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FOLIO

Courtesy of Gracenote November 29 - December 5, 2015

EXCLUSIVE!

PROFILED ATHLETE

ROB

GRONKOWSKI

CELEBRITY SPOTLIGHTS

DENNIS QUAID JENNIFER FINNIGAN

SEAN BEAN EDEN SHER

ROGER COOK

WHAT'S FOR DINNER

Featuring: Michael Chernow

Shanice Williams stars in a modern update of the classic fantasy in “The Wiz Live!,” airing Thursday on NBC.

THE STORY!

MOVIES TO WATCH And so much more!Connect to these shows within this magazine!

We’re f to see the wonderful ‘Wiz’

FEATUREDSTORIES“A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS” “CMA COUNTRY CHRISTMAS”

“FLIP OR FLOP”

YOUR TV LINK Courtesy of Gracenote November 29 - December 5, 2015

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What’s HOT this

Week!

16 JOSEPH “REV RUN”

SIMMONS Travels with the Rev.

20-21 Featuring: Theatrical Review, Our top DVD pick, and Coming Soon on DVD.

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

18-19 ROB GRONKOWSKI Gronk and the Patriots hope to counter Peyton and the Broncos.

4 DENNIS QUAID

Dennis Quaid already knew his character.

5 JENNIFER FINNIGAN “Tyrant” co-star goes “light” in “Angel of Christmas.”

6 SEAN BEAN

Trying to find the balance in his two characters.

7 MICHAEL CHERNOW Michael Chernow is being seduced by food in new FYI series.

9 ROGER COOK

An expert landscape contractor.

8 EDEN SHER

On her art of creating a dictionary for her feelings.

CELEBRITY

FOOD

SPORTS

MOVIES

“A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS” A holiday favorite marks its 50th anniversary

“THE WIZ LIVE!”

The yellow brick road gets a facelift in “The Wiz Live!”

THE STORY!

REALITY

“CMA COUNTRY

CHRISTMAS”

Jennifer Nettles is in the holiday driver’s seat again

“FLIP OR FLOP”

The El Moussas work on more expensive houses 17

IN EVERY ISSUE

SSTORY

November 29 - December 5, 2015 YOUR TV LINK Courtesy of Gracenote

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When executive producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron decided on “The Wiz” as their next live holiday musical for NBC, they had no idea of the excitement the project would generate within the black music community. The duo just loved the Tony-winning 1975 Broadway show, which reconceives L. Frank Baum’s classic fantasy “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” as an R&B tuner with an all-black cast.

Produced in association with Cirque du Soleil, “The Wiz Live!” premieres Thursday, Dec. 3, with a power cast that includes Queen Latifah in the title role, Ne-Yo as The Tin Woodman, Mary J. Blige as the Wicked Witch of the West, David Alan Grier as the Cowardly Lion and newcomer Shanice Williams as Dorothy. The show also features Emmy winner Uzo Aduba (“Orange Is the New Black”) and Amber Riley (“Glee”) as the two good witches of Oz, Elijah Kelley (“Hairspray”) as the Scarecrow and Common as the Emerald City gatekeeper.

“This piece talks to people in a way that we didn’t even realize,” Zadan says. “It has an emotional resonance and when we started calling people, everybody wanted to be in it. Everybody.”

The Broadway production nearly closed on opening night, before finding its audience, going on to win seven Tony Awards and running for more than four years. A polarizing 1978 movie adaptation with Diana Ross and Michael Jackson initially flopped, but has since found a significant fan base.

“The Wiz Live!” strives to recapture the joyous energy of the Broadway original, while blowing off the cobwebs of

the past four decades. Grammy winner Harvey Mason Jr.,

who produced the “Dreamgirls” movie soundtrack, has

been brought in to give the score a more contemporary

sound.

“Instead of having a Broadway pit-band sound, which is

a bit generic, he’s made it very specific, very black R&B,”

Zadan says. “It sounds authentic to the point where the

songs just come alive.”

Tony-winning playwright Harvey Fierstein similarly has

freshened up William F. Brown’s original stage script.

“Harvey blew the dust off of it and set it now,” Meron

explains. “It’s still a young girl being swept away from

Kansas to begin her journey in this world of Oz, but he

has enhanced the emotional connections between the

characters and connected the dots between all of the plot

points, which were a little bit looser in 1975. He also has

made it funnier, and it’s real character humor.”

Stephanie Mills, who played Dorothy on Broadway in

1975, appears as Aunt Em in this telecast, for which

Williams, 19, won the lead over hundreds of other

contenders.

“We saw about a thousand girls,” Meron says. “To say that

it was between several girls is simply not true. There was

only one, and that was Shanice. Besides being a really

great singer and young actress, she’s just real. She walks

into a room and you just love her. You need that with

Dorothy, to go on this journey with her, to root for her. She

was the only one that we collectively felt could do the job.”

