Watching Jericho

BuddyTV.com is reporting that Alicia Coppola, who plays Mimi Clark on Jericho, has signed onto the National Treasure Sequel, listed as National Treasure: Book of Secrets as the character Agent Dawes.

National Treasure: Book of Secrets is set to be released at the end of this year. Aside from Cage, Coppola will be sharing the big screen with other Academy Award winners and nominees, namely Helen Mirren, Jon Voight, Ed Harris and Harvey Keitel. The film will also star Justin Bartha and German Actress Diane Kruger.

That cast is amazing, especially for a fun little action-adventure flick.

IMDB listing for National Treasure: Book of Secrets here.

Read the whole article here.

Jericho, Alicia Coppola, Mimi Clark, National Treasure, TV, television, CBS

Lennie James recently chatted with Janice Littlejohn of the Associated Press and discussed his audition for Jericho, stating that he had promised his friends that he wouldn’t tell the story any more, so I guess by telling Ms. Littlejohn, he wouldn’t have to anymore.

When British actor Lennie James arrived in Los Angeles early last year, he gave himself three months to get a gig. After three weeks, he’d been offered two.

“I promised my mates I wouldn’t tell the story again,� jokes James, who landed his role on “Jericho� after his first audition — almost unheard of in Hollywood.

I really couldn’t think of a better person to play Robert Hawkins than Lennie James, as he seems to really get involved with his character. Of course, listening to him speak in his natural voice, versus the American accent that he puts on with playing Hawkins seems a little out of place for our favorite undercover CIA agent.

Read the whole thing here.

Jericho, Lennie James, Robert Hawkins, TV, television, CBS

In trying to find out more information on Heather (without being too spoiler-like, go read my recap of Casus Belli for the reason why), I came across a wonderful interview on About.com where Sprague Grayden chatted with Rachel Thomas, though I can’t seem to find any date on it to tell me how old it is, though she does mention something about a “budding triangle” between Heather, Jake and Emily, so it’s most likely from before the winter break. It does have some great nuggets, though, especially when Sprague talks about playing “sweet” Heather.

“This is the first time I’ve really been able to play “sweet,” I’ve never really been asked to play “sweet” in the past. Even if I played “sweet,” it was always with a bad girl history, sort of a wounded cub thing and I love it, it’s fun. There’s something really challenging about playing someone as grounded as Heather. I think Heather represents the innocence of the town in a lot of ways. I think we’re going to see her grow up. I’m pretty sure she was raised in a religious background. She’s the grade school teacher in the town. She has a crush on Jake, she didn’t have a lot of friends in the town growing up.”

Read the whole article here.

Jericho, Sprague Grayden, Heather Lisinski, TV, television, CBS

I’ve been meaning to post this for a little while, but with all of the scare coming about with Jericho’s renewal in question, it got shuffled aside.

Skeet Ulrich made it into the Top 10 of TV Guide’s Sexiest Stars on Television, placing at number 7 for the men. He shares the list with stars from Lost, Heroes and Ugly Betty, all some of my favorite shows on this season.

Considering most of the coverage that Skeet has gotten since he showed up on the scene many years ago, most memorably for me, Scream, it’s not really surprising that with the media coverage that Jericho has been getting he’s made it on the list this year.

I just hope that this means that Jericho’s getting enough coverage to have us see a second season coming.

See the whole list here.

Jericho, Skeet Ulrich, Jake Green, TV, television, CBS

Unfortunately, my recap of One Man’s Terrorist is going to have to be delayed due to a missing (stuffed toy) puppy and an inconsolable 5-year-old who won’t let me watch my own shows until it’s found….

But, I do have some really great interviews with Skeet Ulrich that came across my feed reader recently that I thought would sate y’all until tomorrow.

Over at ExtraTV.com, Skeet talks about Jericho and celebrity culture, though that photo with the article is a little scary, and the best of in the world has named Skeet the Best TV Hero, and you can log in there and vote as to whether or not they’re right.

ExtraTV.com

the best stuff in the world

Jericho, Skeet Ulrich, Jake Green, TV, television, CBS

Ever since they introduced the character of Dr. Kenchy Dhuwalia back in Episode 8, Rogue River, I’ve been trying to figure out where it is that I’ve seen Aasif Mandvi before, and after seeing this post over at I Am A TV Junkie, I finally realized that he’s done some of my favorite sketches recently on the Daily Show. When I take a look at his IMDB profile I see he’s been on CSI, Spiderman 2 and even Sex and the City, so no wonder I feel like he’s so familiar to me.

I’m really glad that they’ve worked him into being more than the town drunk in Jericho, and I hope that they do even more with his character.

See his official site A great fansite here. EDIT: I thought that assifmandvi.net was the official site, but I received an email from the owners of the site to let me know that it’s a very well-put-together fansite.

