Wichita Eagle: Television

Oscar: From ‘Argo’ to ‘Zero’

Rod Pocowatchit — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 11:20 CST

Ready to be entertained?

That’s what producers of this year’s Oscars are promising – a show that will feature more production numbers and musical performances.

It will be edgier, that’s for sure. Craig Zadan and Neil Meron hired funny, irreverent Seth MacFarlane (TV’s “Family Guy,” “Ted”) to be the host for Sunday’s show.

Golden Globes no longer relevant

Barry Koltnow — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 22:18 CST

The Golden Globes, the clown car of movie awards, are more irrelevant than ever.

They were rendered an official waste of time on Thursday, when their arch-nemesis (the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) figured out how to squash its pesky competitor.

For years, it irked the Oscars people that the Golden Globes, given artificial weight by a lucrative NBC contract, strutted around the barnyard for up to a month between the time they gave out their silly awards and the academy announced its nominees. Once the Oscar nominees are announced, nobody cares about the Golden Globes.

’Downton Abbey’ returns with more of the well-loved same

Hank Stuever — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 23:20 CST

“Downton Abbey,” that phenomenally successful British drama series about a very specific sort of people enduring what amounts to the modern era’s original first-world problems, is back on PBS’s “Masterpiece Classic” Sunday night for a third season. It is greeted with huzzahs, which are deserved, but it is also met with the law of diminishing returns.

Only a fool could overlook the sinkholes in last season’s plots: Along with characters miraculously leaping out of wheelchairs and/or breaking into song, an unwanted fiancee conveniently dropped dead of Spanish flu as “Downton Abbey” verged on soapy self-satire. Creator/writer Julian Fellowes seemed to be making it up on the fly, as tragic plot twists were hinted at, fretted over and then strangely vanished. A wounded man, comically covered in mummy bandages, arrived at Downton’s makeshift World War I hospice claiming to be the Crawley estate’s rightful heir — and then what happened?

Nothing. A whole lot of nothing. It was disheartening to see “Downton Abbey,” which so effortlessly charmed us in the first season, fall so flat in the second. Some fans still will not concede this. “I just like watching it,” they whine in defense. “I watch it for the costumes, the domestic details, the dowager countess — all of it.”

Reality show ‘Chef Race: UK vs. U.S.’ films in Wichita

Denise Neil — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 18:04 CDT

One minute, Rachel Klein was in her daughter’s downtown hair salon, watching a film crew busy at work on the sidewalks of Douglas.

The next, she was preparing to take seven British strangers into her three-bedroom west Wichita home for the night.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, a crew filming a new reality show called “Chef Race: UK vs. U.S.” was spotted all over town, interacting with and filming Wichitans as part of their show.

Wichitan Chris Mann to compete Monday on ‘The Voice’

Denise Neil — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 09:48 CDT

Wichitan Chris Mann will be back on the NBC singing competition “The Voice” on Monday night.

Earlier this month, he survived the first elimination round on the show, singing a version of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” He was one of the top three vote-getters on Christina Aguilera’s team of singers.

He’ll be vying for audience votes again Monday night to remain on the show.

Wichita police sergeant featured in History Channel’s ‘Top Shot’

Stan Finger — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:30 CST

Colin Gallagher is sworn to secrecy.

He spent weeks in a northern California desert last summer as a contestant on Season 4 of the History Channel program “Top Shot,” which pits top marksmen against each other in a “Survivor”-style reality show. The new season premieres Feb. 14, and he can’t tell anyone how it all turns out.

“When I watch it with the rest of America, it’s going to be the first time I’ve seen any of it,” said Gallagher, 35, who is a sergeant with the Wichita Police Department. “I hope my father’s proud of me. That’s my number one goal. I am pleased with how well I did.”