Editor's choice

A starry cast eases on down the road in ‘THE WIZ LIVE!’ for NBC

Pictured: David Alan Grier

BY JOHN CROOK

http://www.nbc.com/

FOLIO


DENNISQUAID

How is it doing a series for streaming as opposed to cable or broadcast?There’s no difference. There’s the lights, the cameras and the crew. Everything’s the same.

How much of a learning curve was there to bone up on your character of rough-around-the-edges self-made tycoon Sam Brukner?I don’t know if I did so much boning up this time. I felt like I already knew this guy, so I went with that. I just let it happen. I didn’t do a whole lot of research or anything like that. I just came up with a back story for him. That was about it.

Does Sam like art for art’s sake or for where it can get him?Yeah, he loves art. There are certain things he loves. He sees the beauty in it but he would sell it in a minute for, not necessarily the right price, but for the right (situation).

Do you think there will be a learning curve for the audience for something as esoteric as an art auction house?Isn’t there always? Every time I sit down to watch a series, it’s always a commitment. It’s always a squirm for about the first episode or 10 minutes or whatever it is because you’re getting to know it, (getting familiar with) a different world. And so yeah, there’s a learning curve for an audience on any show.

GEORGE DICKIE’S Q&A

CELEBRITYC

of ‘The Art of More’ on Crackle


Your reporter character in the movie maintains a sense of skepticism and humor, then eventually becomes more of a believer in Christmas. How was that arc for you to play? It was so much fun! It wasn’t overbearing, it wasn’t roll-your-eyes, it wasn’t saccharine. I liked the character, and more than anything, I wanted to make her quirkier than she was on the page. I just infused her with that neurotic “thing” that I love to do, and with certain choices I made, I turned to the director (Ron Oliver) and said, “Am I gonna get arrested by the Actors Police for this?” And he would laugh and be like, “No. Just go for it.”“Tyrant” is a very intense show, all-encompassing – and you feel isolated living in another country, and the subject matter is incredibly difficult and draining. I think it’s a very important show, and I couldn’t be prouder to be on it, but I was craving doing something light. And this was such a marked difference.

CELEBRITYC

OF “ANGEL OF CHRISTMAS” SUNDAY ON HALLMARK CHANNEL

You haven’t done much holiday-movie work, so what made you decide on “Angel of Christmas”? I came back from Budapest (and filming the FX series “Tyrant”), and Jonny (actor-director husband Jonathan Silverman) and I left a week later for Hawaii. And just into my vacation, Hallmark sent me that script, and I thought about saying, “No! I just need a vacation!” – but my husband said, “Oh, I’ll read it for you.”I don’t know if it was the Mai Tais or what, but he was teary-eyed at the end ... so I went, “All right. Give me the script.” And I read it and thought it was so cute and so charming, and I was desperate to do something fun and funny, where I wasn’t hysterical in every scene. I thought, “If it works out date-wise, I’m going to do it.” And we landed from Hawaii and I left for this the next morning.

JAY BOBBIN’S Q&A


http://www.hallmarkchannel.com/

GEORGE DICKIE’S Q&A

CELEBRITYC

The exteriors in the second season are quite striking. Where did you film?We shot about two or three weeks in London and then we moved to Prague, and that kind of doubles up for Paris and Germany and stuff like that. But the majority of the filming was shot in and around Prague, which is used for filming quite a lot but it does lend a kind of atmospheric quality to it and it suited our purposes very wellYou know, once you got on the outskirts, it was rather dilapidated factories, which were perfect for us and the Russian gangster and where he runs his office from. And then you’ve got the panoramic view but we didn’t kind of dwell on that too much. It was more the streets and the darkness with a lot of night shots, and it was kind of seedy, kind of steely, gritty, seedy kind of backdrop that was very good for us. It suited us.

of ‘Legends’ Monday on TNT

Your character of deep-cover operative Martin Odum poses as other people while being unsure of who he is. What are the challenges for an actor in playing that?I guess it’s tricky to kind of balance two characters at the same time but fortunately we shot a lot of Dmitry on separate days and it was occasionally overlapped when I played two characters in one day. But by that time, I had become very familiar with the character that I was playing so I could switch from one to another quite easily.But it’s just a matter of focusing on two very different people, one of them the Russian man who I play very confident and very sure of himself ... and arrogant but kind of likable at the same time. I certainly liked him. ... And then I was playing Martin, who’s a little more anxious because of his mental state, I guess, and trying to retrace his life through meeting various characters. So once I figured that out, it wasn’t difficult for me to jump straight into each different character on the same day if required.



http://www.tntdrama.com/

FOODF

GEORGE DICKIE’S WHAT'S FOR DINNER

When was the last vacation you took, where and why?“The last vacation I took was with my wife, and it was right after she got pregnant about a year and a half ago. We flew to Madrid, rented a car and drove through Spain for two weeks. Amazing! Why? To eat, of course.”Michael Chernow

What book are you currently reading?“I feel like a true dummy, but I am not reading a book right now. Simply too busy. I did, however, read a few books on the road while shooting. The last one was ‘Four Fish’ by Paul Greenburg – great book.”

