the story!
New show has 'Crazy' history
Rachel Bloom stars in “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” premiering Monday on The CW.
Featured Stories “The Walking Dead” “Manhattan” “Fargo”
JAY Bobbin's movies to watch And so much more!
Connect folioto these shows within this magazine!
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CELEBRITY SPOTLIGHTS
Jake McDorman David Dawson Joshua Jackson Vanessa Lachey Heidi Klum
WHAT'S FOR DINNER Featuring: “BBQ Blitz”
EXCLUSIVE!
Profiled athlete Odell Beckham Jr.
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contents
What’s HOT this Week!
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YOURTVLINK
“The Walking Dead” A villain takes over the town!
CELEBRITY 4 Jake McDorman
“Limitless” discussion on working with Bradley Cooper.
5 David Dawson
Talks about wanting to work in America.
6 Joshua Jackson
On how he doesn’t mind “Affair” viewers being “uncomfortable.”
8 Vanessa Lachey
Speaking the “Truth” about her new comedy on NBC.
“Manhattan” Abby (Rachel Brosnahan) examines the role she plays in Season 2.
9 Heidi Klum
A walk down the runway of the model’s life. “Fargo” The future lies in the past for new season.
FOOD
17
Former NFL star Eddie Jackson offers a touchdown for your taste buds.
SPORTS
the story!
18-19 Beckham Jr.
“Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” The death and revived life of a series.
Lending the Giants a hand (or two) against the 49ers.
MOVIES
IN EVERY ISSUE
Review, Our Top DVD Pick, and Coming Soon on DVD.
suggested programs to watch this week!
20-21 Featuring: Theatrical
7 “BBQ Blitz”
22-23 Featuring: Our top
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REALITY 16 “The Brain With
David Eagleman” Dr. David Eagleman explores how much of that grey matter we really use.
Editor's choice
STORY
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New CW series
marks ‘Crazy’ turn of events for star Rachel Bloom By Jay Bobbin
Pictured: Rachel Bloom
If anyone knows how quickly and surprisingly the lows of show business can turn into the highs, it’s Rachel Bloom. The actress-comedian-musician saw her pet project cut loose by Showtime, only for it to be picked up and retooled by The CW as its sole new series of the fall season ... and its extremely rare transfer from cable to a broadcast network is just one component of Bloom’s real-life Cinderella story. Premiering Monday, Oct. 12, the musical-comedy-oriented “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” casts her as Rebecca Bunch, a lawyer who makes a sharp turn on the verge of a professional victory. She ditches her life in Manhattan to chase a big part of her past: Josh (Vincent Rodriguez III), the guy she adored while they were in their teens. Encountering him again 10 years later, she learns he’s relocating to West Covina, Calif. If she merely accepts that, there goes the series – so she follows him, and it doesn’t take long for new cohorts including Paula (supporting-cast standout Donna Lynne Champlin) to realize why Rebecca really is there. “I’m still not convinced that this whole thing isn’t a prank by my middle-school bullies,” Bloom muses. “This is amazing. I grew up in Southern California always feeling like this weird theater kid, so the fact that we got to do an old-fashioned musical number in an outdoor mall in Southern California (in the debut episode) ... that just felt so much like my childhood, it was very therapeutic. I fired my psychiatrist. No longer need him.” A frequent composer of the show’s songs, Bloom recalls her first meeting with “My Crazy-Ex Girlfriend” co-creator
Aline Brosh McKenna – the screenwriter of “The Devil Wears Prada” and “Morning Glory” – as “a blind date. She saw my music videos online and said, ‘Do you want to get together and talk about music and TV shows?’ It was the equivalent of Lana Turner being discovered at Hollywood and Vine in a drug store. It was amazing.” The series’ setting came to McKenna because, as she explains, “I grew up in a suburb, and I think a lot of people who grow up in suburbs have that sort of mixture of affection and feeling like, ‘Am I really stuck here?’ Someone might look down on those places, but Rebecca does not, and the show does not. For her, it’s a wonderland where she can explore new things and try and figure out who she is, so it’s an affectionate look at someone from a big city coming to a smaller town.” Bloom and McKenna maintain they didn’t think of the Keri Russell show “Felicity,” which aired on CW forerunner The WB, in developing a heroine who also follows the fellow she adores. Related to that theme, Bloom is quite specific about her intention for having “Crazy” in the title. “As someone who has gone through and struggled with depression and anxiety, it’s very important to me that we make it clear that this is not like an ‘SNL’ (‘Saturday Night Live’) character,” she says. “This is someone who is struggling with issues, because someone who is a crazy ex is going to be struggling with issues ... so we are going to explore that throughout the series, in the ways that Rebecca is in denial about it and deals with these things.”