Spooky TV shows are here to stay

AARON SAGERS — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 23:12 CDT

It is a lively time for the haunting dead, the undead, the walking dead and the deadly things in the water, forests and outer space. Especially in the midst of Halloween season, all the creeping, crawling, shambling and stalking amounts to a lot of bumps in the night. And many of them are coming from the television.

There is a lot of paranormal activity on TV this fall, but instead of slipping away after Oct. 31, the entertainment of the unexplained is continuing year round. There are plenty of bogeyman for viewers to choose from. Ghosts, vampires, zombies, werewolves, witches, beasts and demons are currently haunting on reality TV and scripted fare every day of the week.

TV origins

The 'spiritual Beatle'

RANDY LEWIS — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 00:07 CDT

LOS ANGELES — When Martin Scorsese and Olivia Harrison first sat down about five years ago to strategize about a documentary on the life of George Harrison, both quickly zeroed in on a letter the young Beatle wrote to his family at the height of Beatlemania.

"It was a letter George had written when he was not more than 22," Harrison said of the man to whom she was married for 23 years before his death a decade ago. "It was in 1965, and the Beatles would have been really cresting at that point. He was writing home and told his family, 'I know that this isn't it. I knew I was going to be famous, but now I know I can reach the real top of what man can achieve, which is self-realization.' He knew then that (material reward) wasn't it."

That letter figures into a pivotal moment in Scorsese's film, "George Harrison: Living in the Material World," which premiered on HBO over two nights Wednesday and Thursday to accommodate its 3 1/2-hour length, and HBO will re-air the shows over the coming days.

TV specials, documentaries recount Sept. 11 tragedy

CHUCK BARNEY — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 07:03 CDT

Ten years ago, Americans gathered around their TV sets to witness the ghastly and incomprehensible images of 9/11. A decade later, television is marking the anniversary of the terrorist attacks with a massive outpouring of programs.

Network and cable outlets are airing dozens of specials and documentaries recounting the tragedy, gauging the fallout and detailing the changes that have occurred since Sept. 11, 2001. Along the way, nearly every conceivable angle will be covered.

Here's a look at some notable programs airing today.

For Williamson, teen TV is his territory

Yvonne Villarreal — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 00:07 CDT

Kevin Williamson, writer and producer of "Dawson's Creek," "The Vampire Diaries" and the forthcoming fall CW series "The Secret Circle," talks about the art of writing classic teen television.

Q: What do you find appealing about writing for young people?

A: It's weird. I don't think I'm some guy who connects with youth as much as I'm just this guy who never really, truly grew up. My whole game is writing teenage characters. The worst thing that you want to be is that middle-aged guy who's writing what he thinks a 16-year-old is thinking or feeling.

Producers tap into the '60s for new TV shows

Rick Bentley — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 00:07 CDT

LOS ANGELES — The late '50s and early '60s are popular this year with TV producers, who insist they're not just trying to capitalize on the success of "Mad Men."

BBC America's "The Hour" — the first of three new dramas set in the time period — launched this week, offering a look at the birth of serious television news journalism in the late '50s.

NBC's new drama "The Playboy Club" peeks under the bunny ears of the women who worked in the Chicago night club started by Hugh Hefner in the early '60s.

Prime time for women

Chuck Barney — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 00:07 CDT

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. —Promotional spots for NBC's 1960s-era drama "The Playboy Club" describe Hugh Hefner's glitzy hangout as a "place where men hold the key, but women run the show."

That just as easily could be the slogan for the upcoming broadcast-television season.

Of the 26 new network series arriving this fall, at least 14 are directly pegged to female stars and/or lean heavily toward female-centric themes. The trend is reflected in dramas such as "Ringer," a moody mystery starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, and "Prime Suspect," a remake of the iconic crime series featuring Maria Bello.

Distinction between film and TV acting fades away

STEVEN ZEITCHIK — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 00:33 CDT

LOS ANGELES — When the Emmy nominations were announced Thursday morning, viewers could be forgiven for thinking they were hearing about a different annual ritual: the Academy Awards.

