NET | 8PM | 8:30PM | 9PM | 9:30PM | 10PM | 10:30PM |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ABC | Last Man Standing | Cristela | Shark Tank | 20/20 | ||
CBS | Undercover Boss | Hawaii Five-0 | Blue Bloods | |||
CW | Hart of Dixie (R) | Whose Line… (R) | Masters of Illusion | |||
FOX | Glee | |||||
NBC | Grimm (R) | Dateline NBC | Countdown to the Globes | |||
MISC | Jessie (Disney) | Banshee (Cinemax) Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO) |
Archives for January 2015
THE MENTALIST Redux: Our Top 5 Favorite Moments From “Green Light”
This week the whole Abbott DEA mystery comes to a head. Here are your MENTALIST Top Five Moments!
Abbott goes back to his old stomping grounds at the DEA
After a raid on the Alamo Brew House goes FUBAR, DC wants an outside agency to investigate it. Abbott meets with his old boss, Bill Peterson. I instantly mistrust Bill. Let’s see if I’m right. Oh, look. He’s already asking for special treatment by insisting Abbott let him see the report before he sends it in. Then guilt trips him. AWKWARD. Abbott goes to interview the lead agent on the raid, Gonzalez, who’d nearly choked out the owner of the Brew House after he was a total jerk. Abbott sees a weird black “S” spray painted on the door, and when he goes inside, he finds Gonzalez dead and tied up with his mouth duct taped. Someone wanted him REALLY dead. The “S” was for “Sosa,” as in the Sosa Cartel. The Brew House was supposedly selling their drugs.
The Investigation!
Both Jane and Lisbon are immediately suspicious that Korbell, the owner of the Brew House, would kill Gonzalez, since the raid had been a bust. This would just call more attention to him.
Jane has looked at the surveillance photos and figured out that if one of the lights surrounding the restaurant sign is on, they’re selling drugs and off they’re not. That’s why they didn’t find anything in the raid. There’s a mole at the DEA who also killed Gonzalez, because he figured out the code. Lisbon reveals that for the past two years, there have been a lot of busted raids good ol’ Bill has explained away.
Bill further ingratiates himself when he tries to get Abbott to lie about his contribution to the case, so he can share the collar. Abbott tries to play hardball, but Bill not-so-subtly blackmails the hell out of him.
Abbott’s Big Rio Bravo DEA secret!
That he comes clean to Jane, makes this moment even more special. Their bromace is my absolute favorite part of the reboot. Anyway, the long and the short of it is, he was part of a task force working with the Mexican Police at the Rio Bravo station. The Zeta Cartel would send their men dressed up like soldiers to stop all the buses and kill everyone, including children, just so they wouldn’t work for another cartel. Long story short, Abbott caught a Zeta Commander heading out in a uniform, so he went up and shot him.
He certainly chose the right person to tell. Who could understand better than Jane? So now if Peterson comes clean, it can end Abbott’s AND Lena’s careers, as well as land Abbott in prison. But have no fear. Jane is figuring out a solution!
Jane Saves the Day!
Jane is convinced Korbell is about to run, so he tells Abbott to call the DEA to announce they’ve solved the case and to round up a group of ten agents he’s chosen after looking at three years of their ID pictures.
Vega boldly walks into Bill’s office, clears her throat, and tells him he’s under arrest.
Meanwhile, Jane has gathered up the agents and made them give up their guns, which Cho and Lisbon take away and pull out the cartridges. Jane goes headlong into his theory that improved appearance=confidence in awesome secret you’re keeping=mole, but Vega breaks it up to say Bill killed Gonzalez.
But yeah, you guessed it. FAKE-OUT. Cho, Lisbon, and Vega go to three agents and tell them they’re actually the one who killed Gonzalez. Then they get simultaneous phone calls and turn their backs on the agents. Cho hears a gunshot and turns around. It’s Orosco, but of course his gun is filled with blanks. Oops! A tackle and some punches to the face later, and Orosco is in custody. They found enough in his apartment to also arrest Korbell, who will roll over on the cartel.