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October 11 - 17, 2015 YOUR TV LINK Courtesy of Gracenote Page 3
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CELEBRITY Jay Bobbin’s Q&A
Jake
McDorman of ‘Limitless’ Tuesday on CBS What’s your take on essentially playing two different sides of your “Limitless” character, Brian, in every episode? It’s one of the most attractive parts of the character as a whole. You do have two different versions of Brian, but it’s also not like it’s a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde. You wake up from being on NZT and don’t remember anything. You do retain the experiences you have on NZT that do influence who you are off the drug, and that’s a challenge. That’s really fun, to rise to the occasion on-screen. Bradley Cooper, who played a very similar character in the 2011 movie version of “Limitless,” reprises that role in – and is an executive producer of – the series. How helpful has his background with the story been to you? Bradley is just such a great resource, because there’s a couple of rules when you’re on NZT that would affect anybody who takes the pill similarly ... like, your posture improves. You make more eye contact. Every gesture is very deliberate; those get locked down right off the bat and seemingly never really change. But then, when you’re off NZT, it’s kind of a playground. You can kind of paint the character, however you want based on kind of the clues that Craig (Sweeny, another of the executive producers) gives me.
Click or folio
tap on icon for more!
You worked with Bradley on “American Sniper,” then you got word from others of his interest in you playing the lead in the “Limitless” series. How did that go? I started to believe it a bit and was like, “OK. Tell me everything he said. Tell me.” And then after that, I actually got to meet with Bradley about it, and he pitched the show – which was awesome, and his enthusiasm was contagious.
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CELEBRITY John Crook’s Q&A
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DavidDawson of ‘The Last Kingdom’ Saturday on BBC America The producers of “The Last Kingdom” have hinted at a second season. Would you like to return to your role? I think we all would. It’s the most special time I’ve ever had on a job. We were out there for eight or nine months, so we really all bonded. It would be a real treat to go again, because people would know the characters so you don’t have to start from the beginning. It’s a truly international cast, which I also loved. Your “Ripper Street” character, Fred Best, went from sleazy to heroic over three seasons. How was that to play? I like to think of him as “ambitious” instead of “sleazy.” He was manipulating crime scenes, but he was hungry for the story. That was a real treat, to have an arc with such a surprise, so that the audience’s opinion is completely changed. When the writers told me about Season 3, how they wanted him to become a hero and go out with a real bang, I really appreciated that.
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Do you have any interest in working in America? Gosh, yes! As an actor, I always want to surprise people. At the moment, I am completely obsessed with “American Horror Story.” My God, if I could get a part in that, I could die a very happy man. I would love to work in the States. About two months ago, I went to New York for a few weeks and I didn’t want to come home.
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CELEBRITY Jay Bobbin’s Q&A
of
Joshua Jackson
‘The Affair’ Sunday
on Showtime
As “The Affair” continues in Season 2, do you like the series’ ongoing challenge to viewers to determine what’s “right” or “wrong”?
Trying to sort of combine these two stories and figure out where the truth is, that’s the essential mission of the show ... that discomfort that we need the audience to go, “Well, wait a minute, it can’t be this and this.” And then, it forces you to be in the position of deciding what feels the most right to you. And hopefully over the course of the first season and now the course of the second season as you live in these people’s lives, you will change your opinion as it goes along. Because at some points, you will find this more compelling or this seems more real to you, but there is no objective truth.
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Do you fear viewers will become frustrated with those ever-shifting perspectives, especially now that those of two other characters (including yours) have been added in? It’s uncomfortable. And that’s part of what’s great about it, right? It’s uncomfortable to live in that space where you’re not being told, “No, this is true and right,” and you can hang your hat on that. It puts the audience – and, frankly, us actors – in a crazy space all the time. We grapple with this literally every single day, like, “Who is this person to you right now? What is their truth in this moment?” But it doesn’t mean that there’s an objective truth on top of everything. And you can have these empirical events that happen, but everybody’s reaction to that empirical event will be different, and that’s their individual truth.
FOOD George Dickie’s What's for Dinner
F
Jackson goes from the grid to the grill on Food Network’s ‘BBQ Blitz’
If there are two things football players can do well, it’s compete and eat. Which, Eddie Jackson says, makes his new gig hosting Food Network’s “BBQ Blitz” something of a natural fit. “I’ve been cooking my whole life,” the 35-year-old former NFL cornerback says, “and it’s one of those things where when I got done playing football, it was like, ‘What else do I love to do?’ And it was food and cooking and so that’s what I started doing. ... And I just opened up my food truck and started cooking for people privately and ended up where I am today.” The six-episode competition series, which airs Fridays, goes to cities such as Miami, Dallas, Kansas City and Charlotte, N.C., where three top local grillers, smokers and fire-roasters prepare their signature dishes, then are challenged to transform them into something completely different – all to be evaluated by a panel of judges. The winner gets a $5,000 prize. And this isn’t just a ribs and brisket show as literally anything – fish, pork, lamb, chicken, beef, turkey or even vegetables – could be on the grill. Creativity is on display in the stadium-like atmosphere, as the competitors must rely on their imaginations to reconfigure their dishes. “You’ve got the crowd there rooting you on, screaming,” Jackson says.“ You know, the chefs are going back and forth talking a little trash to each other, and all in friendliness. But I think it adds to the excitement of the show. ... You know, friendly trash talking never hurts so I think that’s going to be something that’s going to be fun.” “It’s a competition and there’s $5,000 on the line,” he continues, “so if you can get your opponent off his game by talking a little trash, then I’m all for it.”