A large group of Oscar winners turned up among the Emmy nominees, including Martin Scorsese, Kathy Bates, Kate Winslet and Curtis Hanson. Several Oscar nominees, including Laura Linney and Todd Haynes, wound up on television's most prestigious list as well.

Feature actors and filmmakers have been migrating to television for years, but it's reached critical mass in this year's Emmy nominations, underscoring how significant the trend has become. In the newly combined category of movie and miniseries, all but one of the nominees have directed acclaimed movies. In addition to Hanson and Haynes, nominated for "Too Big to Fail" and "Mildred Pierce," respectively, the list includes Olivier Assayas ("Carlos") and Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman ("Cinema Verite").

Celebrate Father's Day with this pop quiz on celebrity pops

Sun, 19 Jun 2011 09:41 CDT

1. Who's Emilio Estevez's dad?

A. Antonio Banderas

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Designer offers her best tips for accessorizing on the go

Jan Schroder — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 00:06 CDT

I admit it. I obsessed a bit over what to wear for my interview with Cate Adair. After all, as the Emmy-nominated costume designer for "Desperate Housewives," she dresses some of the most beautiful women in the world.
I can barely pull myself together. What if I had to dress multiple people several times a day, all with distinct styles? That is what Cate does during the 10 months the show is filming.
"A good show is just four to five outfits for each housewife," she says. "A harder one is when I have to create eight to 12 for each character."
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'Idol' winner, runner-up play like a country duo

MESFIN FEKADU — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 06:21 CDT

NEW YORK — In their own style, Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina are the newest duo on the country scene.
Just a week following the season finale of "American Idol," the teenagers are together doing press like a team — and this team doesn't roll alone: They're equipped with publicists, security guards, managers, record label extras and their real bosses — their mothers.
McCreery beat Alaina to become the season 10 champ, but the fact that they are both young country singers with similar goals puts them on the same career track.
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Traveler Apps: Hungry? Shake A Phone

ERIC GWINN — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 16:24 CDT

—UrbanSpoon (free; iPhone, Android, BlackBerry)
What it is: Still a great, dependable way to find restaurants in North America.
Why it's great: Feeling lucky? Shake your iPhone, and UrbanSpoon will dial up a choice and offer reviews and pricing information of restaurants nearby. See photos of dishes from restaurants to whet your appetite.
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'Makeover' home to be done Thursday; fundraiser today

DENISE NEIL — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 16:31 CDT

Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that a three-story house was being built and that spectators had to be at least 18 years old. The story has been corrected.
The house being built by the "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" crew for Carl Hall and family continued speeding toward completion on Monday.
The one-story ranch, which crews started building last Thursday afternoon on West Hollywood Court, is still on schedule to be finished by Thursday. The "Move That Bus" moment — when the family will see the new home for the first time — is scheduled for 3 p.m. Thursday.
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'Extreme' show picks ex-WSU player

ANNIE CALOVICH — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 08:45 CST

Former Shocker baseball star Carl Hall said he'd entered "kind of like a fairy tale" Thursday as the recipient of the next "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" house, being built from the ground up for him and his family near K-42 and Maize Road.
The television show surprised Hall and his family Thursday with an official announcement that they would be receiving the house, even though they'd been involved in preliminary plans for the show, and many of the hundreds of people who turned out to cheer them on at Wichita State University seemed to already know the news.
Hall, who starred on some of the strongest Shocker baseball teams in school history and was the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year in 1994, was paralyzed from the neck down after a traffic crash in Kingman County in June. He, his wife and four children had to move out of their bi-level house in west Wichita because it wasn't suitable for a wheelchair and have been living in a rented two-bedroom duplex with a converted garage since.
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After Dawn Breaks Atop Haleakala, It's A 27-Mile Whoosh To The Sea On A Bike, Hairpin Turns And All

CHRISTOPHER REYNOLDS — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 12:04 CST