Then when Bill threatens Abbott again, Jane says he knows Bill is hiding dirty money, and they’ll find it. That shuts him up. Abbott asks if he’s sure, and Jane’s smile says it all.
Patrick Jane’s Birthday!
Lisbon has already told everyone not to make a fuss, but she’s gotten him a gift, and they joke about whether she can keep it a secret for an entire day. Jane eventually writes down his guess and says Lisbon can’t look at it until the next day.
OMG! It’s his mug from the CBI that got broken! Lisbon saved the pieces and got it put back together good as new. You can tell by his expression, Jane is shocked, and on the little piece of paper is written I have no idea.
Oh, what a fantastic ending. Jane saved Abbott, and he had a beautiful, romantic birthday. It seems they’re doing the most with their limited last season. What do you think of the way they’re wrapping up the show?
Morning Static: NETFLIX, JANE THE VIRGIN, THE FLASH & More!
• Mark Your Calendars: Netflix Announces Premiere Dates For Your New Favorite Shows
• Netflix Sets ‘Daredevil’ Premiere Date, Renews ‘Marco Polo’ for Season 2
• WHO Knew? Former ‘Doctor Who’ showrunner turns down offer to return
• We Love Lists! The 50 Best TV Series On Netflix
• Jamie Dornan on ‘Once Upon a Time’ return: ‘He’s kind of dead’
• TCA: Tina Fey Not Ready For Golden Globes, Thrilled TV13 And Snipes Gone From ‘Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’
• TV Apps Were Supposed to Keep People Subscribed to Cable, But They’re Creating Confusion Instead TCA panel laments industry’s measurement troubles.
• Funny Business: Watch Amy Poehler and Tina Fey perfectly tease the Golden Globes
• Stewart Delivers Powerful Statement on Charlie Hebdo: Comedy Shouldn’t Be an ‘Act of Courage’
• Oh Boy: NBC Trims About a Boy’s Episode Count
• ‘AHS: Freak Show’: Who’s the latest freak to die? [Spoiler] talks the major twist.
• Tina Fey: What Netflix Move Means for ‘Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’
• Career Trajectory Alert: John Travolta Will Play O.J. Lawyer Robert Shapiro in Ryan Murphy’s American Crime Story Miniseries
• Diggity! This real-life Peter Griffin impersonator puts Seth MacFarlane to shame.
• Netflix’s ‘Bloodlines’ Creators: Kyle Chandler Drama Is No ‘Damages’
• TCA Journal No. 2: Netflix, Weird Outsider.
• Corporate Synergy Alert: Marvel, ESPN to blend comics, sports superpowers
• ‘Justified’: ‘Kingdom’s’ Jonathan Tucker Joins the Final Season
• Scoop: Jane Seymour to visit ‘Jane the Virgin’
• RIP: Comedy Central Cancels Daniel Tosh’s ‘Brickleberry’ After Three Seasons
• Super News: ‘The Flash’ Adds ‘Spartacus’ Star Liam McIntyre as ‘Weather Wizard’
• Hot Collar: Matt Bomer to star in HBO’s ‘Monty Clift’
• RJ Mitte: ‘Nothing I do will ever compare with Breaking Bad’
• TCA: Netflix content chief talks ratings, ‘Arrested Development’ future and show resurrection
• I Want to Go There: ‘Good Wife’, ‘Arrow’, ‘Scandal’ among first PaleyFest honorees
• New Fox Chiefs Reveal Reboot Plan: “We’re Not Looking to Do Smaller, Dark Programming”
• Q&A: Kathleen Rose Perkins Contemplates Her ‘Episodic’ Strokes of Luck
AMERICAN IDOL Season 14 Premiere Recap: We Rank the Best and Worst Auditions!
‘American Idol’ is back for its fourteenth season, and I’m very happy to be back with my ‘American Idol’ column now on theTV Addict! This will be a great new home for my brand of nonsense.
This season, ‘American Idol’ is supposed to be all about positivity. So much positivity in fact, that we already know who the Top 24 are. Well, at least what a few of them sound like and how they look in silhouette.