Jericho, Aasif Mandvi, Kenchy Dhuwalia, Daily Show, TV, television, CBS

Jason Van Horn of IGN TV recently talked with Lennie James (Robert Hawkins) about Jericho, Paleyfest, hiding his British accent and acting.

One of the things that attracted me to Jericho was when I was speaking to my friends back in England or my friends out here, and when they say, “What have you read or what have you liked?” And you describe the other pilots and the other films, and they go, “Oh, so it’s like such and such or it’s like such and such, oh yeah I can kinda understand that.” But when I described Jericho to them, when I described the basic premise of Jericho as much as I understood at that particular moment - a small town cutoff from the rest of America after America has been hit by a series of nuclear attacks and it doesn’t know how much of America has survived, who hit them, doesn’t know why they were hit, doesn’t know if they are about to be hit, doesn’t know how much longer they have on the planet - when you describe that to them as the premise, everybody kind of goes, “Wow, I’d like to see that.”

Read the whole thing here.

Jericho, Lennie James, Robert Hawkins, interview, TV, television, CBS

Brad Beyer, who plays “Nice Guy” Stanley Richmond on Jericho, recently sat down for an interview with Megan Cherkezian from TVGuide.com, talking about the direction that last night’s episode, Winter’s End, took for his character and the show.

TVGuide.com spoke with Beyer about his character’s friendly disposition, and how that might change in upcoming episodes. Tight-lipped with regard to the big bombshells, Beyer couldn’t divulge too much, but shares enough to get us excited for the rest of the season — and hope for the show’s renewal.

What I love is him giving a glimpse into Stanley’s character, in particular with doing the responsible thing when Bonnie and he lost their parents and he took over the running of the farm, versus going off on a grand adventure. He also talks about the characters interaction with the people of New Bern, including some scoop on Heather and the turbines.

Read the whole article here.

Jericho, Brad Beyer, Stanley Richmond, interview, TV, television, CBS

It’s really not a secret that I adore the character of Heather, played by Sprague Grayden, and the fact that it’s been a little irritating that she disappeared for so long only to come back for one episode (1.13 - Black Jack) just to disappear again off to her hometown to work on creating windmill parts. At least Kristen over at E! Entertainment is looking out for me.

SPOILER WARNING! – SPOILER WARNING!

We’ve gotten quite a few questions in this vein, and when I pressed Skeet Ulrich for info, he told me, “We definitely see Heather again, [but] I don’t know what the chances are of us hooking up. I’m not saying we won’t, but I’d give it about 10 to 1 odds right now.”

While it does make me a little sad that Jake and Heather aren’t on the horizon of following up that kiss, at least Heather will be back.

Now, we’ve got to run out and work on making sure that we get a second season of Jericho to see what happens in more detail with those two.

Read the whole thing here. (Near the bottom of the page)

Jericho, Sprague Grayden, Heather Lipinski, Skeet Ulrich, Jake Green, TV, CBS, television

Jericho panel at PaleyFest 2007 - Source: WireImage

The cast and crew of Jericho got a warm reception back on March 15, 2007 at the Museum of Television and Radio’s William S. Paley Television Festival, IGN reports. They presented a panel and advance screening of Semper Fidelis the night before it aired nationally.

Steinberg recalled how Jericho began as an idea he and Schaer had for a “little character drama” film, where the characters would exist with the post-Nuclear setting as a backdrop. However, they realized that story didn’t have a natural ending after two hours, “So why not keep going?” - Thus the idea of turning it into a TV series began. The pair brought the idea to Jon Turteltaub, who then commissioned Chbosky to write the pilot. The producers recalled that Chbosky’s reaction to the initial treatment was, “It’s great, [but] we could use some girls, a little kissing, and some laughs.”

I would have loved to have been able to have gone to Paleyfest, but I’m unfortunately on the wrong coast to make that a viable option. I do hope that Jericho got great coverage there, and it helps their numbers recover from the American Idol juggernaut.

Read the whole article here.

Jericho, Carol Barbee, Stephen Chbosky, Lennie James, Erik Knudsen, Gerald McRaney, Pamela Reed, Josh Schaer, Jon Steinberg, Skeet Ulrich, TV, television

While I was stressing and talking about being interviewed for the first time, Winnie over at Watching The View got to see Skeet Ulrich on the show last week, which is about half-way down in the post.

Skeet was there to promote Jericho, of course, and there were a few great nuggets of what to expect in some coming episodes, in particular about Episode 18.

He said that episode 18, which will air in a few weeks, will be a “big deal,� and viewers will learn a little about why Jericho is still there and other mysteries. Skeet said that viewers will get a lot of clues this season, but it won’t answer all of their questions.

He’s been on The View before back in November, but I’ve not been able to sit down and watch the video yet.

I found a video on YouTube for the interview here.

Hat-tip to Watching The View.

