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Exclusive Interview: SPARTACUS: VENGEANCE talk with Lucy Lawless and creator Steven S. DeKnight

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 01/27/2012

Lucy Lawless in SPARTACUS: VENGEANCE | ©2012 Starz

SPARTACUS: VENGEANCE, which premieres tonight on Starz at 10 PM, is actually the second season of the SPARTACUS series, even though it’s the third year of the show. Series creator and executive producer Steven S. DeKnight understands how this might cause some head-scratching. In 2010’s SPARTACUS: BLOOD AND SAND, Andy Whitfield starred as the famous historical figure. The season followed him through his early days of being enslaved, being trained as a gladiator and finally leading a revolt at the Ludus (gladiator training camp) that left its owner Batiatus (John Hannah) definitively dead and Batiatus’ pregnant wife Lucretia, played by […]Read On »

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Interview: CHUCK finale talk with co-creator Chris Fedak and actor Adam Baldwin

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN

Adam Baldwin in CHUCK - Season 5 | ©2011 NBC/Mitchell Haaseth

CHUCK, NBC’s cult hit comedy about a good-hearted big box store worker turned international spy played by Zachary Levi, comes to an end tonight with a two-hour series finale at 8 PM. To mark the end of CHUCK’s five-year run, NBC hosted a conference call on Monday with Adam Baldwin, who has starred on the series as experienced espionage agent John Casey, one of Chuck’s handlers, and Chris Fedak, who created the series with fellow executive producer Josh Schwartz. Here are some highlights of that conversation. On what can be said about the big finale, Fedak says, “It’s going to […]Read On »

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Exclusive Interview: CHUCK star Yvonne Strahovski kicks ass to the end as the NBC series signs off

By A.C. FERRANTE

Yvonne Strahovski in CHUCK - Season 5 | ©2012 NBC/Mitchell Haaseth

For five years, Australian actress Yvonne Strahovski has kicked ass as CIA spy Sarah Walker on NBC’s action-comedy CHUCK. In that time, Sarah has went from a cold, closed-off spy, to a loving wife (and still stellar spy) to the show’s titular character Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi). While the ups and downs of CHUCK being on the bubble for its five years on the air has certainly provided anxious butterflies for the cast and crew during the run, Strahovski says the journey has been worth it. With the series signing off with a two-hour season finale tonight, the actress spoke […]Read On »

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Interview: CHUCK co-creator Josh Schwartz looks back on five years of the NBC series

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 01/26/2012

Joshua Gomez, VIk Sahay, Julia Ling, Zachary Levi, Scott Krinsky and Mark Christopher Lawrence in CHUCK | ©NBC/Mitchell Haaseth

CHUCK, the romantic spy comedy that has lasted five seasons on NBC, draws to a close with a two-hour series finale this Friday night at 8 PM. Co-created by Chris Fedak and Josh Schwartz, CHUCK has chronicled the evolution of Zachary Levi’s Chuck Bartowski from nerdy Buy More employee to confused spy to genuine hero and husband of more experienced fellow spy Sarah Walker, played by Yvonne Strahovski. Schwartz, who previously created THE O.C. for Fox and still has GOSSIP GIRL on the CW, is now in post-production on his feature film directing debut FUN SIZE and is in pre-production […]Read On »

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Exclusive Photos from the SPARTACUS: VENGEANCE Premiere

By SUE SCHNEIDER

Lucy Lawless at the SPARTACUS: VENGEANCE Premiere | ©2012 Sue Schneider

STARZ presented the premiere of SPARTACUS: VENGEANCE on January 18th at the ArcLight Cinerama Dome in Hollywood. The story: on the heels of the bloody escape from the House of Batiatus that concluded SPARTACUS: BLOOD AND SAND, the gladiator rebellion continues and begins to strike fear into the heart of the Roman Republic. SPARTACUS: VENGEANCE will premiere on STARZ, January 27th at 10 pm ET. Walking the carpet were the stars of the series: Liam McIntyre, Lucy Lawless, Manu Bennett, Katrina Law Peter Mensah, Dan Feuerriegel, Nick Tarabay, Craig Parker, Viva Bianca, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Hanna Mangan Lawrence, Ellen Hollman, Bonnie […]Read On »

