“MAD MEN,”

Transcription

“MAD MEN,”

The story
“A.D. The Bible
Continues”
Juan Pablo Di Pace
stars in the NBC
miniseries
starting Sunday.
Profiled
athlete
R.A. Dickey
Featured
Stories
CELEBRITY
SPOTLIGHTS
“The Lizzie Borden
Chronicles”
“The Comedians”
Anna Friel
Caitriona Balfe
Lucy Lawless
Kara Killmer
Chip and Joanna
Gaines
WHAT'S FOR
DINNER
Chef Michael
Voltaggio
JAY Bobbin's
movies to
watch
And so much
more!
Closing campaign for
Connect to these shows
within this magazine!
“MAD MEN,”
folio
Jon Hamm stars in “Mad Men,”
which returns for its final seven
episodes Sunday on AMC.
Courtesy of Gracenote April 5 - 11, 2015
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CONTENTS
What’s Hot This Week
Click to jump to these featured sections!
Featured
Stories
“A.D. The Bible Continues”
NBC miniseries.
p3
“The Lizzie Borden
Chronicles”
Premiering Sunday on Lifetime.
p 11
“Mad Men”
Returning for its final seven episodes
Sunday on AMC.
pp 12-13
“The Comedians”
Premiering Thursday on FX.
pp 14-15
SIX
Celebrity potlights
Anna Friel
“American Odyssey” on
NBC.
Michael Voltaggio
“Breaking Borders.”
p7
p4
Caitriona Balfe
“Outlander” on Starz.
p5
Lucy Lawless
“Salem” on WGN
America.
Kara Killmer
“Chicago Fire.”
p8
Chip and Joanna
Gaines
Hosts of “Fixer Upper.”
p9
p6
Page 2 YOUR TV LINK Courtesy of Gracenote April 5 - 11, 2015
Pictured:
Hamm arrives at the 2013 Vanity
Fair Oscar Party at Sunset Tower
on February 24, 2013 in West
Hollywood, CA.
+
Profiled Athlete
R.A. Dickey
pp 16-17
Editor's choice
STORY
S
By Jay Bobbin
Easter Sunday is the most appropriate day possible for
the launch of a certain miniseries.
Executive producers (and spouses) Mark Burnett and
Roma Downey scored a ratings smash – and cemented
their business in the area of faith-based projects – by
providing cable’s History channel with the 2013 miniseries
“The Bible,” which yielded the theatrical movie “Son of
God.” They continue their efforts, and that saga, as their
NBC miniseries “A.D. The Bible Continues” debuts April 5.
The new 12-hour drama begins with the Crucifixion
and the Resurrection, as Juan Pablo Di Pace (alias
the scheming Nicolas Trevino on TNT’s recent update
of “Dallas”) assuming the role of Jesus. His disciples,
including Peter (Adam Levy, “Rome”), set out to recruit
more followers while being pursued by Governor Pontius
Pilate’s (Vincent Regan) Roman troops and deputies
of High Priest Caiaphas (Richard Coyle). Babou Alieu
Ceesay and Chipo Chung (“Fortitiude”) also are principal
cast members as John and Mary Magdalene.
Burnett reports that the new sequel to “The Bible,” which
just completed filming in Morocco, “came out of sitting
in the truck at ‘The Voice’ with (NBC Entertainment
chairman) Bob Greenblatt and Bob saying, ‘Look, can it
continue?’ I said, ‘Absolutely. We’re working on this thing
called ”A.D.“ ’ And Bob said, ‘We’ll make that.’ And here
we are, 18 months later.
“We didn’t make it thinking we’d get an Easter Sunday
premiere,” adds Burnett. “We had no idea when it would
be on, but ... well, how fortunate.”
Taking over the portrayal of Christ from “The Bible’s”
Diogo Morgado is, Di Pace acknowledges, “a huge
responsibility. It’s a daunting thing to do. Very few people
have had the chance, and it’s certainly hard to do. I come
from a Christian background; my mother is a religious
painter. She has a painting in the Vatican, so I grew up
with all of that. My name, actually – Juan Pablo – comes
from John Paul II. So, you know, it was going to happen at
some point.”
Former “Touched by an Angel” star Downey also acted
in “The Bible” as Mother Mary, but she doesn’t reprise
the part in “A.D.,” largely because she was so occupied
on it – and also on last week’s CBS miniseries “The
Dovekeepers” – behind the scenes. Both dramas come
from LightWorkers Media, a Downey-supervised division
of the United Artists studio, which she and Burnett now
run.