What book are you currently reading?
“I’m reading ‘The Alchemist.’ One of my clients gave it to me, and I’ve read the book before. But she gave it to me and wrote me a nice note on the inside cover of it and I’m actually about to finish it up now. And it kind of puts a light on the things that I’ve been through. So it’s pretty funny how things work out.”
What did you have for dinner last night?
“Last night I had some wings. I had a taste for some smoked wings and I got them.”
What is your next project?
“My next project is I want to expand on another food truck, and this one I want to really put a lot of thought into it and make it a bigger and better one than I have now. ... They’re both going to be in Houston.”
When was the last vacation you took, where and why?
“The last vacation I took was two years ago. I went to the Bahamas and it was a cruise. It was the first time I’d ever taken a cruise and I always wanted to. I loved it and whenever I get done filming and have a good three or four weeks where I know I don’t have anything to do, I’m definitely going to take another cruise.”
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October 11 - 17, 2015 YOUR TV LINK Courtesy of Gracenote Page 7
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CELEBRITY Jay Bobbin’s Celebrity ScooP
Vane ssa Lachey H
onesty is hardly a new subject for Vanessa Lachey.
Still, the former Miss Teen USA and “Entertainment Tonight” reporter turned actress – and wife of singer Nick Lachey – takes it to a different level as a star of the NBC sitcom “Truth Be Told,” premiering Friday, Oct. 16. She and Mark-Paul Gosselaar (“Saved by the Bell,” “NYPD Blue”) play one of two neighboring couples who pull no punches in discussing various issues and relating them to their own lives ... and also for the other duo, portrayed by Tone Bell (“Bad Judge”) and Bresha Webb, no topic is off-limits. “What’s funny is the comedy that ensues, because that’s life,” Lachey says of the show inspired by the life of executive producer DJ Nash. “I mean, every conversation my husband and I have, we don’t always agree. In fact, a lot of times we go, ‘OK. We’re going to disagree on that one. I love you, but I didn’t see it that way.’ So, that’s life.”
Click or tap on icon for more! Birthdate: Nov. 9, 1980 Birthplace: Angeles City, Pampanga, Phillippines Current residence: Los Angeles Marital status: Married to singer Nick Lachey; they have two children Other television work includes: “Lachey’s Bar,” “Dads,” “Nick & Vanessa’s Dream
Wedding,” “Hawaii Five-0,” “30 Rock,” “Wipeout,” “Psych,” “CSI: Miami,” “True Beauty,” “How I Met Your Mother,” Miss Universe 2007 (as a host), “Entertainment Tonight,” “High School Stories” (as host), “The Real World Reunion” (as host), “Total Request Live” (as host), “Maybe It’s Me,” “The Bold and the Beautiful,” ”City Guys,” “That’s Life” Movie work includes: “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer,” “Disaster Movie”
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Lachey notes her “Truth Be Told” alter ego is modeled very closely on Nash’s actual spouse: “She’s a strong woman. She’s an attorney, as is my character. She’s a mother to their two beautiful children, and she keeps this crazy, lovable, talented man’s feet on the ground. “I think that, in itself, is a wonderful challenge to portray on television ... because whether you are an attorney or you are a writer or a blogger or a stay-at-home, busy mom, it’s hard spinning all of these plates and trying to keep your head above water. And the only thing that we can do is find the humor in it.” And to get that going, Lachey says all it takes is to put the given “Truth Be Told” episode’s subject on the table. “The comedy ensues,” she maintains, “and slam it into 30 minutes, and it is a guaranteed good time.”
CELEBRITY CelebritY profile
HeidiKlum
C
- Born on June 1, 1973, in Bergisch-Gladbach, North RhineWestphalia, Germany. - Her modeling career began in her hometown, when she won a national model search. - In 1997, she became the first German model to become a Victoria’s Secret Angel. - She reached supermodel status after appearing on the cover of the 1998 Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. - She was featured in the 2001 Guinness Book of World Records for donning the most expensive bra – Victoria’s Secrets’ Heavenly Star Bra. - In November 2004, her first book “Heidi Klum’s Body of Knowledge: 8 Rules of Model Behavior (to Help You Take Off on the Runway of Life)” was released. - In December 2004, she premiered as host and an executive producer of “Project Runway.” She earned an Emmy nomination in 2008 and a win in 2013 for outstanding host for a reality or realitycompetition program (shared with co-host Tim Gunn).