The show’s goal appears this season is for the audience to build relationships with these contestants in hopes that the show can launch its first pop star since Phillip Phillips and (probably) help stave off cancellation.
So it’s going to be a bunch of sunshine and gumdrops this season as the show becomes a chorus of Paula Abduls rooting on all contestants to victory in hopes the audience will feel those same good vibes.
Luckily, the cynics out there still have me. There will be no such positivity from this column as I will continue to bring my same Cowell-esque snark to covering ‘American Idol’. Let’s begin again, shall we?
The Three Best Auditions
Riley
This was the kid who looked Keith Urban’s pint-sized doppelganger and had actually played with Keith Urban at an awards show once and, in fact, played a Keith Urban song. In other words, he may be a bizarre reincarnation a la that creepy kid in ‘Birth’ which, of course, starred Nicole Kidman. Coincidence? It can’t be.
Harry made a great point when he said that it seemed like Riley wasn’t trying. He was just so effortless as he strummed through his country tune. Yes, he smacked of annoying young kid singer songwriter you wanted to punch when you were in high school. But, with Riley, maybe you would have apologized afterwards.
Emily
This is the girl who thought that Ryan Seacrest was speaking to her directly through her television to tell her to come to audition. She could have been Son of Sam, but instead she was just a bolt of talent. Her singing was solid, but what was really impressive was her folk guitar playing as she reworked a Carrie Underwood song into something that could have been played at Woodstock.
This audition also must be noted because it gave us the faux pas of the season by which all others will be measured: Harry Connick saying, “I like seeing someone who looks fifteen.”
Did nobody catch that?
Cameron
This is the guy in the hoodie who looked like a Starbucks Barista who actually manages to get your name right. He sang a Ray LaMontagne song and turned it from a gravel pit tune into a some smooth fun R&B soul. I swear, if Ray LaMontagne sounded like Cameron I might actually want to listen to him – a big beam of sunshine in contrast to the driving rain that is the actual song. The only thing bad I can say about Cameron is that he referred to Hollywood as “Hollywizzle” in his post performance interview. That’s not a good look for anybody.
The Three Worst Auditions
Unidentified Guy in the Blue Shirt
Look. If a guy’s got the cajones to come into his ‘Idol’ audition and sing “Use Your Love” by The Outfield and not be able to sing a single note, he deserves more than just a spot in part of the montage. He actually could probably needs a four-part ‘Idol’ special dedicated to him. I want to know at what point he decided upon ‘Use Your Love’. If he ever considered the Katy Perry version of ‘Use Your Love’. If he’d seen the Josh Hutcherson SNL sketch devoted to ‘Use Your Love’ and if he could please come over to my house and discuss how kick-ass the song ‘Use Your Love’ is. This guy was a superstar in the making and he got the shaft in ‘Idol’s’ newfound devotion to positivity.
Kyle
This is the big shock of red hair with a human underneath it who looked like the Fraggle version of Napoleon dynamite. He sang Supertramp’s “Give a Little Bit” or, as he said it, by The Goo Goo Dolls who famously sang it in a Gap Commercial and then decided to make a single out of it. So yeah, it’s their song. What am I thinking?
Not understanding the origins of his song, though, was the least of his crimes. His real fault was the fact that he performed the tune as though he was in sort of heavy metal race as he played his acoustic guitar with the fury of a doom guitarist ripping through some power chords. It would have been funny if it weren’t so disturbingly creepy.
Sadly, the judges cut him off before he could start to sing another song.
Michael
This was the kid who looked like a modern day Opie and wore some weird shirt about being World War Champs – not sure how that made it past the plain T-Shirt Police.
He sang “Stay With Me” by Sam Smith with a load of forced tone that was so inauthentic you could almost see him practicing the snarl in mirror as he forced his way through his audition. Then the kid has the gaul to slow dance with J-Lo as Keith and Harry provided the soundtrack.
