Andre Braugher blows into a midtown Manhattan café on a blustery December night. He's a half hour late for an interview, having gotten snarled in Yuletide tunnel traffic en route from his suburban New Jersey home. He flashes a Hudson River-wide grin, and all is forgiven. Suddenly, it hits you: Despite his regal bearing and well-earned reputation as one of TV's finest actors (six Emmy nominations, two wins), he's not that far removed from Owen Thoreau Jr., the slightly schlubby, regular-guy car salesman he plays on TNT's Men of a Certain Age. And that's...
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Question: On the show Crossing Jordan, there is a character whose name is so long that everyone calls him "Bug." Does he have a real name, and if so what is it?
Answer: I'll tell you, Jo, but I just want you to know that the name is so darned long our tech people had to install a larger hard drive on our server just to hold the page. Prepare your eyes for the strain whilst I limber up my typing fingers....
Ready? On the NBC crime drama, forensic entomologist "Bug" is blessed with the birth name Mahesh Vijayaraghavensatyanaryanamurthy. But given his job — as regular viewers know, he uses his knowledge of insects to help solve crimes — it's a heck of a lot easier to call him "Bug," since by the time a colleague finished wrestling with that moniker, any perp would have long ago skipped town.
And for all you skeptics out there,
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Question: In reference to your comments regarding Grey's Anatomy's diversity and that a real breakthrough will be made when a lead in an ensemble is allowed to be a minority — sadly, I think it happened already but nobody noticed! When I think of Homicide: Life on the Street, I think of Andre Braugher and Kyle Secor, but especially Andre. When he left the show, it swiftly went downhill. I was excited when he got his own show — seemed like a breakthrough really had been made, but the network pushed his show around from night to night and from time to time before finally canceling it. I was not impressed enough by Hack to watch him play second fiddle. I hope that his upcoming show will, again, prove his talent and ability to carry a series as a minority and as a top-rate actor.
Answer: I'm with you. Andre Braugher is a huge talent, and maybe a network like FX (where his new drama Thief will premiere early next year) will finally give him a proper showcase. The medical drama he starred in
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