Joshua Malina Hail to the Chief by Jay S. Jacobs There are lots of ways that people go about trying to get their first big break in acting. Some people kill themselves working a minimum wage job while floating from audition to audition. Some try other arts, like music or modeling, as an entrance. Some people sit on a stool in … Continue reading
Colin Quinn – Tough Guy by Ronald Sklar Originally posted on Mar. 10, 2003. We as Americans have always taken for granted that we know Colin Quinn intimately. Of course, as a nation we’re bound to make that presumption since we feel that we have more or less grown up with the dude. Sure, we learn more than … Continue reading
George Dzundza Finding Grace in Hack By Jay S. Jacobs You know the face. It is a tough-but-fair mug that has dissolved selflessly into well over seventy roles in a film and television career that has lasted about thirty years. You know the characters. He was Gus Moran, the good–hearted but protective partner of Michael Douglas’ self-destructive cop in Basic Instinct. He was … Continue reading
AUTO FOCUS (2002) Starring Greg Kinnear, Willem Dafoe, Rita Wilson, Mario Bello, Ron Leibman, Ed Begley Jr., Michael McKean, Kurt Fuller, Michael E. Rodgers, Lyle Kanouse, Christopher Neiman, Nikita Ager and Bruce Solomon. Screenplay by Michael Gerbosi. Directed by Paul Schrader. Distributed by Sony Pictures Classics. Rated R. 105 minutes. The bludgeoning death of 60s … Continue reading
CORKY ROMANO (2001) Starring Chris Kattan, Vinessa Shaw, Peter Falk, Peter Berg, Christopher Penn, Fred Ward, Richard Roundtree, Vincent Pastore and Fiona Hale. Screenplay by David Garrett and Jason Ward . Directed by Rob Pritts. Distributed by Touchstone Pictures. 85 minutes. Rated PG-13. Saturday Night Live may be responsible for a revolution in television comedy, but … Continue reading
Erik Palladino ER Doc Talks AIDS Awareness by Ruby Comer My locks need to be trimmed so I swing to my neighborhood salon, Shorty’s Barber Shop, because the first Wednesday of each month they donate their day’s salary to one of my favorite AIDS organizations, LA Shanti. As my hair is foiled in bleach and baked … Continue reading
Peter Krause Helping to Make TV Safe for Smart People by Jay S. Jacobs The fall of 1998 was a tough time for television comedy. The networks tried to come up with a plan for post-Seinfeld TV, but the best they seemed to be able to come up with were tired retreads like Jesse, Two of a Kind and Maggie … Continue reading
Alan Rafkin The King of Nick at Nite by Ronald Sklar “I’m still working,” sixty-eight-year-old Alan Rafkin says. “They’ll have to carry me out in a body bag.” If you had his job, they would drag you out kicking and screaming too. Alan Rafkin is a TV sitcom director. And not just another forgotten name … Continue reading
Gregg Oppenheimer He Loves Lucy by Ronald Sklar Dig this if you can. It’s a Monday night in 1954 and you want to go clothes shopping. Forget it, daddy-o. All the stores in town are closed for the evening and you look like a damned fool for being the only idiot walking the streets. And … Continue reading
Elwood Reid He Didn’t Six By Ronald Sklar Elwood Reid and I have formed the I-Love-Richard-Price Club. You already may (and should) know that Richard Price (The Wanderers, Ladies’ Man, Blood Brothers and Clockers) is the most brilliant working-class writer who ever lived. Elwood and I worship and adore him. So, kids: now you know the yin-yang of … Continue reading