The only good thing to come from this audition was J-Lo saying that slow dancing with the kid was, “The most fun she’d had in months.” Then going on to say she was a great wife, but, “Just picked the wrong f—king guys.” Umm…Call for help, J-Lo?
On TV Tonight: Thursday January 8, 2015
NET | 8PM | 8:30PM | 9PM | 9:30PM | 10PM | 10:30PM |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ABC | The Taste | How to Get Away with Murder (R) | ||||
CBS | The Big Bang Theory | Mom | Two and a Half Men | The McCarthys | Elementary | |
CW | House at the End of the Street (Movie) | |||||
FOX | American Idol | Archer (FX) | ||||
NBC | The Biggest Loser: Glory Days | Bad Judge | A to Z | Parenthood | ||
MISC | Babylon (SundanceTV) Portlandia (IFC) |
MASTERCHEF JUNIOR Interview: Jenna Kloner Can Cook — And Golf!
Jenna Kloner is a force to be reckoned with in the MASTERCHEF JUNIOR kitchen — and on the golf course.
When she isn’t whipping up restaurant-worthy meals in her family’s New York City home, the culinary whiz kid enjoys hitting up the greens with her father and brother.
“I am really into golf,” she reveals in an exclusive interview with TheTVPage.com.
“It is just a whole family thing. It is a really great way for me and my family to spend time together. And I am not that bad at it either!”
Jenna — and eighth grader from New York City — is one of 19 culinary cuties featured on the third season of chef Gordon Ramsay’s kiddie cooking competition.
“Ever since I was little, I was always watching cooking shows and saying “Why don’t they have one for kids?’” she says.
“I swear I said that! And I was like, ‘I just want to grow up so I can be on one of those.” Then I saw MASTERCHEF JUNIOR, so I found the casting website and I signed up.”
Here’s a few more things Jenna had to share… [Read more…]
Morning Static: GAME OF THRONES, COVERT AFFAIRS, ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK & More!
• Game of Thrones: Who’s Playing Young Cersei?
• Must Read TV: Broadcast TV Should Take More Risks Than Cable in 2015
• The Business of Show: ‘Downton Abbey’ ratings down slightly
• Pilot Watch: ABC Family Orders Two Single-Cam Comedy Pilots
• Who Knew? The newest ‘Orange Is the New Black’ inmate is about to break the Internet
• Shocker! USA Cancels Covert Affairs After Five Seasons
• The Long, Strange, Impossible Journey That Brought Archer to Television: Creator Adam Reed’s story is as odd and surprising as any given episode.
• Sneak Peak: Stop What You’re Doing and Watch the First 9 Minutes of 12 Monkeys Now
• TCA Journal No. 1: Why Are We In Pasadena?
• RIP: ‘Person of Interest’ producers on [spoiler]’s death, that big kiss
• Woo-Hoo! Netflix has big plans for 2015 originals
• Spotlight: Kevin Hart left his failed ‘SNL’ audition ‘feeling like I had no talent’
• Who? Can Scott Borchetta save a sinking ‘American Idol’?
• Watch: This Hilarious “Parks And Rec” And “Jurassic Park” Mash-Up Has Andy Dwyer Fighting Off Dinosaurs
On TV Tonight: Wednesday January 7, 2015
Parent Drama Behind-the-Scenes of Lifetime’s CHILD GENIUS
There was a lot of drama behind the scenes of Lifetime’s new reality series CHILD GENIUS.
The show, premiering January 6, pits some of the smartest 8 to 12 year-old in America against each other in a quiz of all around intelligence that would make even a JEOPARDY champ feel stupid.
Not surprisingly, many of their over-protective helicopter parents were in a competitive frame of mind as well.
“The parents were obviously competitive in certain ways and wanting their children to do well, as we all do,” executive producer John Hesling tells TheTVPage.com.
“There were complaints and concerns from parents that maybe their children had gotten gotten questions that were harder than another child’s. There were arguments with the moderators. There was tension for sure.”