What did you have for dinner last night?“Last night I ate at my restaurant in New York City, Seamore’s. I had a Reel Deal with line-caught swordfish and it was amazing!”

What is your next project?“I am really focused on my new restaurant Seamore’s. We opened four months ago and have been killing it. I have been snooping around town for a second location, but am in no rush as I have opened a restaurant every year for the last six years. Being around to raise my son is a major priority for me. The one bit of advice I always get from older restaurateurs is to spend as much time with the family as you can, especially when the kids are young as you can never get that time back.”

The concept of food porn – aka spectacular looking meals and dishes – has become something of a cultural phenomenon, with people taking cellphone pictures of their food and posting them to Instagram and Twitter literally hundreds of thousands of times a day.

With that in mind, FYI come forth with “Food Porn,” premiering Thursday, Dec. 3, in which New York City restaurateur and host Michael Chernow travels the country in search of mouth-watering dishes generating the most online buzz.

“We actually looked for the most hashtagged foodporn dishes around the country and went after them,” he says.

In fourteen half-hour episodes, Chernow takes viewers to such locales as San Francisco, Atlanta, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Miami to feast their eyes (and his taste buds) on such comestibles as lobster pop-tarts, pizza pot pies, ramen burgers and a breakfast ice cream cake.

In Thursday’s opener, he heads to Atlanta to try the fried chicken sandwich at Gunshow.

“Gunshow was one of my favorite joints on the road,” Chernow says. “When we decided we wanted to hit Atlanta as one of our cities, we started to look for social media heavy dishes in the city. Gunshow had major traction. Chef Kevin Gillespie and I hit it off – we were like brothers right away. The restaurant itself is super cool and my kind of place, unique but totally fun and approachable. Everything from the owner to the staff, to the music, to the concept, is a home run in my book. Chef Kevin and I will cross paths again for sure.”

SUCCULENCE m e a n s s e d u c t i o n

on FYI ’s ‘Food Porn’

Click or tap on icon for more! fyi


http://www.fyi.tv/

CCELEBRITY

GEORGE DICKIE’S CELEBRITY SCOOP


EDEN SHER

Actors can be considered experts on emotions, given that they are constantly required to conjure them in their line of work.

Eden Sher, who plays middle child Sue Heck on the Wednesday ABC comedy “The Middle,” has gone a step further, creating words not found in Webster’s to describe how she’s feeling. She’s created so many of them, in fact, that they now make up a website and a forthcoming book, “The Emotionary.”

“ ‘The Emotionary’ is a dictionary of feelings,” explains the 23-year-old Los Angeles native, “and I just made up words that don’t exist for feelings that do.”

The process, she estimates, took three or four years. She always carried a notepad, and when inspiration would strike – say, while shopping at the grocery store – she’d jot the word down.

“For instance,” she says, “something that I feel all the time is ambiviculty, which is ambivalence plus difficulty. Which is the anxiety of having to make decisions. So I have a lot of ambiviculty with daily (life) – like going to the grocery store and seeing 15 brands of goat cheese, I nearly have a panic attack.

“So that’s my process, just living, like, ‘Oh my God, I feel so anxious. What is that?’ And I’m like, ‘OK, I’m going to just live in this anxiety. Like what is that? I just can’t make decisions.’ And then I just make a word for it and I call that art,” she says, laughing.

These days, she’s in her seventh season playing the socially awkward Sue on the ABC sitcom, on a set, she says, is a very happy one.

“We have a totally open-door policy to just chill in each other’s trailers if we so please,” she says. “I think I take it for granted how close and comfortable and how we can knock on anyone’s door and just hang out in there whenever.”

Full name: Eden Rebecca Sher

Birth date: Dec. 26, 1991

Birthplace: Los Angeles

TV credits: “Weeds,” “The O.C.,” “Sons & Daughters,” “Sonny With a Chance,” “Party Down,” “Stalker Chronicles,” “Pair of Kings,” “Lizzie & Ali, a (Mostly) True Story,” “Scotch Moses,” “Star vs. The Forces of Evil”

Movie credits: “Stuck” (2001), “Veronica Mars” (2014), “Temps” (forthcoming), “The Outskirts” (forthcoming)

Hobbies: yoga, hiking, reading, music, volunteering

Did you know: She also wrote, directed and produced the film short “The Suitcase” (2013)


http://abc.go.com/


CELEBRITY PROFILE CCELEBRITY

ROGERCOOK- In 1977, he received a Bachelor of Science degree in wildlife management and conservation law from the University of Maine.

- He owns and operates K & R Tree and Landscape Co, Inc., which he founded in 1982 with his late wife, Kathleen.

- He is the landscape contractor for the Emmy Award-winning television series, “This Old House,” and appears on its sister show, “Ask This Old House.” He also serves on the editorial board of This Old House magazine.

- He first appeared on the series in 1982 when he was working as the landscape foreman for the Frost and Higgins Company. A phone call many years later from landscape architect Tom Wirth changed everything. It was 1988, the project was the Lexington Bed & Breakfast renovation, and he was on board full time as the landscape contractor.