Heidi Klum is a model, TV personality and producer, and can currently be seen on “Project Runway” on Lifetime. - In 2006, she became the host, executive producer and judge on “Germany’s Next Topmodel.” - In 2009, she became Barbie’s official ambassador and Mattel created a Barbie in her likeness. She is also featured in the iconic Madame Tussauds Wax Museum in Berlin. - In 2013, she joined “America’s Got Talent” as a judge. - She has had guest appearances on several TV shows and movies including “Spin City,” “Blow Dry,” “Ella Enchanted” and more. - Her numerous other ventures include a lingerie collection called Heidi Klum Intimates, a collection for Babies “R” Us called Truly Scrumptious by Heidi Klum and campaigns for various other companies. - She has four children – Leni, Henry, Johan, and Lou. October 11 - 17, 2015 YOUR TV LINK Courtesy of Gracenote Page 9
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CELEBRITY
“Wendy Wasserstein (the ‘Heidi Chronicles’ playwright) would love this show, because it’s saying it like it is right now. And, to be honest, the way it is right now is challenging. And this show is going to expose that and, I hope, create a dialogue.” – Jamie Lee Curtis of “Scream Queens” on Fox
“You don’t know what you’re going to do. To know that you’re going to have a wonderful character to play, even though you don’t know what it is, you have that to look forward to ... as well as having a nice pay, and, in this case, living at home. We’re in Los Angeles.” – Kathy Bates of “American Horror Story: Hotel” on FX, about staying with the franchise Page 10 YOUR TV LINK Courtesy of Gracenote October 11 - 17, 2015
“I think it’s a tip of the hat to the golden age of television, when the lawyer shows were written so well and were so well-researched and so in-depth that Rob (Lowe’s character) can actually survive in the real world based on that. It’s really an homage to TV.” – Fred Savage of “The Grinder” on Fox
CELEBRITY
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ON DVRs
David Krumholtz of “Gigi Does It” on IFC “I’ve got ‘Game of Thrones’ on there. I’ve got ‘Portlandia’ on there. I’ve got ‘The Walking Dead.’ I’m a big fan of that show. ‘Homeland.’ ‘Antiques Road Show,’ I’ll DVR the hell out of that. I don’t watch a ton of television, so my DVR is not incredibly full. But that’s about it. Those are my shows.”
Vanessa Lachey of “Truth Be Told” on NBC “Right now, we are recording ‘Lachey’s Bar’ (which stars her husband Nick and brother-inlaw Drew). We watch it after the kids are asleep and we have made dinner.”
Carrie Coon of “The Leftovers” on HBO “Right now, I just finished ‘Enlightened,’ the Mike White show with Laura Dern. I’m a little behind in my TV watching. I love ‘Silicon Valley.’ I think it’s really smart and funny. ... ‘The Comeback’ with Lisa Kudrow. It’s a little bit inside baseball sometimes but as an aging actress I really relate. (laughs)” October 11 - 17, 2015 YOUR TV LINK Courtesy of Gracenote Page 11
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STORY
Andrew Lincoln stars in Season 6 of “The Walking Dead,” premiering Sunday on AMC. Story on next page Page 12 YOUR TV LINK Courtesy of Gracenote October 11 - 17, 2015
STORY
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Fault lines
form inside Alexandria as AMC’s ‘Walking Dead’ returns for Season 6 Pictured: Norman Reedus
By John Crook
The presence of battle-hardened Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) and their party polarizes the genteel residents of Alexandria and threatens to spark civil unrest as AMC’s “The Walking Dead” returns for its sixth season Sunday, Oct. 11. Longtime fans of the show likely share Rick’s profound wariness about the relative safety that apparently prevails against all odds in this community, but they may start to change their minds as this season unfolds, reveals executive producer Robert Kirkman, who created this epic saga in comic-book format more than a decade ago. He remains heavily involved in its TV incarnation. “Season 5 put (Rick and his party) in an environment that really illustrates how much they have changed and how different they are now,” Kirkman explains. “We brought them into Alexandria and put them back into what could pass as ‘normal’ to see how they would react. And they either can’t trust in it or they don’t accept it.” Anyone who has watched “The Walking Dead” from the start and followed the brutal challenges Rick Grimes has survived probably can understand his extreme skepticism about Alexandria, but Season 6 will flip the focus somewhat to explore how the Alexandrians regard this violence-marinated newcomer in their midst. “The reaction that the people in Alexandria are having is the normal reaction that you should have if you encounter someone like Rick Grimes at this time (in their experience),” Kirkman points out. “If Rick Grimes were to walk into any of our living rooms here in our safe, real world, we would see him as a lunatic. I don’t want to spoil anything, but in some respects Season 6 is about a villain who is taking over a town and how are these people letting this happen? You can come into a show like this and have a completely different perspective on what is happening, whether you’ve watched everything leading
Click or tap on icon for more! up to it or not. That’s fascinating, and we have some really cool, really neat stories ... about this conflict between ‘Do we retain our humanity or do we do whatever we have to do to survive?’ ” The reappearance of Morgan (Lennie James), a character introduced in the very first season of the TV show, serves to intensify the schism inside Alexandria, since he has arrived at a world view that is far more pacifist than Rick’s kill-or-be-killed attitude. “Morgan really is a catalyst this season, and he’s going to change things in very large, earth-shattering ways,” Kirkman says. “He is a guy who has been through as many things as Rick has – and, to a certain extent, worse than what Rick has gone through – and yet he has a completely opposing outlook on how to survive in this world. These two men met under completely different circumstances in Season 1, met again in Season 3, and now are meeting again. Seeing how they interact with each other is really interesting.”