“I felt this time that there was so much work to be done as
producer that I did not enter into it,” Downey explains of
not being an “A.D.” performer, “but we have Greta Scacchi,
who plays Mother Mary beautifully, and we have gathered
this great, great cast. We’ve just been extraordinarily
blessed to see our company grow, and we’re doing a
number of projects. We’re also producing (a movie remake
of) ‘Ben-Hur.’ We love this first-century drama.”
Click here for more!
April 5 - 11, 2015 YOUR TV LINK Courtesy of Gracenote Page 3
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CELEBRITY
Jay Bobbin’s Q&A
AnnaFriel
of ‘American Odyssey’ on NBC
What’s the biggest challenge you have
in playing your captured Special Forcesofficer character in “American Odyssey”
(premiering Sunday, April 5)?
I think (in) Odelle’s journey, the biggest thing
she has to face is complete and utter loneliness.
It’s why we have such an understanding and
such empathy for anyone who has ever served
in the military and been away from their children
and their family for long, long periods of time.
Odelle is very much in this situation, and
Aslam (an overseas youngster played by Omar
Ghazaoui) is no one who can ever replace
her child, but I think she feels motherly toward
him and very protective. He ends up ultimately
helping her. He’s the only one who shows her
a thread of kindness, and I think, out there in
her situation, that thread is a scarf. She wants
to protect him and give back to him and protect
him at all costs.
What sort of regimen do you follow to keep
up with the physical demands of the role?
My mean trainer makes me exercise. I go,
“Please, please.” I’ve been really lucky. He ran
Camp Bastion in Afghanistan and served there
with 22,000 soldiers underneath him. He says
anytime I kind of complain and go, “Oh, God,
I’m tired,” he goes, “Yeah, but you can say, ‘Cut.’
We don’t get to say, ‘Cut.’ ” We go back, and he
makes me swim for half an hour or do pressups for ages. I know it doesn’t look like it, but
you don’t have to be big to be strong. Size isn’t
all that matters.
I’ve got a hard drive where I’ll watch movies
and stuff. When my daughter is there ...
that’s how I can relate to Odelle the most. I’m
separated from her right now. It’s the first job
I’ve ever gone on without being with her.
folio
CELEBRITY
George Dickie’s Q&A
C
CaitrionaBalfe
of ‘Outlander’ on Starz
With all your intense scenes on Starz’s
“Outlander,” does your character of
Claire require some coming down from
at the end of the day?
Only twice that has had to happen. You
know, it’s interesting. Some days, those
tough, emotional scenes are almost
cathartic. You get out anything you need
during them and you feel quite exhausted
by the end of the day but sometimes you
feel quite refreshed in a strange way. It’s
like you purged something of yourself. But
one particular day, both Sam (Heughan, her
co-star) and I sort of attested to this, when
there’s the judgment scene, I guess is what
we’re calling it. You know, a lot of people
know that’s coming up, which is sort of the
punishments where Jamie needs to sort of
chastise Claire or whatever for her trying to
run, and that was a difficult one because
I feel like it’s not something that is easy to
wrap your head around ... . But I think we
both walked away from that day feeling a
little like, “Oooof,” just that was tough. It was
a tough line to find.
You have said that you feel like playing
Claire has made you a stronger person.
How?
... I think there’s something about playing
someone who’s so fearless and so strong
that it just allows you to exercise that part
of yourself. And when I look back now and
we filmed for 200 days and I think about
the hours that we put in and I think about
the conditions that we were working under,
I can feel really proud and I can feel really
that, wow, I’m a lot stronger than I thought
because that was a great experience and I
didn’t break (laughs), I rarely got sick and
it was fantastic. I don’t think it could have
been any better. So in terms of that, yeah,
I feel like I’ve definitely gained strength or
realized, maybe, my own inner strength a
little bit more with Claire.
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CELEBRITY
Jay Bobbin’s Q&A
LucyLawless
of ‘Salem’ on WGN America
What prompted you to sign up for
Season 2 of “Salem” (which begins
Sunday, April 5)?
I love the writing, and the chance to
work with (series stars) Seth Gabel,
Janet Montgomery, Tamzin Merchant,
all of them was just so alluring ... I truly
have admiration for them. It’s just really
great, quality acting, and a fascinating
story. I knew that technically, it was a
brilliant show, but I didn’t anticipate what a
beautiful family of people they are.
When you’re living a very long way from
home (on location outside Shreveport, La.),
working a difficult schedule, they become
your family – so I’m really excited to be a
part of it. I was even more excited after the
first week than I was going in.
Despite all the credits you have, dating
back even before “Xena: Warrior
Princess,” this is your first time playing
a witch. How’s that going for you?