- A certified landscape contractor in Massachusetts, he is an active member of the Massachusetts Arborist Association and has served as president of the board of directors of New England Grows and the Association of Landscape Contractors of Massachusetts.

- In 2002, he received the Massachusetts Association of Landscape Professionals Beacon Award. It is given to a person whose actions serve as a guide, and a challenge, to other members in the landscape contracting profession.

- He is the TV spokesperson and safety ambassador for Dig Safe. Every other year he takes time out of his busy schedule to shoot spots encouraging people in New England to call 811 before digging, even for small jobs, like planting a tree or installing a fence.

- He has two children, and his first grandchild, Peter Thomas Cook, was born earlier this year on March 11.

- When he’s not working or gardening, he enjoys saltwater fishing and spending time on Cape Cod.

Roger Cook is an expert landscape contractor who can be seen on the current season of “This Old House.”

CCELEBRITY


“How about those two iconic events, being a week apart? Getting to be hosts of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, then being the ones who flip the switch to light the tree in Rockefeller Center? If that can’t get you in the holiday spirit, nothing will.” – Matt Lauer of “Today” on NBC, about his extra seasonal duties with his morning-show colleagues

“I don’t have a TV ... but I’m told you can get all these great shows, which I really should be watching, on your computer. I can be watching this stuff while I travel, so maybe next year, I’ll have a better answer.” – Hilary Swank, seen recently on “The All-Star Dog Rescue Celebration” on Fox, about her television viewing habits (or lack thereof)

“We had lots of background actors who were there every day. So (the director would) yell to a group of 30 Pilgrims or 25 Indian Americans, ‘Remember, you’re landing on the moon. This is Mars. You’ve never seen these things before.’ So in a sense, it was for these people a science-fiction journey. They really had no idea what was around the next cropping of rocks or bushes.” – Vincent Kartheiser, recently of “Saints & Strangers” on National Geographic Channel

CCELEBRITY


Bobby Deen of “Holiday Baking Championship”

on Food Network

“(Laughs) You know what I

watch? People laugh at me for this. I once had

somebody at my house and they said, ‘Do

you watch this when you’re

alone, Bobby?’ I like ‘Antiques

Roadshow.’ (laughs) I’m

embarrassed to say that but I like ‘Antiques

Roadshow.’ And I’m a big fan of ‘America’s

Test Kitchen.’ I guess I like the PBS channels,

stuff like that. But ‘America’s Test Kitchen’ I find to be very

entertaining and informative.”

Jennifer Finnigan of “Angel of Christmas” on Hallmark Channel“I’m such an avid TV-watcher ...TV is my life. I was all about ‘Bloodline,’ and I also watch ‘Silicon Valley’ and ‘Louie’ – and I love ‘The Voice.’ It’s my guilty pleasure. And I can’t wait for ‘The Fall’ to come back, and I’m a giant ‘X-Files’ nerd, so I’m just counting the days until (the new continuation) starts.”

Jennifer Nettles of “CMA Country Christmas” on ABC“What I’ve consistently watched, as new seasons have come out, are ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘Vikings.’ I just love ‘em, and I’m a sucker for a good period piece. And I just saw a promo for something that (Martin) Scorsese is doing for HBO with Mick Jagger called ‘Vinyl,’ about the music industry in the ’70s, and I am dying to see it.”

Ron Livingston of “Saints & Strangers” on National Geographic Channel“Chicago Bears games, and that’s about it to be honest with you (laughs). I have a 2-year-old, so that’s about all the time I have to watch. The rest of the time, we’re putting ‘Frozen’ on (laughs).”

ON DVRs

STORYS


Story on next page

CHEERS to 50 years!

“A Charlie Brown Christmas” has its 50th-anniversary broadcast

Monday on ABC.

BY JAY BOBBIN

Few holiday specials are as beloved, generation after generation, as “A Charlie Brown Christmas” ... and this year, it marks a big birthday.

The first animated “Peanuts” special originally brought Charles M. Schulz’s comic strip to television in 1965, winning an Emmy and a Peabody Award for its story of Charlie Brown bemoaning the commercialization of the yuletide while struggling to direct a seasonal play. Underscored by Vince Guaraldi music – including the instantly familiar opening tune, “Christmas Time Is Here” – that saw it voted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, the classic show gets its 50th-anniversary telecast Monday, Nov. 30, on ABC.

“It’s kind of overwhelming,” says producer Lee Mendelson, who wrote the “Christmas Time Is Here” lyrics. “When we had finished the show, (director and fellow producer) Bill Melendez and I thought we had ruined Charlie Brown. We thought it was too slow, and we took it to the network (CBS, initially) with much trepidation. Unfortunately, they also thought it was too slow. They said, ‘Well, we’ll run it, and that will be it.’

