In The Unit episode "Bait," which airs Nov. 28, Jonas is bound and thrown into a room with a bag over his head, and his captors are about to draw his last blood. He proves himself to be Houdini, however, by persuading them that he's more valuable to them alive than dead. Houdini, master of illusion and escape — we never know who's the rabbit and who's the fox. Jonas manipulates his captors to have them videotape him with their terms of release. As he reads their demands, he secretly signals to his comrades back home. He pulls more than one rascally rabbit out of his hat in order to escape, only to be captured and returned, bound and tortured. Meanwhile, Washington suits aren't interested in negotiations, so Colonel Ryan has to perform his own sleight of hand — before our Houdini runs out of rabbits.On the home front, Colonel Ryan's wife, Charlotte, who was shot at the end of last season's finale, is now hooked on pain meds. Driving under the influence, she wrecks another w...
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Having never stepped foot in the state of Utah, I was more than amazed by its beauty — rustic and dramatically changing from every point of view. The beauty of this state was matched only by the beauty of the family we were there to surprise: the Pauni family. This family's enthusiasm and spirit was contagious. From the moment Ty yelled, "Good morning, Pauni family!" we were hugged, lifted off our feet and honored by chants and dances from their Tongan culture. I must confess, Tonga was not a place I knew of nor had ever heard of. After spending a week in Utah with the Paunis and with their friends and incredible community, I felt the need to pack my bags and go to Tonga to try to capture some of the magic this incredible family exudes. Janet Pauni was left a widow and a single mom on one tragic day. Without ever questioning, "Why us?" the children and Janet joined hearts and grabbed onto that family bond they possess and began trying to make it. When I met this family, I fell ...
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Hey, readers. Thanks for showing up at my very first My Boys blog! So the first bit of business: Who am I? My name is Jordana Spiro, and I play PJ on TBS' new comedy series My Boys. I don't really know anything about blogging, except that it's apparently the wave of the future, and it's a fun word to say. That being said, I will do my best to make this interesting, and feel free to let me know if there is anything specifically you want to know about. I'm sure some of you ladies will soon develop crushes on several of the boys in my cast and will want to know details about them. Well, I pride myself on my honesty, so I will only charge a small fee for anything they have told me in private. Second bit of business: What is My Boys? And here it goes... My Boys: The Prologue (because it hasn't started airing yet — which it will on Nov. 28 at 10 pm/ET on TBS, shameless time-slot reminder). My Boys is about this girl, PJ, and all of her guy friends. PJ is a sportswriter for the Ch...
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Hello, dedicated TVGuide.com reader, my name is Stephen Rannazzisi. You can see me on ABC's new comedy Big Day. The show premieres Tuesday, Nov. 28, at 9 pm/ET. Each episode covers a different half hour in a single wedding day. It's kind of like 24 without explosions. The show was created by Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa, a married couple who used to write for King of Queens. We have a talented cast: Marla Sokoloff (The Practice) and Josh Cooke (all three episodes of Four Kings!) are Alice and Danny, the bride and groom. Wendie Malick (Just Shoot Me) and Kurt Fuller (really, who cares? I've already gotten bored of giving everyone's credits, and to be honest, I'm not sure what else he's done. I think he was in Wayne's World, but he doesn't like to talk about it) play their parents. Miriam Shor (look it up) is Becca, the maid of honor, and the hilariously nervous Stephnie Weir (I really think the Red Sox overpaid for that Japanese pitcher) is Lorna, the wedding coordinator. But enoug...
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Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving from all the folks on The Office. You won't see The Office this Thursday on NBC. It's time to see your relatives and friends and give thanks. So... you won't see us. You won't see Michael Scott carving the bird that Dwight killed. Or the beer that Ryan and Kelly brought, or the football game that Kevin watched. Or the pumpkin pie that Phyllis made, or the cookies that Angela frosted.... The nap that Stanley took, or the walk that Pam and Jim took, or the dishes that Creed did. And of course you won't hear the Thanksgiving toast that Meredith made, and made again and again, to everyone's health and no one's health.You won't see that this Thursday. This week will not be "must-see TV." This Thursday will be "must-eat tur-key." The Office will not be on this week. We'll be back with a new episode next week, I promise. But for now, you can enjoy The Office DVDs of Seasons 1 and 2 with the whole family, just as the big football game is over and the trypto...
