says goodbye to him. The show’s “The Men Tell All” episode airs Tuesday. New
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Jason Sudeikis stars in “The Last Man on Earth”
TUESDAY 9 p.m. on FOX Coupled Results will vary for the remaining couples as they embark on individual dates in the new episode “Laws of Attraction.” One woman doesn’t make things easy for her companion by asking a very pointed question; another couple gets very personal, to the degree that some things need to be ironed out; and the third duo lets everything fly in a huge argument, a.k.a. “great reality television.” Terrence “J” Jenkins is the host — hopefully from a safe distance. New
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FAVORITE SHOWS WEDNESDAY 9 p.m. on FOX Wayward Pines What happens to the human race ultimately rests on Theo’s (Jason Patric) shoulders as this eerie, M. Night Shyamalan-produced drama ends its second season with “Bedtime Story.” The Abbies make their big move on Wayward Pines, evidently leaving others — including Theo — with no option but the most drastic one. Djimon Hounsou, Nimrat Kaur, Josh Helman and Kacey Rohl also star. Season Finale New
FRIDAY 10 p.m. on CBS Blue Bloods A criminal’s rehabilitation can’t necessarily be guaranteed, and Erin (Bridget Moynahan) fears she has given too much credit to one in ``Fresh Start.’’ She’s instrumental in a felon’s release, but shortly afterward, the man becomes a suspected cop-killer. Mayor Poole (David Ramsey) plays coy, for political reasons, about rehiring Frank (Tom Selleck) as police commissioner. Donnie Wahlberg, Will Estes, Len Cariou and Sami Gayle also star.
SATURDAY 8 p.m. on FOX Heaven Sent You’d figure that someone jumping out of an airplane from an altitude of 25,000 feet would want something to cushion the blow of reconnecting with Earth. Then, there’s Luke Aikins, a skydiver and precision flyer who evidently doesn’t need anything like ... oh, a parachute. He attempts the stunt in this new special, allegedly taking the plunge with only the clothes he has on. Such movies as “Point Break” and “Moonraker” suggest achieving it is doable, so we’ll see. New
THURSDAY 8:31 p.m. on CBS Life in Pieces John (James Brolin) wants to fight getting older by changing his physical appearance, but his family is alarmed by the measures he takes in “Hair Recital Rainbow Mom.” Sophia’s (Giselle Eisenberg) piano recital worries Heather (Betsy Brandt). Fellow birthdayparty guests give Jen and Greg (Zoe Lister-Jones, Colin Hanks) preschool concerns. Oscar winner Mercedes Ruehl (“The Fisher King”) guest stars as Colleen’s (Angelique Cabral) mother. 9 p.m. on CW Beauty and the Beast The complications of married life — and added complications quite unique to their situation — continue to plague Cat and Vincent (Kristin Kreuk, Jay Ryan) in the new episode “The Getaway.” That title suggests just what they take, to attempt to get away from those hunting beasts plus other pursuers. Tess (Nina Lisandrello) tries to put hurdles in the path of a reporter who’s overly curious about Vincent. Austin Basis and Nicole Gale Anderson also star. New
Luke Aikins is featured in “Heaven Sent”
Sami Gayle stars in “Blue Bloods”
Colin Hanks stars in “Life in Pieces”
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