“Of course, back then, there were only three (commercial) networks,” Mendelson adds, “and when it went on the air, it got a 50 (rating) share, if you can imagine that. Half of the country tuned into the show, which is unbelievable. The next Monday, the top guy at the network – who had hated it – called and said, ‘We’re going to order four more (specials). But my aunt in New Jersey didn’t like it, either.’ ”

In addition to showing “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” ABC also will give it an hour-long celebration right before it the same night. The retrospective “It’s Your 50th Christmas, Charlie Brown” is hosted by Kristen Bell and features performances by artists including Sarah McLachlan, Boyz II Men, Matthew Morrison (“Glee”), Pentatonix ...

IT’S ‘A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS’ again ... for the 50th year


SSTORY

and Kristin Chenoweth, who won a Tony Award for her portrayal of Sally in the 1999 Broadway revival of the musical “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.”

It also includes a bounty of Guaraldi’s melodies, and Melendez recalls finding the composer as “serendipity. I was doing a documentary on Schulz in 1963, and riding over the Golden Gate Bridge, I heard (the Guaraldi-composed) ‘Cast Your Fate to the Wind.’ It had just won a Grammy, and I thought, ‘Gee, that’s perfect music for us. It’s adult-like and childlike.’ And I found out that he, like me, was a native San Franciscan.

“We met and he said, ‘I’ll do the music for the documentary.’ A week later, he called and said, ‘I’ve got to play this song for you.’ It was ‘Linus and Lucy,’ and it was so funny: Something in my head said, ‘This song is going to become very important to all our lives.’ I had no idea why – the documentary never sold, by the way – and two years later, it became the theme of the Christmas show.”

CBS was the home network of Charlie Brown and company for more than 30 years, but in 2000, ABC acquired the rights to the specials. They came to encompass tributes to such other occasions as Halloween, Thanksgiving, Easter, New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Election Day ... even Arbor Day and the Super Bowl. And not only has the “Peanuts” gang gotten to the stage, but also to bigger screens, as indicated in part by the recently opened “Peanuts Movie.”

“It’s very rewarding, because it’s good family entertainment,” Mendelson notes. “It’s been fascinating. And significant. ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’ and ‘Frosty the Snowman’ and ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ all happened around the same time, and they’re all still going strong. We were very lucky.”

Pictured: Kristin Chenoweth


http://abc.go.com/

SSTORY

Nettles has another ‘Country

Christmas’Jennifer Nettles hosts “CMA Country Christmas”

Thursday on ABC.


Story on next page

BY JAY BOBBIN

Many people have holiday traditions, but Jennifer Nettles has one that virtually nobody else does.

Now principally a solo artist, the vocal-dynamo veteran of the duo Sugarland has been the longtime host of ABC’s – and the Country Music Association’s – annual “CMA Country Christmas” special. She fills that role for the sixth consecutive year in a new edition Thursday, Dec. 3, joined by other stars including Martina McBride, Leann Rimes, Jewel, Darius Rucker, Kelsea Ballerini, Lady Antebellum veteran Charles Kelley, Brian Setzer, Pentatonix, David Nail and Michael W. Smith to render songs of the season.

“It has become a tradition for me,” the pleasant Nettles confirms, “and I love doing it. For me, it harks back to some of the old-school Christmas specials and variety shows ... and the diversity of talent we have on it, and the fact that everyone gets to sing this music that is so heartwarming. The show itself is family-friendly, and it’s become a tradition for a lot of families, too. I hear a lot of people say that sitting around and watching the show is when they officially start their holiday season, and I love to be a part of that.”

For the fourth year, “CMA Country Christmas” is affiliated with the Marine Corps Reserve’s Toys for Tots Program. The audience for the November taping at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry House was encouraged to bring toys to be distributed to youngsters in need; the number collected at the 2014 show totaled 5,000.

As the mother of young son Magnus – who “appeared” just before he really appeared when a very pregnant Nettles hosted the 2012 special – the singer admits she’s still learning to balance parenthood and work.

SSTORY


“What is this ‘balance’ that you speak of?,” she muses. “I describe it this way: Being a mother to my son is my first priority, but it is not my first calling. I was never one of those women who always thought, ‘I want to get married and have a family.’ I’ve always loved children and am good with children and was open to it, but that wasn’t my specific dream.

“I feel that I’m called to do what I do as a singer-songwriter, and I feel a sacred connection to that,” adds Nettles. “At the same time, I now have this beautiful other sacred connection who is fun and wild and is turning three in December. He goes with me everywhere.”

These days, “everywhere” covers a lot of turf, since “CMA Country Christmas” is just part of one of the busiest times in Nettles’ career. She appeared in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade; she portrays the young Dolly Parton’s mother in NBC’s new Dec. 10 “Coat of Many Colors” movie; she does a duet with Kenny Rogers on his album “Once Again It’s Christmas”; she’ll continue her current concert dates into 2016; and she’s readying the upcoming release of her own album “Playing With Fire,” her first on the Big Machine label.

“I’ve been joking, ‘If you don’t like me, don’t turn on your TV during the holidays!,’ ” Nettles says with a hearty laugh. “It’s just like Holiday Jennifer, but I’m so happy to be a part of all of this. It’s super-exciting for me.”