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STORY
Trouble on the hill Rachel Brosnahan stars in “Manhattan,” which returns for its second season Tuesday on WGN America. Story on next page Page 14 YOUR TV LINK Courtesy of Gracenote October 11 - 17, 2015
STORY
A storm is on the horizon
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in Season 2 of WGN America’s ‘Manhattan’ By George Dickie
Pictured: John Benjamin Hickey
There is a test on the horizon in Season 2 of WGN America’s historical drama series “Manhattan,” and no one will be excused. As the season opens Tuesday, Oct. 13, everyone in the isolated, government-sanctioned town of Los Alamos, N.M., is preparing for the Trinity Test, the first detonation of a nuclear weapon, at the Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range on July 16, 1945. But all is not well on “the hill” in the days leading up to the implosion. There is an air of paranoia and suspicion permeating the secretive community, as spies embed there and the confinement and related sacrifices take their toll on the scientists and their families. Some find their own sanity and commitment to the Manhattan Project slipping. One is scientist Frank Winter (John Benjamin Hickey), the driving force behind the weapon’s design, who begins to question how the bomb will be used. “Frank ... kind of stares into the abyss and sees that the creation of this thing is bottomless,” Hickey says. “There is no end, just like a nuclear reaction. Just like an atomic reaction, it just keeps expanding on itself. For lack of a better way to describe it, he sort of sees the future and it’s not pretty and (he) becomes a little bit of a Cassandra as far as what exactly this genie we’d let out of the bottle is and what the government plans on doing with it.
“You know, one of the most interesting things to get to play in Frank,” he continues, “is this genius-level intelligence as far as science goes, and yet just on the other side is this remarkable naivete as to its implementation, as to the way it would be used. And so Frank’s test is to try to, if not put the genie back in the bottle, is to try to have some say in how the genie is used.” Questions are also arising in the Isaacs household, where Abby (Rachel Brosnahan) appears to have reaffirmed her commitment to her project worker husband Charlie (Ashley Zukerman) after her lover Elodie (Carole Weyers) was dragged off by police in the Season 1 finale. “Abby asks a lot of questions of herself about how she feels, about what she thinks might be going on here,” Brosnahan says. “... She demands to be a more equal partner in this. She demands to know more about what’s going on. Whether or not she gets that remains to be seen. But with her family being in Europe and what she thinks might be happening on the hill, she for the first time develops opinions that are entirely her own, and that’s something that she’s relishing in a lot of ways – proving herself to herself that she is valid and worthy and she has a role to play here. ... She’s playing a more active role; less reactive, more active.”
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STORY
Click or tap on icon for more! By George Dickie A popularly-held belief has it that we as humans use only 10 percent of our brains. Dr. David Eagleman, neuroscientist, Guggenheim Fellow and host of the six-part PBS series “The Brain With David Eagleman,” asserts that that is nothing but bunk. “We use 100 percent of our brains all the time,” he says. “Your brain is screaming with activity right now. Actually, if I sit in the corner and I just feel like I’m spacing out and not doing anything, my brain is on fire with activity all the time. That myth, I think, sticks around because it gives this sense of hope, as in, ‘Oh, you can be a lot smarter.’ ” The series, which airs Wednesdays beginning Oct. 14 (check local listings), looks at the three pounds of tissue in our skulls not as a piece of anatomy but what it means to the human experience. By combining scientific facts with personal stories and visual effects, the program exposes the brain’s inner workings and endeavors to answer fundamental questions such as “What is reality?” “What makes me me?” “Who is in control?” and “How do I decide?” And the process of decision-making, according to Eagleman, isn’t as simple as, well, making a decision.