I think I’m in what Meryl Streep calls “the
Witchiepoo phase of life!” I will tell you that
I grew up with the mythology of vampires;
the Hammer horror movies were on late at
night on Fridays. And I also grew up with a
very Catholic father and mother. Vampires
kind of go with Catholicism, because
you’ve always got a crucifix handy, so it felt
like that was our mythology.
I was raised on scary stuff and loved it.
I’m not as tough as I used to be regarding
horror, but this is kind of a homecoming
for me. I know how to be scary, and I don’t
know why that is. In that tradition, though,
this character is sexy and terrifying and
kind of charming. I want her to be someone
you love to hate and hate to love. And can’t
stop watching.
FOOD
Chef
George Dickie’s What's for Dinner
F
MichaelVoltaggio
Fashions international detente through food on ‘Breaking Borders’
Imagine being a chef charged with creating a meal of local cuisine for a group of
guests. Now imagine you’re not familiar with the city and the cuisine, have no idea
where to get the ingredients and the guests might not get along.
That’s the stress and the challenge chef Michael Voltaggio faced on Travel
Channel’s Sunday series “Breaking Borders,” in which he goes to sites of
international conflict such as Jerusalem or Northern Ireland to prepare meals for
guests of opposing viewpoints.
“I had to decompress after we shot each episode,” he says with a laugh.
Voltaggio’s process begins when he arrives four days prior to the dinner. He would
interview guests, find out which local restaurants and dishes they like, go there,
sample them and make notes.
“Then I just sort of get lost in the markets ...,” Voltaggio explains. “So there are
moments when I taste something somewhere and a light goes off in my head and
I get an idea. And so I keep writing these ideas down throughout the week, and
then the day of the dinner I actually go shopping for the food and I try and gather
all of those notes and thoughts and put them together and hopefully communicate
that back to the guests in each dish that I prepare. ... For me, the food is my opportunity to share my experiences with
everyone and I tell my story through the food that I cook.”
The dinner is served and consumed, opposing viewpoints are exchanged and hopefully everyone comes away more
enlightened. For Voltaggio’s part, he heard no negative reviews of his work.
“It’s the comments and the compliments that came out of their mouths,” he says. “That’s when it hit home that I was
cooking food for a much bigger reason. Not necessarily for people who are just entitled to eat or want to eat but in
some cases needed to eat or needed to sit down to a good meal and have a conversation.”
What book are you currently reading?
“Alex and Aki, they have this website
called Ideas in Food, and they just put out
a whole book about gluten-free baking and
basically gluten-free anything. And I don’t
remember the name of it because I just
opened it and started reading it. ... They’ve
basically written recipes for, gram for gram,
gluten-free flours that you can still cook
with ... . To me this is a book that’s going to
change the game.”
What did you have for dinner last
night?
“Last night, we ate at a restaurant called
Cosme. It’s a new restaurant in New
York. ... Octopus with molé, we had duck
carnitas ... and a husk meringue with a
corn mousse inside of it. The guy is a
genius and we definitely had some great
food last night.”
What is your next project?
“To go back to my restaurant and focus on
cooking and my staff and stuff like that for
a while, and hopefully get back out on the
road.”
When was the last vacation you took,
where and why?
“I could say with all honesty that I don’t
think I’ve ever actually just gone on
vacation before. ... Usually when I travel,
it’s related to work.”
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CELEBRITY
Jay Bobbin's Celebrity ScooP
KaraKillmer
Name any challenge that could be posed to a new “Chicago Fire” cast
member, and Kara Killmer has faced it this season.
Not only did the actress – who plays paramedic Sylvie Brett on executive
producer Dick Wolf’s Tuesday NBC drama – need to fit in with the continuing
stars and learn medical techniques and lingo quickly, she was concerned
about audience acceptance as she replaced one of the show’s founding
performers: Lauren German, whose Leslie Shay died in the opener of the
current Season 3.
“I auditioned for both ‘Chicago Fire’ and ‘Chicago PD’ on tape at least four or
five times,” friendly Texas native Killmer says, “then they brought me in lastminute. I auditioned for Sylvie on a Tuesday, heard on Wednesday that I’d
booked it, then they were going to fly me out on Friday ... so I packed up my
whole apartment on Thursday and started work the next Wednesday.”
During that whirlwind, Killmer got a necessary crash course. “There was a
lot of covering medical material. They have to teach you that stuff so that you
don’t look ridiculous on screen and have a bunch of real paramedics calling
and saying, ‘Yeah, you didn’t really do that right.’ I kind of had to hit the ground
running in terms of meeting the cast and jumping right into work, but it was
great.”
