I'm looking for a big-time assist tonight, ER fans. The network gods are playing a cruel joke on me as two of the shows that I blog are airing at the exact same time. With only one Tivo, I am at a loss. Here's what I know about tonight's episode:—The episode is called "Truth Will Out" —Acadmey Award nominee Hal Holbrook guest stars as a cancer patient.—Abby makes a comeback.—Sopranos star Aida Turturro continues her guest arc. Now I need you guys to fill in the blanks. Please chime in and share your thoughts until I am able to catch up.
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OK, so it's not George Clooney returning, but the former Tony Blundetto — aka Steve Buscemi — will make an appearance on ER's 14th season finale, airing May 15. Atoning, we pray, for I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, Buscemi plays "a loudmouthed drunk with a dangerous secret." And since this emergency room is often as dangerous as a cage-fighting venue, he'll "threaten the safety" of the hospital staff and make Pratt "choose between the life of a patient or the lives of his staff."Elsewhere in the season-ender, maybe-homewrecker Moretti (Stanley Tucci) — will Luka find out he did the dirty with Abby? — makes a return visit, as does Hal Holbrook's wise old geezer. — Ileane Rudolph
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A surprising number of movies had to make do with single nominations in the major categoriesViggo Mortensen picked up a best-actor nom as an icy Russian Gangster in David Cronenbergs brutal thriller Eastern Promises ditto Johnny Depp for Tim Burtons gothic adaptation of Stephen Sondheims musical Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Sentimental favorite Hal Holbrook 82 hell be 83 by the time the ceremony takes place took a best supporting actor nomination for Sean Penns Into the Wild based on Jon Krakauers nonfiction account of a troubled young mans search for meaning that eventually takes him deep into the unforgiving Alaskan wilderness It was also ignored in all other major categories despite strong reviews for Penns direction and adapted screenplay as well as Emile Hirschs performance in the lead role Audiences failed to warm to the film Much-loved veteran character actress Ruby Dee 83 got the only nomination for best-supporting actress 15
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The SopranosNow here's a week when the whacking fans and the character-development fans can all play nice and agree. (Somebody has to, for crying out loud; god knows no one else is on this show.) For here we have an hour that's a fair mix of the stomach-turning violence the whackers so love, plus the more meditative stuff we character-loving guys yearn for. Representing the former, we have the garbage-hauling thugs beating that poor driver to death in front of his son, then we've got Paulie putting on his own one-man show as he tosses his ma/aunt's TV out the window, smashes Jason's knee and kicks him in the lower back for good measure. Oy.
But being a happy part of the latter group, I'll spend a little more time on the character stuff. We're
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Question: Anything juicy on The Sopranos?
Answer: Julianna Margulies and Hal Holbrook will be guest-starring this coming season, her as a real-estate agent and him as a former scientist at Bell Labs. And at press tour last week, series creator David Chase said the sixth and final season will revolve around Johnny Sack's arrest and upcoming RICO trial for murder. "People have the chance to see a possible future for themselves in that," he says, "and it has a ripple effect psychologically."
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