Pictured: Dr. David Eagleman
“The easy intuition is, OK, well, I have a mind and I make a decision. I decide something,” he says. “But the truth is that your brain is more like a team of rivals where you have different neural networks that are battling it out in any situation. “So if I put some chocolate chip cookies in front of you,” he continues, “part of you wants to eat it. It’s a rich energy source. Part of you doesn’t want to eat it for health reasons. And you can argue with yourself and cajole yourself and make contracts with yourself, get angry at yourself – who’s talking with whom? – it’s all different parts of you. You have many drives that are all trying to be in control, and so ... really what you’ve got is this neural parliament running under the hood that you don’t really have access to.” Ultimately, Eagleman’s goal with “The Brain” is to give viewers a journey into themselves. “It would be to sail into this inner cosmos that makes us up, and it’s all alien stuff that you find in there and yet it is you,” he says. “When we ask the question nowadays of ‘Who Am I?’ ‘What makes me me?’ to my mind the most interesting answer to that question has to do with going inside and looking at what’s happening in just these three pounds of alien computational material.”
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STORY
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New cast
past events inform Season 2 of ‘Fargo’ BY Jay Bobbin
Pictured: Kirsten Dunst
The Emmy
- and Golden Globe-winning FX mystery-drama series inspired by the Coen brothers’ Oscar-winning 1996 movie starts its second season Monday, Oct. 12, but it continues in the form of a newly cast prequel to the first round’s events. A major link is Lou Solverson, played as a retired lawman in Season 1 by Keith Carradine, but now seen in his younger incarnation – portrayed by Patrick Wilson (“Insidious”) – as a Vietnam veteran working as a Midwestern state trooper in the late 1970s. He becomes enmeshed in a case connecting several states as well as mobsters, smaller-time crooks and a young couple (Kirsten Dunst and “Friday Night Lights” alum Jesse Plemons). Numerous other characters factor in, represented by an impressive ensemble that also includes Ted Danson, Jean Smart, Brad Garrett (“Everybody Loves Raymond”), Jeffrey Donovan (“Burn Notice”), Bokeem Woodbine, Nick Offerman (“Parks and Recreation”), Adam Arkin and Kieran Culkin. In adding South Dakota to Minnesota as a location this season, executive producer Noah Hawley notes North Dakota was used sparingly in the original movie, “but they call it ‘Fargo,’ in my mind, because the word itself is so evocative of a place ... the sort of tundra where civilization meets the wilderness. So, the name Fargo is not only evocative of a place, it’s evocative of a kind of story – a true crime story that isn’t true, where truth is stranger than fiction.”
Familiar with Minnesota via her many relatives who hail from it, Dunst (in her first series role since “ER” almost 20 years ago) introduces her “Fargo” alter ego Peggy Blumquist as a small-town beautician with simple wants and needs. However, she ultimately reinforces the franchise’s message that not everything is necessarily what it seems. “Peggy has set goals for herself, and nothing is going to stop her,” Dunst explains, “and I don’t think (her persona is) about being smart or oblivious. I don’t want to call her a little delusional, but she has such a zeroed-in path of what she wants to do and what she wants to be, and then there is this other part that’s stopping her. She does come from a small town, and she could live that life and just have kids, and then this wrench is thrown in the middle of it. And I think that it wakes her up to the possibility of not fulfilling any of those things.” Whether viewers of “Fargo’s” Season 2 are returnees from the first season or newcomers, Hawley – also a director of the series now – is pleased the continuation is “a complete reinvention. It is a completely new story that in the end, I think, evokes the same feelings that you have both at the end of the movie and hopefully at the end of our first year. But otherwise, it tells a story in a very different way. It is a much bigger story, kind of an American epic.”
Click or tap on icon for more! October 11 - 17, 2015 YOUR TV LINK Courtesy of Gracenote Page 17
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SPORTS
Beckham Jr. ready to grab some
wins
for Giants Full Name: Odell Cornelius Beckham Jr.
No.: 13
Born: November 5, 1992
College: LSU
Birthplace: Baton Rouge, La.
