UNDERWOOD is slated to perform ANNUAL...

FOLIO

Courtesy of Gracenote February 12 - 18, 2017

THE 59TH ANNUAL

GRAMMY AWARDS

Doubt underscores

Katherine Heigl’s latest effort in

weekly television

GIRLS How Lena Dunham

became an adult while her character

didn’t Archie’s NEW Betty

CARRIE

UNDERWOOD is slated to perform

Josh McDermitt Priscilla FaiaRichard Bacon

YOUR TV LINK Courtesy of Gracenote February 12 - 18, 2017

C

contentsYOURTVLINK

What’s HOT this

Week!

20-21 Theatrical Review, and Our top DVD releases

22-23 Our top suggested programs to watch this week!

FOOD

7 Mother and son try new things on ‘Vinny & Ma Eat America’

18-19 Eric Staal leading the way for Minnesota Wild

16 Animation helps recall ‘Tower’ shootings on ‘Independent Lens’

Visit YourTVLINK.com

STAFF PICK

Sunday, the music industry recognizes its top performers from the past year with the 59th Annual Grammy Awards. Longtime executive producer Ken Ehrlich tells George Dickie what to expect.

12-13 Katherine Heigl has reason for “Doubt” in returning to series work Wednesday on CBS, playing a lawyer who takes a very personal interest in her murder-suspect client. Heigl, co-star Laverne Cox and executive producer and co-creator Joan Rater tell Jay Bobbin about the drama.

14-15 Over five seasons of “Girls,” which opens season No. 6 Sunday on HBO, creator and star Lena Dunham has gone from unknown actress to cultural icon – and in some corners, a target for scorn. She tells George Dickie what the series has meant to her and what her future holds.

17 In “The Missing,” which begins its second season Sunday on Starz, Keeley Hawes stars as the mother of a young German girl who suddenly turns up 11 years after her disappearances. The British actress tells George Dickie about the series and her character.

Here’s where you can find us

REALITY

SPORTS

MOVIES

IN EVERY ISSUE

CONTRIBUTING STAFFManaging Editor: Michelle Wilson

Writers: Jay Bobbin, George Dickie, John Crook, Dan LaddMagazine Design: Nicolle Burton

Quality: Chris Browne

10 Moving to ‘Riverdale’ has had its challenges for Lili Reinhart

11 How Richard Bacon keeps things light on NatGeo’s ‘Explorer’

6 Priscilla Faia returns as one of the three corners of ‘You Me Her’

8 Silence is golden for ‘The Walking Dead’ actor Josh McDermitt

CELEBRITY

TOP STORIES

3

4 Beyonce

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February 12 - 18, 2017 YOUR TV LINK Courtesy of Gracenote

BY GEORGE DICKIEArguably the single-most distinguishing feature of the Grammy Awards is its performances.

They’re always live, they’re never dubbed or lip-synched and they feature artists at their best and in combinations that seem to come out of fits of inspirational genius.

Its history is full of memorable collaborations: Billy Joel and David Sanborn performing “New York State of Mind” in 1988, Elton John and Eminem teaming up for “Stan” in 2001, James Brown and Usher collaborating on a “Caught Up/Sex Machine” mash-up in ‘05, Beyonce and Tina Turner singing “Proud Mary” in ‘08, and Justin Timberlake and Al Green crooning “Let’s Stay Together” at the ‘09 awards.

Many are the brainchild of Ken Ehrlich, the show’s longtime executive producer who will be at the helm for the 37th straight year when the 59th Annual Grammy Awards airs Sunday, Feb. 12, on CBS.

“I love music and I hear these things and I hear them for the most part naturally,” Ehrlich explains. “... I’ll do some research and look back and see if there’s a common bond between one artist or another. ... I’ll have conversations pretty much with artists when we’re working with them and ... it’ll inevitably come up: Who are your influences? Who do you like to listen to? Who are you listening to now?”

“But more than that,” he continues, “I find I have this ability or this quirk that allows me to listen to a song and all of a sudden I’m listening to one song and it will – I think a lot of us are like that. I mean, there’s this through line. So you hear things that remind you of other things and other things.”

Leading nominees in this year’s awards, which are hosted by James Corden and take place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, are Beyoncé with nine, Drake, Rihanna and Kanye West with eight, and newcomer Chance the Rapper with seven.

Up for Album of the Year honors are Adele (“25”), Beyoncé (“Lemonade”), Justin Bieber (“Purpose”), Drake (“Views”) and Sturgill Simpson (“A Sailor’s Guide to Earth”); Adele (“Hello”), Beyoncé (“Formation”), Lukas Graham (“7 Years”), Rihanna with Drake (“Work”) and Twenty One Pilots (“Stressed Out”) will vie for Record of the Year; and Best New Artist will come from a field comprising Kelsea Ballerini, The Chainsmokers, Chance the Rapper, Maren Morris and Anderson Paak.

Among those slated to perform are John Legend, Metallica, Adele, Bruno Mars, Maren Morris with Alicia Keys, and Carrie Underwood with Keith Urban. All will undoubtedly bring their A-game this year, given the event’s prestige and huge international viewership, and have viewers talking about it the next day.

“This is the place where they have to bring their best,” Ehrlich says, “and where they will be more invested and really want to make sure that their performance on this show is the best that they do. By the way, that’s not to say that they don’t feel that way about every other show they do. I know because we do other shows. When it comes time for the Grammys, there’s just a different set of standards that come into play with the artists that we work with.”

