TV News, Previews, Spoilers and Reviews
Inspired by a WALKING DEAD fan’s photograph, New York teen and ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK super-fan Samantha Gardella decided to visit the abandoned Rockland Children’s Psychiatric Center where the show is shot. Armed with only her camera and an awesome eye she took some super cool photos. [Read more…]
On account of our inexplicable need to point out actors who remind us of, well, other actors comes the latest instalment of our popular ongoing “Separated at Birth” series. This week’s edition is inspired by our current obsession with Netflix’s much-improved third season of ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK. Is it just us… or does new inmate Lolly played by original BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER Lori Petty not look like a dead ringer for television’s Ellen Degeners? Discuss.
Dascha Polanco appears on the Emmy nominated comedy, ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK. Polanco guests as Daya Diaz, a pregnant inmate who although comes off very tough and aggressive, is actually an extremely sweet romantic. I spoke with Polanco about the casts Emmy nominations, Bennett and Daya’s relationship, and what she would like to see next season on the show.
The show received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Comedy Series. Where were you when you heard the news?
I was on set.
How was the atmosphere on set after the news broke?
It was intense, everyone was cheering, and screaming, everyone got really emotional. I had a scene where I had to be teary, so it all worked out. (Laughs)
Daya had a lot of really great scenes this year, are there any specific scenes that stick out to you as your favorite?
Pretty much the scenes I had with my mother (Elizabeth Rodriguez) the Latinas, and also, obviously Bennett (Matt McGorry) are my faves. The romance and the storyline is really fun to shoot.
Do you think Daya and Bennett could make it work?
I think anything is possible, even with the given circumstances I think it’s a little challenging, but hopefully they do make it work. It’s hard to tell, when you’re locked up, there are a lot of factors. Hopefully they do make it work.
If Daya were to have the baby next season how do you think that would change her and Bennett’s relationship?
I think that the idea of her having a baby in prison is something she would have to challenge because she won’t be able to have the baby in prison. Also, it’s not Romeo and Juliet anymore; it’s like, real issues. You have a baby to take care of and there are more responsibilities. It might turn the relationship sour; it might make it happy, it’s hard to tell. The origin of Daya and Bennett already was not a normal circumstance. It’s something you really don’t see as far as, a baby daddy who is a prison guard and we have a family and that sort of thing. Jenji and the writers will hopefully write it so it had a realistic turn to it.
Are there any specific characters you would like to learn more about?
I like the variation, every season you don’t know what you’re gonna get. Maybe we’ll go into Spanish Harlem and learn more about that or go to Harlem and learn more about them. I like the surprise; I think that’s the beauty of it. You don’t expect it and than you learn something about that individual character, it kind of helps you embrace the program even more.
We saw a huge change in Piper (Taylor Schilling) this season, how do you think she’s changed since the first season? How do you think she will continue to change?
The relationships she’s established and the relationships she’s eliminated while in prison have influenced her and a person and have helped her grow. Hopefully her being in this situation and still being in prison will allow her to develop more relationships, become stronger, and become less naïve. I think it’s just a learning process and hopefully Piper assimilates all of that, in pursuit of happiness.
Alex (Laura Prepon) will be in he third season, how do you think that will affect Piper?
They have a history, Piper and Alex have a connection and it might tempt her or it might make her stronger and more decisive and not be so wishy- washy.
What would you like to see next season?
I would love to see them explore Spanish Harlem, and more back-stories. Jenji and the writers are doing a great job and I am all for whatever they decide to do. As an actress I would love more challenging scenes, Dayanara with Crazy Eyes (Uzo Aduba) or Dayanara goes to Sophia’s (Laverne Cox) salon, that kind of fun stuff. Just the merging of different scenes with different characters, that sort of thing.
What did you think of the second season compared to the first?