Drafted: 2014: Round 1 / Pick 12 (by the New York Giants)
Height/Weight: 5 foot 11 inches/198-pounds Team: New York Giants
Honors and Achievements: Pro Bowl, 2014; Associated Press NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, 2014; Paul Hornung award, 2013
Position: Wide receiver
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SPORTS
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By Dan Ladd He’s yet to play an entire NFL season, but already New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. has broken numerous team and league records. The 2014 Associated Press Offensive Rookie of the Year will display his talents when the Giants host the San Francisco 49ers on Oct. 11, during NBC’s Sunday Night Football. After missing the first four games of the 2014 season, Beckham’s impact on the Giants’ offense was not only immediate, but timely. Veteran wide-out Victor Cruz was eventually lost for the season and the rookie quickly became Eli Manning’s go-to receiver. In 12 games he hauled in 91 passes for 1,305 yards, both of which were team records. Among his 12 touchdowns in 2014, is the play that made Beckham a household name. In a Sunday night loss to the Dallas Cowboys he made his famous one-handed grab (after being interfered with) of a Manning pass for a touchdown that lit up social media and was later deemed the “catch of the year.” The jersey he wore that night is on display in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
OdellBeckhamJr.
Whether he uses one or two hands, the Giants need Beckham to stay healthy and remain productive on the field. Cruz again began the season with injury issues and the NFC East is as competitive as ever. Still, if Manning is afforded the luxury of both Cruz and Beckham heading downfield on passing plays, the Giants’ offense will be tough for opposing teams to handle.
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MOVIES JAY BOBBIN's Theatrical movie review
review
Faithbased movie pays a visit to heaven
Pictured: Kate Bosworth
The market for faith-inspired movies is a very real and very profitable one. The box-office successes scored by such films as “Heaven Is for Real” and the recent “War Room” have proven that stories based in religion have a significant audience ... no small reason for the current presence of “90 Minutes in Heaven,” based on a pastor’s actual story of surviving a devastating car accident, and of what happened during the hour-and-a-half when was thought to be clinically dead. Hayden Christensen plays the clergyman, who has a hard time coping in the aftermath of the mishap that a bypasser brings him back from. He then struggles with his physical therapy and he shuts out his wife (Kate Bosworth, working here for her husband, directorscreenwriter Michael Polish).
get the same effect. It’s that seeing-something-but-nottoo-much approach that informs so many movies reliant on visions of other worlds – and though the argument can be made that it’s left to the viewer to add his or her own interpretation, it’s also a bit of a cop-out in a movie with a title like this. Despite that, the performers do their work earnestly, also including the always fine Fred Dalton Thompson as our hero’s professional mentor ... plus singers Dwight Yoakam and Michael W. Smith. And almost attaining costar status is a certain restaurant with golden arches, accounting for one of the biggest product-placement situations seen on the screen lately. “90 Minutes in Heaven” was a best-seller, so there’s little doubt it also will find its audience as a movie. It’s hard to argue with its basic messages, such as making every minute of life you have count, and letting in the ones you love. The story doesn’t reach very far beyond that, and that’s fine for those who can be satisfied with it.
For all those preliminaries in the script, though, what audiences likely want to see most are the 90 minutes in heaven that ultimately are shown (but condensed to only a few minutes visually). For anyone hoping for something more challenging, though, a few more minutes in heaven may have been in order here. To be honest, you could look at the climactic sequence of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and pretty much
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MOVIES JAY BOBBIN's movie review movies to watch
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“SAN ANDREAS” Disaster movies still have an audience, as proven by the success of this adventure that impacts the title fault line and wreaks havoc on California. Thus, the special-effects wizards are as much stars of the film as Dwayne Johnson, playing a rescue helicopter pilot who saves his estranged wife (Carla Gugino, “Wayward Pines”), then heads off with her to try to save their daughter (Alexandra Daddario). The film boasts an extremely strong supporting cast for a picture of its type, including Paul Giamatti (“Sideways”), Archie Panjabi (“The Good Wife”) and Ioan Gruffudd (“Forever”). Noted television producer Carlton Cuse (“Lost,” “Bates Motel”) wrote the screenplay. DVD extras: three “making-of” documentaries; audio commentary by director Brad Peyton; deleted scenes; outtakes; stunt reel. ››› (PG-13: AS, P, V) (Also on Blu-ray and On Demand)
Top Pick
DVD
Pictured: Dwayne Johnson
upcoming DVD releases