HALEAKALA, Hawaii — Every day, about an hour after first light hits the green hillsides of upcountry Maui, the spokes begin to sing. If you stand along the road by Sunrise Market in the hamlet of Kula, you'll first hear the buzz, then with a whoosh the bicycles come around the bend: tourists by the dozen, their heads encased in heavy-duty helmets, their bodies wrapped in rain suits, their speed about 20 mph. They're riding 27 miles, following about two dozen switchbacks, rolling past hardened lava and cane fields, fruit stands, lazy livestock and three small towns. And 99 percent of it is downhill. "It's a little surreal," says M. Sarah Creachbaum, who passes the riders every morning on her way to work as superintendent of Haleakala National Park. "They're like space people with the helmets and the colored outfits." On a busy day, 300 of these riders come around the bend, tempted by a simple, powerful, double-barreled idea: to see sunrise from the lip of Haleakala, a 10,000-foot Hawaiian volcano, then glide down the slope to the sea. Yet this ride can hurt you or even kill you. In February, a 64-year-old rider from Mankato, Minn., died of head injuries after she crashed (she was wearing a helmet) into an embankment near the town of Makawao. She wasn't the first. Since it first popped up in the 1980s, the volcano-ride trade has grown into a full-fledged industry, fallen into crisis amid a spate of injuries and deaths, then righted itself again. As many as 90,000 customers a year ride down Haleakala, typically paying $115 to $150 each for a sunrise tour and guided ride. So how does it work, this balancing of risk and thrill on two wheels? One morning in late October, I signed on to find out. At 2:45 a.m. — yes, you read that right — a bike-tour van picked me up at my hotel along the island's western shore. After a stop to collect equipment and sign release forms with about a dozen fellow riders, we made the two-hour drive through the darkness to the top of Haleakala, passing the eerie glow of cane fires as we went. (Workers burn dried cane leaves in the fields as part of the harvest.) At 5:15 a.m., we stepped out near the top, 9,740 feet above sea level, and into a parking lot crowded with hundreds of bundled-up tourists, a dawn of 40-degree gusts, numb digits, swirling clouds and volcanic moonscape, all of which erupted in golden light when the sun hurled its first beams at us from the horizon. Locals note that many winter sunrises are rain-soaked and cloud-bound, but this one was well worth the early wake. For the seven bike-tour companies with permits to offer sunrise viewing and downhill rides, the day's adventure was just getting started. At 7:30 a.m., after transport to our starting point just outside the national park (about 6,500 feet above sea level), we saddled up and got a stern safety briefing from guides Everett Bennett (driving) and Joshua Sisson (riding). I chose Cruiser Phil's, a small 12-year-old outfit, because it had done well in a 2008 National Park Service safety study (www.nps.gov/hale/parkmgmt/bikesafety.htm). "I need you to ride defensively," Sisson said. "I don't mind if you take a quick glance at the view, but not on the hairpin turns. We've got a problem with guys getting halfway around these bends, whipping around and chatting with the dude behind them, and then missing the second half of the turn and going off the side of the road. I've seen it happen." Then, bundled up in jackets, gloves, rain suits and motocross helmets with chin-protectors, we rolled. Our one-speed Worksman bikes were heavy (why worry about weight when you're going downhill?) and featured heavy-duty brakes. One turn, two turns, three turns. Green valley, blue sea and, because the high ground is cattle country, the occasional cow pie. I expected to be intimidated, but I wasn't — just invigorated. "You're looking out at the valley of Maui," Bennett said when we paused to take pictures. "The north shore is over here." To the west, he continued, "snorkel boats going out to Molokini. Lanai in the background. Windmills up on the ridge." What many cyclists don't realize is that three years ago, this was a different ride. In the old days — that is, from the 1980s until late 2007 — the classic Haleakala downhill