Editor's choice

Pictured: Adele

STORY

Performers bring their A-game for the Grammy Awards

http://www.cbs.com/

FOLIO


ALBUM OF ThE YEARAdele (“25”)

Beyonce (“Lemonade”)

Drake (“Views”)

Justin Bieber (“Purpose”)

Sturgill Simpson (“A Sailor’s Guide to Earth”)

SONg OF ThE YEARBeyonce (“Formation”)

Adele (“Hello”)

Mike Posner (“I Took a Pill in Ibiza”)

Justin Bieber (“Love Yourself”)

Lukas Graham (“7 Years”)

BEST NEw ARTISTKelsea Ballerini

The Chainsmokers

Chance the Rapper

Maren Morris

Anderson Paak

RECORD OF ThE YEARAdele (“Hello”)

Beyonce (“Formation”)


Rihanna featuring Drake (“Work”)

Twenty One Pilots (“Stressed Out”)

BEST POP VOCAL ALBUMAdele (“25”)


Ariana Grande (“Dangerous Woman”)

Demi Lovato (“Confident”)

Sia (“This Is Acting”)

The 59th Annual

Grammy Awards –

And (some) of the

nominees are ...

Adele (“25”)

Beyonce (“Formation”)

Kelsea Ballerini



BEST POP DUO/gROUP PERFORMANCEThe Chainsmokers featuring Halsey (“Closer”)


Rihanna featuring Drake (“Work”)

Sia featuring Sean Paul (“Cheap Thrills”)

Twenty One Pilots (“Stressed Out”)

BEST COUNTRY SONgBrady Clark (“Big Day in a Small Town”)

Loretta Lynn (“Full Circle”)

Maren Morris (“Hero”)

Sturgill Simpson (“A Sailor’s Guide to Earth”)

Keith Urban (“Ripcord”)

BEST ROCK ALBUMBlink-182 (“California”)

Cage the Elephant (“Tell Me I’m Pretty”)

Gojira (“Magma”)

Panic! At the Disco (“Death of a Bachelor’)

Weezer (“Weezer”)

BEST ALTERNATIVE ROCK ALBUMBon Iver (“22,100”)

David Bowie (“Blackstar”)

PJ Harvey (“The Hope Six Demolition Project”)

Iggy Pop (“Post Pop Depression”)

Radiohead (“A Moon Shaped Pool”)

BEST R&B ALBUMBJ The Chicago Kid (“In My Mind”)

Lalah Hathaway (“Lalah Hathaway Live”)

Terrace Martin (“Velvet Portraits”)

Mint Condition (“Healing Season”)

Mya (“Smoove Jones”)

BEST RAP ALBUMChance the Rapper (“Coloring Book”)

De La Soul (“And the Anonymous Nobody”)

DJ Khaled (“Major Key”)

Drake (“Views”)

ScHoolboy Q (“Blank Face LP”)

Kanye West (“The Life of Pablo”)

BEST DANCE/ELECTRONIC ALBUMFlume (“Skin”)

Jean-Michel Jarre (“Electronica 1: The Time Machine”)

Tycho (“Epoch”)

Underworld (“Barbara Barbara, We Face a Shining Future”)

Louie Vega (“Louie Vega Starring ... XXVII”)

David Bowie (“Blackstar”)

weezer

Kanye west (“The Life of Pablo”)

BJ The Chicago Kid (“In My Mind”)

Vote here for

your favorite

https://yourtvlink.com/the-59th-annual-grammy-awards-vote-for-your-favorite-artists

JAY BOBBIN‘S Q&A


CELEBRITY

Priscilla FAIA of ‘You Me Her’ Tuesday on AudienceAs “You Me her” begins Season 2 on Tuesday, Feb. 14, what are your thoughts about its return?It’s just so great that we get to do this again. I think we all felt that we had something really special, and something that had a true voice. It’s also not like anything I’d done before, so the opportunity to get to do it was totally thrilling.

Not only are you back for Season 2, but “You Me her” already has an order for Season 3. how does that feel?That, like, never happens! Well, it almost never happens. I take it as maybe the greatest sign that the network likes what we’re doing, since that shows they want us to keep doing it.

Those who knew you as Officer Chloe Price on “Rookie Blue” might be surprised by your “You Me her” character Izzy, who’s involved in an unusual romantic triangle with a married couple. what sort of fan feedback have you gotten?The fans have been excellent. Chloe was her own person, which the “Rookie Blue” fans acknowledged and accepted – and in the same way, Chloe is very much her own person, albeit in very different circumstances. As an actress, it’s so exciting to get to

develop and grow in this way, with a character who’s such a challenge on so many levels.

given the premise of “You Me her,” you clearly have a close collaboration with fellow stars Rachel Blanchard and greg Poehler. how has that gone?It has gone so well. We’re all really good friends, and we’re in this together, in every sense. If you’re going to do a show like this, you want to do it with other actors you trust and respect, and they certainly have been that for me.


GEORGE DICKIE’S WHAT'S FOR DINNER

When was your last vacation, where and why?“I don’t really go on many vacations. I feel like I have to be productive on vacation so I would say this show was kind of like a vacation because we traveled around the whole country. One place that we went before we started filming this show on ‘The Great Food Truck Race’ was Catalina Island off of the coast of California. And I’ll tell you, it was beautiful. I’ve heard about it but it felt like you were in Greece or something, like it’s straight out of a postcard.”