In fairness, Hesling noted, the parents of his 20 participants were “utterly committed to their children.” [Read more…]
Exclusive: Kathleen Rose Perkins Contemplates Her ‘Episodic’ Strokes of Luck
In the Matt LeBlanc-fronted “Episodes,” the real star is Kathleen Rose Perkins.
As Carol Rance, head of network programming at the fictitious, unnamed network that airs “Pucks,” the show within a show starring LeBlanc, Perkins portrays a high energy yes man who never seems to land a win. In season four of the Showtime satire (premiering Sunday at 10:30 p.m.), Carol comes no closer to landing her dream gig as head of the network. In fact, she’s passed over for another woman, Helen Bash (Andrea Savage), who may or may not have a bone to pick with her.
I spoke with Ms. Perkins earlier this afternoon about the season she calls the best one yet. “It’s… messier,” she told me. We also spoke about some of her recent film roles.
theTVaddict | This may sound silly, but do you ever feel like you’re portraying a character on the precipice of a nervous breakdown?
[Laughs.] Yeah, every season, but she’s amazing at keeping it together. I think if I was her, over the course of the four seasons so far, I’d probably have at least four breakdowns, and a couple of panic attacks. She holds it together somehow, and I think a big reason is the marijuana. It helps her calm down, and I think that’s why she has to have it.
theTVaddict | And you’re playing this character who, in one way or another, always appears to be in this frantic state of mind. I would imagine that’s probably as grueling as it is fun to keep up this high energy throughout the entire performance.
It’s exhausting. We only do nine episodes, and we do about two and a half months of shooting. We storyboard the whole thing, so it’s blocks shot like a big movie. Everything is basically shot location to location, so every single scene that happens over the course of a season that’s in the network office, we do all of those back-to-back-to-back.
For two weeks, I’m in every scene. Those days are brutal because, not only is my body tired, but my mind is tired. We’ll start shooting a scene on episode one, then go to episode seven, then episode nine, and then end up back at episode five. That’s just one day of shooting. It’s crazy!
theTVaddict | You mentioned shooting in batches, so do you get all the scripts up front?
Yes. They write the entire thing, and they send us everything. We go to London, and we sit down and have a table read of every single episode in one day. For four and a half hours, we sit and read every episode. We know what happens before we shoot anything.
theTVaddict | In the season premiere, your character rallies for the network president job again, but Elliot clearly doesn’t have her in mind. At this point, do you think Carol will ever get the promotion she’s been after, or do you think she’ll always remain second fiddle at the network?
That’s such a good question. Being a fan of the show, I hope she finally ends up in the hot seat at some point, but as a character, I don’t know. Being the head of something would be great. [Laughs.] But, I don’t know that that’s ever going to happen.
She really is very good at staying second fiddle. She knows how to speak to the creators – be the person between the creatives and the boss – so, she’s in the perfect position for her talents. But boy, I’d just like to see if she could do it. Not only would I love to see it, but I’d really love to play it. I can never assume with these writers, David Crane and Jeffrey Klarik. I can never imagine where they’re going to go because this season, I’ve been blown away. I had no idea what they were going to do, and the same goes for every season. I have no idea how they’re going to play it, and then when they do it’s like, “of course!”
theTVaddict | Yeah, I don’t think anyone could have predicted Castor Sotto’s breakdown about the primetime show with the bees. That was pretty great.
Wasn’t that brilliant?
theTVaddict | He was brilliant.
You know, that was like a five-page monologue that Chris Diamantopoulos just crushed. He was amazing at it. The writing of it – like three-fourths of it was complete fluff, and then it was only the last quarter where he goes nuts and crazy. But [Castor] was really smart and maybe he had a handle on where network television should go. Then, he went absolutely crazy, and that was just a commentary on, you know, this business. [Laughs.] The crazy ones run the asylum.
theTVaddict | Personally, I’d love to see how Carol handles the pressures of the job, and I think it would be really fun to see how she handles the powers that come with that.
Do you think she’d be good at it?
theTVaddict | I think they would find a way to give her the job, and then probably take it away somehow. At least temporarily.