route was 38 miles, not 27, and it began where those sunbeams struck us at the volcano's lip. The first 11 miles were inside park boundaries, and they were fairly nasty, descending about 3,500 feet through a series of tight turns, with jagged rocks at the edge of the blacktop. But tourists wanted to ride it anyway, including many who were overmatched. By 2007, about 90,000 riders a year were signing onto Haleakala downhill tour groups, and rangers were handling an average of five injury accidents every month. On Sept. 26, 2007, a 65-year-old woman on a bike tour lost control on a curve near the summit, crossed the center line, collided with another company's tour van, and died. By the park service's tally, her death was the second within a year involving guided commercial downhill bicycle tours. Soon after, Marilyn H. Parris, then the park superintendent, temporarily banned commercial bike tours within the park. In the months that followed, a compromise emerged: The volcano-bike tour buses would be allowed to carry their customers to the top of Haleakala for sunrise, but they would ferry their customers back down to 6,500 feet — just outside the park entrance — before beginning their rides. Below the park, the road isn't as steep, the turns aren't as sharp and the roadside isn't as rocky. Three years later, while park officials continue to work on a long-term commercial-services plan, those rules still hold for all bike-tour companies. (Individuals can still ride from the top, but few do.) The result, locals say, is less bike-tour traffic and fewer accidents. "It was crazy before," said Ben Hokoana, a veteran guide with Maui Mountain Cruisers. "Much safer now." The Maui Police Department, which counted about two cycling injury accidents a month in the area in the mid-2000s, reported 10 in all of 2008, 19 in 2009, and five injury accidents — plus the one fatality — in the first nine months of 2010. Moreover, a police spokesman said, most of those accidents involved independent cyclists, not tours. Among tens of thousands of tour-group riders, police figures showed just nine injury accidents — and the one fatality — since January 2008. By the time we reached Kula, 3,200 feet above sea level, I was running low on things to worry about. The grade was about 5 percent, and it felt gentle, perhaps because of the good visibility and the surrounding beauty, perhaps because the road was so smooth. In all of the city of Los Angeles, I doubt I could find 27 miles of blacktop in such great shape. Traffic was thin. Though the route was on public roads and though some upcountry locals complain about cyclists snarling traffic, I saw mostly open road and probably more bikes than automobiles. When cars turned up behind us, we pulled over and let them pass. Besides me (a once-a-month rider in the last days of his 40s), our group included a couple of young newlyweds, a 40ish man from England and a middle-aged couple from San Bernardino County — everyone was between the ages of 15 and 65, all less than 270 pounds and nobody pregnant, as Cruise Phil's paperwork stipulates. Everyone looked comfortable on two wheels — and because I rode last in the single-file line, I got a good look. "Very smooth ride," said Rick Bell of Rancho Cucamonga, a few spots ahead of me. This might be what prompted me to ask Sisson the record for the fastest top-to-bottom ride. "Fifty-eight minutes," he said immediately. "And you've got to weigh more than 320 pounds to beat that record." (The record-setting ride, Sisson explained later, was achieved several years ago at a "banzai race" staged by local riders on a night when the moon was full. I'm guessing no park rangers or police were invited.) Many companies stop for breakfast in Kula. On the right side of the road sits the Sunrise Country Market and Protea Farm, which in the old days specialized in bikers' lunches. These days, the bikes arrive sooner, and the main meal is breakfast, with chickens meandering underfoot as riders carry coffee and snacks from the cash register to a set of shaded picnic tables. Just a few hundred yards farther along on the left, other groups stop at the Kula Lodge, a proper indoor restaurant with a fireplace, panoramic views, a gift shop, an art gallery, a fancy patio in