What book are you currently reading?“I’m re-reading ‘The Power of Now’ by Eckhart Tolle.”

What did you have for dinner last night?“Yesterday was Sunday so that was my cheat meal because I usually eat healthy during the week. I had margarita pizza and my mom’s fried chicken cutlets. ... It was great.”

What is your next project?“My next project is this – ‘Vinny & Ma Eat America.’ We hope to see how the premiere does. Hopefully we can go out there and film more episodes. But I’m also coming out with my podcast and stand-up comedy and I do improv as well.”

A lot of adult children struggle to get their parents out of the house. Vinny Guadagnino created a TV show that did just that with his mother.

In his Tuesday Cooking Channel food and travel series “Vinny & Ma Eat America,” the former “Jersey Shore” star and his mom, Paola, traverse the country, stopping in locales such as San Francisco, Colorado, New Orleans and Nashville to try new foods and experiences and have a few laughs along the way.

The twist is that while Vinny is game for just about anything, Paola has rarely set foot outside of her adopted homeland of Staten Island since emigrating there from Sicily at the age of 10, and she isn’t all that thrilled about trying new things. So dishes like sushi, worm tacos and Rocky Mountain oysters – aka deep-fried bull testicles – would leave her at loose ends. Justifiably so, one might say.

“It shows a fun way of getting her out there, getting her to try new things, which she hates,” the younger Guadagnino explains. “But also each episode, we kind of get her in the kitchen because that’s where she shines and that’s where she thrives. So we go into all these different kitchens across the country and they do like a little lesson and teach us, and my mom actually teaches them a thing or two.”

And Mom can cook. Vinny recalls being well-stocked with food and goodies as a child even though his family didn’t have a lot of money. Her lovingly made Italian meals gave him a lifelong love of and appreciation for food.

Their relationship is clearly what makes the series go and it’s what viewers responded to when Vinny and Paola appeared together on an episode of Food Channel’s “The Great Food Truck Race” in September.

“I got all these messages from people that were like, ‘Oh my God, thank you. My mom passed away and this really reminded me of her and brought back memories,’ ” he says. “And every time, all my tweets and stuff were all like, ‘I feel like this is with my mom,’ ‘I feel like this,’ whatever.

“So I had no idea,” he continues. “I didn’t think of that when I was watching the show, that people were going to actually feel like they were in the car with us and having these experiences with their own family. And that makes it extra-cool because then it’s just more than about the food.”

‘V INNY & MA’ take a road tr ip of discovery on Cooking Channel

Pictured: Vinny and Paola Guadagnino

FOOD

http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/

GEORGE DICKIE’S CELEBRITY SCOOP


CELEBRITY

Few series were shrouded in secrecy as much as “The Walking Dead” was when conjecture ran rampant this past summer as to which unfortunate party (or as it turned out, parties) would meet a grisly demise at the business end

of Negan’s (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) trusty baseball bat Lucille in the Season 7 opener in October.

And few were questioned about it more than Josh McDermitt, who plays Dr. Eugene Porter on the Sunday AMC zombie thriller. Be it by family or friends, in conversations with fans or in interviews with journalists or bloggers, everyone wanted to know who dies.

And the affable 38-year-old Phoenix native had his own way of maintaining the actor’s code of omerta.

“I’ve gotten really good at dodging questions,” McDermitt, whose performing roots run to stand-up comedy, says, “or I can kind of tell when I’m talking to someone on the street, if they’re going to start digging for info, I can steer the conversation in the right way or just head it off. It’s very rare that I start saying something and I go, ‘Oh, I shouldn’t be talking about this.’ ”

McDermitt loved to hear the theories and a few fans even correctly posited that it would be Glenn and Abe (Steven Yeun, Michael Cudlitz) to meet untimely ends. But when the queries became a little too specific, he’d have to shut them down.

“When I go, ‘I can’t say anything about this season,’ they’d go, ‘I know but what can you say?’ And I go, ‘Nothing. I can’t say anything about this season,’ ” he says with a laugh.

Checking in with Josh McDermitt

Lena Dunham of “girls” on hBO“I love TV. I watch so much TV. Right now, I’m watching ‘Aftermath’ with Leah Remini and I’m really into it. I just love her as a host. ... And then I was really happy that ‘Atlanta’ won at the Globes. I love ‘Atlanta.’ I love ‘Better Things.’ I love ‘Silicon Valley.’ I love ‘Veep.’ I love ‘The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.’ I mean, I watch a lot of half-hour comedies that I adore, and then now my boyfriend and I just started watching ‘Star,’ which we really like. I’ll go where Latifah goes.”

Richard harmon of “The 100” on

The Cw“I actually just recently got

back into ‘Daredevil’ Season 2. ...

Every year, I try to rewatch ‘Friday Night Lights.’ I

think that’s one of

the best shows of all time.”


CELEBRITY

“I’m really excited for people to realize how hard I’ve

been working for the past five years. They just took it at face value – ‘She’s deaf’

– but when I start to get more work outside the deaf culture, I think people will go, ‘Wait a minute.