Not because I’m part of the show, I think the show is amazing. It’s like a flower, a seed that was planted and now it’s growing and growing and it’s become this beautiful botanical garden, and I think that’s what the show is doing. It was a seed and now it’s growing and becoming better, it’s aging like wine and tasting better. I think we are just improving and improving. 
You can catch Dascha in Season 2 of ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK on Netflix.
Victoria Nelli loves TV so much that she is paying $30,000 a year to learn about it in College. When she’s not learning about TV she enjoys writing about her favorite shows, interviewing anyone in the industry that will let her, and ranting about how underrated Parks and Recreation is. She is very much aware of her Netflix addiction, and no she will not be seeking help anytime soon. You can follow her on Twitter @VictoriaNelli
We know her as the bank robbing, cancer ridden, all around badass, Miss Rosa on the Jenji Kohan juggernaut, ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK. What you may not know is that Barbara Rosenblat has won eight Audie Awards for her incredible voiceover work and has voiced over five hundred audio books. She has also performed on stage and in numerous shows and films throughout her remarkable career. I spoke with Barbara about her preparation for Miss Rosa, her thoughts on Pipers transformation, and where she thinks Miss Rosa is now.
You’ve voiced hundreds of audio books over the years. How is your preparation different for an audio book verses a show like ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK?
Barbara Rosenblat: It’s a completely different discipline as are all disciplines in the performing arts, like doing cabaret, radio, or preparing for a play. Preparing for an audio book is preparing to take on the mantel of the author’s dramatic arc, the author’s intent. So that when I read and prepare to go into the studio I get a large overview of where the author was going. His tonal imprint in the writing and so by the end of the time I have prepared for it I have a pretty good idea of what the whole audio canvas is like.
How was the whole process of becoming Miss Rosa?
I had no expectations when I joined the company in season 1. It really is a company; I’ve never been so excited to be with a bunch of people who single-mindedly want to make this thing fly, and apparently we succeeded. I came in as a cancer-ridden inmate, Miss Rosa. I didn’t even know her last name in season one, I didn’t know what cancer she had or what she went to prison for, all of that started to emerge in season two. With what I had in season one I started to take all of the experience I have as an actor from theater, Broadway, and audio book and try to craft someone that I could believe in, myself. I brought that to season two and happily they started to develop that into what we have now.
What was your initial reaction to finding out that she would go to prison for robbing banks?
I thought that was amazing! Especially when I did that first chemo scene with that young boy, Yusef played brilliantly by Ben Koningsberg. This is a fellow who doesn’t believe that I’m anything more than some poor old git in prison, who has a problem that they’re both there for, which is cancer. When he discovers that she has a prior history that’s kind of colorful he doesn’t believe her. She looks at him and gives one of my favorite lines of the entire season, which is “Google me.” (Laughs)
Aside from Miss Rosa, who was your favorite character this season?
I don’t know. The beauty of the writing by Jenji Kohan and her amazing group of writers is that all of the characters have such strengths that weave in and out of this tapestry that you get so attached to. It’s like asking me what’s my favorite audio book or who is my favorite child. They are all so rich, even large demographics are rich, like the GOLDEN GIRLS and such. It’s so hard to pick a favorite.
How did you feel about Miss Rosa being the one to end Vee (Lorraine Toussaint) in the season finale?
Well I never saw that coming! (Laughs) We’re working through season two and I start having all of these uncomfortable encounters with not so nice people in the prison. I’m thinking to myself, “hmm this is not going to end well.” But little did I know they were going to take this exceller train and drive it into where they did. I don’t wish to spoil it for some of the people who didn’t binge like thousands others did at a minute past midnight in the beginning of June. But it was pretty sensational when I finally had the last two scripts in my hot little hands I ran into the bathroom and started screaming for five minutes.
What did you think of Pipers (Taylor Schilling) transformation from the first season to this one? How do you think she’ll change next season?