First seen as one of the aspiring performers in the online reality series “If I
Can Dream” (created by “American Idol” mentor Simon Fuller), Killmer also
has been playing out a personal struggle for Brett, who has questioned
her “nice and comfortable” state – encompassing her now-ended romance
with firefighter Joe Cruz (Joe Minoso) – after fleeing Indiana and a broken
engagement.
“I think that as the season has gone on, there’s less of trying to fill Leslie
Shay’s shoes,” Killmer reasons, “and establishing herself as her own entity,
separate from the friend that everybody has lost. It’s certainly been interesting,
and everybody has been so welcoming. And the writing has lent itself to
allowing the transition to happen smoothly.”
Birthdate: June 14, 1988
Birthplace: Crowley, Texas
Current residence: Chicago
Marital status: Single
Other television credits include: “Scary
Tales,” “Jane by Design,” “Rosa the Imposer,”
“Horizon”
Movie credits include: “Beyond the Mask”
(scheduled to open Monday, April 6)
On initially succeeding a popular series
actress and character: “It could be very
harrowing. There was a lot of pushback in
the beginning – people were heartbroken
– and I’ve got to say that’s one of the things
I love about television. In a movie, your
relationship with those characters is over in
two-and-a-half hours, at the most. Characters
in television are in your home every week,
so you really get a chance to build a
relationship.”
CELEBRITY
Celebrities profiled
C h ipand Joa nn aG ai n es
C
host the HGTV show “Fixer Upper,”
own and run Magnolia Homes.
• Born in the wheat fields of Kansas and raised in Texas,
Joanna is a modern day-pioneer.
• Magnolia’s motto is, “Our vision is to inspire you to own
your space.”
• Chip graduated from Baylor University’s Hankamer
School of Business with a marketing degree.
• Magnolia is a member of the NARI (National Association
of the Remodeling Industry) and has won several awards,
including the 2014 Chrysalis Award.
• In 2003, Joanna opened up a local boutique, Magnolia
Market while Chip continued working in real estate by
buying, renovating and selling homes to the Baylor, Texas
market.
• Chip and Joanna landed themselves a series
highlighting the renovation and realty aspect of their
business.
• Chip’s experience with real estate and Joanna’s eye for
design eventually merged into one company – Magnolia
Homes.
• They take clients through the process of finding the right
home, renovating the imperfections, and revealing the
home as it was always meant to be.
• Magnolia Homes is a creative compilation of
construction with emphasis on quality and unique design.
• After many years of putting their hands to the plow,
Chip and Joanna created a foundation that would support
the growth of their vision and inspire families across the
nation to own and love their homes.
• Chip manages the construction and realty side of
Magnolia, while Joanna is the lead designer.
C
CELEBRITY
Celebs’ favorite shows
Lucy
Lawless
Billy
Crystal
Tracy
Spiridakos
Caitriona
Balfe
Set the DVR
Billy Crystal of “The Comedians” on FX
“My ‘musts’ are ‘The Daily Show With Jon Stewart’ – still
– and, when it’s on, ‘Homeland.’ And I love Anthony
Bourdain ... and I did love ‘Breaking Bad.’ I watched it all
in four days.”
Lucy Lawless of “Salem” on WGN America
“I’m a true-crime fan, so I’m a complete lunatic for that
kind of stuff. I like real-life, high-stakes drama. I do watch
‘Intervention’ ... and I’ve even gotten stuck on watching
‘Say Yes to the Dress.’ I surprise people with that.”
Caitriona Balfe of “Outlander” on Starz
“I watch everything online these days. I’ve got ‘House of
Cards’ sort of lined up to finish that. I’m halfway through
the second season, so that’s my big thing that I want to
finish right now. And I just finished ‘Transparent,’ which I
love. ... So yeah, those are sort of the two current ones at
the moment. But I love, when I get a day or two off, just
vegging doing a binge-watch on some stuff.”
Tracy Spiridakos, recently of “Bates Motel” on A&E
Network
“ ‘Game of Thrones.’ And I do watch ‘Bates Motel,’ and
‘Sons of Anarchy’ and ‘Masters of Sex.’ There are a few
shows I’m into.”
STORY
S
Christina Ricci (left)
and Clea DuVall
Lizzie Borden
took
an
ax
– and keeps on taking it in Lifetime series
By George Dickie
One might not consider the story of 19th century ax
murderess Lizzie Borden anything to laugh at, but it’s the
seriocomic treatment of the subject in the limited series “The
Lizzie Borden Chronicles” that drew respected film actresses
Christina Ricci and Clea DuVall into the fold.