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Roy Geary is dead, gutted and bled out. At least he was happy before he died. A Cleveland what? I'm going to miss Matt DeCaro. We became good friends. I think we made a good team, too. He's a fine actor, very well-respected and renowned in Chicago theater. He's up for a Jeff Award (the Chicago TONY) this year for best actor; I hope he wins it. He was convinced the bigwigs at Fox were killing him off so they could develop a new TV series for Geary and Bellick. No one's been phoning my people about that! Not a bad idea, though! Bellick's still kicking... but for how long? Everything's ramping up and we're getting ready to launch the story into limbo for the holiday hiatus. Rumors are flying about the date we'll return. I've got to tell you, the new scripts are blowing me away, with plot twists and revelations I never expected. Holy moly!Been very busy in the best ways recently.... My family and I went to Chicago and saw Stacy Keach play King Lear in a wonderful production at the Good...
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Okay, so I’m going to take a different tack today with the blog. I’m going to try and share what I think about when I dream of Brothers & Sisters -- how it can reflect the country we live in now and serve as a dramatic discussion of American values. We all heard the news that ex-athlete and killer – see civil court conviction – O.J. Simpson has sold a book called If I Did It. And that Rupert Murdoch’s Regan Books is publishing the thing, which seems to be a kind of stunt-like game of literary and legal peek-a-boo. Not only that, Murdoch’s Fox Network is making it into a TV show. It’s all contemptible, of course. Assumes the worst of audiences and readers. Assumes that the populace is so numb that it requires the frisson of cheap titillation the way heroin addicts need their fix.So, what does this have to do with Brothers & Sisters? A lot, actually, in that it begs an examination of our choices and the kind of moral universe we live in. It p...
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In the Nov. 21 episode "Report by Exception," Jonas is assigned to go to Latin America to assassinate an oil minister with the support of a "cover wife." He is tempted by the charms of his new partner. Meanwhile, his real wife, Molly, takes a personal interest in Crystal, whose boyfriend Molly has recruited as a driver in Algeria. Crystal voices both of their insecurities when she asks how Molly copes with not knowing "Where he is, what he's doing, if he's OK. And is he even thinking of you? Maybe he's shacking up with some other woman. Or he's laying dead on the side of a desert road. How do you not think about those things?" Molly's reply: "I don't go there." Succinct.The answer is insufficient for the newly initiated Crystal. Molly can't find the words to share what she knows. There is this wall between Unit husband and wife. He can never share what goes on when he's away. Where he's been or with whom or how he spends his days — typical parts of sharing in a typical marriag...
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So this week we found ourselves in northeast Wisconsin in the small town of Dundee (population 61) and we're here this week to meet the Koepke family — Matt Koepke, his wife Chris and their four kids. Your classic American family just doing the best they can, making ends meet. They didn't necessarily have a lot of money, but they had family, they had love, and they had a 130-year-old farmhouse that Matt's great-grandfather actually built. Matt's goal was to take this house and to fix it up and make it a place where his family could live, grow up, be safe, happy and healthy. He was doing just that until about five months ago when Matt was stricken with a very rare form of cancer. The doctors gave him five years to live, but unfortunately, he died four months later. It's insane to think that everything can be going along smoothly and then — bam! — it changes drastically. Matt had a dying wish. He wanted us to come and rebuild this house for his family and restore the...
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Hello, fans of The Office. Meredith here."The Merger" is coming up this Thursday at 8:40 pm/ET on NBC. Last week was nail-biting. Thank god the Scranton branch didn't close. It's pretty wild. Now the Stamford, Connecticut, branch is about to merge. Michael has some very intense techniques for initiating the new people. This was a really fun episode to shoot. The new actors on our show are really fun. We all had a blast. Rashida Jones, Ursula Burton, Wayne Wilderson, Ed Helms, and Mike Bruner as Tony — all hilarious. They double the size and they double the comedy. I sound like a commercial for gum! It was like a party all week shooting this episode. I'll drink to that!I hope you all had a chance to watch the NBC.com producer's cut of "Branch Closing." I had a few really fun scenes in the producer's cut — which is the one for sale on iTunes, FYI! I loved doing the possible love scene with Steve where Meredith asks Michael if he's the guy she made a deal to have sex with o...
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