What?’ I’m kind of excited for that

reaction.” – Katie LeClerc of “Switched at Birth” on

Freeform, about her career hopes beyond that series’

current, inal season

“When I’m writing out a character for myself, I like to work on the details that

no one will ever ask about or think of,

but they help me create the person: Where does she want

to go to college? What does she

want to do when she grows up? What’s her relationship with her dad? It’s the stuff you create for yourself that

helps you go in with an actual person and bring her

to life.” – Lili Reinhart of “Riverdale” on The Cw

“I’d always found history quite dry. I hadn’t really seen it on

a personal level until the show, so

it’s really given me quite a gift there where

I’m actually far more interested in

history than I used to be. Living as a historical character for four years will definitely do that for you.”

– Adelaide Kane of “Reign” on The Cw

Ever wonder what the Celebs DVR?

BUZZ

Gordon Ramsay of “MasterChef Junior” on Fox“I’m a big fan of ‘Ninja Warrior,’ because I just love that physicality of,

A, keeping fit, and B, that level of competitiveness. So

‘Ninja Warrior’ and Bear Grylls.”

Justin Kirk of “APB”

on Fox“At the moment, I’m enjoying “Crazy Ex-

Girlfriend.” I’ve seen a couple of episodes that I liked – I’ll shill for my current boss – called

“The Mick,” I thought that was good. This show

“Better Things” with Pamela Adlon on FX I

like a lot. I usually watch prime time on MSNBC

but most of the time Chris Hayes and Rachel

Maddow and LoDo as they call it. Samantha

Bee is bringing it pretty hard these days.”

What’s

ONThe


LILIREINHARTJAY BOBBIN’S Q&A

of ‘Riverdale’ Thursday on The CW

CELEBRITY

Betty Cooper of the “Archie” comics is such an iconic character, how did your audition process for “Riverdale” go?Oh, my gosh ... I feel like everyone auditioned for this. It was not a very easy process. I actually auditioned in November 2015, when I was at home in North Carolina. I made a tape with my mom, and we sent it in and it wasn’t received really well. The casting director was like, “I just don’t think she’s the girl,” and we were like, “OK. Moving on.”I moved to L.A. that January, and three days later, my manager called and said, “They’re still looking for this girl. Since you’re in L.A now, they can see you in person if you want to go in.” I was like, “Sure, let’s give it a go,” so I went in ... and obviously, something was different and clicked. I got a call back, then I did a studio test and a network test, and I finally got it on Feb. 9. I remember the day!

Did you already have a concept of Betty from the comic books?I knew she was the very pushover-y girl next door, kind of hopeless, and she didn’t really seem super-intelligent if she was willing to let her life revolve around a guy. I knew from reading the pilot that (the Betty of “Riverdale”) was not that girl, which I was really happy about.She is the girl next door – she literally lives next to Archie – and she’s incredibly kind and sweet, and very forgiving, but there’s a lot more than meets the eye. That’s the same with all of these characters. They may seem stereotypical, like Archie’s kind of a playboy and Veronica’s the rich “new girl,” but it’s a lot deeper than that.

RICHARD BACON• You seem like a natural in getting up in front of a studio audience and being humorous. have you ever done comedy?For a long time I hosted a news, current affairs and interview show on the BBC. It’s a daily radio show and I covered both of Obama’s elections and royal weddings and British general elections but I’ve also had long interviews in it. And very often they were comedians – people like Ricky Gervais is a regular – and so that show had humor in it. And I also in my unusual, unfocused career, I’ve also bounced around game shows and entertainment shows and children’s shows and music shows. And so I’ve never been a stand-up but ... the daily news show that I hosted for the BBC had a kind of casual nature to it, so therefore I would use humor.Sometimes if you’re turning quite a serious story, if you can find places to use humor, it makes it all palatable. You can sometimes emphasize a point by using humor. ... Using humor on (television) is always something you have to think about a lot because sometimes when you say a comedian actually hosts the show, you’re like, “Oh, you’re now trying too hard to find the joke.” It’s always an interesting balance, I think, and finding that sweet spot is something you have to think about.

• Do you enjoy working in front of a live audience?Yeah, I do like that, I really enjoy that. ... For me, standing in front of – let’s call them just regular people who aren’t in the industry, who aren’t experts or academics or celebrities – but actually standing up front and interacting with and talking to just regular folks is something I’m really comfortable with and I really enjoy and always want to do and I’m very comfortable in their company. So I like that.

GEORGE DICKIE’S Q&A

of ‘Explorer’ Sunday on National Geographic

CELEBRITY


http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/ultimate-survival-alaska/?gclid=CLuYneG-xsMCFYcDaQodW4cAUg


STORY

Continued on next page

Katherine Heigl returns to series work, premiering Wednesday on CBS

BY JAY BOBBINThere’s no doubt that several stars of past series can go on to make a new show together.

A new example that premieres Wednesday, Feb. 15, the CBS drama “Doubt” casts “Grey’s Anatomy” and “State of Affairs” alum Katherine Heigl as a New York defense attorney who becomes personally involved in her latest case ... and with her client, at risk to her well-being. Played by Steven Pasquale (“The Good Wife,” “Rescue Me”), he’s a plastic surgeon turned sudden murder suspect in the death of his girlfriend, who was killed many years earlier.