The hourlong eight-part series, which premieres Sunday,
April 5, on Lifetime, presents a fictionalized look at the events
and people surrounding Lizzie’s (Ricci) life following her
acquittal of the horrific murders of her father and stepmother
in 1892. Now famous, Lizzie finds herself living the life of a
celebrity, complete with scandalous love affairs. When several
people close to her turn up dead in strange and brutal
circumstances, suspicion falls on you-know-who.
The series is a continuation of the 2014 Lifetime telepic
“Lizzie Borden Took an Ax.”
“It’s a very fun, kind of outrageous show,” Ricci says of the
new offering, “where you’re rooting for two antiheroes the
whole time and kind of delighting in the macabre. It’s mostly
macabre and kind of campy and fun. Above all, it’s just
supposed to be a really fun show.”
The most fun part in playing an unbalanced character such
as Lizzie, according to Ricci, is that anything goes.
“The only rules,” she says, “are kind of the rules you establish
for yourself and for the character because it’s somebody who
doesn’t really adhere to the rules of society.”
“I think a lot of the character is based on the action, sort of,”
Ricci continues, “(which) imply who she is, really. Somebody
who is able to take human life like this and actually derive
pleasure from it is going to be a certain type of character. We
definitely decided that she was sociopathic, that she either
played at the emotions of a normal functioning person but
that she probably didn’t have them for herself.”
One who was on the receiving end of Lizzie’s manipulations
was sister Emma, whom the actress who portrays her,
DuVall, describes as Lizzie’s enabler.
“In the very beginning,” DuVall explains, “she really took a
back seat to Lizzie and really just served as her caretaker.
And as the story evolved, she starts to get her own life and
evolve into her own person and really has the opportunity
to branch out from just being Lizzie’s sister. ... She develops
relationships outside of Lizzie, which she never had before,
and finally taking the steps toward creating her own life and
getting married and cutting the cord.”
“She feels threatened,” DuVall says of Lizzie, “and she feels
scared because ultimately she is like a little girl who kind of
learned to cope in not the best way.”
S
STORY
Closing
campaign for
“MADMEN,”
returning for its final seven episodes
Sunday on AMC.
Story on next page
JonHamm
STORY
S
By George Dickie
It’s being billed as “the end of an era,” and for
AMC the farewell of “Mad Men” certainly is.
When the series premiered on July 19, 2007,
AMC was a small basic cable channel that
specialized in old theatrically released movies.
The success of “Mad Men” paved the way for
more original programming, with “Breaking Bad”
and “The Killing” following in its wake. It also put
AMC on the map as a serious player in scripted
series.
Naturally, it’s also the end of an era for cast
members Jon Hamm, Christina Hendricks,
January Jones, Vincent Kartheiser, Elisabeth
Moss, John Slattery and others, many of whom
made their names working on “Men.” For them,
it’s on to new projects, a well-deserved break
and looking back on a series that to date has
won 15 Emmy Awards – including four for
outstanding drama series – and garnered 105
nominations.
At a recent gathering of TV critics in Pasadena,
Calif., cast members looked back on the
critically acclaimed series that premieres the
first of its final seven episodes on Sunday, April
5.
“There’s no version of this ending that is not
super painful for me,” says series star Hamm,
who plays alpha ad man Don Draper,
“and mostly it’s because of (his fellow cast
members and creator Matt Weiner) because
they’ve been the single constant in my
creative life for the last decade. So that’s kind
of tough. And, yeah, I will be happy when the
shows air and I won’t have to fake like I don’t
know how it ends or make up some ridiculous
story about robots or zombies or something.
But I will never be able to have this again, and
that’s a drag.”
For Jones, who plays Don’s ex-wife Betty
Francis, reading the script for the finale
packed an emotional punch.
“I got it at home,” she says. “So I read it alone
at home. ... And it was very hard. It was very
emotional. I kind of knew a little bit of what
was going to happen in the last script, but it
was – I mean, the whole last few weeks, I was
just a mess pretty much. Everyone will tell
you.
“Anything made me cry,” she continues. “So it
was hard. It’s a beautiful story. It’s perfect in a
way, and I read it over and over. I didn’t want
it to be the last time. So sometimes I still read
every once in a while ... .”
S
STORY
Conquering
the great comedy divide
Billy Crystal stars in “The Comedians,”
premiering Thursday on FX.
Story on next page
STORY
Billy Crystal
and Josh Gad
team as
‘The
Comedians’
S
for FX
By Jay Bobbin
“And the reason why is because I get to play an
extended version of myself, which is great. I get to do
live sketches in front of a live audience. I get to do these
film pieces. I get to have crazy fun like that, and to work
with incredible people. At this point, it’s like a blessing to
have this show, because it reinforces and reinvigorates
everything that I started out doing and have loved to do
my entire career.”