Coming Soon on DVD... “JURASSIC WORLD” (Oct. 20): Trouble hits the expanded resort anew, thanks to a genetically altered breed of dinosaur; Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard star. (PG-13: V) “PAPER TOWNS” (Oct. 20): A smitten teen (Nat Wolff) seeks his suddenly absent neighbor (Cara Delevingne) in this tale from “The Fault in Our Stars” author John Green. (PG-13: AS, P) “MAX” (Oct. 27): A military dog is adopted by the family of his handler, who was wounded in Afghanistan; Josh Wiggins, Lauren Graham and Thomas Haden Church star. (PG: P, V)
“INSIDE OUT” (Nov. 3): A youngster’s emotions take over, quite literally, when she moves to a new town in this animated Disney-Pixar tale; voices include Amy Poehler and Bill Hader. (PG: AS) “MR. HOLMES” (Nov. 10): The retired Sherlock Holmes (Ian McKellen) is determined to solve one last mystery; Laura Linney also stars. (PG: AS, V) “TERMINATOR GENISYS” (Nov. 10): He’ll be back, all right: Arnold Schwarzenegger returns in a reboot of the sci-fi saga. (PG-13: N, P, V)
Pictured: Chris Pratt
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FAVORITE SHOWS
Terrence Howard stars in “Empire”
Jesse Spencer stars in “Chicago Fire”
Alfonso Ribeiro hosts “America’s Funniest Home Videos”
SUNDAY 7 p.m. on ABC America’s Funniest Home Videos One of the longest-running shows currently on broadcast television, this program launches its 26th season with a very significant change — a new host. “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” alum Alfonso Ribeiro takes over the duty of introducing amusing videos sent in by viewers, and the line of succession is appropriate: Ribeiro won Season 19 of “Dancing With the Stars,” still hosted by Tom Bergeron, who also presided over this series for 15 of its rounds. Season Premiere New
Elyes Gabel stars in “Scorpion”
MONDAY 9 p.m. on CBS Scorpion A literal voyage to the bottom of the sea is in store for Walter, Cabe and Happy (Elyes Gabel, Robert Patrick, Jadyn Wong) in the new episode “Robots.” They’re aboard a highly classified submarine when an explosion sinks it — and not only is the oxygen running out, the vessel is set to self-destruct. Peri Gilpin (“Frasier”) guest stars as a Homeland Security official. Katharine McPhee, Eddie Kaye Thomas and Ari Stidham also star. New
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TUESDAY 10 p.m. on NBC Chicago Fire Missing at the end of the previous episode, Casey (Jesse Spencer) resurfaces — but that doesn’t mean he’s in safe territory — in the drama’s Season 4 premiere, “Let It Burn.” His efforts to end illegal activities at a strip club place him in peril. A new captain (guest star Brian White) joins the firehouse, alarming both Boden and Severide (Eamonn Walker, Taylor Kinney). The effort by citizens to foil a neighborhood drug operation has dangerous results. Season Premiere
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FAVORITE SHOWS WEDNESDAY 9 p.m. on FOX Empire Though there’s considerable discord among them, the members of the Lyon family unite for a music video likely to benefit all concerned in the new episode “Poor Yorick.” After Lucious (Terrence Howard) attains his physical freedom, he tries to clear the rest of his concerns by locating — and eliminating — Vernon. Marisa Tomei and Kelly Rowland guest star. Taraji P. Henson, Jussie Smollett, Bryshere “Yazz” Gray, Grace Gealey and Gabourey Sidibe also star. New
FRIDAY 10 p.m. on USA Satisfaction The sexy, sophisticated adult drama ramps up its erotic charge even further in Season 2, which opens with the new episode “...Through Release.” A somewhat shellshocked Neil and Grace (Matt Passmore, Stephanie Szostak) confront their infidelities of the past six months and ponder whether they have a future together. Meanwhile, Adriana (Katherine LaNasa) schemes to keep the couple apart permanently. Brooke Langton, Brandon P. Bell and Nicky Whelan guest star. Season Premiere New
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SATURDAY 8 p.m. on CBS NCIS Terrorists being pursued by Delilah Fielding (Margo Harshman, in her recurring guest role) appear to have a connection to the death of a burglar in “Status Update.” The thief’s body was found in the home of a Marine, drawing Fielding’s boyfriend — McGee (Sean Murray) — and the rest of the NCIS team into the case. Michael Weatherly, Pauley Perrette, David McCallum and Emily Wickersham also star.
THURSDAY 8 p.m. on CW The Vampire Diaries Damon (Ian Somerhalder) interferes with a pact made between Stefan and Lily (Paul Wesley, guest star Annie Wersching) in the new episode “Never Let Me Go.” Though Damon tries to atone for it later, Lily has sinister plans for him. Caroline (Candice Accola) also is a party to the situation, coming into knowledge about Stefan’s past while being maneuvered by Lily. Back at school, Alaric (Matt Davis) seeks Bonnie’s (Kat Graham) help. Zach Roerig also stars. New 10 p.m. on NBC The Player Alex (Philip Winchester) risks his new job, and his freedom, as his efforts to help a friend place him afoul of Detective Brown (Damon Gupton) in the new episode “The Big Blind.” The situation involves a professional assassin. Though Alex gets help from Mr. Johnson (Wesley Snipes) in delving deeper into the circumstances of Ginny’s death, Cassandra (Charity Wakefield) tries to thwart them. Eric Roberts and Carmine Giovinazzo (“CSI: NY”) guest star. New
Michael Weatherly stars in “NCIS”
Philip Winchester stars in “The Player”
Matt Passmore stars in “Satisfaction”
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