I see her evolving as many of the viewers have because she went in as this poor, blonde character and had to become a survivor. A survivor learning tools with rules that have never been written, she makes them up as she goes as her character. Just to get from day to day because there is the pleasant and the not so pleasant and the glorious and the horrifying, all taking place in those walls. I see her continuing on this journey, it just fleshes her out beautifully as it does for everyone in the cast.
As a viewer what would you like to see next season?
I think the key that Jenji unlocked for TV viewers, which makes ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK so primal for people, is the fact that she has unlocked these back-stories of these women. People that you would walk away from, people whose lives don’t matter to so many. And yet their back-stories are rich, even if they are horrifyingly uncomfortable as we see many of them are. I think the public, at least what I’ve seen is people want to know why everybody’s in prison, because it’s just so delicious to find out why these people behave the way they do. Television hasn’t dealt with subject matter like this before, or gone into such detail with subject matter like this before, and that’s what makes this such groundbreaking TV.
How do you think the show would have been received if it was on a network rather than made available for streaming online?
I have to say Netflix invented binge watching. I think they started with HOUSE OF CARDS, which is a terrific series as well. But the binge watching has created a new community of television viewers. Because of social media and the millions of demographics dealt with in the series it’s almost like being in a thirteen and a half hour movie. When you can get invested in something and then keep going. It’s almost like when someone gives you a book for your birthday, and it’s something you’ve wanted to read for a long, long time, no one tells you you have to stop after chapter three. You take it to bed and all of a sudden it’s dawn, because you’re so invested in the book, it’s the same here with binge watching. The energies were created for this season and were written into the end of the episode and then in the beginning of the following episode were monumental. They gave people an opportunity to stay connected with it to the point where all of a sudden it’s four AM. I can’t imagine what it was like at the end of that premiere weekend, all of the bleary eyes that walked into the office on Monday morning.
At the end of this season we learned that Miss Rosa only had a few weeks left. What do you think she did in her final weeks?
I don’t know, I’ve been thinking about that for ages. It’s just hanging there, it’s such a heroic decision that she makes, which impacts the entire seasons storyline and what she does, I don’t know. I would hope that she would find peace somewhere that isn’t surrounded by barbed wire.
Victoria Nelli loves TV so much that she is paying $30,000 a year to learn about it in College. When she’s not learning about TV she enjoys writing about her favorite shows, interviewing anyone in the industry that will let her, and ranting about how underrated Parks and Recreation is. She is very much aware of her Netflix addiction, and no she will not be seeking help anytime soon. You can follow her on Twitter @VictoriaNelli
Danielle Brooks plays everyone’s favorite inmate, Tasha “Taystee” Jefferson on the critically acclaimed, juggernaut of a show, ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK. I spoke with Brooks about her audition for the show, working with Samira, (Wiley) and what we can look forward to with Taystee this season.
How was your audition for Taystee?
Danielle Brooks: My audition for Taystee was a lot of fun and not a lot of pressure because I was in the middle of doing another show, a theater gig so it took a little bit of the pressure off. The description said to not wear any makeup and to not look glamorous. I went in there with no makeup on and my hair brushed back in cornrows and I remember changing into a mouu- muu. And I went in and I auditioned and it said the character was light hearted and wasn’t mean or malicious in anyway. When they said that to me I knew this was the character for me because that was the direction I was taking Taystee regardless of the language of it. Most people would have played it a different way; I felt this was the character for me. She sang! The scene I auditioned for was the first scene of the season with Taystee in the shower scene with Piper. (Taylor Schilling) That was exciting for me too!
The scenes between you and Samira are so incredible and come off so natural. Do you both ever improvise in your scenes together?
We don’t improvise the scenes; there is a little room for creativity. The chemistry might be so strong because we’ve known each other for about seven years now. We both attended Julliard and Samira graduated a year ahead of me. So we’ve known each other for quite some time and I feel like that’s why it’s so easy to work with her and the chemistry is just there.
Do you have a favorite scene or line that you’ve done together?