Elliott Gould (“Ray Donovan,” “E/R”) also stars as the chief of the law firm that employs Sadie Ellis (Heigl), with Laverne Cox (“Orange Is the New Black”), Dule Hill (“The West Wing,” “Psych”), Dreama Walker (“Gossip Girl”) and Kobi Libii (“Transparent,” “Madam Secretary”) playing lawyers as well. Executive producers and creators Tony Phelan and Joan Rater previously worked with Heigl on “Grey’s Anatomy,” and the actress – who began “Doubt” while pregnant for the first time (she has two adopted daughters with singer husband Josh Kelley) – says the chance to play “a real idealist” drew her back to series work.

‘DouBT’

“Really, her first instinct is to believe the best in people. She is obviously clouded a bit by her not terribly professional feelings for this man, but she’s so determined to save him and so determined to prove his innocence that she’s trying to separate herself emotionally, but struggling with it. I feel like that struggle can go one of two ways: ‘Oh, come on, this isn’t realistic at all,’ or it can feel very human. And that’s what I think we’re trying to do, keep it feeling very relatable and human.”

Creator-producer Rater adds, “There’s a speech in the pilot that we call ‘the Isaiah (Gould’s character) speech,’ where he talks about standing by your fellow man in his darkest hour. That is what these lawyers do, and we think they’re heroes. At the same time, we were interested in the idea of telling a story about an attorney who believes in her client’s innocence and ends up spending all this time with her client and developing feelings for him, and what would happen if that client was as hunky and handsome as Steven Pasquale? We get to explore this really complicated, interesting personal relationship in the pilot, and we’re excited to do that for the show.”

A notable aspect of “Doubt” is the presence of Cox, since it marks the first time a transgender character has been played by a transgender actress in a broadcast-network series.

“That piece is really wonderful,” Cox reflects, “that folks can have a character like (Cox’s) Cameron who is Ivy League-educated. I think the attorneys at (the show’s) Roth & Associates are freedom fighters. Once you’re dealing with the legal system, it is not a system that is designed to benefit you, and we are there to make sure that justice is done. It’s wonderful to get to play a character like that and to be a black transgender woman in that position on CBS. It feels really, really special. And she wears really cool stuff, too.”

“Doubt” originally was aimed for the 2015-16 television season, but revamping and recasting with Heigl and Pasquale resulted in its debut during the current midseason. “We’re so grateful,” Rater maintains of getting a second shot at the project, “because we got to see the parts of the story that weren’t working and we got to correct them. You never get this opportunity, and we did, so we got to learn.”

STORY

Continued from previous page

’


Pictured: Laverne Cox

http://www.cbs.com/


BY GEORGE DICKIE

For Lena Dunham, the character of New York City 20-something Hannah Horvath on HBO’s “Girls” served as an outlet for the actress’ most immature and antisocial impulses.

For instance, if she felt like screaming in someone’s face on the street, Lena couldn’t do that but Hannah certainly could. And chances are that would wind up in the show.

So as the Emmy-winning dramedy about four young women trying to figure out adulthood in Manhattan opens its sixth and final season on Sunday, Feb, 12, its creator and star can’t help but feel a little wistful that that facility is no longer.

“The fact is now I’m like, ‘Where do I put all of my sort of naughtiest instincts?’ ”

STORY

Continued on next pageFriendships are put to the test as HBO’s ‘Girls’ enters its sixth and final season

Pictured: Lena Dunham


Dunham says, “and they’re not going into her and I really miss it. It was so fun to play. I mean, there’s nothing more fun to play than someone who kind of always, instead of walking away, screams a thing in somebody’s face or says the inappropriate thing or sort of says the thing that everybody’s thinking but is too scared to express.”

As the new season begins, the four friends try to draw ever closer to being the women they want to be. Hannah (Dunham) has found success as a writer after her participation in the Moth’s open-mic competition and gets an assignment that could change her life. Marnie (Allison Williams), now divorced, tries to maintain her independence but her self-absorption could undermine her budding relationship with Ray (Alex Karpovsky). A creative project could be a source of contention for new couple Jessa and Adam (Jemima Kirke, Adam Driver), and Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet) wonders if she should ditch her friends in the interest of further professional success.

“This season is really them figuring out that all of their most immature tactics were not working for them,” Dunham explains. “And so all of the characters are kind of having to figure out everything from the logistical – how are we going to make money? – to the emotional – how am I going to make my friends not hate me? And that’s sort of where we go this season and that question of: Should these girls really be friends? Are these realistic relationships? That all really comes to a head this season. All the friendships are in question and they’re tested.”

While Hannah has inched her way toward adulthood, Dunham leapt there. “Girls” afforded the 30-year-old New York native the opportunity to be the star and showrunner of a successful series for six seasons, a time during which she moved out of her parents’ house, entered into a serious relationship and figured out who she is. As much as it was hard work and very long hours, it was an experience in self-discovery that she wouldn’t trade for anything.

“Something that I realized, which was kind of cool, is that I’m actually very comfortable in that role,” she says of being the boss. “I’ve always sort of felt like an old lady and so to kind of be professionally obligated to act like one worked great for me.”

STORY

Continued from previous page

Pictured: Lena Dunham

http://www.hbo.com/

BY JAY BOBBIN

Rarely is animation used to tell a tragic and true story.

By combining that with archival footage – some of it never seen before – director Keith Maitland achieves an unsettling but compelling result with “Tower,” his documentary about the 1966 mass shootings by a sniper who was ensconced on the observation deck atop the tower at the University of Austin, Texas. Recounting how 16 victims died at the time (including shooter Charles Whitman’s mother and wife, whom he killed elsewhere) and nearly three dozen others were wounded, the film makes its television debut as a PBS “Independent Lens” presentation Tuesday, Feb. 14 (check local listings).