I think the comedy comes in the tragedy, so it’s not as much fun to watch these people succeed. It’s more fun to watch people fail, and fail miserably.
theTVaddict | Definitely. I think this is definitely a show where everyone involved, probably everyone except for Merc, deserves a win in the end, but until you get to the end, it’s not fun to watch anyone win.
No, no, no. It’s much more fun this way.
theTVaddict | At the start of the season, your character is worried she won’t be able to keep her job because of a certain affair from her past. As it turns though, she’s probably worried for nothing. Was it a surprise for you to read the first scene [in episode two] in Carol’s office with Carol and Helen Bash, and find out that unlike so many other things that have come before, this wasn’t something that was going to blow up in Carol’s face?
That’s the thing: I really, really love Helen. I know you’ve only seen the first two episodes, but it’s really amazing how it all plays out throughout the rest of the season. She’s a really cool character to watch and she’s not what you expect at all. So it’s going to be a lot of fun, and it’s really interesting to see how she effects Carol and what happens as far as the dynamic of the entire network office when this woman pops in. She’s a really, really dynamic character that Andrea did a great job of portraying. She’s been unbelievable. [Her story] goes to a place that is so interesting, and I had a blast working on it. It’s a whole new ballgame.
theTVaddict | The character exudes a vastly different energy than Merc or Castor. She’s much more grounded, at least at the start.
Yeah, certainly. We became really good friends, too, during the course of shooting the season. [Andrea] is a real professional, but also so down to earth. It was very easy to play off of her. Sometimes, it’s not so easy to play with another woman, but man I’ve been lucky in this job. Between Tamsin [Greig], who is this dream being to work with, and now Andrea. Daisy Haggard, who plays Myra, has become one of my good friends as well. I’m just compiling all these amazing actresses as friends, and all of these really cool colleagues.
theTVaddict | The show certainly makes great use of recurring characters, particularly Andy and Myra. The punchline is almost always Myra’s beyond amazing facial expressions, and yet the joke never gets old. Are those scenes as hard for you to get through without laughing as they are for the audience at home?
Oh, it’s impossible. We’ve never ever, ever, ever done one take all the way through. It just takes one person to crumble a little bit, or move their face just a little bit. I can’t look at her when the camera is on her and behind me, because my shoulder will start moving. A lot of times, they can’t even be over my shoulder or have it in the view because it’ll start shaking. It’s ridiculous! They just write in the scripts, “Myra: H-m-m-m,” and that’s it. Some people would just go “hmm,” but she just adds something special on every single one of her lines. A lot of times I’ll ask [Daisy] what she was thinking during [a take], and she’ll have a whole backstory and dialogue. She’s really brilliant at what she does.
theTVaddict | Yeah, if there’s any character who needs a web series, it’s definitely Myra. There’s always been one scene in particular, where Myra is reading over the latest “Pucks” script, and asks Sean and Beverly if they really need “the bats.” In actuality, the script asked that the actors “skip a beat.” Few moments have made me laugh more.
Exactly! And there’s one line where Beverly says, “yeah, and we’d really hate if someone’s bad at their job.” [Laughs.]
theTVaddict | The irony of Myra being the head of development for comedy is just brilliant.
It really is. They ask [Daisy] to do just enough. There’s a story line with her this season – you’re going to love it. It will tickle you to no end.
theTVaddict | One of the shows most reliable and grounded relationships is the friendship between Carol and Beverly, and their hikes have really become a regular part of the show. The dialogue in those scenes feels so natural, and you can sense what a good time you two are having. To your knowledge, were the hikes always meant to be a recurring thing, or is that something the writers went back to after seeing how well you and Tamsin played opposite each other?
Honestly, they wrote the first season prior to casting anyone other than Matt LeBlanc. So they wrote this scene – the first time they get high together happens in the first season, and they just wrote it as something to give two characters something to do. But once Tamsin and I got to do those scenes, the writers loved what happened, and when the second season came, they started writing hiking scenes. Not only is it a really fun day to be outside and shoot in Griffith Park in L.A., but we just come alive. I know I do. She’s my favorite person I’ve ever worked with. It’s also the only time I can play [Carol] without wearing really uncomfortable heels.