Well my favorite scene with Poussey is at the end of the season when you find them in the library and Taystee just came back to prison. I just love how honest Poussey was with Taystee and I think that scene in particular lends itself to the behavior of Taystee in season two. So I think she took to heart that conversation, and for me getting to work with Samira on a scene that was much more dramatic than the others was a lot of fun.
When Taystee left the prison we saw that she really didn’t have anyone. Will we learn more about where she came from and who her family is?
You will definitely learn more about Taystee’s back-story in season two. I think it will be fun for the audience to get to know some of the details of who she is and the details that people have been longing to know about her. I feel like peoples questions will be answered and a few will still remain a mystery.
Was there a moment during the first season or a scene or line of dialogue that you did and you just knew this show was going to be huge?
Our slogan is “every sentence has a story” and that to me is incredible to be involved in a show where every sentence has a story. To me that means every person every human being has a story, and a lot of times in Hollywood a lot of stories are over looked and are not valued to the extent of stories we’ve heard a hundred times already. I was excited to be a part of something like that, especially as someone of color. To be playing someone that I felt could very easily slip into a stereotype but was not at all a stereotype. And that was exciting for me because I got to take on that challenge of bringing someone people think they know to life and showing them the beauty of that person.
You can watch Danielle in season two of ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK on Netflix.
Victoria Nelli loves TV so much that she is paying $30,000 a year to learn about it in College. When she’s not learning about TV she enjoys writing about her favorite shows, interviewing anyone in the industry that will let her, and ranting about how underrated Parks and Recreation is. She is very much aware of her Netflix addiction, and no she will not be seeking help anytime soon. You can follow her on Twitter @VictoriaNelli
Matt McGorry stars on what I believe to be the greatest show currently on television (and it’s not even technically on TV) ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK. McGorry plays the lovable but strict guard, John Bennett. I spoke with McGorry about season two, what we can expect with John and Daya and about one of the new characters this season, Vee.
What can we look forward to with Daya (Dascha Polanco) and John this season?
Matt McGorry: Lots of drama, and I don’t mean that in the way of dark heavy drama. There’s relationship drama, which creates a lot of humor and increased tensions for sure. I think pregnancies are not a particularly easy time, I think throwing in the factors of being in prison and having to keep it a secret that’s certainly not going to make it any easier. I think we will see the pot is very close to boiling and we will see it boil over a few times.
John’s job is in jeopardy because of this pregnancy. What will happen with his job during all of this?
It’s sort of a fine line with trying to keep things under wraps without letting people know. The tricky thing is some people already know as we’ve seen in season one. It’s not just John and Daya, it’s Aleida (Elizabeth Rodriguez) Daya’s mother. And when someone has a big mouth its hard to keep these things under wraps. If you’ve seen the trailer you’ve seen Bennett a little angrier than we’ve seen him before, and some of that is definitely in relation to the pressure of trying to keep it all a secret.
When Daya does have the baby we know she can’t raise it in prison. Do you think John could raise it on his own?
I think John might have some struggles raising a child on his own. I think he’s used to his certain way of living in many ways I think he’s immature and has some growing up to do. But I have heard becoming a parent makes you grow up pretty quickly so maybe things will work out for him. I think it’s hard to be a single parent, particularly when your parent is working all of the time. It would be an interesting situation if it happened.
What can you tell us about Vee (Lorraine Toussaint)?
Vee is a badass! I’m scared of Vee, she’s the counterpoint to Red (Kate Mulgrew) she’s really smart and I’d say she’s more okay to fight dirty than Red is, which sometime could give you the upper hand. She’s gonna be the one to bite and I think that rivalry is going to play out and be really exciting for viewers. Even in season one we saw that Red was the queen of the prison and that no one could touch her in terms of the other inmates, but now we see someone that poses a real threat to her. Things are dark and things get serious really quickly.
Are there any characters that you would love to see more of this season?
I love Lorna and I love Yael (Stone) who plays Lorna as well. But I think there’s a lot going on there and we will have a lot of questions answered.