Billy Crystal and Josh Gad aren’t really bitter rivals in
comedy. They just play them on TV.
In fact, the humor stars of different generations play
themselves – but heightened versions – as FX debuts
“The Comedians” Thursday, April 9. Inspired by a Swedish
program and including Larry Charles (“Seinfeld”) among
its executive producers, the series teams Crystal and Gad
in a show-within-the-show, a comedy-variety vehicle that
network executives insist on pairing them in. The only
problem, and it’s a huge one: The two see eye-to-eye on
very little.
Also famous now as the voice of snowman Olaf in
Disney’s “Frozen,” Gad has had some brief encounters
with weekly TV (“1600 Penn,” “Back to You”). He notes
“The Comedians” is a much different situation in which
“you’re gonna take a hit. Your ego’s gonna get bruised.
And that’s sort of the agreement we made going into it:
Some of it is going to get ugly, for all the right reasons,
and it’s amazing to have a sparring partner like Billy
because I inherently trust him.
Some of it has to do with age and experience, or in the
fictionalized Gad’s case, less of those. For instance, the
veteran of “The Book of Mormon” eagerly recommends
doing Broadway to an unamused Crystal ... who earned
a Tony Award earlier for his one-man stage show “700
Sundays.” That art-and-life line is crossed often by “The
Comedians,” which also regales in putting the duo in
unlikely sketches, such as an “On the Town”-like struttingsailors routine.
“I was not looking to do anything at that time,” recalls
“Soap” alum Crystal, who hasn’t done series television
regularly since his one season on NBC’s “Saturday Night
Live” in the mid-1980s, “and I said, ‘Well, Sweden. How
could this be funny? It’s dark at noon, and then they drink.’
And then, (those) two comedians were so inspired. The
show was so great. Within five minutes, I said, ‘I could do
this show. I could like doing this show.’
“This entire show is one big, giant trust exercise,” Gad
adds, “and sometimes as our characters, who happen
to be named after ourselves, that separation is very thin.
We have to say really, really dangerous things to each
other, and in those moments, you’re scared and you’re
not quite sure that the person knows that it’s the fake
version of himself telling the other person this. Then you
go up to him after and you share a hug and you go, ‘OK.
We OK?’ And usually, if Billy doesn’t punch me, we’re
OK.”
S
SPORTS
ROBERT
ALLEN
Knucklehead:
R.A. Dickey
Story on next page
Throws: Right
Strikeouts: 1,089
Height/weight: 6 feet 3inches/215 pounds
Teams: Texas Rangers (2001,
2003-2006); Seattle Mariners
(2008); Minnesota Twins (2009);
New York Mets (2010-2012);
Toronto Blue Jays (2013-present)
Hometown: Nashville, Tenn.
Career record: 89-82
Bats: Right
ERA: 3.98
Honors & Achievements:
NL Cy Young Award (2012); NL
strikeout leader (2012); NL shutouts
leader (2012); Branch Rickey
Award (2012); AL Gold Glove
Award (2013); All-Star selection
(2012); Bronze medalist for Team
USA at the 1996 Summer Olympics
in Atlanta
Full Name: Robert Allen “R.A.”
Dickey
Born: Oct. 29, 1974 (age 40)
SPORTS
S
By Dan Ladd
It’s hard to imagine anyone
other than R.A. Dickey taking the
mound on Monday, April 6, when
the Toronto Blue Jays open the
season on the road against the
New York Yankees in an afternoon
contest on ESPN. The now 40year-old starting pitcher is still
considered by many to be the ace
of a staff that also includes Mark
Buehrle and Drew Hutchison.
The team, however, is reeling
after losing upstart flame-thrower
Marcus Stroman to a torn ACL
during spring training.
Dickey, the 2012 Cy Young winner
who was acquired in a sevenplayer trade with the New York
Mets after the 2012 season, led
the Blue Jays in 2014 in starts
(34), innings (215) and opposing
team batting average (.223).
He remains committed to his
customary knuckleball, a do-ordie pitch that catapulted him from
a minor league journeyman to a
major league all-star.
Dickey and the rest of the Blue
Jays rotation were on a hot streak
in 2014. Each had double-digit
wins on a team that was in first
place for much of the first half of
the season before injuries allowed
the Baltimore Orioles to take the
AL East. The Blue Jays were in
the hunt for a playoff spot nearly
until the end of the season.
While Stroman’s injury is a tough
pill to swallow, repeat productive
seasons by Dickey and the rest of
the staff should again make the
Blue Jays a force to be reckoned
with. It all starts in Yankee Stadium
with the Dickey’s knuckleball on
Monday.