Maitland intends “Tower” as a tribute to those who survived the incident, some of whom performed heroic acts to save others, so he’s clear about his reasons for putting much of the retelling in cartoon form. He started the process by talking to some of the people directly affected on that August day more than 50 years ago, and he notes that “every word in the screenplay came from their interviews, from their experience. And then we cast actors to portray these folks, then we shot these scenes in live action and edited them, and then turned them over for animation.”

Before those scenes were re-created, Maitland explains, “I had the actors record all of a ‘scratch’ version of the voiceover, basically, so we could lay out the movie in audio … almost like a radio program. And then we started putting in the archival footage first, and we built the scenes around that. And I think that’s why it works, from an editing perspective, as well as it does.”

“Tower” keeps its focus on the victims instead of the shooter, though Maitland thoroughly researched Whitman. That decision is applauded by Ramiro “Ray” Martinez, one of the Austin police officers who ended the terror by storming the tower.

Now retired, Martinez reflects that the surviving victims “are forgotten, but they are the ones that are still carrying those memories, even 50 years later. So I think that what

(Maitland) did by keying in on the survivors, the people that were witnesses, and the people that have to live with these memories was outstanding. And let’s forget about the sniper. He’s dead. He’s gone, and thank goodness.”

Maitland allows that he worried about the initial reactions of those he approached to participate in “Tower”: “When you make the decision that you are going to call somebody up out of the blue and say, ‘Hey, I want to talk about the worst thing that ever happened to you 50 years ago, you don’t know who I am, and I’m going to turn it into a cartoon,’ you are bound to ruffle some feathers or turn people off or potentially open a can of worms that somebody isn’t prepared to deal with … so I was extremely anxious and extremely sensitive about that.

“What I was shocked to find over and over again,” Maitland adds, “is I didn’t receive a single piece of pushback on any questions about the animation or about the approach from anyone that I can recall. What the animation did give us was an opportunity not just to focus on the big picture, which I think is what most people care about in a story like this, but to focus on the fine-tuned details.”

Maitland had used the animated-documentary style before in “The Eyes of Me,” his Emmy-nominated 2008 profile of four blind teenagers, which also was an “Independent Lens” offering.

In applying the technique again in “Tower,” he reasons, “The experiences that these real folks lived through isn’t something they asked for. It isn’t something they brought upon themselves. It’s something they found themselves thrust into. And that can happen to any one of us at any moment, so I wanted you to feel like you were there. That was definitely a goal. And then I wanted to be able to talk about it afterwards.”


STORY

‘Tower’ re-creates shooting tragedy, partly through animation, on ‘Independent Lens’

http://www.pbs.org/

BY GEORGE DICKIEIf the back-and-forth time jumps of the first season of Starz’s “The Missing” left you confounded and confused, Season 2 star Keeley Hawes has a piece of advice for you.

“Watch the hairstyles,” the charming British actress says with a laugh. “If you’re confused, you just have to watch the hairstyles. That’s all you need to do and it all falls into place.”

The second season of the critically acclaimed English thriller gets underway Sunday, Feb. 12, and once again as the title implies, the action revolves around a disappearance – or in this case two. Hawes (“Upstairs Downstairs,” “Ashes to Ashes”) stars as Gemma Webster, an Englishwoman whose life with military husband Sam (David Morrissey, “The Walking Dead,” “Extant”) and adolescent son Matthew (Jake Davies, “A Mother’s Son”) is rocked when a teenage girl claiming to be their daughter, Alice (Abigail Hardingham, “Silent Witness”), suddenly appears 11 years after the girl vanished.

Her reappearance sends waves of suspicion through the small German town where they’re stationed, especially when it is learned Alice may hold clues to the disappearance of another girl, Sophie Giroux. Haunted by that case is French detective Julien Baptiste (Tcheky Karyo, the only returnee from Season 1), who comes out of retirement to follow information Alice may have on Sophie’s disappearance.

Similar to last season, the storyline here jumps among three timelines: 2003, when Alice disappeared; 2014, when she


A daughter’s reappearance

sends a family reeling

in Season 2 of Starz’s

‘The Missing’

surfaced; and the present, the investigation of the case. Over that period, we watch a family already knocked off its feet by the loss of one of its own begin to implode upon her reappearance. But Gemma begins to wonder if this is really Alice.

“She becomes a detective,” Hawes says. “She is determined to get to the bottom of this and she goes through so much. One of the reasons I was so drawn to (the series was) she goes through so much and she changes and by the end of it I was just cheering her on all the way through because she finds strength when lots of us would probably falter.”

The two men in her life don’t appear to fare nearly as well, as Sam engages in an extramarital affair and Matthew falls in with a bad crowd.

Meanwhile, Gemma and Baptiste are off following their suspicions.

“They’re quite similar and they have this instinct,” Hawes says, “and so I love it when they sort of pair up together and she’s incredibly helpful to him. You know, they’re like a dog with a bone. They can’t let it go.”