back and several comfortable guest rooms. (If you have dinner and spend the night here, you can sleep until 5 and still make a 6:15 sunrise up top.) We blew right past these places. The Cruiser Phil philosophy is to get down the hill before eating a full breakfast. By 9 a.m., we'd dropped down to about 1,600 feet above sea level and the artsy outskirts of Makawao, where our guides waved us over and loaded our bikes into the trailer. This wasn't the end. Rather than annoy his neighbors by further clogging the main drag, Cruiser Phil has taken to busing his customers through the town, whose commercial strip of several blocks is full of galleries, boutiques, restaurants and cars pulling in and out. (Locals call Makawao a cowboy town, because it's neighbored by a cattle ranch and it hosts a Fourth of July rodeo.) As we saddled up again below Makawao for the last seven miles or so, Sisson told us to keep our mouths shut. Bugs, he said, are attracted to the neighboring cane and pineapple fields, and it's never fun to swallow one at 20 mph. Sure enough, zipping past the open fields and the stone walls of an old church, I felt little winged creatures bouncing off my cheeks. And then, in what seemed like no time at all, it was 9:45 a.m., and we were pulling into the parking lot of the Holy Rosary Church in Paia, about a mile from the beach. We were done. Subtracting standing-around time, we had averaged 24 mph. "Normally, I do a hard cycle to work, commuting through London traffic," said fellow rider Tim Clark. "Not pedaling, you just feel like a kid again, grinning side to side for 28 miles." As the crew loaded the bikes into the trailer and sorted helmets, we were free to check out the church shrine to Father Damien (who tended the lepers on Molokai in the late 19th century). Then we went on to choose breakfast places in the T-shaped tourist-and-surfer town of Paia. I went with crepes on the patio of Cafe Des Amis. But what I really wanted was 20 more miles of empty upcountry roads and an encore from those singing spokes. IF YOU GO: BIKING HALEAKALA Seven companies on Maui hold permits to offer bike tours that begin with van or bus trips to sunrise viewings atop Haleakala. The guided rides go from the edge of Haleakala National Park to sea level, a 6,500-foot descent over about 27 miles of two-lane public roads. Among the companies offering guided bike tours: Maui Downhill, www.mauidownhill.com; Mountain Riders, www.mountainriders.com; and Maui Mountain Cruisers, www.mauimountaincruisers.com; Cruiser Phil's Volcano Riders, www.cruiserphil.com; and Bike It Maui, www.bikeitmaui.com. Two companies also offer sunrise tours with unguided bike rides: Haleakala Bike Co., www.bikemaui.net; and Maui Sunriders, www.mauibikeride.com. These companies offer other rides at other times, some unguided. Five companies do escorted rides; two offer unguided rides. Prices typically run from $115-$150 for sunrise tours, but discounts are common. Rides that begin later (or exclude the volcano rim visit) cost substantially less. And besides these companies, many others offer bike rentals. WHERE TO STAY: Kula Lodge, 15200 Haleakala Highway, Kula; (808) 878-1535 or (800) 233-1535, www.kulalodge.com. Doubles $125-$220 for two, $20 more per extra person. Paia Inn, 93 Hana Highway, Paia; (808) 579-6000 or (800) 721-4000, www.paiainn.com. Fourteen rooms and suites and one beach house in three buildings. Rates $189-$529. Mama's Fish House Restaurant & Inn, 799 Poho Place, Paia; (808) 579-9764 or (800) 860-4852, www.mamasfishhouse.com. Tucked behind this well-known waterfront restaurant at the edge of Paia, the Inn at Mama's offers 12 one- and two-bedroom cottages. Four face the water; all have outdoor areas and kitchens or kitchenettes. Rates $175-$575. WHERE TO EAT: Kula Lodge (see above). Breakfast, lunch, dinner. Main dishes $13-$26. Sunrise Country Market, 16157 Haleakala Highway, Kula; (808) 878-1600. Breakfast and lunches, including salads, sandwiches and main dishes, about $6-$9. Makawao Sushi and Deli, 3647 Baldwin Ave., Makawao; (808) 573-9044. Lunch and dinner. Most dishes $3.25-$9. Cafe Des Amis, 42 Baldwin Ave., Paia; (808) 579-6323. Breakfast, lunch, dinner. About $4-$13.
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