The Star Online: Entertainment: TV & Radio
The Star Online: Entertainment: TV & Radio |
| Posted: New Michael J. Fox show highlights humour in Parkinson's fight. Actor Michael J. Fox said he aimed to bring laughs and a dose of reality about day-to-day living with Parkinson's disease to a new NBC comedy loosely based on his life, his first lead role in a television show in 13 years. In the upcoming The Michael J. Fox Show, the actor plays a father with Parkinson's who returns to work as a local newscaster on an NBC TV station in New York. To his surprise, his fictional family reacts with relief that he will be getting out of the house.The show draws from Fox's own experience to generate laughs and give viewers a sense of everyday life with Parkinson's, a nerve disorder that causes tremors. In one scene, gun-toting police show up at his character's home after his shaky hands accidentally dial 911. "The reality of Parkinson's is that sometimes it's frustrating, sometimes it's funny," Fox, 52, said last weekend at the semi-annual Television Critics Association press tour. The show will not veer into dark humour, he said, because he did not see his disease that way. "There's nothing horrible on the surface about someone with shaky hands," he said. "There's nothing horrible about someone in their life saying, 'God, I'm really tired of this shaky hand thing' and me saying, 'Me, too'. That's our reality." The show, which debuts Sept 26 in the United States, is a high-profile bet by Comcast-owned NBC to lift its prime-time ratings. The Canadian-born Fox won over audiences in the 1980s for his role as conservative Alex P. Keaton on NBC sitcom Family Ties, and as teen adventurer Marty McFly in the Back To The Future movies. He later starred in the ABC political comedy Spin City, but semi-retired from acting in 2000 as his Parkinson's symptoms worsened and he focused his efforts on research for a cure.
"It's what I've loved to do," he said. "I thought: 'Why can't I? There's no reason not to do it'." Parkinson's will figure less prominently in later episodes, Fox said. His real-life wife and Family Ties co-star, Tracy Pollan, will make an appearance. His wife on the show is played by Breaking Bad actress Betsy Brandt. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will also guest star, playing himself in one episode. Fox said his real-life family supported his return to a regular series role. "There is a kind of scrutiny of their stuff that won't exist if I'm occupied doing something else," he joked. — Reuters |
| Posted: [unable to retrieve full-text content]New drama The Bridge connects murder and immigration. |
| Posted: The Walking Dead's zombies are beneath snobbish academy. This year's Emmy nominations reflected a lot of change in TV. Netflix got creative validation; there are more female-led dramas than ever. But one rule has become calcified: No zombies need apply. Even as hordes of network executives and publicists hawked their wares at Comic-Con, The Walking Dead was once again shut out of the Emmys. On lists that ran as long as seven slots, every show and its brother seemed to get a nomination – except, you know, the show that's the No 1 scripted drama in the key 18-to-49-year-old demographic. Even Scandal and Nashville made lists, for heaven's sake. You would think the television academy, of all institutions, would understand the shortsightedness of genre elitism. For years, television has felt the sting of snobbishness, perpetually playing second fiddle to film and diminished by epithets such as "the boob tube" or "the idiot box". Now, of course, the tide has turned; film stars, writers and directors flock to TV, sparking a creative melee that is as rich in both promise and peril as the logistical implications of Netflix. Mad Men may have set the template for the new basic-cable-goes-scripted model that every network and streaming service is now following, but The Walking Dead made it critically acclaimed and commercially viable. Smartly written, beautifully acted and gorgeously shot, The Walking Dead tells the same intertwined tales of physical and moral survival, of family bonds, fractured passions and social collapse that have become the hallmark of our "prestige" dramas while creating a post-apocalyptic world as vivid and detailed as ever seen on any screen, big or small. But it's about, you know, zombies. And though the purveyors of awards have been forced with great reluctance to accept that warrior-based fantasy is as genuine and effective a sub-genre as, say, gangster epics or CIA thrillers, they draw the line at the undead. I understand that horror is not for everyone and popularity among young people is not synonymous with quality, but members of the television academy must take degree of difficulty into consideration. Horror is the hardest genre to sustain with depth and dignity. Even Game Of Thrones has the advantage of taking place in a truly alternate universe. Year after year, despite all its well-publicised internal drama, The Walking Dead continually transcends the confines of its own decaying flesh. It isn't even about zombies at this point. The Walking Dead is, obviously, not the only name on the "shoulda been" list. The rise of television has been slow and steady and much-chronicled by those who cover it, but this year's nominations provide the quantifiable proof of its scope. Every category is bursting at the seams, and still there are the shadow lists of those just as deserving. The female leads, in drama and comedy, were particularly gratifying. Just a few years ago, putting together a list of five was something of a chore (name a woman in a leading role who isn't Mariska Hargitay!). Now seven (drama) and six (comedy) don't quite cover it. But where is Tatiana Maslany for Orphan Black? It's an amazing show and she plays six characters, people! Where, for that matter, are Julianna Margulies for The Good Wife or Keri Russell for The Americans? Let's hear it for Laura Dern, whose excellent and revolutionary HBO comedy Enlightened got cancelled this year (please win, please win). But shouldn't Patricia Heaton have been nominated for The Middle by now? Peter Dinklage and Emilia Clarke were nominated, but Game Of Thrones could have easily filled the supporting/drama category – Lena Headey was also fabulous this year, ditto Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Gwendoline Christie. I could go on, and many will, as the "what-were-they-thinking?" lists jam up new and old media. Everyone will have their top causes of exultation and aggrievement, and no doubt the category issue will be re-examined. Netflix made history, as did Kerry Washington – the fact that almost 20 years separates her from the last black woman who earned a lead actress nomination is truly horrifying. But more important, television made history too. It has become so good that even the Emmys can't keep up. – Los Angeles Times/McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
| You are subscribed to email updates from TV To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 ulasan:
Catat Ulasan