STORY

http://www.starz.com/originals/blacksails


FULL NAME: Eric Craig Staal

BORN: Oct. 29, 1984

BIRThPLACE: Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada

hEIghT/wEIghT: 6 foot 4 inches/205 pounds

TEAMS: Minnesota Wild (current), New York Rangers, Carolina Hurricanes

POSITION: Center

NO.: 12

hONORS AND AChIEVEMENTS: Stanley Cup Champion, 2006; Olympic Gold Medal, 2010; holds Carolina Hurricanes’ record of 349 consecutive games, 2004-2009

SPORTS

Minnesota, Wild about

ERIC STAAL

Story on next page


The Minnesota Wild ended their 2015-16 season in the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, losing to the Dallas Stars in six games. They’re hoping the addition of veteran Eric Staal can carry them deeper in this year’s NHL postseason. Staal and the Wild host the Detroit Red Wings, Sunday, February 12 on NBC.

So far the signing of Staal as a free agent has worked out well. The Wild have been at or near the top of both the Central Division and the Western Conference, especially since going 12-2 in the month of December and starting January 5-1. Various power rankings have them amongst the top three teams in the NHL. Staal has been leading the way as the team’s top scorer, and the Wild are among the best in several offensive and defensive categories.

Staal is the oldest of four brothers who all are currently signed to NHL teams. He came into the league with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2003 as the second overall pick and was immediately inserted into the ‘Canes lineup. He helped Carolina win the Stanley Cup in 2006. A native of Canada, he played on their World Championship team in 2007 and won a Gold Medal with Team Canada at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, making him the twenty-third player to be a member of the Triple Gold Club.

Staal spent nearly twelve seasons with Carolina before being traded mid-season in 2016 to the New York Rangers. He signed a three-year contract with Minnesota before this season.

BY DAN LADD

ERICSTAAL

SPORTS


“Monster Trucks” has a lot working against it. For one thing, it was filmed a couple of years ago, and only now is it getting its release ... though star Lucas Till, who is television’s new “MacGyver,” almost looks young enough to erase the impression of that time gap.

Still, it’s a leap – both then and now – for him to play a teenager, and one who’s obsessed with vehicles, building them as well as driving them. That’s both good and not so much when a local fuel company run by Rob Lowe’s character greedily goes drilling for new riches and, in the process, disturbs some creatures that should have been left alone.

It turns out those monsters like the same kinds of cars and trucks our young hero does, and he ends up bonding with one of the creatures ... making you wonder exactly which audience demographic “Monster Trucks” is aimed at. The story goes that the very young child of a then-studio executive came up with the plot here, and based on what’s on view, that seems very possible.

Jane Levy (so good in last year’s thriller “Don’t Breathe”), Danny Glover, Amy Ryan and Barry Pepper are among the other solid performers here, and it’s all they can

do not to be swallowed up by special effects that aren’t all that special for the most part. Director Chris Wedge comes from the animated-movie world, with such credits as “Ice Age” and “Robots”; it might have seemed enticing for him to apply his craft to a live-action film, but the end doesn’t justify the means here.

That said, one sector of the moviegoing public that may enjoy “Monster Trucks”

is the constituency that likes ... well, monster trucks. A film by this title can’t get away with not providing a substantial amount of the title machines, and anyone who enjoys tinkering with engines may feel the ticket price was well-spent. A rather sophomoric plot is the other price to be paid, but for those viewers, the tires and chassis just might win out.

With something like “Monster Trucks,” you want movie magic to be the result. For the most part, the outcome here is just loud and frantic and more than a little childish – and its delay in reaching theaters indicates that even its studio knew it is anything but a monster hit.

JAY BOBBIN'S THEATRICAL MOVIE REVIEW

‘MONSTER TRUCKS’ drives a hard, difficult bargain

MOVIES

Our Take

Lucas Till

“BAD SANTA 2” (Feb. 21): The offbeat Willie and his sidekick Marcus (Billy Bob Thornton, Tony Cox) team up again and set their sights on a Chicago charity. (R: AS, N, P)

“BEAUTY AND ThE BEAST (LA BELLE ET LA BETE)” (Feb. 21): Vincent Cassel and Lea Seydoux (“Spectre”) have the title roles in this mature version of the fairy tale. (PG-13: AS, N, V)

“gRACE AND FRANKIE: SEASON 2” (Feb. 21): Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin continue as the Netflix series’ title characters, who bond after their husbands leave them for each other. (Not rated: AS, P)

“hACKSAw RIDgE” (Feb. 21): Mel Gibson directs the true drama of an Army doctor (Andrew Garfield) who, weaponless, saved numerous lives during the World War II battle of Okinawa. (R: AS, GV)

“MANChESTER BY ThE SEA” (Feb. 21): A loner (Casey Affleck) is named guardian of his late brother’s son in writer-director Kenneth Lonergan’s drama; Michelle Williams also stars. (R: AS, P)

“SOLACE” (March 14): A psychically skilled FBI consultant (Anthony Hopkins) goes up against a serial killer (Colin Farrell); Jeffrey Dean Morgan also stars. (R: AS, N, P, V)

UPCOMING DVD RELEASES

JAY BOBBIN'S DVD DIGEST

Top PickDVD

Pictured: Billy Bob Thornton

Pictured: Amy Adams

“ARRIVAL”Amy Adams does a stunning job as the

audience’s surrogate in director Denis Villeneuve’s (“Sicario”) contact-with-

aliens drama, now up for eight Oscars including best picture. The actress plays

a linguistics expert enlisted by the U.S. government to determine the intentions of the visitors from another world, who

have stationed themselves around Earth, and it’s ultimately up to her to deconstruct

governmental fears that an intergalactic war may be looming. Jeremy Renner and

Forest Whitaker also star, but the heavy lifting is on Adams – who fulfills it very

successfully – as a woman who channels her personal grief into her professional

mission. ››› (PG-13: AS, P) (Also on Blu-ray and On Demand)


Family Viewing Ratings

AS Adult situations P Profanity V Violence N Nudity gV Graphic Violence

MOVIES


continued on next page

SWEETHEART TV

SUNDAY

“Love Actually” (Showtime, 2 p.m.)