JENNIFER NETTLES AGAIN GUIDES A ‘CMA COUNTRY CHRISTMAS’


http://abc.go.com/

Joseph “Rev Run” Simmons has invited viewers into his home as he and wife Justine raised their children, prepared Sunday dinner and even renovated their New Jersey residence.

Now, they want to take you along as they trot the globe in their new Travel Channel series “Rev Runs Around the World,” premiering Wednesday, Dec. 2.

The 16-part, half-hour series follows the co-founder of the influential hip-hop group Run-DMC, Justine, son Russy and daughter Miley as they take wing with around-the-world airline tickets to such destinations as Jamaica, Mexico City, Dubai, Bali, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo to take in the sights and get a little R&R.

“The goal for me was different from (those of) my wife and my children,” Rev Run explains. “My goal was to relax. Their goal was to do anything and everything in between. So as I am trying to go on vacation, they’re ruining it for me trying to take me basically on camels in Dubai, they’ve gotten me riding elephants in Thailand, they’ve got me in Iceland trying to go in a glacier, which turned out to be a complete, crazy disaster. ... I’m trying to find a hammock and they try to drive me crazy.”

And therein lies much of the tension of the series. Rev Run and his family seem to have plenty of cause to

lock horns, whether it’s over vacationing lifestyles, his attempts to lose weight in the chocolate and cheese capital of Switzerland or her shopping in the United Arab Emirates.

“I didn’t like Dubai for the fact that she wanted to buy everything,” he says, “so I kept saying, ‘Dubai or not Dubai?’ And I was like, ‘Why don’t we name this place “Don’t Buy”?’ She went to this gold place. I wish they had named this place ‘Don’t Buy’ because it was terrible when she saw all the beautiful things you could buy in Dubai.”

A big component of the series is the food. In the premiere episode, the family ascended a Jamaican mountain on rough roads to sample the native coffee, which Justine reports was “amazing.” In Rio, the food was so good that the Simmonses had uninvited dinner guests at an outdoor eatery.

“A monkey comes and grabs our stuff,” Rev Run says, “runs with it, looks at us, hides, makes jokes at us. Real-life craziness that they caught on camera, of monkeys doing what they actually did in (the movie) ‘Rio.’ And this guy said, ‘I’ve been living here my entire life, I’ve never seen that.’ ”

SSTORY


The Simmons family

hits the road on Travel’s

‘Rev Runs Around

the World’BY GEORGE DICKIE


http://www.travelchannel.com/

After several years of flipping homes, Tarek and Christina El Moussa are ready to go bigger.

Soon after welcoming infant son Brayden to join them and daughter Taylor, the couple begins Season 4 of their HGTV series “Flip or Flop” Thursday, Dec. 3. While the premise is the same – as they frequently run into unforeseen hurdles once they’ve bought Southern California homes to renovate and sell, hopefully for a profit, but without seeing the interiors first – they undertake more expensive residences in the new round.

Even then, Tarek believes “Flip or Flop” still has value for viewers in any monetary bracket “because it shows a project from the start through to the end, the trials and tribulations, the design aspects, the financial aspects ... I think that’s what keeps viewers engaged.”

So do the very natural reactions of the couple when they encounter the unexpected, which happens often, upon first entering a house they’ve bought. “Even though we’ve done this so many times,” Christina reflects, “I am still totally surprised by the gross things we find. I actually swallowed a fly that had just been eating a rat carcass.” (Tarek chimes in with mild glee, “That’s going to be airing in December!”)

SSTORY


The fourth “Flip or Flop” stanza is “a unique season,” Tarek says, “probably our favorite season to date that we’ve filmed. We did some really cool houses, including a couple of million(-dollar)-plus houses, which nobody’s seen before. Because we did high-end stuff, we were able to do things we’ve never done.” Christina adds the season’s theme is “big projects, so we really stepped it up on design. We took a lot of time.”

With a special “Flip or Flop” holiday edition set for Dec. 10, Tarek claims the show’s popularity – and his and Christina’s fame – haven’t impacted their business much. “At the end of the day, it’s still up to the bank that’s giving the buyer the loan to approve the appraisal,” reasons Tarek. “Even if the buyer really wants the house and makes a high offer, if the bank cuts the value, sometimes (buyers) can pay the difference and sometimes they can’t. It just depends, case-by-case.”

As the latest “Flip or Flop” telecasts debut, the El Moussas are starting work on Season 6, so the series will stay around. Tarek (who was treated for thyroid cancer after an alert from viewer who’s a nurse) maintains, “We learn something new every day. It’s ever-changing and-ever evolving. The techniques you use to find properties change, the market conditions change, construction costs change ... it’s definitely a challenge.”