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Exclusive Interview: Callum Keith Rennie joins THE FIRM

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN

Callum Keith Rennie in THE FIRM - Season 1 | ©2012 NBC/Frank Ockenfels

In NBC’s new dramatic thriller THE FIRM, airing Thursdays at 10 PM, ten years have passed since the events in John Grisham’s best seller, which became a 1993 film starring Tom Cruise as Mitch McDeere. Mitch is a lawyer who took down the legal partnership he was working with when he discovered they were allied with organized crime. In the series version, developed for television by Lukas Reiter, Mitch, played by Josh Lucas, his wife Abby (Molly Parker), their young daughter, Mitch’s secretary Tammy (Juliette Lewis) and Mitch’s brother Ray, played by Callum Keith Rennie, have all spent a decade […]Read On »

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TV Review: BEING HUMAN – Season 2 – “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?”

By RACHEL REITSLEFF

Meaghan Rath and Sam Witwer in BEING HUMAN - Season 2 - "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me" | ©2012 Syfy/Philippe Bosse

Stars: Sam Witwer, Meaghan Rath, Sam Huntington, Kristen Hagen, Natalie Brown, Robert Naylor, Dichen Lachman Writer: Nancy Won, adapted for U.S. television by Jeremy Carver & Anna Fricke, created for U.K. television by Toby Whithouse Director: Paolo Barzman Network: Syfy, Mondays @ 9 PM Airdate: January 23, 2012 In BEING HUMAN, the various factions – vampires, werewolves and ghosts – have to worry about infighting, other supernatural creatures and humans in the know. On this show, sometimes self-pity also joins the list, but the episode “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?” blasts through that one by giving all of […]Read On »

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TV Review: TOUCH – Season 1 – “Pilot” – Season Premiere

By PETER BROWN

Kiefer Sutherland, David Mazouz and Gugu Mbatha-Raw in TOUCH - Season 1 | ©2012 Fox/Brian Bowen Smith

Cast: Kiefer Sutherland, David Mazouz, Danny Glover, Gugu Mbatha-Raw Writer: Tim Kring Director: Francis Lawrence Network: Fox, airs Wednesdays @ 9 p.m. Original Telecast: Jan. 25, 2011 On the surface, Fox’s new drama TOUCH, seems like a RAIN MAN rip-off but just with a bratty kid and Jack Bauer (from 24), but it isn’t. Nor is it HEROES (as it is created by Tim Kring) with Jack Bauer as a superpowered killing machine – because that would just be too freaking awesome. This time Kiefer Sutherland isn’t running around yelling that “There’s no time!” or “Dammit!” (although he did say […]Read On »

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Exclusive Interview: Kiefer Sutherland talks TOUCH and 24 movie

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 01/25/2012

Kiefer Sutherland in TOUCH - Season 1 | ©2012 Fox/Brian Bowen Smith

Fox’s new series TOUCH brings star Kiefer Sutherland back to the network after his eight seasons there as the iconic Jack Bauer on 24. Fighting terrorists is not in this show’s vocabulary – instead it’s a show that centers on a father and child, but has an unusual twist. Created by Tim King (HEROES), TOUCH features Sutherland as widower Martin Bohm wants desperately to understand his eleven-year-old son Jake, played by David Mazouz, who speaks to the audience in voiceover, but has never communicated verbally with anyone in his entire life. As Martin discovers in the first episode, Jake is […]Read On »

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Interview: HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER star Alyson Hannigan chats about season seven, AMERICAN REUNION and babies

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 01/23/2012

Alyson Hannigan in HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER - Season 7 - "Mystery Vs. History" | ©2011 CBS/Sonja Flemming

Relatively few actresses create three indelible characters in their careers, but Alyson Hannigan has managed this hat trick and may well enact more in her future. Hannigan, born in Washington, D.C.and raised in Atlanta, started her career early, appearing in commercials before moving into films (including MY STEPMOTHER IS AN ALIEN) and television (FREE SPIRIT). Then, in 1997, Hannigan began her seven-season run as BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER’s Willow Rosenberg, who started as a shy brainy high school student and became a very powerful witch, along with achieving real-world lesbian icon status when the character came out. Willow lives on […]Read On »

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