Jericho, The View, Skeet Ulrich, Jake Green, interview, TV, television, CBS

Skeet Ulrich, who plays Jake Green on Jericho, was recently interviewed by Terry Morrow for AZNightBuzz.com, and he talks about how Jericho really isn’t that far off the mark in the great “What If” scenario of Apocalyptic Mayhem that Jericho delivers every Wednesday on CBS.

Ulrich says the ideas of what life will be like after such an attack are leftovers from the Cold War era of the 1950s when American schoolchildren were told to duck under their desks to avoid radiation.

“It’s kind of amazing when I hear from (viewers) about what should have happened,” he says.

They discuss the concept of a nuclear winter, and that the advisors that they have for the show work closely with the writers to make sure they’re as authentic as possible, though some of the science used on the show does have its detractors on the internet and elsewhere.

They also talk to Executive Producer John Turteltaub about the critics of some of the technical aspects, and he responds beautifully, in my opinion.

“(Fans say) ‘Oh, there’s a bomb going off, and people are sitting around having a banquet. That’s absurd.’ Well, I don’t know if it is or it isn’t,” Turteltaub says. “I think life would get pretty absurd.”

Read the whole article here.

Jericho, Skeet Ulrich, John Turteltaub, interview, TV, television, CBS

Anyone in the San Francisco-Bay Area this weekend (March 2-4, 2007) really should check out Wondercon at the Moscone Center South in San Francisco, California. While they have a jam-packed schedule, there will also be a Exclusive Episode Screening and Panel Discussion with executive producers Carol Barbee and Stephen Chbosky, along with Skeet Ulrich (Jake Green) and Ashley Scott (Emily Sullivan).

Be the first to see this never before seen new episode of CBS’s hit drama series Jericho, followed by a panel discussion with Chbosky, Barbee, and stars Skeet Ulrich (Scream) and Ashley Scott (Dark Angel). Moderated by Craig Tomashoff, TV Guide’s West Coast bureau chief.

Being a long-time convention-goer, I highly recommend everyone who can to go, whether you’re a Jericho fan or not.

Jericho, Wondercon, Carol Barbee, Stephen Chbosky, Skeet Ulrich, Ashley Scott, TV, television, CBS

Attention all Stanley and Mimi (Steamy!) fans! Alicia Coppola, who plays Mimi Clark, has been moved from a recurring guest character on Jericho to a regular cast member, says the Hollywood Reporter (link is to movieweb.com, since it doesn’t require paid registration).

I’m so glad that we’ll be seeing more of everyone’s favorite Fish Out of Water IRS auditor, especially to see how the relationship between Stanley (Brad Beyer) and her grows. Maybe it’s just that I’m partial to non-triangle relationships, a la the Jake/Heather/Emily (and now adding in Roger - does that make it a square relationship?) relationship, which I’ve not been terribly fond of. While Stanley and Mimi’s relationship is a touch textbook in its opposites-attract theory, it seems less contrived than Jake and his “playa” status. Of course, if we could just have Sprague Grayden (Heather) back in the show…

As to Alicia Coppola the actress, I’ve been a fan of hers since my college-era soap opera marathons, with her playing the wonderfully wicked Lorna Devon on Another World, and she’s got a long career with playing a multitude of characters on television. While Alicia shares the famous Coppola name, she isn’t a relation to Francis Ford.

Alicia Coppola’s IMDB listing.

Jericho, Alicia Coppola, Mimi Clark, TV, television, CBS

BuddyTV has an exclusive interview with Michael Gaston, who plays Gray Anderson, newly-elected mayor and salt mine owner of Jericho. He talks about how he got into acting (He initially wanted to be a teacher, but the teachers that he talked to said that it was a thankless career) and how he got involved with Jericho. He said that he was initially approached to play Johnston, but after reading through the pilot script, decided that Gray Anderson looked more interesting, and closer to his age. They told him to prep both for the audition, and ended up getting the offer from Jericho at the same time as an offer came through for another TV show.

I actually auditioned for a show called Standoff and had been offered a part on that, and so this was the first time in my life that I had two people that wanted me at the same time and it really worked in my favor. Jericho made an offer really fast and I was ecstatic because I was so thrilled by the idea and the part, and John Turtletaub, who I’m just a huge fan of, and there couldn’t be a better guy who was going to direct it and executive produce it and put together the whole team, and I’m not kidding when I say that it’s the best professional experience I’ve had in the 20 years of doing this. It’s the greatest group of people, the material is great. Really smart smart actors who are really dedicated. Even one of the grips told me he’s been doing this for 30 years; he said it’s the most fun he’s had going to work his career. It’s just a great situation.

I, for one, think that he made the right decision in going with Jericho. Of course, Gray’s the guy we love to hate, but that just makes him more memorable.

Read the whole interview here.

Jericho, Michael Gaston, Gray Anderson, TV, television, CBS