A month before the new season of Law & Order: SVU (premiering tonight at 10 pm/ET, NBC) began, TVGuide.com caught up with Tamara Tunie, who plays unflappable medical examiner Melinda Warner. On the set of her directorial debut, See You in September, which is slated for a 2008 release, Tunie talked about her "day job" over breakfast.
Dealing with the deceased has never been a problem for Tunie, who was raised outside of Pittsburgh, where her father was an undertaker, so Tunie "grew up in a funeral home." "As a young adult," she says, "I helped my father by doing women's hair. I've been around dead people — it's not a big deal." Though many of her scenes take place around the victims of gruesome crimes, it never gives her the chills. "I certainly had been in a morgue before, so that wasn't new. I've been seeing
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Law & Order: SVU's Tamara Tunie will make her feature-film directing debut with See You in September, an indie romcom starring Justin Kirk (Weeds), Estella Warren (my occasional dream) and David Eigenberg (Sex and the City).... Also per Variety, Disney has big-screen dibs on the Brit lit hit The Dangerous Book for Boys (shop Amazon.com).... Jane Leeves (Frasier), Caitlin Wachs (Commander in Chief) and Colton James (7th Heaven) are among the cast for Endless Bummer, a 1984-set teen comedy.
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A veteran of such short-lived series as The Others, Presidio Med and last season's ADA dud, Conviction, Julianne Nicholson has finally found steady employment as Chris Noth's seemingly omniscient partner on Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Before landing her breakthrough gig as Detective Megan Wheeler on the NBC stalwart, the freckle-faced beauty starred in a slew of indie flicks, including Flannel Pajamas, which opens today in New York. Reminiscent of Ingmar Bergman's Scenes from a Marriage, the film chronicles the roller-coaster romance between Nicole (Nicholson) and Stuart (Weeds'
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They shoot pot dealers, don't they? That question lingers as Season 2 of Showtime's Weeds drew to a close with a helpless, hempless Nancy staring down the barrels of not one or two but five serious pieces of firepower... never once setting down that prominently displayed can of Diet Coke. Her only possible salvation: Silas, now in possession of the final MILF weed harvest, but himself also in dire straits, with Celia and a policeman marching toward the 38-pound stash. And let's not forget poor Shane, who graduated from grade school straight into an impetuous, Cactus Cooler-fueled trip to Paraguay, with Kat (as in Krazy) behind the wheel, and Uncle Andy and Abumchuck in heated pursuit.And to think that the Weeds writers almost tied everything up in a neat bundle instead! So glad they opted otherwise, (as explained in my fresh Features Q&A with series creator Jenji Kohan).Was I entirely satisfied with the season-ending cliff-hanger? No, not entirely. I think it was a cheat to kill...
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For the occasion of Weeds' season finale, which aired last night on Showtime, TVGuide.com sat down with series creator Jenji Kohan to discuss the season gone by, ask about some of the juiciest twists, and try to get a glimpse into the future. After teasing you with a craftily edited Part 1, here is the entire, unexpurgated interview, including additional questions about exactly what transpired in the shocking season-ender. (As a courtesy, I have denoted new or revised exchanges with an asterisk [*].)
TVGuide.com: You started this season with some of the characters and their stories somewhat segregated, but, ultimately, they dovetailed together. Did you ever feel that was a risky approach?Jenji Kohan: You know, we love to build an arc. When we sit down, we plan the full season out completely befor
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