M
MOVIES
JAY BOBBIN's Theatrical movie review
review
“Chappie”
Hugh Jackman gets a robot
co-star – again – in ‘Chappie’
Hugh Jackman, haven’t you done this before?
Co-star with a robot, that is. Those familiar with
“Real Steel” have every right to ask that upon
seeing “Chappie,” an action-fantasy that has a
streak of humor as it tells the near-future saga
of a police machine reprogrammed to do the
bidding of a group of bad guys in South Africa.
The look of “Chappie” gives the picture much
of its gravitas, and there’s value in that even
when the script seems somewhat warmed over
from other entries in the genre. Blomkamp’s
mantra seems to be, “the dirtier, the better,”
meaning “dirty” in the “glum and unattractive”
sense.
Dev Patel (“Slumdog Millionaire,” “The
Newsroom”) supplies the brains as the science
whiz who knows how Chappie and the other
robots operate, while Jackman furnishes the
expected brawn as the detective who has to
convince his boss (Sigourney Weaver, in the kind
of role she knows like her own name) to let him
handle the hijacked-Chappie problem his way.
To that end, Jackman’s innate charisma gets
downplayed, since the robots really are the
stars here. That’s a notable difference from
“Real Steel,” in which the actor’s warmth was
used to draw out the human (if you will) quality
of the machines. Of the human performers,
Patel fares the best, as a fellow who comes to
recognize how much trouble he creates and
then tries to set things right.
It’s very easy to trace the roots of “Chappie” back
to “RoboCop” – right down to a big robot vs.
robot battle – but even if the plot doesn’t seem
all that inventive, director Neill Blomkamp knows
what to do with it visually. After “District 9” and
“Elysium,” he’s established himself as the master
of depicting grim future worlds on the screen.
“Chappie” has two basic spheres of appeal: to
those who appreciate filmmaker Blomkamp’s
post-apocalyptic sensibility; and to fans of
man-and-machine or man vs. machine sagas.
Taken on those levels, within a skin of metal,
“Chappie” has its heart in the right place.
MOVIES
JAY BOBBIN's movie review
movies to watch
M
“MANHATTAN: SEASON ONE”
That’s Manhattan as in “Manhattan Project”
in the case of this history-based WGN
America series about the development
of the atomic bomb, and also about the
various personalities involved in the effort.
Also an episode director during the course
of the season, Daniel Stern plays the father
figure among the scientists who were
gathered under strict secrecy, not even able
to tell their loved ones what they really were
involved in. John Benjamin Hickey (“The
Big C”), Olivia Williams, Ashley Zukerman
and Rachel Brosnahan (“House of Cards”)
also are among the major players in the
ensemble cast. DVD extras: “making-of”
documentaries. ››› (Not rated: AS, P) (Also
on Blu-ray)
Top Pick
DVD
upcoming DVD releases
Coming Soon on DVD...
“THE BABADOOK” (April 14): A
children’s book generates terror
for a woman (Essie Davis) and
her son (Noah Wiseman) in writerdirector Jennifer Kent’s thriller. (Not
rated: AS, P, V)
“BIG EYES” (April 14): The truth
about a painter’s (Christoph Waltz)
artworks, involving his wife (Amy
Adams), emerges in director Tim
Burton’s fact-based tale. (PG-13:
AS, P)
“CAKE” (April 21): Jennifer
Aniston plays a woman newly
involved with the widower (Sam
Worthington) of a late member
(Anna Kendrick) of her support
group. (R: AS, P)
“TAKEN 3” (April 21): Framed for
murder, CIA veteran Bryan Mills
(Liam Neeson) has to clear himself
and protect his daughter (Maggie
Grace) again. (PG-13: AS, P, V)
“GOODFELLAS” (May 5): For its
25th anniversary, the true crime
drama gets a newly remastered
Blu-ray edition with new cast
and director (Martin Scorsese)
interviews. (R: AS, P, GV)
“THE NANNY: THE COMPLETE
SERIES” (May 26): Fran Drescher
– also the sitcom’s co-creator
– plays saucy Fran Fine, who
becomes the unlikely employee
of a Broadway producer (Charles
Shaughnessy) and his children.
(Not rated: AS)
Jennifer Aniston
S
FAVORITE SHOWS
Anna Friel stars in
“American Odyssey”
Harry
Connick is
a judge in
“American
Idol”
SUNDAY
10 p.m. on NBC
American Odyssey
Thought killed in North Africa, a U.S.