What would you like to say about this season?
I think it goes more into the things that we loved about the first season. In some ways it’s darker and in some ways it’s more comedic. Frankly for my character I’m not sure if people are going to like Bennett as much as they have in the first season, which is sort of an interesting place for me to be as an actor. It’s also been very fun to play a different side to the character I think people know him as the sweet guy, I don’t think he’s the worst guy ever but it’s definitely a different flavor from what they’re used to.
Is there anything you would love to see in season 3?
Selfishly I’d love to see Bennett’s back-story and the back-stories of more of the guards as well. But I’m just very excited to watch season two, I’m such a huge fan of the show.
Matt will also be on one of ABC’s new fall pilots HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER. I asked him about the show and about his character, Asher.
It’s a suspense driven legal thriller. Viola Davis plays Annalise Keating who is a law professor who has an unorthodox style; she has five key law students. Asher Millstone is one of them. Rather than just being an academic teacher she teaches them how to think on the fly, how to get involved with her cases where she is the actual lawyer. Asher Millstone in some ways is the opposite of Bennett, he’s sort of that guy that you love to hate but hate to love. I think we all have at least one friend in our circle that’s a little bit of an asshole or that’s a little bit of a bitch. I think we love them because we know things about them and they are generally insecure even if it’s not visible. But sometimes they are also a lot of fun to be around and usually they are the ones to say the things that no one else will say and it’s incredibly entertaining. That’s a lot of who he is, other than that he comes from old money and he is a privileged guy. It was very cool and very different to play something so aside from Bennett who is a working class, veteran, super nice guy to playa a rich, spoiled douche bag.
You can watch Matt in the second season of ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK on Netflix and can follow him on twitter @MattMcGorry
Victoria Nelli loves TV so much that she is paying $30,000 a year to learn about it in College. When she’s not learning about TV she enjoys writing about her favorite shows, interviewing anyone in the industry that will let her, and ranting about how underrated Parks and Recreation is. She is very much aware of her Netflix addiction, and no she will not be seeking help anytime soon. You can follow her on Twitter @VictoriaNelli
When I saw the promos for ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK last summer I didn’t realize how truly remarkable and wonderful this show was going to be. That wasn’t until I watched the Pilot, and completely fell in love with this Jenji Kohan masterpiece. I instantly was intrigued with every character and wanted to know all of their back-stories and every single detail of their lives. But one character in particular became my favorite and fascinated me the most, that character was Lorna Morello portrayed by the immensely talented, Yael Stone. I was lucky enough to speak with Stone about her role on the show, improvising with Natasha (Lyonne), and what’s in store this season.
I won’t lie; this was one of the only interviews I have ever been nervous doing. Mainly because I think Yael is a genius and am so in awe of the work she does. But also because the whole time I was secretly hoping she would do the very unique voice she uses while she plays Morello. (She did the voice, and was so exceedingly nice throughout the interview!)
What was your initial reaction after reading the Pilot for the first time?
Yael Stone: I hope I get this job (Laughs) that was my initial reaction. And I’ve got to do a really good job because this is a special, special thing.
Did you know from the start you wanted to play Morello?
I guess it doesn’t really work that way. I’m a humble little theater actor (Laughs) and they just sort of tell you what they want to see you for. Initially I went in for Nicky and I guess I wasn’t tough enough. So they asked me to come back as Morello.
Out of all of the characters on OITNB it seems like people are most excited to learn more about Morello’s back-story. Will we learn more about her past this season?
Yes! Yeah you definitely do, there’s some real revelations. I think it’s funny because people are very curious, they are like “what is behind this seemingly nice, super friendly, gracious girl. What’s the story here?”
We saw some pictures and promos of a mock job scene; can you tell us about that?