Tarek and

Christina seek pricier

homesas ‘Flip or Flop’

returnsBYJAY BOBBIN


http://www.hgtv.com/

SPORTS

S


FULL NAME: Robert Gronkowski

BORN: May 14, 1989

BIRTHPLACE: Amherst, NY

HEIGHT/WEIGHT: 6 foot 6 inches/265 pounds

TEAM: New England Patriots

POSITION: Tight end

NO.: 87

COLLEGE: Arizona

DRAFTED: Round 2 (pick 42) by New England in 2010

HONORS AND ACHIEVEMENTS: Super Bowl champion, 2015; Pro Bowl, 2011, 2012, 2014; AP, and PFWA NFL comeback player of the year, 2014; NFL touchdown receptions leader, 2011

Story on next page


SPORTS

S

Anyone watching or listening to a broadcast of a New England Patriots’ game has heard the play-by-play announcer say “Brady to Gronkowski.” Fans of the Pats will be hoping to see and hear it often when tight end Rob Gronkowski and the defending Super Bowl champs face off against Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos in NBC’s Sunday Night Football telecast on Sunday, Nov. 29.

Both teams entered November undefeated. With much of the focus centered around Manning and Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, on the field Gronkowski, or “Gronk” as he is called, will be looking for open space in the backfield of one of the NFL’s best defenses this season.

Gronk is a pass catching and touchdown machine, and at press time was again leading his team in both touchdowns and yards-per-catch. His gutsiest performance of the season thus far was a Week 7 showdown with the New York Jets where he had a season high 11 catches for 108 yards and a touchdown.

Now in his sixth season, Grownkowski has been a factor his entire career, when healthy. He played all 16 games his first two seasons (2010 and 2011) setting rookie, team and league records along the way. Injuries limited his playing time in 2012 and 2013 but he returned to form in 2014 with 1,124 yards and 12 touchdowns, which earned him two NFL comeback player of the year awards.

Now, Gronk and the Pats are eyeing yet another post season run.

BY DAN LADD

ROBERTGRONKOWSKI

JAY BOBBIN'S THEATRICAL MOVIE REVIEW

REVIEW

MOVIES


M

After you see “Burnt,” you’ll have a taste for two things: food, and another meatier role for Bradley Cooper.

The new movie about the culinary world is the very definition of a “star vehicle,” and for a while, it lucks out from Cooper having charm to spare. He plays a chef trying to make up for his self-impressed attitude and self-abusive ways to return to the heights of his profession in London, after a meltdown takes him out of the game for a while.

Thanks to “Silver Linings Playbook,” “American Hustle,” “American Sniper” and “The Place Beyond the Pines,” it’s been proven that Cooper (who also pops up occasionally on CBS’ series version of “Limitless” now) really can deliver when called upon to do so. “Burnt” gives him a part he could do in his sleep – and it’s to his credit that he stays awake through much of the utterly predictable going here.

Any actor’s charm goes only so far when the film doesn’t have that compelling a story. All the expected trappings are here, including a romance with a sous-chef, also nicely played by Sienna Miller. Emma

Thompson and Uma Thurman turn up briefly – all too briefly – for director John Wells, who’s terrific as a TV-series producer but uneven as a filmmaker so far.

Wells is a veteran of such notable shows as “China Beach,” “ER” and “The West Wing,” but the movies he’s been most successful with are smaller ones that don’t rest principally on the laurels of their stars. His “August: Osage County” came from a celebrated play and put forth a frequently shouting Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts (among others), but actually better is his well-written “The Company Men,” boasting very fine and understated work by Ben Affleck and Kevin Costner.

Cooper starts out strong in “Burnt,” pretty much a prerequisite for his character, who has to establish the colors that put him in the position of making a comeback ... or trying to, at least. Ultimately, the material goes soft and leaves the star without sufficient fuel, though he continues to “give it the old college try” with what he has.

In the end, “Burnt” is like a lot of the dishes it features: nice to look at, but not all that filling.

BRADLEY COOPER ENDS UP ‘BURNT’ BY COOKING COMEDY

“ANT-MAN” (Dec. 8): A thief (Paul Rudd) becomes a scientist’s (Michael Douglas) test vehicle for a size-shrinking technology in this Marvel fantasy. (PG-13: AS, P, V)

“KNOCK KNOCK” (Dec. 8): A family man (Keanu Reeves) comes to regret answering a knock at his door by two apparently stranded women. (R: AS, N, P, V)

“MINIONS” (Dec. 8): The animated “Despicable Me” characters get their own movie, taking them to 1960s-era New York and London; voices include Sandra Bullock and Jon Hamm. (PG: AS)

“THE TRANSPORTER REFUELED” (Dec. 8): Ed Skrein succeeds Jason Statham as the troubleshooter who puts his business suit to the test while fighting villains. (PG-13: AS, P, V)

“MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – ROGUE NATION” (Dec. 15): Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is an agent without an agency after the CIA shuts down his team. (PG-13: AS, P, V)

“TED 2” (Dec. 15): The talking teddy bear (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) runs into trouble in becoming an adoptive parent; Mark Wahlberg also returns. (R and unrated versions: AS, P)

UPCOMING DVD RELEASES

Coming Soon on DVD...

