April 2009

Picture this: You have an opportunity for a free trip. You’ll be dropped somewhere in the wilds of Alaska. There you and your fellow adventurers will have to live entirely off the land as you hike back to civilization. You’ll have only a bit of wilderness training, some basic supplies — and no food. Plus, there will be no winner at the end, nor will you have any real notion of when that end will actually occur. You might think twice about joining that line, but not Chicago lawyer Carolyn Yamazaki. Wearing a summer dress and heels, she was on […]

Beginning April 19 and airing Sundays on FOX, the new sitcom Sit Down, Shut Up features much of the creative team behind the unfortunately short-lived Arrested Development, including executive producer Mitchell Hurwitz and stars Jason Bateman and Will Arnett. Based on a live-action Australian series, SDSU is a unique animated program set against a live backdrop, and focuses on the lives of some not-particularly dedicated schoolteachers, each with their individual quirks. Among the vocal cast, which also includes Henry Winkler and Cheri Oteri, is Emmy nominee and singer Kristin Chenoweth, who was most recently seen on television in another show […]

Amber Tamblyn must have a taste for the unique, especially regarding her television projects — from Joan of Arcadia, in which she received assignments from God, to the unseen pilot for the dark-humored, zombie-themed Babylon Fields (“I wish [it had aired]; it was so good,” she says). Now she embarks on another unorthodox project, a new series that takes the tried-and-true police detective drama and incorporates the comic insanity sometimes found in that profession. The Unusuals, premiering April 8 on ABC (HD) and airing Wednesdays, follows a team of NYC Homicide cops who examine the “unusuals” — murder cases that […]

It’s hard to believe it’s been roughly six years since Love Comes Softly, the first of Janette Oke’s Love series of romance novels set in frontier America, was adapted for Hallmark Channel. In the intervening years, the films have become highly anticipated events, full of pathos, romance and Americana. This month brings the finale in a double shot of wholesome family entertainment with Love Takes Wing and Love Finds a Home. And Oscar- and Emmy-winning Patty Duke was thrilled to find a place in the final film of this beloved series. Playing a character in a period piece was a […]

Whether it’s the “Cougar Den” skits on Saturday Night Live, or Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate, older women who prefer younger men have long been fodder for comedy. They’re portrayed at best as predatory, or at worst, desperate. But now one “cougar” is turning the tables. Stacey Anderson, a stunning, sophisticated 40-year-old real-estate agent from Scottsdale, Ariz., will have her pick of 20 eligible younger men during the eight-episode elimination dating show The Cougar, which airs Wednesdays beginning April 15 on TV Land. The 20-something guys will have to succeed with challenges like remembering important facts about Anderson, coming up […]

When one thinks of Henry VIII — he of the six wives, most of whom did not have happy endings — adjectives like lecherous and fat come immediately to mind. These images are spawned, no doubt, by the famous paintings of a rotund monarch with tiny eyes all but obscured by a fleshy face. Though this was Henry only in his last years — after a jousting injury forced a formerly athletic man into a sedentary lifestyle — it’s the king we know from films and television specials. Fortunately for Henry, the Showtime series The Tudors, beginning its third season […]

For several millennia, the city of Jerusalem has been regarded as sacred by the people of the Jewish, Muslim and Christian faiths, and for centuries it’s been a source of inspiration and wonder — as well as a source of tension and grief. Now a new PBS documentary, Jerusalem: Center of the World, hosted by Ray Suarez, seeks to enlighten the general public on the story of this city with the most complex of histories. Filmmaker Andrew Goldberg‘s project — produced in tandem with a host of others who meticulously, studiously represent each of the major faiths concerned with Jerusalem […]

Sean Astin lends the perfect voice and personality to the lovable, bumbling bear in training — Oso — in Disney Channel‘s newest series Special Agent Oso, airing weekdays beginning April 4. While dishing about Oso, Astin talked about his latest “knowing your age” comedy, Stay Cool, and more. I imagine Disney Channel must have sought you out for Special Agent Oso. How did that come about? Sean Astin: I was over in England working on the Color of Magic. I got this FedEx with Oso’s picture in it and a few different poses and characters and I just took one […]