“Bob’s Burgers” (Fox, 9:30 p.m.) NEw

MONDAY

“Supergirl” (The CW, 8 p.m.) NEw

“2 Broke girls” (CBS, 9:30 p.m.) NEw

TUESDAY

“Titanic” (AMC, 10 a.m.)

“New girl”

(Fox, 8 p.m.) NEw

“how to Be Single” (HBO, 8 p.m.)

“Lady Eve”

(TCM, 8 p.m.)

“American housewife” (ABC, 8:30 p.m.) NEw

“The Mick” (Fox, 8:31 p.m.) NEw

“Fresh Off the Boat” (ABC, 9 p.m.) NEw

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12 while You were Dating 9 p.m. on hallmark Channel After connecting and clicking anonymously online, Nick Stendahl and Julia Minterman (Billy Baldwin, Stefanie von Pfetten) decide to go on a date, where they are stunned but amused to discover they are former spouses. While things are a mite awkward, they decide to try to set each other up with their friends, but ... you can see where this new 2017 romantic comedy is heading, right? Robert Moloney, Julia Benson, Lochlyn Munro and Aliyah O’Brien also star.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13 Man with a Plan 8:30 p.m. on CBS Valentine’s Day plans threaten to collapse for Adam and Andi (Matt LeBlanc, Liza Snyder) when their babysitter bows out in a new episode titled – appropriately enough – “Valentine’s Day.” They ultimately decide, with much trepidation, to let Kate (Grace Kaufman) mind her younger siblings. Don (Kevin Nealon) is in a bind on the occasion of hearts and flowers when he forgets to make special plans for himself and Marcy (guest star Kali Rocha).

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14 Love at First glance 8 p.m. on hallmark Channel Journalist Mary Landers (Amy Smart, “Justified”) is left feeling dull and predictable after her boyfriend breaks up with her, but on the way home from the office, she locks eyes with handsome photojournalist James Fielding (Adrian Grenier, “Entourage”). Before they can speak, he exits the train, leaving behind his phone – a connection that takes Mary on a new romantic adventure that is anything but predictable or dull. Jonathan Bennett, Richard Riehle, Lee Purcell, John Shea and Brad Johnson also star in this new 2017 romance.

While You Were Dating

Man With a Plan

Cutline


SWEETHEART TV

“I Love Lucy” (CBS, 1951-57): How could any list of shows with “love” in the title not start with one of television’s most enduring classics? As friends Fred and Ethel Mertz (William Frawley, Vivian Vance) often looked on, zany Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball) often befuddled her nightclub star husband, Ricky (Desi Arnaz, Ball’s then-spouse).

“Love of Life” (CBS, 1951-80): Back when soap operas ruled the afternoon airwaves, this saga dealt with the good and not-so-nice forces in a community, with Christopher Reeve among the drama’s most famous alumni.

“Love, American Style” (ABC, 1969-74): Each episode of this anthology usually consisted of several romantic comedy vignettes, one of the stories particularly memorable since it became the pilot for “Happy Days.”

“Bridget Loves Bernie” (CBS, 1972-73): Though old-fashioned in many ways, the charm of the cast of this comedy about an interfaith marriage – including title stars Meredith Baxter and David Birney, who actually married in real life – went a long way.

“The Love Boat” (ABC, 1977-87): “Love, exciting and new ... .” So sang Jack Jones (and, in the final season, Dionne Warwick) in welcoming viewers and guest “passengers” aboard the Pacific Princess, which set sail with a “crew” led by Gavin MacLeod as the captain.

“Love, Sidney” (NBC, 1981-83): A great showcase for Tony Randall’s talents, this comedy cast him as a New Yorker who provided shelter and “family” for a single mother and her daughter (Swoosie Kurtz, Kaleena Kiff).

“Joanie Loves Chachi” (ABC, 1982-83): Erin Moran and Scott Baio carried their “Happy Days” roles into this spinoff.

“Anything but Love” (ABC, 1989-92): Moderating his stand-up-comedy persona, Richard Lewis proved a good match for Jamie Lee Curtis in the saga of magazine colleagues whose relationship was just platonic ... until Season 3.

“Everybody Loves Raymond” (CBS, 1996-2005): At the latest Kennedy Center Honors, Ray Romano touchingly told how David Letterman put him under contract to develop a show for him, resulting in this slow-starting but ultimately long-running sitcom about a sportswriter and his often too-close family.

“Big Love” (hBO, 2006-11): Arguably the most controversial series yet to use “Love” in its name, this drama cast Bill Paxton as a polygamist and Jeanne Tripplehorn, Ginnifer Goodwin and Chloe Sevigny as his wives.

“Love” (Netflix, 2016-present): Gillian Jacobs and series co-creator Paul Rust are painfully perfect as decidedly imperfect people whose new relationship is riddled with missteps.

Bet ‘Love’ seriesBY JAY BOBBIN

The Love Boat

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