JAY BOBBIN'S MOVIE REVIEW MOVIES TO WATCH

Top PickDVD

MOVIES

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Pictured: Paul Rudd

Pictured: Hayden Christensen

“90 MINUTES IN HEAVEN”The title describes what the main character, played by Hayden Christensen, experiences in this sincere and faith-based drama based on the book by Don Piper ... who actually lived the tale. Here, he’s a pastor who clinically dies from his injuries in a car accident, but the prayers of others literally restore his life – yet he still has many struggles to endure, and those eventually take a toll on his family life. Kate Bosworth (who’s married to the film’s director and screenwriter, Michael Polish) and music stars Dwight Yoakam and Michael W. Smith also appear. ››› (PG-13: V) (Also on Blu-ray)


SFAVORITE SHOWS

SUNDAY 7 p.m. on FOX Breakthrough Prize The usually comedic Seth MacFarlane (“Family Guy,” “Ted”) surprised many people with his producing involvement in “Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey,” and he may do so again by serving as host of this ceremony that honors scientists and mathematicians. Staged earlier in the month in California’s Silicon Valley, the event logically features stars of the comedy series “Silicon Valley” as presenters, along with Oscar winners Hilary Swank and Russell Crowe. New

“The Great Holiday Baking Show”

Lisa Edelstein stars in “Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce”

YOUR TV LINK Courtesy of Gracenote November 29 - December 5, 2015 continued on next page

Seth MacFarlane hosts the “Breakthrough Prize”

MONDAY 10 p.m. on ABC The Great Holiday Baking Show A British program that’s been televised in America as “The Great British Baking Show” inspired this new, obviously limited-run series. Johnny Iuzzini and the original version’s Mary Berry are the judges gauging the efforts of American cooks trying to win challenges and avoid elimination in the quest to win the four-week competition. Married actors Nia Vardalos (“My Big Fat Greek Wedding”) and Ian Gomez (“Cougar Town”) serve as hosts. Series Premiere New

TUESDAY 10 p.m. on BRAVOGirlfriends’ Guide to DivorceAs Season 2 of this dramedy opens, writer Abby McCarthy (Lisa Edelstein) is touted as “the face of divorce” on a trendy lifestyle website, a gig that forces her to continue hiding the truth of her complicated relationship with her estranged husband, Jake (Paul Adelstein). Among her friends, Jo (Alanna Ubach) deals with unwelcome encroachment by her ex-husband and his new wife (new series regular Megan Hilty, “Smash”). Also joining the cast this season are Retta (“Parks and Recreation”) and Mark Valley. Season Premiere New

“Christmas in Rockefeller Center”

SFAVORITE SHOWS

“It’s a Wonderful Life”


WEDNESDAY 8 p.m. on NBCChristmas in Rockefeller CenterAnother tradition of the end-of-year holidays is maintained with the 83rd annual lighting of the tree — this time, a 78-foot-tall Norway Spruce from Gardiner, N.Y. — in the virtual center of New York. “Today” regulars Matt Lauer, Savannah Guthrie, Al Roker and Natalie Morales preside over the festivities, and before the switch is flipped to illuminate the colorful display that tourists can visit for several weeks, musical guests perform seasonal tunes. New

9 p.m. on NBCDr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole ChristmasSince its first airing on CBS in 1966, this adaptation of the Dr. Seuss children’s book — appearing on NBC for the first time this year — has evolved into an annual holiday viewing tradition. Legendary animator Chuck Jones directed this story about a green-skinned grouch who sets out to spoil Christmas for the citizens of Whoville. Boris Karloff provides narration, with additional voices by Thurl Ravenscroft and June Foray.

THURSDAY 8 p.m. on CWThe Vampire DiariesAn anniversary party provides the backdrop for a new effort by Stefan and Damon (Paul Wesley, Ian Somerhalder) to try to defeat Julian (guest star Todd Lasance) in the new episode “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me.” Caroline (Candice King) risks her relationship with Stefan after learning information from Valerie (guest star Elizabeth Blackmore). Lily (guest star Annie Wersching) reaches a major decision. Michael Malarkey and Zach Roerig also star. New

FRIDAY 9 p.m. on CWAmerica’s Next Top ModelReportedly, efforts are afoot to keep this program going elsewhere — but for now, “Finale Part Two: America’s Next Top Model Is ... ” puts a capper on the series and names the person who might end up being America’s Last Top Model, at least in terms of this show. Though she has other ventures, host and judge Tyra Banks is likely to bid some sort of farewell to the audience, given that their viewership has kept the franchise going for 12 years. Series Finale New

SATURDAY 8 p.m. on NBCMovie: It’s a Wonderful LifeSmall-town guy George Bailey (James Stewart) defers one big dream after another to stay home, marry a local girl (Donna Reed) and run the family business. Facing financial ruin, he’s pulled from suicidal despair by angel Clarence (Henry Travers), who shows him how terrible the world would have been if he’d never lived. Lionel Barrymore and Beulah Bondi also star in director Frank Capra’s 1946 classic, a seasonal television tradition for many years.

‘wiz’ - townnewsbloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/northwestsignal.net/content/... · decided...

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