(Laughs) It was a long time ago that we shot it to be honest and I haven’t seen it, but I remember the day we shot it very well. It required a lot of dressing up which was really fun because here we were back shooting ORANGE and so exited to be there and we weren’t in beige jumpsuits, we were in these funny little costumes. I was in a sailor suit and that made me really happy, I remember kind of feeling very giggly. I turned to Natasha and we were improvising and talking through the whole scene and eventually the director, Michael Trim was like “I think you guys just need to tone it down a little.” We were just way too chatty.
Did you improvise a lot the first season?
Natasha and I did a lot and that was a really great dynamic that worked really well for us. You know some of it makes it in, some of it doesn’t. A lot of it is about finding that relationship between them and that was really helpful. I don’t do it that much with other actors on the show because I don’t know if there is that energy that Natasha and I established. And it’s really fun and she’s a great partner, we stay in character in a lot of ways and we sort of whisper things a lot in between takes.
Do you think Morello will remain in her relationship with Nicky or will she wait for Christopher?
That’s difficult because I know the answer to that (Laughs) I can’t tell you. But I can say that in the first season Lorna kind of pushes her away and says, “This isn’t what I want.” I think what season two means for them is a kind of deepening of the connection beyond whatever they get from each other sexually. There is a deeper soul connection; they have to rely on each other a little more.
A lot of people are obsessed with Morello’s accent. How did that come about?
Playing around with different sounds. It’s funny the things actors will do alone in their bedroom at night, and apparently what I will do is create a really weird accent that is sort of a crazy mash up of sounds.
Aside from your character, which character would you like to learn more about in future episodes?
I think what’s so great is that we keep learning more and it keeps deepening for everybody. There’s that character Gina (Abigail Savage) who is Chef Red’s (Kate Mulgrew) right hand little lady. She’s this beautiful little actress and I would like to learn more about Gina because I don’t know anything about her right now.
If Morello could star in any other show that’s on television right now what show would you like to see her in?
(Laughs) I think she would be hilarious in GAME OF THRONES! I think that would be really funny if she was someone’s hand maiden and she was like (In Morello’s accent) “What are you gonna do? Stop the army? What are you gonna hang everybody?” I think that would be really funny.
There are a couple new cast members this season. What can you tell us about Vee? (Lorraine Toussaint)
She’s scary as hell and I was terrified of Lorraine for about a month because she’s so good at it. She’s like a lion, this quiet force that is kind of graceful and sexy, and you know that it could kill you at any moment. And then Kimiko Glenn plays Brooke Soso who is this delightfully irritating young woman who comes in in a very bright eyed, bushy tailed way.
The show recently got picked up for a third season. Is there anything you would like to see happen next season on the show?
I think it’s important that the show maintains its integrity. So staying in character and staying with conflicts that exist inside the very real world of prison. I hope we stay within that because that’s really interesting. Concepts of social dynamic and dealing with race and gender, staying with that, that’s what I want.
Describe this season in 3 words.
Lipstick. Curlers. Heartbreak.
You can watch season two of ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK on Netflix and can follow Yael on twitter at @YaelStone
Victoria Nelli loves TV so much that she is paying $30,000 a year to learn about it in College. When she’s not learning about TV she enjoys writing about her favorite shows, interviewing anyone in the industry that will let her, and ranting about how underrated Parks and Recreation is. She is very much aware of her Netflix addiction, and no she will not be seeking help anytime soon. You can follow her on Twitter @VictoriaNelli
By: Kelly Thompson
It’s that time of the year again TV Addicts. The fall season is over which means that our favorite summer shows are returning. Below is my list of the five returning shows I’m excited about this summer: [Read more…]
Press Release: It’s time. “Black” is back!
It was confirmed by the official Netflix OITNB Twitter handle this morning that the second season of the hit Netflix original series, ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK, premieres on Friday, June 6, 2014.
Early fans who finished the last episode from season two of the Netflix original series HOUSE OF CARDS were treated to a surprise date announcement at the end of the episode during post play.
All 13 episodes will be available to stream at launch in all territories where Netflix is available.
We’re excited to share this First Look at the all-new season. [Read more…]