We really do bring it, and me and Tamsin get so excited about those scenes. Every season, on our own time, while she’s here staying in a hotel when we shoot in Los Angeles, I’ll bring her up to one of my favorite areas and hike, and we just rehearse on our own time. We spend the entire time rehearsing those scenes, so that when we actually get to set, we’ve learned it inside and out and know it backwards and forwards, and I think that’s also the reason why they keep giving us that kind of stuff to do.
theTVaddict | Your character has had plenty to do – probably even more to do – since Merc lost his job at the end of season two. Do you ever miss acting out that dysfunctional relationship with John Pankow?
[Merc] is like a bad, bad troll that you can’t get rid of. I absolutely love working with him, and I like working on the scenes I’ve gotten to do with him after the break-up of the relationship. John is really geniune in everything he does, so it’s a real pleasure to work with him regardless of what the relationship is between Carol and Merc. I actually like it more that we’re not together. There’s stuff that happens with him this season that I think is just fantastic. I cannot wait for people to see it.
theTVaddict | I thought last season was real clever, because Merc was pretty much off to the side for most of it, and then you realized in the finale that even though he didn’t have an ongoing storyline per se, the narrative was actually that he was building up this entire revenge against Matt.
It was ingenious. The whole story hinges on him. He is the reason why there’s a fourth season, and for everything that happens. He’s the only reason “Pucks” gets picked up. They use that character in such a smart way. This season is no exception.
I could die now. I don’t know if I’ll have ever have a job again where every single person I have scenes with is a real treat. If this is the only job I get to do for the rest of my life, I’m pretty lucky.
theTVaddict | I sincerely doubt it’ll be the last job.
Well from your mouth to God’s ears!
theTVaddict | Stepping away from “Episodes” for just a moment, I wanted to ask about the two movie roles you had in the last calendar year, “Skeleton Twins” and “Gone Girl.” I happened to be in the theater watching “Skeleton Twins” with a fellow “Episodes” fan, and the second your character came on screen, we each said that character was totally what Carol would be if she were the mother of a young, obnoxious child, and that was pretty great.
[Laughs.] It does translate, doesn’t it?
theTVaddict | Perfectly.
Yeah, that’s Middle America Carol. A real high-strung person pissed off about her life. She had kids, but didn’t want kids and felt obligated, and now she’s angry. That was really fun to work on – one scene with Kristen Wiig where I get to be the one who talks the whole time. I loved that movie. It was so impressive, and heartwarming and touching, and the performances were unbelievable. Bill Hader, I mean –
theTVaddict | I don’t think anyone expected such a nuanced performance.
Yeah, unbelievable, and so cool. It was such a cool movie to be apart of because I respected it so much. I had a great, tiny little role. They had to cut the scene down for time, but I’d love to see the full scene. I kept going on and on about my life and it’s this very funny story, but I was just happy being in it at all. It’s that thing of being able to say that I was a small part in a movie like “Enough Said,” and then “Gone Girl” as well. It was a fun, awesome, reputable movie that I feel so privileged to be in.
theTVaddict | I think those parts – your scenes – definitely came in at the perfect time and helped break up some of those film’s darker elements.
Yeah, and it’s very rare that you get to have those small roles where you actually get to have a point of view.
theTVaddict | They had depth.
Right. They had something to say.
theTVaddict | Before we go, is there a particular episode, or a particular moment in season four of “Episodes,” that you’re most excited for fans to see? Anything you can hint at without spoiling too much?
No, there’s nothing I can hint at. [Laughs.] But I will say that the finale of this season – when I read it for first time – my mouth just stayed opened the whole time. I just couldn’t believe where it was going. It’s just so satisfying for every single story line. All of these really cool comings and goings, you’ll wonder where everything is going, and then in episode nine it all pays off.
theTVaddict | So what you’re saying is that there’s less of a cliffhanger than there was less season?
Less of a cliffhanger? No, no I’m not. I’m not saying anything, but you’ll be wanting more.