Special Forces officer (Anna Friel,
“Pushing Daisies”) struggles to survive
and rejoin her family in this new drama
series. Her information on the private
contractors who massacred her unit
makes others want her silenced. Peter
Facinelli plays a New York-based
lawyer who suspects the scheme,
set up by the premiere, “Gone
Elvis.” Actor-director Peter Horton
(“thirtysomething”) is an executive
producer here. Series Premiere New
MONDAY
8 p.m. on NBC
The Voice
If you’re a fan of this show, you’re
Clark Gregg stars in
“Marvel’s Agents of
S.H.I.E.L.D.”
going to be very happy this week,
since “The Live Playoffs, Night 1”
launches three consecutive evenings
of new episodes. Some of the
season’s top 20 artists perform here,
with the remainder showing their vocal
stuff Tuesday. Then on Wednesday, the
results are in, determining who stays
— and who doesn’t, with possible
“saves” by coaches and judges
Christina Aguilera, Adam Levine,
Blake Shelton and Pharrell Williams.
New
8 p.m. on BET
Movie: A Girl Like Grace
Raised in a dysfunctional home by her
single mother (Garcelle Beauvais),
a bullied 17-year-old (Ryan Destiny)
seeks guidance from her best friend
(Paige Hurd) and the girl’s older sister
(Meagan Good) as she fights to win
acceptance and avoid being drawn
Adam Levine
is a judge and
mentor in “The
Voice”
into a darker, more violent world.
Raven-Symoné and Romeo Miller also
star in this 2015 drama, which was
directed by Ty Hodges. Premiere
TUESDAY
9 p.m. on ABC
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
S.H.I.E.L.D.’s continued existence
hangs in the balance when Robert
Gonzales (guest star Edward James
Olmos) carries out his scheme,
prompting Coulson (Clark Gregg) to
take immediate action, in the new
episode “Afterflife.” An encounter with
an Inhuman (guest star Luke Mitchell)
impacts Skye’s (Chloe Bennet)
struggle to harness her new powers.
Dichen Lachman (“Dollhouse”) also
guest stars in the story directed by
continued on next page
FAVORITE SHOWS
Kevin Hooks (“Passenger 57”). New
Mark Ruffalo and Kristen Wiig.
9 p.m. on STARZ
Movie: Are You Here
WEDNESDAY
“Mad Men” creator Matthew Weiner
8 p.m. on FOX
has garnered widespread acclaim for
American Idol
The title “Top 7 Perform” pretty much that AMC period drama, but he drew
only scorn from most critics for this
says it all for this new two-hour
episode — but by the end of it, only barely released 2013 comedy, which
he wrote and directed. Owen Wilson
six will remain as the stages of the
stars as a philandering TV weatherman
competition get ever more critical.
who reconnects with a childhood chum
Judges Harry Connick Jr., Jennifer
(Zach Galifinakis) after the latter’s
Lopez and Keith Urban continue
father dies, then becomes drawn into
to weigh in on what they see and
a legal battle initiated by his buddy’s
hear from the remaining hopefuls,
sister (Amy Poehler). Laura Ramsey cowith the viewing public getting the
stars. Premiere
usual chance to cast votes for their
favorites. Ryan Seacrest is the host.
New
THURSDAY
9 p.m. on FOX
Backstrom
A sex surrogate’s death prompts
the team to seek the reason in a
new episode whose title borrows a
famous song lyric, “Love Is a Rose
and You Better Not Pick It.” Possible
causes are various, and Backstrom
(Rainn Wilson) has to tread carefully
in the probe. He also has personal
concerns about his mother after
getting troubling news. Guest stars
include John Fleck (“True Blood”) and
Ann Cusack, sister of fellow actors
John and Joan. Dennis Haysbert also
stars. New
FRIDAY
8 p.m. on FOX
Movie: Date Night
Steve Carell and Tina Fey are
teamed in this amusing 2010
comedy as a New Jersey couple who
decide to change up their usually
predictable “date night” away from
their kids. They claim someone
else’s reservation at a Manhattan
restaurant, setting off events that
become life-or-death for them. Mark
Wahlberg sends up his rugged
screen image in a cast that also
includes Taraji P. Henson (“Empire”),
James Franco, Mila Kunis, Common,
Rainn Wilson
stars in
“Backstrom”
S
SATURDAY
7:30 p.m. on FOX
NASCAR Racing
After a 13-day break, NASCAR’s
Sprint Cup drivers are back at it, this
time under the lights of Texas Motor
Speedway to do battle in the Duck
Commander 500. Jimmie Johnson,
who took the fall race last year on the
1.5-mile Fort Worth oval, is particularly
dangerous here with four career wins.
Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin and last
year’s spring race winner, Joey Logano,
are also forces to be reckoned with.
Matt Kenseth
competes in the
Duck Commander
500
Steve Carell and
Tina Fey star in
“Date Night”

“MAD MEN,”

Transcription

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